The Case for Green Paint

Whoa ... what? A new post on DesignInsider??

I know, right?

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I've been so busy for the past few months building a writing career that I haven't had as much time for personal writing as I would have liked. But a lot of the writing I've been doing has centered on homes and design, so I'd like to share some of it here.

Recently, I did a story on low-VOC and zero-VOC paint. It's a topic I'm interested in personally, so I thought other people might want to know a little more about it too. I've used various types of "green" paints over the past few years, all with better success than I expected. A couple of the biggest surprises:

1. The low-VOC paint I used in my guest bath (Sherwin-Williams Duration Home, recommended for use in bathrooms and kitchens) gave me better coverage than a similar-value (meaning similar spot on the color chip) conventional paint I used in my living room. I probably could have gotten by with one coat.

2. The zero-VOC paint I used two weeks ago to paint my son's bedroom (Olympic Premium) came from Lowe's and cost a mere $23.99 a gallon. Yes, you read that right. Even zero-VOC paint, the best of the best environmentally speaking, doesn't have to cost a fortune.

Something else to note is that both low- and zero-VOC paints, in my experience, have a much, much milder smell than conventional paints. And one thing I learned in researching the article is that smell does directly correlate to the VOC level in a paint. The stronger the noxious smell, the more damage the paint does when you inhale it. And it can do damage....

Before you wave off that statement with an, "Eh, what's one time gonna hurt?" think about this. Does anybody in your house have allergies? Asthma? Are there babies or kids or pregnant women in your household? Because conventional paints can aggravate allergic or asthmatic conditions, and studies have shown that VOCs are especially harmful to fetuses and small children. Now think about this. Low- or zero-VOC paints are now as readily available, as diverse performance- and color-wise and, in some cases, as inexpensive as conventional paints. Even if you're doing it "just one time," there is absolutely no reason not to go with the better, safer option.

That leads me to one more point: You can do anything with low- or zero-VOC paint now that you can do with a conventional paint. There are green paints on the market for pretty much any household use. There are indoor paints, outdoor paints, one-coat coverage paints, paints with built-in primer, paints that can adhere to and cover oil-based (alkyd) paints. You name it, there's a green paint that can do it. That wasn't the case in the past, but it's the case now. I learned that from multiple paint experts, and I believe what they told me, because I've tested the products for myself.

So the next time you're painting, pretty please consider going the low- or zero-VOC route. It's better for all of us. Especially you.

What Makes a House a Home?

I haven't had much time to post here lately (obviously - and to anybody who might have checked in and found the same old post at the top time after time, I apologize). It's because I've been doing so much writing outside the blog.

And one of the articles I wrote recently was about a woman whose story, though very, very tragic, was also inspirational. The story was on her journey to her new house, and while walking through the house with her, it was obvious how much of herself and her life she'd poured into every room. It was also obvious how much the house had given back to her. I told her as I left that her house felt "nurturing," and it did. She'd just been through a dark period in her life, and this house was sunny and happy and warm and bright.

And that's why design is important.

Home is more than a place to come back to at the end of the day. It's more than a roof over our heads. It's about more than what we have, what success we've achieved, what neighborhood we live in or how many square feet we've amassed. Home should nurture us. It should reflect us and comfort us and make us feel secure. The things inside our homes are just that - things - but they should remind us of the more important, less tangible parts of life. Family. Fun. Memories. Hobbies. Interests.

If they don't do that - if they're just "things" - then we're doing something wrong. Yes, good design is about making a space pretty to look at. It's about achieving harmony and balance and rhythm and proportion and all those other elements and principles that make a design easy on the eyes. But if there isn't more there than those things - if there isn't personality and warmth and character - then at the end of the day, it's just another room.

Think about that the next time you approach a decision about the design of your own space, whether you're working on your own or using a designer. Because if everything in the space is there for show but doesn't tell a story, the design is a failure.

An Ikea Love Story

I love Ikea. I just do. It's like Target, only bigger and bluer and ... Swedish. And I don't get to go there very often, so when I do, I kind of go nuts.

I definitely lost my mind in there last weekend.

We went to Dallas to visit family and catch the Texas Rangers as they cruised toward the playoffs. We stayed with cousins who live in Frisco - which is also where DFW's Ikea store lives. And I practically lived in the store all weekend. Every time I get to an Ikea store, I go with a mission, and this time, it was the big-boy bedroom I blogged about a week or two ago. I went into the store with a vague inkling of an idea and left with a basically finished room. I bought bedding and curtains and pillows and accessories and art.

And I didn't stop there - I mean, I couldn't ignore the rest of the house, right? I bought dishes and a desk and the desk chairs to go with it and storage boxes and more pillows and even a chandelier.

And I managed to get it all home in our tiny car - they don't call it a Honda Fit for nothing.

Why, oh why, don't we have an Ikea at home? Oh yeah. Because they're "not interested in locating in our region." I know this because an old co-worker of mine actually called and asked. So the place does have one flaw. But for those of you who've never been to one, basically it's like a shopping amusement park. An enormous blue box filled with absolutely everything related to home. It's a great place for kitchen stuff, kids' stuff, accessories, frames, bedding, storage pieces - and furniture, if your taste leans toward the clean-lined and the contemporary. Which mine does.

Ikea, oh how I heart thee. :)

Bye, Bye Baby

So, my big boy definitely isn't a baby anymore.

*sniffles*

And apparently, Mommy is having a hard time moving on - because his bedroom still has baby written all over it. I don't know why I haven't been able to bring myself to transform his nursery into a big-boy bedroom yet, but it probably has something to do with the fact that I love that little baby room so much. I remember the week I hauled my very pregnant self all around the room, dragging a stool with me to sit on, and painted words in cursive on the flat chair rail my husband and father installed.

"Once upon a time, there were four little rabbits, and their names were -- Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail, and Peter...."

I made a window treatment (I even sewed a little, which is a major undertaking for me) and painted three scenes from the storybook that I framed for the walls. I painted an old bookshelf and the old rocking chair my parents gave me. I mixed and matched bedding, found my own combination of items to create a theme without being too "themey."

Poor grad student as I was, I did it on a shoestring budget, and I just loved it.

So, OK, I guess that explains why I haven't moved on from it yet. All that, plus the fact that it's been a VERY busy almost-four years. But now that my not-so-little-guy is on the verge of his 4th birthday, I know it's time he gets a more grown-up space. I want his new room to reflect him, not me (nursery is all about Mommy, big-boy room all about Big Boy), so I've been paying attention to what he's into and asking him from time to time what he wants in his new room: cars & trucks or music.

Since it's the answer nine times out of ten, music is the clear winner. So for a few months now, I've been keeping my eyes open for music-themed items to inspire me. I've found a lamp here, a rug there. But last weekend at the Cooper-Young Festival, I found what I've been waiting for. The piece de resistance. The thing that will inspire the design of the whole space.

Again, it's a book.

But it's a grown-up book, a big-boy book, and it sets exactly the right tone (no pun intended) for what will hopefully be an awesome, stimulating, inspiring space for my Big Boy to grow up in.

*sniffles again*

I'll get started on the transformation soon - because I know he doesn't need a changing table anymore. I know he's past the stage of being rocked to sleep in that old, painted rocking chair. He's moved on. So I'll move on, too.

Really I will..

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The Not-So-High Price of Custom

One of the things that's most fun about my job is the chance to create something all new and completely unique. That can happen in a lot of ways - blending an unexpected mix of colors or patterns, solving a problem with space planning, playing with scale - but the most obvious way it happens is designing something that's not already out there on the market to meet a specific need for a space.

In other words, creating a custom piece of furniture.
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It's not something that happens every day for a designer, but I haven't been doing this all that long (two years), and I've already had the chance to see one piece through from conception to completion (pictured) and am about to start conceptualizing another one. Which is why the topic's on my mind.
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In both instances, the reason the client and I pursued a custom piece was because we searched and searched and searched for an existing piece that met their needs - space-wise, function-wise, style-wise - and came up short. With the gazillions of home products out there for sale, you'd think that'd be an uncommon problem, but it happens all the time. The biggest surprise - for me and my clients - is that a custom-designed, custom-made piece of furniture isn't necessarily as unattainable, price-wise, as you might think. The china cabinet pictured above is the perfect height and width for the space, has the exact finish the client wanted (plus a metallic finish inside that literally makes it shine), and has shelves and drawers configured specifically for the items the client wanted it to hold. It doesn't get any better than that. And the price tag wasn't much higher - maybe 15-20% - than a comparable piece from a decent furniture manufacturer.
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Worth it, because the piece is not only ideal for the space, but it's handcrafted from solid wood and made in our local community (a real anomaly these days, since nearly all furniture is made overseas). It's also well-built - something the family will hold onto and pass down for generations.
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Now I'm about to pick up my drawing tools (yes, I draw by hand, also an anomaly these days but so much more fulfilling for me) and get to work sketching out ideas for my new piece..

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So. Much. Fun.

My Modern Friend Morgan

A friend of mine, Morgan Armstrong, just jumped out there and launched a website for her new interior design business, Memphis Modern. The site looks awesome, and I'm so proud of her! She, like me, has a contemporary aesthetic. That's not to say she won't design traditional rooms and traditional homes - that's par for the course when you live and work in uber-trad Memphis - but she loves modern design and contemporary style, and I love that about her!

I just wanted to put up a couple of pics from her portfolio. I especially love the trash-to-treasure white lacquer chest of drawers and mirror. I also love her color palette - silvers and grays and whites and soft blues.

Morgan and I crossed paths in school and she worked as an intern at my firm. We've been to Market together, attended IDS meetings together and sat through product presentations together. We've also had a lot of conversations about design - what we like and why, what styles appeal to us and don't, what types of things we'd have in our dream houses. And we've discovered that our tastes are really similar.

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Anybody reading this, what about you? What styles are you most drawn to? What colors soothe you and say "home" to you? Does your house reflect those things?

The New Eclectic

I'm intrigued by the concept of eclectic design.

Real, thoughtful, well-edited eclectic design. It's not an easy look to achieve, and it can mean a lot of things. But by pretty much anyone's definition, it's design that doesn't fall into one specific category or period. It's an assortment of things collected or gathered or pulled from a wide range of places, periods and styles.

In terms of design magazines, it's Elle Decor. It's Domino (which isn't around anymore - and I'm still upset about it). It's not your grandmother's eclectic. It's not your grandmother's anything. Unless your grandmother is really, really cool.

Anyway....

The reason I love eclectic design is because it's personal, interesting, quirky, inherently stylish and fun. In other words, not boring. If there's one thing that doesn't appeal to me in design, it's bland. I love it when a space oozes the personality of its owners. And when you stop to think about it, not many do. Most of us just "fill the spaces with wood in places" (sorry - I can never resist a John Mayer reference) the same way our parents did or our friends do with little thought about how or why things appeal to us. Or buy things just because they're on sale. Or fill a spot with something just to fill it, not because we love what it's filled with. You get my point.

And eclectic design, well-executed, is rarely that way. Because to make random objects gleaned from various places - flea markets, favorite stores, parents' attics, your travels - come together in a way that works isn't easy. It takes trial and error. It takes editing. It takes mad skills, really. And you just don't go to all that trouble if it's not a labor of love.

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Two notes: The above photo is from Elle Decor and was taken in designer Sheila Bridges' Harlem loft. And the story I recently wrote for The Commercial Appeal on eclectic design is at http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2010/aug/13/mix-not-match/.