Modern Interior Design

By Tom Houser

As an interior designer, you must stay on top of all the modern trends. Once you leave school, you will need to do this on your own. Modern interior design can be fun and quite expensive. Interior Designers know the tips and tricks to keep expenses down without compromising the quality and creativity of the design.

Interior Designers know the best places to buy furniture, window treatments, blinds and artwork to compliment modern interior design. They also know the where to get the best accessories, nicest plants plus flooring and anything else needed. Many of these resources are obtained online. Interior Designers have access to the latest design software so that they can plan virtual designs and layouts of your living spaces. If you are planning to do your own modern interior design then there are plenty of resources available to you on the internet. There are many articles on the subject, which can easily be found using your favorite search engine. Your local library may carry the latest books on do it yourself interior design.

If you are planning to do your own modern interior design then you have to have a plan just like the professionals. You need to know what you have to purchase, how much it will cost and where you can actually find it. There is a lot of planning involved and you do not want to get started only to realize there is no way you can finish because you have run out of money.

Professional Interior Designers use the latest interior design software to plan a virtual design. This software can be very expensive for the average do-it-yourselfer. However, some relatively inexpensive programs will the same thing just not without all the bells and whistles.

Some tips offered by Professional Interior Designers for modern interior design include having from three to five sources of light in a room. Besides your general lighting, a room needs decorative and accent lighting. Lighting adds mood and atmosphere to a room.

In the past, most modern interior design was found in offices; now more and more homes are employing the styles of modern interior design. Some concepts are considered to clinical or sterile for homes, which is something you do not want and is a common mistake of someone who does not have the experience of a professional interior designer. Keep this in mind if you plan to do the work yourself.

Artwork can add personality to a room. If Art is too expensive for you then there are other ways to decorate your walls. If you have any photos or know of someone who takes many photos then they can make a great addition to your walls without costing anything.

You do not have to be a professional interior designer to decorate your home with modern interior design. However, if you are willing to spend the money on a professional, you can bet that it will be worth it.

Thomas D. Houser Thinking of a career in Modern Interior Design? Or, just looking for some Modern Interior Design ideas? We have a great deal of information on Interior Design

Home Interior Design Tips on Decorating your Space with Wall Art

By Claire Bowes

How to Decorate your Space with Wall Pictures

If a room in your house lacks character, by simply placing some fine art prints on the walls can actually make quite an impact. Wall pictures are a necessary accessory in your home and are great to tie in with the room's style and color accent. Before you go off to buy some new pictures for your walls there are a few things you need to plan and decide upon. Here is a home interior design guide on how to decorate your space with wall art.

Shop for Wall Art by Room

The kind of home you have and the mood, ambience and style of decor you create, should be perfectly designed to suit your lifestyle. Deciding on a style for your room should be determined by the lifestyle you choose and not by what's the latest home interior design trend.

Whichever room you are wanting to decorate, whether it be your bedroom, living area, kitchen or office space, you need to decide what you want to get out of that space. For example:

• do you want to hold dinner parties or entertain?
• do you want a quiet retreat to get away from the hustle and bustle?
• Is this an area for the kids to play in?
• Is this a room for your hobby?

Once you have decided what you want to use the room for, you can now choose a color theme to suit the function of the room. For example, mellow greens and neutrals for your 'quiet retreat room', lively yellow for the kids room, or pale tranquil blue for your office space.

So far we have established the function and color of the room in question, this then gives us the basis on choosing the right art prints for the area.

For example:

• bright colorful cartoon pictures for the kids room
• mellow pastel floral pictures for your quiet retreat area, or
• tranquil landscape and scenic pictures for your office space

Choose your Style

Like paint color, artwork can immediately establish or change a room's mood. Not only can it pull the room together, but you can use it to create a style uniquely your own.

• traditional & classic
• modern
• contemporary
• fun & entertaining
• casual
• romantic

The style of the room is totally dependent on your own personal taste and this is the time when you can inject your own personality into the room through artwork and textured accessories.

Suggested art picture styles:

Fun & Entertaining: Pictures can include bright colors both in the print and on the frame. Fun and entertaining pictures can include kittens and puppies, or comedian actors such as the Three Stooges or Laurel & Hardy.

Modern: With the strong black accents in the framed iron-work and the tapestries, striking black and white photos are a natural choice for a modern and sophisticated look.

Calm Retreat: To reinforce the mood of a nestled, cozy retreat, use artwork with neutral, earthy colors and a horizontal landscape subject.

You can even mix and match different styles to create a unique style of your own. For example, frame traditional black and white photo prints in a modern black iron frame.

Arranging and Hanging your Pictures

In order to get the maximum effect of your wall pictures in terms of adding character and a focal point to the room, you need to decide where and how you want to hang them.

Here are some suggestions to help you decide how to get the best effects from your pictures:-

Modern Gallery Look: To create a modern art gallery feel, particularly nice in hallways, lobbies and stairwells, give each piece ample breathing room. Stand at the center of the first piece and take one swift, or two small steps along the wall. This is a good center for the next piece.

Above a Sofa: When placing art above furniture such as a sofa, you need to hang the picture about six to nine inches above the sofa, or at eye level.

Cluster Arrangements: Tightly group an even number of pictures together to give a statement or a focal point. This works on either large or small wall spaces, depending on the look you want.

In a row: By placing an odd number of pictures in a horizontal line to each other gives balance and the sense of space. This works well in hallways or stairwells.

By deciding where and how to hang your pictures, whether it be a tight cluster or a single print above a sofa, you can then determine the size and shape of the pictures you need to buy.

When you have decided on the room's function, color and style, you are in a much better position to go shopping for wall pictures that fit in with the overall theme.

Summary

Wall pictures are an underestimated home interior design accessory. This is probably because most people do not know what to do with their pictures in order to get the maximum effect in a room. Before you go hanging up your pictures make sure you plan ahead what you want to get out of that room. Decide on the function, style and color of the room first before you buy your artwork. By doing this you are in a much better position to buy the right type of art picture to fit in with the theme and color accent of your room.

Claire Bowes is a successful freelance writer and owner of Online Home Improvement Ideas.

Interior Design Ideas - Dream Kitchens

By Matt Hick

Kitchens have become the centerpiece of the American home. It is where we eat, hang out with the family and entertain. Big is beautiful and elaborate is everything! Today's homeowner wants a lavish showplace complete with granite countertops, custom tile backsplashes, top-of-the-line stainless steel appliances and much more!

Proper layout is crucial to designing a dream kitchen to rival all others in the neighborhood. But before you can begin designing a new layout, it's your job to figure out how this important living space will be used. Begin by assessing the homeowner's needs. Will the family be using the kitchen as a mecca of entertainment; a place to relax and enjoy each other’s company, a place to cook five-star meals or does the space need to be deigned to accommodate a hectic family with young children?

Once you know the functions it needs to fulfill, then you need to decide on size. Is an expansion in the plan? Or must you work within its current boundaries? What about shape?

Most kitchens are designed in one of three main shapes:

• U-shape.
• L-shape.
• G-shape.

Once you’ve established these basic perimeters, you can begin the real design work!

Small kitchens can be a challenge, so remember to be creative when trying to make the space look and feel more open:

Look for unique storage solutions.
Add pullout shelves, rotating inserts, and tilt out bins to make your small space more accessible.

Go Light.
Nothing makes a small space feel cramped than a lot of cabinets – especially if they’re made of dark wood. Opt for lighter colors in your cabinets and walls; use lots of open shelves; and wire organizers. And ditch the solid cabinet doors for glass or frosted ones. It’ll give off an illusion of more space.

Choose appliances wisely.
Keep your cook top and oven in the same area. Hide away smaller appliance sin cupboards and pantries for a clutter free look and build in microwaves and dishwashers whenever possible.

Visually expand the space with the right lighting.
Maintain a mix of natural and ambient lighting. Adding a skylight is an excellent way to make a room appear much larger than it is by raising a portion of the ceiling and opening the room with more natural light from above.

When designing any kitchen it’s important to remember these important features:

• The main purpose of the room.
• The family’s size and needs (for instance family’s with young children generally need colors and textures that will hide fingerprints, smudges, and, yes, dirt!).
• The size and shape of the room.
• The budget.

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Interior Design Secrets for Selling Houses

By Jeanette Joy Fisher

New concepts in Interior Design Psychology are helping home sellers net more money in today's competitive real estate market. Therefore, it's worthwhile to spend time planning the changes that will help your home sell for the highest price.

Develop a general design plan, keeping your target market and budget in mind. Your overall design plan really depends on supply and demand. How many houses are for sale in your area? How many houses sell each week? Is the selling season cold, warm, or hot? Is it a seller's or buyer's market?

If the market is moving fast and buyers are lining up to make offers for homes in your neighborhood, you can do less. But whatever your answers to the above questions, you'll still need to do a few things to make your home stand out from the competition.

Know Your Target Buyers

Think about your neighborhood and the buyers purchasing homes near yours. Are they purchasing their first home or moving up? This will be important to your marketing and design plan, since the psychological needs of the two types of buyers differ considerably.

First-time homebuyers seek to control their own environment by owning, rather than renting. Their psychological needs include:

Safety and security
Sense of place or connection
Comfort
Self-control

Move-up buyers often enjoy those benefits, too, but they're generally more interested in finding a larger home with more amenities for their comfort, self-esteem, and feelings of prestige.

Once you've determine your potential buyers, you can begin making improvements to your home that will attract them.

Budget Concerns

Spend money only on items that will make a difference in your sales price. Of all repairs, fresh paint is the best investment you can make. New kitchen appliances, upgraded bathroom features, and updated lighting fixtures will usually give a good return for your money, as well.

Sometimes, hiring professional help is worth the extra expense. Professional painters work faster and will often cost less than day laborers. Tile installers, carpet layers, and electricians also know their trades and will do a better job than most day laborers.

Contractors should have their own disability and liability insurance -- ask for a copy with your contract. Get everything in writing -- including work to be completed, costs, lists of specific materials to be used, time for completion, and payment schedule.

Exterior Design Psychology

Choosing the right colors to paint your home will make a huge difference in your paycheck at closing. Look at the other homes near yours and choose complementary colors.

Did you know that the exterior color of houses selling the most quickly is yellow, but the wrong tone or shade of yellow can kill a potential home sale? Avoid yellows with green undertones and bright yellows, and choose pale yellows with creamy or beige shades instead. Warning: colors look darker on huge exterior expanses than they do on the little
paint chips you see in the store.

Color Combinations

Paint stores offer many brochures, showing various combinations of exterior paint colors, but most of them also feature combinations include three colors. Limiting your paint selection to only two colors will limit your income potential.

Think fun colors for a fast sale. Think "Disneyland Main Street," where every shop is painted in glorious multi-color. Using a third or fourth color on the exterior can add definition to your home's details. Use gloss or semi-gloss paint on wood trim.

Psychology of Exterior Paint Colors

Take the ultimate sales price of your remodeled home into account. Certain colors, especially muted, complex shades, will attract wealthy or highly-educated buyers, whereas buyers with less income or less education will generally prefer simple colors.

A complex color contains tints of gray or brown, and usually requires more than one word to describe, such as sage green or forest brown, while simple colors are straightforward and pure. Generally, houses in the lower price range will sell faster and for more money when painted in simple tones like yellow and tan with white, blue, or green trim.

Interior Design Plans and Secrets

Create a list of work and materials you'll need for each room and then estimate the time you think it will take for each task. The more planning you do before you begin, the more time and money you'll save.

Psychology of Interior Paint Colors

Daring to use color instead of bland white walls will increase your profit potential. Did you know that Lynette Jennings tested people's perception of room size and color? A room that was painted white appeared larger to only a few people in the survey, compared to an identical room painted with a color, and the perceived difference was only about six inches! Because most people look better surrounded by color, a colored wall also makes them feel happier, and buyers will choose to buy the house that makes them feel happiest.

Entryways should bring the exterior colors of the home inside. Repeat variations of the exterior shades all the way through your home, which will make the entire home seem to be in harmony. As an added bonus, if buyers love the exterior colors, they're going to like the interior colors, as well.

Spending time planning your home's sale, rather than just listing it and then taking your chances, will net you more money, and faster!

Best wishes for a profitable, quick sale.

5 Steps To Interior Design

By Mikael Rieck

We don’t need to go that many years back in time to find things being completely different than they are now in most of the industrialized world. There was a time where interior design in the form of trying to stand out in the crowd was only for the people of royal heritage or people belonging to the upper class of society.

The most people did not decorate their homes to make it looks pretty or special but merely to have the most practical home possible. Especially the poorer part of society was practical in their decoration because they didn’t prioritize to spend money on “looks”. Looks didn’t put food on the table and looks didn’t finish the work in the field.

Today things have changed significantly and we are seeing more and more people spending loads and loads of money on interior design. I’ve gathered a small list of 5 steps that you can take if you want to either start decorating you home or if you feel that you need some refinement.

5 steps to take – #1
The easy way, but also the most costly way is to hire a interior designer to do the work for you. If you do a simple search on Google you will find thousands and thousands of designers that are willing to help you for money. If you want to go don’t that route I encourage you to take some references before entering into a costly deal. See some of the homes that they have already designed to make sure that you like their style.

5 steps to take - #2
If you don’t want to pay someone for helping you out then there is an option available that might be worth a try. Around the nation there are many design schools with people graduating every year. Common for them is the fact that they end up doing a design project to finish their education. Put up notes on the boards of the design school saying “need a home to design for your final project? Contact ……” or something like that. This method is not for you if you are in a hurry.

5 steps to take - #3
Family! Luckily most people have family and in most family you will find (primarily mothers) people that would love to give their input as to how you should design your home. Now even though this method is free you need to be careful. Depending on the person you engage in the project you might end up in some hefty arguments 

5 steps to take - #4
If you want to do it on your own there is plenty of inspiration to find in both magazines and newspapers. Most newspapers today have whole sections on interior design so you won’t have to search for long to find inspiration. If you are looking for a special style then magazines is the way to go. Most times they have themes and you will just have to find the edition that covers the theme that you’re searching for.

5 steps to take - #5
Now the final step is the one that will be the most “you”. This is where you use your imagination and go shop for furniture and different kinds of decoration and then try to put everything together. The result can easily vary and if you are not that good at it you might find yourself spending many hours trying to get it right. However, if you are like many interior decorators then that won’t bother you because that is what you enjoy the most.

The Author specializes in area rugs and the website contains articles on anything from tropical print area rugs to oval shag area rugs.

Modern Interior Design - Bringing Homes And Offices To The 21st Century

By Wade Robins

Modern interior design is a trend followed not only in the U.S. but in almost all economically buoyant countries in the world. What used to be employed only in offices is now also being used in homes.

Sleek, simple, impressive – these are just a few of the characteristics of modern interior design. New hotels which prefer to veer away from mediocre and traditional hotel interiors make use of modern interior design techniques that surprisingly bring in a lot of curious guests.

From the lobbies to the elevators to the hotel rooms, guests are awed by the massiveness of many hotel structures and fixtures using modern interior design. Offices, too, prefer this style because it gives their corporations an image of straightforwardness, innovativeness, and reliability.

The materials used in modern interior design, such as steel, glass, and hardwood somehow give the impression that the business owners are no-nonsense. Sure, there may be a few accent pieces here and there, but generally, furniture is used sparingly.

Modern interior design concepts

An adept professional specializing in modern interior design should know how to keep the room from being too clinical or sterile. This tends to be a common mistake of people who aren't too familiar with the concepts of modern interior design.

This style's furniture are generally bland and impersonal, so many designers add a few eye-catching patterns and colors here and there. While modern interior design is normally monochromatic, splashes of other colors can be used on paintings, throw pillows, and other conversation pieces such as aquariums.

Objects in a room influenced by modern interior design tend to be kept to a minimum, but are usually oversized and create huge impacts. For instance, a long, low-back sofa may be upholstered in black leather and framed in chrome, but it can be softened by pillows with light colored covers.

Sometimes, there can be only one painting on the wall but its size is almost of mural proportions. In addition, the patterns used in the artwork are almost always very powerful and striking. Other proponents of modern interior design can also choose an imposing piece of sculpture instead of a painting, but in any case, these accent pieces are purposely meant to grab the guest's attention.

Even the flooring of a home or office using modern interior design is of neutral and earthy colors – blacks, whites, grays, silvers, and brown or green hues. There is also an extravagant use of shiny surfaces and bold, geometric shapes that give a sense of trendiness and power.