Several businesses in the housing industry have presented their results from various means as to the changes home owners want for their residences as a results of the pandemic.

Among many listed are more flexible spaces, more functionality for spaces, porches, more indoor to outdoor spaces with more covered outdoor spaces, more use of color, office spaces, drop zones for deliveries, different entrances, larger family bathrooms, and flexible storage spaces.

Many companies who presented these results have built model houses to illustrate the uses of these changes.

Upon viewing the photographs of these models, I concluded that they have missed a very important aspect of residential living.

These houses are ugly.

It could be compare to have come up with the perfect foods for your life style and needs, but the foods chosen are unappetizing and taste bad.

Who is going to want to eat such food or live in such a house?

In the physical manifestation of anything for the human race that involves the emotional, psychological, intellectual, and personality of the individuals who are to use it, the elemental aspect of beauty is a very important one

Yet the makers of these model houses have not done such.

To produce attractiveness, beauty, and desirability in any physical manifestation requires using the laws of physics and the principles of aesthetics.

Where are you and of what are you aware in any changes in your at home activities and life styles as a result of the pandemic?

Food for thought.

When Jackie Kennedy moved into a house after her husband’s death, a newspaper reported that an interior designer from New York came down and “prettified” it.

Certain interior residential spaces of well known widows were described by the press as being “artful” in appearance.

Some interior residential interior spaces, furnishings, and houses have been described as “modernistic” in the print and advertising media.

Some writers have described certain residential spaces they have covered as being “tasteful” in the manifestation there of.

What do these words mean to the people who use them and what does it say about their knowledge, research, and understanding of interior design?

Along with the emphasis on selling as opposed to designing used by many people in the residential industries, using such words reflects the lack of knowledge of what is interior design by such people.

So, what does this lack of knowledgeable mean and matter in your personal and day-to-day living in your life?

Think of all of the resources you expend on where you live, especially long term, such as costs, maintenance, improvements, time living there, emotional and psychological, life styles, functions, comforts, convenience, et cetera.

For the role that your personal living spaces plays in your life during your time on this planet, is is not worthy to be knowledgeable about these spaces as you are about the other important aspects of you life?

We are all human beings on this planet and our decisions determine what we experience during that time.

What does the quality of where you live, what you want there, and what you do or not do mean to you?

Food for thought.

One of the current housing situations in this country groups that come across my desk reported that one of the main features potential purchasers wanted was pantries

Plenty of and specialized storage is generally not at the top of the prioritized list of traits when designing and building houses these days.

Yet, it is one of the main characteristics which make our homes more comfortable, efficient, and functional.

I have yet to see, hear, or read about any house that had too much and too specialized storage.

There are, however, non-positive reactions and comments about the opposite of the previous statement.

A pantry is a closet for the storage and use of foods, containers, utensils, and any thing else used in the kitchen.

The very old house in which I grew up had a large pantry which had been added on to the kitchen. It was well used, handy, and kept out of sight and provided storage space for many food items, dishes, flat wear, linens, and receptacles for trash. Ours was sometimes used to hide Christmas goodies.

The bottom line, if you want a panty for your kitchen, there are basically two options available today.

If you have the option and resources, you can design and build the size and features you want to fulfill the needs for your life style.

There are many storage systems currently available for kitchens today which have numerous swing out doors and shelves which can store an enormous quantity as well as cabinets that have doors and shelves which can store a lot.

Seek to make the best use for storage all of the spaces you have available to use.

These principles can also be used for any space for any storage purpose in all areas of buildings.

Food for thought.

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

Pretty good statement on what we experience in many areas of our lives.

What is your personal experience of your residential interior environment?

What is it that you want, need, like, and enjoy during your time at home?

How well does what you experience when at home fulfill the above aspects?

How important are these aspects to your life as a human being living and being in the time and place where you now exist?

Have you ever evaluated these aspects, their importance to you, what you have or don’t have in these areas, and what would be, for you, the perfect home interior environment?

You live in your residence. It is your life there. You make the decisions and have the responsibility for what is manifest where you live.

To what you expend your resources for your residential interior environment determines what you experience.

What do you want your experiences at home to be and what are you doing, or not doing, to bring such into being?

Food for thought.

Periodically, paint companies come out with their offerings for paint colors for the current year. Some paint companies even give seminars to present and explain these choices.

In theory, these selections are supposedly based on current events and environments related to current times.

How ever, one should keep in mind that residential interior colors are not changed as often as one changes choices for lipstick and nail polish.

Think in terms of how long a paint color will be on it’s surface before it is changed.

Paint colors that are used because they are the color of that year can some times be too strong a statement which can become tiresome and end up looking dated.

It is good that chemical and manufacturing and new discoveries are being made which gives one more choices of available colors.

For the most intelligent choices in selecting paint colors for one’s residential interior environment, choose, or have custom mixed and made, the colors that are reflective of the life styles, preferences, and are the best for the highest level of aesthetics of the space and those people who will be using it.

You don’t have to be a sheep and follow. You can be your own individual self and choose your own pathway.

Food for thought.

Over the time that I have been in this profession, I am never ceased to be amazed at the lack of knowledge expressed by people from many walks, backgrounds, and social, economic, and educational levels when it comes to what is residential interior design when it is obviously what is the definition of the words.

One executive immediately proclaimed that he was my competition because he worked for a department store chain which sold furniture which implies that residential interior design to him is the buying and selling of furniture.

One socially prominent and wealthy woman, after a tutorial on the subject, proclaimed that you always put the couch on the longest wall as if such was the only factor involved.

One well educated woman felt compelled to laugh at and put down a contemporary interpretation of traditional houses in her neighborhood because it did not fit in with her background and life style.

One socially and status conscious man was disturbed almost to the point of legal action because he did not like the design of a proposed new house in his neighborhood as if his position is the standard which all others are to manifest.

The examples go on.

While in this country we have the freedom to express our opinion, such does not validate our opinions.

Unless you are directly affected, it is wise to look for excellent standards and manifestations of residential designs instead of proclaiming the superiority of what you like unless you are qualified to make such a statement because of education, experience, talent, and proven abilities.

Those who make statements with out validity only proclaim to the world their ignorance and inferiority.

Food for thought.

The sky was blue. The clouds were white. The plants were green. The air was clean.

Such was the air environment when I was growing up.

Times have changed.

Alas. Now the quality of the air environment is a major challenge in countries world wide.

In the content that comes across my desk daily about the housing industry in this country, the quality of the interior air is a major concern for home owners and potential buyers of homes.

There are many factors involved in this change ranging from global warming to the chemical composition of building materials and home furnishings used today.

For what ever reasons of the cause of unhealthy air and what is being or not being done about it, the problem is real, it’s here, and we have to deal with it.

Of all of the current and future methods available to assure clean and healthy air for the interior of our residences, we need to keep in mind the laws of physics and the principles of aesthetics when taking such actions in our homes.

Think of that which is done to provide clean and healthy air for our residential interior environments as one of the elements in the composition there of.

With intelligent thinking, planning, and coordination of all parties involved, the interior spaces of your home can be healthy as well as beautiful with all of the elements manifest into a complete whole.

Where are you and what are you doing or not doing for the quality of air and beauty in you residential environment?

Food for thought.

One of the first people who called themselves an interior designer encountered at my first job after college was always talking about what she sold to whom and the brand there of.

She never talked about what she designed, the challenges of the project, the designing solution, et cetera. Her ultimate goal was to sell as much and as expensive furnishings as she could and she was very successful financially doing such.

The approach for interior design should to make the project the best quality, function, and beauty for the client.

Selling involves the purchases of items with the exchange between customer and seller.

Client is one who seeks and is given advise, counsel, direction, creativity, et cetera in the planning and execution of laws, physics, principles, knowledge, et cetera from a professional if the selected field.

Many people in today’s society still think of interior design as a buying and selling process.

When it comes down to the choices you make in the manifestation of your residential interior space, which do you prefer: Some one who will sell you some thing or some one who will create a functional, beautiful, and quality design personal environment?

Would you prefer to be a customer or a client?

Food for thought.

” Mediocrity : of moderate or low quality ” Webster

In many aspects of their lives, in small and large areas, many people choose to be mediocre.

Why? For reasons, and some times excuses, known, and some times unknown, to them mediocrity is the principle with which they have chosen to live their lives.

How does this chosen principle in relationship to our interior residential environment, which is one of the most important physical parts of our environment, affect our day-to-day living and the quality of our existence?

Our psychological, emotional, behavioral, functional, productivity, and uses of time are affected by our residential environment, both aesthetically and practically, so that it is a great merit priority.

How important is it to you that the food you eat taste the best that it can and that you make the necessary efforts to achieve that goal?

Therefore, would it not worth expending the necessary resources to achieve that same level of quality in your residential interior environment?

Food for thought.

The purpose of life is to live.

The biggest financial asset for many people is the house in which they live.

How do you combine the two into being successful for both of the above statements?

When we die, we leave behind all of our financial assets.

So, if you die financially wealthy, but your life has been miserable, has there been value received for how you used your existence?

This thought principle can also be applied to the choices we make for our residences.

Financial value and markets for residences are constantly changing and are pretty much beyond our control so that we cannot always control the financial value of our living spaces.

We do, however, have control over how we choose to live our at home lives where we live.

The emotional, psychological, convenience, comfort, functions, intellectual, aesthetics, et cetera aspects are values of our domestic lives not necessarily affected by out side forces.

They can manifest in a life well lived.

So, what are the choices you choose to make as to values received for your residence?

Food for thought.