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  I am almost always amazed at the fact no one pays great attention to their ceilings. Countless hours go into determining what type of floor treatment they should select but give very little thought to the most exposed surface in the house.
Growing up in a rural area, people always treated their ceilings. I am sure much had to do with the fact many of the houses were older and it was an inexpensive fix to go over them with wallpaper or beadboard, but it certainly added character to the rooms. I also think white is overused as a ceiling color but that is for a different Post altogether.
As I previous mentioned, I have clients working on a home in the Florida Keys. One of the items on the owners list was to pay attention the great room and dining room ceiling. The great room is a two story room with tons of natural light with a beautiful open vibe.
 The great room was treated with 6″ tongue and groove wood boards. Tongue and grove have a protruding rib, or tongue, on one edge and a groove on the other edge so the tongue from one board fits into the groove on the next. Originally it was used and installed on exterior walls. Having found its way to the inside of buildings it is used on ceiling and walls to add dimension and a great visual line. Due to the height and pitch of this ceiling the installation was more difficult but the contractor got the job done!
In the dining room boxes where created out of wood and then sheet rocked over to give the illusion of beams. From here crown molding will be added inside and out of all vertical surfaces on the beams. The effect will be beautiful.
As you can see in the pictures, the ceilings started flat and plain but are on the road to transforming themselves into something quite lovely. When you are thinking about updating a room or building, don’t forget about the ceiling. Because things are looking up!
 My father always told me don’t start something you can’t finish. Well for many people building in Florida, this was not the case. When the house bubble burst, many homes which were started, never were finished. Bad news for them but good news for others. My clients purchased a great home in partial completion and contacted me at D’Asign Source to enlisted my help to bring their vision into reality. The home is very traditional and they wanted to infuse it with a British West Indies vibe but be true to themselves and their expanding family. It has 4 bedrooms, a nicely laid out living room, dining room, great room and kitchen. And above the garage is a Guest Suite. The view is incredible and outdoor area is perfect for the Keys lifestyle.
 Retro fitting the oringinal owners thoughts into the new owners requirements is not always an easy thing to do. There is always the “what were they thinking” when analyzing room dimensions, window placements and kitchen layouts. With the help of talent building tradesmen, most of these questions have been answered, corrected and redesigned. For example, in the kitchen the window placement in the corners completely stopped the flow of a good cabinet layout. Not to mention did nothing for the view of the ocean. As you can see in these pictures, those windows were filled in and a new window will be added which will give a beautiful vista as well as serve as a pass through for outdoor entertaining.
With in the next series of Posts I thought it would be fun to see the transformation from what we started with to the end result. Stay tuned.
 It happened again last week. For the last 20 years I have been fighting it with all my might and it happened again. I walked into a customers house and all the walls were beige. The floors, the cabinets, counter-tops and furniture were beige too! They told me they didn’t want to get locked into a color scheme. I had to break it to them. They are locked into a color scheme: a bland, beige color scheme. And in the Florida Keys where warm beautiful colors surround us daily!
Here’s the thing about color: all though you may not be aware of it color inspires, stimulates, calms and invigorates us. Color is all around us so don’t be afraid of it. And its the most inexpensive way to update a room. So here are a few steps to help you turn your beige house into a colorful one.
Step 1. Determine a color you like. Perhaps you are drawn to the many hues of blue and green you may find in the ocean. Or do you have a favorite yellow orchid? Either way, dig in deeper to the color you like and start pulling out the different shades in them. Do you like the blue more muted or bold? Does the yellow need to be deeper? Keep narrowing it down until you find some which work. Don’t worry about where you will use it yet. Just find it!
Step 2. What is the mood you want to achieve in your room? A happy kitchen or a calm and serene bedroom? The mood will determine the visual impact you need to find in the color to achieve it.
Step 3. What elements in your home do you need to consider in selecting a color? For example, what are your floors, furniture and other key pieces? What is your view outside like? All of these will effect the color choice you make.
Once you have honed in on a color choice make a trip to your local paint store. I love Benjamin Moore paint. I find it to be great paint which is easy to use. In Key West you can visit Strunk Ace Hardware and start going through the paint samples. Have them mix some small samples of the color you like and take them home to paint large squares on the wall to help you finalize the color selection. Then go for it! Once you move from beige to color you will never go back. And remember, it’s just paint. You can always try again.
 Having grown up as a little kid in the 70′s I have a weird appreciation for the wonder of synthetic blend fabrics. I remember an outfit my Mom made for me out of a polyester knit blend fabric. It was hot, itchy but colorful. Who wouldn’t want a pair of red, white and blue striped bell bottoms for the 1976 Fourth of July party! I am surprised I didn’t melt to death in the fabric which did not breath.
Polyester blends have come a long way from the 70′s. Especially in the home fashion arena. Fabrics are blended with the synthetic blends to help extend the life of the fabric, give it greater color fastness and strength to hold up to daily wear and tear. When selecting a fabric for you upholstered furniture, keep a few things in mind. Cotton is a durable fabric which breaths and feels great against the skin. It does however wrinkle and can lose color over time. Linen fabric is similar. But if Cotton and Linen are blended with a synthetic fabric, it will give them better stability and longevity. Silk is another natural fiber but very fussy. It will feel and look beautiful but is a delicate fabric best reserved for dining chair backs and pillows.
And when living on the coast selection but also be made based on the amount of sunlight your room gets. Also, if it is adjacent to a pool or outdoor water, you may want to consider using an outdoor fabric for your indoor uses. Manufacturers have grown dramatically with the options available in solution dyed fabrics. Kravet, which is one of my favorite fabric companies, has an entire collection called Kravet Soleil for outdoor use. The website has a great interactive fabric search tool to help you find the right fabric for your interior. You will find the options vast. So go on. Pick a fabric, any fabric!
 For anyone who was part of the 4H organization, they will understand the determination it takes to complete a project in time for your local Achievement Days. Every year its a race to the finish. My mother’s approach was to find a piece of antique furniture she would like in her house and have us redo it as a project which we would then enter at Achievement Days. Talk about child labor! This is really where my love of re-upholstery started. I love taking an old chair and giving completely new life with a great new fabric. Once I started in the Interior Design field, my imagination went wild with different fabric combinations and prints which could go on timeless pieces.
Anytime you are thinking about giving your upholstered pieces a new look, you need to start at the frame. Good frames are made of hardwood – oak, maple, ash or mahogany. These woods are strong and enduring. It used to be you could tell a quality piece of furniture by lifting it. Not so anymore. Many bargain priced upholstery makers use plywood construction and layer it in to give it greater weight. Good frames are joined with double dowels or wood pins. The  corners are wood blocked and screwed to hold them fast. When they are made this way, they are easy to tighten up when needed. But if you chair isn’t made that way, don’t be dismayed. A professional upholsterer can usually find a way to make it stronger and reinforced.
If your piece has a good frame, it fits in to the size of your room and you love it then recover it. The main difference between recovering and reupholstering is the level of work which goes into it. If your chair is in good shape on the inside and just needs new fabric, that’s recovering. If it needs work on the inside with springs, foam, springs or fillings that is considered reupholstering. Many times a handy do-it-yourselfer can replace chair seats and some cushions. When they require button tufting or welt it when a professional is really the best call of action.
Once you decide you have a piece you want recovered, the real fun begins! On to the fabric! In my next post we will discuss choosing the right fabric for your furniture.
 You can never have to many mirrors! Mirrors do so much for small spaces They can enlarge small spaces, open up walls and closed in areas and bring the outside in. One of the best things about living in the Keys is the nature around us. Using a mirror brings light and the outside into our small space.
Another great way to use mirrors is to introduce different shapes of mirrors to add dramatic or whimsical effects. Some of today’s innovative mirrors designs contain several differently shaped mirrors (round, oval, square, or odd shaped) assembled together. These types of mirror combinations are definitely unconventional, and can bring out your artsy side! Check out all of the great mirror shapes that Uttermost has to offer.
 And a decorating trick which really opens a space up is putting a mirror behind shelving. A poorly lit wall can be brought back to life with mirrored shelving. You can attach mirrors to the back of any shelving unit. Once you decorate your shelves with your favorite objects, the reflection will bring light and openness to the shelves.
Lack of lighting is a common problem these days. Dark unused corners and nooks often become a challenge to decorate. Long mirrors placed in such places will do the trick of expanding a space and bringing in more light. The combination of wall mirrors with soft lighting (indirect lighting, electrified or candle sconces, candles arrangement) increases this effect.
 Small space solutions continue!
Inevitably when a client is working with a combination living and dining room, their first response is to line the walls with the needed furniture. However, I would ascertain by using furniture on angles and  as room dividers, you can visually create walls and an area which makes your space feel larger. For example, floating a sofa in the middle of 2 rooms and using your dining table as a desk/sofa table will give your open room the feeling of 2 rooms without walls.
The other great feature is it makes your regular dining table more multifunctional. If you are not a “sit down to dinner type” a flip top console works beautifully. Use it as a console most days but when that someone specials c0mes over you can flip open the top and have a intimate dining table. Or put your Ipad on top of it and use it as a small desk while you surf the web.
This piece from the Stanley Furniture Coastal Living Resort collection fits the bill perfectly. It comes in this lovely Sandy Linen finish with blends everything Coastal! The iron legs add a sense of modern refinement against the weathered wood.
Next time, even more ideas for your making your small space feel bigger!
 Often when working with clients in Key West one of the first things they tell me is “I have a small space.” Well here’s the news flash – practically everyone lives in a small space. From condo’s in New York to apartments in Los Angeles. In this series of Small Space Solutions, I will go over ideas on how to make your little space feel larger.
When working with a small space most clients assume they must use small furniture, which is not always the case. Take a small living room as an example. Typically people will hunt for a sofa in the 72-80″ range. Or you may feel a sofa and loveseat combination is better use of the space. I would encourage you to think outside the box and try a small sectional with a corner wedge.
Sectionals usually consist of multiple components which can be configured into many different designs. In many cases, each component is sold separately, allowing you to purchase the pieces you need to create the look you want. And by doing this, it lets you fill the space efficiently helping you maximize every square inch. An appropriate sized sectional will make use of the corner space, creating comfortable seating for 4. Using the corner wedge component pieces of the sectional allows you to stretch-out and you can actually lay on the sofa which can not be done on a loveseat. It even allows you to curl up with the one you love! And if you use a curved wedge piece, this will leave room for a lamp in the corner to light your seating area.
One of the companies I love is Four Seasons Upholstery. They do a wonderful little sectional which can come fully upholstered or with slip covers.
 While doing theater back in the day I was invited to an after show party hosted by 2 bachelors. Their personal style was horrible, however they did have nice taste in art. It complete took my by surprise. These men looked like they got dressed out of a dumpster, I believe the style was called Grunge, but they had some really great original art. The problem was they had it hanging approximately 6 inches from the ceiling. It looked ridiculous. After two Vodka Stingers I couldn’t take it anymore. I asked one of them for a hammer and proceeded to rearrange and lower all of their art work. The people at the party couldn’t believe what a difference it made and how much nicer the art looked. So here are some tips when selecting and hanging art.
Pick art which you like. It doesn’t matter if it matches your sofa or not. If you have a tratitional vibe to your space but you love a modern piece of art, buy it. Art should speak to you personally.
Most art should be hung 60 to 65 inches from the floor to the center of the art. This will work 80 percent of the time. Another good rule of thumb is that your line of sight should roughly be in the center of the piece. Think about how the artwork will relate to everything else in the room, whether it is over a piece of furniture such as a table or a sofa or on a blank wall.
If it is on a blank wall, such as an entryway you will probably want it a little higher, but if its over a sofa you will probably want it between 6 to 12 inches above the back of the sofa or headboard. If you have someone that can assist you, use them to hold the artwork at the spot you think it will work and walk back to decide if you like it there.
Most of the time this will work well for a medium to large piece of art. If you are hanging a small piece, such as a small mirror, you will probably want to do groupings or find a smaller or more narrow wall so the piece doesn’t disappear or look too small. Now if you have smaller pieces, group them together to create a larger installation.
If you’re hanging artwork by yourself, cut paper templates to size for each piece of art and attach the paper cutouts to the wall with painter’s tape. This will give you the option to stand back and see how the artwork’s size relates to your room and your furniture. Move the template up and down to find the perfect spot prior to hanging the picture. Once you are ready to hang, make sure to put a small pencil mark were your nail will go. Place your nail or picture hanger and hammer away.
You will know whether or not you followed these instructions correctly if at your next party someone asks you for a hammer and some nails!
 Oh that lovely smell of Pledge on a Saturday morning! I will never forget it. Part of my duties to receive my allowance included vacuuming and raking the shag carpet and dusting. Growing up we of course used delicious smelling Pledge for the dusting. It wasn’t until later I found out how harmful the lemon deliciousness really was for the furniture.
Taking care of your wood furniture is very easy. Whether you purchased a piece to last you a life time or something to get you by for now, it needs the right type of care. Here are a few tips to help you protect and care for your furniture.
- Avoid placing your furniture in direct sunlight. Sunlight, or course, causes fading. Keeping it out of sunlight also helps keep it from dealing with extreme temperatures which can cause warping and cracking.
- The bottom of items like lamps and placemats may not be the best for your wood. Sometimes when companies use rubber, it can react with the finish and leave marks on your furniture. Felt is always a better option.
- Rotate your accessories so they don’t sit in the same spot all of the time. This prevents uneven fading from occurring.
- Always blot a spill as opposed to using a wiping action. Water left over a long peior of time will cloud the finish. And alcohol based products can do real damage.
- Use protective pads on your wood top tables and desks to avoid writing marks and heat transfer from dishware. And don’t drag items across the top of furniture. Pick it up for heavens sake and move it.
I recommend dusting frequently with a clean, soft, dry, lint-free cloth. Clean the surface by rubbing in the direction of the grain. It is also recommend polishing your furniture approximately every six months, using a clean, soft, lint-free cloth and rubbing the polish in the direction of the grain.
There are three basic types of furniture care products: silicone cleaners, waxes and polishes. It is recommend avoiding silicone cleaners and waxes. While silicone cleaners create a high degree of shine, silicone seeps into even the highest-quality finishes, creating a barrier that will not accept stain or lacquer. This makes it virtually impossible to re-finish or touch-up your furniture.
Waxes should be avoided because their regular use may result in a build-up of wax film on the surface of the furniture. This build-up could actually attract dirt, smoke and other pollutants in the air, resulting in smudges and streaks. Also, many waxes contain grit which can permanently damage furniture surfaces if used improperly.
Polishes, which is recommend, contain detergents, emulsifiers and mineral oil. The detergents clean dirt from the furniture, the emulsifiers give it body to clean and last longer and the mineral oil is left behind as a barrier for dirt and moisture that could harm finishes. There’s no grit to harm the finish, no wax to build up and no silicone to raise the sheen and act as a barrier for touch-up and refinishing. Many of these contain beeswax. So at least if you can’t enjoy the lemony smell on a Saturday morning, you can at least smell the honey!
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I am almost always amazed at the fact no one pays great attention to their ceilings. Countless hours go into determining what type of floor treatment they should select but give very little thought to the most exposed surface in the house. 
The great room was treated with 6″ tongue and groove wood boards. Tongue and grove have a protruding rib, or tongue, on one edge and a groove on the other edge so the tongue from one board fits into the groove on the next. Originally it was used and installed on exterior walls. Having found its way to the inside of buildings it is used
on ceiling and walls to add dimension and a great visual line. Due to the height and pitch of this ceiling the installation was more difficult but the contractor got the job done! 
