February 14th : The New-Year of Interior Design

FEBRUARY 14TH.. Chinese New Year!

If January's New Year did not inspire you, perhaps February's will! In my opinion, this upcoming celebration holds much more significance than the Western holiday of Valentines Day. The 2010 Chinese New Year symbolizes generosity and wealth earned with hard work; it is a dutiful, family oriented and dependable year. St. Valentines Day represents warmth, love and 'togetherness'.. two birds with one stone?

Lets use the January New Year as a moment to reflect upon ourselves and the Chinese New Year as a moment to reflect upon our homes and our environments! Feng Shui, the ancient Chinese art of harmonizing our homes, may provide the perfect link between the Western & Eastern holidays celebrated on February 14th. Here are some suggestions, following the art of Feng Shui, that will enhance the love found in any home:

..De-Clutter! Reorganize your home, your office, your life. This will allow fresh energy and opportunities to flow to you! Donate and giveaway to thrift stores, neighborhood organizations and charities. This act will clear your mind and home of clutter whilst breathing new life into old items.

..The South West corner of your home is considered the "Love Sector." If this area is messy, it may reflect on the 'Love Sector' of your life as well. If this is an unloved or under-utilized space (a closet or bare corner) you may experience an emotional void. Bring life into this corner with fresh flowers, warm sunlight, soft fabrics and a conscience effort to enjoy that space.

..Pairing items represents union and creates balance. The photo above has thoughtfully arranged furniture allowing for easy conversation amongst those you love while using symmetry for a balanced energy in the room.

..Bring Life into your home! Fresh flowers are beautiful, but living plants contribute to homes in many more ways than simply beauty. We tend and care for them as we would anyone else in our family, they return the love by offering clean air and a fresh environment; a perfect union.

On a different note, Valentines Day does not have to be red hearts and mass-produced greeting cards; I see it as the first hint of Spring! Romance can be added without overdosing on red, try spring colors such as orange, yellow, and purple. The Global Views Showroom sums this up perfectly! They play with texture, pattern, and of course color to create a refreshing alternative to a 'romantic-red' dining room.

Above is a more sensual approach. The contrast of Dark and Light furnishings create harmony while the pops of vibrant pink add a flirty tone!
We hope the Chinese New Year and St. Valentines Day encourages you to live well, be well, work well and love well. This is a time to embrace change and encourage growth; to love those you are with and be in love with what is around you!

The Modern Mauve

Mauve has come a long way. After being buried as an awkward reminder of the past, Mauve has resurfaced as a mindful accent & a comforting neutral that sets the pace for the new decade.
This is an all encompassing color trend!

We are seeing it being used in advertisements,
fashion and more and more throughout our own homes.



We will see this color embrace browns, greys, pinks and purples creating a chic bouquet perfect for large areas or as an accent. There is something glamorous yet earthy about these dusty hues. They mix the old with the new creating comfort and warmth; a major motivation & consideration when designing in 2010. Although the color has a fresh start this year, the name is still outdated. If "Mauve" is a hard term to swallow when thinking of modern design perhaps Amethyst, Dusty Berry or Rhubarb seem more appropriate. Many clients are taking a softer, more gentle approach to their color palettes. This amethyst hue carries warmth and provides the moment to showcase vibrant complimentary colors such as a lime green.

Here at O Interior Design we are celebrating a new year, new trends and a fresh outlook on the interiors to come! Here are a few of the things we love in our beloved Mauve:

We found these on Buckhouse.biz, a fabulous and eclectic website that caters to the unique! These leather and chrome chairs, designed by John Stuart lend funk and glamour to any space.

A hand-knotted, wild silk rug with a beautiful "coffee stain" abstract by Fort Street Studio. This rug melds geometric motif with an organic feel creating subtle beauty.
A bath’s best friend. Soft and plush underfoot in earth-friendly, certified organic cotton that’s grown without harmful pesticides or herbicides. West Elm pairs this Dusty Amethyst with teals and greys of the same tonal value, fresh and relaxing.
"Albany Damask" from the Cassix Exotic Flock Collection from Cole & Son takes a classic damask design and livens it up with exciting colors.

Designed by Antonio Marasco (1896-1975) this textile by Obsborne & Little is a trellis reminiscent of the braiding on military uniforms. A retro design for a reborn color!

Do not disregard this once subdued color! It provides the link between past and present, between comfort and trend. It is likely that Mauve will make its comeback and vanish just like any other retro movement, but until then we plan to fully embrace and share its great warmth!

Cheers to 2010!
Cheers to loving our surroundings!
Cheers to Mauve!

Trends in Design for 2010

Furniture Trends: More and more people are coming to us and asking for a truly unique look. They don't want their home to look like they bought everything all at once from one store. We are buying local and going custom more and more. We're seeing people ready to pay for quality and being patient about the time it takes to get quality. Comfort will be huge in 2010.

Color Trends: I think it all started with me wanting to paint my powder room mauve....The next thing I noticed was Andrea pulling more and more purple fabrics. I have to admit, I did roll my eyes at her at first, but I'm all in on the purple now. I think next year we'll continue seeing more color inspiration from the 80's.

Lighting Trends: Staying with the custom trend - we will see more wall sconces. We installed a lot in 2009 and I think that's going to keep happening as people want a higher end look. We would love to see even more advances in lighting technology next year....

Design Trends: We are already seeing this: a return to shopping with designers and trusting them on all of the design decisions down to the smallest detail. More than ever things that used to be "to the trade" are becoming readily accessible to the public - because of this, we've seen people getting floundered by all of the choices available. We predict that we will see a mix of all styles to get that unique and custom look.

The last trend to watch is that we will be updating our blog more frequently.....Happy New Year - see you in 2010!

The importance of concept sketches!

Most people, even designers, have trouble visualizing the "end product." A designer tells you - "Let's put built-in shelves on both sides of this room and then we'll put wallpaper behind the shelves and put a new sofa here, two chairs here and here are all the fabrics and here's what the new chandelier will look like!" You, the client, looks back at them and says "Uhhh, okay, I guess" while not having a clue what it will look like in the end and feeling slightly dizzy at the prospect of it all. Sometimes, the designer's not even clear on what the end product will look like!

Sketching out the room before anything's been purchased, built, decided on 100% is soo worth the little time it takes to do. You are paying for a well-thought out design. It makes sense to be absolutely confident that you are going to be happy with the final look, and an easy way to do this is by looking at a sketch.

Here's a sketch we did for a living room:And, here's a photo of the final product (different angle):

There are a few differences, but the "look" is the same. The sketch doesn't need to be polished, just a rough idea of the look and what colors go where can help most people say, "Aha! I get it now!" and either sign off on the idea, or decide that maybe they don't love the color green as much as they thought they did and tweak it a bit.

Sketching is a great communication tool - don't feel shy to ask your designer for this. Please check out our "Conceptualization" page at O Interior Design to see more examples!
http://ointeriordesign.com/pages/conc.htm

Installation Update

No, it's not Anne Rice's apartment.... The attached image is just an updated shot of an install in progress! We believe in delivering an amazing product to our clientele, and truly unique innovative interiors always take a number of steps to deliver - no HGTV "done in a day" for this job. Of course, part of that delivery depends on good project management. The ultimate goal for this wall is for it to be antique mirror with lit wallpaper panels inside. Now, this goal has been a lofty one, and it has taken months to build it out, install lighting, apply paneling and wallpaper and paint at various points! As one can imagine, the number of installers for one wall - such a small piece of a large job - denotes the number of subcontractors needed for custom work. At one point we were juggling 14-17 sub contractors in one week for the entire space. That's when experience and organization come into play, and it's one of the things that client's pay us for - to streamline the process as much as possible.



This wall was shown painted creme in a previous image. Now it's black. Why did we paint it twice? The antique mirror will naturally have seams, and if the base underneath is light, then you will see it in the seams. If it's dark, then the seams will appear to be minimized which is the end goal. The clients were living in the space, and we didn't think they would want to live there for a month with black walls. With the antique mirror at least one month out when they moved in, the decision was made to keep the space as light as possible until the mirror could be applied. Of course, the black actually looks amazing and very dramatic. We all love it - temporarily - but the mirror will lighten and expand the space. So, the creme paint gave the client a closer feeling to the actual look of the finished product. These seem like small decisions, but we find that they directly correlate to the clients' happiness with their home. It's important to make sure that the client is content with a jobsite, especially if there is a lot of construction going on day-to-day. They get to live there, and we want to keep them comfortable.

Next week the antique mirror is being applied!!! We can't wait to reveal the finished product, and we'll be sure to update as soon as we have the images.

Caro

Switching Gears: An Install

Another glamorous meal in the life of an interior designer.....

As Andrea wrote in her posted comment, we're in the process of value engineering (re-selecting things to fit within the client's budget) the project for which we started this dialogue, and our General Contractor had the flu, so things have been at a stand still.

How have we filled the time, you might ask? We've had a fantastic, almost year-long project come to its final few days - this is also known as "The Install". This is Andrea's favorite time in a project. You get to see yours and the client's vision come to fruition. This is finishing touches, delivering furniture that has been stored or been just finished, hanging drapery, displaying art, accessorizing. This is the big payoff. The client gets giddy; we get giddy; we all get a little bit weepy.

It can also be a mind-boggling challenge to coordinate (as the wonderful (and pregnant) Caro would tell you.) Yesterday we had most of the furniture delivered - Andrea was on her hands and knees dusting the floor, inspecting and adjusting the furniture over and over and over again - I think she may have even washed a window or two. I took a few photos today for you to see the last minute hoop-la that goes on before the client moves in!

Superheroes: Carpenters and Electricians!


Entertainment Room in Progress....

A day in the life of a project

Our clients are a young couple who live in Boulder, Colorado - they've hired us to assist them with all interior finishes, elevations (built-ins, kitchen design), and furniture - this is a remodel of an existing house. They brought us in before demolition or construction began and we've met with the architect several times and have already created a lighting plan and selected light fixtures (we had to do this first, and quickly, in order to get a building permit).

We love being brought in to a project this early (actually, even earlier would have been even better); and we're really excited about it. We've started this blog to document the design process from the start to the finish. We hope to illuminate the many facets of undertaking a project like this. The fun of finish/furniture selection, the problem solving/value engineering that usually goes on, the small triumphs, moments of zen, moments of angst, and moments of boredom that are almost inevitable with any project.

In the coming weeks we will post some photographs of the job site as it is now along with schematic drawings and inspiration images from the client.