Water flows until it reaches it’s own level. Such activity is a universal law.

  The same is true for the level of our personal aesthetic taste. Our level of personal taste is a manifestation of our level of consciousness for aesthetics.

  You will not be comfortable or ” at home ” on any other level. Such is who you are and your level of consciousness.

  Our DNA and all of the experiences in our environment, nature and nuture, are factors in determining our level of consciousness of aesthetics.

  Your level of consciousness can be raised, but only successfully if you honestly and sincerely want to raise it. Pretend does not work.

  As in many aspects of life, the best is usually at the highest level.

Do you know at what level you are, where you would like to be, or do you care?

Food for thought.

  Some of what comes across my desk these days from the residential construction industry says that many buyers of new homes do not want to use a separate room for dining as it is only used a few times a year for formal occasions and they would prefer to use that space more often for other functions.

For any interior spaces in a residence the questions to be asked are: What are the best designs for all functions that are to take place in the available spaces and how can they be done best aesthetically?

Some people like to keep a formal dining room for their life style. For some, a room may have other functions, but become formal for dining. Some people don’t want a formal room for dining and prefer all eating activities be incorporated into the activities of other spaces.

Different people have different life styles. There is no formula that fits all.

Function is the only principle to follow and is the main ” reason de etre ” for any designed residential space.

Food for thought.

A lot of information has come across my desk recently: trends, colors of the year, what people want today in their residences, the choices of different generations, et cetera.

Such information is geared toward those businesses involved in mass production and consumerism.

Such information is relevant only to those individuals who want to follow the crowd and be like others and be and do what’s popular.

Are you a sheep who follows where the crowd is going, or, are you an individual who makes his own needs, desires, life style, functions, and personality his pathway direction?

Residential interiors are not like lip stick and nail polish. They are not changed seasonally because of the new fashions. Trends and popular colors come and go. Excellent design is permanent.

  Food for thought.

” My tastes are very simple. I am satisfied with the best.”

Oscar Wilde

What a delightful position. How does it apply to one’s personal life?

Your personal tastes are those choices that you make for the things that you like. What is the best for your taste?

In the designs of a residential interior, there are many choices available. In addition to choosing what you like, you must also choose that which is functional. The two have to go together.

  Functionality is necessary for tastes you choose to be of merit. If it is not functional, it is not of merit. If it is not of merit, it is of no use.

Aesthetics and uses individually or together may may be factors in functionality.

  If you are to be satisfied with the best for your taste, you should choose that which is the best for the functional including quality materials, construction, performance, and use.

  Personal taste choices are usually an emotional manifestation and functional choices are usually an intellectual manifestation. For the best results, the two blend well together to make a complete whole.

  Then you have the best.

  Food for thought.

Even in the era of computers there are an abundance of printed options relating to the design of residential interiors. Just look at the many magazine sections everywhere.

Publishing magazines is a business funded by readers and advertising targeting potential customers in a specific social-economic life style market.

In selecting and reading such, for what are you seeking: entertainment, ideas, education, information, trends, how to, amusement, conversational fodder, celebrity homes, sources, social-economic status. options, opinions, taste?

Who are you and how does what you seek apply to your lifestyle?

Being published in a shelter magazine is not automatically good design. Neither are spreads of celebrities, famous people, entertainers, people of wealth, athletics, or new or historic period of design.

When looking at the pictures in these publications , squint your eyes and what do you see? Is it a well blended composition pleasing to the eyes, or all just run together, or does it just look hodgepodge? Really look at what you see.

Analyze emotionally what you see. Do you like it, are attracted to it, feel good looking at it, and feel comfortable with it? Does it appeal to you?

  Analyze intellectually what you see. Is it functional, comfortable, doable, aesthetically pleasing, a good design composition, practical, and of quality?

Is it a space in which you would like to live?

Or, you may pick up one of these shelter publications because you just want a pleasant read, or just check out new products and advertising. Nothing wrong with doing such.

Be conscious of what you read and why. For more effective results, what ever they may be, don’t get way laid or over sold by what’s new, popular, fashion, or pretty pictures.

Food for thought.

As the human race has advanced from purely a state of survival and reproduction for millenias to a point where we are aware of ourselves and our existence in time and space, we seek for meaning, significance, and purpose in our lives.

When one is in such a state as to be completely aware of the full scope of one’s life at the time and place being lived where it all fits together, one experiences the wholeness, beauty, and awesomeness of life.

Such an experience fulfills us intellectually, emotionally, spiritually, psychologically, and physically. There is no higher plane of existence for a human being to experience on this planet.

There is an old saying – ” Don’t forget to smell the roses. ” – which would apply here on a much higher level. Don’t get so caught up in the mechanics of day-to-day living that we miss the flavor of life. There is more to life than merely survival.

Is such not even more rewarding in one’s physical home environment surrounded by one’s personal expression of life and of beauty and to live in such an environment on a daily basis?

You know who you are and where you are and you know that is right. You are feeling the presence of home.

Food for thought.

  Light is the single, biggest, and most important aspect of all designed interior spaces.

  Because of the special relationship between this planet Earth and the sun, light is changing constantly by the movement of heavenly bodies and is most pronounced and noticed during the peak times of each of the four seasons. What we see and how we see it changes constantly through out the year.

  Winter light is less pronounced because of the shorter days, more grey clouds overhead, and precipitation – especially snow.

  And yet, on a sunny day, a brilliant pure white light is reflected from the snow.

 This reflected light is brighter and affects the light coming through our windows and thus the light of our interior spaces.

  Because of the less over all brightness of winter light, many people experience what is called a seasonal mood disorder of the blues and blahs. If such happens to you, spend more time in brightly lighted spaces and around live plants. A temperate green house is an excellent place to visit.

  One former client did not like the angle of the winter sun light because it always made her windows look dirty.

  The winter season is also a good time to indulge in warm and cozy, close, and people activities or just to curl up with a good book or music or restful and refreshing quiet times. With interior spaces designed for such activities they comfortably and easily fall into space.

  Treat yourself to the subtle changes in day light and the many types, uses, and colors of man made light.

  Life is better, more enjoyable, and deeper if we let ourselves go and experience the characteristics of each season and appreciate beauty in all of it’s forms in all seasons.

  Food for thought.

Recently reading I came across across observations expressed by extremely successful people on the life style of one of the same. One was particularly noted as living modestly for his means and as such was not expressing conspicuous consumption as if such were an admirable trait. Others deliberately express such which is commonly know as “poor mouthing it”.

Others enthusiastically go in the opposite directions by overkill in quantity, decoration, et  cetera as if to show the world how big and costly everything is so that the end result looks less like a planned aesthetic design than a goal of using as much as we can as expensive as we can to make the biggest show we can to show the world how much money I have spent and how rich I am. And in all seriousness these people believe that such results are of merit and desirable. Perhaps it would be wise for them to put  price tags on very thing so that everyone get the point.

A well designed interior should be functional, aesthetically pleasing, and reflect the personalities and life styles of the people who will be using the space.

It should be done in the best quality for it’s purposes. 

To do an interior space expressly to display one’s financial status and choices, whether inexpensive or expensive, is bad design, aesthetically undesirable, financially and functionally a poor choice, a bad character choice, and may be a manifestation of insecurity and inferiority. 

And in street language, it’s just plain tacky!

If you do an interior design professionally, confidently, and honestly, the results will fit and you will have no need or desire to be concerned about how the rest of the world reacts or what they think. 

It’s you, well manifest, and that’s all that matters.

Food for thought.

Recently in the local television news was a feature about the large number of new they-all-look-the-same houses being built now in very desirable suburban neighborhoods.

  All of these houses are of a size that is functional for a family with children. Some have fair sized yards. There are no excessive spaces inside or outside.

All of the materials used are ordinary every day building materials. These houses are mostly of blah designs with no outstanding architecture, interior design, landscaping, or decorative features. Every thing was ordinary and functional average houses.

The focus of the television report was the flooding of the yards of older residences caused by the changes to the ground surface by the addition of these many new homes.

Everything was reported as being done according to code.

The television reporter constantly called these average houses Mac Mansions. They are not Mac Mansions. They are only houses. They are only average medium houses and not Mac Mansions.

Mac Mansions have large rooms, excessive spaces, expensive and rare materials, outstanding architectural and interior design features, specialized rooms and spaces, highly skilled labor, outstanding status, and are expensive to build and maintain.

It has been my experience in life that if you are going to present, report, or state something, it is always wise to know of what you speak.

To call an average house a Mac Mansion by a television news reporter shows exaggeration and sensationalism of which all is not accurate, desirable. or ethical.

Where is the truth of what is and what is not real? What is the purpose and who is the audience for such commentary?

Is such another example of fake news?

Food for though.

  Several years ago I was invited to a reception, including champaigne and cavier, at a house is a very high economic-social status neighborhood.

  After arriving properly dressed, on time, and greeting people, I was told that the bar was in the library.

  I went into the library and gave the server my preference.

  I looked around. I looked around. I looked around. No books could I see.

  There was a rocking chair that looked as if it had come from the back porch of a country house and I was later told that it had been in the family for generations which seemed to be very important.

  Since I was in the library, I continued to look for books. After all, aren’t books one of the main reasons to call an interior space a library?

  Low and behold, I looked up and there were the books. A wallpaper border with a pattern of books was at the top of the wall next to the ceiling. Wow! Wallpaper books. What an intellectual, functional, and educational choice.

  If for what ever reason you choose to call an interior space something, it should be what it is called.

  If you call a room something which it does not fulfill that function, you are acting, wishing, snobbing, or something else, and you are being a hypocrite. How does being such a person enhance your reputation and what does it say about your character?

Is such how you want to be known?

Interior spaces should be and functional what they are called.

Food for thought.