RLD Interiors

12/16/2020

Bring It In

My husband and I have the privilege of renting an apartment in Colombia that we have used intermittently over the years. At most, we have spent 6 weeks straight in the apartment. Because of the pandemic, this year my husband has been stuck in the apartment with our dogs for the past 9 months while I was back in the States.

Finally, after much planning and preparation I flew down to South America early this month to spend the holidays with my family only to discover, to my horror, that the apartment is incredibly inefficient when used over a long period of time. The storage of the kitchen and laundry room are insufficient and the walk-in closet is only large enough for 1 ½ people and because of the lack of adequate storage, every cabinet and drawer in the apartment was filled to the brim.

Anyone who knows me knows I hate messy, cluttered cabinets and drawers. It gives me a rash. Fortunately, although we currently rent the apartment, we are in the midst of negotiating the purchase of it in 2021. Once the purchase is complete, I have every intention of gutting and renovating the entire apartment (of course) but because of the way we now use it, I decided to resolve the inefficiency immediately.

The day after I arrived I asked around and arranged for a carpenter to come and give us a price on building and installing additional cabinetry (and shelves) in both the kitchen and laundry room. Agreeing on a price and how much storage I wanted made, I hired him. Since then, every day I wait with bated breath for the arrival of the new cabinetry/storage that will resolve the “cramped” spaces and give me some breathing room.

It is always important to know how to best use your space and also, how impactful it can be to not have enough storage for your things. Unless you have the desire to downscale what you own, I find most people need more “storage”. Whether it be cabinetry, decorative storage boxes or closets, there always seems to be a need for more storage to organize your belongings. It’s very important to recognize that a jam-packed, disorganized drawer or cabinet is a drain on you and usually becomes a place you avoid. Even if the cluttered space is in an area of the home/apartment that isn’t used often, the disorganization is draining.

If you don’t own your home, perhaps a more temporary solution like decorative boxes and movable drawer cabinets are the solution for you. Or if you do own your home/apartment, then looking into installing some “built-in” storage is the way to go. There are many different storage solutions and are available at every price point. Whatever the right solution for you, the point is to resolve it as soon as possible. By resolving the clutter and disorganization, you will discover that afterwards you will feel clearer, more energetic, more at peace with your home.

Here’s an exercise: Take stock of any drawer or cabinet you feel is disorganized or cluttered. Assess whether or not everything that is in there is usable and/or of value and worth keeping. Discard what is not either of the above and reorganize what’s left. If you still don’t have enough storage or it’s not easy to organize in the space you do have, consider bringing in additional storage such as an in-cabinet or drawer storage system or a stand-alone storage component such as a built-in or piece of furniture. Remember to predetermine where your new storage is going to “live” and that it fits (meaning-check your math!), before you purchase anything.

Or contact me for a virtual tour of your storage systems and let’s plan the solutions together. Consider making 2021 the year you organize your home to its best efficiency. That in and of itself will bring you peace and joy!

12/16/2020

Bring It In

My husband and I have the privilege of renting an apartment in Colombia that we have used intermittently over the years. At most, we have spent 6 weeks straight in the apartment. Because of the pandemic, this year my husband has been stuck in the apartment with our dogs for the past 9 months while I was back in the States.

Finally, after much planning and preparation I flew down to South America early this month to spend the holidays with my family only to discover, to my horror, that the apartment is incredibly inefficient when used over a long period of time. The storage of the kitchen and laundry room are insufficient and the walk-in closet is only large enough for 1 ½ people and because of the lack of adequate storage, every cabinet and drawer in the apartment was filled to the brim.

Anyone who knows me knows I hate messy, cluttered cabinets and drawers. It gives me a rash. Fortunately, although we currently rent the apartment, we are in the midst of negotiating the purchase of it in 2021. Once the purchase is complete, I have every intention of gutting and renovating the entire apartment (of course) but because of the way we now use it, I decided to resolve the inefficiency immediately.

The day after I arrived I asked around and arranged for a carpenter to come and give us a price on building and installing additional cabinetry (and shelves) in both the kitchen and laundry room. Agreeing on a price and how much storage I wanted made, I hired him. Since then, every day I wait with bated breath for the arrival of the new cabinetry/storage that will resolve the “cramped” spaces and give me some breathing room.

It is always important to know how to best use your space and also, how impactful it can be to not have enough storage for your things. Unless you have the desire to downscale what you own, I find most people need more “storage”. Whether it be cabinetry, decorative storage boxes or closets, there always seems to be a need for more storage to organize your belongings. It’s very important to recognize that a jam-packed, disorganized drawer or cabinet is a drain on you and usually becomes a place you avoid. Even if the cluttered space is in an area of the home/apartment that isn’t used often, the disorganization is draining.

If you don’t own your home, perhaps a more temporary solution like decorative boxes and movable drawer cabinets are the solution for you. Or if you do own your home/apartment, then looking into installing some “built-in” storage is the way to go. There are many different storage solutions and are available at every price point. Whatever the right solution for you, the point is to resolve it as soon as possible. By resolving the clutter and disorganization, you will discover that afterwards you will feel clearer, more energetic, more at peace with your home.

Here’s an exercise: Take stock of any drawer or cabinet you feel is disorganized or cluttered. Assess whether or not everything that is in there is usable and/or of value and worth keeping. Discard what is not either of the above and reorganize what’s left. If you still don’t have enough storage or it’s not easy to organize in the space you do have, consider bringing in additional storage such as an in-cabinet or drawer storage system or a stand-alone storage component such as a built-in or piece of furniture. Remember to predetermine where your new storage is going to “live” and that it fits (meaning-check your math!), before you purchase anything.

Or contact me for a virtual tour of your storage systems and let’s plan the solutions together. Consider making 2021 the year you organize your home to its best efficiency. That in and of itself will bring you peace and joy!

Stay tuned for “after” photos!!!

11/26/2020

Does Your New Renovation Match Your Existing Belongings?

If you’ve recently renovated a room (or rooms) in your home, you know firsthand how exciting it is to walk into a space that is brand-spanking new, fresh and clean. Hopefully, you’ve gotten what you wanted, it now looks like what you’ve dreamed of and you’re ready to start enjoying it to the fullest. However, most times, newly finished spaces have a certain aseptic quality that while appealing because of their newness and cleanliness, may lack the personality that has it integrate with other rooms in your home or perhaps, stand out as a room that belongs in another house.

Unless you have the luxury (and the resources) to replace every significant item in your home, i.e., your living room, dining room and bedroom furniture and art, the likelihood is that you will be trying to work out how to make the new room blend in fully with what you already own and not make those things look stale and faded. It is important to consider the things you own that have a history or are a complete reflection of your personality and find ways to make those things work after the renovation.

When meeting with new clients, often they talk about past renovations/facelifts they’ve done that just didn’t work. In every instance, I discover that the choices they made for the new items didn’t consider how it would impact the things they weren’t planning on changing or even worse, were in such a different direction aesthetically that the new items looked like someone just plucked them from a catalog and plopped them in the middle of their room. Instead of enjoying their new things, they became a distraction.

One way to make it all work (something old, something new…) is to plan it all before you do the renovation/facelift. Before you break ground (or throw out that dilapidated sofa with the permanent dent on the middle cushion), plot out what will stay, what will go and most importantly, WHERE is it going to live once all the work is done. Have a plan in place beforehand and you’ll be less likely to have to replace something that wasn’t on the original list to begin with. This helps you create a realistic budget and also a sense of what your home is going to look like when all is said and done.

Pull out photos from catalogs (or print them from the internet) of the items you are considering purchasing and lay them out in a place where you can contemplate them in relation to the things that are staying in your home. Pay close attention not to how they will look but rather, to how they make you feel in relation to the rest of the items in the room.

Also, consider solutions for pieces of furniture that you’re not replacing now. Perhaps you want to consider reupholstering the sofa or buying adaptable slip covers instead of buying a new one. Or maybe you’ll decide to spray paint your dining room chairs and change the fabric on the seat cushions to go with your existing dining room table. Or perhaps you decide to re-frame several pieces of art you own. There are many ways to reinvent existing furniture.

Better yet, consider hiring an Interior Designer to help you integrate the old with the new. We have the skill set to think outside the box, establish the perfect balance of what to keep, what to replace and how to have it all work together so you can equally enjoy the old with the new.

11/20/2020

The Value of an Interior Designer

Part 1
5 Ways an Interior Designer Can Make Your Home Renovation Project a Success

Recently I was speaking with my friend Reiko, who is an amazing Interior Designer herself as well as a Feng Shui Master and we were discussing the misinterpretation of the term “Interior Designer” by both the general public and certain industry professionals.

There are many different types of designers. There are fashion designers, graphic designers, animation designers and web designers to name a few. Many of these are straight forward in most people’s understandings of what they do, and the skills required to craft their art. It is however, when we turn to the Interior Designer where things get a little murky.

Often, when I meet with a new client for the first time they ask: What is the difference between an interior designer and a decorator?

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (Sep 1, 2020), they say “Interior Designers make indoor spaces functional, safe and beautiful by determining the space requirements and selecting essential and decorative items, such as colors, lighting and materials…” Yet in fact, to be a successful Interior Designer and to remain working in this current universe of DYI, it requires so much more than that.

Here are 5 Ways that Interior Designers make your home improvement project a success.

The first distinction of being an Interior Designer from being an Interior Decorator is that we deal with construction. Certainly, we can decorate; choose fabrics and furniture, specify wall coverings and paint colors, select tiles and countertops. But that is usually at the tail end of our work. Where we place our attention first and foremost is on how to create a more efficient, fluid and user-friendly space. In other words, we immediately look at what is unworkable about the frame of the space and then re-configure the space to make it be more fluid and user-friendly, meaning, construction. Whether it be removing one solitary wall or demolishing the entirety of three rooms to create the frame we envision, construction (and usually demolishing) is always an intrinsic component of our work.

Secondly, we are the interface between the client and the contractor. I have known many contractors who help clients “design” their kitchens and bathrooms and while the expertise of their construction skills may be quite spectacular, often, the final product bears very little reflection of the client’s taste and personality. What we as designers do is thoroughly assess and perhaps modify the requirements of a space and then find a way to make the new space be a reflection of the client. That when the project is done, the client feels like they are “home”, not in a room from a catalogue or a cabinet showroom.

Thirdly, in times of construction challenges, we are the client’s advocate. We’re the ones that go to bat for the client when there’s some sort of complication in the construction process (and there is often a complication in the construction process). We keep the paths of communication and resolution between the contractor and the client open and are able to speak the technical language of construction while keeping the client abreast of the possible solutions. This is in fact, one of the most fundamental values of hiring an Interior Designer. When something isn’t working out to the satisfaction of the client, we get to the bottom of where things went awry, who’s responsible for the problem and help answer the most asked question in construction, “Who’s paying to get it fixed?”.

Fourthly, we have the skill set to be the Project Manager on the project. Often, contractors come with their own project managers, but in some cases, this is like placing the fox inside the chicken coop, locking the door and leaving for several months. You may find that when time’s up, you’re left with a bunch of feathers! It is illogical to hire a Project Manager that works for the contractor. Unless the PM is beholden to you both fiscally and contractually, there is no compelling reason for them to hold the contractor to account when the project runs behind or there are errors made by a worker on the job. If you are doing sizable construction, then having an outside PM on the job will serve both you and the contractor. In all the likelihood the contractor won’t like it, but in the end, it cuts through a lot of the drama involved with construction.

And lastly, and for many clients, most importantly, we shoulder the burden of bringing the project to a close. For those who have had construction projects, perhaps you have a vivid memory of the never-ending punch list that took months to complete. When we are on a project, we integrate the logistics of both the construction and decorative aspects of projects and find a seamless way to execute them, so it becomes one fluid timeline. Combined with managing the budget of a project, it is the nuts and bolts of the final product. Everyone wants to “ooh and ahh” at the beautiful finished product but it takes a lot of grunt work to get there.

In essence, Interior Designers are an invaluable component of the Design industry. Since the popularity of DYI emerged, to save money many homeowners have taken on being their own PM’s and taking advantage of the free “design services” offered by many retailers nowadays. It is important to note that while these designers know their product(s) incredibly well, and often have great talent, they have no clue what your home looks like and ultimately, will recommend items from their store, ostensibly turning your home into a satellite showroom for the retailer.

So, when planning your next renovation, earmark 30% of your renovation budget for an Interior Designer (or tack it on top). You will be pleasantly surprised to see how this expense pays for itself. Most consumers are aware that budgets climb during the renovation process so why not use the extra funds to make certain you get what you want, rather than spending money to correct errors in construction, mistakes in ordering materials and other preventable delays? You will find that the process doesn’t have to be the headache everyone makes it out to be and you will end up with a renovation that leaves you with the delightful experience of “home” every time you enter it.

09/29/2020

Color, Front & Center

I'm currently working on a really fun project where the clients love, love, LOVE color. Over the past nine months I've worked with them to try and use the colors they love so much while still maintaining a framework of balance and clean lines.

Although neutrals, whites/off-whites and grays are easy go-tos, with just the right amount use of color, you can add some real personality to a space. Colors evoke emotions. Used in broad strokes and applications, color can transform a serious formal dining room into a hot, chic eatery or a cluttered TV room into a sexy mancave. Yet, it's sometimes hard to give up our pristine, n**e walls for something with a bit more "pop". And for some, painting their ceiling magenta or the window casings in their living room black is way too into daredevil territory. So what to do, what to do?
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fhative.com%2Fpurple-bedroom-ideas%2F&psig=AOvVaw33uwYx5Wyrgkd2YdIj4pOk&ust=1601427324565000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCNDuw-iTjewCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAO

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fmodernize.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F09%2FInterior-Black-Window-Frames-1-1-751x1024.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fmodernize.com%2Fhome-ideas%2F28613%2Fblack-window-trim&tbnid=eRYT8nwn6EP_gM&vet=12ahUKEwjyg5amlI3sAhUiGN8KHf2fDIMQMygBegUIARDJAg..i&docid=0FPlwRE3im2vyM&w=751&h=1024&q=black%20window%20casings&ved=2ahUKEwjyg5amlI3sAhUiGN8KHf2fDIMQMygBegUIARDJAg

Start introducing color in an intentional but contained, way. Change out your dining room light fixture to one with a black shade instead of a clear crystal one. Bring in two chairs, maybe even used, and reupholster them in blood red velvet and use them as the foot and head of your dining table. When you're ready to buy your next sofa, use a bolder colored material instead of a neutral. Get a chocolate bed runner made and trim it in an animal print fabric such as zebra or python.

Find a way to use color in a way that makes a statement yet doesn't overpower your room or your aesthetics. Be creative, explore the possibilities. There are a number of great blogs out there on color. Read up on them. Learn the nuances of color. Do a color test on yourself:

1. Look at a color (any color) in any photo, fabric, wall, painting, furniture, etc. Give it your undivided attention for a minute or so (yes, that means leave your phone somewhere else - not in your hand).
2. Now, check in - how do you feel? How does that color make you feel? Does it excite you? Does it scare you? Does it make you feel a little nauseous (my reaction to bilious yellow) or at peace (aqua blue for me).
3. Begin a log of the colors that have a positive impact on you.

Then, find ways to integrate them into your home. You will find that if you begin to add these types of colors to your home you will begin to experience it in an entirely new way. You will find yourself inspired to transform your living space in ways that bring you complete satisfaction, without having to tear the walls down.

And be on the lookout for photos from my latest project (coming in early November)

Check out C2 Paint for really off-the-charts colors that come to life and create inspiration - they are just yummy!

https://c2paint.com/blogs/color-confidential/diy-design-diary-how-to-deck-out-your-space-for-summer

Found on Google from modernize.com

06/13/2020

Work In Progress...

For some people, being at home so much because of the quarantine has inspired them to tackle projects they have been avoiding for years. I have a friend who for years, has been using her garage as a de facto storage unit, filled to the brim with boxes and unused furniture, tools and all-manner of unused items (see photos). Her car hadn’t been inside the garage in years. What’s worse, she had to navigate that obstacle course to get to her laundry room which was at the back of the garage. All in all, it was a most unpleasant experience.

Every time I visited her, I would eventually ask “When are we going to tackle that garage?” and she would roll her eyes and say “I know. That garage is a mess. I have to do something about it.” And then nothing would happen and the next time I visited, her garage would be fuller (and messier) than before.

As an aside, she has a HUGE family and at Christmastime they all go to her house for Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas Day brunch (she is an amazing cook). Alas, her dining room is not very big so when they’re ready to eat there are people seated everywhere; on folding chairs, on the sofa, even sitting on the edge of the furniture arms.

We were recently speaking via FaceTime and we were discussing this year’s Christmas festivities when I asked her “Why don’t you empty your garage and convert it into a place for family to crash when they stay over but also, as a place to have your holiday meals? It’s certainly big enough for that and you don’t use it for your car anyway?” And just like that, she was inspired to finally deal with her garage.

We both were super excited at the prospect until she threw in the wrench that while it should also look attractive (but not necessarily beautiful - heresy in my book) it also had to be as inexpensive as possible. For me, the thought of doing a garage conversion inexpensively was a daunting idea. I understood why she wanted to “keep it reasonable” but there were a lot of complicated issues that had to be addressed in order to convert a garage into a place someone could actually comfortably sleep in, controlling the climate, adding more storage space, adding a new bathroom yet still be able to easily (and inexpensively) revert it back to a garage should she decide to sell the house in the future.

The attached photos depict the work in progress. The converted garage features a “kitchenette (cooktop and storage for serving pieces), a good-sized bathroom, a long horizontal “window” in front of the garage door and a large closet for storing off-season clothes and (of course) lots of Christmas items and linens and things. The highlights:

- We built an insulated wall in front of the garage door to stop the major temperature fluctuations, added a ceiling fan for summer and baseboard heating for winter. She can always add a window unit AC if she wants to cool it off more. I highly recommend Kapsul W5 Air Conditioner https://www.kapsulair.com/
- We added a small window on the exterior side of the garage to allow in more light and keep the room from looking dingy.
- I was able to hide away the boiler and oil tank behind easily removable doors for easy access for workmen to get to if they needed to be serviced
- We were able to relocate the laundry to another part of the house and use the existing plumbing to accommodate her bathroom
- We used a “basement” toilet which precluded us having to excavate the slab of her house to accommodate a drain
- I was able to find a reasonable prefab shower enclosure that wouldn’t make you feel like you were standing in a closet trying to take a shower
- The laminate floor is rubber backed so the car can roll right onto it if and when it gets reverted back to a garage
- Even though I did a partial bump out from what was her laundry/boiler room into her garage to accommodate her bathroom and I added cabinetry in several places, a car would STILL fit in the garage as is (removing the insulated wall in front of the garage door that is)

What’s still left to do: We have to get the countertops, cooktop, refrigerator and the doorknob for the main door installed and like all construction punch lists, there are a couple of paint touch ups needed - but that’s it.

And most importantly, because her new space is so “pristine” she is going to w**d away most of what she had in the garage so that it will not become a holding area for all these unused (and unneeded) items. Now I can’t wait to visit her again and I’ll insist we hang out in her garage. 🙂

04/13/2020

Getting It Off the Walls

The living room in the downstairs apartment in my mother's house once had wall covering. Sometime last fall, in a moment of boredom my mother removed the wall covering but left the wall paper liner on the walls. Every time I went down to see her, I would stare at that paper and wonder when she would hire someone to finish the process of removing the liner. Then our stay-at-home edict was given and amidst weeks of stuffing bags of chips-ahoy cookies down my throat and 13 hours of straight binge-watching TV, I realized that that someone could be me.

Now anyone who knows me knows that I am not very handy. My greatest ability of using my hands is making a mean cappuccino using our Nespresso pod machine. So, the thought of attempting to remove the wall paper liner from her living room walls was as appealing as giving myself an e***a. But, the annoyance of looking at those walls in the most abhorrent shade of panty-hose n**e beige surpassed my aversion and I decided to take on the task.

Having great resources, I called my wall covering installer (who by the way - happens to be a genius, if you are ever in need) and begged him to share with me the easiest way to remove wall paper liner from the walls. I had already You-Tubed several videos on wall paper liner removal but wanted his expertise. And he gave me a very simple, inexpensive and non-invasive formula. Hot water, Dawn dishwashing detergent, a plastic spatula, a paint roller and a sponge.

This morning I finally took a deep breath and started in on the wall paper liner. And blow me over with a feather, it not only worked, it worked in a quarter of the time! Thinking it would take me several days to remove the liner, it only took me 3.5 hours (and that was with a 15 minute cookie break). I am ecstatic and more importantly, the walls are no longer - n**e beige.

Of course, that means that now the walls need to be painted but I can certainly tolerate the wall paper primer color much more than I can the n**e beige. I mean, I MIGHT get inspired to paint the walls but frankly, I stink at compound/plaster/sanding and that would annoy me a hell of a lot more than unpainted walls. So for the moment, the primed walls stay AS-IS until the lockdown is lifted and someone ELSE can come paint the walls. I mean, I don't want anything to interfere with my next round of binge-watching TV...

Now if only I could figure out how to replace windows myself...

12/20/2019

Reinventing a prefabricated bed...

I purchased this pre-fabricated bed from Crate & Barrel for a client and then had it reupholstered in a plum-wine faux leather, added a platform to keep the ample storage and elevated it off the floor with Lucite legs to make room for squiggly toes to shore up to it without bashing themselves against the rails.

Although this project is in mid-stream (still to come - new throw pillows, new paint color for the room, new area rug, new, quieter lamp shades and reupholstering of perhaps the chair and the bench in the room), I really love how the color of the faux leather begins to tie together all the existing elements and makes it more cohesive.