Fine Art & Portraits by Laurel Hooray again! I have a raging headache, should be painting, but when Houzz showed up, I had to see if you'd written something. You didn't disappoint!

taniyr Fantastic! But I came here thinking I am going to get hints on how to locate a good contractor!

olldbobbi House Poorous? Amen !

mgoodison FYI: interior designers do more than pick out throw pillows.

http://www.ncidq.org/aboutus/aboutinteriordesign/differencesbetweeninteriordesigndecorating.aspx

Jeannine Petteruti These are always great, but today I laughed so hard I cried.

JAN MOYER Yes, we do a LOT more than pick out throw pillows though I did LOL.... AND the arch's and contractors would do well to remember that WE are quite often the reason they get the "call". Take that! with your morning brew. Pros' are pros because they know when they need another PRO. All the ARCHS would do well to remember that ..... as in I do NOT need your help with the paint and light fixtures my dear....not so much....really... you can chill babe.
Yours truly, the interior Designer aka throw pillius maximus whateverus.

frenchdecor Genius Manifestus designus Open Conceptus, so House Poorous wakes up with no need by domesticus to read 7 in the morning this genius conceptus

K.O.H. Construction Corporation We Contractors drink coffee too. We usually have our Starbucks in a thermos.

Coffee with an Architect I think I love you, Jan Moyer (call me)

JAN MOYER @jody brown
Yank up "yer" big boy shorts and dial babe 5854730518... I can always use a good laugh with the brew!

near north interiors @mgoodison @janmoyer. here here. i read interior designus or whatever as more of a decorator. in my office i'm responsible for all blue prints and sign off on all drawings that get sent to contractors. i am also building code qualified.
nevertheless, jody brown, you still make me smile. i work with lots of your t ype too ;)

JAN MOYER Fine arts and portraits
THREE Excedrin!!!... and another in a half hour.....PRESTO GONZO ! Nothing better : ) It's the headache medicinus maximus!

camurray Fabulous. Awesome. Genius. Hahaha!!

JAN MOYER dziner,
And I won't take that as an insult considering the mark of most interior design excellence is to know when a house needs a bump, or a total overhaul, and yes I can read a plan and a set of blueprints, and yes my collaboration is even sought though I will freely admit I can not DRAW it myself. Doesn't mean I do not know what needs to be there...or gone form the THERE. But thank you for the info and happy holidays : )

Kyle Hoffman My mornings complete!

Michelle Morelan Design what's the difference between god and an architect? god doesn't think he's an architect.

alesti @ mgoodison, yes we do!
but when working for the house poorous, that is exactly what they do!

Cynthia Gutzmer Was it lost on anyone else that the only "professionals" that seem to be complaining here are the Interior Designers?

JAN MOYER Cynthia,
We're not complaining, we're just realists; and most of the architects lack humor enough to read this stuff hence their absent response (s), and the contractors are already out swinging hammers and drywall compound pails, and won't see it until four-thirtyish pm... lol

Rick Owens You are so funny.

mrskk Interestingly, I recently became House Poorus during a renovation for which I employed both an Interior Designer and a Contractor. Next time I will skip the former! Sorry to say, the designer did nothing to dispell the notion that they are little more than flamboyant pillow-tossers - although I am grateful to them for hooking me up with an excellent Sturdius Structuris, lol.

tleigh1955 Cannot do without the "House Poorus" clients, wish on a whole they would understand our value.

Michelle Morelan Design the best results are from a collaboration of all involved...and even better, in an atmosphere of mutual appreciation. Jody, you have used my favourite SketchUp People. We love that collie!

JAN MOYER mrskk,
Wowie!!! Booooo!!!!!!...you must have gotten ...... ? what? . You could not be more mistaken as to the "value" of interior design, and a designers value in the creation of functional, beautiful space! So sorry for you on both those counts. One taste of a bad or wormy apple (for whatever reason), does not negate the APPLE and it's value.

mrskk I am going to save my money on apples in future. The ideal in my opinion is a contractor who also has design skills or an in-house designer. They are on site and often have the best appreciation for how a project can be improved or amended as it goes.

JAN MOYER mrskk
Your interior designer should have been on site, and advocating first and foremost for you, the client. PERIOD. With the only thing in mind, your result, your budget, and the maximizing of both with the least amount of angst for all.End of THAT story!.

mrskk If only. In an ideal world, that is how the designer should have conducted business. But sometimes real life experiences deserve a mention precisely because they aren't positive and have an adverse effect on the reputation of an industry. I am not recommending hiring an independent interior designer to anyone, based on my own experience. Yet prior to this experience, I obviously saw the potential value of hiring one because I did just that. Looking at his role now in hindsight, I don't see how he could have been a better advocate for me because his role was to dream up a design and drop in now and then to see how things were progressing, whereas the contractor was there every single day until the job was done.

ssmakal What? No Landscape Architects?!

CityDesign You have described Interior Designers as decorators. Obviously you are not at all knowledgeable in the subject. In Europe, Interior Designers are called Interior Architects, which fully describes what we do. As a fully qualified Interior Designer (4 years of University and 20+ years of corporate and healthcare experience), I am deeply offended by this description. This attitude, along with unrealistic budgets and time-lines, are why we do not like HGTV programs.

audubonb Corrections to Field Guide, 1st Edition:
Range distribution descriptions need be corrected to note that architects never have been spotted in Alaska, either.
Need entries for Earthmover, Carpenter, Concrete pourer, Electrician, Plumber, Roofer and several more.
Looking forward to 2nd edition

Marvin Rojas Very nice, happy Costa Rica

JAN MOYER mrskk,
No idea your total arrangement with this person. But "dreaming up" a design is not a small thing nor a small contribution to a project.!!! He may have been in continual contact with the builder/contractor, and if things were going "swimmingly" and according to plan, an occasional presence with monitoring is sufficient particularly if they have collaborated with one another on other projects. You may have no idea how many midnight e-mails occurred with regards to your project. You did not say you were unhappy with your result, so perhaps the "invisible to you effort" is being underestimated. Or the builder had no communication with the designer... who knows? I will say this in defense of all areas of our respective trades: It only appears "easy" when it is done, and exceeding well done. If it were easy... everyone would do it!

mrskk I certainly hope my experience was not typical. My father is a retired architect, so I am not entirely unaware of the numerous processes involved in building design. I still feel that it could be valuable for members of various design fields to listen to a lay person's take on their relative merits. Stereotypes abound but there is sometimes a grain of truth to them. My designer would probably appreciate your defense of his work, but that does not necessarily mean he deserves it.

Cynthia Gutzmer mrskk - Truthfully, (and in full disclosure I am biased being an "architect" myself) I think where you should start is with an architect. They are the only "professional" on this list that is qualified and specifically trained to address structural issues, code issues, construction issues, architectural proportion/appropriateness, overall design goals, budget, etc. Architects can also provide the services of an Interior Designer (Legally, an Architect can also provide Interior Design services whereas an Interior Designer can NOT act as an Architect). Architects can also recommend good Interior Designers, Contractors, Building Trades, etc. I can understand why a homeowner might not be sure who the right person for the job is. So many of the design shows on TV (I am addicted to them too) depict Interior Designers as the primary professional. In my opinion, this is often the wrong person for the job and why you often see these nightmares of "hidden" structural problems, "surprise" easements and projects going terribly over budget. I am not putting down Interior Designers, I am trying to explain when you would hire one over the other. For example - both doctors and nurses are health professionals - but you would have the surgeon perform your surgery because they are specifically trained for that task. That is not meant to insult the nurse - it was meant to describe the right person for the job. An Architect can address structural issues, easements, codes, budgets, etc. from the very beginning and minimize "surprises" later on. They can recommend and coordinate the proper professionals for the project. I am not saying Architects "walk on water" (although some think they do - which I thought was funny), I'm just saying they are the right person for the job. So if your project includes the possibility of moving/changing walls or anything on the exterior, I would recommend starting with an Architect instead of an Interior Designer first. In defense of the design industry in general, there are always bad Architects, Interior Designers, Contractors, etc. and it is unfortunate when that rare one ruins it for the good ones (because most of us work very hard to do right by our clients and want to see them happy).

mrskk Thank you for that suggestion, I certainly would go a different route next time. I am lucky that our problems are relatively minor: the intended couch does not fit, nor does the main piece of intended furniture. Maybe I should have gifted the person I hired with an accurate tape measure as a parting gift! He also was not familiar with sub-flooring in a basement, which I insisted on and which - thankfully - the contractor knew all about and put in for me.

The worst part was that the designer really didn't want to hear that I wasn't entirely satisfied. At one point he called me to ask why he hadn't heard from the contractor rather than making the call to the contractor himself; as far as I know, he was not in contact with the contractor at all during the bulk of the building process, and this came as a total surprise to me. I was left to make fixture selections on my own, which the designer explained was in order to keep me within my budget.

The general feeling in the public, from what I have seen, is that architects are expensive and would only be required for major building projects - such as adding an extension or putting on an extra storey. For smaller renovations, you wouldn't want to "bother" an architect, or maybe an architect wouldn't be interested because it would be somehow too minor a job for them. This must have something to do with the lofty stereotype these types of articles always make fun of.

thegreenbee Funny! Note on interior designer: if not waving hands and ranting about opening up the space, standing silently for an hour in the empty room, designing with eyeballs (also known as "envisioning")

near north interiors @ jan moyer, no insult to you at all, i was agreeing with you!
@ city design, that was what i was trying to get across, clearly you are more eloquent. thank you for that!
paula :)
ps. it's all in good fun and i don't think any real offense is taken or implied.

Clare White - Clockwise Design I love the description of everyone. I think I need to write up a description of myself now.

Mackin Drafting & Design I thought the article was funny and well written. Some of the comments shows that not all the professionals in these fields are created equal.

Simply Exquisite Interiors Seems they caught up with us, the flaring arms bit and all....laugh!

Ginkgo Leaf Studio Yep, Jody needs to add Landscape Architects and Designers. Not surprised we didn't make the cut, we always get called in at the end anyways, after the budget has dried up! Oh and we have a love/hate relationship with HGTV too. :)

A. Peltier Interiors too funny:) I am that interior designer to a 't'!

tgordo49 Too painful to read this way. Google "Oxford comma" and learn to write.

mrskk tgordo49, where do you see a lack of or improper use of commas? I had to re-read the whole thing...found nothing to gripe about (regarding the writing, anyway - ha!).

aussietoo If I didn't spend hours surfing the internet and bookmarking ideas for future renovation projects I would never have had the pleasure of finding you!

JAN MOYER tgordo49
Given these threads are often a little break from that which all of us would likely be better off accomplishing, with comments posted quickly in conversational style sans regard for perfection grammatically, I Googled "Oxford comma" and am not sure the painful point of that exercise. I do believe my post now qualifies as a run on sentence : )

JAN MOYER lol correction!!!! POINT of that painful exercise! Before I am further chastised! Thanks for a fun thread, Jody! ( almost forgot the comma..........)

robkat This was meant to be FUNNY. Geez, people, lighten up! I laughed. Thanks!

debv8 HILARIOUS!!! And all SO TRUE!!! ROTFL>>>>>

marktomlinson Seems many have commented here, but you have confused the Interior Decorator (Throwpillion Maximus) and Interior Designer (Flowus Maximus). While closely related, the Decorator lacks the ability to remove walls and redirect plumbing. Designers seems to have acquired this skill by learning the bizarre and indecipherable 'Code' from Architects (Genius Manifestus). An easy way to distinguish the two is that the Decorator is mostly concerned with what a room looks like while standing in it, but the Designer obsesses with how well you can pass through it.

sarojbala i join you professnaly

Pink Fortitude, LLC HILARIOUS! Especially the comment of knowing who is in the family by the stickers on the back of the vehicle. What's that about anyway?

JAN MOYER We flowusthoughfulus types get extremely picky about function...part of the reason we may haul in an arch. We allow him touchy feely time with our client.... they bond! He uses impressive vocabulary as we stand in their potential master bedroom. A challenging space, an historic house very short on closets, and long on inconvenience, also requiring new bath. Geniusmaximus wants to "articulate" some stuff like trims, I need a capacious easy to manage closet for clients who are slobosis and so wealthy there is never an end to the buying of clothes, let alone the beginning of hanging them. I need it near the bedroom or bath, Plan is drawn. It has moldingbuildupmaximus,with interesting turns and jogs and casingmaximuslovlius. It has little actual space for clothes. It is down a twenty foot hall and away from the bed/bath function. Much discussion ensues, I stomp my foot and am told I am crabby. Due to the use of verbose fancyschmancy.... and their adoring gazes, their closet is now a sty, the clothes are on the floor, and shoe piles grow everywhere. But it's a lovely closet for someone else. Maybe someone with a man butler or personal slave. Yes, it is a true story. The arch and I are still good friends...but I am making him come to clean up the closet. Gave him a coupon for Bed Bath Beyond.....he'll need the slimline hangers.

debv8 OH Jan! You are so right! And, it is really like every other occupation - an Egofest. I am a 'retired" (Fossilius Glorius) Interior Designer, AND Decorator. In other words, I have to know the 'terms' of both. My husband calls me a "Maestro" of the Orchestra. And when I sprained my Index Finger, he teased me that I wouldn't be able to work. I'm sure you 'get it'!! I love this Jody Brown Series!!!! Gotta laugh!

Maria Billingsley of J Hettinger Interiors This is fun!

Sharon McLeod "Typically requires removal of a load bearing wall."
LOVE it!!!

e4dsign Only speaking the truth... I even had a specimen of of genius manifestus in front of me as I was reading it... And he was dressed in black with a coffee in one hand and the IPhone in the other.

debv8 hahaaaaaahhhaaaaaaa

cyqi Both hubby and I are civil and structural engineering trained which make us difficult to work with any of these people. Contractors consider us knowing too much thus too difficult to work with (bluff). Difficult to find architects considering up to the job because they keep throwing impractical, structural difficult and uneconomical ideas. On the other hand can not really afford good architect because we are engineers. Interior designer? No budget left for a good one. I fired one interior designer before because he can not do a proper perspective drawing although it Looks good to other. :(

cyqi Both hubby and I are civil and structural engineering trained which make us difficult to work with any of these people. Contractors consider us knowing too much thus too difficult to work with (bluff). Difficult to find architects considering up to the job because they keep throwing impractical, structural difficult and uneconomical ideas. On the other hand can not really afford good architect because we are engineers. Interior designer? No budget left for a good one. I fired one interior designer before because he can not do a proper perspective drawing although it Looks good to other. :(

cyqi Both hubby and I are civil and structural engineering trained which make us difficult to work with any of these people. Contractors consider us knowing too much thus too difficult to work with (bluff). Difficult to find architects considering up to the job because they keep throwing impractical, structural difficult and uneconomical ideas. On the other hand can not really afford good architect because we are engineers. Interior designer? No budget left for a good one. I fired one interior designer before because he can not do a proper perspective drawing although it Looks good to other. :(

JAN MOYER AHA!!!!! sructurusknowallitusengingineerus! Jody left one out! My my, I do believe that could explain a tendency to difficulty in playing nice with others! My dad used to have a summer business when I was a kid. He made the best canvas boat top available anywhere. He got calls decades after he sold the business. His famous words were" honey, if you see a guy walking in with a roll of paper under his arm... call me so I can climb out the back window" He also told me to run like a thief if I met a structurusknoweverythingus as a potential client. I have found that any effort to prove him wrong was not only futile, it was an experience no amount of money could compensate.

Kyle Hoffman Revamp this, do a landscape architect and an engineer! I need a good laugh

Drager Architecture Your articles are great! ...always enjoy them. It is best to maintain a sense of humor don't you think?

Brilliant Imports, LLC Greatness!

Savena Doychinov, CKD/Design Studio International Jody, so what is the classification for professional kitchen and bath designers - or are you not even aware of our existence? Kitchen and bath design, practiced on the highest level, is a very distinct discipline, not to be confused with interior design and other related fields.

tetoette Hey all,
This is a fun article, but even fun articles should try to AVOID GENDER STEREOTYPES:

The drawings chosen for the article thumbnails show a MAN as an architect and a WOMAN as the interior designer (thus reinforcing a cliche which women are fighting real hard to break).
Then in the article itself, although there are both genders represented for all categories, the contractor one only has a MAN as illustration?!! There are women contractors alive and kicking, buddy.

designideas4me yet it appears that its the woman who seem to mostly want to pick fights and perpetuate the stereotype of female designer/decorators...............If in reality there were female architects or male designers who were commenting in a defensive or hostile mannor maybe I would get a different perspective on the truth but for now the truth lies in the defensive hostile voices of those who find it necessary to label humor as hostile or sexist.. When there are an equal number of female architects and male decorators then the stereotypes will no longer exist. Til than this is the way it is. The fields are open to either but just like doctors and nurses there are more male doctors and more female nurses. Its just a fact.

The guy writes a funny light hearted article and drawings that are meant to make people laugh... and yet so many people feel the need to argue and put down others and create mountains out of mole hills( whose job is that btw). Can't anyone just accept humor without analysis and critique?

reel grobman associates They must also possess a sense of humor.

Clare White - Clockwise Design I love humor, especially when it is original and whimsical. Yes, I can see some people getting upset about the stereotype, but don't we all secretly stereotype people and this will probably never go away in our life time. What matters is how you feel about yourself and when you get old enough you don't care anymore.

I do Kitchen / Bath designing or whatever I can get me hands on. You will never catch me in one of those fluffy scarfs tied around my neck.

rolmeister Jody! U must be enjoying all these responses. Talk about insecure people! I have really enjoyed all the kerfuphal.

Teryn Nicol Interior Designers are way more than a decorator. Hence why they are not called Interior Decorators, which is also a thing. Interior Designers have to know many things architects know in order to follow the building codes for their designs. They do not take down load bearing walls and simply throw pillows and fabrics everywhere. I would suggest actually doing research before you simply start throwing out insults.

Susan Mills Design I never actually wrote the word kerfuphal, it's even more profound in print! Kerfuphal, yes indeed!