On certain days, I sit in front of my computer for days and wonder how I will fill my screen with prose. I will my fingers to fly over the keyboard and come up with something magical and inspirational for my loyal readers but some days….no magic and no inspiration!

Today is that day; I have been tapping the keys for a few days with no end in sight and nothing on my mind.

My distraction is valid, I am getting married in a few weeks and although the ceremony is simple there are still many details to co-ordinate before we tie the knot! My eye for design and passion for colour haunts me at a time like this and it is a struggle to find the items I need in the fabulous vibrant orange that I love. I had hopes of orange shoes to add a punch of wow to my cream dress but could not find the right combination of colour and style that I loved so I compromised with cream shoes adding the orange punch elsewhere.

Often our choices in design (or weddings) are dictated by what we can arrange or buy and less with what we think we actually want.

I just had a client in showing me her ultra cool ensuite sink and she said “I wanted a rectangular sink but I didn’t have a big enough vanity for it”.

Understandable, I wanted orange shoes but didn’t find the ones that were perfect. Better to get what works with what you have than trying to stuff an oversized sink onto an undersized vanity! I had found the perfect shade of orange in a 4” stiletto heel but would have towered over my fiancé at our wedding. It’s all about compromise.

What is a fashionable gal to do when she desperately wants something for her home but it just won’t work? How will I LIVE if I can’t have the glitzy chandelier for my dining room that is obviously too big and too far out of my budget? My professional answer as your favorite designer? GET OVER IT! I say that gently and with a smile on my face because I care about your well being and don’t want you to stress about something you can’t possibly have – it’s just not healthy!

What I have found in design is there is always a compromise, always a budget option for the look and style you want.

You will almost always be able to find a price equivalent of the item you are longing for if you learn to manage your expectations and lower the emotional value of items you think you need. In the long term, our tastes will change and that item that you longed for will become as dated and annoying to look at as the brass and smoked glass light hanging in your foyer.

The search may be longer but I promise you will eventually find most things you want and everything that you need for your home.

The trick is having an open mind when it comes to you finding your perfect design element and expect to have to sometimes do some research.

“The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.” Henry David Thoreau

Kim Lewis is an interior designer in Red Deer with Carpet Colour Centre.