Why Good Design Takes Longer Than You Think

I remember when the reveal of a BEFORE and AFTER was a turning point in marketing for interior design. It’s been flooding us with a dopamine rush we didn’t know we wanted. It starts off with the outdated pictures of before, skips over the hard decisions, and puts us right in front of the after. It’s as if there was no process, no sweat, no frustrations or problems to solve. Yes, a few bumps in the road, but everything appears to work out within a few days or within a slide left moment.

With a culture that continues to make us feel left behind by celebrating the quick and easy path, I’ve admittedly come to question my own process —

why is this taking so long

why can’t I break through to an immediate answer

why can’t I just know the answer

why can’t I find the most bespoke damn wallpaper right now

I’ve noted these tendencies in my work, because no matter the project or the piece of art I’m working on, it still. takes. time.

Let me show you what this actually looked like on a recent project: Recently, while working on the Cape Cod renovation, it took weeks to come up with a design scheme for one bathroom out of five. At first glance, it seemed like this would be a piece of cake (that’s when you know something’s off).

After sitting with it and staring at materials on the computer screen, nothing was integrating into the rest of the house. Finally, after hours of scouring for a drop of inspiration, I found an inspiration image of a vanity that made it all click. What followed was a domino effect — room color, wall material, shower tile, flooring — every puzzle piece falling into place one by one.

Then the process surprised us again. While our architectural designer was working on the rendering, the 2D flat image made the vanity and storage read as one continuous built-in piece. She saw it, went back to the cabinet drawing, and designed it as one continuous piece. A happy accident inside a happy accident. What started as the most stubborn bathroom became a favorite among all five.

Which is just to say: without time for research, discovery, and for sifting through hundreds of No’s to get to one YES, we wound’t have arrived where we landed.

Sometimes I wonder, are there moments where the answer comes quickly? I think that depends. Because all of the research and thought processing that took place weeks prior might have been the reason you’re getting to the light bulb moment now, which feels fast and exact in the moment, but it really just took your brain time to ignite the neurons.

I vote we go back to honoring, celebrating, and appreciating the process again.

I write this knowing that as an artist, I feel the struggle during the creative process. I sense the mind games that flood me with insecurity and second guessing, the frustrations and disappointments. Pair that with the highs, the rainbow and unicorn moments, the feeling I’ve finally figured it out is a feeling that never gets old.

I’ll be the first to admit it, I don’t like the process and the obsessive thinking that comes along with it. I do however, believe it is necessary. It is the path that gets us to greatness.

So for your next creative endeavor, or if you’re in one right now, let go of any preconceived notion of what the journey should look like and give it room to breathe. Nothing great is done within a short amount of time. Let the indecisiveness linger, allow the wishy-washy, second guessing to be a part of it, and accept that this all comes with the creative process territory.

Until one day, it clicks and the excruciating process gives way to the satisfying outcome.

Until next time,

Katie