The Interior Living Room

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It’s been quite a while since I’ve had time to post on the good old Interior Living Room blog, but only because lately I’ve had quite a time consuming redecorating project on my hands.

I wanted to touch on a few areas that relate to this latest project. Being that it’s located in Singapore, the home owner is looking for a very distinct Asian interior design, complete with a wonderfully appointed Japanese Garden and many trinkets from the orient.

The first thing people usually ask me about when speaking of Asian inspired interiors is that ubiquitous privacy screen and/or the Japanese sliding door. I guess most people have watched enough Jackie Chan movies to figure that most all Asian interiors come complete with one. In reality nothing could be further from the truth. In fact I’ve seen more Bamboo sliding doors and privacy screens in North America then I have in my time in South East Asia. However, in the case of my latest project, the owner desperately wanted to procure a few Asian items – including a few Bamboo sliding doors – and although I thought this would be completely cliche and look almost cheeky, once the space was defined I learned that I was so wrong! As you will see below the door itself may seem a bit cheeky, but when I added the other items to the overall theme, the entire package was quite inspiring and impressive.

And so yet again I digress, I’ve learned another lesson that I was speaking to in this post, in that one should never assume the client can’t be more right than the designer. I’ll be continuing the Asian Inspired Design theme in future posts, so for now take a look at a few of the items I have included in this post, they are all things that I’ve picked up for my latest home project. If you think they would be great for your own space you can click on the pictures to purchase them from the wonderful world of Amazon. Speaking of which, when I look for bargains on things that would otherwise cost an arm and a leg, it’s off to Amazon I often go, or Ikea, depending on the requirements of the design space.

Picture 1:Nine Buddhas Art Print

Picture 2:Japanese Design Wine Cabinet

Picture 3:Asian Decorative Boxes *This item is sold out (sorry folks!!)

Picture 4:Shoji Sliding Door Kit

Technorati Tags: asian decorating, asian inspired design

I could have named this post “Tips From the DIY Vaults”, or maybe, “Some Do It Yourself Basement Tricks”, but I just watched a rerun of Rosemary’s Baby on HBO and now I’m creeped out.

At any rate, here’s the scene … The Basement From Hell [insert scary music]:

Do you live right above a basement that looks like the inside of a well used barbecue? Did an overworked or perhaps alcoholic construction foreman leave it half finished, furnishing you with anywhere from 2 to 20 tiny and extremely ugly wannabe windows? Windows that are almost too high to reach and yet visible enough to poke tiny little needles into your decorating eyes?

When it’s late at night and you sneak downstairs for a quick cigar/glass of wine (or whatever you might sneak to the basement for), does that basement seem to cast a disproportionate amount of shadows, looking at you through shadowy, evil eyes, quietly sneering with the maniacal grin of some hideous, satanic, soul-sucking beast?

OK, OK, enough. As you can tell I have a flare for the dramatic. There is a point behind my prose, so I’ll postulate already. There are things that you can do – mostly on the cheap and on your own – to give any basement eyesore a significant aesthetic improvement. In most cases you need only purchase minor items and improvise with things that you already have laying around, or things that someone is dying to get rid of at a garage sale.

So here are some tips to exorcise the demons away from the Evil Basement of Abyss.

If you do actually have those tiny little wannabe windows residing far too close to the ceiling, one cheap trick is to take some long-ish fabric blinds, pleat them once or twice, and install them just above the offending buggers, covering the windows along with some of the wall…presto, the illusion is complete. You’ve now got proportionate windows in your basement (until someone peaks) and now you can set out to properly pull rabbits from behind them.

If your basement is one sprawling sea of nothingness – semi-finished and unorganized – here’s a trick I have used on occasions when budgets were smaller than those tiny little evil windows. This trick comes in steps, and here they are:

• scour garage sales and used furniture stores for some old, large, shelving units and get a matching set. Those old massive bookshelves can work great for “basement hacks” of all kind.

• Purchase paint, preferably of a color that won’t make Sparky the Dog have an epileptic seizure.

• Knock out the back walls of said recently purchased shelving units, making them open on both sides. Then you can sand down any problem spots and paint. Place the shelves at right angles to the wall, in areas you think would seem comfortable for a room division.
• Angle the pieces to mimic a new wall – as in – pointing at each other (not leaning against the walls).
• Adorn the empty shelf space with anything from model cars to framed photos, candles to magic 8 balls. Anything. Really.

Presto, you have created the illusion of separation in the room, allowing for two easily definable areas, such as a sitting room + a games room, or a laundry room + workout area. If it were up to my son there would be a Playstation 3 room + an XBox 360 room, but I digress.

If you have a washroom in the basement it is usually a bathroom that any self-respecting vampire would avoid like daylight. Since it is the dreaded “basement washroom”, it is possible that the room fell victim to the “We Be Out Of Cash” phase of construction. You might be stuck with dirty or cheap tile, the space might be small, constricting, half built, and just generally neglected in all areas. I see this far more often than not.

To make that washroom truly appeal to your finer sensibilities, it will cost some money. This is the one area you don’t want to bargain your way around. Don’t get me wrong however, it won’t be all that much money to decorate, and in the end it will be worth it.

Firstly, redo the floors and walls. I like to use lighter shade, large-ish stone tiles, as in marble or even certain ceramics. (See this post for some useful tidbits about ceramic tiles). Smaller spaces look more regal when they have a heavier feel. Take advantage of wall finishes that will compliment stone tiles, perhaps even going with dark wood or deeper paint colors.

To go the extra mile, clear as much space between the toilet and the rest of the washroom as you can. For example, if you fell victim to that lame, nonsensical, prefabricated cabinetry around the sink assembly – as most basement washrooms do – rip it to shreds and replace it with a thin fixture (sans cabinet), or perhaps a sink that rests on it’s own raised shelf with exposed stainless pipes below. Look below for just one example of this.

If you do have a shower in the bathroom, consider tiling the entire enclosure in marble/ceramic tiles, raising a small section of floor between the shower and the rest of the washroom to catch excess water. Install one of the Kazillion gorgeous shower-head assemblies that exist these days (some wonderful examples below) and don’t even bother installing a shower door. If you accessorize this area with complimentary towels, strategically placed framed art, and light the room properly, you’ll find that a shower door is not required. This will considerably open up the area, and by using the same tiling patterns throughout the entire washroom you are creating another illusion, in that the entire area will feel waterproof.

All in all, you could reasonably complete a task like this at a very reasonable price, if you don’t mind the hard work and assuming your DIY skills are up to snuff. At least then you can be rest assured there will be no portals to the dark side opening up underneath you as you sleep upstairs.

Once you are thinking along these lines, any neglected area of your home could be spruced up with a little like-minded thought and some elbow grease. Take a minute to look around at things you have packed away. If they are completely useless and taking up space, find clues that can make one object work in an entirely different context. Sometimes the grandest ideas come from the most unlikely beginnings. I once used an old window frame we had laying around our shop as a feature mantle piece in an outrageously expensive Vancouver area penthouse. I’m not joking. It sat directly above a wonderfully appointed faux fireplace. It was complete with discolored and broken glass panes, rusted hinges, et all. The end result of that experiment was more striking than I could have ever imagined.

So say your hail Marys, make a good and cheap-ish DIY plan, find your raw materials, and become the interior design and decorating expert yourself.

Technorati Tags: basement decorating, basement makeover, DIY

All of the following photos come courtesy of Pangaea Interior Design, located in Portland Oregon. Here is a site and designer after my own heart. I could write a long post describing her talented eye, and wax poetically on the various techniques this designer employs to achieve such stunning results, but it just makes more sense to show you.

This work is brilliant, and I hope you take the time to check out her site (linked above) and perhaps comment on her work.

Pangaea uses complimentary colors in ways that exude symmetrical wonderment, and her choice of paint and wall finishes immerse you in the design interior. As you can see, Pangaea uses bold colors in the artwork to feature other decor decisions within the rooms, also combining colors at seemingly random intervals throughout, a decision which results in a very understated design and decorating cohesion. I’ve eluded to the benefits of color context in this post. Interior Living Room will be keeping a very close eye on this designer, and continue to praise her efforts.

And so again, in the grand words of my old English professor, “Nuf said on the subject.”

Technorati Tags: decorating examples, design photos, design showcase, interior designers

Here are some interior living room painting/decorating rules that we live by religiously.

Rule #1; “I don’t care how portable your laptop is, you can’t check your email when you’re moving a piano”.

• If you have found that “eureka!!!” article – either on this site or another decorating/design website – please be kind to your laptop/ desktop and print out the instruction before you commence to lay brush to wall. In the first place, if you’re using a new technique you’ve learned from a website, you can easily destroy your laptop with paint spillage. In the second place, running back and forth from a desktop or laptop when you need quick reference takes valuable attention away from the task at hand, and can easily lead to glaring errors (and lots of paint droplets on the floor). If you can’t print out your new-found, brilliant painting technique, just shorthand the instructions to a real, live notepad and get cracking.

Rule #2; Most D.I.Y magazines and websites have very practical solutions to common decorating problems, without breaking your bank.

• It’s easy to lose creativity and hit a brick wall when you are not standing outside the decorating picture – looking in. It’s almost an “I can’t see the forest from the trees” kinda thing. Sometimes just cruising through a D.I.Y or decorating site/magazine can lead to that one brilliant and cheap idea that will give your chosen room the “oomph” it needs. For example, let’s say you really dig the regal look of a slate marble wall. Instead of searching out some Bavarian marble slate and selling your car to pay for it, faux marble painting is easier than you may think. In fact I know one web site that can tell you how it’s done, for free. (Hint hint) At the least, trying to paint a faux marble wall first is a crap-load cheaper than buying the real thing, and at the most you’ll have something to brag about when people ask how you did it. (btw, do Bavarians even make marble slate?)

Rule #3; The most awe-inspiring room features do not necessarily cost $4 000 000 dollars and your first born child.

• If you’ve spotted a set of ceramic Italian tiles that would be absolutely perfect for your kitchen counter, only to notice the $250.00 per tile sticker price, don’t have a breakdown and overdose on Prozac. There are many online resources for buying cheap ceramic tiles. If the tile design you had in mind is brilliant, I can almost guarantee you will find a strikingly similar design online, for a much cheaper cost. Check out here and/or here, for examples.

• This rule applies to more than just tiles, marble slate, and/or painting. I had a decorating dilemma recently. It involved an interior living room study with earthy taupe walls and neutral tone furnishings. I came in like a tornado and turned the room into a brilliant study. Brilliant with the exception of one empty corner. I was stuck in need of a compelling piece of decor to complete the space. It needed something unique, something that would stand out without being overbearing. Something with texture and asymmetrical by design. The owner suggested a marble bust of an infamous Roman dictator. (which was completely cost prohibitive!) Instead I decided to experiment with an idea. I ventured out to the backyard wooded area, scooped up 100 (or so) 5 foot tall, thin, fallen twigs. I then proceeded to wrap them together (12 at a time) using fabric I had leftover from the drapes. In the end I attached them all together at the bottom with a wide brass ring (the origins of which escape me), and placed the assembly in a $90.00, semi-huge, glass vase. Eureka!!! It tied the room together perfectly, it didn’t cost the owner an arm OR a leg, and the entire family was spared having to look at Julius frikin Caesar every morning.

Rule #4; Proper wall color is one of the most vital characteristics of your room’s appeal (or lack thereof).

• Wall color is as much personal preference as it is decorating technique. Having said that, some people’s personal preference is far more ridiculous than it is sublime. You really should find a common color scheme in the room you are decorating, choosing a paint color that will blend those colors together while allowing your most striking room decor to … well… strike. As an example, if your interior living room is full of beige color with… say… burnt orange furniture, a lighter or darker yet complimentary color is always the good choice for your walls.
• I often like to take the least visually stimulating color within the room, dial it forward or backward a shade (or two) and paint the walls with that color. Then I will take the most bold color from the room decor and paint one feature wall in a very slight variance of that color. Such a bold color can come from any item in the room – from a throw pillow to a wall painting. This technique offsets the room nicely and shows a consistent color scheme throughout. It’s a cheap and simple technique that can make your room look very expensive.

Rule #5; Less is usually more.

• Need I say more? Ok, ok, I will. Everyone has a tendency to go overboard when decorating. While 1 fishbowl may be cute, 25 fishbowls in various sizes indicates a need for aggressive psychiatric treatment. Once you have things in order and think your room is the absolute pinnacle of decorating brilliance, take some things away and observe objectively. Does it still look amazing? The litmus test here is simple; if your room still looks great after you’ve removed a few items, leave those items as future decor replacements, and be comfortable knowing your guests will bow at your feet in worship of your keen decorating prowess. When you come to a point where removing an item makes your room look or feel incomplete, put it back where it belongs, because you’ve gone too far.

There are a few perfect books on the market for decorating your home on a budget, and some really informative manuals on interior house painting. Have a look here and here respectively. Alternately, you can click on the fancy shmancy pix at the bottom of this article. These wonderful books explain in vast and grand detail what I am trying to highlight here within this article, and they’re a great value.

There you have it. A few of the cardinal rules of decorating, interior living room style. Take these suggestions and your budget, whatever it may be, and get started!

Technorati Tags: color scheme, painting advice