What to Bring into a Brand New Home: Consulting for Japanese Clients in Japan from New York
I am very happy to see now more people have subscribed my blog since last year.
And I really want to say thank you for your time to read my blog.
One of my new year resolutions for 2018 was to have more clients who live in Japan.
As I live in New York, most of my clients are located in NY. But I was always interested in helping people in Japan where I am originally from, not only people in NY.
It is a great era of technology....we have internet so it is totally possible to work for people everywhere in the world by using computer and internet.
Fortunately I think I am now in the process of achieving the goal.
I visited Japan for almost two weeks in January 2019, and I met several clients who live in Tokyo and in Matsuyama where I am from.
Today I would like to share a story of one of my Japanese clients in Tokyo who completed her 7 weeks program in earlier this year.
Ms. A is a young Japanese lady whom I met in NY in 2018 when she was visiting NY. I met her through one of my friends in NY. She told me she purchased her new condo and she wanted me help arrange her condo with feng shui interior coordinating.
So I provided her online consultation service: 7 weeks home project.
Usually in my consultation and arrangement, I suggest my clients to utilize as much of what they have already owned as possible. But, in this project, we had to decide what to bring in her home from zero.
Ms. A had to listen to her needs asking herself "what color do I like?" "what style do I like?"
During the project, she often said she was so surprised to find how much time she needed to decide what she thought one small thing, such as color, texture, material, etc. (Well...it's not a small thing!)
I think it is a great thing to take time in selecting what we want to have in our homes as well as in our lives.
Grabbing whatever impulsively and bring them home is not a good move when it comes to home project from scratch.
It is natural that we want to make the empty room fully furnished as soon as possible, but let us not rush....before purchasing anything, have time to think and pick right things for us.
To do so, we really need to listen to ourselves...not others.
Listening inner voices of what kind of home we want to live in, how we want to live...whom we want to live, etc etc....
And that's what Ms. A did, too.
She was eager to complete her home furnishing as soon as possible but she was patient enough to select what she really wanted to bring into her brand new home.
If you are in her situation, do you feel thrilled imagining what to get for this room...?
Or do you think you just want to fill the room with whatever you can get easily and complete furnishing as quickly possible?
Or you may feel it's too much work...?
Maybe you do not want to compromise on what you bring in and be patient until you find what you really really like and will take forever....?
Or you might pay money to interior designer and have her / him decided for you, maybe...?
Ms. A had only 7 weeks.
Here is how she proceeded her home project with me online: Tokyo - New York.
(Living room)
At first, we discussed her desired home design...and she decided she wanted her home to be modern, chic and also comfy. Especially comfortability was the most important thing for her.
According to her feng shui five elements and the feng shui energy map, we decided colors, materials, textures...etc together.
She picked up her favorite sofa according to my consultation result.
Once the sofa arrived, she tried out some sofa layouts but they did not make her feel 100% comfortable, so I suggested her to locate the sofa with an angle......
And she said she felt just right.
Then we picked a cowhide area rug together, which will energize this area according to feng shui interior design principle.
Interestingly it was much harder to find this type of product in Japan.
At first, she was considering a black color one but I suggested a brown one to her because I thought it would fit here much better.
Same for the coffee table....I suggested several choices of designs and materials following feng shui principal, and she picked the marble round table. It took her to find her favorite one but she waited patiently.
Next we wanted add more colors...so we picked purple pillows that match with this area's energy.
She added more pillows.....
Actually this was a final room during the project contract with me (the end of 2018).
Fortunately, two months later from the completion, I had a chance to see Ms. A in person and check her room while I was visiting Japan on vacation on January.
This is what I saw.
I said to her, "Wow, it looks very sweet. More feminine taste than before...! Much sweater than what you were aiming."
She said, "I started feeling it's too sweet to me....but I am trying this for now. "
I think our room is always changing like us, so it's ok to be a little different from what we want it to be.
After my visit, I sent her this picture just to share the process of her home project.
And she sent me a message:
"Thank you for the pictures.
I was very surprise to realize how much sweet I have made my living room than I intended.....
Honestly, I feel this is not my style....it's too feminine than I wanted...
I may have lost myself somehow...?!
I want to go back what I am...a bit spicy style."
Home and people are connected to each other.
We can decorate our home the way we like freely.
We can be ourselves freely.
I look forward to seeing her new adventure.
