Interior Decorating & Design Starts With a Plan
The interior Design Directors of INSTUDIO use the phrase “It starts with a plan” as an all inclusive directive for design services that change lives through design. An overall plan comes into play for any budget or design direction from restyling a room, redecorating, remodeling one room or designing completely custom home interiors. Restyle of [...]
Colors Inspired by Palm Springs, California
Interior Design Directors Samuel Fleming Lewis & Stephen Kladder were asked to select a new paint color palette for the exterior of a mid-century condominium complex in Palm Springs, California. A new creamy white was selected to retain the cool mid-century vibe for all of the buildings. The surrounding purple/mauve tones of the mountains, beige [...]
Get on the Ball with Decorative Accessories
Round shapes enhance interior design as timeless reusable accessories. Orbs, spheres, globes or balls are available in a wide range of finishes and materials suitable for any style of design and décor. Glass, wood, rope, metal, stone, raffia, ceramic, plastic, moss and even sports balls gathered in a vessel makes an interesting display that adds [...]
What’s Modern? What’s Contemporary?
Two chairs with similar styling are as different as black and white, one is modern and one is contemporary. Modern and contemporary are often used interchangeably to describe sleek new furniture, products and interiors. While the overall look may be similar, modern and contemporary designs are very different things. Modernism in architecture and design developed [...]
A Bowl of Apples & Interior Design
Interior design is an equal balance of art and science. The art of design is as simple as being aware of a bowl of apples but…What color are the apples? How many apples fit in the bowl? What style, color or texture is the bowl? Where was the bowl made, is it hand crafted or [...]
What to Do About Pink
Every color has its place; however, if you forced Design Director Stephen Kladder to pick his least favorite color, it would be pink. So, what to do about pink? In his artwork, Design Director Stephen Kladder easily found pink’s proper place in his piece entitled, “Steppin’ Out”, inspired from the back pages of an Interview [...]
Bona Fide Fragonard
“Marry Me”, “Paris Romance”, “Love and Happiness”, “Soul Mate”. If any of these words were a name of a paint color, and not mere words murmured in hushed tones, one could guess what color it might be. Recently, many interior design magazines have graced their covers with this hue’s most brazen shade, echoing Pantone’s 2011 [...]
For Pinks Sake!
Interior Design Director Samuel Fleming Lewis of INSTUDIO has both good and bad memories of PINK. The living and dining rooms of his childhood home in Los Angeles were painted 1950’s country club pink and in the 1970’s pink shirts were almost a standard alternate to white or blue at the large architectural firm where [...]
Treasures from Travels
When you travel by car for a thirty minute commute, to another state to visit family and friends, or internationally for business or pleasure, take advantage of the opportunity to visit local boutiques, vintage shops, thrift stores, consignment boutiques, galleries, artist studios, garage sales and flea markets to find choice art and accessories. A whole [...]
Developing Room Color Palettes from Rugs & Carpets
When designing traditional rooms INSTUDIO interior Design Directors Samuel Fleming Lewis & Stephen Kladder often start with a rug to develop a rich color palette. Furniture finishes, paint colors, metal finishes, stone colors and textiles for drapery or upholstery can all be influenced by special color combinations found in rugs or Axminster style carpets. From [...]
Interior Designers Listen for a Living
Miscommunication about interior design projects can cause rifts in the relationship between interior design clients and interior designers. Designers have the obligation to listen to their clients’ needs and thoroughly understand them before planning and designing rooms or homes. Listening is a two way street. It’s important that communication on budget and style likes and [...]
Teen’s Blue Bedroom Design Direction
Do-it-Yourself design clients can purchase online interior Design Direction through instudio-sf.com The following dialogue is between Design Director: Samuel Fleming Lewis and Client: Sharon who has teen age daughter that requested a dark blue bedroom. Sharon: My 15-year-old daughter is in her first year of high school, so we are completely re-doing her room to reflect [...]
We Stand for 2″ Venetian Blinds
Venetian blinds were widely adopted in homes and office buildings to regulate light in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Although there are great innovations in light controlling window coverings, Samuel Fleming Lewis & Stephen Kladder of INSTUDIO like classic 2” Venetian blinds for their dual styling that is both vintage and contemporary. Classic [...]
Looking for Color?
Look for color palettes in unexpected places. Colorists have a talent for setting trends with unique color combinations that stay in our memories and define decades. To create a truly special combination of your own colors, take a closer look at things that you might otherwise ignore. Roadside weeds, telephone poles, asphalt streets with “stop” [...]
Wonderful Rooms of White
In the early1920’s legendary British interior designer Syrie Maugham rejected the small dark Victorian style rooms of her day. She is credited for designing the first all-white room. Although she developed other signature styles Maugham established her interior decorating business with all white rooms. For her 1930’s Burlingame, CA apartment June Mejias decorated with white [...]
Balance with Colors, Shapes & Textures
The relevance of interior design is first experienced through the furniture plan. The thoughtful placement of furniture reflects activities and how a room is used. Other layers of design include proportion, rhythm, style and balance. When we are comfortable being entertained as a guest there is an ease and pleasure that is felt throughout a [...]
Defining Taste & Style
Personal design style is developed not by trend, current taste or beautiful furniture or objects, but individual taste and the relevance of a good furniture plan. Stage in life, geographic location and budget doesn’t matter when cultivating lasting style for interior design. INSTUDIO Interior design directors Samuel Fleming Lewis and Stephen Kladder are exploring a [...]
A Modern Bath
Bathrooms are one of the most expensive remodeling projects to do. A home’s renovation often starts with updating a bathroom. If your design style is contemporary consider a classic modern white on white bathroom. After seeing a white on white bath designed by INSTUDIO Avner Lapovsky enlisted the design directors to create one of his [...]
Talk About Design
Any couple or family should talk about interior design prior to making simple or major design decisions for the home. It’s rare that everyone involved is as passionate about every aspect of the design direction but all voices need to be heard. A couple or family has individual needs that should be addressed prior to [...]
