All the hard work behind the scenes. Looks like magic doesn't it? The social media feeds and TV channels are full of magical transformations that happen with either the swipe of a finger or the magic of a 30/60 minute program. It's sort of created a distorted reality of the hard work that goes into making these transformations happen. It also leaves us all in the glow of the after photo or scene and we don't get to see the truly life changing magic that happens as they move forward and live in their newly transformed space.
Let's acknowledge that it takes a team to truly transform a space. Retail teams spend hours working overnight or early morning shifts to completely transform a space. On a home makeover show there are groups of designers, additional contractors and dozens of trades making the magic happen as a host walks us so quickly and simply through the project in 30/60 minutes. Even the recent smash hit Tidying Up With Marie Kondo had its own behind the scenes magic and a slight departure from how the process really works.
In the show Marie is shown coming into the clients homes introducing them to the method and then she leaves them to work through it until she returns. Behind the scenes when the cameras weren't rolling there were hours spent by Certified KonMari Consultants who worked hands on with the families through the full KonMari Method™ to get them to the point that shows up at the end of the program. Another great difference between the program and the reality of working through the method is that you don't generally do it with a partner or spouse. This created great drama as played out in certain episodes but isn't the most productive way to tackle your clutter in real life. I have tidied certain categories with both a husband and wife, but it isn't common.
I'm all about making magic! I'm all about a great before and after transformation. But it has to be real. I would build visual direction for global brands and there would times when a buyer would say "oh please don't include that basic style in the set up, it really brings down 'the look'". My answer would be no, it stays. Every store will receive it and needs to know where it goes, I need to build for real world. I take that same approach with your home. I build it for your reality. It won't happen in a 30 or 60 minute time slot. It will however take less time than you imagine and be a good amount of work. But I will be by your side, sleeves rolled up for the heavy lifting and making real life magic along the way .