The Look

Behaviorist state that within seconds of people first seeing another person, the atoms in their brain determine their reaction to that person.

It has also been stated that our body language, grooming, clothing, and speech, as seen by others, mirror our inner self-being.

The ambiance and environment of our living spaces show our personality and lifestyle.

How do you want others to react when first viewing your residential living spaces?

What is the look that you display to the world?

What is the importance of such to you?

What do you choose to do, or not do, about it?

Food for thought.

Intelligence & Advice

Realtors reveal what will sell and what hinders selling in the current housing landscape.

Building contractors divulge what’s wanted, or not wanted, in new home construction industries.

There are many views, pro and con, about the merits and long-term effects of current residential trends.

Financiers inform us about current housing prices, inflation, and markets.

Much is mentioned about current home buying relating to the American dream.

Interior designers state what they would, or not, do for residences today.

Surprise!

Not all of these people are on the same page or wave length.

How should one, not in this field, react to this flood of information in the common domain?

Don’t.

Think. Plan. Cull.

Think who you are, where you are, what you have, and where you want to go.

Plan your needs, desires, requirements, time frames, and employable means to reach them.

Cull and eliminate anything encountered that will not advance desired results.

Use intelligence, experience, and education, to create your own pathway and

not evolve into sheep following crowds.

Appropriate wisely between emotions and intelligence.

Food for thought.

Good Taste

Recent articles have come across my desk concerning “good taste” for current residential interior design.

When major changes in businesses enabled the lower classes to improve their finances, education, and achievements, best society set the credentials by which the world recognizes its chosen members.

What role should these credentials play in personality manifestation for today’s residential interior design?

What are the elements of the complete highest quality level for contemporary residential interior design?

Times change. Cultures change.

What are the best choices for an excellent life today?

Are these credentials of merit, or are they just mental classifications?

Do the standards for formal table settings of the past have relevance for dining habits of today?

Food for thought.

Appearance

Many circumstantial factors evolved into humanity wearing body coverings.

Other purposes appeared beyond the basics.

Personality began to be a factor in clothes.

Current culture sees, evaluates, judges, and classifies you according to what you wear.

A parallel is made by the circumstances and choices in our personal living spaces.

Is your home manifesting your true self to the world?

How do you feel about the situation?

Food for thought.

Boxes

Since the beginning of building enclosures for human habitation, most forms that have come into being have been variations of the rectangle.

We live primarily in boxes.

This form has come to be the best for many reasons.

Over ninety percent of what we see are the walls, floors, and ceilings of this rectangle.

Various openings, primarily for functions and light, are put into this box.

To achieve the highest levels of aesthetics, two aspects should be addressed.

What is the optimum design of the relationship between the space and the outside world?

What is the optimum design of the box itself and the surrounding spaces?

Ideally, the expenditure of design resources should be expended somewhat equally for the walls, floors, ceilings, and furnishings of the space.

Most of us do not live in an ideal world and have to make choices accordingly.

Living in the real world, what aspects are considered for the complete aesthetic and personal expression of the spaces in which you live?

Food for thought.

Status – Residential Design

Throughout history, status within groups covered a wide range of expressions. Within some groups, it is manifest as a positive activity mating ritual.

Throughout much of human civilization, it has been evaluated as an indication of one’s merit.

Much of contemporary society views it as a billboard to the world of one’s economic status, societal standing, abilities, accomplishments, and validity.

What role, and why, does such behavior play in the overall scheme of life?

Why do we need to show, or prove, ourselves to the outside world?

What do our residential environmental choices say about such?

What is the golden standard for residential interior design?

Is it a complete, functional, and aesthetically pleasing manifestation of its user’s personality and lifestyles expressing the time and place of its creation?

Or, is it designed to display how one wants to be known to the world?

What part does status play in where and how you live?

Food for thought.

Arrogance – Ego – Snobbery

Being considered successful by most standards, at that time, a person with whom I came into contact during my early years of practicing this profession, exuberantly manifested these traits.

He, in his ivory tower, always considered himself, in his lifestyle, uniquely superior to others while ignoring his limited academic education for this profession.

“There are none so blind as those who will not see.”

For many, in this and other occupations, success is measured by how well you can “sell” profitably.

The quality and level of aesthetics are not determining or completing factors.

Arrogance, ego, and snobbery, in and of themselves, in no way affect aesthetic manifestations.

They are solely chosen personality traits.

Yet, such is how many, in this and many other professions, practice their craft.

The highest level of beauty is the mark by which residential interior design is evaluated.

Have you encountered such in your lifetime?

Are you guilty?

Food for thought.

P.S. Have you ever wondered why people behave that way?

Proportions

Physical has five traits, characteristics, or descriptions. Line, form, mass, color, and texture.

Light, reflecting from surface is color, is the most important one as it determines what we see.

Mass is size. The sizes of physicals, in relation to each other, determine proportions.

Proportions can most easily be described, or analyzed, as a pleasing balance for aesthetics.

All parts must be balanced equally for the highest level of aesthetic pleasure.

This principle is not adhered to in much of residential design and construction because of unawareness or other factors given a higher priority.

If you consider yourself serious about the beauty of your residential environment, inside and outside, you must adhere to the priority importance of proportions.

Look around. What do you see? How do you react? How does it make you feel?

What is the status, or role, of proportions where you live?

Food for thought.

Status

Status has been a realistic aspect of animal behavior since the beginning and an important part of human civilizations.

Over time, as society became more equalized, that ascertainment became less resolute.

In contemporary society, finances, education, politics, and accomplishments trump ancestry in hierarchy.

Different segments of culture now express status reflective of themselves more freely than adhering to just one criterion.

Regardless of who, what, when, where, or why of status expressed, such, in and of itself, does not assure parallel levels of aesthetics.

Yet, to some people, the history of their status is, as is sometimes expressed, second only to oxygen.

People seek to express what is more important and satisfying personally.

It’s your choice as to how your life is manifested.

Food for thought.

Art

Art is not just for museums or wealthy patrons.

Art is basically available for anyone who seeks it.

Much can be known about a personality by the art chosen, or not, for their personal living environment.

One’s understanding and appreciation of art is expressed by one’s reaction to it.

The highest level of art captures a time mind of their creation.

Financial worth of artworks is not always congruent with aesthetic appreciation.

Social-economic status does not necessarily determine aesthetic quality artworks.

Ownership is not required for the appreciation and enjoyment of aesthetics.

Artworks of merit don’t all have to be signed originals.

Artworks complete the design of residential interior living spaces.

What expressing your personality artworks have you chosen for where you live?

Food for thought.