January 30th, 2010 | GALAS, Interior Design
Interior Design Ideas for the New Year
Deja-Vu, All Over Again
With many of us looking back to the good ol' days before the recession, it is no surprise that items from the past are resurfacing. Refinishing rather than discarding old furniture can give your house an updated look for less money, and is a nod to the past in a creative and innovative way.
The Home Office
In an economy that lacks exciting job opportunities, many people are drawing upon their entrepreneurial spirits and starting their own businesses. For those entrepreneurs or even telecommuters, converting an unused room into a home office gives you a convenient place to escape the family and get down to business for a while. Being in an office setting, even one located within the house or apartment, makes it easier to focus on the job at hand (read: away from the TV and potato chips).
Loft-Style Living
Young urban professionals (yuppies) and retired urban professionals (ruppies) alike have abandoned the suburbs for the convenience and excitement of city-living. Loft-style living boasts spacious floor-plans, high ceilings, and large windows; which are especially attractive for urban apartments where every square foot of living space makes a visible difference. The need for space and an abundance of light is by no means limited to city-living though; loft-style living is just as desirable in suburban and rural settings.
Bacteria Resistant Countertops
Out with the porous, bacteria-ridden, high maintenance food surfaces, in with the quartz! A great way to eliminate potential health hazards for you and family is to use non-porous, non-absorbent materials such as Cambria, a natural quartz surface, for your countertops. Cambria is mold, mildew, stain and bacteria resistant, along with being extremely durable. It can used in both kitchens and bathrooms and unlike granite does not need to be sealed or polished.
Hands-free faucets
These faucets are becoming increasingly popular in our fast-paced, germ-conscious society. Hands-free faucets, such as this one by Brizo, can quell the spread of germs in your household, conserve water, and can make using the kitchen or bathroom sink easier for all.
Stay tuned for more Twenty Ten design trend updates next week!
January 4th, 2010 | Adaptable Design Philosophy
“Consumers are redefining value to take more careful account of not only what a product or service costs, but what importance it occupies for them and their families.” -Nancy F. Koehn, Historian Harvard Business School; published in the Boston Globe January 3, 2010 excerpted from the article; WHAT’S AHEAD FOR 2010: GLOBE ASKED EXECUTIVES AND PROFESSORS WHAT VARIOUS SEGMENTS OF THE ECOMONY FACE IN THE NEW YEAR.
I recently was having a conversation with our publicist, Sabrina Velandry. ‘Recently’ probably isn’t quite the right word, as we speak to each other at least once a day, probably more like several times a day.
In this particular conversation, Sabrina was relaying to me her father’s take on the NECN Dreamies. Her father, Phil, is retired, in his mid-60s and lives on Boston’s North Shore with his wife of 40 + years; in short, he is indicative of our base, our firm’s largest demographic, that of course being the Baby Boomers (who incidentally are *the* most expansive demographic, with 72 million strong, and strangely a largely ignored consumer.)
Our project was featured with two other finalists. The first two were gorgeous, heirloom, to-die-for homes. One was located in Newport, and the other an enormous and ornate estate in Dover, New Hampshire. Each boasted an impressive square-footage of living space, and each contained custom millwork and exquisite craftsmanship throughout. One of the homes in particular took four years to accomplish.
Then, last, but not least our home was featured. Our project, a seaside cottage is barely 1000 sq feet. The time to accomplish the gut renovation? 13 weeks flat. The home, our first to showcase in full, our Design for Life ™ theory throughout, was created so a widowed woman, living alone, could live fully and independently in her own home. This meant, among other things, installing a curbless shower, an induction cook-top that shuts off on its own, energy-efficient LED track lighting through out that leads the occupant to either the bathroom or an exit, and finally, built-in washer/dryer set that is conveniently located three steps from the master bed (sheets in need of laundering can be pulled from the bed, stuffed into the washer, and then plopped onto the counter after they’re dry in four easy motions).
Phil couldn’t help but notice; “The comparison of the other homes to Andie’s was striking. While the first two homes were eye candy, almost fine-art-like with their grandeur and composure, the last home featured, was something you watched and thought, I could have that.”
Phil went on to say, “the home, it’s like a gift that pays it forward again and again.”
Design for Life ™ homes are often built for those in their second half of their life. However, the design and technology we incorporate into our projects, such as the touch-less faucets with auto-set on the temp, to prevent scalding, can be flipped to suit the other end of the age spectrum brilliantly: no more worrying about whether your child is going to burn himself, or leave the water on.
“I love the idea”. Phil continued, “The initial investment pays for itself in spades in the form independence, autonomy and peace-of-mind. Children, with parents in their 60s, 70s 80s and beyond can rest easy knowing the home their folks live in is, quite literally, caring for them. And the parents enjoying it? Well, they get to pay it forward. Rather than a lifetime of savings being sucked dry from a nursing home (which can run anywhere from 3K to 10K a month), the home becomes more than an heirloom, a comfortable and accommodating living space that children and grandchildren can enjoy for years to come”.
“It’s something I could really see doing, an investment to myself and wife, but something I would feel great about passing down to my Grandchildren.”
Authored by Andie Day and Sabrina Velandry.
