Archive for March, 2010

DSI designed this sun room with nature in mind!

Want a quick way to add warmth and relaxation to a room?  Add a touch of the outdoors, and your home will instantly feel more alive, more inviting, more…natural.

Here are 3 easy ways to bring the outside in:

1.   Indoor Window Boxes

Sure, window boxes are beautiful outside, but think about how lovely they would be inside your home.  Window boxes are available in a wide variety of materials: wood, iron, copper, wicker, etc.  Choose a material that coordinates with your décor.

Once you have chosen a box, fill it with your favorite flowers or plants.  But instead of putting the dirt right in the box, keep your plants in separate pots, and put the pots in your flower box.  This way, you can remove the pots and water the plants in the sink.  Allow the plants to drain in the sink before you put them back in the flower box.

Here’s a fun idea: Plant herbs in small pots and place the pots in a flower box on your kitchen window.  This not only brings nature into your kitchen, but it’s a great way to have delicious, natural flavors for your cooking – right at your fingertips.

2. Clean

Grab some outdoor-scented household-cleaners (floral, pine, rain) and freshen your whole house.  Sprinkle carpet freshener on rugs and upholstered furniture, and vacuum it away, leaving a fresh, clean scent.  Wash your draperies or send them to the dry-cleaners.  Now open your windows and let the fresh air in.

3.  Add Color

There is nothing like a fresh coat of paint to make a space feel fresh and bright.  Choose colors that you see outside your windows.  Natural, woodsy shades will add warmth and comfort; vivid, floral hues will add instant cheer.

If you’re not up for painting, simply add some colorful accessories.  Pillows are great for bringing an outdoor freshness to your sofa or bed.  Vibrant candles spread around your den will create a garden-like feeling.  A new, colorful tablecloth will make you feel like you are dining “al fresco.”

Easy hint: Bring the outdoors into a room by hanging a colorful painting on the wall.  If your painting reflects an outdoor scene, you can be transported to that place whenever you look at it.

So there’s no need to take a camping trip the next time you want to connect with nature.  Follow these simple tips, and you can enjoy the outdoors indoors!

REDECORATING THE SMALL ECO-FRIENDLY KITCHEN

What do we mean by redecorating a small eco-friendly kitchen?  It simply involves maintain the structural building envelope common with full scale remodeling, while simply replacing cabinets, counters or flooring.

Rather than ripping out and replacing your entire kitchen, give your kitchen a needed face lift which is the best eco-friendly option.  Compared to full-scale remodeling, redecorating your small kitchen the eco-friendly way creates less time and less waste.

For your redecorating or small kitchen remodeling project, be sure to maintain healthy indoor quality concerns particularly of any new materials that are used during the project:  have zero to low levels of VOC (volcanic organic compounds) in your interior paints and other finishes and consider using materials other than plastic or compressed-wood furnishings that may give off gas, noxious fumes or chemicals.

To further minimize waste, consider finding a convenient space to collect recyclable paper, bottles and cans.  Give away things you are no longer using and inventory your kitchen appliances, utensils and other items.

Design Strategies for Smaller Kitchens:

Plan carefully to make the most of every inch of space that you have.  Give away things you no longer need or use and reduce clutter.  To help with the decluttering process. Consider using innovative and unique storage solutions, such as linen storage under built-in benches, and space saving organizers in cabinets and drawers.  To make the space feel larger, consider white or very light colors on the walls and ceiling to reflect light.

To keep the space from feeling chopped up, consider monochromatic color schemes and consistency in countertop and cabinet materials.  To create a more spacious feel consider incorporating the design, views of the outside, views of other rooms, skylights and daylight from windows.

To save space, consider a compact appliance if your household isn’t large or cooking is not a regular activity for you.

Eco-Friendly Products to Consider for the Kitchen:

§ Oceanside Glass Tile for kitchen backsplashes (www.glasstile.com)

§ Yolo Color House Environmentally Responsible Paint (www.yolocolorhouse.com)

§ Ice Stone recycled glass and concrete for countertops (www.icestone.biz)

§ Eco-Friendly Flooring for the kitchen (www.ecofriendlyflooring.com)

Lead Designers and owners of Wallteriors, Hector Romero and Christopher Obeji, have designed artful hand crafted wall coverings and are personally involved with all aspects of their business. These beautiful designs have recognition from designers, builders and architects all over the world. Wallteriors is being used in all expressions of design including residential, hospitality, commercial and now Green projects. They pride ourselves in our attention to detail. Their goal is to maintain a relationship with our clients that is built on complete satisfaction,start to finish! Wallteriors is highly successful in all aspects of custom work. Wallteriors specialty is designing and manufacturing high quality hand crafted wall coverings.

This dining room was designed by DSI using a Wallterior wall treatment

These wall treatments  are made in various shapes and textures and feature other specialty details with no up charge. One can choose to have their selection pre-cut and finished by our artisians into squares, rectangles, torn pieces, panels and even traditional rolls. Panels or rolls can be up to 30’ long or cut to any size in between. The majority of their hand crafted paper collections offer a selection of standard widths 12’’, 18’’, 24’’ 36’’ and 54″. Finally, Wallteriors gives you the choice of selecting an edge detail, hand torn and stained or straight edge. Presenting hand painted wall coverings with so many options is not heard of in our industry. They know that design professionals need all creative options available to design artful and unique installations that will give their projects the design edge.  We recently installed this product for one of our clients.  It is simply wonderful!

The hallway is an often overlooked area.  But because you pass through it so many times, why not make it as beautiful as the rest of your home?

Area rugs and pictures and create a gallery affect in hallways

Before you begin a hallway decorating project, keep in mind that you shouldn’t overdo it.  While it is nice to have a hallway project that feels finished, it is easy to make that small space feel cramped and busy.  “Hectic hallways” will only seem cluttered and overwhelmed.  So while you are decorating, remember to keep it simple.

Unique artwork is a great idea in on a wall in a hallway or stairway.

Here are a few tips for spicing up your hallways:

Several small accessories are often more appropriate for the walls of a hallway than one large piece.  Try hanging a few small paintings or colorful plates.  A variety of coordinating mirrors is great because it adds to the feeling of space.

Shelving is also great for a hallway.  This is where you can display collections and odds and ends that don’t seem to fit in any other room.  Perhaps you’d like to display some personal items.  Items such as trophies (your Academy Award maybe?), travel souvenirs, and creative projects are perfect for this area.

A single basket of flowers in the corner can add instant life to an empty hallway.  If you have a wide hallway, place a cozy chair against the wall with a small side table next to it.  Even if you don’t plan on sitting here, the look will add a warm feeling of contentment.

Feng Shui is the ancient 5,000 year Chinese method of creating an environment that has a favorable circulation of energy in order to promote health, harmony and growth.  The Chinese characters for Feng Shui literally translate as “wind” and “water.”  Wind and water are two visible aspects of nature that flow, circulation and energetic force.  They are visible symbols of “chi” – the intangible life force that the Chinese have long believed to circulate through-out the body and the earth itself. The proper distribution of chi is essential to the health and growth of all things.

Feng Shui is not a religion or spiritual path. A primary concept of Feng Shui is that there is a constant mutual interaction between a person’s chi and the chi of his or her immediate environment- each is constantly affecting and shaping the other.  When we live and work within a site of healthy chi, our own life force is enhanced and preserved.

We can use Feng Shui in decorating our homes and offices to place objects, furniture and other items to achieve peacefulness and harmony.  Living and working spaces and their decor affect how we inhabit them.  With Feng Shui we can enhance positive and harmonic energies in our homes.

A home DSI designed using Feng Shui principles

If you want to learn and be able to integrate Feng Shui into your décor and design, the first thing to do is learn about feng shui in general and its main concepts.  By learning this, you will find yourself naturally acquiring information on how to decorate different spaces according to feng shui.

According to feng shui design, the way and the position in which we place our furniture, the colors we choose, the different objects and places we choose for them, must be done to ensure harmony.  Actually, in China people used to look for a feng shui expert to guide them in occasions such as when they buy a new home.

Here are some basic Feng Shui design rules you can begin to use at home now:

1. Have nothing broken
2. No clutter
3. Zen surfaces (at least 50%)
4. Surround yourself with only things you love
5. Create a sacred area in the home

For more information or if you would like a feng shui design consultation, contact DSI at 301-317-7855