Designers strive for affordable interior decorating

Seven Little Miami area women team up for Crazy B Design
By Danyrae Lockwood
Tuesday, June 26, 2007

A new interior design business — Crazy B Design — is a team of seven women in the Little Miami area who strive to offer design services in the Greater Cincinnati area to customers at every level.

“We’re really excited about this,” designer Katie Contardi said. “Our mission is to make interior designing acceptable and affordable to everyone, and we do that with our unique and affordable style.”

The team has a combined design experience of more than 60 years, and each designer brings a unique sense of decorating from 18th- and 19th-century furniture to shaggy chic. They also uses existing objects in a client’s house and often find goodies in attics or basements that people box away sometimes forget about.

“What’s fun is living in your house and having your personality show, and sometimes people just don’t know how to get it out,” designer Tammy Tavel said.

Speed decorating — being able to transform a space in a quick time period — is also offered for people who simply need advice.

“We would be fantastic for families moving into town, and right after their truck arrives we can arrange the furniture and hang the pictures,” designer Connie Ward said.

Crazy B Design aims to please the customer, and have affordable packages and a la carte services available to ensure designing stays within a person’s budget, no matter how high or low.

The team’s goal is to be affordable, from students in dorm rooms to couples buying their first or second house. “Sometimes people think (utilizing a decorator) is scary and that they can’t afford to even have them come look,” Designer Dawn Stinson said.

At times simple changes, like painting walls or balancing a room, can have large effects while not breaking the bank.

“We can give them a day, our expertise and work within their budget,” Ward said. “If someone had a budget of $150, we’d do our best to change the room.”

At least two designers meet with clients in their home to discuss their designing needs and then the team meets to brainstorm about the project. A contract with a written plan and price is then given to the client, making sure the customer is eye to eye with the plans.

“We all have very good taste as individuals, but we’ll get their approval every step of the way,” designer Debbie Contardi said.

The team plans to have decorating tips on its Web site — www.crazybdesign.com — by the end of July, and has more projects in the works.

“In the near future, the Lebanon channel will feature decorating tips from the Crazy B Design team available by Cincinnati Bell cable in Lebanon,” Debbie Contardi said.

Source

Floor Plan

Floor Plan: Fashion Designers Focus Their Stylish Ideas On Rugs
FRAN GOLDEN
1 May 2007

You admired hip designer Nanette Lepore’s peacock-patterned dresses, but they were so three years ago. Now you can resurrect the pattern for your floor.

Lepore has joined a growing list of fashion designers — Calvin Klein and Liz Claiborne (with Nourison), Oscar de la Renta (with elson & co.), Vivienne Westwood, Paul Smith, Diane von Furstenberg, Lulu Guinness (with The RUG Company) — all translating their passion for fashion design to floor coverings.

Lepore recently introduced a bold-patterned area rug with her peacock design for the Doris Leslie Blau carpet gallery in New York. The gallery also in early March unveiled two nautically inspired rugs designed by Tommy Hilfiger (one blue with white anchors, the other navy with a red chain-link pattern).

In a phone interview, Lepore said she was approached by the carpet folks and is happy she did the project, especially since she now has one of her rugs in her own living room.

“The way it transformed my living room with color and a bold pattern, it would be fun to do more of that,” the designer said. In fact, she’s considering designing another rug for her pool table area that the public may see in stores someday.

What do those in the world of interior design think about fashionistas stepping in?

“I believe good design is good design and a good designer is a good designer,” said Thom Filicia, best known as the design expert on the television series “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.”

Filicia, who has also designed for celebrity clients including Jennifer Lopez and Marc Antony through his New York firm, Thom Filicia Inc., said the important thing in interior design is understanding people’s lifestyles, something fashion designers do well.

“A good designer can transcend from the area they are focused on into other areas and do it very successfully,” Filicia said.

But would he recommend consumers start buying area rugs based on what’s in their wardrobes?

Filicia said he wouldn’t go that far. Still, he has a new show on the Style Network called “Dress My Nest” in which he will use fashion as a springboard to help folks figure out interiors.

“I do think there’s a relationship. Saying you want to match your house to your clothes is too literal, but clothes do indicate your point of view, your aesthetic,” he said.

“Young and hip or traditional or conservative, you can tell when you see someone,” Filicia added. “And you get color from people’s wardrobes.”

Filicia will also soon launch a series of seminars in U.S. cities as spokesperson for Karastan carpets. His big advice: Designing from the floor up is a good start.

“When they (his clients) don’t know where to begin, I tell them to start from the rug, in terms of colors and what sets the tone, whether classical or modern or whatever.”

And yes, he foresees having his own rug line (in addition to furniture and bedding), but not for a year or two.

Designer Lepore said what appealed to her about designing rugs was that rug patterns have a longer shelf life.

“People don’t change their homes as much as they change their closets,” she said.

As for the trend of fashion designers stepping into rug design, she said, it brings “a fresh eye” and new brands that will create more interest.

Julie Rosenblum, brand manager for Nourison, the manufacturer of the Calvin Klein and Liz Claiborne carpets, agreed.

“In this day and age, people associate certain looks and concepts with fashion designers,” Rosenblum said. “It’s reaffirming to the consumer that the product has a point of view and they understand that point of few.”

Rosenblum said she suspects more fashion designers will introduce area rugs, and that’s a good thing. “It brings rugs to the forefront. They (the consumer) may not know who the manufacturer is. What they know is there’s a line by that designer. It takes the business to a whole new level.”

Source

Eco-Chic Interior Design

An interior designer from Cherry Hill, NJ finds a way to bring the art of recycling to the Internet.
Written by Michael L. Brachman, Ph.D.

Eco-Chic Interior Designer from Cherry Hill, NJ launches UsedFurnitureFindex.com, a web site to sell and buy home furnishings, once loved.

Philadelphia, PA – Apr 19, 2007 — /prbuzz/ — UsedFurnitureFindex.com is an ecologically conscientious web site designed to make it easy for buyers and sellers of used furniture to find each other and help do it Green by recycling home furnishings. It is essentially a set of online classified ads but with pictures and a unique super-fast search engine designed specifically for furniture. The web site launched in June of 2006 and is a delight to all.

While there is nothing exactly like it out there, many ask how the web site differs from Ebay and Craigslist. Unlike Ebay, UsedFurnitureFindex.com takes no commission. The business model is very honest and straightforward. For sellers, it costs just $5.00 for a single listing and is free for buyers to find. The buyer and seller work out the delivery details just like a classified ad. The fantastic feature of zooming into each photo posted solves another problem of having to drive all over town, just to look at a piece of furniture saving precious time and gas.

Unlike Craigslist, UsedFurnitureFindex.com has a unique and super-fast search engine designed specifically for home furnishings. Users can search by keyword, condition, dimension, distance, quality level, price and more. The most powerful aspect of this search engine is its ability to search by dimension which allows users to find exactly the right size meeting the requirements of wherever it is going to be lovingly placed. Sellers can include up to four pictures. Buyers can zoom in and examine the furniture up close, almost like being there. Navigation is simple, easy and effective

When compared to classified ads, UsedFurnitureFindex.com offers a number of compelling advantages to sellers. Sellers can avoid the hassle normally associated with classified ads; dealing with the phone calls, having strangers wander through their house and the high cost of black & white three-line want ads. The web site is both regional and national. Built upon ZIP code, users can search locally or across the country.

Buyers include:

• First-time homeowners
• Young professionals
• Second home owners
• Newly separated or divorced people
• College students arriving at school or going off on their own
• Interior designers and their clients
• Businesses
•Charities

Sellers include:

• Empty nesters
• Estate liquidators
• Storage facilities
• Furniture stores
• College students leaving their furniture behind
• Manufacturers
• Spring cleaners
• Redecorators

New features are constantly being added to UsedFurnitureFindex.com; the latest being My Findex. Here users can add items to a watch list, create a wish list, manage their listings and their account information. Also included on the web site is the Home Improvement and Services Directory, listed by ZIP code. Users can find home-related services locally or regionally.

Denise H. Cooperman, the inventor of UsedFurnitureFindex.com, has been in the home furnishings industry for over 25 years and during those years, each client has questioned what to do with belongings no longer needed. Most do not want to list in the paper or even attempt using eBay. UsedFurnitureFindex.com answers all these needs. Denise herself practices the art of “reinventing” which is giving a piece of old furniture, once loved, a brand new life with a refurbishing or new function. Her catchphrase is “Do it Green, but let’s make it Aqua” to show that recycling can be both eco-chic and magnificent. So go to UsedFurnitureFindex.com and find that special piece that was once loved, give it a new home and keep our world green.

For more information contact:

Denise H. Cooperman
URL: http://www.UsedFurnitureFindex.com
Email: dcooperman@furniturefindex.comThis email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
Ph: 1-609-314-9668
Fax: 1-856-489-6281

Source“>Source

Designer Rugs

Designers Focus Their Stylish Ideas On Rugs
The Associated Press
11 April 2007

You admired hip designer Nanette Lepore’s peacock-patterned dresses, but they were so three years ago. Now you can resurrect the pattern for your floor.

Lepore has joined a growing list of fashion designers — Calvin Klein and Liz Claiborne (with Nourison), Oscar de la Renta (with elson & co.), Vivienne Westwood, Paul Smith, Diane Von Furstenberg, Lulu Guinness (with The RUG Company) — all translating their passion for fashion design to floor coverings.

Lepore recently introduced a bold-patterned area rug with her peacock design for the Doris Leslie Blau carpet gallery in New York. The gallery also in early March unveiled two nautically-inspired rugs designed by Tommy Hilfiger (one blue with white anchors, the other navy with a red chain-link pattern).

In a phone interview, Lepore said she was approached by the carpet folks and is happy she did the project, especially since she now has one of her rugs in her own living room.

“The way it transformed my living room with color and a bold pattern, it would be fun to do more of that,” the designer said. In fact, she’s considering designing another rug for her pool table area that the public may see in stores some day.

What do those in the world of interior design think about fashionistas stepping in?

“I believe good design is good design and a good designer is a good designer,” said Thom Filicia, best known as the design expert on the television series “Queer Eye For The Straight Guy.”

Filicia, who has also designed for celebrity clients including Jennifer Lopez and Marc Antony through his New York firm, Thom Filicia, Inc., said the important thing in interior design is understanding people’s lifestyles, something fashion designers do well.

“A good designer can transcend from the area they are focused on into other areas and do it very successfully,” Filicia said.

But would he recommend consumers start buying area rugs based on what’s in their wardrobes?

Filicia said he wouldn’t go that far. Still, he has a new show on the Style Network called “Dress My Nest” in which he will use fashion as a springboard to help folks figure out interiors.

“I do think there’s a relationship. Saying you want to match your house to your clothes is too literal but clothes do indicate your point of view, your aesthetic,” he said.

“Young and hip or traditional or conservative, you can tell when you see someone,” Filicia added. “And you get color from people’s wardrobes.”

Filicia will also soon launch a series of seminars in U.S. cities as spokesperson for Karastan carpets. His big advice: Designing from the floor up is a good start.

“When they (his clients) don’t know where to begin I tell them to start from the rug, in terms of colors and what sets the tone whether classical or modern, or whatever.”

And yes, he foresees having his own rug line (in addition to furniture and bedding), but not for a year or too.

Designer Lepore said what was appealing to her about designing rugs was that rug patterns have a longer shelf life.

“People don’t change their homes as much as they change their closets,” she said.

As for the trend of fashion designers stepping into rug design, she said, it brings “a fresh eye” and new brands that will create more interest.

Julie Rosenblum, brand manager for Nourison, the manufacturer of the Calvin Klein and Liz Claiborn carpets, agreed.

“In this day and age people associate certain looks and concepts with fashion designers,” Rosenblum said. “It’s reaffirming to the consumer that the product has a point of view and they understand that point of few.”

Rosenblum said she suspects more fashion designers will introduce area rugs, and that’s a good thing. “It brings rugs to the forefront. They (the consumer) may not know who the manufacturer is. What they know is there’s a line by that designer. It takes the business to a whole new level.”

Source

Wrought Iron Makes A Strong Statement

Wrought Iron Makes A Statement As Latest Accent In Home Decor
By Nzong Xiong
Thursday, April 05, 2007

Sheri Provost never considered using decorative iron wall art for a headboard.

“I’d seen wrought iron, but I didn’t think about using it in our master bedroom until Pam (Milam) gave us that idea,” says Provost, 43, an entrepreneur and author from Fresno, Calif.

About a year ago, Milam, an interior rearranger and owner of Reinvented Rooms in Fresno, suggested Provost hang a set of three arched panels just above the bed like a headboard.

Provost, who likes the new look, says the set up has attracted attention. “A lot of people comment on it when they come over,” she says. “They say, ‘Wow! What a great idea.’ It really is an unique idea.”

You might see decorative metal wall art pieces and grills outdoors, but they’re now making decor statements inside the home.

These often-ornate pieces can be made of iron, other metals or even faux iron with the look of the real thing. They can be black, bronze, painted or rustic. “There are so many different finishes” to select among, Milam says.

Iron or metal pieces were commonly used outdoors initially, Milam says. “I think wrought iron (decor pieces) – before they were indoors at all – they were outdoors and were garden accents,” she says.

When the Tuscan or Old World look became popular several years ago, iron and metal pieces became part of the decor style. “When it became hot, (iron decor) was really expensive,” she says. “Now, they’re available at a variety of price points.”

But iron and metal wall art and grills aren’t limited to just those styles, she says. “Iron – while it’s primary look is the Old World or Tuscan look – it can be adapted to any decor.”

Ruby Flake, owner of Interior Imports in Fresno, agrees.

“They do lend themselves to the Tuscan, Italian or Old World styles, but I’ve also seen them in contemporary styles, too,” she says. Those often have less ornate detailing.

Decorative wall art pieces come in various shapes, including rectangular, circles, crosses and squares. Many have elaborate scrolls, swirls or leaves. They can be found at interior decor stores and at some florists and nurseries. Costs of individual pieces vary. Starting prices can be between $20 and $50. Larger pieces or sets like those in Provost’s bedroom can cost $400 to $600.

In many ways, iron wall grills work like any other piece of art you might put on a wall. But because they don’t have an array of colors like you might have in paints or tapestries, they are less busy and blend in easily, Flake says.

“They fill wall space really well,” she says.

Leah Orlando of Fresno also has the same set of three arched panels in her bedroom. However, her set isn’t positioned like a headboard.

“Originally, we’d been looking for a painting,” says Orlando, a 35-year-old stay-at-home mother. Then she saw the panels at Interior Imports less than a year ago and decided to get them instead. Her father had textured the walls, and then she had the walls faux painted with various earth tones.

“It’s really pretty because you can see the texturing,” she says. “The whole wall is like a decorative piece.”

Besides bedroom walls, decorative iron art and grills also can be put above mantels, windows, doorways and even tapestries. Some also can be place in recessed niches.

Tammy Goode of Sanger, Calif., has an arch-like iron piece with scrolls above a tapestry. “It just sort of softens the look,” says Goode, 49, a sales representative who also plans to start her own interior decorating business.

In Provost’s bedroom, she also has an ornate iron grill above a fireplace, while a bathroom attached to the playroom has a rectangular panel above the towel bar. She’s also planning to put up a decorative rustic white iron-looking piece in her daughter’s bedroom.

“There are a lot of ways to use wrought iron,” Provost says. “Places you might not think about. Don’t limit yourself.”

Source

WallPaper Is Hip Again

Not Your Mother’s Wallpaper
It’s ‘Way More Interesting’ Than Paint, One Designer Says, And There Are A Slew Of Options
By TERRI SAPIENZA

If you’re considering wallpaper, your timing couldn’t be better.

In the past, wallpaper was regarded as a fussy, old-fashioned choice, too difficult to put up and harder to take down. Its reputation drove homeowners to paint.

Designers insist that wallpaper has never gone away, and among their clients they are no doubt right. But when widely popular chains such as Restoration Hardware, Anthropologie and Pottery Barn offspring PBteen come out with paper patterns, it’s a sign of mainstream acceptance.

In the past couple of months, Anthropologie has debuted five styles, mostly bold patterns in bolder colors. Restoration’s offerings are more subdued, with damasks and stripes in their hallmark latte and sagey shades. PBteen’s beach-themed wallpaper murals will launch in time for the summer; a pink camouflage paper will be available in the fall.

Paper is “way more interesting,” says Washington designer Sally Steponkus. “You get a lot of bang for your buck.” It generally costs more than paint: You’ll need about $70 worth of paint for a powder room and about $130 for wallpaper, depending on your choices, she says. But repainting will be necessary way before it’s time to repaper.

Reyne Kutz, of Edenridge, opted for wallpaper when she and her husband, Steve, remodeled their powder room, along with the kitchen and laundry room. They showed off the results on last weekend’s Junior League of Wilmington Heart of the Home kitchen tour.

The elegant Asian floral paper, Siam from the Thibaut “Pagoda” line, adds oomph to the small bath, which has deep-stained wooden moulding, a hardwood floor and a window valance that matches the paper. Kutz found the paper at Colonial Brandywine Rug and Drapery.

When Kutz was growing up, she says, all bathrooms had paper. “You have to fancy them up a little bit,” Kutz says.

The red, gold and green florals on the creamy yellow background pick up the color in her red Oriental rugs in the hallway and the hardwood floor in the bathroom.

“I think it’s classy, and it always has been,” Kutz says of wallpaper.

Wallpaper became popular in the 1700s, immigrating from Europe and China, says Sandy Brown, an interior designer based at Winterthur. Brown, who does full-service work for private clients, always recommends wallpaper as part of the mix when she’s designing a home’s look.

“It’s never been out of style for me,” Brown says, “but I’m starting to get calls from people just for wallpaper.”

She acknowledges that wallpaper isn’t always the best choice. People may want to change colors, for example, in children’s rooms as they grow up. “They want it quick, easy and inexpensive, and that’s when people paint,” she says.

But Brown agrees that Pottery Barn selling wallpaper is “going to make a difference because it’s going to impact the mainstream consumer.”

Designers say the right wallpaper can make a room appear larger or a ceiling feel higher. It can add interest where there are no architectural features, and it can help disguise damaged walls and other structural imperfections. Paper can bring out a homeowner’s personality and create atmosphere. And there are enough choices to please almost any taste, including large-scale graphics, metallics, silks, linens, velvet flocking, leather, grass cloth, bamboo, lacquer and burlap. Some faux-finish designs resemble silk, suede or marble, and others mimic metal, natural stone or brick.

And talk about versatility: Use wallpaper on all four walls, one accent wall or just the ceiling. Paper the inside of a closet or kitchen cabinets or use it to line shelves. Frame leftover pieces for use as art on painted walls

And say so long to your paper scraper, because many styles (including those from Restoration Hardware, Pottery Barn and Anthropologie) have non-woven backing, which allows for easy removal, says Nick Cichielo, former chief executive of the Paint & Decorating Retailers Association. “Grab a corner, pull it and it comes off,” he says.

If that’s true, wallpaper could be sticking around for quite some time.

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The New ‘Not Too’ Look

Call it Neo-Transitional. This middle ground for home furnishings falls between austere and overstyled – and it’s catching on.
By Patricia Hart McMillan
March 23, 2007

Fashion — even home fashion — is fickle.

Once-favorite styles eventually overstay their welcome.

Think Old World — overscaled, over-embellished, and, eventually, just plain over.

Think Modern — with its severe lines and austere surfaces that deprive the emotions.

The newest trend in home furnishings transitions between the “too-much” Old World and “too-little” Modern styles. Call the new, “not-too” look in home fashions Neo-Transitional style.

Neo-Transitional tweaks other styles. But it’s not necessary to become a furniture historian to tell the difference between Old World, Modern, and their Neo-Transitional counterparts. Old World and other fancy period styles become leaner, cleaner and scaled-down. Austere styles, such as Modern, Shaker, and Arts & Crafts, get softer, more gracious lines and perhaps a bit of carving or other embellishment.

Why this shift in design direction? Sensitive designers respond intuitively to society’s shifting moods.

“As a designer, I want to make things that seem fresh and of their era, but that are grounded in tradition,” says Jonathan Adler, a New York furniture designer who has a condo in Palm Beach and a namesake store on Lincoln Road in Miami Beach.

“Right now, some really traditional pieces look great, but they need a modern spin.”

And spin he does. In his Lampert sofa, for instance, Adler based some of the proportions and details on Louis XVI furniture, but cleaned up the lines and streamlined the details.

“It has the essence of a traditional formal sofa, but is a modern take on it,” he says.

Upholstery fabrics are also transitioning. The patterns, including those for pillows and rugs, are a modern, cleaner take on the traditional. He sees the Neo-Transitional look as one with a long life “because it has that `classic-ness.’”

“Much of what is being shown in design and decorating magazines and on the Internet and TV tends to be practical and functional, yet stylish,” adds Stefani Lucas, senior vice president at Rowe Furniture, parent of Robin Bruce, an upholstery line noteworthy for its clean-lined simplicity, classic proportions and brightly colored fabrics.

“Today’s consumers tend to want a sofa, for example, that they will not grow tired of. In the late ’80s and early ’90s there was a crescendo of fussiness — overstuffed, overscaled, overdesigned furniture. In the 2000s, there was an extreme swing to minimalism in color, form and decoration. Today, we’ve reached a nice balance,” she says.

This balance — the “not too” approach — is showing up in casegoods (the catchall word for dressers, chests and tables).

Stanley Furniture’s Louis Louis Collection presents a fresh interpretation of classic Louis Philippe design, adding discreet embellishment to this gently curved, not-too-robust, essentially plain style. Think of a Neo-Transitional Louis Louis piece as a little black dress — a timeless classic and wardrobe basic that can be dressed up or down.

Since kitchens are the new living room, kitchen cabinetry is following furniture’s lead.

Bill Ohs, founder and designer of Wm Ohs, an upscale kitchen cabinet line, says the new, less ornate designs combine Traditional overtones with Contemporary simplicity.

Designers know that the fashion-conscious are ready for a brand new look throughout the house. They also know that others will appreciate the fact that Neo-Transitional pieces mix and mingle easily with existing furniture and furnishings.

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A 12-Step Program For Going Green At Home

March 20 2007

If friends of the planet are like flowers, then I’m a dirt clod. I have painted with toxic paint, taken long showers, left the lights burning in rooms long abandoned, and run the air conditioning when I could have opened a window. I’ve done loads of laundry for only three items, used a 100-watt bulb when a 60 would suffice, driven when I could have walked, and dumped chlorine bleach straight down the drain. Now the ice caps are melting, and it’s all my fault because I’m guilty of everything. Al Gore says so.

I recently came out of my blissful state of being a planet pariah and noticed that everything around me was green. Not just because spring is here, but also because green is all anyone in the home design and building world is talking about. Magazines are launching green editions; builders are hosting green conferences. I’ve even heard talk of painting the White House green, with low-volatile- organic-compound paint of course, to form a Green House, for the soon to be installed Green Party, which will win for the first time in the next election thanks to a certain Inconvenient Truth posed by Al Gore, who really is a member of the Green Party but won’t admit it.

Anyway, call me late to that party, but this spring, I’m turning over a new leaf, a green leaf, an eco-friendly leaf, possibly from a bamboo tree, bamboo being an incredibly sustainable wood source since one stalk can grow 3 feet in one day, like an adolescent.

But back to my guilt trip. Realizing that I’m helpless in the face of my addiction to water, energy and certain chemical substances (like paint), I knew I couldn’t detox alone. I’d need a support group. First I reached out to a green book, “The Earthwise Home Manual – Eco-Friendly Interior Design and Home Improvement” (Green Home Publishing, 2006), by Kristina Detjen. This clarified my crimes and deepened my resolve to get green and sober. Then I called Detjen and said I needed a 12-step program for planet junkies. She said she would see what she could do. I also asked John Dunnihoo, general manager of West Coast Green, the country’s largest residential green building tradeshow, for help.

I confessed to both that I was skeptical of the whole green movement. I don’t want to slide back to the ’70s when people talked to their plants to help them grow. I’m sorry, that was just bizarre. However, I do want to do my part to preserve the planet, make a better world for my children, leave a softer footprint on the earth and all that. Detjen and Dunnihoo both graciously accepted my skepticism. (Denial is common among planet abusers, they said.) And they took on the challenge of making me greener at home.

Recognizing me for the hedonist I am, Detjen let slip that by going green I could also save some green – money, that is. Now she really had my attention.

Together they offered the following green tips, which I fashioned into a 12-step program:

Admit that you are powerless over your need to consume wastefully.

Give over to the higher power of your global community. Acknowledge that only through collective effort will we restore the planet to a balanced state.

Agree to replace all light bulbs in your home with compact fluorescent bulbs. Accept that though CFLs cost more, they last 10 times longer and use one-fourth the electricity.

Commit to actually use your home’s programmable thermostat the way it was intended. If you don’t have one, buy one. Promise to never again run the air conditioning when there’s a breeze outside.

Dedicate yourself to only running full loads of laundry, using the coolest water possible. Don’t over-dry clothes, and hang them up to dry more often.

Search for the Energy Star label when buying a new appliance. (The label is the Environmental Protection Agency’s stamp of approval for energy efficiency.)

Use more cloth napkins and towels, fewer paper ones.

Fully acknowledge the limits of our water supply. Scrape plates rather then rinse them when loading the dishwasher. Install a drip system for watering outdoor plants, and put a water-saving device (a capped jug of sand) in the toilet tank.

Choose paints with low or no VOCs (volatile organic compounds). Accept that they may go on runnier, but they won’t hurt the planet or give you a paint hangover.

Recycle everything you possibly can. If you don’t know how, check www.earth911.org.

Strive to repair, refinish or restore furniture you have rather than buy more. Or even better, buy more antiques.

If you fall off the wagon, get back on.

Source

Creating A Green Office

Emerald Coast thrives in Thousand Oaks
By Stevi Costa
3/16/07

Improving the quality of your workplace for both customers and employees may be as simple as adding a few plants to your office.

But don’t worry if you don’t have a green thumb; interior landscaping companies can take care of all plant-related matters for you.

As proof of the popularity of plants at work, the five-year-old Thousand Oaks-based interior planting company Emerald Coast Plantscapes has made a name for itself through good design and client referrals. Emerald Coast owner and designer Kevin Urquhart and his team have created the interior plants for the Oxnard headquarters of Sysco Food Services of Ventura, Wachovia Securities of Westlake Village and Saxon Surgical Center of Thousand Oaks, among others.

“From a business perspective, buildings and offices that use plants are perceived to have a more prestigious feel to them,” Urquhart said. “But it also creates a general well-being for the employees and people who visit the building.”

Recent studies by both Rentokil Initial, the parent company of Riverwoods, Ill.-based Initial Tropical Plants, have proven that plants in the workplace have a number of benefits for the workplace, including the creation of better acoustics by diffracting background noise, increasing relative humidity for comfort, and purifying the air—all of which lead to reduced absenteeism among employees.

“There are a lot of things that people don’t realize that plants do for business,” said Todd Ferguson, regional vice president of Initial Tropical Plants for the Los Angeles offices, which services the counties of San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles.

Initial Tropical Plants is responsible for the interior landscapes of Calabasas-based Cheesecake Factory and each of its restaurants throughout the United States. Ferguson and his team also designed and maintain the interior plants at Ventura’s Pacific View Mall.

In addition to creating a more pleasant environment for workers in the building, using plants in restaurants and shopping malls encourages shoppers to stay longer and spend more time and money in the facility, Ferguson said.

Another way in which Initial Tropical Plants creates pleasant environments is through Microfesh ambient scenting. Microfesh can be filtered through a building’s air system so that the pleasant smell will create an ambiance throughout the building. The technology is used in a number of department stores, such as Nordstrom’s, and in many Las Vegas casinos. For example, “MicroFresh technology scents the entire New York, New York hotel to smell like a green apple,” Ferguson said.

In addition to his young “plantscaping” business, Emerald Coast owner Urquhart has 20 years of experience in interior design. Emerald Coast Plantscapes works hand-in-hand with local interior designers who are looking for decorative plants and containers to match the feel of the room they’re creating.

“I have a background in horticulture and interior design,” he said. “Interior designers trust me to create the right look.”

Emerald Coast Plantscapes is not a nursery open to the public, although design clients can sometimes visit Emerald’s headquarters and choose plant accessories from stock on-hand when faced with tight deadlines.

The company uses live specimen-grade plants that are grown in Hawaii and Florida, imported to California and acclimated in greenhouses for indoor-use.

Emerald Coast also specializes in utilizing interior plants to enhance real estate transactions.

“Plants increase the marketability of a building for leasing or for sale,” Urquhart said. Apartment complexes, model homes and commercial retail spaces utilize interior plants to make the rental and leasing spaces more marketable to tenants, and also help in retaining tenants.

Both Emerald Coast Plantscapes and Initial Tropical Plants provide routine maintenance with their interior plant installations and will replace plants that do not thrive. Both companies are supporters of Plants at Work, a national information campaign that works with the interior landscaping industry to promote the benefits of plants in the workplace.

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Make Way For The iPad

Home automation is ushering in the era of the remote-controlled house. Some affordable options put the ‘Jetsons’ lifestyle within reach.
By Joe Robinson
March 15 2007

ERICA SALISBURY doesn’t like coming home to a shadowy cave at night, and now she doesn’t have to. By clicking a mouse from any computer, anywhere, or by triggering a remote sensor, she can illuminate her house like a stadium before reaching the front door.

“The whole house lights up,” says the very expectant Porter Ranch mother-to-be, who with husband Ben has made the leap to a digitally integrated home. “That’s important for me because I don’t like being in the dark.”

The Salisburys aren’t the only ones leaving the Dark Ages of knobs, dimmers and switches flipped by hand. Thanks to the burgeoning home automation business, couch potatoes can turn up the heat, turn down the AC, shut off an oven, check a security camera and scroll through their DVD or music library without moving a calf muscle. New technology even allows them to personalize these functions from wherever they happen to be via the Web or cellphone, ushering in the era of the house you can take with you. The iPad.

“It’s definitely grown,” Pat Hurley, tech analyst for Richmond, Va.-based consulting firm TeleChoice, says of the trend, citing the number of businesses entering the field.

“The digital home is absolutely happening,” says Will West, chief executive of Control4, the Salt Lake City-based manufacturer of the Salisburys’ system. “We can see it in the music we’re listening to, we can see it in our televisions, and more devices coming online and into your home.”

How does it work? Installers connect your house’s electronic and digital devices to a command center, a hard drive that looks like a stereo receiver and can stream music, store movies and manipulate security cameras, among other functions. All can be activated by a remote control, wall keypad, off-site computer (via the Web) or cellphone.

“You don’t have to run around to turn on music in each room and all the lights,” says Jon Blanchard, who runs Vantage Studio, an audio-video and interior design company in Beverly Hills that installs home automation systems. “It’s one button, and you’re done.”

THE dream of the smart home has teased the popular imagination for years — sci-fi novels, “The Jetsons,” the Clapper light switch of as-seen-on-TV fame (“Clap on! Clap off!”). But control-freak nirvana is finally attainable with new Wi-Fi technology that makes it affordable for someone other than a potentate or marquis in good standing.

Until recently, the price tag for home automation systems ranged from $30,000 to $50,000 and kept the industry stagnant, says Kurt Scherf, a market researcher at Dallas-based Parks Associates, which studies emerging technologies.

These days, a slew of companies such as Control4 are automating homes for $3,000 to $15,000. Best Buy has rolled out a $15,000 system called ConnectedLife.Home, which allows you to manage light switches, the thermostat and security cameras by remote control on a high-definition TV. Motorola’s Homesight and AT&T’s Remote Monitor allow you to view video, monitor door and window sensors or turn on lights from a Web-enabled phone.

No wonder the home automation business is expected to double in sales to nearly $6 billion in the next four years, according to Scherf.

For those already drowning in a flood of unread user manuals for digital devices, the prospect of a total tech home invasion may prompt plans for padded walls. Many of us, after all, would rather have a root canal than program our TiVos (or for true luddites, the VCRs). The biggest challenge of the smart home may be the dumb way user interfaces have been designed.

“Ease of use is still the major issue for most of the technology we write about,” says industry analyst Hurley, coauthor of “Smart Homes for Dummies.”

Usability was a prime concern at the Salisbury house. The couple had seen friends and family struggle with the complexity of expensive systems, so they wanted something affordable that they could use without a live-in Nobel laureate engineer.

In the living room of their new home in the hills north of the San Fernando Valley, Erica and Ben demonstrate their system with a single Control4 remote. If you mess up, the red “4″ button takes you back to the main menu.

The opening screen looks decipherable enough — a few icons float on the couple’s 63-inch plasma TV screen — Lights, Comfort, Videos, TV, Music. “Everything’s right there,” says Ben, who runs a real estate company. “I go to music, hit that. Then all the albums come up and I just pick one.”

The media features will be familiar to anyone with an iPod. Ben can choose individual songs or highlight an album and start playing it. He can also build playlists. He clicks on an album cover, and the Goo Goo Dolls are instantly rocking the house. He can add other rooms in which he wants the music to play or have the sound rumble from all speakers.

The movie interface is equally logical and a big selling point for Ben. Now he doesn’t have to mount a search party every time he wants to find a film from his collection of 500 titles. The command center functions as a home theater library for his movies, organized by genre — comedy, action —and even by director.

“I watch stuff and listen to stuff more now because it’s up there, as opposed to having to go find it on my rack,” he says.

Asked to demonstrate how to dim the kitchen lights, however, Erica tries gamely but gets stumped on where to go.

“I have to be honest, I don’t use the light function that often,” she says, laughing.

It turns out she doesn’t need the plasma display anyway. She can control any light from her remote control or touch panels scattered around the house. Or from a computer. Matt McKenna, owner of Semaphoric Smart Homes, which did the installation and programming for the home, turns down the kitchen lights and adjusts the temperature in the room from his laptop.

“They could be doing this from New York,” McKenna says. “It gives you full control of all functions you have in your house online.”

McKenna worked with the couple to preprogram their lighting needs, including customized “scenes,” one of the more popular features that allows homeowners to create various lighting moods for, say, entertaining, watching movies or romance. Installation costs are kept down by new light fixtures that can be dimmed wirelessly, so there’s no need to tear out walls for rewiring.

The remote-controlled home also provides a formidable batch of new options for security and safety, so you can even monitor what’s up with your pets. You can set lights to turn on and off randomly to simulate someone at home while you’re out for the night or on vacation.

Sensors as well as cameras can be attached to doors and windows to monitor entry. Some systems can fire off an e-mail with every coming and going.

West may be on to a handy application for parents. “I get an e-mail when my 18-year-old daughter gets home at night,” he says. “If my wife weren’t at home, I’d want to get an e-mail by 4 o’clock if my kids weren’t home from school.”

As workweeks and commutes grow longer, the potential of home automation could become more important. Busy people could track the whereabouts of kids, pets or elderly parents. The iPad may also turn out to have serious environmental appeal.

“I think what’s going to drive it is energy management and the greening of homes,” Hurley says. “It can help people cut power bills.” Some cities are already starting to require that homeowners have systems for monitoring rainfall or temperature to prevent excessive lawn watering.

STILL, the most compelling lure may be that favorite of all energy-saving tools: any device that keeps humans from having to budge an inch more than need be. It’s Newton’s law of inertia: A body at rest stays at rest. This is particularly true for bodies at rest with a remote atop a sofa or bed.

“It just makes it easier,” Ben Salisbury says. “I don’t have to go over and grab five remotes. If you’re lying in bed and reading, all you have to do is grab the remote and turn the lights off. Just to be able to reach over to the nightstand and grab this as opposed to having to get up and turn the heater off or the lights, is great.”

Adds Erica: “It sounds like I’m being lazy, but do we ever want to get out of bed once we’re comfortable?”

Absolute remote control controls absolutely.

(INFOBOX BELOW)

Leaving it all to the experts: smart move

IT’S probably no surprise that the smart home requires more than a hard drive plugged into the wall. Manufacturers of home automation products sell the gear largely through independent dealers, often audio-video specialists working in the home theater arena who have the expertise to install and customize the programming.

“We ask the customer, when you get home, what do you want to have happen?” says Jon Blanchard of Vantage Studio in Beverly Hills. “Some people want the lights to turn on, some people want to also start some music and maybe the TV in the kitchen. The possibilities are endless.”

Costs depend on how many rooms of the house you connect and what automation systems you use. Semaphoric Smart Homes’ base system from Control4 runs $3,000, says Semaphoric owner Matt McKenna, whose business card reads “Systems Engineer” and not “CEO” to underscore the essential tech credentials. That price automates one room, all media and lights.

Expanding control throughout the house, as the Salisburys did, brings the total for a Control4 system to around $15,000, which is the same as the cost of Best Buy’s ConnectedLife.Home, including installation. That’s well below the $35,000 to $50,000 price tags for systems of top-end companies Crestron and AMX, whose proprietary technology keeps costs higher. Crestron, however, is marketing a lower-priced, more user-friendly system called Adagio for around $14,000 that has won good reviews on a few tech websites.

Seattle software company Lagotek has entered the game with a wireless product that it says can lower energy costs by a third with its climate controls. Price: $8,500 for a 4,000-square-foot home.

In your search for total control, Troy Bolotnick of Bolovision Digital Systems in Westwood advises going with a system that can be upgraded easily, has a long life, is easy to use and is reliable. “You want something that’s been around for a while,” he says.

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