Recently, there came across my desk pictures of the interiors of some residences of the 1%.

These houses start in the four hundred million dollars range. Which is, incidentally, more money than I personally made all of last year. Lol.

The most outstanding design aspect of these houses was how big they are as if bigger sizes equals a higher level of quality.

The question kept going through my mind? How and why would you want twenty-one bathrooms in your residence? Really? How many people are there in your family who live with you?

With all of the resources available to these owners, only about half of these interiors were well designed.

The guiding design principles on some were: How can I impress people? What and what quantity are the most expensive things that can be done? My expressions are to trump all else.

All of which just goes to show that spending money doesn’t in and of itself manifest in good interior design results.

If many of these people had expended resources on intelligent and quality aesthetics by some one who could produce such results, like me, they would have come out miles ahead in the quality of the design results in their residential environment.

In expending resources, is it not better to choose those expenditures which will manifest in the highest possible level of quality results?

Quantity and quality are distantly different.

Food for thought.

Recently, there came across my desk from the various web sites about the current housing situations in this country two articles about making improvement changes to one’s residence before retirement, the value increases resulting from taking such actions, and the affects these changes would make on the sell ability of such houses.

The outstanding thing about these two reports is that they directly contradict each other.

Improvements such as adding decks, swimming pools, master suites, smart systems, specialized areas, designer kitchens, larger baths, landscaping, et cetera which would generally be considered enhancing a house, increase it’s value, and of which much of the cost of doing would be recovered upon selling were advocated by one position.

The other position stated that these “enhancements” would make it more difficult to sell these residences because many prospective buyers don’t want and are turned off by these properties.

” What is a mother to do? “

The housing market is primarily massed produced for mass consumption.

Yet, not all people are the same and do not fit into ” one size fits all. “

Where does such leave us about making decisions about our own residences?

Perhaps the best choice should be based on why we choose where we live and what we do with our houses.

Do we want to live in a residence where we express our likes, functions, and life styles and manifest our houses accordingly? Or, are our residences exclusive a financial investment upon which all decisions about it are based exclusively upon potential mass market financial returns?

It’s your life and your decision.

Food for thought.

What does sex have to do with the interior design of one’s residence?

Nothing.

How ever, even though it is not as strong or prevalent as in the past, some people still do consider it a factor.

There is some prejudice and uninformed thought out there that all gay men have an inborn strong talent for interior design which is exploited in various media and other forms.

Another form of the same situation is that all women, especially married women, have the same trait.

To holders of these positions, nothing can convince them otherwise.

Having know women, including house wives, and gay men for decades, I can state, with full honesty and accurate information, that these two prejudices are uninformed and totally incorrect.

The talent and abilities for interior design are one of the many characteristics of a personality which are determined by one’s DNA and which are totally unrelated to one’s sexuality.

As civilizations advance and become more knowledgeable, they become more aware of the aspects and facets of life, their origins, what is real, and how life is to be best and fully lived.

This position is certainly true for interior design.

Food for thought.

There are many schools of thought about the relationships between the mind and body of our behavior as human beings.

One central theme keeps coming through and is constantly shown in the studies and tests results which come across my desk continuously.

What we see and think and do and feel about our lives affects what we experience in our lives.

All aspects of our lives are inter twined and affect each other and the sum total of our being.

All is one.

So, what does all of this information have to do with the interior design of our residences?

In this present time in which we live, our lives are more restricted than previously.

Which means that as most of us are at home more than before, it is more important than ever that our home environment is healthy, functional, beautiful, and congruent with positive living.

Knowing that all aspects of our lives affect what we experience, we are better prepared to make the most of our current limitations and experience a higher and better level of living even in these times “that try men’s souls”.

Think positively. Look for beauty. Live in the moment.

The choices that you make determine the life you experience.

What choices do you make?

Food for thought.

Much of my life I have heard the ism: “The customer is always right.“.

About what is the customer right and what is right?

According to Webster, right’s definition is “agreeable to a standard”.

What is this standard and who determines it?

In this vein of thinking, when it comes to residential interior design, there are two options.

You can be a customer, or you can be a client.

If you choose to be a customer, you only want some one to sell you home furnishings for your resident.

If you choose to be a client, you want some one who will apply the principles of aesthetics and the laws of physics to make your residential spaces the most beautiful and functional for your life style.

Do you want a beautiful residential environment that is a manifestation of your personality, or do you want to be ” right ” ?

The choice is yours.

Your choice should be based on what you want for the final results of the project.

Food for thought.

“What’s in your world around you affects what goes on in your life.” Abigail Bassett

What is in your residential world these days with the virus that is affecting the entire globe in varying degrees?

With the wearing of masks, social distancing, staying at home requirements, zoom work and education, and severe limitations of contacts with other persons, the environment in which we live becomes ever more important for all aspects of our personal health and well being.

Take a good hard intelligent look at your home surroundings.

What do you see?

How does what you see affect what you do and how you feel?

Look at what is there and try to see it in a different light and from a different perspective.

Is there an element of aesthetics that you have not noticed before?

Is there something that can be changed and improved to be more comfortable, functional, and beautiful?

Some times even a small change can make a big difference.

And it is always advantageous to have a positive and optimistic way of thinking and looking.

It appears that the virus is going to affect the entire world for many more months.

Any thing that you can do to make your residential environment better in any way is going to affect what you experience until this virus situation is over.

Food for thought.

In reading of the current status of residential interior design and housing in this country, an interesting article caught my eye.

It was about one of the most expensive houses in one of the most expensive municipalities in this country.

This house was intimately described with rare materials and other expensive details.

There was a lot of description of the rare stones and jewels literally in the floors and other places.

The recreational and entertainment facilities were enormous and manifest in the same rare and expensive manners.

It would be inappropriate, and probably illegal in some situations, to state my reaction to this residential “rare and expensive gem“.

Repugnance, repulsive, lack of intelligence, immature, gaudy, inappropriate use of materials, hodge-podge, and a total incomprehension of the principles of aesthetics will give you some hint of my reaction to this house.

Wow!

This residence is a sterling example of the ism that expending resources with out intelligence do not manifest quality.

Why would some one with that much financial resources make such an idiot of themselves?

Some times, there is no logic behind human behavior. Here, emotions completely ran the show. And the results are disastrous.

That which is expensive and rare is not in and of itself good design.

Food for thought.

“My experience is what I attend to” William James

How do you experience the residential environment in which you live?

Is it a space you enjoy and in which you look forward to being?

Or, is it much like a service station, which is true for many people, where you eat, sleep, dress, and take care of the basic necessary requirements of a place to exist?

An aesthetically pleasing and functional residential environment which reflects your personality and life style can be a strong positive force which flows into the experiences you have in other of your life’s activities.

Research in the area of human behavior has shown this approach to be real.

Mother nature takes care of what it does and the results manifest.

In our personal environments, what we, as individuals, choose to do in taking actions, making efforts, and extending resources determines the experiences we manifest in our lives.

Simply put, it is left up to you.

What you experience in your residential environment is very simply what you choose to attend to.

Food for thought.

Most of what we, as human beings, experience physically as life is visual.

What we see affects how we react to what we see.

Human behavior research continues to show that our environment affects how we behave and our physical and intangible quality of the life we live.

Thusly, it is obvious that for a more fulfilling life, we need to pay proper attention to the environments with which we surround ourselves.

Thinking of where we live as our home base and where we are most free and nurtured, is it not logical that we should make our residential interiors the best they can be so that our quality of life experiences are the best they can be?

What role do you choose for your residential interior designs to play in the quality of your living?

Food for thought.