Home Decor 04

Home Decor

For the first nineteen years of my life I lived in the same town in my parents’ home. Whatever home decor there was interested me little, it was just there. Then I went to Italy for a year and lived with an Italian Duke and his family. They lived in a villa in Rome. There I noticed the home decor. The rooms were huge. The Duchess had a penchant for elaborate baroque wall mirrors. They were everywhere, with the rest of the home decor to match. Most days the gardener cut arms full of fresh flowers. I often helped to carry them because I liked to follow him around so that I could look at the classical art statue sculptures and fountains. They, and marble benches, strategically placed between the trees and flowers, were the garden decor. Since I liked to do it, it soon became my job to arrange the flowers in decorative vases. I had a free hand in placing them on tables, cabinets and plant stands. It wasn't exactly decorating, but it gave me a satisfying feeling to contribute something to those marvelous rooms.

Home Decor

After one year I moved to Paris, France. Not much scope for home decorating there. I lived in a tiny furnished room, where the home decor consisted of a narrow bed, a pine wood chair, a wardrobe and a wood cabinet with a washbowl. A bare light bulb hung from the ceiling. All I added was a decorative mirror, a reading lamp and a crystal vase, which I kept filled with fresh flowers from the market.

Home Decor

After that it was exciting to move into a house near Los Angeles, California, which I shared with my sister. Without much planning, we decided what we needed and went out to buy whatever appealed to us. As nice as the furniture had looked in the showroom, somehow, in that house it did not seem right. For one thing, it was much too massive and the colors clashed with the paint colors and window coverings. We did not have much time to stew over it since we both carried a full load of courses at the college and worked four hours after class and eight on Saturdays.

Home Decor

The day after I graduated, I got married and my wonderful husband and I moved into an apartment near his work. At first I had fun buying new furniture and making the place look nice, but soon I realized that apartment living was not for me. I missed wandering between the flowers and sitting on the garden bench under the open sky with that first cup of coffee,

Home Decor

As soon as our lease was up, we moved into a house on a steep hillside. We used the furniture we had, even though it looked out of place. Going around to flea markets and buying items without thinking whether they would fit in with what we had, did not help. At the same time my husband inherited his uncle's collectible knives, swords and sabers. They presented a real challenge for me. What was I to do with home decor like that?

Home Decor

Home Decor

Home Decor

Home Decor

Home Design part 6

Home Design

Regardless of whether you are building a new home, adding to an existing home, or remodeling your current home; you will need to have a home design plan. If you have experience in architectural design, you can easily design your home design floor plan. However, if you are like most, you will need to hire an architect to plan your home design or purchase home design floor plans from a reputable organization.

Home Design

Home design plans are available in hundreds of designs. You can find everything from Beach House plans to Victorian House plans. Homes range in size from 900 square feet to more than 10,000 square feet and most plans can be customized to further suit your needs.

Home Design

Some companies offer full-service packages, which include home design floor plans, cost estimating services, and referral service to quality home builders in your area. Other companies provide discount services or bundle packages, which allow you to purchase a set of three or more home design plans at a reduced rate.

Home Design

Home Design

Home Design

Home Design

Home Design

Home Design

Home Design part 2

Home Design

Custom log home design ideas can be used to help create the dream log home you've always wanted. Perhaps you have some custom log home design ideas on paper as you've been collecting design ideas. That's a great way to plan and organize your ideas, by making a scrapbook of the things you may want in your log home design. Here are some tips for custom designing your log home

Home Design

Select the log home style that you really want and like, a style that excites you. Will you prefer the manufactured or handcrafted log home style? Manufactured log homes are made with logs that are milled into a desired shape, producing uniform logs without taper. The logs used generally range in length from 10 to 18 feet. A custom log home design using manufactured logs can vary considerably in shape and appearance because the logs have different shapes and there are different corner styles. You can obtain kits ranging from just the logs and fasteners to more complete systems that include the roofing materials, doors, windows and even more.

Home Design

A handcrafted custom log home design means handcrafters will strip the bark off of whole logs. Using special skills and tools, the handcrafter will fit each log into place. Handcrafted custom log home design and construction is labor intensive, and the construction process takes longer and usually costs more since so much work is done manually. This method attempts to preserve the natural shape of the tree, and each log is carefully trimmed and shaped for a specific location in the log shell. The logs may be assembled at the company's yard, the pieces are numbered, taken apart and shipped to the home site to be reassembled.

Home Design

Home Design

Home Design

Home Design

Home Design

Home Design

Luxury Green Home Design

Elegant Sofa Set In Luxury Home Design

Whenever I interview with a new client, I like to tell them that going green doesn't have to be expensive, sacrifice luxury, or result in a home that says "70's hippie lives here". I also tell them that I won't force anything on them, but I will present the options that include sustainable choices and let them decide from a place of information. Eco-friendly materials and products have changed so much in the last 5 years that often you would never know one just to look at it. As more homeowners request and install recycled glass countertops or dual flush toilets, the industry is getting the message loud and clear - and they are responding by creating more interesting, unique, and beautiful materials for us to choose from.

Luxury House Plans

Choosing locally sourced products and materials for projects is often a popular choice with the homeowners because it saves shipping costs, and helps to integrate the home with the site. It is nice as a small business owner to support local craftsmen and other small businesses. In the case of custom cabinetry, it is much easier and faster to work with a local shop that can measure, install and follow up on the project.

Luxury Green Home Design

One of my favorite green products, which we used in this remodel in Scottsdale, Arizona, are recycled content glass mosaic tiles from Oceanside Glasstile. They are a very environmentally conscious, as well as socially responsible, company located in San Diego. This project also features a custom powder room countertop with integrated sink cast from recycled fly ash concrete, and manufactured locally by CONCRETE INTERIORS. The water-feature/faucet is a sensor-activated automatic faucet that was retrofitted and customized to create ribbons of water. This not only saves water but also creates a "Zen-like" atmosphere in the space. We upgraded all the appliances to more efficient Energy-Star models, and used low-VOC paint throughout. The clients loved that there was no "new paint smell" immediately. While the eco-friendly changes we made in this project were minor, they also were cost effective and will contribute to future cost savings on utility bills.

Luxury Home Cinema

While there are many details to be aware of and document in the process of building a green home which is intended to be certified through a third-party system such as LEED, the process is made much easier by including a team member who has experience and knowledge of the process. It can be quite rewarding, and enjoyable, for the entire team and the owners if green design decisions are addressed in the beginning rather than as an afterthought.

Green design is, simply, good design. Or at least it should be. It is my belief that little changes add up. Whatever we can do as building partners to create a legacy of healthy, beautiful, and eco-friendly homes for our future is something we will look back on proudly.