On measuring up

It wouldn’t fit. It wouldn’t fit no matter which way it was turned, angled or cajoled. It resolutely would not fit. Argh! I wasn’t there to witness the lack of fit-ness. I found out about it later, back at the showroom. It was a real heart-sink moment. This was my first foray into interior design for the showroom I worked for and I had f*cked up… majorly.

The clients were a lovely young couple expecting their first baby and wanted the house perfect for its arrival. The house had been fully renovated and although beautifully finished, was a little austere and definitely not child friendly. We worked happily on colour schemes, furniture styles and child friendly fabrics. All progressed as it should. We even spent a deal of time checking access for the sofa. The door to the kitchen/family room at the back of the house is very much taller than it is wide so the sofa would have to be brought in via a narrow alleyway and across a neighbour’s garden. The delivery team confirmed it would fit. Just.

And then, they thought a comfy chair was needed for the guest room. In the loft. We finally settled on a style and a fabric. It was duly made and upholstered. It looked fabulous. A day was designated for delivery. Off went the chair.

And then it came back. It wouldn’t fit. No matter which way it was turned, angled or cajoled, it resolutely would not fit around the turn of the stairs. I was mortified. I had thought long and hard about how the chair would look and feel in the room, how it would compliment the furniture they already owned, whether it would get through the doorway but somehow it just hadn’t occurred to me to check that we could actually get it up the stairs. I felt monumentally stupid, dismayed, embarrassed, that I had let everyone down. Both my boss and the clients were very understanding, for which I am hugely grateful. The clients accepted a credit note in lieu of the chair, which resided in the showroom for some time before eventually being sold.

It was a lesson well learned. For, I am now an inveterate checker and double checker of measurements, a practice which has I think had the beneficial effect of giving me a good grounding in proportion, so much so that I have had to change the size of the repeat in just one of all the fabrics I have designed, the others working as I intended.

And I was so very fortunate to work for someone who was forgiving of mistakes, even costly ones, …which is perhaps the greater lesson.