Friday, May 16, 2014

Presentation, from Christy Ferer's Book "Decorating on a Dime"


Framed Photos: This is an easy project that personalizes a space and can also hide a damaged wall. 

Miniature Furniture: An oversized doll's chair or a child's chair can hold an object or a picture frame and be positioned as display. 

Good Enough to Frame: Anything that is dramatically framed can earn the status of art object - from stamps to children's art to lost of broken jewelry.

Pearls: Pearls can transform an everyday object into a treasure.

Just One Color: Use those wonderful odds and ends in your attic. Christy Ferer suggests any flaws in your found objects are disguised by the spray paint. Different shapes and sizes should play off one another on the wall and table. 

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Decorating on a Dime Solutions and Coverups

Carpeting: The border of Vidicom CEO Christy Ferer's carpet is rug padding, not expensive sisal. Padding is resilient and comes in many colors. The center piece is a remnant that was inserted to replace the original stained carpet, which was removed.

Applique: Don't throw away that favorite bedspread or tablecloth before you try sewing on an appliqué to cover tears or stains.

Radiator Cover: Pick out a mesh screen you like at your local hardware store to cover up a radiator or air conditioner.

Vanity Skirt: Here's a quick fix to hide bedroom pipes, dress up vanities, or layer over stained curtains. The beauty of metallic organza is that it is translucent, and the metallic sheen glows through the fabric.

Rope Trim: A sophisticated way to finish off a space where a vanity top meets wallpaper or title or carpet meets molding. Because it is a natural color and material, it looks as if it is part of the design rather than an add-on.

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Windows and Lighting, from Decorating on a Dime



Christy Ferer, Vidicom CEO, loves fashion and interior design. Below are some tips for windows and lighting.

Burlap and Silk - the contrast of burlap and silk is eye-catching and a bit exotic, whether hanging in a formal living room or a summer beach house. 

Beaded Muslin - a soft, opaque look especially useful when you have an unattractive view to block but you want as much light to enter as possible. The acrylic beads make the entire panel sparkle. 

Upside-Down Lamp Shades: This directs the light up to the ceiling, creating a very dynamic effect.

Made in the Shade: Trim shades with fabric, wallpaper, art paper, crystals, upholstery trim, or shells. Or leave it plain if the background pattern is strong enough to carry the look. 

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

More Design Tips from Her Book

Vidicom's CEO, Christy Ferer, says "Stick to neutrals. They go with anything."

This rule is responsible for decades of boring rooms. People think neutral means only beige, white or black. True, these colors blend easily with other colors and are easy to live with, but so are lots of more interesting colors. When toned down with white or black, green coordinates with almost all colors, making it nature’s neutral. Celadon, olive, khaki and steel gray are the “new” neutrals, easily pulling together complex color palettes.

Remember what the legendary Vogue editor Diana Vreeland said: “Shocking pink is the navy blue of India.” The point is that what is neutral for one culture or person is radical for another. Remember this too: Almost any color becomes a neutral when it stands on its own and isn’t made to coordinate with another color

Saturday, March 22, 2014

Sandblased Furniture Tips

Sanblasted Furniture 
Pieces of painted furniture
Distilled white vinegar

Your local auto body shop will put the piece in its sandblast booth and add beautiful years to your furniture. Christy Ferer says to heighten the aging process, blot vinegar on any metal features or hinges. The longer you allow the vinegar to sit (at least 24 hours), the more pocked and antique looking the metal will become.

Frame Canopy
Take the measurements of the bed to the lumberyard, where you will find a selection of polymer molding. Christy Ferer and the Vidicom team suggests asking the yard to cut your chosen molding into four pieces and miter the edges. Stay tuned for more tips from Christy Ferer's book, Decorating on a Dime.

Setting Up a Display Table


Vidicom CEO, Chrsity Ferer, says measure any existing glass top you have. Ask the glazier to duplicate the top in 1/4-inch to 1/2-inch thickness. As with all glass tables, it is best to have the corners rounded off. Arrange the decorative items on the table's regular glass top. Carefully place the second piece of glass on top.

Variations:

  • Old book pages
  • music sheets
  • foreign bills
  • pennies (lay out a evenly as possible to keep glass balanced)
  • birth certificates
  • marriage certificates
  • college diplomas
Another application of this technique is to place glass over a wooden table whose top you want to protect, such as a fine dining room table. 

Monday, March 17, 2014

Black Vinyl and Plumber Tables

Vidicom CEO Christy Ferer recommends ordering vinyl through the Resource Guide. The local automotive shop should also carry black vinyl, and will upholster your kitchen banquettes and make cushions for you.

Variations
  • Junkyard car seats
  • Restaurant supply seating
For plumber tables, Christy recommends using copper pipe, tabletop of glass, granite or marble, and small felt tabs. This is how your plumber should build the table: Bottom of table (feet).

1. Put caps with street 45's (4 sets).
2. Put 4 2-inch pieces in street 45's
3. Put 4 T's on 2-inch pieces with street 45's and caps.


Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Tips on Sandblasted Furniture, Frame Canopy and Mirror Frames

Sanblasted Furniture
Christy Ferer says this is an easy and inexpensive way to get any piece of painted furniture to look worn or "country." If it is scratched, dented, or imperfect already -- all the better.

Frame Canopy
A bed canopy adds architectural detail and weight to a room. It also enlarges and dramatizes the room.

Mirror Frames
Create a substantial mirror for an entranceway, dining room, or dressing area. The larger the mirror, the larger a space will look. Most dramatic are two mirrors facing each other on opposite walls, which is especially effective in a dining room.  Christy Ferer and the Vidicom team agree.

Wire Mesh Bookcase
An easy and elegant way to camouflage open shelves containing stereo or television equipment. You can also use this effect on kitchen shelves.

Monday, March 10, 2014

Furniture Tips from Christy Ferer's Book

Christy Ferer (Vidicom CEO) states that as an upholstery fabric, black vinyl is neutral and practical. It has a rich, clean feeling particularly when used against light wood. Black vinyl is good for lawn chair cushions and kitchen banquettes.

Plumber Tables:
A table base of plumbing pipes in chrome, iron, or copper creates a centerpiece for any room, particularly a kitchen table. Copper tubing can also be used to make delicate end tables; the copper can be varnished to keep its shine.

Display Table:
She suggests adding a glass top resting on any kind of base can become a showcase simply by adding flat decorative items and a piece of identical glass on top. These tables are great-looking as coffee tables, end tables, or even a dining table.

Friday, March 7, 2014

Striping Suggestions from Decorating on a Dime

Christy Ferer (Vidicom CEO) suggests penciling your stripe pattern on the space. Place the blue tape where you do not want the paint to go. Paint between the piece of tape. Wait a day before removing it. Remove tape gently so as not to chip the bordering paint.

Variations:
Dilute acrylic paint for softer, more translucent stripes. Rag or sponge on the stripes  by dipping cloth or sponge lightly into paint and dabbing on between the strips of tape. The tape can be placed in other patterns, suggests grids, triangles, or checks.

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Where to Keep Hats

Hang hats in clusters, preferably over spaces defined by a piece of furniture such as a couch, a desk, or even a bed. Hats can also be hung from hooks around an entire room's ceiling molding, to give the room definition.

Vidicom CEO Christy Ferer says to really make them look integrated, frame the hats with a stencil pattern. Or, if you want instant gratification, use a rubber stamp in any pattern. Pencil a frame of designs around the hat or group of hats about 6 inches from the hat rims and stamp along that line. When the paint is dry, ease any stray pencil marks.

Variations:
  • Cowboy hats
  • Motorcycle helmets
  • Baseball caps
  • Fedoras
  • Straw hats
  • Old hats from a flea market

Monday, March 3, 2014

Advice on Molding Detail

Vidicom CEO Christy Ferer suggests choosing a trim that fits into the molding groove you have chosen to fill. Apply glue 1 foot at a time. Hold trim down for about 30 seconds. Time is of the essence because the glue works very quickly. As you glue on the trim, be careful not to allow the weight of the slack to tug down the trim you have just finished gluing. Corners can be cut at 90 degrees or 45 degree angles, or you can just turn the corners with the trim.

Here are the variations she recommends:
  • Yarn
  • Lace
  • Twine
  • Rickrack
  • Ribbon
  • Strung Beads
  • Strung Pearls

Friday, February 28, 2014

Wedgwood Walls

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Select designs from the catalogs listed in the Resource Guide to fit any feeling, from baroque to postmodern. Polymer molding and some of the wooden carvings can be used as shelving for small objects. Vidicom CEO Christy Ferer says if you buy polymer moldings from your local lumberyard, you can get the yard to cut and miter to your specifications.

Spray-paint the carvings. You may need 2 coats. Measure and pencil the placement of your design of the wall. Apply adhesive to the wall in proportion to the amount of molding or carving you are applying. Vidicom thinks this a great idea to include the Wedgwood Walls.

Variations
Apply white star moldings to a midnight blue ceiling. Apply wooden figurines to serve as small shelves that cover up wall damage. Use to decorate radiator screens, furniture, fireplace mantels, or wide picture or mirror frames. Apply rectangular shapes above doorways to create an illusion of height.

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

More Potato Print Wallpaper

                                   
Vidicom CEO Christy Ferer suggests you wipe off excess paste with a clean, damp cloth. Cut off the surplus paper on the ceiling and floor edges using the utility knife and a metal ruler. Do not be afraid of overlapping edges as the sides of the sheets meet. Wait two hours for paper to dry before stamping, using slightly diluted acrylic paint.

Variations
Wallcoverings:

Cover walls with other natural, everyday "raw" materials:
  • gauze
  • wrapping tissue paper
  • burlap
The more crumply these textures, the better. Tissue may crumple so much that no more "character" or stamping may be required. She suggests textures will be better protected with a coat of clear varnish.

Stamps:

Stamp other surfaces or accessories:
  • ceiling
  • furniture
  • lampshades
  • wastebaskets
  • floors

Monday, February 24, 2014

Potato Print Wallpaper

Brown paper is an easy wall covering because the more overlapping and the more mistakes, the more charming the look. This is great for kids' rooms or recreation rooms, and it is perfect for stamping with everything from a potato stamp to alphabet-letter stamps or fleur-de-lis shapes. Christy Ferer says all materials can be ordered from sources listed in the Resource Guide.

Cut the brown paper strips according to the wall height, adding a 2-inch surplus on both ends. Apply wallpaper paste, and place the brown paper where the wall edge meets the ceiling while allowing about 1/2 inch of unglued brown paper to overshoot the wall edge. She agrees that you should smooth down to the floor or molding edge, using a clean, soft cloth to the outside corners of each sheet. Vidicom thinks this is a great idea for your home.

Friday, February 21, 2014

Potato Prints for Your Home

Christy Ferer says potato stamps are made by slicing the potato crosswire in half to get a round surface of 2 or 3 inches. Place a small amount of slightly diluted acrylic paint in a small bowl and place the potato relief or stamp straight down into it, wiping the edge of the relief on the bowl before each stamping to prevent drips. Note that commercial stamps from sources in the Resource Guide can be ordered with stamp pads, but you will find a wider range of colors in acrylic paints.

Variations
  • Stick-on letters or alphabet stamps
  • stars
  • dots
  • numbers
  • animals
  • fleurs-de-lis
  • fruits
  • leaves and vines

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Plaid Floors from Christy Ferer's book, "Decorating on a Dime"



Christy Ferer (Vidicom CEO) recommends measuring the floor and order equal amounts of your four colors. The first color should be dense, like the dark green in our photo. The second color is the same color value, but half the density of the first color. (In the photo this is pale green.) The third color is the same density as the second (pale blue in the picture), but a compatible color to the first two. (just like the pale pink is to lavender of pale yellow to pale peach.) The fourth color is white. She says to lay out your pattern beginning in the most visible corner of the room. Wait to glue until you have set out your pattern.

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

More Tips from Decorating on a Dime

Molding Detail & Hats

Create architectural details simply by gluing yarn into the grooves of existing, floor, ceiling, or chair rail moldings or along the wall edge that meets the ceiling. This is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to instantly decorate and/or cover up wall flaws. The most effective look is a grouping of hats of either the same shape or color.

Striping

Create a bold look to account a small ceiling, caves, nook, or otherwise unnoticed cranny. Thick stripes, create an open feeling while thin stripes give an illusion of enclosure. Christy Ferer and the Vidicom team are excited bring you these great tips for decorating your home.

Friday, February 14, 2014

Floors and Walls Tips From Christy Ferer's Book




Stenciled letters, Wooden Stars and Potato Prints

Stamping can mask damaged walls and save your having to do a whole paint job. Christy Ferer, Vidicom CEO, says Stencil letters or place wooden stars or stamps in any order on the walls. Create a pattern or a cluster to purposely center the eye on one portion of the wall or ceiling.

Wedgwood Walls

Precast moldings and wood carvings are great for entryways, small bathrooms, above beds to give the illusion of a headboard, and above doors to give height to the room. These crisp, white details look best against walls painted in soft, muted tones and a matte finish.

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Read More of Christy Ferer's Introduction

Gather your materials in advance. Organize your materials in one space and check against Christy Ferer's style recipes to be sure you have everything you'll need. Enlist the help of or delegate tasks to friends or family to get your project started or completed. Set a deadline for beginning and ending your projects.

Christy says the message: decorating is no big deal. It is simply a state of doing. Don't be afraid of your own style instincts. This book is for all of us (including Vidicom staff) who have ever thought we couldn't frame a picture or who have gotten our fingers stuck together with glue.

The book begins with plaid floors. She says plaid floors is fun for kitchens or playrooms. She says you will need four colors for your plaid patterns.

Monday, February 10, 2014

Christy Ferer's Introduction For Decorating on a Dime

Each project is a recipe for instant chic, with specific ingredients and instructions. Most projects can be done during a weekend are also kid-friendly.

The resource guide at the back of the book will become your style bible. It lists in alphabetical order all the materials that have been asterisked in the project recipes with store names, addresses, and phone numbers. Christy FererVidicom owner, can tell you where to find everything. And if it is not in the resource guide, I tell you how to get it done in Anytown, USA.

Did you know that many automotive stores will lacquer or sandblast your furniture? That your local plumber will make a table base? Your stationary store will laminate? A dry-cleaners in your town will straight-line sew a curtain or pillow case? Your local lumberyard will miter and nail four pieces of molding together to make a giant mirror frame? She says it is all about doing and getting it done.

Friday, February 7, 2014

Christy Ferer Introduces Her New Book: Decorating on a Dime

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Vidicom CEO Christy Ferer says she is going to share her secrets for decorating on a dime. After you read this book, you will be able to create these looks using her project recipes. You don't have to be a master of arts and crafts, hire an interpreter just to read the instructions, or become a glue-gun guru to surround yourself with style. What you see in this book is very doable, affordable, and takes only 1 to 3 hours to complete. Here are some simple idea, easily adaptable to your taste, budget and schedule. Christy Ferer says what you can't do yourself, you can delegate to a knowledgeable tradesperson, such as seamstress or plumber.

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Christy Ferer's Plans for Her Garden

Vidicom CEO Christy Ferer has a few tips on gardens:

Inside
  • Collect and display old garden tools and seed packets.
  • Flank a fireplace with old porch columns and a window with outdoor shutters.
  • Hang an outdoor trails on the wall or use one as a headboard.
  • Use branches as curtain rods and look for root or tree trunk furniture.
  • Use window, boxes inside. Set sill and fill with miniature boxwood or dwarf evergreens.
  • Electrify outdoor lanterns, sconces, and old glass oil lamps.
Outside
  • Make garden music with wind chimes.
  • Create a garden sculpture gallery with stone, terra-cotta, metal, wood, slate, or marble sculptures.
  • Use mirrors in the garden, positioned so they reflect flower beds, an expansive view, or a piece of art. Or use mirrored gazing balls set on pedestals or just placed casually on a garden wall or step.

Monday, February 3, 2014

More Outdoor Furniture Rules to Break

"Fountains belong in the garden or on the patio."

Sight and sound of falling water is so soothing it should be part of your everyday life. Christy recommends you buy a small indoor fountain or make one by placing a pump in a favorite bowl or vase. Add water,  a few plants, and plug in whenever and wherever you want, perhaps centered on an entry table or a side buffet. Or go for a more formal look by setting a fountain in a wall niche.

"Cushions, fine wood furniture, and porcelain pieces are strictly for the inside."

Flea-market furniture and attic finds are easily adapted to outdoor use, because if they fade, rust or peel a little, it's no big deal. As for cushions, Christy Ferer recommends you keep a big basket handy to bring them indoors overnight if it rains.

Friday, January 31, 2014

More Outdoor Furniture Rules to Break

Christy Ferer recommends you accessorize indoors with antique awnings, terra-cotta urns, pottery, and gazing balls.

Rules to break:

"Garden furniture is for the garden."

Adirondack chairs, sandstone benches, chaise longues, and weathered teak or wrought-iron chairs can easily be softened and refined for the indoors with overstuffed cushions and velvet throws. Old, weathered pieces with peeling paint bring beautiful patina and texture to a room.

"Garden style is for causal rooms."

Bringing the outdoors in doesn't mean transforming your home into a greenhouse. Small "green" touches relax traditional, formal, and even the sleekest modern rooms. Put an old tool set on the small side table or a bowl of pebbles on the mantel. She suggests using a vintage urn as a planter. Old stone columns can come inside to define an interior entrance.

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Christy Ferer Shares Tips for Outdoor Furniture

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Vidicom CEO Christy Ferer says break the boundaries, bring the outdoors in and take the indoors out. Architectural gems like porch posts, fences, corbels, gates, and bits of Victorian gingerbread become sculpture in the context of an enclosed space. Birdbaths, fountains, metal window casings, and wrought-iron benches give weight to interior landscapes. Likewise flats or grass, bowls of live moss, sundials, and gardens statuary breathe fresh air into indoor rooms.

Turn the inside out by using patios, porches, decks and gardens as outdoor rooms. She says experiment with pillows, throw rugs, pottery, and candlesticks. Make the ground your floor and sky your ceiling. Build walls with trellises and hedges. Accessorize with urns and statues, pottery and gazing balls. Hang a mirror in your garden. A famous horticulturist put one at the end of his bamboo walkway to make it look as if it went on forever.

Monday, January 27, 2014

Interior Design Tips: Ceilings

Christy Ferer, Vidicom CEO, says the ceilings of the fifth wall of a room, so don't overlook it. Ceilings used to be elaborately decorated, ornamented with moldings, often highlighted with contrasting paint colors, or painted with pictorial panels of landscapes, mythological figures, or cloud-filled skies.

Author Georgette Mosbacher draws attention to her library ceiling with an antique map copied onto canvas and affixed to the ceiling. She says, "My ceilings are high and decorating them is a very good way to pull the eye up and keep the ceiling in scale to the rest of the room." Jack Hemingway kept his father, Earnest's, fishing poles on the ceiling of his Idaho home, while Sotheby's executive Florence Grinda displays an extensive pottery collection on hers. She suggests a flat screen TV can be easily hung from a ceiling.

Friday, January 24, 2014

Christy Ferer's Interior Design Tips



Christy Ferer, Vidicom CEO,  has something to say about corners and above the door. Make corners and other obscure spots work for you. Fill them with indoor trees, corner cupboards and benches, a grouping of bamboo stalks, or a screen. Fill a corner with objects relating to a favorite hobby or sport - maybe tennis, golf, or a horseback riding. She agrees this could be the ideal place to show off those trophies, award plaques, or prize ribbons.

Christy says the area of wall space right over a door can be a valuable asset to a room when it's decorated. This is where French decorator Pierre Passebon often groups collections of plates. Sybile Denfert-Rochereau has paintings edged in gilt and framed with molding mounted above the sitting-room doors of her chateau in the south of France. Bill Blass uses this area for narrow architectural drawings.

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Landings and Hallways Tips

Nooks under stairs and stairwells can be a functional space for a small desk, a reading chair, a phone. Or, instead of using stairs as a means to an end, make them a destination by treating them like sculpture. Highlight the banisters with ornamentation. Cover the step risers with mosaic tile or paint them with a fun pattern. Staircase landings are natural display cases. Vidicom CEO Christy Ferer has used them to showcase art, straw masks from New Guinea, Moroccan vases, sculptures, and large mirrors.

She says hallways can act as art galleries or functional space, depending on the width. They are great for revolving displays of your children's artwork. Play up the long and narrow shape of hallway by repeating the light fixture or painting linear patterns. Christy recommends you use this silver of space to play with mirrors and sconces.

Monday, January 20, 2014

Tips on Decorating Laundry Rooms

Since this is your private space, take risks with color and accessories. Assemble a collection of vintage detergent boxes or tins on a shelf mounted over the washing machine. Christy Ferer says tuck everything into baskets large and small for easy storage. Cover the room with a soft throw rug. Sneak in a little TV or portable CD player.

Christy's laundry room is filled with objects from her travels - straw hats, pottery, copper pitchers. She painted the walls a rich red and stenciled them. She keeps her mops in a big old milk can. She used Velcro to attach an inexpensive polyester gold organza skirt to the wash basin.


Friday, January 17, 2014

More Bathroom Tips

Vidicom CEO Christy Ferer suggests adding a flea-market chandelier or candelabra. Hand-carved wooden bowls can hold soap, shells, or potpourri. Christy Ferer keeps a silver bread basket filled with antique perfume stoppers from the Paris flea markets next to my bathroom sink. Fashion designers Cynthia Rowley puts her towels on an elegant marble pedestal. French designer Agnes Colmer turned a silver ashtray into a soap dish.

She says you don't have to buy bathroom sets that includes matching toothbrush holders, soap dishes, and tumblers in non-breakable materials to be practical. Use odd saucers, trays, cups, pitchers, drinking glass, or an odd ice bucket to hold soaps, toothbrushes, and combs. Use a covered soup tureen for jewelry or cosmetics. Baskets can store toilet paper or cotton balls.

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Bathroom Tips

Christy Ferer says that bathrooms have long been oases of privacy. These days, that fact is celebrated and exploited in dozens of ways. Add a padded garden bench, chair, chaise longue or even a small sofa. This gives a place to visit - for getting dressed, giving haircuts, or polishing nails. That it's a bathroom doesn't mean it can't have a wonderful little table for holding makeup, toiletries, and so forth, or a bookshelf, magazine rack, display cabinet, or curio cabinet for stacking reading material, a pad, pen, and family pictures.

Bathroom decoration does not need to be different from the rest of the house. Try anything that you'd use in any other room as long as it can't be damaged by humidity. She suggests soft lamplight rather than prepackaged overheads can look great.

Monday, January 13, 2014

Neglected Space Rules to Break from Christy Ferer

Christy Ferer has some rules to break when it comes to neglected space:

"Decorate bathrooms practically with fixtures and furnishings customized for bathrooms and use non-breakable accessories only."

Nonbreakable can be confined to the shower. The rest of the bathroom doesn't have to be devoid of interest. Silver, porcelain, or wood objects look great in the bath.

"Don't waste time or money decorating a laundry room. Nobody sees it."

Flash! Any room where you spend time should be visually pleasing. Even the lowly laundry room can pamper you by looking good and reflecting in your personal style.

She argues that "Corners and ceilings should be left bare so that they don't detract from the rest of the room."

Why can't they add to the room? Corners are pockets of space that can be put to use as work or display areas, while a ceiling's decoration can be the topping on a beautifully decorated room.

Friday, January 10, 2014

Neglected Space Ad from Christy Ferer's Book

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Christy Ferer says any room in which you spend time deserves to be beautiful. Too many of us have boring bathrooms. Horrendous Hallways. Dull landings and laundry rooms. We figure they don't matter because for the most part they're not seen by guests. Stop treating yourself as a second-class citizen. Every part of your home should please you. Corners. Ceilings. The space under the stairway. Windowsills. Balconies. Christy Ferer suggest these are notoriously neglected by most people.

It only takes a little thought to accent the ignored spaces in your house by accessorizing them with clever visual surprises... the painting hung over the doorway to stretch the eye and the room upward...  a statue teetering on the top of a tall piece of furniture, maps, fishing rods, and pottery decorating the ceiling.

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Some More Space Rules to Break

"Very large rooms are cold. Use furniture, pattern, and accessories to warm them up."

To many, lots of space is the ultimate luxury. Christy Ferer says flaunt it. Revel in the openness by keeping it clean and uncluttered. Resist the compulsion to fill up a large space. Fashion designer Bill Blass uses supersize mirrors, furniture, and accessories to emphasize the large proportions of his rooms.

"A too-tall ceiling should be visually towered by painting it a dark color."

She says to many people, there's no such thing as a too-tall ceiling. They see lofty ceilings as pure drama and glamour. But if you feel overwhelmed or somehow dwarfed by the height, bring the ceiling into scale with the rest of the room by using tall furniture or indoor trees. Hang art slightly above eye level, paint celing beams decoratively, or use wainscoting to pull the ceiling down.

I consciously crafted a plane near the top of my double-height ceiling to position a sculpture, purposely emphasizing the height as a design element.


Monday, January 6, 2014

More Space Rules to Break

Christy Ferer says, "Paint a small room white to make it look bigger."

If you regard smallness as a problem that has to be fixed, this is a valid rule. But smallness can be cozy. Many of us feel more relaxed in a small room because we feel more sheltered, more protected. Play up a small room by going in the opposite direction. Exaggerate the smallness. Paint the walls a dark color, like chocolate brown, deep burgundy, forest green or rich blue. These colors advance rather than recede. They push outward and wrap themselves around you. Read more about Vidicom's CEO interior design tips.


Friday, January 3, 2014

Space Rules to Break



"Keep furniture small in a small room"

Filling a small room with furniture emphasizes the small size of a room. Think big. Play with space and visually expand it. Use oversize furniture. Big couches. Hefty tables and sculptures. Large paintings and lamps. In the diminutive bedroom jewelry, Andreas Zadora created for his daughter, an oversize doll house fills the center of the room, giving the illusion of a much bigger space.

"Keep accessories small in a small space."

She says one great piece is always better than a lot of mediocre ones. Don't think of this as a poverty of riches but as the luxury of less. Calvin Klein says, "Pairing down is actually more difficult than adding embellishment-embellishment can hide flaws. With fewer elements, what's not essential is immediately discernible and interrupts the rhythm and mood of the environment." In fashion, doing less exposes and emphasizes the bare essentials-from the seams to the zippers In home design, editing puts the focus on details such as the piping on a chair is finished or the way objects are placed.