How much should furniture cost?

This is one of my most frequently asked questions….

Let’s not focus on what you “should” spend, but instead what you are comfortable with. I like to call it value engineering- we can mix higher end items with lower end items- it all depends on where you want to invest your money. For instance if you like to entertain people and often have movie nights, I would suggest putting more a focus on a comfortable sofa and seating arrangement and less on accessories or art- we can find some great options at a fraction of the cost. Or if you like to surround yourself with well curated accessories, we can put more focus on these items, and less on the furniture in the room.

Now what would you feel comfortable investing into the purchase of your sofa? $10,000? $6,500? $3,000?

*** go through each item in the room- keep a running budget list going. Once you have gone through all large items in a room, add up all items- this is now your rough budget.***

Furniture can range a lot depending on where it was made, what materials were used, how to was constructed, among many other factors. I am often asked by potential clients what kind of price range they should expect to spend on their furniture, so I put together this little list. While these selections are very much mid to even low price points, they are a great starting point when trying to determine your budget.

These numbers were put together using average costs per each item. They are not commercial grade furniture (which can cost a lot more), but they also aren’t IKEA (sorry IKEA!) quality either. They are right in the middle.

These prices will increase every year along with inflation, among other factors. And since most people will only buy furniture every 10+ years, prices can change dramatically over long periods of time. In addition, most people don’t buy all the furniture needed for their homes in 1 single purchase. Often times, most people will buy one furniture item, then another, until they have collected all the items needed for their home. This also helps spread the “shock” of furniture costs over a longer period of time.

I share this with you in case you are considering turning your property into a short term rental. You will need to allocate a large portion of your start up costs to purchasing furniture, so this is a guide to help you budget and to know what kind of overall purchase price you should be expecting to make.

Are you Interested in Green Design or Sustainable Design for your small space?

Sustainable Design is a passion of mine. This method of selecting materials seeks to reduce negative impacts on the environment, and the health and comfort of the people using the spaces, thereby improving performance in many capacities.

The basic objectives of sustainability are to reduce consumption of non-renewable resources, minimize waste, and create healthy, productive environments. Programs like Better Environmental and Economic Sustainability (BEES) and industry-certification programs like Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design can help you design more effectively with sustainability in mind.

Here are a few ways you can improve the health of your enviornment:

• Ventilation systems designed for efficient heating and cooling

• Energy-efficient lighting and appliances (e.g., ENERGY STAR® products)

• Water-saving plumbing fixtures

• Landscaping with native vegetation and planned to maximize passive solar energy

• Minimal harm to the natural habitat

• Alternative renewable energy power sources such as solar power or wind power

• Non-synthetic, non-toxic materials used inside and out

• Locally-obtained woods and stone, eliminating long-haul transportation

• Responsibly-harvested woods

• Adaptive reuse of older buildings

• Use of recycled architectural salvage

• Efficient use of space

• Optimal location on the land, maximizing sunlight, winds, and natural sheltering

• Rainwater harvesting and greywater reuse

Over the next several months I will be addressing certain topics directly related to the Health of Your Home. This series will address issues such as the ones listed here, in addition to several other topics. Stay Tuned!

Healthy Home: Furniture Edition

As part of my “Healthy Home” series, I wanted to address the furniture that you put in your home. Whether you are looking to remodel, new build, down size, up size, or just re-vamp your existing home, furniture can play a large part in the design and health of your home.

Often times furniture can contain formaldehydes or brominated fire retardants. Which, while the intention of using these chemicals is designed to preserve the furniture, they can also produce a toxic off-gas which can be hazardous to your health. In addition to this, wood finishes are often covered in veneers or other finishes that have toxic off-gasing. While someone with good health might not see any affect, someone who is unhealthy or more prone to becoming sick (due to illness, allergies, or older age, etc.) might see some affects on their everyday lives. For example; a lower immune system, coughing, sneezing, allergies, etc. This issue is exhausted even more when we add double pane windows (designed to combat noise) to our homes, which essentially seals in these toxic chemicals into our rooms where we sleep at night.

There isn’t a solution to every problem, but one small step towards a solution is to select materials for your furniture that are natural, which are far less likely to cause any irritations.

Top 3 Interior Design Mistakes to Avoid

I get asked this question alot, so I wanted to share the top 3 Design Mistakes I see most often, and how you can avoid them. By now, you probably already know that bad design choices can cause stress and anxiety, neither of which are emotions anyone wants to bring into their home. It might sound silly, but small teaks and changes to your home can actually bring stress and anxiety levels down. If everyone had a well designed home, who knows, maybe there would be less need for pharmaceuticals (one can only hope!), but having a well designed home certainly couldn’t hurt!

Why is Interior Design Important when building a small space?

What does it mean to design someones home?

Well first, let’s take one step back. What is a home? A place where we keep our loved ones safe. We can hide away from the world in our homes when we need to. More importantly, it is a place where you can express yourself, and we have an emotional connection to our homes because of this.

So why is Interior Design important? Because we all live and work somewhere and these spaces affect our bodies, our minds, our energy levels, and even our productivity levels. Small, cramped spaces make us feel uncomfortable and can even cause injuries when furniture and lighting is not placed in the right locations. Low lit places (especially those without windows) make us feel lethargic and slow, even depressed- directly affecting our energy levels and our productivity. Overly loud places can make completing a task challenging and cause you to loose focus.

Good Interior Design addresses all of these needs, whereas bad interior design meets none, and can actually worsen a space. Interior Design is the study of understanding peoples behavior to create functional spaces within a building to enhance their experiences by addressing efficiency and energy levels of those inhabitants.

So how do we react to design? Everything that is man-made is designed. From the shoes you wear to the buildings you walk into. But you don’t notice good design, you simply use it. You don’t feel it, you just feel content in the space. And it looks nice, therefore you like it.

Bad Interior Design is like a pebble in your shoe. When you have a pebble in your shoe, its all you can think about; where can you sit down and take care of it? Bad design is like the pebble in the shoe- its annoying and you notice it all the time. It’s annoying to have to move around furniture in order to sit down. It’s annoying to not be able to reach the top shelf. It’s annoying to have to bend uncomfortably low to reach a sink basin.

Don’t let bad design happen to you. Hire a professional.

You can learn all the tricks of the trade, but this might take you years if you don’t already have some education in this area. There are some people who have a knack for this type of thing, but even those who have a knack for design don’t have the qualifications or education to give great advise on how to make your space the best it can be. This is why hiring a professional is so important.

One of my favorite discussions is when I work with an architect, drafter, or manufacturer and I begin to talk about furniture. Most of the time, furniture is an afterthought for people in these professions, but it should be the most forefront thought since the furniture that you place within your space will make or break the space. It will either make it feel large, cozy, and welcoming, or it not designed well, it could make it feel small, cramped, and uncomfortable.

When placing doors and windows within your space be sure to consider not only the placement, but also the furniture that will be going into the space. For instance, you don’t want a door swing to open and hit your sofa. And you don’t want half your headboard in a window, making it inaccessible and unusable.

How to Organize & Declutter Your Home

Now that the holidays over, it’s time to focus on a new year and new beginnings, and what better way to start off the new year than with a clean slate- literally!

Check out my e-book HERE on Amazon for only 99 cents!

Here is what you will learn from this book:

• How to Start

• How to Make a Schedule

• How to create a check-list

• How, What and where to store important information

• Ideas on how to start organizing and keep organized

• How to clean up

• How to create a command center (and even involve your kids- if you have any)

How to Decorate Your Home for the Holidays

Since the holiday are fast approaching us- check out my e-book How to Decorate Your Home for the Holidays” available for purchase on Amazon for only 99 cents! Here are a few key tips straight from my book to help jump start your holidays this season:

How to Decorate your Home for the Holidays

Decorating can be the most overwhelming part of design because there are so many options, and so many ways to go wrong. What you need to decide is what style do you really want? Sometimes even deciding what your style is can be the hardest part. Don’t worry, I am here to help guide you, no matter what holiday you celebrate.

Pick a Color Scheme

To start decorating your space for the holidays I suggest you pick a color scheme.

Below are a few of my favorite color schemes:

● Red and/or Green

● All Neutrals

● Blue and White

Here is a bonus tip:

Smells like Christmas!

Scents are one of the strongest memories we have, so if you want your Christmas memory to be a good one, I highly recommend buying a few candles (something mellow like vanilla, or something seasonal like “Christmas Wreath”), room spray, or even making your own room scent (boil water, cinnamon sticks, vanilla sticks, and sliced oranges) so your home smells like Christmas. Baking cookies also gives the aroma of the holiday cheer which will fill your home. Even if you don’t celebrate Christmas, having a home that smells nice is always a good idea!

Here is one happy readers review:

What kind of Art you should hang in your house

Have you ever thought about what kind of art would look best in your room? Or maybe you are trying to decided between several art options for your space. Let me give you a little advise:

• Personal art (photos) are to remain in personal spaces: bedrooms only.

• Pick two to three types of artwork; photography, oil, paper, acrylic, etc.

• Now pick 5 colors that you like (I usually suggest one cool color (blue,green,purple) and one warm color (yellow, orange, red) along with 1 additional cool or warm color, and two neutral colors.

• Find art work that has only the colors you have chosen and that are the type of artwork you have chosen. By doing this, you have created a color scheme for your home.

• It is usually best to have neutral colored walls where you plan to hang your art, unless your artwork is only a neutral color (Neutral, Black, Grey, White, etc.).

• Your frame is arguably one of the most import parts of your artwork. A rustic wooden frame can make a room feel casual, while a silver leaf frame with a double white matte can make a room look elegant. If you choose to get your artwork professionally framed, tell the framer what feeling you want your home to have- this will help him/her narrow down what options will best fit that feeling. And of course- consult a designer!

• See my post [HERE]: the 5 best ways to display art

• See my post [HERE]: the 10 best website to buy art

Why quality furniture takes (so long!) 8+ weeks!

This might surprise you, but often quality furniture can take 8 weeks or more to create and deliver. Some pieces can even take as much as 6 months! Shocking- I know, but let me explain. The main difference is in the quality of each element that goes into the manufacturing of all pieces used to make each furniture.  

For instance the construction of a sofa seat consists of many parts, but one of the main elements in a quality seat made with tempered springs, on an eight way tie, with both foam and down as the seat cushion. This eight way tieing is done by hand, which can take some time to accomplish. There are some lower quality furniture Manufacturers who will do a 5 way tie- this is not as high of a quality furniture pieces as the eight way, though it will take a little less time. 

If you are looking for a quality leather sofa, be sure you are looking at top grain leather. Genuine leather is a misleading label and often is the lowest quality of leather. Top grain leather is often dyed and usually by hand, so this also takes some time. 

The frame of a quality furniture piece will be made with kiln dried wood. Why? Because if you build a piece of furniture that has been made with almost any other treated wood, it will most likely bow and change shape over time as moisture escapes the wood over time. when wood is kiln dried it is highly unlikely it will warp or change shape since all the moisture has been removed from the wood. This process can take several days or even weeks depending on the type of wood.

Drawers and corners of furniture that are made with a detail called dovetailing are only found in quality pieces of furniture. Often lower quality manufacturers will simply nail and glue the corners of their furniture together because it takes less time and costs them less to manufacturer. The only problem is, the furniture pieces don’t last as long. 

There are several other elements that make a quality piece of furniture, but these are some of the easiest elements to be able to see when you are shopping for furniture. That being said, be aware that all of these quality elements are usually hand made, and take time. Because these elements take time and skilled personnel to make them, they will take a longer period of time to make.  

Designer Tip: Don’t be mislead by labels! Simply because it has a higher price tag doesn’t mean the furniture is a quality piece. For instance Restoration Hardware, though is very good at advertising and has some amazing photographers, be aware that not all of their furniture is made with these quality manufacturing elements. that’s not to say that all of their furniture is crap either, but just keep an eye out for details like the ones I listed above to determine what is worth your time and money, and which is not. 

How to Determine Your Budget

Let’s not focus on what you “should” spend, but instead what you are comfortable with. I like to call it value engineering- we can mix higher end items with lower end items- it all depends on where you want to invest your money. For instance if you like to entertain people and often have movie nights, I would suggest putting more a focus on a comfortable sofa and seating arrangement and less on accessories or art- we can find some great options at a fraction of the cost. Or if you like to surround yourself with well curated accessories, we can put more focus on these items, and less on the furniture in the room.

Now what would you feel comfortable investing into the purchase of your sofa? $10,000? $6,500? $3,000?

*** go through each item in the room- keep a running budget list going. Once you have gone through all large items in a room, add up all items- this is now your rough budget.***

Avoid Common Furniture Mistakes

Here is a list of common mistakes I see clients (before they hire me) make:

- window drapes are too short

- window drapes are mounted too low on the wall

- too short or too tall nightstands

- too short lamps

- Artwork is mounted too high on the wall

- artwork is too small or too large

- too many accessories

- under utilization of storage options

- ceiling lighting is too small

- too trendy

the list goes on, but these are some of the most common mistakes I see clients making. If you would like to better understand how to avoid these mistakes, check out my e-book "Everything You Need to Know About Interior Design" on Amazon and you will get every little "secret" I have on making your home mistake-free! Click HERE for my e-book.     

Home Design Mistakes : Downsizing

The most common mistakes I see people make in their homes has to do with scale. I have seen countless clients downsizing and trying to bring their over-sized furniture with them, only to discover that none of it fits in their new home. When you downsize, you need to also downsize your furniture so that your space doesn't feel overwhelmed.

If you are considering downsizing make sure to measure your furniture and measure your new home before you start to move. There's nothing worse than carting an 11 foot sofa to your new home to find out it won't fit and it will have to sit outside until you can figure out what to do with it.

It might be worth the money to hire a designer to do this work for you as well. A designer should be able to measure your existing furniture and measure your new space and let you know what pieces you should take with you and what pieces you should sell or give away. 

Another rule of thumb is to only bring quality furniture with you. That table from IKEA should not come with you, there's no sense in keeping low quality furniture like this in your new home. When you downsize and move into a smaller home, the small details like the quality of furniture will become more apparent in your new home since there will be much more valuable real estate in a smaller floor-plan.  

ORGANIZE AND DECLUTTER YOUR HOME BEFORE YOU DOWNSIZE

UCLA once did a study on the affects of clutter in a room called “Life at home in the 21st century”, this study was based on a groundbreaking, four-year, ethnoarchaeological CELF study conducted in 2001-2005. What they found was that a staggering number of possessions and an array of spaces and furnishings that serve as the stage for multiple family activities can tell us a lot about who we are as a society.

The results were astonishing! The cluttered homes caused as much stress as postpartum depression based on their cortisol readings. Think about that for a moment…the clutter was literally causing depression. As the clutter begins to pile up, your stress levels raise as well. If you don’t do anything about the clutter, eventually you will have a mental break point. A point at which the stress becomes too much to bear, and you give into depression and loose all motivation to clean up the clutter that is causing your stress induced depression. Only furthering your depression deeper. It’s a loose-loose cycle.

So how do we stop this cycle? Read my book “How to organize and declutter your home” to learn all the steps you can take to creating a life of freedom from clutter and depression.

Does your house feel like cluttered chaos? Do you feel overwhelmed or chaostrophic in your own home? Getting your house organized can be overwhelming. Where do you start? How do you separate what you need in your home from what you want in your home? There are many steps to getting organized, but this e-book will guide you through the whole process one step at a time. You will work at your own pace, and accomplish one goal at a time, and before you know it, your entire home will be organized and clutter free! Each step is tried and tested, by me, to get your home organized and help keep it that way without making it feel like you are carrying the world on your shoulders while trying to juggle every aspect of your life all at the same time.
Your home reflects how you see yourself, and now is the time to let your brilliance shine! Now is not the time to let what other’s think get in your way, you are on a mission! A mission to show everyone (or perhaps just a disapproving mother-in-law) that you’ve got a beautiful home and you did it all by yourself (This e-book can be our little secret!). Maybe you just moved into a new place and need help organizing each room, or maybe you have been living in your house for years and are finally fed up with the dysfunction of your space- no matter your reason, I am glad you are here, and I want you to know that I can help.

Check out my guidebook How to Organize and Declutter Your Home

What types of Artwork should you put in your Home

There are many different types of artwork available for purchase from many different vendors including the following:

- Painting: Acrylic, Oil, Watercolor

- Photography

- Drawings: Pencil, Charcoal, Colored Pencils

- Print: Block Printing, Screen Printing,  

- Sculpture: Metal, Wood, Paper, - pretty much anything. 

Be sure to check out my previous blog posts:

My favorite places to shop for artwork!

The 5 Best Ways to Display Art

How to Use Art to Create a Color Pallete

How to Organize and De-clutter Your Home Part 5

How to Organize Your Home:

You should have a designated space to keep Emergency Information as well as Personal Information. If something were to happen to you, and your family needed access to these types of documents, you don’t want them to have to dig around through your desk, spending hours of precious time looking for what they need. Here are some of the items I suggest you keep in a safe place:

• Marriage Certificate

• Birth Certificate

• Adoption Papers

• Citizenship Records

• Divorce Papers

• House Deed

• Mortgage Papers

• Death Certificate

• Automobile Titles

• Service Papers

• Leases /Contracts

• Will

• Patents and Copyrights  

• Passports

• Life Insurance Policy

• Health Insurance Card (s)

• Copy of your License

• Medical Directives (should you not be able to speak on your own behalf, a medical directive will ensure your decisions are followed)

• Emergency Medical Contacts (primary physician’s phone number, etc)

• Medical Information (blood type, allergies, etc)

• Up to date photo of everyone in your family, including your pets (in case someone goes missing)

• Finger Prints

• Pet Insurance

If security is a concern of yours, then store these documents in a safe, locked drawer, or in a safety deposit box. Here are the items I suggest you store in a secured space.

That wraps up our 5 part series of how to Organize and Declutter Your Home! Now is the time to buy my e-book on Amazon for a copy of your own list of items to consider when trying to organize and declutter your home. 

How to Organize and De-clutter Your Home Part 4

Here is a Declutter Checklist for your entire home:

Kitchen

• Create Space for Every Item

• Donate Mismatched Items (Dishes, Cups, etc)

• Toss Old Coffee Mugs and any dishware with a stain

• Limit Water Bottles

• Add Drawer Dividers

• Toss Stained, Mismatched or Broken Food Containers

• Throw out all old Spices and Expired Foods

Bathroom

• Toss Old Shampoo/Body Lotion, etc. Bottles

• Limit yourself to 2 shampoos/conditioner, lotions, etc.  

• Limit hairstylers, and store them in a basket or under your sink- out of sight.

• If it hasn’t been used in three months, toss it.

Linen Closet:

• Toss old towels and sheets that are stained or frayed

• Toss towels and sheets that don’t match

Office:

• Tackle one drawer at a time.

• Bundle like items together (Pens & Pencils, Envelopes, etc)

• Shred Papers that are not needed

  • After 1 Month: Receipts, Deposit/ ATM slips, Reconciled Bank Statements

  • 1-3 Years: Paycheck Stubs, Mortgage Statements, Expired Insurance Records, Charity Donation Receipts

  • 7 Years: Tax Returns, W-2 & 1099, Medical Statements, Real Estate Tax Forms

Your Closet:

• Have you worn it in the last 6 months?

• Will you wear it in the next two weeks?

• If it is Broken/ Has any holes, will you get them fixed?

• Does it fit well?

• Would you buy it now?

If you answered “yes” to all of the above questions, then keep it, however if you answered “no” to any of these, then you should probably toss it.

Check out the entire series on my e-book on Amazon Here:

How to Organize and De-clutter your Home Part 3

How to De-clutter Your Home:

The best way that I have found is to clear a space- possibly in another room, on the floor and dump out all the pieces (maybe it’s just a few drawers? Maybe it’s the whole kitchen?).

Here is a starter list of things to get rid of:

• Old or unread books and magazines

• Expired Coupons

• Outgrown Clothes

• Expired Food

• Mismatched or holey socks

• Mismatched Storage Containers (having all the same type of storage containers makes it easier to stack on top of one another, creating more space)

• Duplicate kitchen items

• Expired Cleaning Supplies

• Worn Towels

• Worn Sheets

• Broken Toys

• Tools missing parts

• Broken Jewelry

• Old Mail

• Expired Toiletries/Cosmetics

• Unused Toiletries

• Unused Toys/Sporting Equipment

Want to learn more? Get my e-book available on Amazon:

Part 2 Of The Guide To Organizing And De-cluttering Your Home

How to De-clutter Your Home

When you start to de-clutter a room, it can be very overwhelming. Don’t worry, we are going to take the and divide it into small sections. Start with one end of the room (Doesn’t matter where- Personally, I go left to right around the room from the entrance door, starting with the bottom section, then the middle section, and lastly the top section - I don’t know why, it’s just what I find easiest). Use the checklists in this step to decide what will stay and what will go.

Tip: Divide and Conquer: Shelf dividers will instantly begin to add order by providing “zones” for each set of items. You can improvise with these solutions as well. For instance I use desk organizers in my kitchen cabinets to help separate dishes. I also use over the door closet shoe organizers to hold cleaning supplies.  Search Pinterest to find the solution that would best work for your situation.

There are thousands of solutions to help you organize your home, it’s just a matter of personal preference and if these systems will fit in your space.

To learn more, check out my e-book, available on Amazon:

How to Organize and Declutter Your Home Part 1

Since it is a new year, you have probably made a new years resolution. Maybe going to the gym more? Maybe eating healthier? But have you thought about your home? Your home is where you spend most of your time, and you want it to feel relaxing, cozy, and inviting, but you can't do that when your space is filled with clutter! So I wanted to remind you of my e-book that I wrote:

How to Organize and Declutter Your Home (available on Amazon for $0.99!)

For the month of January I am going to share some of my secrets on how to organize and de-clutter your home!

Lets start with the Organization:

The Organization

The First “real” step to organization is to define how you are going to decide on what you will keep or get rid of. You’ll want to start by creating three piles- sell it, donate it, keep it. Maybe you are going to have a yard sale after you’re done organizing your house? Then sell it. But if it doesn’t sell, donate it. We are trying to organize and declutter your life, not add more clutter from one area to another. Maybe you hate yard sales and will simply be donating everything? Or maybe you have something that isn’t worth selling? Donate it.

The best way that I have found is to clear a space- possibly in another room, on the floor and dump out all the pieces (maybe it’s just a few drawers? Maybe it’s the whole kitchen?).

Why? The chances are that you will find things you forgot you had, or maybe you will discover you have two of something you only need one of.

What is feng shui

According to Google “Feng Shui is a system of laws considered to govern spatial arrangement and orientation in relation to the flow of energy (qi), and whose favorable or unfavorable effects are taken into account when siting and designing buildings.”

Feng shui is one of the basics of design which most designers learn about while in school, which studies the pshycology of human behavior within a room. This helps designers be able to identify the elements of feng shui that all create an atmosphere within a room. 

Feng shui can sometimes include crystals and other elements that may seem a little “out-there”, but the important part of feng shui is not the elements added to a space, but how you feel within the space. In my personal opinion, I think adding crystals to a room can be a little “out-there”, but it all comes down to pschycology. If you believe that adding a crystal to your room will make you feel less stressed/have more money/have better health, etc. then you are giving the crystals more “power”, and it may work for you. 

The Best Material For Your Kitchen Countertop

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There are many options when it comes to countertop material options including some of my favorites:

• Granite

• Marble

• Travertine

• Terrazzo

• Quartzite

• Limestone

• Onyx

 

Most countertop materials are made of a natural stone, however there are some Quartz (composite materials) that are made to look like the real stone but hold up to wear and tear much better than a natural stone. For example:

• ColorQuartz

• Caesarstone

• Cambria

• Silestone