interiordezine

A Personal Note from Lee Brown

2011-10-07T03:19:00.000-07:00

Yeah Hah! Hi everyone, This is a personal note from me. I know I am very opinionated when it comes to design, but that's ok, designers are very passionate people and have strong beliefs in their ideas. I am writing now to say I hope you jolly well appreciate all the hard work I have done over the last six months redesigning the website network and upgrading all the systems so that we can

Get Rid of It and Breathe

2011-09-21T03:28:00.000-07:00

Get Rid of It and Breathe Our Office I have to confess, I am a bit of a hoarder, I love memories and relate things I own to the experiences I have had. But there comes a point in ones life when you have had so many experiences and have collected so much stuff, that there is just no more room for new experiences. Times that by five and you can imagine how much stuff my family has in our home.

Key Points for Working in a Successful Design Team

2011-08-10T02:46:00.000-07:00

I am working on a design job at the moment that is quite different to what I am used to. I am used to being in charge and telling people what to do, making decisions and being responsible for those decisions. With this job, I am not in charge and I am having to make decisions as a team player. It is a reminder to me about the importance of quantifying your design decisions. You always need to be

Communication in Design

2011-05-10T16:33:00.000-07:00

Communication in Design Those of you who have participated in the interior decorating ecourse by interiordezine.com, will know me well and that I always preach about getting the design brief right before you start a design project. I am so sanctimonious about it and yet in the past two weeks, I have let my standards slip (due to exhaustion post earthquake and three busy children), and I have

Choosing Colors For Children's Bedrooms

2011-03-29T16:26:00.000-07:00

Choosing Colors For Children's Bedrooms Choosing colors should be fun, an enjoyable experience, until you have to do it for your children. Children now are allowed to have a mind of their own and their own opinion, and boy do they have a lot of opinions. Unfortunately they change their mind like the wind and are the worst clients ever! So how do you handle choosing colors for children's

We are all safe in Christchurch after the earthquake

2011-02-24T12:55:00.000-08:00

Finally I can get online and contact everyone. I am sure you have seen the news and the devastation that has hit Christchurch with the aftershock on Tuesday. Aftershock? Boy it was worse that the earthquake of September 4th 2010. I can describe it as if you are a cork in the middle of the ocean and getting thrown around. The house was like a tiny lilo that was rocking on an unstable ground.

What is Art?

2011-01-19T11:12:00.000-08:00

What is Art? I guess the answer to that question is almost anything these days. Modern art can be "interesting" to say the least. In fact, I often wonder about the minds of some contemporary artists and what planet they were on when the concepted their idea, but perhaps I am a little conservative as I had been taught that art was something with a frame, throw in a bit of sculpture and there you

The Designer's Worst Nightmare - Being Comfortable

2011-01-06T02:36:00.000-08:00

I was very polite in the title of this blog post, what I really meant to say was the designer's worst nightmare is being lazy! It is so easy to find a color that works with everything, so you use it on almost every project. You find a furniture supplier that you get on well with and the provide you with great service, then you never look any further. You have a favorite artist that you use to

How I am Coping with the Christmas Rush

2010-12-13T02:44:00.000-08:00

How I am Coping with the Christmas Rush At this time of year, all I want to do is throw my hands in the air, find a rock to hide under and wish Christmas would come and go while I was catching up on some sleep! Unfortunately, that is not going to happen, I will have to decorate the house and the tree, buy and wrap all the presents, write Christmas cards, entertain people, feed people and pander

interiordezine.com is going green

2010-11-18T19:21:00.000-08:00

I don't know if you have children and have heard of "Bob the Builder" and his catch phrase "reduce, reuse, recycle" well, I have heard it non stop for the last five years at least and I think I am totally converted! Now I feel I should convert the interiordezine.com website and spread the word about reducing, reusing and recycling. The best way to do this is by educating us, the interior

How to Keep A Designer Bedroom Look

2010-10-20T17:20:00.000-07:00

How do you keep your designer bedroom looking good? This is a problem I find in all areas of design, when you complete the job, the room looks great, you go back two months later and it looks like a jumble sale! So how do you keep the bedroom you have designed looking great? Keep your designer bedroom looking good. You need to plan well and make sure that there is room to store all the

How to Stop Yourself Going Insane When You are an Interior Designer

2010-10-12T15:53:00.000-07:00

How to Stop Yourself Going Insane Being When You are an Interior Designer How long have you been working in the design industry? Are you a beginner and full of enthusiasm and passion, or a long term burnt our professional who doesn't want to pick up the phone when they think it will be a certain annoying client! I don't want to sound negative here and pour water on any one's passion and

Earthquake hits home in Christchurch

2010-09-07T17:37:00.000-07:00

This is a personal blog post about the last five days. Chris and I live in Christchurch, New Zealand with our three children. On Saturday morning at 4.35am we were woken up with a roaring nose and the whole house shaking. An earthquake. Then it was pitch black, we were all ok, frightened and apprehensive about what would happen next and what to do next. We grabbed the kids, torches and blankets

The Importance Of Research in Design

2010-08-18T17:42:00.000-07:00

I have just visited a lodge with the look at undertaking the refurbishment. I am very open minded when it comes to looking at design, and appreciate good quality design when I see it, but boy do I get annoyed when I see that designers have used totally inappropriate products in spaces. Here is an example. In a high traffic cafe they have used a timber veneer floor board. It hasn't withstood the

How Many Colors is Too Many?

2010-08-04T03:03:00.000-07:00

How many colors should you use in a color scheme in a room? This is a very popular interior color question from our readers. So I thought I would share my ideas with you. Using more than five colors My usual reply is that there are no hard and fast rules, (here it comes) BUT more than five in one space will tend to make your interior look too busy and not pleasing to your eye. I am not

Transform a Room with Wallpaper - Don't be Afraid to Ask for Advice

2010-07-19T04:52:00.000-07:00

Wallpaper can completely transform a room. I recently visited a friend who had purchased an older home that had been renovated and painted throughout. It looked clean and crisp, but it lacked something. My friend got to work and "went to town" with wallpaper. What a transformation. It reinforces my ideas on using pattern, texture and color. The rooms all took on a look or theme, the pattern

Accessories - The Key to Good Design

2010-07-07T20:29:00.000-07:00

Accessories are the key to good design. Why? Because they are often the focal points of a room or what people's eyes first focus on in when entering a room. But who chooses them? Interior decorating can be overlooked as a skill. Interior designers get precious about creating spaces, Architects about creating form and function. All of these features are vital with any interior, but there is

Don't forget about the trees!

2010-05-24T15:37:00.000-07:00

Don't forget about the trees? After recent discussions with my wannabe interior designer daughter (all of seven years of age), on the interior design for her new bedroom, which by the way is not as nice as her old bedroom (before we started), boy life is tough! She told me not to forget about the trees! What, trees in a bedroom, what on earth has she designed? I sat down with her and looked at

When is a designer right or wrong?

2010-05-08T21:04:00.000-07:00

When is a designer right or wrong?I recently was contacted by a contractor on a project that was almost complete, I had allowed the client to make a change, she wanted a feature wall in the corporate color (lime green) in the reception area. It wasn't what I would have chosen, but being an isolated area I decided to compromise the design concept and let the change happen, it wouldn't upset the

Design has no Age Limits

2010-04-08T19:48:00.000-07:00

A colleague of mine has been taking home design magazines from our office for her mother to read. She is at home all day on her own and loves to have something to do with her time.She is in her 70's yet she can still get excited and passionate about learning design. My colleague said she walked into the room recently and could hear her having conversations with herself as she browsed through the

The Luxury of Carpet - Tips for Choosing Carpet for your Home

2010-02-05T13:04:00.000-08:00

The Luxury of CarpetWhilst house hinting this week, I was reminded about what a difference carpet makes to an interior. I walked into a house and instantly felt the plush softness with a little spring underfoot. Luxury and quality jumped straight into my head. It felt really great. We have a very strong and very durable loop pile wool carpet in our home and it has been fantastic over seven years

Function vs Beauty in Interior Design

2010-01-25T17:28:00.000-08:00

Function vs Beauty in Interior DesignWe are currently staying in a beautiful apartment on holiday and it has reminded me that too often as a designer you can get bogged down in the function of a space, making sure it complies with all the rules and regulations and forget about the fun part of interior design - the beauty or decoration of the space. You get so used to looking at plans in black

Tips for a Tidy House

2010-01-05T02:34:00.000-08:00

Tips for Keeping a House Tidy When you are SellingWe are currently in the process of selling our house. Sounds easy enough, but it is the opposite. Trying to keep the house looking great is almost impossible.Here are a few things that we have done to try and make the job easier, I thought there may be others who are also sharing this experience or are about to.Firstly, clear out all the things

Here Comes Christmas - Time To Decorate Your Dining Room for Christmas Dinner

2009-11-22T16:25:00.000-08:00

You had better start thinking about Christmas now as it always arrives before you know it and you never get the chance to have everything just right. Start planning now! I can help you out with some ideas for decorating your dining room, complete with table setting. I just wrote an article called A Christmas Decorating Idea for Your Dining Room, this may get your creative juices flowing. If not,

Keeping it clean - does a minimalist interior make sense?

2009-11-17T15:43:00.000-08:00

After spending hours trying to keep my house clean, I decided to get ruthless and go minimalist!I have packed away anything that is not 100% necessary for my survival.What a difference it makes. I feel like the house is twice a big, and like I am breathing fresh air, not air laden with dust that I could never get rid of (living in the country doesn't help with this problem), but it sure means