Ceilings in residential interior spaces cover as much space in a room as the floors and more space that many walls. They are one important part of the three dimensional sides of the shapes that enclose the room.

Yet, most ceilings in residential spaces are only filled in and not treated as an important design element in the overall composition of the room.

The majority of residential ceilings are painted a flat white. There are standard paints that are manufactured for that purpose and are simply labeled ceiling white and require no thinking and planning for their use. It’s sort of like “ready to eat fast food”. It’s fast, cheap, and easy but has very little nutritional value.

When you make this choice, you miss a great opportunity to increase the aesthetics of the space and lessen your enjoyment of it.

When choosing what foods you eat and how you prepare them, do you not take the route to make what you eat taste as good as possible?

Why not take that approach when designing a ceiling? After all, you spend more time with a ceiling than eating food.

There are unlimited ways to achieve a beautiful ceiling. These ways are only limited by your intelligence, imagination, creativity, and sometimes budgets in manifesting them.

Is it not worth the expenditure of the necessary resources to make all parts of your residential interior spaces the most beautiful it can be for your nourishment and enjoyment?

As always in physical manifestations, the laws of physics and principles of aesthetics should be used wisely and intelligently.

Food for thought.

“With out a dressing, a salad is just a bowl of wet vegetables.”

The dressing gives the flavor of the salad and is the main ingredient in determining how the salad taste. And isn’t how it taste the biggest factor in choosing what we eat?

The same concept can be applied to the designs of one’s residential interior spaces.

With out a plan to reach the desired end results of the spaces, what results is much less functional, beautiful, and comfortable. What could be is not achieved.

In putting together your plan, it is sometimes good to have an element of the contemporary. But, be careful. If the plan is too trendy and fashionable, the spaces can easily become dated and undesirable.

Think where you want to go. Work with what you have to get there. Then, do it. Then, relish and enjoy the results.

Food for thought.

Oscar Wilde is quoted as saying: “My tastes are very simple. I am satisfied with the best.“

What is the best for residential interior design to fulfill it’s raison d’etre?

Is the best the most expensive, rare, high status, classic, contemporary, beautiful, or easy?

What is the most important best: aesthetic, function, budget, quality, schedules and deadlines, preferences, newest, practical, or availability?

Is something that is expensive, functional, and beautiful better than something that equally is functional and beautiful and costs less?

For aesthetic, if something that is beautiful in and of itself better that something that is less beautiful in and of itself but fits better into the over all aesthetic composition of space?

The laws of physics and principles of aesthetics are present in all physical manifestations- best or not. To achieve the best, one must make the best use of both.

There are many aspects and factors to consider when designing a residential interior space.

Think wisely and intelligently for the long term and analyze carefully all parts and aspects of the whole space when making choices for the design of your residential interior space.

What is the best for you?

Food for thought.

Looking at residences that have been built by mankind since the beginning of such, the ones that have been successful aesthetically are the ones that have used the laws of physics and the principles of aesthetics.

As civilization has moved through, grown, improved, and advanced during the ages, the knowledge, materials, environment, and conditions of it’s time have affected what is done.

The best results have been and will be gained when residences are constructed using that which is best for the project from the past and current times.

It is good to use from past periods those aspects which are timeless, applicable, and appropriate. However, it is not good to live in the past.

Human behavior is complex involving many aspects which affect our choices in building our residences.

We build houses to last for decades and longer. Therefore, that which is wise and best for the complete whole of the project for the long term should guide our thinking and decisions.

Food for thought.

In the history of civilization, progress is achieved only by going forward and is a desirable goal for any human endeavor.

We don’t make any progress by returning to the past.

Yet, much of the human population does just that in certain important areas of their lives.

Computers and cell phones have become universally popular around the world in all civilizations and are becoming the primary source for communication and transfer of information in most of the areas of our lives.

When it comes to the design of residences, past designs greatly outnumber the use of today’s designs.

Such ain’t progress.

Past residential designs are known and feel comfortable for most of those who make these choices.

Past residential designs are copied and reproduced and reinterpreted to the nth degree of which much is attributed to it’s appearance as being of a superior social-economic status.

The desire for this status and ignorance of what can be achieved by today’s designing are primarily why such choices are made over intelligence, comfort, function, and residences congruent with the technology, materials beauty, energy, expenditures currently obtainable and the many options available for today’s living.

These options can produce results that are miles ahead superior for living spaces than are made by choosing to return to past residential design.

Are the choices you make for the design of your living spaces progress or regression to the past?

Which makes more progress: redesigning the past or designing with today’s world?

Food for thought.

Each day current information about housing construction in this nation comes cross my desk.

Over 95% of these new houses, being built across this entire country, look as if they were made from the same pattern.

Mass production for a mass market.

There are two species of dandelions, generally considered a weed, that produce a single blossom.

There are tens of thousands of species of orchids which produce a very wide variety of colors, designs, and sizes.

How would you describe the bloom of your residence – dandelion or orchid?

Food for thought.

There are many people is this world who are of the position that they know everything and that facts are not relevant. Reality, for them, is what fulfills that position.

Sometimes, this situation works itself into the design of their residential spaces.

Social economic status, ways that they operate their business, personal prejudices, and other personal factors enter into their residential interior design decisions.

As surely as the laws of gravity affect our physical existence, the laws and principles of design affect all results for aesthetics.

As in many of life’s decisions, the question needs to be asked: What is the ultimate end result of the goal sought?

What, then, are the methods best used to achieve that goal?

Will the emotion or intellect be the trump factor?

With intelligence, knowledge, creativity, education, experience, and imagination, both can be combined to produce the best results.

What role does arrogant play in the residential interior environment in which you experience your life?

Food for thought.

As a small child I experienced great joy and happiness during the Easter holiday when having a beautiful Easter basket filled with Easter eggs of all kinds, fake grass, bunnies, any kind of chocolate, and any thing else that was cheerful, colorful, and tasted good.

Such is the way that many people choose to manifest their residential interiors.

These people are not unintelligent and poor.

They will spend lots of money (100s of 1000s of dollars), have a great location, landscaping, and great architecture.

Then, they treat the interior as an Easter basket by filling it with with beautiful, expensive, and high quality furnishings.

The bad thing is that all of these furnishing are not designed into an aesthetic composition. It is a hodgepodge.

Why?

Perhaps, for these people, other aspects are more important to them than good design composition.

Quality, costs, status, rarity, uniqueness, age, et cetera with out an aesthetically designed composition is bad design and greatly lowers the level of beauty and viewing pleasure.

What do you see and experience when living in your residential interior spaces?

Food for thought.

The laws of physics are, have been, and always will be and determine our physical activities.

Approximately forty some thousand years ago, humans first started expressing themselves in their search for the significance of life and it’s meaning.

Since that time civilization has advanced into the computer age to learn of the cosmos and life in all of it’s aspects.

The principles of aesthetics, which are a part of the laws of physics, have remained the same as mankind searches and learns more of them.

It matters not what is done in aesthetics, the laws remain in effect regardless of time, materials, cultures, and intelligence used to manifest them.

The level of beauty that human being experience is determined by how these laws are used.

How are these laws and principles used for the level of aesthetics you experience in your day-to-day life?

Food for thought.

Rush designs equal mush results.

When designing a quality residential interior, it is important to remember what is the purpose of the design and what is the ultimate long term goal.

To live in, use, enjoy, and appreciate one’s life style should be the goal for all residential interiors.

For some people, the desired goals for such spaces are efficiency and speed in construction and deliveries to meet scheduled dates and budgets which over ride other aspects of the project including results.

In today’s culture, there is the aspect of not waiting and wanting instant results. Residential interior design is not fast food and is not be consumed immediately.

Which is more important to you, the client, to live with something you like and adapt budgets and schedules to fit your personality, needs, and life styles, or to live with something you don’t like to fit schedule and budgets?

Try to think of long term results, as in decades, instead of current situations.

You, as the client, make the deciding choice.

Food for thought.