Interior Design Archives • Page 50 of 57 • Interiors by Steven G

Category: Interior Design

3 HIGH END INTERIOR DESIGN TIPS FROM A LUXURY YACHT DESIGNER

Only in the world of Miami interior design is the decoration of luxury yachts one of the biggest and most competitive areas. Yet it’s amazing how much you can learn from paying attention to paying attention to how to make the insides of these mega-boats shine.

Here are a few tips anyone making interior design choices can learn from luxury yacht designers:

1. WORK WITHIN YOUR SPACE
I started my own interior design career as a yacht designer, and it has provided me with great knowledge that has carried over to all my residential design work.

Even large yachts have limited space. When designing small spaces it is important to remember to utilize everything you can to provide functionality as well as decor.

There are couple great ways to do this. One, use the inside a sofa or banquet as storage when you have the opportunity to get custom furniture. Or you can always purchase storage ottomans or beds with storage below.

More often than not people solely focus on how things look without also considering that they need to think about functionality. With yacht interior design, that’s not an option.

2. RESPECT YOUR ENVIRONMENT
Another important factor when designing a yacht interior is to never use any wall coverings with metal content. Before you order a metallic wall covering make sure there is no metal content or you will quickly see the wall covering oxidize and you will need to go through the expense of replacing it. Important advice to keep in mind for a beach home as well.

The more important point here you always need to thinking about the unique constraints of your environment and make interior design choices that work with them instead of fighting them…even for the most high end homes.

3. CONSTANTLY BE MAINTAINING
Part of making sure you have top quality interior design when you’re working on yachts is thinking about the future. Since a boat is always going to have wear and tear, you need to start thinking about tricks for keeping things nice right at the outset.

While your home may not have the problem of wind and salt air, there will always be wear and tear. It is always nice to be able to keep things around the house looking like new even when they’re are not. So thinking ahead and preparing your bag of tricks always helps.

Always keep a can of wall paint handy for minor scuff marks. Never touch up paint by applying a lot of paint on the paint brush and using up and down strokes to touch up. This will not blend with the old paint and will look terrible. Instead, apply a small amount ever so lightly on the paint brush and keep taping it while rotating your wrist until the mark is covered. This creates texture and blends the paint into the wall.

Another great tip: Hairspray removes ink. That’s right…hairspray! When my son was two he drew on my ivory leather dining chairs with a pen. At first I panicked, but then I ran for my hair spray bottle and with a little elbow grease it all came off. I have even removed Sharpie ink that seeped through the paper of his beautiful art creations onto my quartzite counter tops with ease! This one even surprised me!

Many people have trouble getting burnt stains off of their glass cooktops. Ibiz Waterless Wax is a great product that will remove those stubborn marks as well. This product is great on shower doors and stainless steel refrigerators.

As you can see, the principles of high end interior design aren’t that different between a luxury yacht, the home where you raise your family, or a vacation place you slip away to. Keep these principles in mind and things will start out looking good and stay that way.

ANOTHER HIGH END INTERIOR DESIGN BLOG YOU SHOULD FOLLOW

Once in a while I like to use this space to bring your attention to another high end interior design blog I think you’d enjoy.

Today that blog is Coco+Kelley.

Its articles and gorgeous photos don’t only cover interior design, but also fashion, events, and all things related to good taste.

Okay, I’m going to shut up now so you can enjoy it for yourself.

THE TURNAROUND KING IS STILL MAKING WAVES

If you’ve been paying attention to our blog for a little while, then you know we’re big fans of entrepreneurial legend Grant Cardone. In fact, he’s appeared on this blog in person on occasion.

Well. the man just seems to keep on marching closer and closer and closer toward total world conquest.

Not only is Grant a business mastermind, but these days he’s a TV star too with his show Turnaround King.

He also happens to be a recent Miami resident.

So we thought it’d be fun to bring you this clip so you can see Grant work his magic for yourself.

OUR LATEST MIAMI DISCOVERY

There are a lot of reasons I decided to relocate to Miami and start an interior design firm here so many years ago, but one of them is that it’s just an amazing place to live.

It’s been my pleasure to watch so many people adopt my adopted hometown as their own over the years. In fact, there’s so much to do now that it can be hard to find it all.

That’s why I was so excited to find the new website AboutMiami.co. This is not just your regular old city guide. It’s a portal to help you discover all the things that make our town the best place in the world to live.

Check out the fun little video spot they put together and then definitely visit the site.

GO HEAT!

Ok, it’s Friday so I’m going to go off topic a bit. Instead of bringing you high end interior design tips, I’d like to bring you this humble tribute to the Miami Heat’s recent playoff victory against the Brooklyn Nets.

Have a great weekend everyone!

MEET THE GUY WHO’S COMPLETELY TRANSFORMING INTERIOR DESIGN

Today I have the pleasure of introducing you to a truly unique guy.

Sal Matteis is not a high end interior designer or a superstar architect, but he does happen to be in the process of revolutionizing the design world.

He’s one of the creators of a site called Milkster that matches up some of the world’s best and most creative furniture designers with the customers who want them. Finally, if there’s a perfect piece that could make your home complete, you can browse through almost unlimited selections to find the one that works best.

We’re not talking the brand name stuff that everyone can get their hands on. This is furniture made by true independent artisans. It’s like you have access to every boutique on earth all at once.

I blogged about Milkster a while back, but of course that wasn’t enough for me. I had to ask Sal if I could interview him here on our blog. Fortunately for all of us, he said yes.

Steven: What inspired you to start Milkster?

Sal: As consumers we were frustrated because we were being continually exposed to mass-branded home design – we call it a ‘home with no face’. It is ironic that as a society we are used to paying high prices for pieces of design where so little is known about what’s behind the product. I mean, we place this furniture in our homes – the most personal space we have.

As we started looking deeply at it we realized that design-innovation has been stuck for a long time. It takes months and multiple steps to bring a product from design to production. And when it does, the designer-maker completely loses relevance. Most importantly his personal story – the unique story behind his creations gets lost. Ironically in a time where innovation is at the core of a new generation of products, so much talent was wasted.

Steven: Give us a very short description of how you turned it from an idea into reality?

Sal: Karim Amrani and I have been building apps and products for years. However it always takes a leap of faith that the vision you set can be realized.

We started talking with people who we identified as our potential customers and asked them how they see their homes and quality interior design. What do they look for and what frustrated them.

In parallel we started talking with designers/makers and started to collect their thoughts, ambitions and frustrations. The deeper we went, the more we realized something was broken and that we could help.

As we were speaking with architects and interior designers, they were reiterating how fundamental it is for their clients to style their homes according to their personal taste. ‘Home is a mirror of who you are,’ is what they’d tell us.

Armed with a product prototype, tons of feedback and a few business angels backing us, we both focused our 200% on Milkster and brought in incredible team members who believed in the same vision.

Steven: How do you see Milkster changing the interior design landscape in the future?

Sal: Interior design is about making your home truly yours. Milkster is perfectly positioned to help interior designers and home owners in finding that perfect fit – innovation meets personalization.

Steven: How can high end interior designers best make use of Milkster and other online technologies?

Sal: The Internet has broken barriers and internet-enabled technology permeates all aspects of life. While it was once believed to be the realm of few techno-enthusiasts – over the part 10 years we have seen a total explosion of tech.

We believe that online tech can accelerate the process of sharing information and help being great ideas to bear. The thing we are more excited about is the idea of accelerated innovation and co-creation.

At its core Milkster is a co-creation platform. It enables customers, interior designers and designers to participate in the creation of finished products by enabling the direct connection. Design Ideas/products that are well received will available and iterated upon more quickly based on the direct feedback designers receive from the market.

Interior designers will be able to use platforms like Milkster to visualize new personalized solutions and contribute to the creation of new products,

Steven: What advice would you give to someone having trouble making interior design decisions for their own home?

Sal: Our advice is to be yourself and look for interior design solutions that fit who you really are. Consulting an interior designer that you can connect with can help greatly in identifying solutions that fit your style and budget.

A SPECIAL TREAT FOR OUR FELLOW MIAMIANS

We have some big things planned for our South Florida fan base. But to get in on the secrets (and the goodies), we need to know where to find you.

If you’re a Miamian or Miami interior design fan, you can sign up to be notified about what we have in store in one of two ways.

1) Click here to join our mailing list (FREE)

2) Join our Google+ comment (ALSO FREE)

Once you’ve done that, stay tuned. I’m pretty sure you’re going to love what we’re cooking up for you.

5 HIGH END INTERIOR DESIGN DEFINITIONS: LUXE MAGAZINE

I sometimes forget how lucky we are as interior designers in Miami. Not only is our city in the middle of a creative high end interior design boom…but South Florida is also home to one of our industry’s most important publications.

If you follow interior design, then I don’t have to tell you what Luxe Interiors + Design is. The publication features the most comprehensive collection of luxury homes and high end interior design work out there today.

We are truly fortunate that Luxe Director Susan Perville has taken the time today to take part in our “5 Definitions”series where we ask experts in the interior design world to give their own definitions of 5 important concepts.

5 DEFINITIONS BY LUXE INTERIORS + DESIGN’S SUSAN PREVILLE

Luxury

An abundance of sumptuous finishes and textures on the furnishings, appointments, textiles and all surfaces in general with-in the environment… then highlighted and accented with romantic lighting to elicit a luxurious experience.

Lifestyle

People’s lifestyles are relative to their desires in combination with their daily tasks…everything revolves around their necessary and essential functions and their forms of enjoyment. Each person’s lifestyle reflects their state of mind as well as their sense of style.

Beauty

Beauty is also completely relative to each person’s sense of imagination relating to form and color…influenced by what you perceive as compelling as it relates to beauty…influenced by what your perceived as comforting and inspirational as a child as well.

Taste

Taste is a sense of style that each person develops as they grow…it reflects each person’s sense of themselves…an aesthetic quality that is applied to whatever you create for yourself and others.

Quality Interior Design

When answering each of the above questions the final key thought is that everything that is designed is relative to each person’s sense of “Luxury”, ”Lifestyle”, “Beauty”, and “Taste”…so with each client is a new and innovative creative experience.

When a design installation is completed all parties involved should feel a sense of satisfaction because “ quality interior design” encompass all of the above.

HOW TO MAKE THE MOST IMPORTANT HIGH END INTERIOR DESIGN DECISIONS

In this episode of DesignTV With Steven G., I teach you how to make the kinds of decisions that will make all the difference between whether your home has a truly high end interior design look or one that just doesn’t hit the mark.

THE 5 BEST EPISODES OF DESIGNTV WITH STEVEN G.

One of the most popular features on our blog is our DesignTV With Steven G. video series where I make a fool out of myself for the greater purpose of teaching you a thing or two about high end interior design.

It was hard for me to pick which of these are my favorites (maybe because I love the sound of my own voice so much), but after much consideration…here are my top 5 picks.

If you’re new to the series, this is a great place to start. If you’ve been a fan for awhile, here’s a great place to relive the memories.

1. The Art of Mel Bochner

These days Art Basel is not just an event attended by artists and art fans; all the Miami interior designers are there too. It’s a pleasure to be able to find some of the world’s best art right in our backyard. Here’s where I talk about my love for my most recent find, artist Mel Bochner.