Ever had a client say, āBut they did it on HGTV for half the price and in one weekend!ā 
Love the inspiration those shows bring, but sometimes they make real-world projects look way too easy!
Letās hear your best āthatās not how it works in real lifeā stories, or your favorite HGTV myths that make you laugh every time. 
This hits so close to home! Weāve all had the HGTV-based budget/timeline shock conversation. The biggest myth, especially around luxury and custom work, is that custom furniture (and complex millwork) just appears overnight and is somehow cheap.
We recently completed a highly customized sleeping area/bunk bed millwork unit for a luxury car condo at Iron Gate Motor Condos, in Naperville IL. This project perfectly illustrates the gap between TV and reality:
The Myth: The client thinks a clean, sleek bunk area can be drawn up, built, shipped, delivered and installed in a few days. Uhh No!
The Reality: The design was complex, blending a luxury aesthetic with incredible space efficiency (in a non-traditional residential space). It required detailed 3D modeling, sourcing specialized materials, redlines, redlines and more redlines, engineering to manage load-bearing in a vertical space, add special cat tunnels, perches (then tell the millworkers about those tunnels) and weeks of careful fabrication by a high-end millworkerāall to meet the extremely high finish standards of a luxury client.
Iād love to share the photo of the completed custom bunk bed millworkāitās beautiful, functional, and definitely did not appear with a magic wand!! [Project link: Cabanilla Design Collective]
Itās these behind-the-scenes processes, specialized skill sets, and the cost of true craftsmanship that HGTV just canāt show in a 30-minute segment. We have to constantly educate clients on why this process creates real, lasting value, not just instant gratification.
Keep fighting the good fight!!!
Melinda Cabanilla - Founder - Cabanilla Design Collective
Iāll never forget this one client I had many years ago. Iām 61 now, but back when I was in my late 20s (about 1990?), a man came into our family business with a set of blueprints under his arm. He was an older manā¦.late 60s to early 70s. I showed him around and we talked about his new house and his cabinets and countertops. The house was one of those 90s homes where EVERY wall was angledā¦barely a 90 degree corner in the whole house. LOL Near the end of our appointment, I said, āWell, let me know when your builder breaks ground and when the house framing is started. Then weāll come out and take field dimensionsā¦.and then weāll meet again to finalize!ā He got really angry, grabbed his blueprint off my desk and started to walk outā¦the whole time mumbling, āYou donāt know what youāre doing! If you canāt read a blueprint, then you must not know what youāre doingā. Basically, saying āyou dumb girlā. I think he was put off by me being a young āgirlā even though I was around 27. I already had 7 years under my belt. I started designing when I was about 20 years old. He was almost out the door. It took me a minute to stop him and get his rambling to stop. And I said to him, āHold onā¦.I can order off your blueprintā¦.that makes it super easy on me! So I take it, youāre taking responsibility for the framers to frame everything to spec??? And if the cabinets donāt fit, then youāll reorder new ones at YOUR expense? That stopped him in his tracks. I said I could definitely read a blueprint and ordering on the blue print would be GREAT! He changed his tune.
So he waited for me to measure the framing! Hardly anything was perfect to the blueprint. Fast forward a few monthsā¦.his kitchen is installed and fit perfect. Mr. P was so embarassed that he said those things to me. He apologized and said he was grateful for my expertise! 
Love that. Also, welcome! Great to see you over here!