Washable Organic Cotton Textiles

As we specify healthy cleaner environments, a very important part of it is having healthy clean textiles surround us. If we use washable organic cotton textiles on our furniture and treat each piece of furniture to a slip cover design, we can keep our surroundings cleaner. Washing slipcovers monthly at least gives the user control over dust mites, mold, spills that can breed bacteria and allergens that can collect on textiles during use. The recommendation of using washable organic textiles is typically less expensive than the silks, wools, and combination fabrics around. Where the cost is driven upwards is the approach of slipcovering a piece of furniture as well as having a covering on the piece itself. This will do the most in keeping the environment clean and is money well spent. More organic cotton textiles are being developed everyday. I applaud Robert Allen, Kravet, and Designers Guild in thier research and developement!

Design Must get Healthier

As our built world becomes more and more unhealthy, it is up to the educated and experienced design professional to lead the way in changing the norm and expectations. There is an extreme push in the construction phase of any project where costs are weighed and the low bid typically wins out. With that low bid may come products that are manufactured either in the US or in Asia to lowest standards allowable. Typically lower standards for lower pricing bring toxins into the mix. We all heard about the FEMA trailers full of "Chinese Drywall" that offgassed formaldehyde into the interiors of displaced Katrina families. With that came asthma, and other respiratory problems. The US standards of what we will accept in the way of Volatile Organic Compounds and Formaldehyde is disturbing enough. If test results were provided with this low bid application of drywall, then those standards were met. Since this happened, it was revealed in subsequent studies that many drywall products made right here in the US have the same standards as the drywall that offgassed in the FeMA trailers and created a public outcry. The US has the lowest standards in the world. We will accept a very high standard of parts per million of all of these toxins that make us all sick. Europe allows half of what we do. Japan allows almost half again of Europe. When people are Auto Immune compromised they have a hyper sensitivity that allows even less to be acceptable in their environments. The problem is that exposure over time can build up in our bodies and express itself in many ways. Many experts have talked about the foods that we eat, the interior products that surround us, and the air quality that we breathe in our homes and in commercial environments and how it has effected our standard of living and our breathing. If it is true, as experts predict and the cases of autism, asthma, and related brain and breathing problems is growing at alarming rates because of these two factors, designers have a huge responsibility in the years to come. Cases of cancers reported in Erin Brokavitch situations of toxic waste spills, were proven to have poisoned whole towns. There is little difference between the Volatile Organic Compounds that surround us, leach into our air, and our water and their future effect on how we will live or die in our lifetimes. This is not a scare tactic. This is a call to action for designers to be aware of problems that exist in the products that we specify everyday. The solution can be as simple as asking for test results for the products that we as designers are specifying. The lab test results will show how much offgassing the products do. Then we can decide with the client what we can accept for the population. If you have a client that has immune system problems, the requirements are more stringent. The more compromised they are, the more dilligent we must be in taking care of them. It comes down to why the postion of interior designer has health and life safety as part of it's responsibility. I challenge interior designers on this planet to be aware, be dilligent and most of all ask the questions about what we are surrounding our clients with. Without the knowledge of the offgassing possibilities of the specifications that we produce, we are blind and leading a death march. I do not choose to do that.

Healthy Interior Design

The result of living within toxins accepted by US levels is not always acceptable to the client.

Interior Design that serves those that are immune system compromised has to address all levels of VOC's, and all toxins in water, and air in the interior project. We all face the reality of more exposure and more reactions to this as we live and breathe in badly polluted environments. As you are exposed to more and more interior toxins, you can develope a hyper sensitivity to light, temperature and sound. As you do this, your environment supports you less and less. The result is not a normal life style.

Most products that are assumed to be done offgassing and creating negative reactions in humans do not ever really stop offgassing. The biggest example of this can be insulation, stone surfaces, drywall, paint, and various bonded materials that are everywhere. Every solid surface that is used for countertops is a series of chunks of something bonded together with something. These bonding agents oftentimes create many problems for humans to live with. When you see the word epoxy, or resin, or bonding agent, dig deeper.

My role as an interior designer keeps expanding and growing. All markets have niche areas that are not being addressed. Most designers run from heavy research and exposure to giving advice with risks. Those of us that are highly educated and have created a measure of fearlessness are encouraged to keep expanding what we know and direct our clients to walk with us on this journey.

I have explored many interior environments in my history and have always focused on giving back to the education of interior design, their clients and their students. We are given chances to grow and learn. Embracing it can be extremely enlightening.

Designing with FUN

Designers in Stockholm had a problem. With exercise waning and the population getting more and more unfit, design was chosen as the vehicle to reverse the curve.

One such example of design doing just that came to a dreaded staircase. The stair was an imposing steep example of what no one wanted to do. Instead they all took the narrow escalator next to it. 99% of people leaving the train station took the escalator.

The design team collaborated, came up with a solution that is not only innovative, but FUN!

The staircase was transformed from plain white tile to a mix of black and white tiles that was an actual climbing piano keyboard, complete with sound. Every step created a sound of a key, and every person joined the chorus of sound coming from the staircase. Virtual symphonies of sound combinations came. People walked and walked the stairs, pausing, stopping, combining steps to create a sound and an experience unmatched in Stockholm.

Fun created a solution in a bleak situation when design was chosen to lead.
And we all need more fun, don't we?

2011 is a HUGE Year for Interior Design

There is a definite feeling in the air that the crisis is gone. Clients are taking out the stops and doing the work that they have been holding off on, and having faith that the world will survive this last challenge because their own world has.

As my clients kick into high gear after the holidays, I am reminded of just what an amazing industry this is. I get to spend time with the most amazing people on Earth, and they happen to love working with me to create magic in their homes, or work spaces. I am the lucky one.

So lets all wake up, step out, throw a snowball, bake a batch of homemade cookies, and look at our interior spaces with an open view. They can be better. They can function better. They can be more organized. They can feel more like home.

I challenge you in this new year to take a step. Make a move that you worried about last year. Believe that life is good, and needs to be lived with the best spaces that we can create with all of that energy that is just sitting there waiting to be taken on. I am so proud of clients that have taken projects off of dusty shelves and started to rework them, bite off little pieces or devour the whole thing! It is fun to do this again. It is healthy to believe that spring is coming and Columbus is a beautiful place to express how we live and work, but mostly play through our lives with our own spirit of faith, hope and belief in all that makes our lives the best!

The Month of Love and Interior Design

As we approach February, I am reminded just how important love is in the lives of my clients!
I approach every Master Bedroom project as an inner santion. Questions like "what is your bedtime ritual?" are not meant to pry, but to support some of the most important moments in couples lives. When we get the answer "We always go to bed together." Our hearts leap for joy at the prospect of enhancing this time.
Nothing is more disheartening as a couple that has an office in the Master Bedroom suite, or takes their laptop to bed! The next most disheartening is having a LARGE screen TV staring at the couples bed. The fact that large screen TV's have even invaded the bedroom leaves me startled as a designer. The oasis of cuddling, coming together, and winding down a hectic day together just should not happen in front of the TV set!
My recommendations for couples with work or technology ruling the Master Bedroom is simple.
Create a sitting room adjacent to the sleeping area where those activities are stepped down. The transition to the sleeping space becomes softer. Non invasive colors. Restful and luxe fabrics that encourage snuggling up and letting go. All of us have a process of letting go of our day to engage in sleep. Hopefully most of us have much more going on relating to another person, but lets focus on the letting go part for the sake of the design!
Design is personal. This part of the day should be a surround of nurturing and caressing colors. Surfaces are soft. Bed linens are the highest quality of cotton that can be afforded. The mode is set in softness, and coccooning of a space of relaxation and rejuvenation. Colors that are cool may become too cold if not offset with soft texture. Warmer colors can become too warm if not offset with luxe feel of quality and repose.
I personally embrace soft finishes for most areas. Designers must relate to the couples own style of course, but soften it at every juncture.
My favorite area of the home is the Master Bedroom suite. There I can get into the clients head about what matters to them. I can enter this personal space with respect, compassion, and confidentiality with them. Being a great interior designer does not get any better than this!

Design Ranking in Importance a Key Element

Recent surveys by the National Association of Remodelers stated that the design and outcome of a space are the most important aspect to long term satisfaction. This is not surprising to those of us that spend our lives pleasing people and satisfying their needs. In fact that was number two, satisfaction of needs in the new space!
Oftentimes the unsung hero of the project is the designer that spent time with the client and made details count, created spaces that spoke of their personality and their way of life. As a designer that puts satisfaction at the top of my list, I know that it is not always easy to interpret for the client. Some clients never verbalize their needs, but show you all that is wrong with the way that they live currently. We must bring them solutions to those problems that are also following good design decisions. It is up to us to gauge what will truly make them happy with their surroundings.
When clients really have no idea what would please them, good designers kick into high gear. We show by example. We sketch, get large samples of finishes and large photos of pieces that will work. We work all of these approaches, and then suddenly POOF! the client begins to see our vision, and we are on our way. Many designers talk about clients with no vision and how frustrating it is to them. Those are the best examples of how we must lead, and guide them to great decisions financially, and follow good design rules to create a solution that really works.

Our greatest responsibility is to interpret clues, ask the right questions and lead by example. Credible design works for them. Creative design just works!