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Welcome to my blog page.  I regularly like to share interesting design ideas that I come across or devise myself.  If you are on my email list, you will be e-mailed when I post new items.  Please feel free to write me as well with questions or your own thoughts and I will reply when I can.  Sometimes I will post my responses on here as well.

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Thanks,

David

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4/14/2020

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Hey everyone, hope you are all physically & mentally healthy.  Get ready here goes my Coronavirus home design tip number three.  Today I want to talk about what’s inside your kitchen cabinets. 

Hey everyone, hope you are all healthy and safe at home.  So here goes my next Coronavirus at home design tip.  Today I want to talk about cabinetry.  No not new cabinetry but what goes inside.  Specifically, inside your kitchen cabinets.  I find that most of us tend to let our stuff in our cabinets get messy and over time it gets cluttered and disorganized.  Let’s be honest, how many of us always stack our dishes in matching order and don’t get me started about the silverware draw, LOL.

So here is the plan:

     Empty everything out all your cabinets.  Tip: wipe down items as you remove.  If space it tight, just spread everything all over the floor.  The idea is to see what you got.  Don’t worry, you will have lots of time to clean everything up, trust me.

     Now clean all the insides of the cabinets.  If you are one of the lucky people who still has antibiotic cleaner all the better. 

     Ok now time to reorganize.  First, examine what you have and make a mental note what you use most and want easily accessible.  You will likely find all sorts of stuff you didn’t even know you had; I did.  You may want to write a list if you are absent minded like me.  Then take items you rarely use and leave them aside to store elsewhere and free up your space.  We are all keeping more food in cabinets than usual, so space is important.  Finally take items you never use and toss them.  If you can hold somewhere until a time you can donate, all the better. 

     Now put items back.  I suggest switching things around a bit, IE: maybe put dishes where you had glasses, etc.  This will give you a feeling of change which we all need right about not!  Follow same tip I suggested in my refrigerator blog to make a list of where food is so you can easily find items far in back.  Do a separate list for each cabinet with food and tape it to the inside of the door.  This will be a good reference for shopping as well. 

     That’s all folks.  Enjoy your new organized changed space and cook a great Homemade Meal.  Send me pics. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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4/08/2020

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Ok here goes my second Coronavirus home design tip.  Well sort of, LOL.  In my opinion design comes in many shapes and forms and today I want to talk about your refrigerator.  Oh, and freezer of course.  So, if you are like me, you ran out and bought all sorts of foods to be sure you have what you need in this time without really thinking about there it would go.  I myself way overstuffed my refrigerator & freezer.  Before I knew it, everything was falling out and I couldn’t find anything I was looking for.  Of course, I threw a tantrum blaming the Coronavirus. 

No more of this.  I used my designing mind and came up with a plan.  Ok se here is a step by step list of what I did, you will love the results:

  • Empty shelves a few at a time & clean them.  If you are like my you may find open and spilled items, icky.

  • Throw out items that are empty or bay be past fresh dates.

  • Wrap open items, I find rubber bands, large paperclips, food storage bags & canisters can all work to keep food organized & from spilling.

  • Before you put anything back, think about what you use most and keep those items towards the front.  I decided to separate by category IE: beverages together, etc.  Or you can be creative and place by color, LOL but may not be practical. 

  • BIG SUGGESTION: get a pad and make a list of items you are putting where you may not easily see and note here you are placing it.  You will be thanking me next week when you have no idea where it is and check your list, Da.  I may be saving you from going hungry, LOL. 

OK we are done your Refrigerator/Freezer is ready to enjoy.  If is such a great feeling to open the doors and see a clean organized space.  For my it is uplifting.  We may not be able to control much these days but little things like this can give us a feeling out some control, It did for me.  I found lots of yummy food I had no idea I even had to boot.

Lastly, remember to keep wiping down the outside too.  Keep it clean & pretty.  Please be safe & if you like my tip share it.  David

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4/05/20

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Ok I know I haven't blogged in years.  Life gets busy and blogs takes second fiddle to real time, until now anyway.  If you are reading this within a short time of my posting, you surely know what I am referring to.  It is not Coronavirus time, not to be confused with Miller time.  We must keep our sense of humor in these difficult times.  Hopefully you will be reading this in the future when this entire time is just a horrific memory.  In the meantime, I am trying to think up ways I can help with what I know best while stuck at home like most of you.  Design of course!

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Ok so here goes my first Coronavirus stay at home design tip.  So Home Sweet Home can quickly turn into Home Boring Home.  How about a little rearrangement of your stuff to bring some fresh vibe to your mindset?  Move your furniture around and try different arrangements.  There is no right or wrong here, just move things around till you get a good feeling.  If not sure, keep it for a day, it may grow on you or if not move your stuff again.  After all there is plenty of time to try all sorts of configurations.  Few of my specific tips are to: Try positioning seating to you view different directions that you are used to for a completely different perspective; be sure not to try and move very heavy items by yourself.  Last thing you need now to get hurt now☹; if you have a tight space & don’t think there are options, you can still shake things up a bit but switching around your accessories and artwork; if you try my suggestions and are happy with the results, I would love to see; most of all, stay home, be safe, enjoy your surroundings 😊

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Also, feel free to contact me anytime with design questions, thoughts or to share a virtual cup of coffee and chat.

 

 

8-18-16

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Positioning your stuff,

Last blog I talked about stuff and pairing it down.  Today I will share my ideas of some of the best ways to showcase all this stuff without feeling cluttered.  Ok so the biggest reason for a cluttered look and feel is that most people scatter their stuff all over the place.  Now here is my trick to not only unclutter your space but to actually make your stuff stand out and make a statement.  It is all about the positioning.  Group items close together and leave large gaps and spaces between groupings.  Here are a couple of examples; if you have a lot of wall art, don’t hang them scattered around but group them tightly together and leave large uncovered wall areas on your walls before starting another group.  Also it you have any larger piece of art, hang this alone separate from smaller groupings.  Smaller items too close to a large piece will deter from it and make it feel cluttered.  This rule of thumb holds true for any other decorative item as well.  Your result to all of this will be to create focal point areas that will highlight your stuff and the open areas in between will actually unclutter the space by reference.  So don’t be afraid to enjoy all your stuff even if you have a lot.  Position it well and enjoy it.

 

Till next time,

David

 

 

7-20-16

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Clutter it up,

 

If you are like most of us, you probably have collected a lot of stuff over time and find it may be overtaking your space.  I would like to talk about this stuff today, particularly your decorative stuff.  Many people think that too much stuff is bad and you should just get rid of it.  There is some truth to this but not completely.  Here is my opinion; go through all your stuff and separate it into three categories; 1- love it and want it displayed in your home – keep it; 2- really don’t care much about it then get rid of it now; don’t love it but can’t part with it for personal reasons – store it away for the moment, anyway. 

Ok, now that you have pared down your stuff, it is time to arrange it.  This will be the topic of my next blog.  They say to keep them hanging.  Not that this is much of a cliffhanger, lol. 

Thanks for reading,

David

 

 

6-22-16

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It’s funny, I’m usually full of thoughts and ideas but not that I’m on the spot I feel a bit stumped, LOL.  I want my first blog to be so profound yet I guess this is unlikely and this will be the topic of my first blog.  I have a design term that I like to use and it is, “By Reference”!  I believe this statement to be profound in itself and this concept actually relates to every facet of all our lives.  Let me elaborate. 

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Think about your life, your likes, dislikes, your taste, style, favorite color and on and on and on.  There is always one common denominator; It is how we usually chose what we like and especially what we like best compared to something we don’t like as much, IE: by reference.  Most, if not all of everything we know is learned and without realizing it, we are making decisions and choices by reference to things we have either learned or observed.  This holds so true for design.  Think about it.  Say you find a sofa and love the way it looks.  You already learned what a sofa is and have likely seen many other sofas before for reference.  Without reference, you likely would not love that sofa at all and not even know what it was, LOL.  We all have a favorite color.  We chose colors we like by reference to other colors.  Let’s talk comfort.  Imagine that favorite soft comfy chair.  If every chair felt the same to us, we wouldn’t know what was more comfortable.  I think you get my drift.

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Ok so I get a but philosophical.  Now here is the interesting part.  Knowing that we all judge what we prefer by reference, let’s take this to the next level.  The next design level that is!   In any given environment there are many different items involved.  There are colors, textures, amount of light, feel to touch and the list goes on…  Now not only are we creating our own impression of every one of these items by reference but also how each and every item refers to each other.  Am I blowing your mind yet?  To compound this, we all perceive things uniquely different, LOL, but true. 

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So now that I have your head spinning, let me tell you what this all means to me as a designer.  I believe that the creation of any great design is born out of reference and balance of reference.  In layman’s terms, it is not just about filling a space with fabulous items but how they are paired through a space.  If something is impactful standing alone, it will be that much more impactful in contrast to other items that may enhance it.  Here is an example.  Put a white sofa against a white wall and it can be a gorgeous sofa but the wall will drown it out.  Now paint the wall black and wow will that sofa pop.  It is by reference! 

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Ok so before I turn my first blog into a small book and you all loose interest, I will stop and leave you with this; Next time you like anything, step back and ask yourself why you like it and you may find yourself on an interesting mental journey. 

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Till next time,

David

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