Each episode will feature famed Miami interior designer Steven G. discussing one of his favorite pieces of art, furniture, or accent pieces and how it works with quality interior design.
In today’s segment, Steven focuses on a piece by New York artist Peter Tunney.
Remember the days of Z. Cavaricci pants, leg warmers, head bands, huge shoulder pads and teased hair? Go ahead and admit it, any of us who lived in this era sported one of these comical fashion choices at some point in the 80’s. These short-lived trends clearly didn’t stand the test of time, and our current closets have been re-invented many times since. The interior design of your home should be thought out in a similar way. So, assuming you’re not a hoarder, here are four tips on what not to do, unless you want to hate your home in about five years tops…..
1. LET YOUR INTERIOR DESIGNER DO ALL THE TALKING
One of the most important parts of our business is communication. Imagine going in to your hair stylist and coming out with a mullet because he/she just knew this look would be good on you. You have to remember that this is YOUR home and YOU will be living in it. Talk to your designer in detail about what kind of environment you would love to live in, your daily activities, and how you will function in the space. I don’t care what you say, no matter how experienced or how fancy your hired high end interior designer is, we are not mind readers and we are not psychic. YOU have to speak up and do some of the talking.
2. PLUCK YOUR LOOK FROM A DESIGN MAGAZINE
If you want to see a showroom, then go to a furniture store. Referencing a design magazine definitely helps with inspiration, but use it as a tool, not your bible. No one wants the drapes that match the bedding, that match the chairs, which match the throw pillows. Adding in your own personal warm touches will help your home feel designed, and not just decorated.
3. LISTEN TO “THEM”
Peer pressure is a thing of the past. We are all adults here. Listening to what some people think is “cool” or “in”, could be a disaster in no time. Please reference the photos in this post and then come talk to me. Trends change just about as fast as electronics do. The bones (as we like to call it) of your home should be timeless. Now, I’m not saying to be super boring, but you can easily spark up the place with artwork, or a few pops of color in accessories and throw pillows, which can be easily swapped out for a total transformation down the road (without having to break the bank, or do any major demolition).
4. THINK OF YOUR HOME AS A WORK OF ART
The days of having formal living spaces are over. People want to enjoy their home in a more casual setting. Who wants that room that no one is allowed to walk into? That’s the equivalent of having a sofa that is covered in plastic. The interior of your home has to reflect your own vision, and be comfortable at the same time.
So, by all means, choose to spend your money not listening to the four tips above. But if you do, something tells me we’ll be hearing from you sooner rather than later. 😉
Your design project has been going for weeks…or months…but your place looks like a tornado just touched down. Not only is it hard to imagine it ever getting done…you can barely recognize the place anymore.
So what do you do?
Scream?!
Well…no… even though that’s the approach I used to take until I learned about meditation. In order to help you not lose your mind or your voice, here are some simple steps you can use to organize your thoughts and make decisions without freaking out.
First Step: Practice Focus
Don’t let the obstacles around you distract your thoughts. First, think of the bigger picture in order to put the small puzzle pieces together. Then, focus on one element at a time and work your way from there.
However, staying consistent throughout this process is key. Don’t let what others say make you stray from your new wider-lens focus.
Second Step: Practice Quiet
Despite what I said in the first step about focusing, you’re still going to encounter those “wtf am I doing?!” moments.
When that happens, you need to make time to clear your mind. Sit back and stop thinking about anything. Downtime may feel like a waste of time, but it’s often the most important time of all. If you is clear your mind, it will be much more likely that you’ll get the results you want.
Third Step: Practice Wholeness
Once you’ve conquered the art of focusing and resorting to quiet time, then and only then can you achieve wholeness. This is when you can finally begin to see all the small puzzle pieces as what they are—building blocks to your new home interior. High end interior design is all about details, and meditation helps you find the quiet space to bring an avalanche of details into harmonious whole.
What do you do to deal with stress?
Most people are under the perception that when you hire a high end interior design firm, your space should look refined and designed with trendy colors, matching patterns, and color coordinated accessories.
The truth is that spaces with the highest quality interior design do not appear to be designed at all. The best designed spaces are those with character. They seem as if they were conceived effortlessly.
In short, truly beautiful interiors don’t look like they were worked on by a professional interior designer at all… they look like they were simply put together by someone with great taste. They say something about the lifestyle of their owners. They are timeless in detail and character and do not rely on fads and clichés.
A TELLING STORY
I once had a client who told me she was completely tired of her home. When I asked her when she had last had it designed, she said, “four years ago.”
Frankly, I could see why she felt the way she did.
Her main living room was all about paisley. Her wall coverings were paisley. Her sofa was paisley. Her ottoman was paisley. She had a painting of paisley.
I couldn’t tell where the wallpaper ended and the painting started.
Not only that, but there was teal green everywhere – a color that was deemed popular by the Universal Color Fashionistas 6 years earlier…with complimentary accents of brown and…yes, you guessed it, orange. It felt like the Miami Dolphins’ locker room.
But half a decade earlier it was the height of style.
INTERIOR DESIGN ISN’T ART
Here’s the problem…
Many homes that have a high end interior design look aren’t about the person living in the space. They’re about the designer. (O LOOK WHAT I CAN DO. I can match colors!!)
Most high end interior designers are creative people. As a result, they often view their clients’ homes as places to showcase their artistic experiments. And a lot of art, like other forms of culture, is big on trends.
The thing is, even the most luxurious home is not a museum. Believe it or not, for most people a home is a place to live— often for many years to come.
The space needs to reflect that.
IT’S ALL ABOUT TASTE
Great design is not about matching colors or patterns. It’s not about using the popular color of the year. (Actually, any good designer should avoid the popular color of the year like the plague.) Good design is about contrasting texture selections and using them in a real way that speaks only of itself. It is about choosing colors that have a timeless quality.
Good design should reflect a client’s soul and personality. It should enhance and contribute to the way one lives. In fact, the most premium interiors designs look as if the client did it all on his or her own with the best imaginable taste.
I recently underwent a small renovation at my home combining two guest bedrooms into one larger one. Easy breezy for a high end interior designer’s home, right?
WRONG.
When it’s your own nest that you are shaking up, making design choices can be a mind-boggling experience. Nobody wants to make a mistake. Mistakes are money. And everyone wants a great space (or at least those of you interested in reading this).
So how do you make the right choices?
WHY YOU’RE MAKING BAD DECISIONS
It’s natural and very common to be confused when trying to determine what you want for your personal space. It is, after all, the one place where you can be you; where you can shut your door and shut out the world if you wish. It’s also the one place that represents your lifestyle, your vibe, and your personality. Not easy stuff to play around with.
When I first meet a client, they usually fall into one of three groups:
1. They know what they want but can’t convey it
2. They think they know what they want but are all over the board
3. They know exactly what they want
Group #3 is a rare breed. Most people fall into Groups 1 & 2. That’s why you shouldn’t get frustrated if you don’t know what you want.
More often than not the reason someone doesn’t know what he or she wants is that too much research has been done. In our world of Pinterest & Houzz, it’s so easy to get inundated with beautiful ideas. But when you’re that overwhelmed, how do you figure out which of those ideas are right for you?
WHY WHAT YOU LOVE WON’T WORK FOR YOU
Selecting a design direction isn’t any different than buying clothes. Just because the model looks amazing in the photo shoot doesn’t mean you will as well. Appreciating beauty is different than living with it. So how do you avoid the trap of only getting ideas from looking at what you love based solely on your reaction to its beauty?
WHY YOU NEED TO GET PRIMAL
Hate (or at least dislike) is a strong emotion. It’s a primal feelings that comes from the pit of your stomach. That’s why by editing out what you know you don’t want, you lighten the stress of wondering what you do.
Let’s use another analogy: going to a restaurant while starving. With eyes big and the back of your mouth salivating, you could eat just about anything. What’s the first thing you do with the menu? You go through the selections quickly, don’t you? Scanning the menu, you say to yourself, “I am definitely not in the mood for seafood. Nope, not pasta. Maybe chicken but I can make that at home…” And all of the sudden you have narrowed down your choices to a few delicious items. The stress is off. Let’s order!
START BY TEARING OUT UGLY PHOTOS
So how do Groups 1 & 2 get on track? All they need is a little push; a little “homework.”
The homework is this: grab some quality interior design magazines, search the web, dust off some coffee table books, look at top high end interior design blogs, whatever works. But instead of taking your time and pondering over each page, RUN through the material!
Each time your gut says stop or pause, take note of what raised your brow. Tag what you hate as well as what you love.
Why? It’s simple. When you dislike something, you usually know instantly. By scanning quickly through images and making fast judgments, you create patterns.
In the end, you will be able to say “I guess I hate chairs with patterns,” “I like bright rooms but not bright colors” or “I like gloss and shine but not necessarily glitz”. You prevent yourself from getting lost in a maze of beautiful rooms that may not be right for you.
Try not to focus on the fact that this is your haven you’re messing with. Stay primal and listen to your gut. Everyone trips. But with the right guidance or with the help of a high quality interior designer, you will be in great hands. And who knows? You may find that you are going to have a whole lot of fun discovering yourself.
I’ve never been a person who’s spent a lot of time thinking about computers.
Sure, as the owner of a full service interior design company, I’ve had to rely on technology up to a point. But while a lot of my colleagues and competitors moved over to doing 100% of their work on programs like AutoCad, we’ve continued to employ a staff of artists to render every design by hand.
I’ve always felt most comfortable with things you can touch, feel, and see right in front of you.
So then why did I finally decide to start a blog?
Why Having No Style Can Be the Best Style
It all started with conversation I had a few months ago with some members of my team.
It began innocently enough. Well, honestly, it started off with us patting ourselves on the back.
Someone in the office boasted loudly about our status as the biggest Miami interior design firm.
Then one of our more modest team members responded by mentioning all the other premium interior design talent out there in the world.
That led to a conversation about what it was that had led to our growth and what our philosophy of quality interior design really was.
What we finally decided was that there are a whole lot of fantastic designers with fantastic signature styles. We also decided that we didn’t have any signature style whatsoever.
By the end of that conversation I was grinning from ear to ear.
Great Interior Design Is Psychology
You see, even though people call me an interior designer, I’ve always seen myself more as a psychologist. I consider my job to be getting inside the head of a client, figuring out the home designs they would love more than anything else on earth, and then transforming that into reality,
Sometimes clients can tell us what they love. But more often, it’s buried down deep in their subconscious. It’s my job to bring it out to the surface.
I looked around and realized I had put together a team made up of people who see the world just like I do.
And that’s when it hit me…it wasn’t fair of us to keep all this precious information to ourselves.
What It’s All About
In our new blog, The Psychology of Design, the premium interior design professionals of Interiors by Steven G. will share with you exactly how we go about digging deep in order to transform the swirl of thoughts, dreams, and preferences inside someone’s head into an interior they’ll adore forever. A home that will be perfectly suited to you as a unique individual rather than simply reflecting the latest fads and fashions.
We want you to use what you learn.
Whether you’re making design decisions for your own home, working with a professional, or trying to decide on one, this blog will give you concrete tips and tricks for getting the home you’ve always wanted…which always begins with getting to know yourself.
This is going to be fun.