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Mingus
08-12-2004, 09:43 AM
I am in a bind. My wife has decided to hire an Interior Decorator to redo the living room, where my HT gear is located. I remember a couple of years ago one of my neighbors had their living room redecorated with mix results. It seems that the decorator were more interested in the way the room looks rather then the HT equipment and how it sounds. HT performance was secondary to the design choice. Have any of you had any experience with Internal Decorators.

JSE
08-12-2004, 10:36 AM
I am in a bind. My wife has decided to hire an Interior Decorator to redo the living room, where my HT gear is located. I remember a couple of years ago one of my neighbors had their living room redecorated with mix results. It seems that the decorator were more interested in the way the room looks rather then the HT equipment and how it sounds. HT performance was secondary to the design choice. Have any of you had any experience with Internal Decorators.


DON'T DO IT! I just dealt with this same issue earlier this summer. My wife hired a decorator and she wanted to replace my Boston VR-965 towers, Center and Sats with, get this, BOSE. It was a constant struggle with this crazy women. My wife understood my position and sided with me but I was lucky. The crazy "Interior Decorator", or "SHE-DEVIL" as I called her, even tried going behind my back and recruiting my wife to go against me and my speakers.

If you do get a decorator, don't let him/her into your house until you make some very clear groundrules and boundries. Once they get in, it's all over if no boundries are in place.

Remember, wear garlic and carry a wooden stake and Holy Water. You will need it.

JSE

pwh03
08-12-2004, 10:45 AM
haha

I'm sure if you said this is how the speakers and TV have to be the rest is yours, they would beable to work around them. I mean its your money and your house there just helping. If they want to do something you dont like just say no.

although I can only imagine how I might react if I awoke to find bose speakers littered about my room.... I'd wear the garlic and setup camp in my living room just to be safe

good luck
PH

topspeed
08-12-2004, 02:23 PM
I think interior decorators are great, Lord knows I don't have any taste :D! Like the others mentioned, just lay down the ground rules and you'll be fine. In fact, why not let the designer in on some of your goals such as reduced 1st order reflections, standing waves, etc. and maybe they can help arrange and treat your room in a way that not only satisfies the missus' aesthetic sensibilities but also your audio needs. This is an incredible opportunity where you both win!

chimera128
08-12-2004, 09:19 PM
... treat your room in a way that not only satisfies the missus' aesthetic sensibilities but also your audio needs. This is an incredible opportunity where you both win!


Sounds like wishful thinking to me =).

markw
08-13-2004, 03:20 AM
Interior decoraters have an inborn dislike for big, ugly speakers and clunky electronics. Particularly big, ugly speakers that are placed according to sound (pun intended) audio principles.

But' look on the bright side. They just love Bose.

Mingus
08-13-2004, 06:18 AM
I met with the Internal Decorator this morning. I saw her looking at the Paradigm Tower speakers and shaking her head. Not a good sign. Anyway I had to leave the house early this mornoing and didn't get a chance to speak to her - hopefully I'll get a chance to speak to her later. I don't know what she has cook up for the room.

JSE
08-13-2004, 08:09 AM
I met with the Internal Decorator this morning. I saw her looking at the Paradigm Tower speakers and shaking her head. Not a good sign. Anyway I had to leave the house early this mornoing and didn't get a chance to speak to her - hopefully I'll get a chance to speak to her later. I don't know what she has cook up for the room.


Oh my God, I forgot to mention the most important thing! Never, Ever leave the Decorator alone in your house with your wife. I hope it's not too late? Quick, grap the wooden stake and get home, NOW! I can only imagine how horrified your speakers are without you there. They are like a young injured antelope seperated from it's parent with a Lion lurking in the tall weeds a few yards away. Oh, the horror! :(

JSE

topspeed
08-13-2004, 08:35 AM
Oh my God, I forgot to mention the most important thing! Never, Ever leave the Decorator alone in your house with your wife. I hope it's not too late? Quick, grap the wooden stake and get home, NOW! I can only imagine how horrified your speakers are without you there. They are like a young injured antelope seperated from it's parent with a Lion lurking in the tall weeds a few yards away. Oh, the horror! :(

JSE

Cartman, you are just too damn funny :D! That's exactly what I was thinking.

Hey Mingus, I hope you don't mind Bose ;)

Woochifer
08-13-2004, 10:13 AM
Interior decorators are all about the pretty picture, not about how people will actually use their rooms. Look at a typical room and compare that to what you see in a home decorating show or interior design glossy. What's missing? Nothing, other than the usual evidence that actual people live in the homes being featured -- y'know, stuff like books, newspapers, magazines, CDs, TV remotes, and the occasional clothing strewn abouts. My wife is hooked on those home decorating shows, and every time I watch one of those, I'm always wondering where the hell the audio system is? Every notice that most people featured on those shows don't own anything more than a TV, a mini system, and a few CDs?

And this whole design cult has ventured into how audio companies present themselves as well. If you look at these magazine ads, ever notice that you don't see any cables connected to the speakers and TVs? Unless someone came up with some ingenious wireless scheme that I'm unaware of, that's just typical of how all this thematic imagery that interior designers work towards is so divorced from everyday reality.

There are designers out there that work for audio/video stores, at the very least they have experience with integrating a properly assembled home theater system into a living space.

kexodusc
08-13-2004, 10:53 AM
I invited my fiancee to move into my house with me last year...bad mistake.

I came home one day and actually found a flower pot with some hideous vile weed resting atop my left Studio 40 in my HT...the Studio 40 itself is on a stand, and was knocked off center slightly, but that wasn't my major beef...the freakin' soil and water mess that was resting on the finish was...Lucky for me there was no damage.

She's always questioning why I can't just buy some of those "modern" and "minamalist" feng-shui cube speakers with the skinny little pole-stands. GRRRRRRrrrr!!!

She doesn't seem to mind the HT when I hear General Hospital or Trading Spaces cranked to 105 dB.

If she didn't cook and clean and do all the stuff I'm too lazy to do, I'd have booted her out long ago.

Incidentally, some woman just listed some Paradigm tower speakers on ebay for dirt cheap!!! ;)

skeptic
08-13-2004, 01:09 PM
If you must endure an inferior decorator, have an understanding with your wife that you will hire an audio/video consultant to work together with her and the A/V consultant's decisions will be the final word. Most decorators are women who are architect wanabees and who make their real money from kickbacks by selling you furniture from factories out of North Carolina or their reps in your area, not to mention overpriced little nicknacks wholesalers can't get rid of either. The furniture is usually something nobody else wants and the factories can't sell eleswhere. Maybe if she steals enough of your money that way, she'll let the A/V consultant get his way. One plus would be blackout window treatments. If you can get control over lighting in your room, at least you may improve the quality of your TV viewing, especially if you have a front or rear projection set.

Mingus
08-16-2004, 05:44 AM
I met with the decorator over the weekend. She recommends that I hide the Paradigm Studio 60s and the electronics in a new wall unit so it will not be seen. She doens't know what to do about the Velodyne sub - she said it is too big for the room. She said as a alternative I can replace the whole HT system with the modern looking Bose Lifestyle. Oh boy, what a choice. She said she has this setup in her living room. So I ask her, 'how it does sound.' She said she dosen't know, she hardly use it. I got the impression that she just uses her living room showcase her design to prospective clients. She said she will be back to speak with the wife this morning.

kexodusc
08-16-2004, 06:24 AM
I met with the decorator over the weekend. She recommends that I hide the Paradigm Studio 60s and the electronics in a new wall unit so it will not be seen. She doens't know what to do about the Velodyne sub - she said it is too big for the room. She said as a alternative I can replace the whole HT system with the modern looking Bose Lifestyle. Oh boy, what a choice. She said she has this setup in her living room. So I ask her, 'how it does sound.' She said she dosen't know, she hardly use it. I got the impression that she just uses her living room showcase her design to prospective clients. She said she will be back to speak with the wife this morning.

Tell me, Mingus, are you paying money for this???

JSE
08-16-2004, 08:07 AM
I truly think Bose finds decorators and offers them kickbacks for every system they place in a home. It would fit right in with their marketing. What wrong with this statement, "Bose is the best because my decorator told me so!"

JSE

topspeed
08-16-2004, 09:25 AM
She said as a alternative I can replace the whole HT system with the modern looking Bose Lifestyle.
NO! You've got to be kidding! Boy, we sure didn't see that one coming, eh?

Bryan
08-17-2004, 08:54 AM
Decorators tend to focus on looks. Rather than going with the Paradigm or sight unseen speakers (i.e. Bose) why do they not offer other choices such as Rocket, nOrh, or Magnepan? Better yet, why do they not focus on incorporating existing equipment into their design, even if looks may need to be redone? (That being said, painting messing with my speakers color is grounds for war. Mess with the color of the grill cloth all you want. Leave the rest alone.)

Mingus
08-20-2004, 05:16 AM
Hey, thanks for the advice. My wife and I have decided to redecorate ourself. The advice from the decorator didn't sound right in terms of sound HT principles. The last straw was her idea of painting the Paradigm speakers white and adding a bouquet of artificial flowers on top of each speaker to soften the look. Can you believe that. She also said I have to buy a smaller sub to fit into the small cabinet. She wants to replace the surround speakers with in-ceiling speakers for that minimalist look. As an alternative, Bose Life Style was on top of her choices - she said it was the best selling system, recommendated by most modern decorators. She said those cute looking cubes will look good in any room. Maybe later on we will hire a A/V person to do the design.