Interior Design Lighting Tips

Many people look forward to redesigning various rooms in their house or apartment. Whether it be a simple remodel, revamping, or rearranging, it can always be fun and beneficial, especially for the individual who enjoys a change of scenery every once in a while.

One thing to remember when doing this however is lighting. Ever wonder why so many catalogs with various luxurious furniture always look so great in those rooms? Yes, they are expensive, but also coexist with the correct amount of lighting in different areas to make the furniture shine at its best. It's seeing a picture of a great furniture set up in a catalog and purchasing it, bringing it home, and setting it up, soon realizing it doesn't look half as great as it did in the catalog. Here are some tips to make your furniture set look just as good, or even than those in the high end catalogs, with the use of lighting.

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1. Place or expand windows to let more light into darker corners. This greatly opens up the room and allows it to feel more "airy" and open.

2. Determine where the most exposure of light is. For example which direction the sun rises and sets in relation to the windows in the house.

3. Arrange your furniture so as much of it gets in contact with the natural light. When sunlight hits furniture it tends to reveal its more natural vibrant colors.

4. Shine artificial lights towards the ceiling. This causes it to bounce off and produce a softer more pleasant light.

5. Add art glass or grilles to your windows for different effects of lighting.

6. See where you can add door/window combinations. This is a unique way of bringing in light in certain, unexpected areas.

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Adding natural light to your house also carries health benefits. Sunshine and vibrant colors tend to brighten people's moods, as opposed to dark, ominous rooms. This may lead to mood swings, depression, or seasonal affective disorder.

Best of luck on your interior design endeavors!

Asian Inspired Interior Designs

Asian designs are becoming increasingly popular in the western culture. Many interior designs and furniture ideas are being transfused with western modern and contemporary product lines. More and more, we are seeing Asian inspired designs in hotels, restaurants, and home furnishings.


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In Chinese design and furniture there are many prominent uses of bold colors. One of the most popular is the color red. In Chinese culture, red stands for good luck, which is the reason why there are an array of red colors mixed with other vibrant tones. Many other interior design and furniture attributes include darker wood tones and finishes on their furniture. This is usually complimented with a intricately carved design.

Another Asian inspired style is the Japanese style. Leaning more towards simplicity, the Japanese style consists of a clean simple look with natural colors. Instead of chairs the Japanese use traditional cushion like pillows on the floor for dining and relaxing. They also use elegant floor mats that are made out of straw. These simple inspired designs are often used towards modern and contemporary designs striving for minimalism.


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Many contemporary and modern designers are sprouting out of the surface in many urban places such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York. Hopefully we will get to see more of these two cultures in different contemporary designs more frequently

Eco Evolution

Many hotels focus tremendously on interior design. The positioning of certain furniture, lighting, color schemes, are all part of a huge master equation that will fit into the culture, look, and feel of the hotel. For most hotels this process becomes expensive when new trends or styles replace the older ones, and because the contemporary design world is always fast paced, this becomes financially taxing on keeping up with current trends.

Luckily, a company called Eco Evolution has created a system to go green as well as save the hoteliers tons of money. Eco Evolution takes the carpet from hotels and "recycles them," and can create new designs and patterns, as well as make your carpet look new again. Most hotels would have to buy new carpet if they wanted to keep up with current trends, but with Eco Evolution, hoteliers can replace it when they want for a fraction of the cost. I feel like this might revolutionize the industry as a whole, offering to almost "reincarnate" items.

I feel like going green in this industry is a perfect idea. Due to the ever changing pace of the design industry, many materials, energy, time, and money is spent on creating new things. With this new technique in place, that money can be allocated towards more important things. I feel like hotels can benefit greatly from this kind of product and company.

This may also be great for household use, as many people would want to change the color, style, design, or even just want a new carpet to rid the stains and wear and tear that the current one is burdened with.

All in all this product is great and helps businesses in this current economic climate.

2010 Hotel Trends

What is the number one reason why people stay at a hotel? Most of the time it is because they are staying in the area for a vacation. They're either hoping to relax or escape the realities of their world at home which are full of cell phones, computers, work, and the stress that comes with it all.


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So the end solution to the equation is, a hotel guest is looking for fun. Many hotels are catching on to this and creating an environment that is not entirely filled models scattered between a number of high class bars and restaurants, but a more simple type of fun. Many hotels are starting to open up avenue's of different kinds of fun that many hotel guests can enjoy that aren't so taxing to your wallet. Games like Xbox, Wii, ping pong, bingo, and sometimes even relaxing Sunday games such as Chess or Scrabble. Not only this, but many hotels are scaling down the restaurants they are opening up to more affordable food that still maintains a decent quality. Keeping some of these open twenty-four-seven, hotel guests don't have to worry about when room service closes, or going out of their way to find food outside of the hotel after certain hours.


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I think this idea is genius. Many hotels feel their standard of luxury must be at its highest for guests to enjoy it. The truth of the matter is not everyone is looking for the same kind of fun, and a hybrid mix of high class bars and restaurants with simple fun would be the perfect combination for hotels. It would cover a range of demographics, as well as be less taxing on wallets, especially in this economic downtime.

Benefits of New Hotels

In almost any city you visit now days, there is always some sort of hotel or motel available, and most of the time it is in the heart of the city. It makes perfect sense to have a hotel in a city. It is great for tourism, and people that are visiting are also in need of a place to stay. But hotels serve a much greater purpose and bring in much more revenue than just a roof over your head, some fancy places, and nice furniture.

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In Columbus Ohio, much hype and excitement is being built up for the New Hilton Hotel that will be placed in the downtown area of Columbus. When a hotel is put into place in a city, it is not merely the owner of the hotel that works on the project, but a collective collaborative effort of the city, its owners, and the developers. This is because once the hotel is in place, it will bring an immense amount of revenue to the city.

The first way is it will attract more tourism. The more vacant rooms a city has to offer for visiting guests, the more it will open up the field up to many different tourism possibilities.

Most hotels have a few large rooms used for banquets, events and things of that nature. By having these available to the city, many businesses, schools, and city functions can be held there to stimulate business using the hotel as a venue.

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The city will also benefit from this by opening up so many more jobs. With a hotel comes jobs like reception, catering, management, cleaning, maintenance and much more. The hotel will also need to hire companies to install all the room necessities, including bathroom, furniture, and hospitality supplies. This will definitely stimulate the economy and generate large amounts of revenue through the opening of one hotel.

Updating Hotels in this Economic Climate

As mentioned in the previous post, right now is the best time to invest in electronic renovation. As much as furniture, design, and upholstery are all great, they’re too expensive to renovate right now correct? Wrong.

According to recent hotel articles and posts, right now it is the BEST time to invest in things such as hotel furniture, case goods, and upholstery as well. Why? Because of the economic climate.

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Right now nobody is really making any money, and the first thing the economy hits when it plummets is hospitality. Things like hotels, restaurants, and services. People cut back on these luxuries to save money. Instead of vacationing, they spend those hours working for more money. Instead of going out to eat in restaurants and feeding money back into the economy, they go grocery shopping in attempts to save as much money as they can.

Then the economy starts hitting other highways of businesses. One of these businesses is eventually the makers of hotel furniture, hospitality furniture, and businesses of that nature. Because of this, they lower their prices and thus, making it “more affordable” for the hospitality industry to afford these new renovations.

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The factor that offsets this entire scheme is the fact that many businesses right now say they cannot afford to renovate. They say that they cannot afford to spend money on revamping their business right now. That makes sense right? Why would you spend money upgrading your hotel when its barely floating on the revenue stream you are getting from just being in business? My answer to that is how can you afford not to. With prices lower than they have been in a while, and giving your business an opportunity to catch up to the rest of the hospitality leaders, while giving your business a huge temporary competitive advantage, the investment might pay for itself.

Future of Hotel Renovations

It seems that within the hospitality industry many renovations are being in progress. During many hotel conferences and expos, renovation talk have been circling around panels and forums.

Many hotel businesses had design wars such as furniture, beds, and bathrooms. They all compete on the best designs, level of comfort, and efficiency. Renovations are usually highly expensive due to the changing out of many expensive furniture pieces, redoing bathrooms and design. However a new wave of renovations have hit the hotel industry.

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Technology. It has swept the nations hospitality industry. I usually visit hotels from time to time, and the other weekend I ventured out from my modest home in southern California to Las Vegas, Nevada. Las Vegas, known for its high end expensive hotels, never ending night life, and casinos, had to have the latest in hotel technology, however I was thoroughly impressed with not only the interior designing, furniture, but also the upgraded technology I had not remembered in my last visit to a hotel.

At my stay, there was a bedside electronic control panel. This would control things such as the curtain, lights in every room, the room temperature, the television, and bathroom functions, all from a control panel from the bedside! Laying in bed, I could draw the shades, shut the bathroom lights, turn the television on and browse channels while I dim the lights next to my bed. This eliminated the hassle of having to get out of your comfy bed in your pajamas and manually executing these things. Highly impressed, I realized the truth in hotels renovating their electronic components as well.

I feel like not only with exceptional furniture and design, but technology the hospitality industry just opened up a new chapter in the history books.

Great Modern Furniture

Some great modern furniture ideas and designs!

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Buying White Furniture

Purchasing furniture is usually a pretty hefty investment. You want to be able to buy it with the confidence that it will fit well in your home, as well as serve its purpose. Whether you are a single bachelor with a two bedroom apartment, or a family living in a suburban house, buying furniture is usually a big deal, and there are many factors to consider, especially if the furniture is white.

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White furniture is usually deemed stylish and contemporary. If you own a piece of white furniture, it usually stands out whenever someone enters your home or room. This is also true with white office furniture. If you add more things on it such as pillows, bold colors such as bright reds, blacks, and blue’s can make the piece of furniture look even more stylish and modern. White furniture also can match anything, from hardwood floors made of bamboo, textiles, or carpet. It is difficult to have a non aesthetically pleasing room with white furniture.

White furniture also opens and brightens up a room. The color scheme creates an illusion of openness and space, as opposed to darker colors. Dark colors seem to portray the illusion that it takes up more space than it actually does.

A downside to owning white furniture, however, is that it can become dirty very quickly. Any dirt or marks can rub off on any material and appear very easily, especially on a white canvased piece of furniture. This becomes detrimental if you have children. The white furniture is just waiting to be masked with an array of crayons, markers, and dirt from your backyard.

Whatever your circumstance is however, white furniture looks great in any setting, and will surely impress your house guests.

Office Furniture and Productivity

Believe it or not, your office furniture plays an enormous role in your productivity in the office. The human body is not meant to sit in front of a computer screen eight to ten hours a day, and whether you have the right office furniture for your body or not can make a huge difference in the amount of comfort you will have throughout the day. Although many corporate offices must adhere to a certain formality in the way their offices and cubicles must be structured, it is always best to have a customized office that suits your needs and is optimized to assist you perform at your best.

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A huge factor in your comfort and productivity is your chair. The ability to adjust and rotate your chair adds to the comfort and thus, longer hours sitting in front of your desk. As cheap as chairs can get, some go for as much as $1,500! When you think about it though, if your spending forty to sixty hours a week in these chairs, you might as well make it comfortable enough.

Another factor that increases productivity is your work space environment as a whole. Creating a clean, neat environment assists you in staying organized and on top of your tasks. You want a workspace that will make you want to get things done. Having a sleek, nice looking office has been proven to help do just that. Many contemporary office designs also include modern office furniture, which also brings an inviting, professional setting for guests as well when they enter.

Having an uncluttered desk is always a huge plus when having an office. Many desks such as the U or L shaped desks have become quite popular in office furniture. They allow an appropriate amount of space to be used for many things and your computer!

All in all, your office furniture and the way it is designed can help you in productivity while keeping you as comfortable as possible.

Office Furniture Feng Shui

Whether it be a home based office, or an office in a corporate setting, the energy and arrangement of your office furniture can play a great deal in your work flow and energy. Arranging your office furniture in different places can lead to a healthier mental state for working and the best efficiency. This is useful especially if you spend many slaving hours in your office.

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Your work desk should be positioned as far away from your bedroom as possible if you are working from home. You want to have as much of a disconnect with the stress from work and your personal life. You don't want to bring the burdens of your work into your fun!

You also want to position your desk so that your back is not facing the door. You want to be able to see the people passing by or coming in to talk to you. Always open to business! You also want to try your best to keep your desk away from facing any walls.

In Feng Shui, metal is a water element. All metal office furniture should be placed facing north. This is because you want your efforts to represent you going forward, not backwards. Any metal also placed in the south is a negative energy, represented by fire. Furniture in the north should also be related to work.

Try to keep the lighting in the room as natural as possible. Avoid using florescent lighting and overhead lighting. If possible it is best to use desk lamps of some sort as long as it does not clutter your desk space.

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Remember that keeping your workspace clean and neat without too much bulky furniture can also help in the Feng Shui. Keeping your work space minimal and sleek can help it with its allover appearance and feel of the room.

Flexible Love - Going green with furniture

Many aspects of today’s world is growing so fast due to technology and new innovative ideas. New high speed computers are coming out everyday, hybrid cars, and gadgets have incredible artificial intelligence. Another aspect of new innovative ideas aside from technology is “going green.” Many companies, individuals, and business industries are “going green.” This means they are either creating products that are environment friendly, or being conscious about it and doing things on a small or large scale to help the environment.

Going green is always good, and is a huge plus in today’s world, especially with limited resources. A company called Flexible Love is a unique furniture company selling flexible furniture that is also green. It is primarily made out of paper and can be manipulated into different things.

Using an accordian-esque style, the Felxible Love products can be collapsed or expanded and manipulated to your liking. Since it is has the ability to collapse as well, it can be stored away in convenient places.

I think this idea and concept is one of the most innovative ideas in the business. This might revolutionize the way people create and think about furniture as well. Of course I doubt people would pay a ton of money for a paper bench or chair, but I feel if you are going green or are an advocate of such notion, this product could be a great addition to your living room, bedroom, or any other area in your house.

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Going green is a huge plus in today’s world, and Flexible Love is doing a great job at carrying that message in new innovative ways.

The Future of Hospitality

Stumbling through hospitality and hotel forums, I came across the most intriguing idea and concept. The Thomson Holidays, a London based hospitality company, hosted a "Future Holiday Forum," in which they gather the top innovators of travel, technology, and design from anywhere and everywhere. The most interesting part of it all was that they predicted in the year 2024, there will literally be movable hotels.

It would be a "foldable pod on stilts," says Thomson Holidays. The pods will be self sustainable, and can literally be moved around in different locations. Guests can also choose what kind of images they want projected on their walls. More importantly, when a destination falls out of fashion, or the hype of a certain area dies down, the hotel can be picked up and moved to a different location.


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Thomson said the design and technology is all there. It is a feasible project that can actually be accomplished with today's technology and innovation.

The idea behind it all is that the pods will have minimal effect on the environment. They do not require things such as roads to reach the destination. This way, natural beautiful habitats can be visited, observed, and explored without any harm to its nature.

I think this is a brilliant idea if it can be done. I feel many financial calculations must be put in place to see if the cost exceeds the benefit of it all. However, it is a highly innovative design and concept, and would be great to see one day. It could take people places no roads lead to, without disturbing the beauty of the natural landscape.

Interior Design Foundations

There are many jobs that are solid and do not change drastically over time, and there are ones that do. Many jobs such as careers in art, fashion, cinema, and design, can change drastically over a night and day period. There are many elements to creating a successful room design. I am no grad school interior designer, but what i do know is a room must be functional, express a mood, and exhibit a sense of harmony.

For a room to be functional, the arrangement of furniture must fit the setting of the room. The whole point of a living room is to LIVE in it, meaning a comfortable common place, structured to engage the users in each other. Have you ever noticed the way hotel furniture is structured? Many interior designers in the lobbies of hotels arrange the furniture to gateway
conversations to their guests. For example, the chairs are positioned towards each other, and most of the time there is a small table or a common table for placing belongings, drinks, or food. These small little things create a convenient, functional room.


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As far as mood goes, a room must express a certain mood. Whether it be calming, exciting, vintage, or modern, it should give the room a certain aura that is consistent with what the designer initially intended. This also goes hand in hand with harmony. The colors and styles of the interior designing must all be consistent and match the mood as well. A combination of warm summer colored walls and furniture, placed next to a window where sunlight comes in, are all consistent of the same tranquil summer evening mood. This will surely give off the correct impression and aura when people are in it.


All in all, these three components are the foundation of creating and designing a room. Everything must be coordinated to where the user feels a sense of harmony, mood, and convenient functionality.

Fine Care Tips

Below are a list of furniture care tips that might help your furniture last longer and look as new as possible. We want the beauty of your furniture to shine throughout its whole lifetime.

1. Keep furniture out of direct sunlight to avoid fading and sun damage.
2. Avoid placing furniture in front of or under windows for the same reason.
3. Place furniture away from heating and air conditioning vents. Over time these wear out the material and can cause damage to your furniture
4. Blot up spills and accidents immediately. Do not let it sit and stain your furniture!
5. Use coasters, placemats, and tablecloths to protect furniture during use.
6. Lift and place items instead of sliding across the furniture's surface
7. Rotate accessories on your furniture periodically.
8. Avoid prolonged use of plastic and rubber items on your furniture
9. Dust your furniture regularly and polish every 4-6 months

Removing Stains

Removing Stains can be tough, especially when you have young children. As a parent, you seem to always be cleaning up stains and messes left behind from your little beloved kids. As great as they are, you can't help but think about how much you spent on that beautiful white leather couch and how it reeks of stains from capri sun, spaghetti sauce, and an assortment of crayola colors your kids insisted on using on your 3000 dollar couch.

Your next step is to probably head to the closest convenience store and pick up a bottle of cleaner or solution you can use on your couch. Most likely these cleaners will contain chemicals that can damage the material on your furniture, and make the problem worse with age. Contrary to popular belief, there are many different ways to tackle stains and markings on your furniture, with little or no future damage.



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One way to do this is to grab a container and put three tablespoons of baking soda in it. Once that is done add a little bit of club soda. (around a tablespoon). After this is done you can grab a moist towel with warm water, dip it into the solution, and begin removing the stain. Be careful not to add too much friction to the material when doing so. Once your finished with that you may vacuum the affected area to pick up the baking soda.

There are many other ways to take out stains with home based products, this is just one of many great ways to keep your furniture looking fresh and new.

Upholstery Repair

How to Repair Upholstery Made With Leather (

1. Determine the extent of the damage of the leather upholstery by checking its size and depth.
2. Melt some crayons that match with the shade of the leather. (works best with synthetic leather
3. Place the melted crayon to patch the hole
4. Blend immediately using an applicator stick and spread the crayon flat. Do it quickly before it hardens.
5.Place a wax paper on top of the crayon and then press on with hot iron until it melts and flattens the crayon. Be careful not to heat the iron too much that will damage the leather. this method will work with small holes only. For bigger holes you are better off having a professional do the reupholstering or get a slipcover to disguise it if you cannot hire a professional.

Interior designing seems to come in many different shapes, sizes, and forms. I find it fascinating that so much sleek artwork can be put into everyday use such as tables, desks, chairs, shelves, etc. One great example I found of this is interior designs of the hospitality industry. Many hotels have their own style and furniture that sets it apart from everyone else. It creates an environment and an experience, rather than just a place to stay.

Many contract furnishing places also sell towards offices, and high end rooms. I feel the creativity and color coordination can sometimes be compared to music and paintings. Interior design is an art, using free flowing curves and straight edges, lighting, and accents on certain things to make them stand out or dim away.

I believe every structural unit should have its own fingerprint and place in its industry, Finding the right one may take a little time and effort, but its lasting impressions will be well worth it.

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