Arguably one of the most important aspects of an interior space, lighting should be part of the design process from the very beginning. As a design professional, I know that lighting can make or break a space because both function and form fail without proper lighting. And like colour (which doesn't exist without light), the quality of light also has both psychological AND physiological effects on human beings. For these reasons alone, I often tell clients never to go cheap on lighting - with some exceptions which I will address later on.
As you might already know, besides choosing light fixtures to reflect both a space's function and overall look, it's almost mandatory nowadays to incorporate energy efficiency into the lighting scheme.
Holiday Vignette in 3 Easy Steps
My Kitchen
The Beautiful Edible Landscape: Final Steps
The Boston ivy and silver lace vines are slowly making their way up the pergola! |
A Luxurious Reception Area
I was commissioned to come up with a few concepts for a real estate broker's new reception area. They wanted to welcome guests with a luxurious & classy reception that's not too over-the-top. The reception work area also needs to be large enough to accommodate up to three receptionists.
Simple Tree Branch Decor
I spotted a fallen tree branch in an alleyway one morning this past May and for some reason the shape of it caught my eye. Then I realized that it would be a perfect fit for that odd space created by the interior curve of our stairwell in the front foyer. I hauled it home, gave it a little TLC, found a nice container to sit in and voila! I had an instant (one of a kind) sculpture, fitted to this curved space and to be enjoyed by all who come through our door.
An Historical Facelift
We have recently completed a project to restore the facade of a century and a half-old building on the south side of Broadway, the main street in Orangeville. Our client was the current owner of the building originally built and operated as the Queen's Hotel. We began this project in 2011 and completed it in January of this year and while this project was not what we would term 'large', it definitely captured our interest. The reason for this was that it involved 're-claiming' a piece of Orangeville history. The original hotel was constructed in the early 1870's and has undergone many changes in its lifetime. We always love to 'breathe new life' into an old, tired structure and this building was no exception.
The Beautiful Edible Landscape: Focal Points
Before we move on to discuss the next step in designing the beautiful edible landscape, let me give you an update on the patio and pergola project we talked about in the last post, The Beautiful Edible Landscape: Permanent Elements.
The paving contractors are making good progress and it is looking great. They compacted another 4"-5" of limestone screening onto the base we had already laid down last summer. This should certainly provide a really solid and well-drained foundation. One item of note...if you intend on having your interlocking pattern laid on a diagonal or have designed curves into the edge pattern, it will require significantly more cutting so be prepared to pay a little extra in the labour costs. I had chosen the herringbone pattern in order to provide a subtle design link to the herringbone pattern of tile we had installed inside the house throughout the entrance hall and Kitchen.
Herringbone interlocking in progress |
The paving contractors are making good progress and it is looking great. They compacted another 4"-5" of limestone screening onto the base we had already laid down last summer. This should certainly provide a really solid and well-drained foundation. One item of note...if you intend on having your interlocking pattern laid on a diagonal or have designed curves into the edge pattern, it will require significantly more cutting so be prepared to pay a little extra in the labour costs. I had chosen the herringbone pattern in order to provide a subtle design link to the herringbone pattern of tile we had installed inside the house throughout the entrance hall and Kitchen.
The Beautiful Edible Landscape: Permanent Elements
Now that the planning stage for our edible garden is done, it's time for the next step - arranging permanent elements such as patios, pergolas or arbours, fountains, garden sheds, and pathways. As suggested by the books I've been reading it makes sense to locate these features first, as they will be of a permanent nature serving to better define the space. From a practical standpoint it just seems prudent to install these elements at the earliest stage due to the fact that their construction often results in significant disruption to the surrounding area. This is where a lot of blood, sweat and tears are shed because it often requires major digging and some heavy lifting.
The Beautiful Edible Landscape: Planning
Pick Colour Like A Pro
Picking
colours...those two words that can make one shudder!
I
can't begin to tell you how many people I've come across who are intimidated
when it comes to picking colours for their home or office.
I
truly believe that there are really no rules when it comes to colour. In
spite of some scary colour combinations many of us have experienced at one
time or another, I'm of the opinion that there is really no 'right or wrong'.
Colour selection is a personal thing and people should be able to surround
themselves with the hues they love. Many try to do just that, but the end result may often be nothing like what they initially envisioned.
The key to pulling
together a cohesive colour scheme in an interior is understanding the logistics
of the decorating process.
Labels:
Design Principles
Layout Matters: A Small Space
Space,
space, space...is always at a premium when you live in a small high-rise
unit. I was always grateful to find incredible tips and ideas out
there in the blogosphere and so this is my contribution
to the world of Apartment Therapy worshippers!
The
first challenge was where to place the 50" TV.
You
see, before we’d entered family life and the world of the detached
single-family dwelling, we were the proud owners of a small
condominium unit measuring in at just over 1000 square feet. While the
overall layout was perfectly acceptable, there were a few things that
simply didn't work.
Floor Plan - Before |
Labels:
Design Principles
Opening Up Spaces Without Demolishing Walls
Have you ever been to a space and thought to yourself, "this place would be perfect if we could just knock down that wall!" Well, as it turns out, that's a big "if" once you investigate what this task entails.
I have found myself in
this situation in the past when I've wanted to make changes to our
existing home or when we've been shopping for a new home. As I learned long ago from Joel, the location of a wall
is determined by a number of factors in addition to defining the space.
Posted by
Dee
Opening Up Spaces Without Demolishing Walls
2013-03-26T21:06:00-07:00
Dee
Design Principles|
Comments
Labels:
Design Principles
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DEESIGNED is concerned with the privacy of all people who visit this website. We are committed to protecting everybody to the best of our ability, and will do our best to ensure your privacy when visiting this site. Therefore, we have outlined our privacy practices below for your review.
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For every page that is visited, the following information may be collected from the user: Browser type and version, Operating System, page visited, referrer URL, time/date of visit, IP address of user. This data is collected as an aggregate, and will never be used to target you specifically as a user under normal circumstances. This data is stored securely, and is not used in efforts to determine advertising trends, nor is any personally identifiable information used to serve advertisements to any user.
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By providing personal information to DEESIGNED, you may potentially be providing your e-mail address and phone number to our system. We reserve the right to contact you via these methods. It will not be redistributed without your consent. You also may have the opportunity to present other contact information, such as phone numbers, addresses, fax numbers, etc. We will NEVER sell, share or distribute your address, e-mail address, or personal information under any circumstances.
Indemnification
While DEESIGNED will do its best to ensure your privacy and security while on our website, visitors must understand that we will not be held accountable for damages while visiting this site. Spyware, virus attacks, internet attacks, and other malicious code are finding their way onto websites at an alarming rate. While we will do our best to keep you protected from these entities during your visit, it is the visitor's responsibility to protect his or her own computer.
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