Project Guinea Pig

Rebecca
Jul 24
2 min read

Last Fall I embarked on Project Guinea Pig. What was the purpose? The purpose was to find a test kitchen for the Happy Eyes framework. I needed to find someone who was looking to fully redo a room or two. I wanted to see the process through the full transformation. From beginning to end.

And I wanted feedback. Did the framework keep us razor-focused on the purpose of the room? The first letter of the framework acronym begins with “M” for meaning. Did it help to organize the room around meaning? (see that blog post here)

And then there was the actual process. I wanted to know if the steps in the process eliminated the overwhelm that we can feel when faced with making big changes. There is a sequence I had in my mind of organizing the steps to allow us to move through the process in a way that made the next steps clear and cut out the noise of decisions that were further down the road.

While the end goal is a beautiful room that reflects the person living there, I also want the process to feel good. Like a lovely dance where there is just enough frame to provide stability and guidance, but enough flexibility to adapt and let things unfold naturally.

I wanted to make sure that the framework and process kept me, as the design-facilitator, focused on the client without defaulting to my own design patterns. The goal is to follow Happy Eyes. That inner muse that mysteriously pulls us towards certain colors, textures, shapes, and patterns that we love. Only the homeowner can advise on these things. My role is to ask good questions and help weave it all together.

Last September, I registered last-minute for my first Creative Mornings. I was walking through a sea of strangers in the lobby of the BMA when a smiling friendly woman complimented my glasses. Hers were super cool, too. I didn’t know it at the time but she was my future guinea pig! A few months later I was sitting in her office hearing about all the great changes happening in her life and how she needed her rooms to level up.

What I didn’t expect when I began this journey was how much it would change me. It reminded me that creativity can help us move through transitions in productive and meaningful ways—something my guinea pig already knew and practiced regularly. She even had a collage she had created to help her process the major shifts she was experiencing. For me, the magic was realizing that I had serendipitously landed in the capable hands of a master facilitator. Her work involves guiding organizations through strategic planning at pivotal moments, and simply watching how she moves through the world became its own kind of mentorship. I call her my guinea pig, but in truth, I was the guinea pig. Walking through this process with her was my honor and a highlight of the year.

Pics and blogs of the room projects coming soon, folks!