Candice Olson on why you should work with an interior designer and why the room should be about you, not the designer.  We couldn’t agree more.  We keep saying it, but its worth repeating here.  Its all about you:  your personality, how you use the room, your lifestyle.  (Seriously, this is a time where a little harmless self-involvement is a good thing!)

To watch the video clip of Candice, click below:

(From “EllenatThehome)

Ellen’s Blog at TheHome.com poses an important question about your guest room.  She also provides a check list “to see if yours makes the grade”.  A great perspective in creating a guest room might be to ask yourself “What I would expect for my stay from a great hotel room?”  Old stories about guests and fish aside, Ellen’s list might help you along in designing this important room.

Read her entire article here.

Denton Homes Construction asked by Design to partner with them in their beautiful home constructed for the Des Moines Home Show Expo 2009.  And we’re thrilled that the home almost swept the awards!  Check out how Victoria used every element of room design — sofas, sectionals, chairs, rugs, tables, accessories and mirrors — to create an incredible space in this incredible home.

Here are some images from this beautiful home:

Fall ’09 Design Trends
At by Design we’re fascinated and excited by the color and design trends that are constantly reshaping our designs and homes.  We hunt for news that we think is relevant to our customers in Des Moines and Central Iowa.  We would like to occasionally provide you with outside points of view about what is exciting and new in furniture design, furniture color trends, fabric design, accessories — everything that goes into creating a beautiful room.  Here are the six hot design trends that Metropolitan Magazine has forecast for Fall ’09 after visiting the Spring furniture market in High Point:

Glamour
The economic slump brought glamour to the fore with rich materials, sophisticated colors and stunning curves.

Metallic Leather
This new glimmering leather treatment put a shine on classic furniture shapes.

Pleats Please
In upholstery, we saw tailored looks and fashion details everywhere.

Small Space Solutions
For the pragmatists in the audience, we saw several savvy pieces for small spaces.

Green and Gorgeous
Green has finally made it to High Point, North Carolina, and you couldn’t turn a corner without receiving a flyer about green design or hearing about the latest, greatest green manufacturing technique.

In an article posted at Casual Living “Joe Ruggiero makes music with Sunbrella fabrics”, Joe discusses how he was inspired by a musical theme for his fabrics debuting in High Point. The four new fabric groups are Modern Jazz, Italian Classics, Western Opus and Decor Crescendo.  Joe has been a great friend of by Design in Des Moines and has visited and spoken to our customers several times.

Read the full article at Casual Living

At Sunbrella’s website, you can see a few of the new fabrics

Joe Ruggiero introduced new collections of upholstery frames and fabrics with classic origins and a more contemporary edge at the April High Point furniture market.  by Design is the exclusive retailer of Joe’s furniture collection in Central Iowa.  His sofas, sectionals, chairs and unique wood furniture designs are incredible.  Plus, his Sunbrella fabric collection has brought high design to outdoor and sunroom friendly fabrics.

“I believe a new edgy approach to classic upholstery frames is needed in today’s marketplace,” Ruggiero said. “I have also designed new Sunbrella® fabric groups that are inspired by what I have seen on the fashion runways and inspired by my visit to the famous German Bauhaus School.”

Read the full article at Sunbrella’s website

In the home furnishings and interior design world the High Point, North Carolina market is widely acknowledged to be the largest, most important event of the year. And it happens twice a year!

Each April and October 85,000 buyers, manufacturers and members of the press descend upon this small city. They walk the streets between over 100 buildings showcasing every imaginable piece of furniture, tables, chairs, rugs, lamps, wall art and accessories.  At over twelve million square feet of display, we know that we’ll never see all of the companies or merchandise displayed here.  But, part of our mission is to bring back part of this cornucopia to Des Moines and Central Iowa.

Here are some of the exciting things that the by Design team discovered in the High Point market this April:

The Malibu leather sectional has a wonderful attitude. It has a unique adjustable back that is both simple and elegant. Just slide the back cushion up and back, put your feet up and relax. Combining plush lines and cushioning, the Malibu is a fabulous design.

Gray has been emerging as a powerful and functional design color. One of the best ways to accessorize grays is with silver and mirror finishes. A great example is the Metropolis round striped-base table. Deco-like lines finished in a polished pewter look make this a great accent piece in your room. It’s like adding a bit of jewelry!

The new curvy Tousley sectional adds dynamic lines to a room. It is a sophisticated design with thin track arms, tufted back cushions and tapered feet. A great design like this brings amazing drama and fun to a room. Never underestimate the value of either fun or drama.

These vases have a bright pewter finish with a black matte textured base. These great finishes and interesting shapes add texture, detail and personality to your room.

Dull brass is an emerging finish. It brings back the warmth of brass without the dated look of polished or highly antiqued brass. We loved the Miami Horn end table with its tapered, flaring legs and functional size. It’s a great accent piece.

We like the Breonna table lamp for its interesting shapes as well as the beautiful textured shade and great finish.

The Bellucci buffet lamp combines an elegant shape with unusual metallic shade and handsome design details.

Specialty fabrics often add the flair or punch to a fabulous room design.  At the recent fall High Point market those specialty fabrics frequently came from ikats and susanis.

The word “ikat” means “to bind.”  It is a very ancient way of creating designs in fabric by resist-dyeing (a bit like tie-dying) the threads before the fabric is woven.  In Thailand, villagers take the weft (crosswise filling threads) and tie tiny bits of plastic onto the threads.

The tightly tied areas of thread, when put into the dye pot, resist the color and create a pattern, once the plastic ties are removed. Traditional Thai ikat cottons are often indigo-dyed in lively and engaging motifs representing the village life and beliefs of the people.

Modern Thai ikats in cotton and silk are brightly colored with good imported chemical or natural dyes.

This time-honored process creates a fabric that appears highly detailed, complexly woven and hand-crafted.  Ikats often have an ethnic look or feel to them.

In fact, Carole Sloan writing in Furniture Today said that many of the new ikats “in their latest interpretations evoke almost a Native American feel”.  Using this process with newer fabric design and fresh colors can provide a wonderful mix of traditional feel and contemporary fashion.  Take a look at the incredible black lacquered chairs shown here with a vibrant ikat fabric.  Wow.

Susani (sometimes spelled “suzani”) is the word for “needle” in Farsi, and the large embroidered dowry textiles of Turkic groups are so named because of the many hundreds of hours of needlwork required to produce them. Susani textiles originate in Central Asia: Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and other countries where Uzbeks and Tadzhiks share similar textile traditions with the Turkmen and other neighboring peoples in Central Asia .

Susani from the Uzbekistan cities of Samarkand and Tashkent have larger, bolder patterns than susani from their sister city of Bukhara, known for susani with smaller, very intricate flowers and tendrils reminiscent of certain Indian textiles.Used in Central Asia primarily as bed covers, susani in the hands of Western collectors often are framed and hung as wall art. Modern fabric designers are bringing this wonderful textile into our homes as accents and even core fabrics.

But… take a look at susani used in an upholstery application.

Ottoman in blue susani

You can see why designers love to use this vibrant design and color to add excitement and personality to a room.