Start with the "why?" - designing with a purpose in mind

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Designing with a purpose in mind

What drives us to keep changing our home interiors?

Why do we keep rearranging our furniture, buying new stuff, repaint, buy more tchotchkes?
Is it because the "old stuff" is dated, not functional or both? usually that’s not the main issue.

Is it a manifestation of our need to fill in an empty feeling with more "stuff"? not only. I don't believe so.

So, what is it? what drives that "itch" to change?
I think that we keep launching “makeover” projects because we have an innate need to live in a place that makes us feel happy, excited, balanced, inspired, calm, etc. Whatever it is, it's always about the feeling first.
It's the "ambience" of the room that matters, not merely the looks. 

Understanding this human need is key to a getting it right.

Let me explain. Color, for example has a profound effect on us. It can feel cold, warm, energetic, happy, etc. But color preferences are still individual. Most people either prefer cool colors (blues and blue-greens greens), while others prefer warmer tones (orange, red, yellow). Let’s take the bedroom, for example. Some would prefer a soft but warm tone. Others will feel better surrounded by cool blues or greens. And yet, some people would choose a deeper, more energetic color.

What about styles? different styles are associated with memories and various associations, depending on your personal history and past experiences. That’s why we all have different tastes, which can change and evolve throughout our lives, simply because we change and evolve ourselves, even if we haven’t noticed it.

So why is it so hard for most of us to create a room that we are really happy with?
If you don't know what to look for, it makes it really hard to find it, right?. Shooting in the dark is an option, but not a very efficient one.

Ok. so why is it so hard to "translate" that feeling we want to feel in a room to an actual design? because translating a feeling to tangible stuff like color, shapes, line etc. is art, and like every art, it takes experience, enthusiasm and some failures on the way to get it right.

Here are some examples of what I mean by interiors that evoke a feeling:

                   

sweet

playful

Airy, happy and playful

calm, soothing

warm

ENERGIZING!

               

mysterious

Do you agree with my captions, or do these images evoke a different feel? 

please share in the comments below   

Vered 

    

vered@veredrosendesign.com

www. veredrosendesign.com

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A PERFECT SPOT FOR FAMILY PHOTOS

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The staircase - a perfect spot for family photos (before & after)

I recently helped a client redo her staircase and foyer area. 

First we painted the walls a greenish gray (sculptors clay UL170-9 Behr), replaced the staircase runner, got a new pair of curtains for the window at the top of the stairs, and finally, we hang a gallery of family photographs.

A gallery of family photographs is not only interesting visually, but also gives you a chance to reminisce and celebrate life every time you use the stairs.

Hanging those photographs took a while because we needed to plan first. We layed the framed photos on the floor to see how they would look and then started hanging them one by one, starting at the bottom of the stairs, going up. We used painters tape to help us with mark the border of the gallery.

We decided to use mostly black and white photos but different frames and sizes for a more casual look, like this one below

                          

Here's how we hang the pictures: We first marked where the central set of pictures will go, hang them and then placed the other ones over and under them. The illustration below shows this method:

Here is the staircase before...

BEFORE

And after...

AFTER

                   

AFTER

Are there any other spots in your home that you used to showcase your family photos? please share.

If you'd like help with color, decorating and interior design, please don't hesitate to contact me for your free initial consultation.

617-584-9965

vered@veredrosendesign.com

www. veredrosendesign.com

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Vered

Additional reading:
Gray-on-gray -too much of a good thing?
What does your mirror reflect
Choosing the right color - ugly and pretty cost the same
Decorating successfuly with neutrals

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One little trick that will make your small room seem bigger

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one little trick that will make your small room seem bigger

The Internet is full of great ideas about how to trick the eye and make a small room seem bigger, so instead of repeating what others have already shared, I will focus on one idea that's not very obvious: 

Paint your walls the same (or similar) color as your flooring . This can work if your flooring is carpeted, tiled or it's a fairly light wood flooring (stained or painted). Even a large area rug that fills up most of the flooring space, will do.

The reason this "trick" works is this: our eyes normally perceive a room as a 3d "box". Therfore, if the walls and the flooring share a similar color, it will be more difficult for us to define where does the floor end, and where do the walls start. The boundaries between the vertical (walls) and horizontal (floor) planes are dissolved, and we then assume that the floor is larger then it actually is, and that "box" seems larger.

Below are some pictures that demonstrate this.

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If you'd like help with color, redesigning or decorating your own home, contact me @ 

vered@veredrosendesign.com

617-584-9965

veredrosendesign.com

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Color of the year 2013 - Emerald green

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Pantone's Color of the year 2013  - Emerald green

Every year, Pantone, the global authority on color for the design industries (fashion, home, industrial and graphic design), announces it's choice for "Color of the year", and this year it's Emerald green.

Selecting the "Color of the Year" is a very thoughtful process. To arrive at the selection, Pantone quite literally scours the world to look for color influences. These influences come anywhere from the entertainment industry, traveling art collections, hot new artists, popular travel destinations and other influences such as technological advances.

Last year's "color of the year" 2012 was Tangerine. 

      

Did you notice that? I'm sure you did and I did too, but mostly in the fashion industry. Less so in home decor, and it's clear why:

It's easy and fairly cheap to update one's wardrobe with a few items to match the current fashion trends, but it can be quite costly to do so for your home, unless you invest in fairly small and inexpensive items such as pillows, towels and bed linens.

With that thought in mind, I happen to be in crate and barrel this week and immediately noticed they had a new bed linen set, bathroom accessories and towels in emerald green and other blue-green hues. Here's a picture I took of the lovely display at crate and barrel:

Even though emerald green by itself is certainly not my favorite color, I found the combination of emerald green with other blue-green hues extremely pleasing to the eye.

Below is a set of their towels in different shades of green and turquize.

Emerald is a glass like gemstone. 

                                          

I'm not sure if these beautiful set of glass vases that I found at crate and barrel are inspired by the emerald, but they clearly relate to this glass like gemstone.

Here's another picture I found on pinterest with the same hues. Emerald green is a very pretty color for glass containers.

                 

Even Pantone's inspiration pictures for emerald green include other green hues. This picture is taken from their website:

What about the more expensive home decor items? would you buy them in a trendy color?

If a client asked me if they should buy a sofa, chair or install a carpet in emerald green, this will be my advice:

If you always loved emerald green LONG before the folks at Pantone decided this will be the next "color of the year", then go ahead and buy a sofa or a chair in that color, or better yet, paint a room with this color. I would NOT install a carpet or any other fixed element in any trendy color, simply because you might want to sell your house and most likely your potential buyers aren't necessarily in love with emerald green. 

Sometimes its easy to fall in love with a trendy color simply because you see it everywhere in the stores, and it's being displayed so beautifully, along with other coordinating colors, under the best possible lighting conditions. But we all know how it feels like when you buy something that has no color relationship with what you already have at home. It just doesn't work.

Bottom line - if you absolutely love greens and blues and you've been living with these colors way before they became trendy, go ahead, take advantage of the fact that there's so much to choose from, and shop til you drop! 

Otherwise, if you hate emerald, forget about it, and if you "kind of", like it a little", you can buy yourself a top or a handbag and feel "current".

If you'd like help with color, redesigning or decorating your own home, contact me @ 

vered@veredrosendesign.com

617-584-9965

veredrosendesign.com

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What most people don't consider when hanging a decorative mirror

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What does your mirror reflect? 

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What does your strategically placed mirror reflect?
Does it reflect pretty views from a nearby window, or your beautiful interiors?
But perhaps your medium to large mirror reflects a not-so-pretty corner you've been meaning to take care of for a while...or even just a plain wall with no pictures or decorations on it. 
Mirrors do not discriminate. They double everything around them, pretty or not.
                               

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Depending on where you stand relative to a mirror, it will reflect the space that's in front of it.

So if you're thinking about hanging a medium/large sized mirror in your home (entrance, over a fireplace, dinning room) consider what will it reflect when you walk by it (apart from you). If you like what it reflects, that's great. If you don't, reconsider the idea of a large mirror.
Instead, you can hang a picture or a decorative mirror with a stylish frame and a fairly small reflective area.These kinds of mirrors do not "visually expand" a room in the same way a the large mirror does, but they add a lot of spark and style to any room.
Decorative mirrors can be unique in different ways:

Mirrors with an interesting and  unique frame
The starburst mirror is a popular classic decorative mirror. There are many variations on the theme.         

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A flowery frame will suite a more traditional decor

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An all mirror frame with a dynamic design that has lots of movement.

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Here's another eye catching stunning mirror. The frame has an organic/artistic feel to it, which makes it so interesting to look at, so in this case it really doesn't matter what the mirror reflects.

Rachel Reider Interiors

                                 
Mirrors with an interesting shape

                                 

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Set of mirrors 
Below are examples of a set of various sized mirrors displayed together. The combination of the frame and the mirror together is what makes it look so interesting and dynamic.

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Here the arrangement of the different sized mirrors over the console table creates visual interest even without an interesting frame.

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Distorting mirrors
An interesting example of a unusual "cubistic" mirror.

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Placing mirrors on opposite walls creates an illusion of spacial infinity.

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Sometimes a mirror can "break" a bright or bold wall.

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Here's an example of a mirror reflection that is a picture-like composition.

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If you would like help with picking paint colors, or planning a home decorating project, please don't hesitate to contact me for your free initial consultation.

617-584-9965

vered@veredrosendesign.com

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