Interior Design Training: Principles of the Four Basic Style Categories

If you are beginning your coursework or self-training to become an interior designer, you want to have a firm grasp of the basics. Whether you're decorating a dorm room or a whole house, a bungalow or a penthouse, you'll find the many specific design styles fit into four broad generic categories. This overview guide will define the Casual, Formal, Traditional and Contemporary styles so you may proceed in your studies and your career with an understanding of each categories' design principles.

Formal

Formal is the look of elegant Ritz-Carlton hotels and public government buildings like the White House. While homes today are not usually constructed with 12" high baseboard moldings, hand-laid herringbone-patterned wood floors, or elaborate carved plaster ceiling and wall decorations, there are elements of the formal style of decorating that you and your clients may want to utilize in a project.

Symmetry is one of the key features of interiors and exteriors of homes designed in a formal style. Windows, furniture, paintings are elements which are most often arranged in pairs with a straight axis dominating each room. A central focal point will define a room, and it might be a beautiful window-wall looking out to a perfect lawn, a large stone fireplace centered on one key wall, or an exquisite piece of furniture. A formal style of decorating suits a home with high ceilings, large and tall windows, and architectural features such as beautifully paneled walls, columns and pilasters.

Formal style interiors are decorated to attract attention and display wealth so they include highly polished woods, glistening mirrors, highly polished brass window and door hardware, sparkling crystal chandeliers and wall sconces, and unique and interesting pieces of fine wood and upholstered furniture.

Furniture and accessories in formal interiors are often antique or fine reproductions. Woods used are generally dark and rich looking, but lighter woods are often used for decoration and inlay. Imported Oriental rugs cover polished hardwood floors. Original artwork is often elaborately framed in hand-carved gilt frames and stone or bronze figurative sculptures will be displayed on pedestals.

Contemporary

Contemporary decorating is for those who like to keep current with the latest styles and enjoy things that are of today. While it's been thought that modern interiors are cold and minimalist, today's contemporary interiors are often comfortable and welcoming without being cluttered and dark. It's a style that is equally appropriate for offices and homes, lofts and stores.

A contemporary style home can be quiet and serene, and may give the appearance of an Asian meditation space. Simplicity, subtle sophistication, texture and clean lines help to define contemporary interiors. The focus of each room is tranquil space rather than furnishings. By focusing on color, dimension and shape contemporary interiors are thought-provoking, sleek and fresh.

Neutrals, black and white are the main colors in contemporary style interiors. The palette is often accented with bright and bold color, and, within a few style variants, ornate patterning and glitzy ornamentation. Black is often used to ground and define a room. With walls painted in a basic neutral, you have a backdrop for bold colored accessories.

Line is a key design element. It's found in architectural details and defined by the use of bold color blocks, high ceilings and bare windows. Geometric shapes are used in wall art and sculpture. Bare space is left on walls, between pieces of furniture, and above in upper areas, and it becomes as important as areas filled with objects.

In contemporary interiors, less is more since space creates perspective and dimension. Each piece of furniture stands out as individual and unique. Contemporary style takes advantage of structural elements as decoration. Air ducts may hang from a ceiling, fabric and bricks provide texture and stability. Structural details may be painted in bold contrasting colors, or simply exposed and painted the same color as the wall to diminish their importance.

Casual

A casual style room is homey, warm, comfortable, and inviting. For TV watchers, it's like walking onto the set of Friends or The Big Bang Theory. Who doesn't want to be comfortable in their own home? If you want to put together a casual style room, learn the basic elements that combine to create an informal, unassuming room. Casual rooms have simple details, textured elements in fabrics and accessories, soft, neutral-colored upholstery, low-luster surfaces, structural elements and furniture arrangements that avoid perfect symmetry.

Details are simple, and elements are rectangular or softly curved. A room decorated in a casual style has simple details, but it is the perfect place to add an unexpected touch of whimsey, such as an old, reconstructed birdhouse or a bowling pin for a lamp base. Casual decorating is easily incorporated into such specific styles as rustic, cottage, beach, French Country, Shabby Chic, or American Country decorating styles.

With people enjoying more relaxed lifestyles, many homes today are totally decorated using the elements of casual decorating. But any home can incorporate the elements into a guest room, country kitchen, TV room, or bath. Elements of the casual style of decorating can infiltrate into most any room and make it feel comfortable.

Traditional

Traditional decorating is calm, orderly and predictable. You may have grown up in a home that was decorated with traditional style furnishings. Furniture is classic and might feel outdated, so nothing is a surprise. Pieces fill up a room and match and are consistent.

Furniture pieces are often reproductions. They are a part of dining room sets, living room sets and bedroom sets, and all room sets are similar in furniture styles. Furniture and accessories are placed in pairs and tend to be centered in each room. There is nothing out of place or of a vastly different style.

Traditional rooms are not ostentatious but somewhat casual so that traditional style homes feel comfortable for any age group. It's a familiar look that you see in magazines or furniture show rooms.

Upholstered furniture in a traditional room shows classic lines and understated details. They may have decorative details but they are functional, unfussy, and restful looking. Edges are soft, smooth, and blend into the whole. Fabrics are generally neither too shiny nor too textured. Plain colors, florals, muted plaids, understated stripes, geometrics, tone-on-tone and small all-over patterns are common.

As you continue your education, knowing the four broad generic categories of Casual, Formal, Traditional and Contemporary, you will lay a good foundation for your career. Once you research these well, and expand your studies into specific styles, their history and their resources, you can confidently guide your clients through their various projects to make each a unique expression of their taste and your design ability.

(c) 2012 Elizabeth McMillian

Elizabeth McMillian enjoys writing about her personal interests, including travel, exercise and cycling. She is an architectural historian, a former editor at Architectural Digest and the author of five books and numerous articles. Learn more about the traditional to contemporary furniture developed out of the American furniture center at Thomasville, North Carolina at http://www.Thomasville-Furniture-Discount.com/

Commercial Interior Design - Selecting and Using a Color Palette

The successful conception, design and implementation of any commercial fit-out require mastery and expertise across architectural, design and construction phases led by excellent project management.

Interior design and its disciplines have been mistakenly understood by stakeholders of commercial projects as a luxury afterthought; 'a cherry on the cake', 'an olive in the martini'.

Nothing could be further from the truth. In our humble experience, good design is often the result of the right vision and expertise across functional domains, coming together through well led orchestration and collaboration.

The onus of relevance has never been more important, keywords such as 'timeless', 'sustainable' and 'eco-friendly' driving the creative agenda adding value to a project is much more than just lip service.

Understanding your space: what are the sizes, heights and shapes of your working areas? What sort of furniture and fittings will be integrated? Where are the doors? Where are the windows? How much natural light is available?

Defining your vision: is branding defining the vision? Is the vision to achieve harmony across all areas or to accommodate functionality? Is there an orderly pattern among materials, objects and placements? Are the furniture and fittings distributed aesthetically and dimensionally relevant to each other and their environments?

Selecting a color palette: every space is unique, and every corporation has a different vision, domain and operation. As such there are many variables to consider when selecting a color palette for your new corporate interior.

Corporate identity will likely play a lead role in any design brief, a company's existing brand and culture will need to be present and complemented in the final color palette.

Color temperature will often complement branding, but the size and lighting density of your space or climate can also add weight to your selection: warmer colors (reds, oranges and yellows), cooler colours (violets, blues) or neutral colors, (as a general rule, greens are the most neutral of all colors).

Personal touches are the finish, they include the plants, pictures, and other aesthetics that add weight to and complement your corporate identity.

Optical illusions are the secret weapon of any interior designer, a low ceiling can seem taller when using a cool color that is lighter than the walls, a vast space can be contained using a color darker than the walls, a room can seem more spacious using cool and light colors on side walls, against darker warmer colors.

There are four sorts of color schemes to choose from when defining your palette:

Monotone - a single pale color palette (e.g. beiges) Monochromatic - a single vibrant color palette (e.g. reds) Analogous - adjacent color wheels (e.g. red, orange and yellow) Complementary - contrasting colors (e.g. red with green)

Here are some 'rule of thumb' concepts and expert tips to consider when experimenting with your color palette.

Use lighter or neutral colours on large expanses, using brighter colors sparingly for accents; Consistency is important, don't be afraid to reuse accent colors; Balance patterns with plain elements, don't overwhelm; Plain areas give the eyes rest, while textures and patterns relieve boredom; Natural light changes colours and intensity throughout the day; Use natural light to your advantage, greet the morning sun with bright cheerful accents; Use muted, cool and neutral accents to complement darker spaces;Grayed tones are more restful and will complement your accents more fully; Use bright intense coloring only to highlight key accessories, the smaller the area the more intense a color can be; Vice versa, colour intensifies with area, the more of one color you use, the stronger it can seem; Make allowance for texture rougher surfaces or fabrics appear darker, hard glossy surfaces reflect more and appear brighter; Make allowances for distance, the close a space is the more intense it can be, colors will often grey or blend to their environments with distance; Think about proximity, complementary colors brighten each other, related colors (dark/dark or light/light) will soften each other, neutrality brightens clear colors, strong primaries deaden neutrals;

Office Space Design empowers Australian companies with productive, efficient workplace spaces that facilitate core business needs while promoting culture and identity.

Office Space Design delivers commercial architectural, design and construct services to Australian companies moving offices or involved in refurbishment, relocation and fit-out projects.

http://www.officespacedesign.com.au/

Plant Containers Are an Important Part of Interior Landscaping

Bringing plants into the office is undoubtedly beneficial. They bring that little bit of nature into view for office staff, who would otherwise be surrounded by mundane walls, and they freshen the air, lifting the spirits of everyone working there. But as a part of interior landscaping, the container that the plants are in can be just as important in enhancing the office environment.

The range of plant containers available is extensive, with every kind of interior design accommodated. Whether contemporary, minimalist, or traditional, there is a container available to complement the design. In fact, there are even imaginatively designed containers to complement the most audacious office art.

We have put together a short list of container materials that serve to create specific effects. From the use of natural materials to metals with a high polished effect, the range is quite extensive and includes an array of container types that any office or commercial building could want.

Natural

Natural containers make use of natural organic materials, and are most often made use of to complement a rural, homely or traditional interior office design. Amongst the range of materials used are bamboo, shells, plant leaves and even finely ground stones, all treated to ensure that they maintain their impact permanently.

The effect of interior design can be highly impressive. For example, banana leaves are woven into square boxes or round urn-shaped containers, and sport a chequered design with contrasting shades of brown and yellow. It is an effect favoured by many offices wishing to project an environmental consciousness, or the image of sustainability and a green ethos that sits so comfortably with the general public.

The Havana range of containers meanwhile, use the leaves of the abaca plant, and are hand-woven to produce beautifully formed urn-shaped containers. They boast a thread or rope type finish, reminiscent on tribal pots from Central America, thus providing a distinct design effect.

Polystone, meanwhile, is a mixture of clay and crushed shells combined with fibreglass that mimics the appearance of stone. It comes in a variety of colours and textures, and provides a primitive, minimalist effect. The impact can be acute, boasting a majestic permanency.

Ceramic

Ceramic containers provide a solid, earthy look that helps to make staff members feel more at home. Perhaps that homely feeling comes from the fact that ceramics are, in fact, made from earth, or perhaps because they are so commonly found in our own homes, hosting plants on patios and in porches.

Whatever the specific reason, the effect that they have in the office is to soften the sharp lines that usually adorn an office environment. This is particularly true with the Antoinette range of ceramic containers that is so popular.

As the name Antoinette suggests, it is a range famed for its feminine softness, with rounded edges and smooth curves, even with the taller pedestals that hold plants high. However, they come in a range of colours, as well as sizes, to match the particular theme of the office design.

Metal

Of course, metal containers are hugely popular in modern offices, providing the steely, clean appearance that so many highly competitive companies like to project. Many of these offices, for example, are contemporary in design and as far removed from homely as one can get. Metal is a perfect part of that design.

Two metals in particular are commonly available, namely aluminium and stainless steel. Both of these can come in a high shine or a brushed effect. Lacquered finishing provides that clinical high shine appearance, while the brushed surface adds texture to the container.

Also, metal plant containers can be quite imaginative in their design, breaking away from the solid pedestal style, and instead coming in decorative meshes designs, artistic perforations and even obscure shapes, adding character to the containers. These are particularly popular when the containers are complementing office art, such as painting and sculptures, which serve to enhance the image the office projects. Indeed, many interior landscaping experts believe that the containers that the office plants are placed in are actually objects of art themselves.

The important thing, of course, is that the interior design of the office is enhanced, and that the working environment is improved, so that the staff are only too happy to come to work.

Sarah Shore writes for Ambius, who offer leading interior landscaping services. Ambius provides office plants and scenting to enhance corporate environments. Ambius also has a wide range of plant containers to add a touch of personality to office spaces and to compliment the office art.

Why Silk Plants Have Enjoyed a Resurgence in Interior Landscaping

Silk has long been revered as one of the most beautiful materials known to man, boasting a natural sheen and a coolness of touch that few other materials have. For centuries, this attraction to silk has been extreme, especially in the clothing industry where pure silk dresses and shirts are so highly prized. There can be little surprise, then, that silk plants are also keenly sought after.

Once upon a time, these plants were an extravagant example of craftsmanship that won plaudits at state fairs across the country, and were the ones that hotels were happy to invest grandly in to give guests a sense of luxury when they walked through the doors. These days, they are a key aspect of interior business landscaping both in terms of large and small floral displays.

Indeed, the market for artificial plants has grown dramatically in recent decades, with a range of materials coming into favor from time to time. However, in recent years, silk has regained its place as the favored material with which to enhance the interior landscape of an office or reception area. But designers are keen to highlight that it is not just because silk looks pretty.

Quality of Plants

The quality of plants made of silk is particularly high. In the past, silk was colored and then cut into the shape of a leaf or petal, and then applied to a framework, usually made of wire. However, that simple process has been replaced by high tech precision machines that are capable of creating perfectly measured plant parts. Not only that, but the coloring has become so exact that every aspect of shading can be allowed for.

The result is that, both visually and physically, these plants have real depth to them, making them very difficult to differentiate from real flowers. In fact, the silk materials used are made in such a manner as to replicate as closely as possible the texture of a real petal, bud or leaf.

So, even touch, which was once a sure give away when identifying an artificial plant, is no longer a reliable way to tell the difference.

Durability

There was a time when the petals on silk flowers and foliage on plants would fray over time, making the plant itself look dowdy and old. But the processes involved in manufacturing these plants have been perfected, ensuring this is no longer a concern, and the plants maintain their impressive appearance for much longer.

Of course, artificial plants, tend to last much longer than real plants. They require little or no maintenance, can never die so do not need to be replaced regularly, need no watering and no feeding. Silk always enjoyed these same traits, but since silk frays less easily now, the durability of silk artificial plants is even greater than it once was.

No Fire Hazard

As a choice of artificial plant material, silk may have succeeded in regaining its place at the top table in the eyes of interior landscapers for its quality and durability, but others favor it for different reasons. With fire and safety regulations being so important for all buildings, the fact that silk flowers, trees and plants have passed a range of tests makes it an acceptable material.

Silk is a fire retardant and has passed both the NFPA 701 and the ASTM E84 tests, with the result that interior landscapers know it will not harm the fire-safety status of an office. Other materials, such as plastic and nylon can release toxic fumes when set ablaze, making them not just a fire hazard but a health hazard also.

The fact that silk plants are now considered a safe option, as well as a precise replica boasting quality and extreme beauty, makes them impossible to ignore. Little wonder then, that interior designers and landscapers are happy to use them as an alternative to real plants, and that safety officers in workplaces are happy to accept them too.

Needless to say, as far as office workers are concerned, it is the fact that these plants make the interior landscape at work so much more pleasing that matters most. The degree of creativity, reliability and durability that silk boasts makes it a favorite once again when business landscaping plans are being agreed between seasoned landscapers and their clients.

Sarah Shore writes for Ambius, one of the primary business landscaping services in America. Ambius works with companies to provide a vibrant interior landscape to produce a dynamic corporate environment. Either real or artificial plants, such as silk plants, can be used, in accordance with the business' liking.

Exceptional Nightclub Interior Design

Night clubs are a really prosperous business. However, not every single nightclub proprietor will be definitely creating a massive amount of money. Particularly those who have a bad or not so good nightclub interior design may incur losses too. It is crucial to provide a great experience to the visitors of the night club. For a long-lasting business and a great word of mouth reputation, an excellent nightclub interior design is very essential. It may incorporate good interiors, furnishings, sound to lighting systems, DMX controllers, DJs, etc. Particularly, the sound and lighting system in the nightclub interior design should be really appealing and create an enjoyable experience to the visitors of the club.

As nightclub interior layout is a one-time affair for a fantastic business to follow, every single care should be taken to get the greatest one. There exist some companies that offer exceptional nightclub interior for the modern nightclubs. Be it simply a bar, disco or a club, the interior design should be carried out by professionals to guarantee repeat business from the customers. One should pick the proper company that has good knowledge and expertise. Each and every element like the colour of the lights to be applied, their form, place of the DJ console, furnishings, and so forth, have to be considered and planned for the nightclub interior design.

Once it comes to designing a nightclub, disco, bar, pub, etc., cost shouldn't be a concern. It is due to the fact once the most appealing interior design is done, it may bring on big income streams for minimum the next few years. The thrill of the patrons of the night club not just gives repeat business from them but also makes them refer the club to their friends. The light and sound produce the atmosphere and thrill to the visitors and makes them get immersed in the party mood.

Apart from light and sound effects, the artwork and other designs on display on the walls and ceiling are an essential component of nightclub interior design. LED disco panels can be used on the walls and connected to the sound system. These LED panels are also available in different styles like bubbles, tubes etc., that can be used in the nightclub. The designs on the ceiling can also be illuminated with lights and connected to the sound system. Check out some websites on internet for the most extraordinary interior ideas and concepts.

For a wide variety of nightclub interior design ideas take a look into our product line at http://www.disco-designer.com/, where you will find LED lighting, club furniture, sound systems, light control software and information how to build your dream club. Complete design with 3D preview!

Hospitality Design Online - The New Trend in Interior Design Services

Summary- the core of hospitality design is thoughtful design. Nowadays, online services are taking over in the field of design due to the unique benefits and services that they can offer clients who wish to have a great design for their future place of business.

Creating a hotel, restaurant or establishment that is service based require a design that is ideal for your target market, budget, and functional requirements and space available. Nowadays, one might think that going to a design firm for a hospitality design is the only way to do it. During the design process, they already spend a considerable amount of money. Though; it is a tedious job that does not warrant extremely big expenses especially early on with the project. Hospitality design is not available for clients who like to use the internet as the primary communication tool. How does that happen? Let's take a look.

Hospitality design online is not as weird or impractical as it might sound. Nowadays, there are design companies who are making use of the internet in order to open the lines of communication and understanding between client and designer about the structure, layout and design of the establishment. Designers take their work closer to the clients since they focus the job on the requirements of the client. Normally, they would require the clients to fill out a comprehensive form in order to extract all details of the project, since the request is written, the designer has a more thorough understanding and a documentary proof of what the client has specified.

With hospitality design, it is important to always follow the latest requests and recommendations of the client as the design becomes more visible. Through online conferences, chat and video conversations, it is possible for the clients to actually see the project and discuss the changes in real time even if they are on both ends of the country, or even the world. Hospitality design done online shrinks the time the design is processed and revised since the design can be changed as the client communicates criticisms and suggestions. This makes it easier to ensure quality and customer specific output that is still structurally and functionally sound.

Designers who offer hospitality design online tend to focus on design and consultation services. They do not deal with contractors. However, if you want to, they can offer suggestions for the different materials that you need for the project. This is something that some clients find hard to discuss with and that is why choosing online design firms do offer something extra special without compromising the budget of the clients. They can offer possible suggestions for tiling, hardwood flooring, furniture and other important components.

Zan Situ is the head of the design team for Projects A to Z, a restaurant design firm. Website: http://www.restaurantdesigna.com/