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DECORATE LIKE ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER

Before Arnold Schwarzenegger was “The Governor” or the “Terminator” he was a legendary body builder. Arnold created an amazing physique allowing him to be a seven-time “Mr. Olympia”. Now I am sure you are wondering how body building can be compared to high end interior design, but there is a lot to learn from Arnold when making interior design decisions. They both depend on a visionary goal which is achieved by a well-structured plan.

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s gorgeous home

THE SMALLEST DETAILS MATTER

While Arnold’s vision was a “pumped up body,” a designer’s vision is a beautiful and functional space. For Arnold to be able to achieve Mr. Olympia he needed to implement a plan where he paid attention every detail.

In the world of design this is no different, as it is essential to always take into account how one decision will affect the next. A well-structured plan will keep you from creating mistakes that may cost you time in the long run as well as help you achieve your desired goal of creating a space that all of your friends will admire.

Another shot of Ah-nuld’s high end interior design.

“REPS” ADD UP

Arnold won so many titles by creating the perfect diet and establishing healthy habits that he stuck to religiously. And he never skipped a day of training—he always stayed true to his plan and built his body rep by rep.

Whether you’re a high end interior designer, a client, or someone just making design decisions for your home, you should follow his example.

The best way to stay on track is to create a list of all of the elements each room will need. From there it is important to find inspiration…such as a picture you saw in a magazine or a color palate that evokes a stimulating feeling. You can start by picking an area rug that will dictate the direction of the room or a piece of art that you love and adding on to the design from here. Just keep in mind that a well-designed home is built one piece at a time layer by layer.

Proof that Arnold is lifelong learner.

WORKING WITH A PRO CAN KEEP YOU FROM GETTING HURT

Arnold did not win seven titles and create the ultimate physique on his own. He had the help of the sport’s most knowledgeable professional, Joe Weider. Having Joe on his side helped him create the perfect body and avoided him from making costly mistakes.

Just as Arnold had Joe Weider, working with a quality interior designer can also help you prevent unforeseen problems regardless of how good your taste may be. A true professional will help guide you through each step of your project making sure that you do not create costly mistakes along the way. Walking you through your detailed plan checking off each item on your list one by one until your vision becomes reality.

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WHY THE RIGHT ART IS SO IMPORTANT IN HIGH END INTERIOR DESIGN

High end interior design at its best should have the appearance of being surrounded by the items and images you love. That’s why I feel it’s so important for anyone trying to make quality interior design choices to become familiar with the best art out there…so they can choose the pieces that resonate the most with them.

In today’s episode of DesignTV With Steven G., I’ll be talking about a beautiful sculpture by the surrealist artist Ernest Trova.

OUR FAVORITE HIGH END INTERIOR DESIGN ARTICLE OF THE WEEK

Since our blog is called The Psychology of Design, it’s a given that we talk a lot about how quality interior design can affect your state of mind. So when we came across this great blog post about the actual interior design of therapists’ offices, we were obviously intrigued.

The result was everything we could have hoped for and more. It turns out that actual shrinks, from Freud forward, pay a whole lot of attention to how the environments make their patients feel.

No matter how you’re feeling, there are a whole lot of tips you can apply to your own interior design choice to make sure you always feel good in your home.

Check it out for yourself!

Click here to read Apartment Therapy’s post “Why Psychoanalysts Care About Interior Design>>>”

5 HIGH END INTERIOR DESIGN DEFINITIONS WITH ALEXIS AUDETTE

When we asked Beacon Hill’s Operating Vice President Alexis Audette take part in our “5 Definitions” series, we didn’t entirely expect her to put in quite as much effort as she did. But really, we shouldn’t have been surprised. The quality of their fabrics and furnishings (one of our favorites) are a product of such painstaking attention to detail that we should have know they wouldn’t submit anything but the best.

For newcomers, the “5 Design Definitions” series is where we ask people in industries connected to the high end interior design world to define a handful of concepts we feel are central to truly high quality interior design.

Alexis didn’t just define the topics we gave her, she sent images and histories to go with each one.

So without further ado, let’s hear what Alexis has to say. I think you’re really going to enjoy this (and you might even learn a thing or two)!

1. Luxury

Luxury is that which is rare, beautifully crafted and brings pleasure.
Biedermeier chairs demonstrate the clean lines of today’s contemporary furniture, and they’re as comfortable as when they were made in the nineteenth century.

2. Lifestyle

Lifestyle is how we live based on our values and choices.
Paulette Tavormina addresses beauty and ephemerality through her still life photography. Her images suggest a lifestyle wherein beauty resides in the every day and time is treated as a gift.

3. Beauty

Beauty is the Golden Ratio.
As demonstrated by Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture (the Guggenheim Museum), the right geometry can lead to divine aesthetics.

4. Taste

Taste is a discerning eye that is refined through education and exposure.
Growing up in a family of art historians, conservators and artists (the painting is by my mother) trained my eye, and helped me understand that cultivating taste is a lifelong pursuit.

5. Quality Interior Design

Quality interior design reads like a beautifully edited autobiography.
This image of Annabelle Selldorf’s New York apartment, with its historic and contemporary touches and restrained palette, is like a portrait of the architect herself.

About Beacon Hill: Beacon Hill brings exclusive, finely crafted fabrics, trim and home furnishings to the high end interior design trade. Inspired internationally and designed for luxury, the offerings are truly one-of-a-kind. Beacon Hill has a tradition of using refined materials, an opulent color palette and sophisticated construction to provide understated elegance for those seeking a gracious style of living.

THE SOMMELIER’S GUIDE TO INTERIOR DESIGN

My very first exposure to the art of gastronomy and wine pairing was in Old Montreal club Le 375 c… This private club truly set a tone for high quality in design, service and food from A to Z

This traditional building speaks history and is juxtaposed with modern architecture. The drinking lounge is anchored with dark lacquered wood and upholstery wall paneling. The lighting is moody and quiet with gentleman lounge chairs. The interior design is Art Deco inspired reminiscent Old Hollywood from the 1950’s.

HISTORY + ARCHITECTURE + INTERIOR DESIGN + SERVICE + FOOD + WINE = MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE
The 8 course menu with wine pairing was a delight…absolute perfection. Three to five bites per course with wine paired perfectly from light to dark transitioning smoothly through the four seasons.

FOOD + WINE + AMBIENCE = MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE
Great sommeliers are the resource to all the wines around the world and have extensive knowledge with grapes and its origin. They will direct you to the right choices and elevate your dining experience to a new level.

PSYCHOLOGY OF SOMMELIER = PSYCHOLOGY OF INTERIOR DESIGN
A high end interior designer should have the same mindset as a sommelier…They are educated and trained with their eyes and have extensive knowledge with resources in furniture and finishes. They also guide you to choosing the right style and selecting furnishing that suits your lifestyle and compliment your space.

Furniture + Art + Ambience = Memorable Experience

In winemaking, vintners pay attention to the details. Taste is obviously most important. They bring out the nuances of each grape so that you and I can taste the notes of the fruit and what the environment brings to it.

But they never neglect the aromas, color or clarity. And they leave us to appreciate all of these features as we swirl it around, watch the wine’s legs form on the glass, smell and then finally taste the wine.

NOTES + NOSE + LEG = COLOR + TEXTURE + LIGHTING
Quality Interior design is highly focused on the details. By paring colors, textures and appropriate lighting, they activate our visual and emotional sensory that sets the ambience for quality design and experience to remember.

SUBMIT YOUR GUEST POST TODAY

We’d like to give someone else a chance to do the work for a change.

Don’t get me wrong, we’ve been having lots of fun bringing you all of our tips and views on high end interior design. And we’re going to keep doing so. That said, we’ve gotten to know so many quality interior design bloggers over the last few months, and we are beyond impressed.

That’s why we’re putting out a call to any blogger who writes about high end interior design, luxury, or real estateto submit a guest post to us. We’d like to feature your work here so that all our fans, readers, and clients can come in contact with all the great talent out there.

To submit your guest post email your suggested topic to my personal account at intbysteveng@gmail.com or Tweet to @intbysteveng.

QUALITY INTERIOR DESIGN NEEDS A GREAT FLOOR PLAN

Miami interior designer Steven G. tackles getting the perfect floor plan from a brand new angle.

DESIGNTV WITH STEVEN G.: EPISODE 16

Watch Miami interior designer Steven G. sneak up on one of his top renders Crocodile Hunter style.

THE ONE THING YOU SHOULD ALWAYS KEEP IN MIND WHEN THINKING ABOUT REDECORATING

I always loved the The Wizard of Oz. When I was a kid, watching it ranked right at the top of my highlights of the year. Right after Christmas, of course.

Scary, fun, happy, sad!!! All these emotions wrapped up into one movie. It wasn’t until I grew up and took a film history class in college that I realized the real genius behind this film.

Firstly, I had hated most musicals as a child. I could just never understand why seemingly normal human beings would be engaged in a highly interesting conversation and then feel the sudden urge to burst out into a little tap dance and a song.

I tried doing it in school. Needless to say it didn’t work. I did take tap dancing however and that didn’t help either.

But then the professor of my college class began speaking of The Wizard of Oz as a musical. Are you kidding me? I’ve been watching a musical my whole life and didn’t even realize it.

Now that is a good musical.

It’s genius! It’s like serving brussel sprouts to a kid in a totally unique way that makes them like it.

Then there was the fact that The Wizard of Oz came out during high quality color film was brand new. It was filmed in a 3 strip Technicolor process, to be exact. This means that there are three strips of film passing through the camera at the same time. One in red, another in green, and the last in blue.

Even by today’s standards, this process is the gold standard of cinematography. It just became too expensive.

In the case of The Wizard of Oz, it was fitting that the film began in black and white and then transitioned into vibrant colors.

Most people in 1939 had never experienced a big screen colored film. Going to a movie in those days was a huge deal because television did not exist. It was an escape from everyday life. The story line of the Wizard of Ozseemed serendipitous to the technology that happened to be occurring at the time. And that’s what made it so magical.

So why am I spending so much time talking about my favorite film on a blog about high end interior design? Because it illustrates the power of serendipity…and allowing serendipity to happen is the most important thing you can do if you want to end up with a truly quality interior design for your home.

WHAT IS SERENDIPITY AND WHY DOES IT MATTER?
Serendipity as defined in the dictionary is “an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident.”

As a full service interior designer in the New York City area, I found early on how important it is to optimize your environment to make the most of it. And I learned that you had to be prepared to accept the parameters and the obstacles of that environment to shape the world you want.

Serendipity is often about placing subliminal footnotes of your design obstacles in the back of your mind and to refine them as opportunities.

HOW THE MOVIE BIG CHANGED HOW PEOPLE LIVE IN NEW YORK
The movie Big was released in 1988. Some of you may remember it as a quirky, funny movie with Tom Hanks.

The movie certainly did a lot for Hank’s career, but it also had an unexpected, serendipitous effect. It planted a seed in the average Americans mind of a new lifestyle possibility. Yes, the movie was fun. But what about that kick ass LOFT apartment? It was great. Wide open and tall enough to use a trampoline in.

I know when I saw it, I immediately thought to myself, “Hey I could live that way.”

The movie changed how people visualized what a home environment could look like. And as a result it started a trend that serendipitously revived the abandoned industrial areas of many downtowns across America.

MAKING SERENDIPITY WORK FOR YOU
Don’t Fear: Don’t fear your space. Don’t let a difficult space get the best of you. Don’t let it drive you crazy. Hey it’s only space. Relax. If you begin to worry, you won’t be able to leave your mind open to see truth or the best solution. That hurts the creative process. This is true in anything in life. If you worry it will make you do things that wouldn’t ordinarily do with a clear mind.

Preconception is a Killer: Don’t preconceive how a space should be in your own mind. No design and no space are perfect. So stop setting yourself up for failure and setting your standards on a cloud that will likely vaporize. I have clients that want perfection. I’m dying over here because this column or window is in the wrong spot. One of your legs is longer than the other also. Get over it. The problem with preconception is that once you have a particular idea in mind, it’s difficult to get it out. But if you persist with the idea you may end up forcing the issue. As a result, your design will appear to be forced and without flow.

Give and Take: High end interior design should be a process of giving and taking. It is a gray abyss. If you force something and it goes wrong, it often manifests itself and has a chain reaction effect. Likewise, when you have done something correct, it feels easy and at one with you and begins to flow like the river. Everything in design is connected in some strange invisible universal web. It’s like some weird physics equation that no one has found a formula for and no one has defined yet . You have entered a vicious circle in which escape is difficult, a vortex of calamity. I call it the Twilight Zone of design. Beware.

Allow serendipitous moments to happen: Be open minded. Don’t dismiss something because you haven’t the ability to visualize it right off the bat. Give it a chance to live a moment even if the initial thought doesn’t work let your mind exercise on it. It may take you in a direction that will work. I often find myself trying things and thinking of things that I really don’t like. But I never dismiss them without first asking myself why I don’t like them. I look at is as a valuable learning process. When you ask yourself these questions you will discover things that you have not yet verbalized or realized.

Tell us what you think. Post your comments below.

CALLING ALL CREATIVE GENIUSES – WE WANT TO INTERVIEW YOU

One of the reasons we created The Psychology of Design blog was to give you a window into the heads of people who have the wisdom and experience to help you make better high end interior design choices.

Sure, our own premium interior professionals have been blogging like crazy to make this happen, we’ve heard a lot of positive comments about what they’ve published. But despite what we like to tell ourselves, the world doesn’t begin and end with Interiors by Steven G. (well, ok maybe it does, but that’s besides the point).

That’s why lately, we’ve been interviewing some people outside of our firm whose creativity we admire. Other quality interior designers, architects, and real estate-developer-entrepreneurs, but also innovators of all kinds. It’s gone well. So we want to do more of it and need your help.

If you’re a creative artist or business person…or have a connection to one…get in touch. We’d like to have you share your wisdom with our readers, friends, and fans.

To be considered, Email me at intbysteveng@gmail.com or Tweet me at @intbysteveng.

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