Design Philosophy Archives

One of the really important tasks we commit a lot of time to in my firm is design and creative development. Sometimes this means lots of coffee (or wine!! haha), group meetings and stacks of paper and pen to capture our ideas!

It’s never easy but it is a key aspect of creating original rooms and furniture for them. Some pieces come to you easily while others require a lot of thinking and refinement. But it’s this process that makes a hint of an idea, rolling around in your brain, really come alive and eventually become a real piece of furniture for a real person’s life.

You will see from the sketches below that the idea for the Stephanie Chair (from our Jane by Jane Lockhart Collection) began with the idea that we really wanted a small tub chair. I feel this is the type of chair that is great for small spaces whether a clean modern style or a more transitional/traditional one. It works so well in a living room or TV-watching room.

As the design of this chair developed, the arms were tapered and refined further so that they would appear more subtle. It was also widened slightly so that it became more open and welcoming to encourage both men and women to ‘take a seat!’.

The drawing and ultimate refinement of a piece of furniture on paper leads to more productive prototypes. Once built as a prototype, each piece is “sat on”, measured, and sat on again, to see how comfortable it is and if the proportions work. I can tell you, with the Jane Line, we did a lot of prototype construction to really get the shapes right and the comfort perfect! Dominic and Angelo, our furniture builders, are excellent and have been very patient with us!

Design development is about taking a concept and moving it forward to become something real and meaningful. It’s this part of furniture making that most people forget and don’t realize that art and science must be combined successfully to make a great chair! This matters to me, and hopefully, once you try the comfort of the Stephanie Chair, it will matter to you too!

Ok, aside from the obvious, there are many things that I have observed which are important to men when DESIGNING the bedroom.  Here are the top five things to remember when designing your master Bedroom that seem to keep the 'Men' happy as well:

As I work with clients daily I have continued to noticed a plethora of things in Interior Design that really need to meet with a quick and definite end!  I think the list will seem quite obvious as you read through.

1)  Do-it-Yourself Upholstery

There is only one professional upholsterer and You are not him! 

With the age of DIY still upon us, I know many of us like to believe we can do anything around the house no matter what skills are actually required.  Now, there are fairly simple projects that most people can successfully do on their own like a rectangular padded head board. Straight forward and fairly simple.

But when it comes to recovering your sofa, that requires a whole bunch of other special skills.  If you want to redo a piece of furniture, it's worth having a professional do it for you so it doesn't look like you did it yourself! 

Please Note:
It's never a compliment when someone says to you: "Did you do that yourself?"  What they are really asking is "Why did you do it yourself?"!!

2)  Slipcovers that look like Giant Shower Caps!

Ok, I understand what you are trying to do....the sofa is awful and at least by covering it with plain fabric it makes it tolerable until you are able to get a new one. 

The problem with these slipcovers that you order off the internet is the "one-size-fits-all" mentality.  Although most sofas are fairly consistent in size, this slipcover has to be big enough to fit any dimension so it's often made bigger.... 

....It's a giant shower cap-shaped fabric cover with an elastic base, that gets placed over the sofa and tucked in.

 It just never fits right and becomes terribly messy quickly.  The solution is to either find a local company that makes made-to-order slipcovers or simply reupholster the piece.  It will be a better deal in the long run.

3)  The Messy Mantle

The mantle is for display....not display of everything you have ever owned and thought was important to showcase for your entire life!. 

This is one location where "less is more".  If you don't fill the mantle with a tonne of stuff, the better the few pieces you do place will look.  If you find this tricky, limit yourself to only three items on the mantle.  Choose from your "collections", the pieces you really want to showcase and that people will associate to you and your style.   Don't make it complicated or who knows what people will be thinking about you!

4)  Plants Stuck in Corners

This is definitely a 'pet peeve'....I always know when a client is struggling with having an empty area because they feel totally compelled to buy a giant plant and stick it in the corner. 

Plants are lovely as long as they are confined to table tops and manageable surfaces.  I love plants....don't get me wrong....but what tends to happen is that small plants become big trees that take over an area or worse, they become mangy and dust-filled. With watering, damage can happen to the surrounding area if it isn't carefully attended to.  This does not add to your decor!!  Keep the trees outside and place the odd plant here and there for oxygen and greenery.

There is one thing worse than plants stuck in corners: FAKE PLANTS STUCK IN CORNERS!   (Please notice this is in capitals....I am yelling!)

5) Open Storage Shelves

This is a topic that requires full honesty:

Ask yourself: Are you really going to keep those open bookshelves clean no matter how busy you are?  Do you swear it??   (this includes dusting as well)

I didn't think so!

If you really don't have it in you to line up books, papers, photos and kick-knacks perfectly and forever, then opt for doors instead!  You can still have the shelves, just hide them behind closed doors as this will allow a room to maintain a level of order much longer. Open shelves just invite mess so don't even give yourself the chance!

This is the end of this set of Things that Need to be Stopped...but there are always more...

Every great room is not just a product of its layout, or colour; its style rests in the furniture and how these pieces function daily.  Living and family rooms really put their upholstered pieces to the test as they are always in heavy use.  Sofas and chairs, especially, need to last when they are used constantly for every type of activity.

Up to about twenty five years ago, fabric covered sofas and chairs were still largely made in North America so it was assumed that the quality good.  But with globalization came pressure on local manufacturers to take furniture-making off-shore in search of cheaper labor and materials.  Today, we have paid the price for this as consumers are less educated about what makes a quality sofa and why it’s important to purchase key pieces from Canadian manufacturers.

As it turns out, Canadian wood is excellent for producing not only goods like tables and bed frames, but it is also amazingly strong for building the interior structure of upholstered pieces.  In addition, the craftsmanship and knowledge of furniture builders here is substantial.  For instance, corner blocks, added for strength, dovetail joints and hardwood frames are all commonplace among good quality furniture makers in Canada.  These are very important to the long term stability of upholstery that is used regularly.

So how do you know if a sofa is good quality?  There are several key things to look for:  a solid hardwood frame is paramount to the strength of a sofa or chair.  Particle board is not hardwood!  High grade foam (which costs a lot more than the cheap stuff) is really important to the long term shape and ‘spring’ of seat pillows.  Padding added to the sides of the arms and to the back of the sofa to ‘fill it out’ also helps with its look and overall comfort (cheap sofas don’t have this…its feels like cardboard when you knock the side of the sofa). Webbing and springs also make a difference to how well a sofa will last. 

When we purchase ‘made in Canada’, not only do we have a lot more choice of sizes and materials, we often get better furniture than items imported at a lower cost.  Although it may seem like less money for a specific piece, it has incurred transportation costs, duty costs, and sometimes more people have been paid than the cost of the actual materials put into the item in the first place.  A piece made in North America means more is spent specifically on materials and labor directly affecting the item made.  Basically you are getting more “furniture” for the money!

Also, furniture made here employs Canadians and keeps our economy running.  We may pay more for goods produced here but in the long run it comes back to us as workers in the forestry and timber businesses largely in British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec see their materials sold to a local market not just overseas.  And goods made here employ skilled labor to construct and even involve the retail sector. Even though some components of furniture pieces may come from other areas of the world, assembling them here in Canada keeps a lot of people busy and that’s just so good for so many.

Lastly, it may interest Canadians to know that our designs, styles and materials are often desired by other nations around the globe.  Somehow we seem to think that if it’s made here, it’s just not as good as elsewhere in the world.  Although we don’t have a long history like England, France or Italy of furniture design, building and production, many of the people who work in these fields carry the knowledge of previous generations who have immigrated here.  Not only is Canada a great place to live we make great furniture, desired by many! Let’s start to spend some loonies at home!

This is one of my favorite topics when talking to clients about the 'cost of things'.  And of course, in Interior design, there is always a cost to consider!  New drapes, a sofa, fabric, accessories etc....all have a cost.

But how does one know if the 'cost' of something is worth it? 

My observation is that clients confuse COST vs VALUE.

Cost is an amount of money (usually dollars) applied to an object which we interpret as the 'value' of it.  But that simply is not the case. 

COST is objective.  It is a number put out there by the seller. It stands for the transport, materials, market forces etc. involved in presenting that item to us at that moment.

Cost does not determine the value of an object.

VALUE is subjective.

WE determine the VALUE of an object based on our experience, knowledge and desire for that piece.  COST simply makes us ask if we value it enough that we want to spend that COST on it.

For instance, a hand-woven 8' by 10' area rug from southern Iran can cost about $4000 in a high-end shop in Toronto.  The client who selects it, studies it, and loves it will inevitably ask me;  "Is it worth it??......should I spend the money on this??"

Presumably they can afford it (or why would they even be at this point). 
The question really is: "Is this something I value enough to put forth this cost?"

This is the key to choosing the objects that matter to you in your life. 

If you really value something (it has high value), because it has function, or it evokes important memories for you, or it is something that helps you feel comfortable.....warm.....passionate...whatever.... then it is worth the cost. 

If something is of low value to you despite the cost (high or low), then don't invest in it in your life.  Leave it for someone else who highly values it instead.

You see, VALUE is personal and meant to be evaluated on a regular basis when we shop and objects jump in to our sights and retailers try to convince us that we need it.  But do we?
 
My answer: Only if it is personal and has high value to you, otherwise its just another cost with no real meaning.

And your home should be full of meaning for it to have real value.