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Designing Maine: Key to Successful Small Spaces

Designing Maine: Key to Successful Small Spaces: In today’s trends of living green homes and apartments are becoming more and more compact. Rooms are serving as multifunctional spaces. Un...

Key to Successful Small Spaces

In today’s trends of living green homes and apartments are becoming more and more compact.  Rooms are serving as multifunctional spaces.  Unfortunately are desires for stuff doesn’t go hand and hand with our desires to help save the plant. This creates a mental drain on our lives daily as we sort through this stuff to find what we need.

So how do we resolve this dilemma? Our first challenge is to determine which stuff is adding value to our life and which is being a drain on our life making our living space feel much more like our utility or gear shed.  Whether you’re an avid outdoorsman or a book collector you need to first organize your stuff into three categories.  First is the stuff you use in your daily life. Second is the stuff you use at least once a month or seasonally, and finally the stuff if lucky you use once a year.  This can be done by taking an inventory room by room create a list with 4 column the first column is the item the other three are your three categories.  If you find broken items don’t add them to your list put them into a recycling pile and get rid of them immediately.  Create your list and categorize everything you own.

Now you’ve gone through every room of your house including the garage and any storage outside the house you may have the hard part is done. It’s time to go back through room by room and remove anything that is on your rarely used list. If you only use it once a year then there is a really good chance you won’t miss. Give it to a friend or donate it where it can be used. You’ll feel a lot better about getting rid of it this way and it keeps it out of the local land fill.

Now it’s time to evaluate what you have and how to store it. Make sure if the item on your frequently used list is store close to the area it is being used. Other items can be remotely stored in a spare room, basement or garage.  If you do not have room to store these items where they are used, look at you space and how is it used? It is important to keep thing as accessible as possible. Can you add horizontal storage by adding shelves?  Create a space for everything you own that will allow easy access to it. If you have a lot of small items that can go into a basket on a shelf, that gives you a convenient and attractive storage for little of no cost if you own the basket.

Small space can be very livable if you eliminate the unnecessary clutter and organize what you need. If rooms like kitchens are poorly designed you may need to seek professional help, but with stores like Ikea you will find a wealth of storage solutions that will make your closets and rooms more organized and enjoyable.  Small spaces are all about storage and organization!

Designing Maine: 3 Key Steps to Kitchen Space Planning

Designing Maine: 3 Key Steps to Kitchen Space Planning: 3 Key Steps to Kitchen Space Planning Today in a world of supersize we often think bigger is better. When it come to kitchens bigger is n...

Designing Maine: 3 Key Steps to Kitchen Space Planning

Designing Maine: 3 Key Steps to Kitchen Space Planning: 3 Key Steps to Kitchen Space Planning Today in a world of supersize we often think bigger is better. When it come to kitchens bigger is n...

3 Key Steps to Kitchen Space Planning

3 Key Steps to Kitchen Space Planning


Today in a world of supersize we often think bigger is better. When it come to kitchens bigger is not always better. Unless you’re a chef and you have a staff of cooks helping you prepare a meal, a more modest size kitchen will work best when designing a working kitchen.

Key 1: Know how many chefs’ there are in the family. A good rule of thumb if you designing a new kitchen for a family is design it for two people to be in it at any one time. Allow for enough space without being on top of each other, but not too much extra to spear.

Key 2: When designing a kitchen it is very important to create a functioning working triangle. The triangle is from the refrigerator to the stove to the sink and back to the refrigerator. The few steps you are require to take between these appliances the more functional the kitchen will be.

Key 3: Each working area on the points of your working triangle will need layout space for working without taking more than one step to get two it. The sink needs spaces for cleaning fresh fruits and vegetables as well as storing dirty dishes. Counter next to the refrigerator to place thing on so you can open the refrigerator door, and space need to the stove for preparing foods.

If you follow these three key step you will find you kitchen design to be far more successful!

Kitchen Design

Today kitchen are almost single handedly the most expensive rooms in the house. We buy the best appliances, the best cabinets and the best fixtures. The problem is we are so concerned with the best we forget the most important part of good design is function. It’s like baking a cake if you leave out an ingredient, it doesn’t matter how good it looks nobody will like it. Too often kitchens are design by individuals who are only trained how to make the cabinets fit into the space with very little consideration to how and whom it will be used by.  It’s like their building a puzzle with a piece missing. So when it comes to your kitchen make sure you have all your ingredients and or pieces including functionality in your formula as well as form. This way you’ll enjoy the use as much as the beauty!

Designing Maine: Canstruction 2011

Designing Maine: Canstruction 2011: No the title of this blog is not one of my typical spelling errors! Canstruction is a nonprofit group who hold an annual completion’s to rai...

Canstruction 2011

No the title of this blog is not one of my typical spelling errors! Canstruction is a nonprofit group who hold an annual completion’s to raise awareness of the plight of our communities food banks. It’s mission:” To engage, amaze and inspire the community to work together raising canned food to feed hundreds of thousands of hungry people.” This group has reach out to our design communities to submit entries from around the world. The object is to create a sculpture made from cans of food. After the competition the all the cans are donated to a local food bank. For additional information and photo's of the the international awards and a design treat go to: http://www.canstruction.org/photo-gallery/international-competition-winners. All I can say is don’t underestimate the mind of a creative thinker!

Maine’s upcoming Canstruction will be help in Biddeford on October 22 through November 4. The sculptures can be seen throughout the downtown area, with awards being given on October 28. For more information on Maine’s competition check out http://www.feedtheengine.org.

Canstruction is the type of activities that makes helping others a true pleasure!

Designing Maine: Dress your windows for winter!

Designing Maine: Dress your windows for winter!: Summer months are when we strip everything from our windows so we can enjoy our views and the warm summer sun streaming in. But with the col...

Dress your windows for winter!

Summer months are when we strip everything from our windows so we can enjoy our views and the warm summer sun streaming in. But with the cold temperatures creeping back in, it is time to cover up our windows and conserve energy for the winter. I really like cellular blinds they are one of the best for energy savings. Combined them with draperies and you will see a decrease gallons of fuel you burn for the season. Presently cellular blinds still qualify for energy tax rebate making them an even sweeter deal for your pocket book. That being said I like them because they are easily adjustable, which means on those nice sunny winter days you can easily pull them up out of your way and enjoy a little solar gain for the day and easily drop them for the even to conserve energy.

Cellular blinds in my opinion are a win win addition to your home or business. They look great and save energy, so consider dressing your windows for winter.

Designing Maine: To Much of a Good Thing!

Designing Maine: To Much of a Good Thing!: There are very few people today that don’t collect something. We all think if we hold on to our things long enough they will become valuable...

To Much of a Good Thing!

There are very few people today that don’t collect something. We all think if we hold on to our things long enough they will become valuable. And the fact is it just might. So we collect, and we collect, till the collection takes over our spaces and there is no room left for living. If you’re not one of these collectors, I’m willing to bet you know someone who is.

Collections can be a great asset to any space provided it doesn’t take over the space. Having too much clutter no matter what its perceived value is not a good thing. It creates very uncomfortable living environment. Have you ever enjoyed that afternoon stroll through a museum? How relaxing it can be. These are building design to store collections, yet in any good museum the collectables are arranged so each piece can be admired. The space almost seems sparse. The museum curator only displays a small amount of their collections at any one time. This allows you to enjoy the beauty or interest of each piece in a calm and pleasurable manner. The concept we need to bring to our own environments is the same as the museum. To display too much at once takes away from each piece and our brains become very over stimulated to the point they appear to have shut down on us. To fashion spaces at home or work we need to pick and choice what we what to display so we can enjoy these item as well as the space that occupies them.

Our home is our sanctuary the place we go to unwind from a long day at work. If you’ve had a bad day at work you don’t want to come home to an over stimulating environment where you can’t relax, unwind and enjoy the company of your family. Remember to much of a good thing is no longer a good thing.

Designing Maine: What’s behind the Home trends for 2011?

Designing Maine: What’s behind the Home trends for 2011?:  The Joy of Small Houses_ Businessweek  This year’s home trends have been for smaller, greener, and more urban homes. Why, might you ...

What’s behind the Home trends for 2011?



The Joy of Small Houses_ Businessweek



This year’s home trends have been for smaller, greener, and more urban homes. Why, might you ask? Smaller home are more efficient and take up less natural and manmade resources. This is good for the environment today and into the future as they continue to use fewer resources, such as fossil fuel to heat and cool the house. But there are other small impacts we don’t often hear about with a smaller homes, they take less chemical to clean it, less paint, and maintenance to maintain it and so forth. These small changes add up in a big way over time, so little thing when done by the masses can have a big impact.

Green trends continue to grow and will continue beyond 2011 as the world continues to learn that working with the environment is better for both the environment and all living creatures within it. The study of Biometrics has taught us what nature has already figured out. While in life we need checks and balances for sustainability. The green trend will continue to grow as we learn through these studies of natural how to better create sustainability.

Much like most ancient societies we are rediscovering the benefits of urban centers. The close proximity of living spaces brings down the cost of transportation, reducing the consumption of fossil fuels. It improves our psychical health as the most convenient mode of transportation becomes walking. And most importantly it leaves our country side for farming and wildlife, but which is critical for our existence in life. So once again our trends are good for both our health and our environment.

Time will tell if we can continue this positive trend into the future, but if we each take steps forward to educate ourselves and learn how the benefits out weight the inconveniences of changing old habits, we will be rewarded with a healthier life and environment.

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.