Great New Kitchen Design Blog - Useful Spaces

I just discovered a great new blog (new to me) by Canadian kitchen designer Arne Salvesen, CKD.

He joins just a very few male kitchen and bath design bloggers. Most of us are of the female persuasion.

Arne has a lot of good posts already up since his launch in March 2009. I especially love his spelling of "colourful" and "centre".

Check him out at Useful Spaces. Welcome Arne!

I was especially taken by his post The "B" Word, about budgeting for your kitchen remodel.

This is a sore subject among kitchen and bath dealers and their clients - The dealers need to have a budget figure to design an appropriately priced project and the clients often like to keep the information close to the vest to avoid spending more than they want.

As an independent designer who represents and works only in the client's interest, I have found it quite remarkable how differently my clients react when I ask the "B" question. They are almost always very forthcoming about their budgets. It is one aspect of the transition I made in 1996, when I closed my showroom, that has made my task as a designer soooo much easier.

The remarkable thing is: I don't do anything any differently than I did before. I just stopped selling product to my clients. The difference is that they no longer SEE me as a salesperson.

Peggy