Designing Maine: Planning for Mother Nature

Designing Maine: Planning for Mother Nature: When planning your next design project take a close look around and remember that it is sometimes wise to do a little pre planning. Someti...

Planning for Mother Nature

When planning your next design project take a close look around and remember that it is sometimes wise to do a little pre planning.  Sometime we can prevent a lot of hardships when we work with Mother Nature. This photo shows that Mother Nature is in control. This cabinet has only flooded once before, the last flood was less than 20 years ago. It was a 100 year flood, so why is it here again 80 years early. Fortunately during the last renovation the cabinet was jacked up. This time the floor inside stayed dry. The new plan is to raise it a bit higher just in case Mother Nature gets any funny ideas in the future. Planning for the unexpected is difficult, but can help reduce future stress!

Designing Maine: 3 Key steps in Space Planning 101

Designing Maine: 3 Key steps in Space Planning 101: 3 key steps for good space planning before you start your next renovation project. Space Planning is not a difficult process, but can be cha...

3 Key steps in Space Planning 101

3 key steps for good space planning before you start your next renovation project. Space Planning is not a difficult process, but can be challenging for those who are not intuitively visual, so here are 3 key steps to help you stay on track of achieving your design goals.

Step #1-Organization: Take a good look and inventory your belongings. Ask yourself the following questions about each item on your inventory list.

•   What do you use? How often do you use it? 
• Where do you use? Store it in the house and what room or in the garage?
• What don’t you use? Can I get rid of it?
• Clutter is one of the biggest sabotages of a good home renovation project. Your home needs to work with you and your life style so you should design it around that life style.

Step #2-Mastering Planning: You should be using your list from step #1. This is when you need to figure out if the room your needs. You should evaluate the whole house even if your plan is only to renovate one room.

• Proximity is a key element to the master planning step of a renovation project so think about the adjacencies of rooms. Is it convenient to have these spaces next to each other or is this a good time to make improvements. It could be the coat close is not located near your primary entrance; this typically results in outer wear being tossed on the first horizontal surface you come to. It does matter how beautiful your house is if it’s buried under a pile of debris. I think you get my point. If you look at how the whole house functions before you start you renovation you can save thousands of dollars in unnecessary redo work when you go to do you next renovation.  
• Sizing up your space. Does the room have too much or too little space for its intended function? Working though your planning process does mean you need a major renovation it could mean just changing or swapping how you use a space or even just replacing a piece of furniture to one that is better suited to your need.  Make sure you can easily move around your furniture. 
• Keep it simple. Always look for the simple solutions first, they you can get more drastic if need be. With the green design trends larger homes are not in fashion and making your home large does not mean it will be worth more money when go to sell it. A small more functional home is a much better investment.

Step # 3- Implementation: Now you’ve have your master plan sit down prioritize the work in a manner that is most logical and will minimize rework on future project. If you’re not doing the construction I strongly suggest you talk to your contractor(s) on which room you should attack first. You may have personal desires of what you’d like to get done first so make sure those desirer are weighed to the scheduling process before the implementation begins.

This process may change everything you planned, but rest assured that you will save money and have a much nicer end result with a home that supports you and your family’s life style. Making a house look good is easy, but creating a supportive living environment is what quality design is all about.

Understanding Color

Color is an import part of interior design so it is import to know and understand color. In Feng Shui the color peach is symbolic of long life, making it a great color to have sprinkled around your home. The pedals of peaches are thought to cast romantic spells on men making it a good color to add to a bedroom, if you’re single and trying to attract romance. Yet once in a committed relationship peach is considered to be the color of infidelity.  It may over stimulate your partner so it presence should be minimized in the master bed room.  As you can see colors can be a double edge sword when you only partially understand its meaning so when chosing colors for your home do a little research first. Keep in mind that meanings can change from culture to culture.  

Withstanding the test of time

Frank Lloyd Wright is one of America’s most famous architects, but his legacy isn’t standing up to the test of time. The maintenance on a Frank Lloyd Wright estate is such that if it didn’t have his name attached to it, we’d tear it down in a heartbeat due to the expenses. What he did give us is an appreciation of how to make our homes and buildings embrace nature, which has become so important in this era of green design. If you’re planning a new home design and going for that organic look and feel, make sure you ask your designer some tough questions about how he will design it for the test of time. Too often our great designers are more interested in the impact statement of today and forget about the future, which is what true green design is about!