Hourglass Design

As a kid nothing got me more excited than, the sound of furniture being dragged around the house, along with the scent of warm punch in the air, and the bright white light bulbs being exchanged for funky orange ones.

It could only mean, one thing, my parents were ready to throw a PARTY!

I love parties, events, gallery openings, and nice dinners at home. They always hold the promise of excitement, change, and right out fun. How does all this tie into a design blog? Well, pretty much, everything. Well executed events are throughly planned, thought about, and because they only "live" on borrowed time, every detail counts.

Most of my friends who enjoy our parties, think I should switch gears and cross over into the event planning world. I think the stress alone would just kill me. I honestly really don't know how event planners do it, and I have tremendous admiration to event planners who pull off a successful party.

So what goes into a successful event? I'm not really sure what would be the right recipe. It's an intuitive process with so many variables. Usually I break it down to what I know how to do. I know how to design, and the details and effort that go into a good design project, can be transferred into planning and creating successful events. The process for me starts with the space, and what I would like that certain space to become. Even a home can turn into a chic launch party site (as I have proven this weekend*).

Photo credit // Asaf Sinay

Like with office design, I have to think about the movement and interaction of the people in the space. What would be the first thing a person walking in would see, or what I would call the WOW factor, a centrally located element in the space, that can become a ice-breaker in the first few minutes, (art work is usually a good start). The flow and movement in a space has to be clear; where does one hang a coat, grab a drink or snack, stands or sits during in the event.

Like in any space, lighting is crucial, it has to be prefect (candles are always my to-go-to option), not too dim not to bright, but enough to create an almost hazy atmosphere, kind of like the color of a sunset, the hour of change. Fresh cut flowers always add a touch of high end festivities like no other prop can.

Smell is a key element of an event, you don't want your party smelling like a cheap candle store, so it's worth while investing in one expensive candle that will give the event that little extra air of allure. When food is served, the smell of it when first entering a space can be off putting, opening a small crack in the window helps too.

It's hard to figure out what people like to listen to. I guess that really depends what the goal of the event is, and who the crowd is. A playlist is a good option for the start of an event, but I have found that being flexible and asking friends to plug in their devices too, is a great way of making a person feel welcome and part of the party.

Lastly It's hard to leave and say goodbye, a small thing to take home is a great keepsake that allows for your party some extra sand grains in the hourglass.

*This weekend I helped launch Spatter click on the link to see more photos from that event

Design as a Universal Language

At one of my first reviews at MassArt  the first comment I got was, why did I pin-up my process the wrong way. You see I'm a native Hebrew speaker, I write from right to left, my starting point is the end of your process - or is it? My mother tongue is English so right away I knew what my reviewer had meant, and it made me smile.

I came to think about that review after listening this week to a great talk by Oded Ezer . Aside from the mind blowing approach to typography, what was intriguing to me was the fact many of the examples Ezer brought were in Hebrew. At first, this was unsettling to me, the instinct being to try and translate it to the Americans in the audience. But once that feeling subsided what I came to realize was how amazing it was that we as humans can communicate through design regardless of what language we speak. If you ever picked up a design magazine in a foreign language, you'd still get the gist of it.

Design works with some of the most basic, and universal foundations, balance, color, light, texture. It is a powerful tool that at the wrong hands can be used to oppress people, as it was used in countries under the communist regime. And yet achieving the right mix of these elements require a process of trail and error, a conversation of sorts between these elements.

Photo credit // Emily Neumann 

When something clicks in a space we "get it" feel happy and good. When something is wrong we feel uncomfortable and irritable (messy rooms are a good example). We owe it to ourselves to get better design around us, so we can become free of the visual assaults that create so much negative "noise" in spaces we use all the time.

Designers are translators of these basic elements into the world. Though universal the language of design is intricate, and like any other language requires rigorous practice. I doubt that you would solely trust business correspondence to Google translate, there is no reason why your office or home design be left at the hands of people without the proper language skills.

Attention to Intention

Many a times the approach to design is almost haphazard. I can't even begin to count the frantic phone calls I get from people who "just" need someone to pick their color, or help the contractor with the tiles. I usually reject these projects. Not that I think it's a bad thing to do - but like everything in life, timing is everything.

Same as you don't expect the musician to go on stage and "just" wing it with a complex musical piece, or eat at your kids "just" opened restaurant. You can't expect a designer to "just" figure it out on the spot, or fix it of for you. Design is a thoughtful and interact process. Yes is seems easy on HGTV, but have no illusion these are highly professional designers that have worked endless hours hunched over studio tables .The fact that the final results (though not always my taste) looks so easy, is all the more to their credit.

Elegant and simple solutions call for a backing of education, thoughts, ideas, experience, and a lot of listening, they don't just get pulled out of a hat. When starting the work of design a lot of effort goes into listening, and my main question would be - what's the intention? Not in a programatic practical way of - this is the entry way to the office. But in the deeper sense of what does this space mean to you and your company? Is it the place where you dump your coats in the morning, or is it the 'welcome' wagon for new employees, potential clients? Figuring out what the intention is sometimes like breaking a code of sorts. Yes there is the functionality of a space but how it reads to the people who engage in it, that is a whole other story. As a designer you need to articulate a client's intentions and many projects are lost, or become frustrating to both parties when these intentions are not made clear enough, or when there is no time to figure them out.

No corner was left unturned. Photo credit Emily Neumann 

A few years ago I worked with a super particular client who demanded a lot of attention to the seemingly minuet detail of "is it easy to clean?". It drove me crazy (and trust me I like my granite polished like a mirror all hours of the day). I mean here was a person that could certainly afford some help in cleaning. But the more I got to think about it, the more sense it made to me in a Feng-Shui kind of way. 

Her words were a call for Attention to Intention - yes getting the next glamours tile is awesome, but if it can't be cleaned properly it will look dull and tacky. Every corner of that project had to be throughly thought out, you couldn't just place a plant to hide a dust filled corner. And with a historical building in Boston, figuring out how to round the corners and make the floor level, made for an extremely intense project. Turned out to be a successful project, mainly because the intention was always communicated and thought about clearly and thoroughly.

Color Splash*

As a designer nothing daunts me more then picking a color for my own home. I find it paralyzing, as if the color choice I make will reflect poorly on me, or worse off, on my design skills. My home is my portfolio, right? And have you ever seen how many choices there are out there? I assume most people feel like this when faced with the option of picking a color (well, minus “my home is my portfolio” bit). I’m hoping my technique for picking a color will make for an easier, less paralyzing process. I am, after all, a trained designer.

The first thing to think about is, what is color? That question can be answered in so many ways but I feel a talk I have heard from Beau Lotto sums it up in the most interesting way.

After defining what color is to you, try and make good use of all the furniture catalogs that are mailed to your home. Flip through them and mark off rooms that look like one of what you would define as you dream room. Take photos of color in spaces that you like: store fronts, restaurants, hotel lobbies, flower arrangements, in short any color that catches your eye. Then put these snippets in the space you wish to paint, I would print these out, color on a computer/smartphone screen will not reflect how the color will look like outside the virtual world.

At this point you basically narrowed down the color spectrum that appeals to you, and are ready to go to your local hardware store to look at some color fans. There are so many good companies around, but from experience in Massachusetts most contractors will lean towards using Benjamin Moore Paints I have used them in the past, and was pleased with their  huge selection and quality of paint. It mainly boils down to how much money you are willing to spend on a gallon of paint. In some cases the difference between paint companies would be in how vibrant the color is, how many coats of color will be need to be applied to get the desired color effect, and how fast the color will fade. Another thing to consider is how many toxic fumes are expelled while applying the color or what is called VOC , the use of lead based paint is illegal, I like going with the zero VOC paints. Lastly you’ll need to figure out what kind of finish you would like (or in layperson terms how shiny will the color look). Most walls in dry rooms (i.e. not your bathroom) will receive  an Eggshell finish, window trims, door frames, and baseboards will be in Satin.

Before buying gallons of paint get some samples painted on wall surfaces of the room. If you are painting a house, paint in different rooms to see how the color looks like. I have used one color in my own house that looks like 3-4 different shades, this depends on the time of day or amount of light that hits a certain wall. I urge you not to rush the process in order for you to truly understand what you like you need to train your eye and mind, these things take time.

Try using the same color batch, as there might be some slight variations of color, and you want to get the exact tone and shade of color in the room. 

Enjoy the process and play around with colors it’s one of the easiest and most impacting changes you can add to a room or house. And like the fickly weather in New England, if you don’t like the color – change it!

*This post was originally published 5/9/2012 <http://bostonrealestateblog.bushari.com/color-splash.htm>

Heart of the Home

After buying a house, investing in replacing the roof, heating system and wiring most people turn into their kitchens.

Photo Credit // Emily Neuman

So many has been written about kitchens, and how to remodel on a shoe string budget, that you'll excuse me if I stop myself here. Kitchens like humans are one of the most complex spaces to work on. The concept of having fire and water along side electricity to play with is hard enough. Add to the mix political and emotional baggage kitchens evoke in us, and the picture gets murkier, (and you thought that getting the newest cabinet look is all you had to deal with).

The famous Swiss-French Architect Le Corbusier coined the term "A house is a machine for living in", these words ring especially true when it comes the kitchen.

Kitchens are live beings, they require so much thought and detail it can be exhausting, and like baking they require precise measurements (miss an inch on the counter height and you'll feel it in your neck and shoulders).

That is why when IKEA recently announced they were coming out with a new kitchen cabinet system I needed to go on a walk and get some air. Yes many contractors will try to stir you away from IKEA systems I'm not taking on that argument. But we can't ignore the fact that  IKEA marks the changing attitudes towards kitchen design, especially in the US. Gone are the days of Oak and Taupe let in some bright yellow hues, bold textures, graphics and clean lines.

Contemporary kitchen meets a house from the 1700's

To me a kitchen is the heart of the home, and I treat it as yet another member of the family.

It is where things get messy, then clean, where creativity is always present (yes even grilled cheese sandwiches need a little flair), it is the meeting point of all members of the household, it is how we get nourished.

My approach to kitchen design is done with the at most respect to the home in which it goes into. It requires understanding how you cook (if you cook), how you move around the kitchen as a family or individual, do you want your kitchen to be out of sight or an integral part of your home.

The main point is there are many trends out there, they tend to not only dictate the color and shape of the cabinet they also, in a way, change our attitudes in how we react and move in a space. I can't promise they will improve the cooking though.