Where are you when it comes to the design, and every physical expression is a design and is good or bad whether or not you care about it or whether or not you are aware of such, of the spaces in which you personally live.

My biggest shocking career experience when entering the business world after college was that some people really don’t care about the aesthetics of the spaces in which they personally live.

My second biggest was the low level of knowledge and intelligence expressed concerning the art and science of aesthetics.

Where we are today is the results of evolution since the big bang and our individual environment.

During this evolution an attraction for aesthetics has come into being as seen in the mating behavior of the lower species.

The higher the level of intelligence and advances of civilization the more an appreciation and expression of a higher quality level of aesthetics comes into being.

Each of us is our own individual expression of life.

Where are you on the aesthetic scale?

What role does aesthetics play in the satisfaction, completeness, and fulfillment of your expressed life on this planet?

What degree of importance is such to you?

Food for thought.

What is the direction to go when making choices about the design of your residential interiors?

One designer says if you have brass fixtures they look dated and should be replaced with some thing more contemporary. Another designer says changing to brass fixtures makes a more desired look.

How many different sources have come out with “colors of the year” that are all different?

What trends are building contractors seeing for the current market?

What changes are being manifest in residences because of the pandemic, finances, market, and other society changing events locally and world wide?

What is an individual to do?

Unless you are interested in housing aspects dealing with the masses, in which case you should not be adhering to this blog, the direction you choose to go is more clear.

If your ultimate goal is to make your personal living spaces a home, and all personal living spaces should complete you as home, the principle to follow is timeless.

“Unto thine own self be true.”

What do you like? What is your life style? Where do you want to live?
What are your finances? What is your desired level of quality. What is the planed length of time living there, and how long do you want physical furnishings to last?

Use this information, after thorough examination and soul searching, to make the choices that fit you at the time.

No confusion. No concern about the reactions of others. Just you manifesting you.

Food for thought.

When should you first make contact with an interior designer for a residential project?

When you are first thinking about doing a project.

The size, nature, extent, budget, requirements, life styles, et cetera of the project should be thoroughly discussed and analyzed to see if everyone potentially involved is on the same page, are communicating, have the suitability of working together, and have the necessary qualifications.

Such should take place before actually beginning the project.

At this stage, and always, be cognizant that the ultimate goal is to design and not just the selling and buying of merchandise and services.

The raison d’etre for an interior designer is to design.

When initiating the project be sure that all persons involved are kept informed of scheduling, when, where, and how their roles are to be played, and that all are working together as a team.

Planning, cooperation, and team work will not solve all the problems which invariably will come to pass and will make the entire project happen more smoothly, efficiently, and professionally but will also will probably manifest in a higher level of aesthetic results.

Food for thought.

“My experience is what I agree to attend to.” William James

What are your behaviors when attending to your personal living interior environments?

Who decides what is done in the spaces where you live?

Who decides how your residential living spaces are used, maintained, improved, changed, et cetera?

Do you plan your residential interior spaces for maximum living?

Or do leave every thing to chance and at the time circumstances or just doing with out thinking?

How much of your life at home is experienced by what you do, where you do it, how you do it, and the environment in which you do it?

The quality of those manifestations is determined by what you agree to attend to there.

What level of quality living do you want when at home?

The attention you agree to attend to it determines the quality of how you there live and be.

Food for thought.

It has been said that opinions are the most abundant commodity in the world.

With the invention and growing uses of computers and cell phones the presence of this commodity continues to expand.

The residential interior design world has not been immune to this phenomenon per what constantly comes across my desk.

One presentation says that if you want to present your residence for sale you should get rid of all brass handles et cetera as they make residential interiors look dated.

Another presentation states that if you want to update your residential interior look you should change your handles et cetera to brass.

Two presentations with opposite stated positions.

Of what is a lay person to think?

Using resources at your disposal, seek to find what positions are based on personal prejudices vs knowable facts and what positions are universal vs which ones are based on different times, locations, circumstances, et cetera.

And who, or what, determines what is?

With the infinite variety of personalities of the world’s populations one size, or rule or position, does not always fit all.

When choosing between opposing positions evaluate what is the most likeable, valuable, and important to your personality and choose accordingly.

Influential persons have shown us that there are varieties of chickens and methods of cooking them.

It’s your life.

You can then comfortably live your life while the rest of the world continues to discuss such situations.

Food for thought.

What are the factors that make for a successfully designed residential interior?

Think of it as a project with the ultimate goal a complete total interior environment of residential living that is functional and comfortable for what it will be used, is highly aesthetically pleasing, and reflects the personality and life styles of the people who will be using it.

It is a project in which every thing to and inside it should advance to the ultimate goal.

Be aware of how the laws of physics and the principles of aesthetics affect each other and the total results.

It is a complete total whole in which each and every part and space contributes to the resulting whole.

What is the level of quality to be chosen?

How important is what is liked vs what is good design?

There needs to be a final decision maker for each decision whose responsibility is to achieve the agreed upon desired results.

How do the factors of location, finances, time, regulations, et cetera affect the project?

Are resources, trends, popularity, availability, status, tradition, current times, and culture factors necessary considerations?

What is the big picture where you live and have your being?

Food for thought.

Google describes “a period of silence in a composition” of music as a rest.

During that period of silence the musical instrument with a rest is not played.

This rest is a necessary part of the total composition.

That part, and the affectation of it with all of the other parts, determines the level of quality of the experienced results desired by the composer for the entire whole musical composition.

This principle can be also applied to the aesthetic results for the design of residential interior spaces.

Not every space has to be filled.

Whether for minimum or maximum aesthetic style design goals results this composition approach principle can be applied, but it is also not essential, for all residential interior design compositions.

And all residential interior spaces are compositions whether you recognize or acknowledge it or not.

The whole composition via the affection of each individual part with all of the other individual parts is what determines that the result is more than the sum of it’s parts.

What affects do you experience in the residential interior spaces you occupy?

How does such engage you?

Food for thought.

“Subordinate or supplementary objects used mainly for attractiveness” Webster

For well designed residential interior spaces accessories are those things which add to and complete the aesthetics of the spaces.

It is also where more personal and sentimental objects can be added for completing the mood of those spaces.

Just as adding various seasoning to certain foods enhances the taste and enjoyment of eating them selecting the most appropriate accessories for a residential interior design composition completes the aesthetics and enhances the ambiance and joy of experiencing those living spaces.

When the accessories are in and of themselves works of art the aesthetic level bar is raised even higher.

It is a wise choice for those residential spaces where non-family members will be not to let emotions and sentiment run amuck when choosing accessories for those spaces.

For the highest quality level of aesthetic and intellectual results there should be a “raison de etre” of high merit for all accessories used for residential interior spaces and not just bric-a-brae or stuff just to fill in those spaces.

When you look around where you live what accessories do you see and what reactions do you have to them?

Whether consciously or sub-consciously how people react to their environments affects their behavior.

Food for thought.

A recent discussion came across my desk about how long Christmas decorations should stay up after the holidays?

One of the top financial billionaires on this planet stated that it is not the cost of purchases but the value received there of which is of merit.

Both of these approaches can be applied to residential interior design situations.

When considering and planning the design of a residential interior project consider the results desired, the level of quality, and the life time there of.

Where do you want to go and how long do you want to stay there?

What aspects will be for shorter periods and what aspects will be used and retained for decades or for your life time?

Do you want exclusively the time less classics or do you want to experience the changes brought about from current and future discoveries and advances of current residential interior designs?

What changes will take place in your life styles as you advance through your decades of living?

What is going to be the best over all and long term value for your expenditures using the laws of physics and principles of aesthetics for your residential living spaces while on this planet?

Keep in mind during this process the tangible and intangible aspects of your own unique personality.

Think, create, schedule, evaluate, execute, and enjoy.

Food for thought.

Recently, from different sources, opposing viewpoints on the uses of existing residential fireplaces have become more prominent.

Existing fireplaces should be used because they are there, that’s their purpose, and their being used is more authentic and aesthetic where as closing them off is dead spacing them and destroying their use, reality, and authenticity.

Proponents delight in the ambiance of real wood with it”s smells, sounds, and lighting.

Opponents point out the lacks of providing actual heat, the negatives of cleaning and disposing ashes, and the challenges of obtaining, bringing in, and the storage of fire wood.

Fireplaces are definitely a part of the architectural background in spaces where they are used and such has to be considered is the designing of such spaces.

There are many factors to be considered here, as well as in all intelligent residential interior design situations, for choosing.

As grandma said, “there is more than one way to cook chicken”, and there is rarely, if ever, a situation where there is only one design solution.

The major factor to be considered is what is the ultimate design completed goal of the spaces and who makes that decision?

Other factors can be evaluated according to their contribution to the whole of the design composition.

This principle can be used in any residential interior design situation, as well as for many other aspects in life, in making intelligent and quality decisions.

Food for thought.