24/7talk Interior Design, a blogging page about Interior Design

Let's start the week on a smile, for some items there are no words….

Bathrooms have always been tricky to decorate, but this new invention makes accessorizing the toilet seat a no-brainer. A California company created a toilet that's also a fish tank. Don't worry, the fish aren't swimming in the bowl, but in a special container where they are safe and protected from flushing. Who needs magazine?, you can enjoy some live entertainment instead.

They walk into their home and feel this great sense of accomplishment and are smiling from ear to ear. They picture where everything is going to go, what color they will l choose, the furniture they will buy, the art and pictures they will hang, and the memories they will build. They bought their new dream home and now it’s the time to decorate. Why would a proud homeowner take the chance by decorating their new dream home without the help of a professional interior designer? There are several blunders and even more most homeowners make when moving into their new home. Many people end up spending more to get a professional to fix their mistakes than if they hired them in the first place and I can tell quite some stories about it.

• A.) Not Getting Help from an Interior Designer

Designers can help homeowners plan the use their living space and come up with a strategy on how to decorate their home based on the space, some of the items they have already, and new items for their house. Professionals, like myself from the Final Touch Interiors, can put together a comprehensive floor plan, furniture layout, and a budget before they start in order to avoid mistakes. Interior Designers pull together different material and styles, incorporate items they have, and consider their budget, which saves time and money.

• B.) Clutter and Disorganization

Homeowners should avoid keeping anything they don’t use. Having too much clutter can make a room look smaller and less comfortable to live in. We are working with professionals from NAPO which can help you to decide what to dispose of and how to store the rest.

• C.) Quality Versus Quantity

Buy the best you can afford. Spend the money on items that are getting used and abused daily, such as a family room couch. Also, don’t fill the space with a lot of unnecessary items. Quality versus quantity! Having a lot of items will just make a room look more chaotic instead of being a well thought out design where all the elements flow together.

• D.) Bad Lighting

The key to success is great lighting. Many customers don’t pay that much attention to their lighting and end up with a bad lighted living space. Don’t have just one light source. Lighting is used to make the interior of your home more dramatic and is used also to create ambiance. Have lamps on the end tables for reading or less obtrusive lighting and use dimmers for overhead lighting. Just as an Example use lighting for focal points in the room and up-light plants. The lighting in a room can change the feel entirely so finding the right combination is important. We will write in the next couple of weeks some chapters in what and how to use lighting correctly.

• E.) Lack of Experience Working with Scale

Since many people have not been trained in Interior Design, they buy furniture just because they like the color, the fabric, or the way it looks in the store. Sales people will sell you anything just to make the sale. Customers will buy it without a set plan on how it will look in their room or where they will put it. I have it seen it in too many cases. They haven’t taken into consideration how it will relate to the rest of the room. Each room is different and each room needs its own planning. An interior designer knows how to look at a room and plan what it will look like after everything is put in place.

• F.) Wrong Scale when Accessorizing

Details and accessories in a room can bring everthing together. Many interior designers suggest, don’t buy all the accessories at once, I agree completely with that statement. Take your time and buy pieces little by little and as they fit the individuals style and the rest of the decorative decor. Group accessories together, don’t spread them out by themselves, create a theme and a feeling for your room. Also, add some of your own items that have sentimental value. Not everything needs to matched or it will start to look like a model home and looks too staged, which is a common mistake too.

• G.) Wrong Furniture Arrangement

Don’t arrange furniture all in a row against the wall. It makes the room look smaller and it will also make the room look boring. The room needs movement and a creative set up, make groupings that make sense. It is important to look at all the options on paper, use a floor plan. There is always more then one option for how to place furniture. Look at the floor plan, take into consideration how many people need to sit, and pay attention to the focal points. Although these are some ways to make sure a home is blunder proof, it is easier to hire an interior designer who has the knowledge and expertise to put it all together. In my opinion Homeowners hire professionals to help build their home, now they should hire a professional to help decorate their home. In too many cases this is not happening.

Duette PowerRise for Skylights is the ideal solution for hard to reach Skylight Windows. Thhe convenience, ease and beauty of the PowerRise™ remote control system is now available for skylight window applications from Final Touch Interiors, in Hawthorne, NY.  For about a third the price of other motorized skylight options, Hunter Douglas PowerRise for Skylights makes it easy and affordable to raise and lower skylight shades.
Aside from making a noticeable difference in room temperature, Duette PowerRise for Skylight shades can give you everything you ever wanted from a skylight window!  By filtering the light with ¾” semi-opaque fabric selections, you will dramatically reduce the harmful ultraviolet rays to protect your flooring, furnishings and accessories from damage. This diffused light reduces glare on television and computer screens. Or if you want to darken the room even more, the ¾” opaque fabrics may be selected.  Duette PowerRise for Skylights system puts you in charge to control light and energy efficiency all year around at the touch of a button.

The Window Shade business has made Solar Screen Shades already for a long time. This particular Solar Shades were mostly used in the Commercial or Healthcare Environment to control the Sunlight. In the Residential Market it has not gotten the right attention as the colors were mostly limited and fabric designs more geared to the Commercial as well the Healthcare Market. Lately somehow the Manufacturers of Solar Screen Fabrics have become more inventive and started creating Colors and Design which can be used at any time for the Residential Market. I always have liked these particular Window Shades as they were quite simple and the effect of controlling the Sunlight or darkening the room were achieved easily. Further the shades have mostly never been in the high budget range and therefore were also easier to sell. In addition to the Rollershade Collection on which one I just talked recently, we added now also a separate page for Solar Screen Shades in our Website which explains to Consumer in detail the differences between certain fabrics, lifting options and deployment. Hope you enjoy reading.