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Community Corner

Local Mover Works with Interior Designer So Things Fit -- Stylishly

MOVING BY DESIGN

BOSTON, MASS. (Issued Winter 2014)  -- The kids are grown and you have several ‘spare’ rooms. You found a new, smaller place and have called a mover. Join the ‘downsizers club.’

But how do you fit eight rooms of stuff into four rooms? “You can’t fit 10 pounds of potatoes in a five-pound bag,” smiles Jean Brillant (pronounced bree-yont), founder of Brilliant Move based in Avon, Mass. (www.brilliantmove.net). “During my first 10 years in the moving business, I met many people who were so concerned with ‘the move,’ they hadn't thought about ‘the move in.’ That was the impetus to launch a new concept: Brilliant Interiors – a collaborative effort combining the skills and resources of a professional mover and an interior designer.”

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A recent client was downsizing from a 6,000 square-foot home to a 3,000 square-foot condo. “She had enough furniture, artwork, antiques and heirlooms to fill three condos,” says Brillant, “but I’m not the one to suggest which items to keep or how best to set things up in the new digs.”

Enter Interior Designer Lysa Wilkins of Wayland (www.lysawilkins.com) who has worked with dozens of Brilliant Move’s clients. “I take an inventory and measure all their items,” says Wilkins who studied at The Art Academy of Cincinnati and has worked as a designer/decorator on her own for ten years. “Then I measure every inch of the new place. Once the client agrees on what to keep and what to sell, store or give away, I create a floor plan showing where everything will go in the new place.”

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For the downsizing client, the measurements Wilkins provided to Brilliant Move were exact within inches. Rugs and furniture had their assigned places and the entire move was complete in a day. “That saved the client a lot of ‘moving day stress’ and many man-hours awaiting critical decisions under pressure,” says Brillant. “It was a challenge and a half,” says Wilkins.

Another Brilliant Move client hired Wilkins to help them buy all new furniture before the move.  Brillant stored items as they came in. When the new place was ready, he moved everything in following Wilkins’ floor plan. Other clients ‘upsize’ – perhaps they’re expecting a baby, and want advice before moving from a small apartment to a house.

Brillant says the added cost of using an interior designer is offset in several ways: It’s a time-saver and anxiety-reducer. It’s a money-saver eliminating extra hours if movers need to take furniture from room to room while the client decides where it fits. It’s less disruption to your life. The movers follow the agreed-upon floor plan so the client can focus on unpacking and immediately begin to plan a housewarming party the next weekend (LOL).

Brillant agrees with Wilkins who says, “Everyone feels a sense of joy and security when they’re in an environment that reflects who they are and what they value in life. It gives me immense pleasure to provide that environment. I love how, at the end of a project, the smile on my client’s face is staying for a long, long time.  My goal is to not leave my fingerprints behind. Your space should be a reflection of you.”

Jean Brillant at Brilliant Move can be reached jean@brilliantmove.net  / (617) 514-4052    / www.BrilliantMove.net.                  –                                                                                                   By Stan Hurwitz     stanhurwitz@gmail.com   508-269-0570             

Attention, Editor: For photos and/or to arrange an interview, please contact Stan Hurwitz: 508-269-0570 /  stanhurwitz@gmail.com .                                            
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