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

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Let There Be Light

Architects Let Light in at Former School, Industrial Building
By JIM SCHLOSSER
2007-04-09

Someone must have said, “Let there be light” and “let it shine abundantly.”

Presto! A former wholesale produce building that could have been mistaken for the city’s arsenal now has plenty of windows with more to come.

Architect Bruce Cantrell, of J. Hyatt Hammond Associates, and Lomax Construction Co. are redoing the 82–year–old downtown industrial building, which most recently housed the Imani Institute.

The law firm of Purrington Moody Weil will occupy the second floor, and the executive search firm Wyndham Mills will use half of the first floor, leaving about 6,000 square feet available for leasing.

The building dates to about 1925 when whole produce company W.I. Anderson Co. —- which, according to the late historian Ethel Arnett was the first to import citrus fruits and frozen fruits and vegetables to the area —- paid $60,000 for property at what’s now North Church Street and East Friendly Avenue.

The location, two blocks east of Elm Street, had been residential for decades, but downtown was creeping that way. The Anderson firm tore down three houses to make way for its square building with two floors .

Seemingly, a simple structure would have sufficed for a wholesaler located on downtown’s back side.

But Anderson added architectural touches. The most noticeable is the cast iron entrance that remains one of downtown’s eye– catchers.

It contains engravings of fruit baskets and other items and the words “Fruits & Produce” at the top. Centered above the doorway is a scale, with both sides in balance. The scale is a representation of those once common in grocery stores.

John King, project manager for Lomax Construction, says the entrance will remain unchanged.

The scales fit beautifully with building’s new purpose. In the American judicial system, balanced scales symbolize equal justice for all.

But law firm members will spend plenty of time explaining why “Fruits & Produce” is over the doorway. The answer: The words are vital to the building’s history and worth preserving.

“That is a magnificent piece of architecture,” King said of the entrance.

What’s more, the entrance will again become the building’s main passage, as it was during the Anderson era, which ended in the late 1960s.

Photographs from the 1930s or early 1940s by Greensboro photographer Carol Martin show a building with abundant windows. After Anderson left, a furniture and interior design firm that used the building briefly as a warehouse began bricking up windows.

Architect Cantrell pleads guilty to being an accessory to the building becoming a fortress. As a young architect years ago, he vaguely recalls sealing a few windows while the building was being renovated for Duke Power as a local headquarters, appliance center and bill payment office.

Pity students at Imani Institute, the charter school that was the most recent tenant, from 1998 to mid–2006. The only daylight students saw was when they passed through the lobby. Duke Power had turned former truck loading bays into a lobby with windows to make its appliances visible from Church Street.

Cantrell says historical correctness is a goal of the restoration. But changes are being made.

The building will be even more airy than Anderson built it. Anderson left the rear wall of the structure windowless.

Now, along the same wall, 14 windows are being cut into the second floor, 13 on the first.

Huge new windows also are being cut on one side of the decorative entrance on East Friendly. This is being done to match the big windows Lomax unsealed on the entrance’s opposite side.

On Church Street, bricked–up windows are also being reopened, and others are being added along the former loading dock on the north side.

The railroad siding that served the loading dock and the nearby former News & Record building (now the Greensboro Cultural Center) won’t return, to the relief of Norfolk Southern. A locomotive derailed crossing Church headed for the loading dock. While resurfacing Church, the city inadvertently paved over the tracks.

Cantrell says efforts will be made to get the Anderson Building, which should be completed in June, listed on the National Register of Historical Places. The state has indicated age makes the structure eligible for consideration.

And the fact that W.I. Anderson Co. added beauty to an industrial building in a then–out–of–the–way place also makes for historical worthiness.

There’s precedent. Cantrell says several warehouselike buildings in south Charlotte, resembling the Anderson building, are on the register.

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Spring Cleaning

Organize Your Home For Spring
Newscanada.com
Apr 17, 2007

(NC) — Consider the following checklist from The Home Depot Canada to help you tidy up and get organized for spring.

• Spotless windows can brighten up your interior décor, allowing natural light in and framing the outside view to perfection.

• Cleaning out the ducts will improve air quality and circulation by helping keep the air dust and allergen free.

• Scrub away at dirt and stains with old-school brushes and sponges. For those small, hard to reach areas, an old toothbrush does the trick, especially on sharp corners.

• To mask garbage or laundry room odours, consider plug-in air fresheners, room sprays and candles.

• Consider using eco-friendly cleaning products when mopping and scrubbing the home.

• Leaf through the closet to select items and clothes you can either donate or store until next winter. If you haven’t already, think beyond the closet rod and install a closet organizer to create more space.

For more do-it-yourself cleaning and organizational tips, visit www.homedepot.ca or the Home Depot store in your community.

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HGTV’s Buy Me Series

Well Dress Homes Tapes Segment for HGTV’s Buy Me Series
04-13-2007

RALEIGH, N.C. – Raleigh-based Home Staging and interior decorating business, Well Dressed Homes, LLC recently completed taping a segment for the HGTV series Buy Me. The segment is scheduled to nationally at a future date after completion of editing.

Janine Varney, Accredited Staging Professional and owner of Well Dress Homes, LLC met with Realtor® Sharyn Fuller of Fonville Morrisey and homeowners Bob and Marji Maarschalkerweerd to evaluate the home’s interior and exterior and determine what areas would benefit from Staging strategies.

“My role is to help homeowners understand that living in a home and selling a home are two different things,” explains Varney. “Not every buyer is able to envision how to make every room inviting. The 3,400 square foot house was full of personal mementos and treasures from the couples’ interesting lifestyle, including a history of their life in South Africa, but it needed to be neutralized to create broader appeal.”

Varney dedicated over 30 hours to the project, and was proud to share her accomplishment with the HGTV producers of Buy Me. The first step was to de-clutter the house to get it ready for the hands-on Staging. The owners invested in new granite and fixtures for their kitchen, had the interior and exterior painted and enhanced the landscaping—all recommendations made by their Stager Janine Varney. In addition, Varney glazed a dining room wall; rearranged furniture, pictures and accessories; and added finishing touches to create a “model home” effect.

“We used what the homeowner had to accessorize and Stage the rooms showing them to their best advantage. Then we purchased small items like new towels and rugs for the bathroom—little things that make a big difference.”

Within 48 hours of being on the listed in the local market, the owners had received an offer. The final sales price was over $20,000 of the realtors’ estimated market value, based on the average appreciation rate of comparable homes in the area. According to Varney, national statistics show that Staged homes show a substantial return on investment. Staged homes have a “days on market” range of about 65% less than a non-staged home and that the sale price is anywhere from 5% to 20% higher than a non-staged home. Simply stated, ASP staged homes sell faster for more money than those that aren’t staged. Real Estate Agent Fuller is convinced Varney’s Staging expertise was “key to the success this sale. I am not exaggerating when I say I was blown away by the transformation. She turned my client’s tasteful but highly personal (and very cluttered) home into a beautiful MODEL “.

The first segment of filming in Raleigh was so successful that HGTV has already begun working with Varney on filming a second segment of Buy Me.

Varney is an active member of the International Association of Home Staging Professionals, and she currently serves on the Board of Directors as Ambassador of the Raleigh Chapter. For information, visit www.welldressedhomes.com email j9varney@nc.rr.com, or call (919) 624-3460.

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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.”

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Christopher Lowell Brings His Seven Layers of Design to DirectBuy

March 26, 2007
Interior Design News

(PRLEAP.COM) MERRILLVILLE, Ind., March 26, 2007 — DirectBuy, the leading members-only showroom and home design center that offers merchandise at manufacturer-direct prices, and Christopher Lowell Enterprises announced that renowned interior designer, author and Emmy Award winning television host Christopher Lowell will design a line of full kitchens, bedrooms and bathrooms especially for DirectBuy members. These exclusive designs will add another level of service to DirectBuy’s members across North America.

Lowell will create a total of twelve room settings using his Seven Layers of Design that will be showcased at more than 130 DirectBuy locations throughout the United States and Canada. He created The Seven Layers of Design to keep homeowners on budget and from feeling overwhelmed. It has since become a proven, world-renowned approach to home decor.

“I share DirectBuy’s passion for helping people improve their homes without emptying their bank accounts,” said Christopher Lowell. “DirectBuy’s philosophy of offering such a wide range of home furnishings, home improvement items and appliances at such low prices gave me so many options to work with. With the flexibility to design twelve different rooms with DirectBuy’s unmatched array of merchandise, I was able to create design solutions that will appeal to almost any homeowner.”

Since the Fall 1996 launch of “Interior Motives with Christopher Lowell,” Lowell’s engaging personality and attractive, cost-effective decorating solutions have made him one of the country’s most prominent designers. Lowell is the Emmy Award winning host of “It’s Christopher Lowell!” and “The Christopher Lowell Show.” He is also the author of The Seven Layers of Design; Fearless, Fabulous Decorating, If You Can Dream It, You Can Do It!; Dream Decor on a Budget; and other interior decorating books.

“We are very excited about working with Christopher Lowell. For the last decade, he has delivered outstanding creativity and expertise to give the public attractive and affordable design solutions,” said Bart Fesperman, vice president of sales & marketing for DirectBuy. “DirectBuy constantly strives to provide its members with outstanding value, selection and service through a simplified shopping experience. We can now bring Christopher Lowell directly to our members to help them create and enjoy the home of their dreams.”

In addition to the new Christopher Lowell Collection, DirectBuy members receive on-site interior design consultation at select locations; delivery and installation services; access to an easy-to-use computerized shopping assistant — the DirectBuy Virtual Showroom; an automatic subscription to DirectBuy’s “Direction” catalog, which has limited-time offers and price reductions; and access to showroom product specialists who assist members through their shopping experience.

Members of DirectBuy have access to thousands of items from more than 700 top manufacturers at showrooms in the United States and 500 top manufacturers at showrooms in Canada. Since DirectBuy offers an extraordinary selection of brand-name merchandise with no traditional retail markup, members can purchase merchandise directly from manufacturers and their authorized suppliers, including specialty and custom products.

About DirectBuy

For more than 35 years, DirectBuy has been showing thousands of consumers unparalleled ways to save as they shop for virtually everything for in and around their homes — from furniture, carpet and flooring, and custom window treatments, to kitchen and bath cabinets and fixtures, appliances and much, much more.

DirectBuy enables members to purchase most every product offering from more than 700 top manufacturers at showrooms in the United States and 500 top manufacturers at showrooms in Canada at over 130 locations across North America. To request a “Free Insider’s Guide to Buying Direct” and a Visitor’s Pass to learn more about the superior value and benefits of a DirectBuy membership, call 800-DIRECTBUY or visit www.directbuy.com

About Christopher Lowell Enterprises

Christopher Lowell Enterprises, LLC serves as the parent company for two specialized divisions: Christopher Lowell Productions Co. and Christopher Lowell, Inc., the design, licensing and marketing arm of his consumer product division. The latter launched in Fall 2000 with the debut of a designer paint line and more recently extended into office furniture and accessories. In keeping with his concept of “stress-free, pre-coordinated solutions for the home,” each product is a licensed collection and is complementary in style, scale and color to one another, all fitting into Lowell’s four lifestyle categories: Town, Country, City and Shore.

Christopher Lowell Collection licensee partners to date include, among others:
— 3 Day Blinds – In 2002 a new partnership was formed with America’s
largest retailer and manufacturer of custom window coverings. Under
the aegis of the Christopher Lowell Collection, options include solid
ash blinds, honeycomb shades, mini-blinds, and sheer vertical blinds.

— Catalina Lighting – The largest manufacturer of consumer lighting in
the country, Catalina Lighting launched its
Christopher Lowell Lighting Collection in October 2002, featuring a
variety of table and floor lamps.

— Office Depot – One of the world’s largest sellers of office products
and an industry leader, Office Depot introduced the Christopher Lowell
Collection in November 2003. Office Depot now offers a
theme-coordinated office furniture and accessories system: from desks,
credenzas and chairs to lamps and clocks.

— Jo-Ann Stores – The nation’s largest fabric and craft retailer
launched The Christopher Lowell Collection in May 2006. This industry
first home design solution offers pre-coordinated elegant and
timeless fabrics, textured trim options, educational tools, in store
classes and more all under one roof.

Contact Information
Sara Shragal
DirectBuy
Email DirectBuy
219-736-1000

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Trumped Up Furniture

Trump the latest celebrity to expand into furniture business
Industry has few consumer recognizable brands
BY IEVA M. AUGSTUMS
Monday, April 09, 2007

THOMASVILLE, N.C. | With the theme song from his reality television show blaring in the background, Donald Trump strode into a showroom at the world’s biggest furniture trade show and started to brag about, of all things, his couch.

“Trump Home furniture offers consumers a tangible way to experience the luxurious Trump lifestyle for themselves … even if they can’t afford millions for one of my properties,” Trump said. “Now the public can not only wear my clothes, they can sit on my couch.”

Should Trump’s over-the-top bombast not suit your personal style, how about a couch from model Cindy Crawford? Or a couple of chairs from teen stars Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen? Such boldface names are all over furniture today, and some touted at this spring’s International Home Furnishings Market in High Point are among the increasing number whose fame isn’t rooted in the business of hearth and home.
The furniture industry has very few consumer recognizable brands — less than 10 by most measures — so manufacturers bring celebrities on board to help draw consumers into stores, said Jerry Epperson, a furniture industry analyst with Richmond, Va.-based investment banker Mann, Armistead and Epperson.

“America appears constantly fascinated by the famous, often without regard to their talent or ability,” Epperson said. “A celebrity identity gives consumers some comfort and reinforcement that someone else has chosen the item, too.”

Such famous-name furniture isn’t new — think Martha Stewart. Other celebrity lines that have sold well include that of American Realist painter Bob Timberlake and a collection named for fashion designer Liz Claiborne, both sold by Lexington Home Brands.

But several of the more recent celebrities to enter the market are like Trump, who bring their name to the business as much as a designer’s touch or artisan’s eye. They include Crawford, whose furniture collection debuted in late 2005, and the Olsen twins, whose second collection will hit stores this spring.

Epperson said for celebrities, launching a furniture line associates their name with fashion and the home — and brings in some profits. Among the first to enter the market was former Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit model Kathy Ireland, who in 1998 added furniture to the apparel, accessories and jewelry now sold by Kathy Ireland Worldwide.

In 2003, the last year from which figures from her privately held company are available, her collections with Standard Furniture brought in $500 million — at the time half of her company’s annual sales.

“We started with socks in 1993, and people laughed at us,” Ireland said. “I’m humbled by our brand’s success.”

Such well-known celebrity names attract consumers who generally don’t spend a lot of time shopping for furnishings, said Mary Frye, president of the Home Furnishings International Association, a Dallas-based trade group.

“It’s like being a political candidate,” Frye said. “Sometimes they get elected not because you side with them on their political issues, but because you recognize the name.”

This spring, Trump was the rookie at the furniture market in High Point, about 90 miles west of Raleigh, where 70,000 people gather every six months to do business in more than 12 million square feet of showroom space. He met in nearby Thomasville with more than 350 buyers, all eager to hear him talk about his venture into the furniture business.

“The thing I really do know is furniture,” Trump said. “I buy it for all my properties and will buy this furniture for my future properties.”

Trump’s name famously adorns his skyscrapers and hotels, as well as vodka, menswear and accessories. But the mogul said he’s done more that just lend that name to Lexington Home Brands — he opened up his personal homes and luxury properties to designers from the privately held company so they could be inspired by his larger-than-life style.

“I can’t put my name on something I don’t love,” he said.

Source

Painted Furniture

YOUR CALL: Hand-Painting Furniture Invites Personal Touch
By Rosemary Sadez Friedmann
Saturday, April 7, 2007

Hand-painted furniture has always been considered special in one way or another, primarily because it adds sophistication in a way that is unique.

The furniture can be whimsically treated simply with color or formally painted to create a particular look. The scenery can span the globe from tulips to chinoiserie. Antique pieces are recognized by the hand-painting techniques used in a particular era; contemporary painted furnishings can be a faux finish of some sort.

Understanding some of the terminology might help clear up some questions. Here is your decorating vocabulary lesson for the day:

SBlt Chinoiserie (pronounced shin-WAH-zeree): This is the name given to the adaptations of Asian lacquer techniques and the motifs associated with them. The scenes are usually of florals, and often have an Asian motif that can include human figures and/or Asian landscapes. Obviously, furniture painted in this motif fits in well with the Asian look, but can also be a good accent piece on its own.

• Colorwashing: This is a glazing technique that involves a slow-drying process with a transparent topcoat on a colored base. As the piece is being painted, the top layer of paint is wiped off slightly every so often during the process to give it that “washed” look. Color-washed furniture looks good in casual rooms.

• Faux: The word means false or fake. The resulting painted work resembles things such as marble, stone, bamboo and the like. Depending on the quality of the faux finish and the finished look, this furniture can take center stage in a formal living room.

• Incising: This is sometimes confused with faux painting and also with colorwashing. It is actually a decorative finish that is accomplished while the still wet topcoat of paint is removed with the end of a brush to reveal the base coat. It is a very interesting look when completed, particularly if the base coat and topcoat colors are well coordinated.

• Trompe l’oeil: This translates to “deceive the eye.” This type of painting creates a realistic illusion of a scene through the use of perspective drawing and shadows, giving the flat surface an illusion of dimension.

• Patina: Patina is a natural aging finish, or one painted to look as if it has aged. In nature, it is the result of fading, discoloration, crackling and wax and dust buildup. A brand new piece of furniture can be painted to have a patina finish. Why take a new piece of furniture and make it look old, discolored and dirty? It looks good and makes the piece seem like an heirloom.

Whether buying an old piece or painting a new one, the resulting look in the room where the furniture is placed will be an eye-catcher.

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Style Guru Connects Fashion With Interior Design

Filicia Touts New Style Network Reality Show
By Sheba R. Wheeler
04/06/2007

If the mere thought of design is paralyzing, look no further then your closet for inspiration.

All of the information needed to forge the cornerstones of good design is there – hiding in a wrinkle-free business suit, in those jeans with the knees torn out, or in that pair of trendy Manolo Blahniks.

In his new Style Network show, “Dress My Nest,” design guru Thom Filicia of “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” fame uses fashion to complete a total room makeover. Filicia recently spoke with Room about his new television endeavor.

Q: How did you come up with the idea to use a person’s favorite outfit to inspire their decor?

A: It’s a concept that I’ve talked about in lectures. I run across people all the time who don’t have a handle on interior design, but are confident about the way they dress, the cars they drive, the artwork and music that they prefer. If you open up someone’s closet door, you get a lot of information about that person – their sense of style, favorite color palettes, whether they are conservative or avant garde.

Q: Why is interior design so much harder to grasp – even a style-savvy person?

A: We all get up every day and get dressed, but people don’t decorate their homes very often. Mannequins explain how to dress, or if we need help, we can turn to a friend. When it comes to furniture and decorating, it’s harder to find people who are really comfortable and confident about it. It may be the first time that someone is thinking about purchasing a sofa, for instance. If you don’t have a reference, it can be a little daunting.

Some will argue that there are more resources available to us than ever before regarding interior design. The number of home stores and networks on decorating that have turned up on the scene in the last 10 years proves that this is an ever growing industry. People are interested in design more so than ever in the past and that’s great. But now, along with interest (should come an) understanding of how to make it work for you.

Q: How does the show flush out that taste connection?

A: It’s a great way to communicate with someone who isn’t really interior design savvy. It makes it personal. We take that inspiration from a favorite outfit, which represents this person the most. That way, the design is coming from something that is very close to her. This isn’t some designer arbitrarily coming in and saying, “This is a great color. Go with it.” The idea is coming from something you love, something from within you.

If my closet is full of solids, or bright colors mixed with very casual items, maybe I’m more informal. If I’m usually dressed in jeans, a nice shirt and a good pair of shoes, I’m more easygoing. If someone says her inspirational outfit is a kimono while someone else says likes wearing a bathing suit, you begin to get an idea of who that person is and how that can be reflected in interior design.

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Phi Design Arrangements Prove Calming, Inviting

Partners Rearrange Furniture, Accessories In Clients’ Homes
By Mary Beth Breckenridge
April 6, 2007

For centuries, a mathematical concept called phi has fascinated artists, architects and mathematicians and more recently, readers of “The Da Vinci Code.”

It’s a ratio, an aesthetically pleasing proportion of one length to another. It’s the basis of much of the artwork of Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo, the pattern of many parts of the human body and the reason Athens’ famous Parthenon has endured as an architectural icon.

The partners in a Stow, Ohio-based interior redesign company have caught the phi bug, too. In the last year, they’ve rebuilt their business around the concept and are redecorating clients’ homes based on what is sometimes called the golden ratio or golden section.

Their business, Phi Design, specializes in interior redesign, which means partners Elizabeth Feeney and John Hively rearrange the furniture and accessories their clients already own. The twist is that they’re marketing their use of math — specifically, phi — in figuring out exactly where those items should go.

Phi, they say, yields interiors that are more calming and inviting than any arrangement they could devise themselves.

“We like to say we take beauty from the eye of the beholder to every eye beholding,” said Hively, a retired certified public accountant who is the mathematician to Feeney’s designer.

Phi is a highly specific proportion, one our brains are wired to prefer, said Timothy Norfolk, a mathematics professor at the University of Akron, Ohio, with whom Feeney and Hively consulted. “There’s something biologically pleasing about these patterns,” he said.

Phi shows up frequently in nature as well as in art and architecture. It’s the ratio of the length of your forearm to your hand, for example. It’s the ratio of the ever-increasing widths of the segments of a spiral seashell. It’s the ratio of the width of the Parthenon to its height.

Think the proportions of Michelangelo’s “David” are pretty close to perfection? Thank phi.

It’s also a concept that interior designers study in their basic course work, said Pamela Evans, coordinator of the interior design program at Kent State University. A good interior designer — one who’s trained in design, not just a decorator — will incorporate phi into the proportions of a room, she said.

Hively and Feeney use the ratio to calculate the best placement for furniture, pictures and other objects in the rooms they redecorate. They’ll measure a distance — say, the length of a wall — and then determine what they call the “phi cut,” the dividing point where the two sections are in perfect proportion. That’s where they’ll position an armoire, a chair or some other item.

Feeney, a former designer at Akron’s Marvin Interiors, has been involved in interior redesign for three years. (She and Hively previously worked together in Phi Design’s predecessor business, Room Renaissance.) Before she came across the concept of phi, she was continually applying her redesign skills to the combined living and dining area in her own condo in Stow, she said.

Even with all that rearranging, though, she said she never could get the feeling of the space quite right.

It wasn’t until she and Hively applied phi that the room finally came together. “I haven’t moved this furniture for months,” she said.

The two started their redesign with a round pedestal table that had belonged to Feeney’s aunt, a piece that was important enough to her that she wanted to build the room around it. They measured the distance from one wall to the fireplace hearth, then placed the table at the phi cut between those two points. An armchair went at the phi cut between the round table and the wall. They measured the length of the room; one end of the sofa was positioned at the phi cut of that distance.

And on they went, using phi to position the most important pieces in the room. Then they relied on Feeney’s artistic sense to accessorize, although in some cases, they even used phi for that. A vignette they created on the fireplace mantel out of an old frame and some treasured heirlooms is perfectly proportioned according to phi.

The ratio is unforgiving, Feeney said, because there’s only one right dividing point for any given measurement. But in placing a piece, she and Hively often have a number of measurements to choose from, she noted.

If a chair doesn’t work at the phi cut of one wall, for example, they might try an adjoining wall. Or perhaps they’ll measure the space between two architectural features rather than the entire wall. Often they’ll search their clients’ homes for items from other rooms they can incorporate, but only if they’ll work in the proportions of phi.

Some items, such as pianos, can’t be moved to comply. In those cases, Hively and Feeney will put something next to the item in the proper phi position to make the whole composition correct.

One of the reasons phi works, Feeney said, is it results in arrangements with a pleasing kind of asymmetry.

When we look at something, our eye is drawn to what’s wrong, she said. So when we look at a symmetrical arrangement, we notice any mistakes that exist.

If what’s “wrong” with an arrangement is its asymmetry, however, that’s what we notice. Because the arrangement is supposed to be that way, our brains like what they see.

Feeney first heard of phi from a friend at her church. She didn’t think much about it, though, until the woman sent her the address of a Web site that delved into the concept.

What she learned intrigued her. “It was beyond me,” she said, “but I knew it had a place in design.”

She and Hively talked to Norfolk, the math professor, as well as to architects, designers and other mathematicians. They spent seven or eight months researching phi before creating Phi Design, a business they introduced at the recent Akron Home & Flower Show.

Feeney has become so adept at using phi that Hively said she can find a correct position for an item almost instinctively. He’ll measure, and invariably she’ll be within an inch or two of the right spot, he said.

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