A Simple And Easy Way To Start.  I have had a lot to say during recent weeks abou how to develop you own style and tastes in exterior home design and interior home design.  I discussed how much information is available from the many sources available to you including magazines and books at your local book store.  After you start gathering such information, unless it (for example) is a book about design it can be hard to start putting the pieces together.  Unfortunately, a book about exterior design and/or interior design can often end up gathering dust on a shelf or on the “I’ll get around to it” stack on your coffee table.  With this in mind I would like to direct your attention to the Winter 2007 issue of Beautiful Homes (by Better Homes and Gardens).  I think you might find this a great place to start.

How Do You Put A Room Together?  see pages 16 and 17.  Here you will see comments on balancing the elements of a kitchen: lighting, range hood, cabinetry, faucets, countertop.  You don’t like this particular kitchen?  So what?  That’s not what is important.  What is important is getting the idea of how they went about selecting the harmonious balance of items selected. 

Creating a Comfortable Scale - pages 48 and 49 (part of a larger article).  Here you will see interior cut away plans of two levels of a 9,394 square foot home.  The task set before the designer was to create areas of comfortable scale within larger areas of two levels of the home.  There are also photos of the areas so you can see the plan, arrangement and finished product.

Lessons In Civic Style - (pages 50-55)  Photos and relevant elements of how an architect developed a home in Atlanta that had to fit the need of the client and the area it was built it.  It was built in an area that connects a historical area and a high rish office building area.  The interior and exterior needs are explained and what the architect designed to meet them.  Again, you see the cut away plans and the key areas defined so you can see how they function and work together.  There is also a question and answer section with the builder.  To tie it all together there is, on page 121, a resources section that lists the sources of most of the materials used in the home.  You lose much of the value of what is provided it you look at it as a simple list without doing some digging by going to some of the websites listed and seeing who they are and what they offer.  If you will do this you will start to gain an understanding of how materials are selected and put together and also start to appreciate what an excellent magazine it is and what it has to offer you.

There are four other homes presented that break down their designs as well.  If you purchase the magazine and really dig into each article you will learn more about design, style, color and other elements of putting a home together in a short period of them than you might think possible.  Furthermore, you have the luxury of taking just one article at a time and digesting what it has to offer rather than trying to get a text book understanding of all that an entire book presents.  Do this and it won’t be long before you no longer think of yourself as an outsider looking in.

John Fish Telephone: (919) 696-3474   Email: Marvmax@mindspring.com   Website: www.JohnFish.com

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 30th, 2007 at 5:06 pm and is filed under Raleigh Durham Realtor, Interior Decorating, Interior Designs, Home Design.