Interior Design Fact Finding: Where Do You Find Your Answers?
Have we all become a little too dependent on Google? Or maybe we think only the best of choices can be made standing in the aisle of your favorite Do-It-Yourself mega store? If you are a “research before execution” or an “inspired by what I see on the display” person, there are a variety of ways to make visualization become reality nowadays.
I live and breathe in the design community on a daily basis. When I am inspired by something, I depend on a variety of resources to find better understanding of how it is created. For example, last week I was in a Thai restaurant (I ordered the Pad Se Ewe, medium spice with tofu, delish! I highly recommend) and they had a very subtle paint treatment on the wall that was just stunning. It was a crossing paint technique that made the wall look as if it was woven with different variations of sheen. From my observation, the wall had low, medium and high gloss paint in the same hue. Feeling inspired by this, a set off to figure out how this wall was created began.
Choice one, internet research. Knowing what combination of words to type into a search line in order to yield the result you are looking for is a new age art form, in my opinion. After trying a few different combinations including; “basket weave paint effect”, “multi-sheen paint pattern” and (my favorite) “paint effects with sheen variation,” I struck out. Therefore, I decided this would take a more effective research method.
Second attempt, the local paint shop. Success!! I was not only able to get personal attention and ask specific questions here, but I got good advice and walked away really feeling like I could accomplish the technique myself.
Being a good interior designer not only means knowing what I want a space to look like, but being a good communicator. If my painter can’t understand what I am looking for when I say “Can you make this wall look basket weaved?”, then I need to be able to explain the process. In the end, good research equals good results. No matter what path works the best, doing your research is always key!
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Interior Design On The Go: Making Work Portable
I remember my days on my college campus fondly. The smell of fall in the air as the first semester of the school year began. It was not long until I was assigned my first design projects of the term. Being over ambitious, of course I wanted to create the most impactful and awe-striking presentation boards. The only problem was that I lived on the opposite corner of campus from the interior design instruction facility…ugh…which meant the bigger the boards, the more “sailing away” would happen during the travels to and from class. If you don’t already know, design boards are heavy, large, awkward and expensive! So the last thing you want to happen is to have your project fly away in the wind, or worse yet, having the large flat object cause you to fly into traffic!
Designers have come a long way in the last 5 years in regards to presentation methods. I think as an industry we have become a little more mobile, streamlined and all around “slimmer.” I am not saying a good ol’ fashioned presentation board isn’t ever called for – I have just experienced less and less requests for them. They cannot be altered as easily and quickly as digital presentations, not to mention they can take more time to fabricate, as well as to be shipped or delivered. So, as we become more tech-savvy and digital as an industry do you think we are losing something?
The “green” side of my brain says no, but the side of me that enjoys classical music and board games says yes! In regards to designers being more environmentally conscience, I think by creating more digital presentations, we are drastically reducing the amount of embodied energy we put into developing end results (this does not mean we skimp on brain power and the wonderful intangible parts of design work). The amount of shipping that takes place to get samples and then the amount of mounting materials it takes to create presentation boards can be substantial…not to mention that the more digital we go, the less chance there is to experience accidents with Exacto knifes and hot glue guns! I bet you did not know being an interior designer could be so dangerous.
In the end, I still think making work more portable through online meetings, graphic presentations and research via the internet is inevitable in order to keep up with the pace of business today. But it is still nice to see a well crafted presentation board on display and think…yeah , I could still do that!
Interior Designers Modern House, Mark Oser
In Mark Oser’s world, light is art, and the most important design element in a house. A trained painter, he prefers white walls to showcase canvases and sculptures, and dramatic lighting to highlight the architectural details of his 6,000-square-foot modern home in Holland.
It’s not your typical Bucks County fare, but that’s not why clients in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Florida call on Oser, an interior designer for 20 years who now does many design/build projects.
His own home features glass for staircases, stainless steel for curved walls, granite for floors, and open spaces for paintings that make it feel like a modern museum or a slick movie set. A comfortable one, though.
“My main goal was to create an ultramodern [house], but warm at the same time,” says Oser, 44. “I softened all of the hard materials with warm lighting, thick carpets, and warm touches of color.”
Building his home from the ground up was a challenge, Oser says: “I have been exposed to so much over the past 20 years and had so many resources that I loved to use. How do I narrow it down to what I like?”
First, he had to find where to build. He wanted to be in Bucks County, but he didn’t think a big development would be right for him, his wife Lisa, and daughter Halie, now 9. He found a community of 10 homes where the builder would allow him to design and construct the interior.
Like the rest of us, Oser had to contend with that awful word budget.
“When I thought about all of the things I wanted in this house, I thought, ‘I can’t afford myself.’ If there was something I wanted that I could not afford, I tried to do it with more cost-effective materials.”
It took Oser a year to design the whole house and another year, after they moved in in May 2001, to design the lower level. He bounced ideas off his wife, who was involved in the projects.
“My most important requirement was that my home feel inviting while being warm – modern design sometimes has a cold feel to it. Mark blended a modern style with a sense of warmth,” Lisa Oser says, crediting his use of lighting with making that happen.
The basement that took so long to design? It features a six-seat theater with ticket booth, a bar, a seating area, a gaming area, and the requisite home gym. The rooms have a movie theme, and there is even a life-sized clay sculpture of a movie attendant in the ticket booth.
The soundproof theater has fabric walls and dramatic sconces, and a 125-inch movie screen behind remote-controlled curtains.
“This is my favorite room,” Mark Oser says, “because you feel so different here. It takes me away.”
“You can do anything using this screen: show family photos, play games, and watch movies, of course,” says Oser, who often hooks up his computer and works there.
Adds Lisa Oser: “My friends and Halie’s love this house. It is really set up for entertaining.”
The bar and seating area have fun pop-art touches such as puzzle-piece ottomans and chairs done in fabric that looks like film reels. Oser painted an “Al Pacino in Scarface” movie mural onto the wall near the pool table.
Upstairs, in the main living spaces, however, “I wanted to have an art gallery effect,” says Oser, who mixes his own work – his take on a Roy Lichtenstein is on one wall – with that of other artists.
For the kitchen, he wanted sleek and angular mixed with curved design elements. The granite floors match the countertops, and white custom cabinets conceal small appliances. The eating area has a Jetsons-like triangular table and colorful seats.
In the square family room, Mark Oser wanted curves. He created them with flooring cut in a wave shape. The room features a built-in TV over the fireplace and, on an opposite wall, an airbrushed sky effect with the words COOL in 3-D.
“Paint can be changed, so if I get tired of it, I can easily change it,” he says.
The master bedroom needed lots of storage. Oser tucked it away behind curved brushed-steel and lacquer custom cabinetry that looks like an architectural element. A fireplace and TV are built into a wall opposite the bed, which rests on a glass-block base, lit from within.
“The lighting and glass create a floating effect,” Oser says.
He painted the molded ceiling a warmer color than the walls, and tucked away cove lighting to give the space a wonderful glow. And he created a meditation area for his wife, who owns an insurance-brokerage agency.
Three years ago, Oser took his talents outside, adding a pool that transports visitors to his favorite state, Florida. He brought in sand from the beach and palmlike trees, worked his magic with lighting again, and dotted deck areas with art and sculpture from favorite artists.
“The best part of living in a modern house is it is open and airy, unique and timeless,” Lisa Oser says. “I feel like I am on vacation in Florida or California in my own home.”