Fall 2020 One Room Challenge x High Point Market: Week 4

week 1 | week 2 | week 3 | week 4 | week 5 | week 6

“Disclaimer: after getting thrown into a tumultuous move, my week 4 post is late — but still exciting!”

Holy smokes...2 weeks to go. Even though I have not been physically executing this design, knowing that it isn't a design that I entirely pulled from the belly of my imagination has made it just as stressful to conceptualize. Adding on the stress of just life -- 2020 being all 2020 and ish -- I finally made the decision to fire myself.

How did I "fire myself"?

I finally admitted that even though I can do all the things, I shouldn't have to (or even want to). Participating as a featured designer in the first ever virtual ORC didn't surprise anyone — many, if not most, people who came to know me it's from my e-designs, specifically my mood boards and design renderings. A virtual ORC is just another day for me... or at least would've been; but things have changed so much since my early days in design, including no longer being a service provider. My plate runneth over with so many other responsibilities and opportunities, that I had to be very intentional with my time. While I am still a work in progress when it comes to such matters, the ORC was a necessary reality check.

Am I capable of executing a virtual design, from start to finish, without any help? DUH! But at what cost?

When I did my virtual show house design for HPMKT, I decided to do something a little different and fun to bring my design to life. I've always been fascinated by illustrators & their work, so I reached out to Nicole Updegraff — who I'd been following for the longest over on IG! — to bring my mood boards to life.

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A post shared by Albie Knows (@albieknows) on Oct 8, 2020 at 2:11pm PDT

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A post shared by Albie Knows (@albieknows) on Oct 10, 2020 at 12:12pm PDT

Aside from trusting someone to do what they do best, it was sooooooooo freeing to have that creative responsibility off my plate. I could just conceptualize and design, without them having to switch mental gears and translate my ideas into a visual design. For the ORC I craved that same freedom; so while I could do my own renderings for the reveal in two weeks, I decided not to and jumped at the chance to partner with Duke Renders.

I was first introduced to Duke Renders and their work thru fellow featured ORC designer, Eneia White. Eneia has shared some of the renderings that they've done for her over on IG, so the quality of their work was not lost to me. Why should I labor over something I'm good at but will undoubtedly take up a bunch of my time when I could outsource it to an expert... who will do it better and quicker? So I fired myself.

Self-care = Outsourcing!

Knowing that I just have a little bit of homework up front — provide my design concept, mood boards, measurements, etc. — and then Fernando and his team over at Duke Renders will do all the heavy lifting has been a total game changer. And for context of how much of my time this gives back to me... I was late to submit my materials to them but I was so overwhelmed with other things going on. If I barely found the time to give them my materials, where could I possibly find the time to execute the renders!?

Duke Renders is all about giving interiors designers the time and space to do what we do best — design! — and they do what they do best.

I cannot wait for y'all to see what we create together — I am so geeked — especially after a rollercoaster of a week. I know for a whole fact I wouldn't have been able to render anything but excuses for y'all. This frees me up to tinker with the design a bit, with the confidence that the final reveal with still be amazing!

When's the last time you fired yourself?

What could you outsource &take off your plate to reclaim some of your time (and sanity)?

Lemme know over on IG and let the countdown begin to week 5...