5 Innovative Design Ideas

Sometimes the best ideas come from using an item is a way that it's "not supposed to be use". Here are 5 ideas of ways to creatively use ideas in your decor:

1. Using a dresser or table as a bathroom counter

With a little work, you can easily incorporate a sink into an old piece of furniture. This helps to add a bit of age (in a good way!) into your bathroom and avoid the "cookie cutter" built in vanity look. Just make sure it's the right height!

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2. Use a thin strip of backsplash tile as "grout"

Accent the area in between your tiles instead of the tiles themselves. This creates a really unique look with a little bit of sparkle on the floor. You would still grout this between the backsplash tiles and the larger tiles.

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3. Use an antique architectural element for a headboard

This is another great way to incorporate antiques into your design. The "headboard" below is from an old window frame but window panels, doors, shutters, or even fire places would make a beautiful statement. Make sure to measure how wide your bed is and choose proportionally and make sure to mount your antique securely to the wall!

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4. Use a branch as a clothes hanger

In a cramped apartment with no closet space? Try working your wardrobe into your design. This idea took an old branch, spray painted it white and hung it from the ceiling. It makes a beautiful display, and you can choose which clothes to hang and can change the color pallet out easily and switch the feel of your room!

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5. Use an outdoor lantern as an indoor chandelier

This is an easy enough idea but it can completely change the look of a space and add an unexpected element into your room.

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Design by Numbers

1. A 36-inch-wide rectangular table is perfect for conversation. A round table with a diameter of 48 inches seats six; a 60-inch round will handle eight standard dining chairs or 10 ballroom chairs

-Charlotte Moss

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2. How big should an overhead light fixture be? Just add the length and width of the room in feet, and whatever number you come up with is, in inches, your guide for the fixture's diameter. So a 15-by-20-foot room would need a 35-inch-wide chandelier

-Bunny Williams

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3. One gallon of paint will cover about 400 square feet of wall

-Alexa Hampton

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4. Mount curtains as high as possible to give the room more height, and let them break 1 1/2 inches on the floor

-Miles Redd

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5. A kitchen island should be about 38 inches high - a little taller than the countertops - to be comfortable for prep

-Thomas O'Brien

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6. Curtains should be 2 1/2 to 3 times the width of the window. So if you're doing two panels, each should be 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 times the window width. Buy a rod that's 20 inches wider than your window so it extends 10 inches on either side. Your window will see much wider than it really is

-Libby Langdon

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7. The bottom of a dining room chandelier should hang 36 inches above the table

-Thom Filicia

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8. Install light switches 36 inches above the floor and 1 1/2 to 2 inches to the side of the door trim

-Gil Schafer

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9. For a standard 84-inch sofa with exposed legs and a tight back, you'll need 14 yards of plain 54 inch wide fabric. Add 2 yards for a skirt.

-Madeline Stuart

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10. From classical times to today, the golden ratio has always been the perfect proportion: 1 to 1.62

-Eric Cohler

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List compiled by House Beautiful

New Residential Technologies

There is always the latest and greatest thing out there and this list is no different. But these new additions to your home would be pretty great...

1. Aspect Metal Backsplash

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These metal backsplash tiles have a peel and stick back that you can place directly on your wall. They don't require any grout and you can trim them with a jigsaw! They come in a wide selection of colors and patterns too so there is something for everyone!

2. Levaqua Showerhead

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In addition to the usual spray settings you can change, this shower head also includes an Eco setting for up to 20% water savings and a pause button so you don't waste water if you need to step out of the stream.

3. Apollo II Solar Roofing System

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These solar panels go right on to your house in the place of shingles creating a more subtile. With its maximum output potential, the system can generate most or all of the electricity your home uses during the day!

4. Nest Learning Thermostat

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This smart thermostat learns your schedule, programs itself, and can be controlled from your phone. It can sense when you're home or not and can override the program when necessary. It can lower your heating and cooling bills up to 20%!

5. Serena Remote Control Shades

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These motorized shades run on batteries hidden in the top rail so they don't have to be hard wired. The shades can be raised and lowered at the touch of a button!

What Makes a Home?

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According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the most of human motivations is safety. Above all else, physiological needs must be met. These include food, air, water, clothing, and shelter. And isn’t a home, as it’s core, just a shelter? However, as one moves up the hierarchy of needs, from physiological to safety to love/belonging to esteem, a home can begin to fill these needs as well.

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As stated before, a home is a form of a shelter, and does, by very definition, fulfill that basic physiological need. Moving up the pyramid, the next level of needs is safety. This includes the security of body, resources, family, and property. A home also serves this function in that within its walls it can protect from the elements and others who may threaten them. 

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On the next level, one seeks love and belonging. According to Maslow, human beings seek a sense of acceptance among social groups. More often than not, one’s home is not only for oneself but also for one’s social group. Many homes belong to families, but people live with all kinds of social groups. For example, in college, students often live with their friends or members of organizations of which they are a part of. In this way, the home becomes a part of one’s sense of love and belonging.

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The last level of the pyramid I will discuss is esteem. This is the need to feel respected, accepted, and valued by others. The home can play a role in this because in our society today, material possessions can become a huge factor in social standing. How often when someone knows a friend is coming over, do they take the time to clean up their house? Before, they were fine living in it themselves the way it was but they feel a pressure to make sure it is clean before others come over. This is because we feel a need to try to make a good impression on people so that they will accept us and as our home becomes a material representation of who we are, it is something we are judged based on.

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So what does this all mean to interior designers? I think it all goes back to listening to client’s needs. It is our job to make the home the best it can be for the client and if we can understand on how many levels the home is important, we can help fulfill the client’s needs at every level. We can make sure that the home shelters them from the elements. We can make sure the home is secure and take measures to prevent intruders. We can create spaces that are welcoming and encourage positive social interaction and help create memories. Finally, we can create a space that our clients will be proud of. In all these ways, creating a home appeals to us on many levels and we as designers have a responsibility to our client to help them fulfill their own needs. 

Why Does Interior Design Matter?

All photos are from the 2013 Bellarmine Designer's Show House [source]

Why does interior design matter? Or better yet...does it even matter at all? Both of these questions are opinions but, in my opinion, the answer is yes. For example, people spend 90% of their time indoors (“Overview”). The choices designers make could seriously affect the health of those who use the building. That fact alone means that the design of a building and interior design, do matter. 

To begin on the question of how interior design ties into service, one must begin with why giving back is important in the first place. Again, this could be an opinion but I believe that we are called to help those around us. Everybody lives in some type of community and it seems as this community, one would want to make the community as a whole better. This can be, in part, achieved by helping those in need. 

The idea of helping as a community can be achieved if everyone would take the opportunity to contribute in a way that would best utilize their talent. As designers, this means using our creative skill set in a way that can benefit others. One of the obvious ways to do this is through construction projects, such as Habitat for Humanity. However, one example that I chose to highlight in this paper is the Bellarmine University Women’s Council Designers’ Show House, which I believe is a creative way that designers in Louisville, Kentucky are able to give back.

Every year, one house in Louisville is selected to be the Bellarmine University Women’s Council Designers’ Show House. This house is transformed by over 30 of the top local designers, who each decorate one room. The house is then open to the public for exhibition. All of the proceeds from the admissions are given to the Student Aid Fund at Bellarmine University, a local private college. Over the 39 years that this event has been put on, it has raised more than 1.5 million dollars for the scholarship [source].

In my opinion, the Bellarmine Show House is a creative idea that the community has developed to benefit local students. For obvious reasons, the event is beneficial in that it helps raise money to help underprivileged students and it is always good to give unselfishly. However, there may be other added benefits to service projects. For example, all of the furniture in the homes is available for purchase which could create added sales. Additionally, these rooms can help make designers’ names and styles more well known with the public. Also, service can help cast a designer or company into a positive light.

In conclusion, I believe that it is important for everyone to make an effort to give back in some way. There are creative opportunities for people to serve in an area that highlights their talent and all of these little projects can contribute to a larger whole of making a community a better place for everyone.