Maine Interior Design: Recharging

Post designer showhouse I am typically burnt out and exhausted. This year was no exception. I have weeks of this left, then normalcy will return. As a creative soul, I need to recharge and simply absorb. The challenge is finding the time-owning a business often means having none. I have have grown quite a bit this year. Maybe its hitting my mid 30's, but I realize what I need as a professional and as a human to stop, breathe, and find quiet joy. I have begun to document the experiences with my beloved iphone.

  Here is a glimpse at that process:

Cape Porpoise, Maine

Cape Porpoise, Maine

Beautifully foggy day

Kennebunkport, Maine.

The Nontantum Resort at Sunset.

Cape Porpoise Pier, Maine

Bailey Island, Maine

Random, Windham Maine

Snug Harbor Farm, Kennebunkport Maine

A random shell on my party dress. I was only at the party for an hour (don't care for  large events where I know few people) but I still have that shell!

Kennebunkport, Maine

How do you recharge?

Thank you to RoomSketcher for providing this guest blog. It is intended for my cross country clients, my realtor friends, my RESA stagers...Enjoy! Good resources are worth sharing!
-Vanessa 

10 Good Reasons To Use Floor Plans 

With Your Interior Designer & Home Stager 

1. Map Out Space 

Even starting out with a basic 2D floor plan allows you to map your space.  From there, you can decide on window placement, or see if your favorite furniture will fit before you even step in to the room.

2. Compare Floor Plan Options 

Especially when working with new properties, you can see how a floor plan will facilitate traffic flow and get a mental picture of how your family would do occupying a space.  For homes already lived in, you can experiment with using pillars instead of walls or window spaces to make a room appear larger.

3. Visualize Spaces In 2D And 3D

A 2D view gives you a basic map.  A 3D view offers the opportunity to visualize a space more realistically.  RoomSketcher allows a 360 Panorama feature so you can see the space as if you were already there. 

4. Compare Style Options  

Lets say the home seller uses a lot of browns, but you prefer brighter colors.  Or, maybe they used a lot of carpet, and you prefer tile or wood floors.  The right floor plan tool gives you an idea how different colors or textures would look in the rooms. 

5. Allow For Easy Changes 

A good floor plan tool will allow for high quality images for a realistic view.  But you should also be able to collaborate from different locations to view and discuss desired changes.  For example: The interior designer suggests a wall paper in gray hues.  The client goes in, takes a look, and inputs their preference with shades of green for both to consider.

Simple and efficient!

6. Plan Indoors And Outdoors 

It is terrific to plan the indoor spaces.  But what about outdoor spaces?  Like garages, patios, and pool areas?  A good 2D and 3D floor plan tool will allow you to plan your outdoor spaces as well as your indoor spaces.  So feel comfortable going from winter to summer, and from the back porch to the beach! J

7. Use Real Items 

We all have our favorite brands for furniture, accessories, and outdoor items.  Wouldn’t it be great to plan your space with your IKEA sofa, Pottery barn pillows, and Ethan Allen hutch?  As you wish!

8. Provide Floor Plans On Brochures And Print Literature

If you’re the home seller, and you can offer professional quality 2D and 3D views of your home with accurate measurements to a home buyer, this sets your listing apart from other properties. 

Add in realistic views of the indoor and outdoor spaces, you decrease time on the market by 50%. 81% of sellers think a floor plan will help sell their home faster.

9. Provide Floor Plans On Websites  

More than 90% of home buyers start their home search online.  Floor plans are opened 7.5 times more often than maps on well-known real estate websites.

So, it makes sense to provide images files of floor plans for prospective home buyers to reference. 

10. Floor Plans Sell Homes Faster

In some parts of the United States, realtors are selling properties largely from floor plans.  If you’re staging your home, also offering a floor plan  would also decrease time on the market. 

Allowing people to see more information and more options about a space gives them more reason to choose your home for purchase.

If you’re a home buyer or home seller, the floor plans offer new and inventive ways to learn more and get desired results quicker.

So, as an interior designer or home stager, providing these opportunities to your clients offers them more value and allows you to shine.

What questions do you have about floor plans?

Did we miss any advantages of using floor plans?

Tell us your thoughts in the comments box below… 

Notes from a Maine Interior Designer: inspired wire

To date, over 1000 people have stopped and stared at the chandelier inside my guest bedroom space at the Kennebunkport Designers' Showhouse.

I can only show you tiny glimpses until AFTER the tour ends on July 14th. 

Here you go:

Reclaimed wood, gilded steel, xenon bulbs-all designed and made in Maine!

WHAT you say? Yes. I worked with Inspired Wire Studio, whom I met a year ago and have been quietly watching from afar. After deciding that 1. their quality was fabulous and 2. I simply dig their creative process (inspired, a joy to interact with, and GOOD), I asked if they would like to work with me on this endeavor. Lucky for me they said yes. I submitted my design "concept" (below) and we collaborated on the design. I knew I would love whatever they made, since they understood and connected with my vision.

(click on image to enlarge).

This common understanding of vision is the same process they use working with clients directly. They create custom lighting. Hence the name Inspired Wire Studio! Below are a few pieces I really like from their portfolio:

simple mini pendant

The diffuser is genius.

They did the chandelier, sconces, etc, all for the same client.
As an interior designer, I love sharing my local sources.
Thank you, Inspired Wire Studio!

Talk to:

Adam or Dawn

Maine Studio:

11 Cedar Street
Portland, ME 04101

Contact:

T: 207-776-0589
E: info@inspiredwirestudio.com

You're Invited-Open House this Sunday.

Visit www.62CoyleSt.com for the tour and complete details.

Open house Sunday, 11:30am to 1pm at 62 Coyle St, Portland ME.

Listed by Tom Landry of Benchmark Realty

I helped coordinate some light updating for this beautiful Victorian home. Our goal was a move in ready space.We used a mix of Fiore Interiors' home staging inventory and the owner's furnishings. 

Local spotlight: Laura Fuller/Fuller Glass. When Art and Design (fabulously) collide...

COUNTING DOWN the days until the PSO Designer's Showhouse!

I moved to Maine in May of 2010, to an area called Munjoy Hill. I would walk the golden retriever past this beautiful studio and peer into the windows...it became quite a habit. When I found out I was going to participate in the PSO Designer's Showhouse, I summoned up the nerve to introduce myself to this awesome artist!

Maine artist, Laura Fuller lives and works in Portland, Maine. She grew up in Bath, Maine and has also lived in Paris, France. Laura was a founding owner of the Hay Gallery in Portland, Maine and now has the Laura FullerGlass Design Studio and Gallery on Munjoy Hill in Portland (my hood!)

Laura has been working in stained glass twenty years. She began putting three-dimensional objects in her panels while still in school. When discouraged by her instructor from this innovative technique, she committed to the craft of incorporating found objects into her complex glass pieces. Each unique relief expresses not only her story, but also that of the objects incorporated within.

For Laura, each object is a reflection of the complex narrative of life-- past, present and future:

"Life is change. That is the only reliable certainty. It is constantly and continually progressing and altering. Unexpected and uncertain in outcome, it is certain in process.Objects are our representatives. 'Living' solid, fruitful, domestic, useful lives: indepedently functional. These objects, having given 2 to 200 years of faithful service, became hidden. In drawers, closets, dumps, underground, and in the ocean --waiting.
Now newly born, part of a different whole. Suspended to be gazed at, in reverence. In honor of their, and our, past lives. The beauty is in the years of touch as marked by many hands. The experiences portrayed trigger memories, of events lived and imagined. And of what will become."

Laura finds inspiration in "Light, memory, love and the beauty of an unexpected line, artists like Mondrian and Kandinski, seeing a beautiful, old, stone building covered with scaffolding, the blending of sleek and worn, ancient and modern"

I commissioned a piece of Fuller Glass for the showhouse, and working with her has been a joy. I walked into her gallery a total stranger with a crazy idea, and have found a kindred spirit passionate about supporting the arts...and creating her own special space within the showhouse. She has combined the spirit of the Symphony Orchestra, Interior Design, our shared organic and the modern influences, the proximity to the ocean....all in one piece. Here is about 25% of the piece, a partial sneak preview:

My inspiration for "Adagio" was the simple, elegant beauty in the shape of a violin. And a sense of peace.-Laura Fuller

Nope! That's all you get to see! So far every person who has seen this piece has been amazed, I couldn't be happier with the response. I chose a great crystal flushmount light fixture for the space that casts tiny rainbows on the walls surrounding it-the tiny entry now feels like another world.

When asked for a favorite quote or words to live by, her response was "Do all things with love."
Hmmn....is that why I love her work?

Laura Fuller, FullerGlass      Laurafullerdesign.com

129 Congress street Portland ME 04101

Designing around children...the 4 legged kind.

Bella and Cole, A (designer) Love Story.

What do you do when you have two friendly, rambunctious dogs and an ambitious remodeling project? Enlist the help of an interior designer who understands both aesthetics and function.

Here are some helpful hints from a project in Orange County, CA.

(Hi, do you have cookies?)

I love using darker grout as it is less likely to show dirt.

Lovely new kitchen, down to the the granite and backsplash. The wood floors, however....

 Are tile! Yes, tile. Those wood floors are tile. They are made in both Italy and China (guess which is cheaper and which is higher quality?Yep). Using this type of type of tile requires a PERFECTLY level floor because we didn't use grout. A good tile installer is a valuable asset and often a rare treasure.
Cole, seen above, likes to swim in the pool and bring all that lovely water inside. The rug sample he is posing on is 100% tufted acrylic. While it looks like wool, it's actually indestrucible, much like the one Bella is modeling below:

Not all man made rugs are the same. Some off gas (which is bad), others at Home Goods fall apart in weeks. If the rug is going to receive high traffic, let a pro guide you. Its worth the extra time to learn. The rug above still looks new (a couple years later).

The "formal" living room is very hard to damage. We added quite a bit of lighting to balance the dark colors. The palette of chocolate, cream, blues, and bronze tied the first floor together.

Formal drapery can also be a challenge with pets and children.

In the dining room we used exquisite faux silk panels. If anyone tries to tell you that silk drapery can be easily cleaned, fire them immeadiately. It is VERY difficult to find a company that can properly dry clean silk. Hence, faux silk which is easier to clean and much harder to get dirty! We did sheer panels that had a chocolate background with blue pattern. Since dogs like to look out the window and protect their domain, accept the fact their fur is going to rub against the fabric-and design around it! Which we did.

The living room drapery was also faux silk. We did pattern on these windows as all the upholstery was solid.

Sit, Bella. Good dog!

Inexpensive Backsplash Solutions-Tips from a Maine Interior Designer

I am often asked about backsplashes-are they really that important? YES. Yes they are. How clean is the wall behind your stove right now? That's what I thought....

Home sellers are often trying to improve on a budget. My #1 recommendation is to use the simple glass tile to update. Several recent home staging clients asked for other ideas,so here are my favorite alternatives:

Bead board/wainscoting, use sparingly!

TIN and painted tin-don't do the fake tin/plastic adhesive tiles, either. Do the real ones they are not expensive. Great improvement on a budget.

The New Normal:Sofas-Tips from a Maine Interior Designer

Last week I worked with a client on space planning a large room. Part of the challenge was the amount of SPACE that large rolled/puffy sofa arms require. Did you know that a track or small arm on a sofa will save you between 12-24 inches of space? Multiply that times the number of upholstered pieces you have in a room...that is how your room got so small. Put your furniture on a diet...

The Griffin Sofa by Ballard Designs will seat just as many people as the larger sofas, but the design itself is why the overall dimensions are smaller (slim arms/back).

The Landon Sofa by Pottery Barn

The last five years has brought about a change in upholstery styles. I am seeing two very defined trends-one celebrates clean, modern lines without sacrificing comfort and tends to be smaller scale, the other incorporates vintage/historic inspired style but less fussy.

Bromeliad Sofa by Fiore Interiors

I was pleasantly surprised by the latest bix box catalogs-Ballard Designs, Pottery Barn, and West Elm. Normally for "big box" stores I head to ZGallerie. Nice to see the rest catching up. The New Normal is now mainstream, ie safe.

Pottery Barn finally got on board with the Chesterfield! I have been blogging about this style sofa for a long time! Catch up  here.

Even the slipcovered look is now more tailored. Solano by Pottery Barn

Your local retailers should have styles similar to the above, in a choice of fabric/leather/configurations. If they don't, email me for advice/direction ( info@fioreinteriors.com)