The tub can wait

A client once sent me her dream home board. 47 images. Marble islands, floor to ceiling windows, a soaking tub big enough for two.

Her actual apartment was 650 square feet.

No tub. No island. One window that faced a wall.

I didn’t say anything at first.

I just asked her to tell me what she’d use every single day.

She said the tub.

She’d never once mentioned needing to relax, or bathe slowly, or have a moment alone.

She’d just seen the tub enough times to think it was a requirement.

That’s the part nobody warns you about.

A mood board isn’t a wishlist!!

It’s a record of what you’ve been shown, repeated back to you until it feels like desire.

Budget doesn’t lie the way a board does.

Neither does square footage, or the direction your windows face, or how many people actually live in your home.

Those are facts.

The board is just a feeling, dressed up as a plan.

I’ve started asking one question before any project begins.

“If this exact image cost you your only closet, would you still want it?”

Most people hesitate.

Some laugh, because they already know the answer.

A few say yes, and those are the ones worth building around, because now it’s a real choice instead of a borrowed one.

Design isn’t about matching your space to the board.

It’s about figuring out which parts of the board were ever actually yours.

The tub can wait.

The life you’re actually living in that apartment can’t.