Concerns about the environment are coming in from the cold.

As a result, interior designers say they are seeing more green solutions for the great indoors than ever before.

“The selection of eco-friendly products has definitely increased,'’ said Megan Middendorf, 24, interior designer at the Mansion in Des Moines.
Read more…

Combination of colorants, crystals and fiberboard open up fantastic new possibilities in the fields of interior design, household fabrics and furniture.

BASF, the world’s leading chemical company, Sonae Industria and CRYSTALLIZED* - Swarovski Elements will host a unique display at the KAP Forum in Cologne during the PASSAGEN 2008 exhibition, which will be held from January 14 – 20, 2008, to coincide with the “imm cologne” furniture fair. On the initiative of BASF, these three partners have put together an unusual display of combinations of materials that have never been seen before: brilliant colors by BASF incorporated into medium-density fiberboard TOPAN* colour by Glunz, the German subsidiary of Sonae Indústria, and decorated with crystals by Swarovski.
Read more…

Masters Touch, the one stop interior design and home improvement shop located in Medfield, announces interior design service by the area’s renowned designers, Shirley Novak and Gail Van Kleek.

Shirley Novak of S. Novak and Associates (Framingham) and Gail Van Kleek, the owner of Dover Interiors (Westwood) bring a wealth of design experience to Masters Touch.

With more than three decades of combined experience, Novak and Van Kleek will provide both interior design and home improvement design service to Masters Touch clientele. They will work directly with clients as well as the Masters Touch construction team during a home improvement project to ensure that everyone is on the same page – to a project’s perfect completion. Read more…

The one thing better than buying a brand new home for you and your family is having a brand new home custom built. A custom built home gives you the satisfaction of knowing that your new home has been tailor-made to meet your needs, desires and lifestyle. In short, building a new home means that you get to create your dream home.

Yet, building a custom home has its challenges. It doesn’t pay to try to cruise through the experience. The more involved you are in the design and planning of your custom built home, the happier you will be with the finished product. It will also be important to find a reputable custom home builder you like and trust.

Start the process of building your new home by working on an overall idea of the kind of house plan you want. You can even draw some rough sketches of what you have been thinking of. Even though your rough drawing won’t be a technically useful document for your architect or builder, it will help give them an idea of what your dream house should look like. Read more…

A number of basic design styles apply to everything from furniture to interior and exterior home design. Here are some general guidelines for some popular design styles:

Contemporary/modern design features sleek, unadorned cabinets, plain panel doors and hardware that’s hidden or unobtrusive.

Traditional is more formal and elegant. Raised panel cabinet doors or clear glass panels separated by thin strips of wood are often seen. Rich wood finishes or painted white wood may be accented with sparkle from brass or brass-tone hardware.

Craftsman bungalow houses usually have low-pitched gable roofs with large overhangs and exposed rafters. Under the gables are often decorative beams or braces. A craftsman bungalow commonly has a generous front porch with a roof is carried on square, tapered columns. Stone or brick frequently is used for the porch’s base or columns. Masonry may also be used for a tapered chimney on one side of the house. Read more…

Manufacturing facility

Family-owned Decorus has more than 40 years of experience in supplying international markets with customised fine furniture.

The modern manufacturing facility combines current technology with more than 750 skilful craftsmen. Decorus is a leader in high quality fine marquetry, inlays and veneering. Read more…

New orders for furniture were down 2 percent in September compared to a year earlier, according to an industry survey from High Point accounting and consulting firm Smith Leonard.

The good news in the survey was that September did see the usual bounce from the slow August sales season, with new orders up 14 percent month-to-month. The year-to-year decline was also slower that last year, when September orders were 10 percent lower than in 2005.
Read more…

allery Furniture, the nation’s top furniture retailer by square foot, has recently added the high-end Hastens and Kreiss lines to its Houston store. The new Hastens Bedding Showroom will feature the luxurious handmade Swedish mattresses ranging in price from $4,300 to $59,000 and the new Kreiss Furniture showroom will offer customers the opportunity to buy the upscale Kreiss furniture line with the same immediate delivery that has made Gallery famous.

Sweden-based Hastens will complement the existing Tempur-Pedic bedding that Gallery Furniture now offers. The exclusive Hastens Bedding Showroom will showcase the entire line consisting of 13 different models including the Vividus, made with all-natural horsehair, cotton, linen, wool and Nordic pine.
Read more…