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Before<br />
The Decorating Conversation<br />
I’m Jan Bertin and welcome to<br />
The Decorating Conversation. I<br />
decided on that as the title to my<br />
column because that’s precisely<br />
what I hope to engage in with you:<br />
A conversation. And the subject,<br />
your home, has lots of different<br />
dimensions: The things that<br />
make it special to you and what<br />
you’d like to change to make it<br />
more beautiful or comfortable or<br />
functional. And, yes, even what<br />
you absolutely can’t stand about it<br />
and has to go now!<br />
For some of you, the conversations we’ll<br />
be having in this space about issues that<br />
matter to you might be your first time<br />
talking (albeit indirectly) with a decorator.<br />
Over my 25 years working here in Old<br />
Town and before that in the New York City<br />
suburbs, I’ve learned that we decorators<br />
can be seen as intimidating. Or as too expensive<br />
or snooty or overly fussy types. I<br />
hope to show you that such isn’t the case.<br />
My philosophy is that you set the tone<br />
with your likes, dislikes, needs, sentimental<br />
attachments and budgets. My<br />
job becomes to lend my experience, my<br />
expertise and my guidance to your efforts.<br />
Those are some of the elements that<br />
make any relationship work and interior<br />
decorating is no exception.<br />
As we decide on the scope and options<br />
for your project, the elephant enters<br />
the room. What’s all this going to cost?<br />
Experience has taught me that this is the<br />
biggest obstacle that keeps people from<br />
getting in touch with an interior decorator.<br />
Experience has also proven that it is the<br />
easiest to overcome.<br />
Yes, we’d all love to have the finest of<br />
everything. And no, we all eventually give<br />
in to reality. Where I enter the equation<br />
is in presenting my clients options that<br />
work within a realistic framework. Just as<br />
you wouldn’t expect to walk into a dealer<br />
showroom with $10,000 and drive out<br />
with a Rolls-Royce, you can’t realistically<br />
expect Amazon pricing when working with<br />
a decorator. But working with a decorator<br />
most certainly doesn’t imply you’re going<br />
to be paying Rolls-Royce prices.<br />
Here’s how the balance is struck. We<br />
do the legwork of sorting through the<br />
thousands of options available to you<br />
for fabrics, paint, wallpaper, furnishings,<br />
flooring and carpeting, contractors of all<br />
36 alexandrialivingmagazine.com • <strong>Sept</strong>ember / October 2021
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