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Jul 04

Renovation Time: How to Plan the Duration of Your Home Improvement Project

By Blog

How much time should you allocate for a new home renovation?

Home renovations are each a unique project to the space and the changes you want to make. Naturally, renovating a small bathroom will take less time than the same depth of renovations in the kitchen. Repainting your cabinetry will take less time than rebuilding the whole cabinet set.  No matter how big or small your renovations, it is vital to know the real time estimate for the duration

Time Your Renovation in Stages

How long will your renovation take? This is easiest to answer in stages. Consider each state necessary, from ripping out the old features to building brand new features – each stage takes time. Roughly, you can allot 2 hours of time per day per team reliably and up to 6 hours of rotating shifts. The number of tasks, in total, that make up your renovation project will determine how long it will take to complete. 

You can also look up each type of renovation task to determine how much must be built before other features are built around it.

Example Renovation Stages 8-20 weeks

  • Planning & Design Stage – 2-4 weeks
  • Supply Delivery – 2-8 weeks
  • Tear-Out Stage – 1-2 weeks
  • Utility Line Stage – 1-2 weeks
  • Fixtures and Features – 1 week
  • Structures, Cabinets, and Countertops – 1-4 weeks
  • Paints, Finishes, and Sealcoat – 2-5 days

It can be as small as a quick bathroom renovation, to the whole gut renovation, which could be 6 months long!

Make Plans to Stay Somewhere Else

Most home renovations are less than enjoyable to live next to. Homes are often open with sheets of plastic and privacy is not guaranteed. Once you have determined how long your home renovation is likely to be, you can make plans to safely stay elsewhere. Pack up the family and catch a stay-cation at a local resort, visit relatives, or stay with a nearby friend. You can also book a vacation rental – temporarily renting a vacation-style home in the suburbs for comfort and convenience without the complexity of living in a hotel for a few weeks or months.

Causes for Home Renovation Delays

  • Design changes
  • Supplier shortages
  • Shipping delays
  • Poor weather (outdoor work)

Another serious consideration is that delays happen. Most contractors will advise you to add a few extra days to your schedule to account for delays.  Project delays can come from a variety of sources. If you have a project exposed to the outside, then weather plays a role. Lately, we’ve faced widespread manufacturing and transport shortages, leading to supply and shipping delays. If the homeowner makes a design change, this can also result in a delay as plans change.

Calculate and plan for delays so that a late shipment or poor weather doesn’t throw off your entire estimated schedule for completion.

Ordering Furniture for Your Renovated Home

When your work experiences no delays and contractors can arrive throughout the week, often deliveries are the one thing you have to plan furthest ahead. Special ordered building materials can take weeks or months to arrive.

Home renovations also tend to pair with redecoration and new furniture. Ordering new furniture for your home can take 6-8 weeks for delivery. This is part of the reason why it’s important to have a complete design plan before you begin. By ordering your furniture and building materials early, you can optimize their delivery time for when your renovation project is ready to put them to use. Ordering furniture early ensures the furniture is available when the work on your house is done and you’re ready to redecorate.

How long does a home improvement project take? It depends on the stages of home improvement and the shipment times for the materials, fixtures, and furniture your project needs. Work with your contractors (or DIY your plan) to order your goods early. You can choose to start work when your materials arrive or time their arrival as you move through the stages of your home renovation project.

Looking for trendy, beautiful furniture for your new home design? Contact us today.

Jun 27

4 Home Interior Design Tips for Cozy Living

By Blog

Nothing is as inviting, heavenly, and comfortable as a well-decorated home with a cozy living area. Maybe it’s how the furniture is arranged or how the lighting casts a warm and welcoming glow. Whatever it is, there’s just something about a perfectly decorated home that makes you want to curl up with a good book and never leave. 

Picking a home interior design style is your thin line between an inviting and comfortable home and a cold, sterile one. It’s essential to choose a style that reflects your personality and allows you to feel comfortable in your home. 

While the process can be daunting, we’ve compiled a few tips to help you smoothen your interior design process for your home.

What to Prepare Before Meeting with Your Interior Designer

Like any other important meeting in your life, there are a few things you should do before meeting with your interior designer for the first time. Prior preparation will make the session more productive and allow you to get to know your designer and see if they’re a good fit for your project. Here are a few key things you should do before meeting with your interior designer.

1. Define your project scope

The first step is to define the scope of your project clearly. Are you renovating your whole home or just one room? What is your budget? When do you need the project to be completed? These are all important questions that need to be answered before meeting with your designer.

2. Gather inspiration boards

Inspiration boards are an excellent way to communicate your design preferences to your designer. Collect images of rooms or designs you like and compile them into a board. 

This will give your designer a better understanding of your style and help them to better cater to your needs. Pinterest is a great place to start when looking for inspiration images. Create a board and start saving images that inspire you.

3. Know your design style and aesthetic preferences

Design styles vary significantly from one person to the next. What kind of look are you going for? Classic, modern, or eclectic? Be sure to have a good understanding of your design style before meeting with your designer. 

Your aesthetic preference is also an important factor to consider. Do you prefer a minimalist look, or are you more drawn to traditional designs? Be detailed in your descriptions to ensure that your designer knows exactly what you’re looking for.

4. What’s Your Budget

How much are you willing to spend on your home interior design project? This is an important question to ask before meeting with your designer. They will be able to give you a better idea of what is possible within your budget and help you to make the most of your money. Be realistic in your expectations, and don’t be afraid to ask for discounts.

What Files and Documents Do You Need?  

You’ll need to have a few key documents and files before your interior designer can start working on your project. These include:

  • A floor plan of your home (or the room you’re renovating)
  • Measurements of all the rooms in your home
  • Photos of your home (or the room you’re renovating)
  • Samples of materials you’d like to use in your project (e.g., paint, flooring, color scheme, furniture, etc.)
  • Any design preferences or inspiration boards you’ve created
  • Any sketches or ideas you have for the project

Ensure to have all of these documents ready and organized before meeting with your designer. This will help them better understand your project and make the design process much smoother.

The Value of Good Interior Design

A well-designed home looks good and reflects your personality, allowing you to feel comfortable in your home. Investing in quality interior design can also increase the value of your home, making it a wise investment for the future. 

While choosing an interior designer can be daunting, it’s important to remember that their job is to make your dreams a reality. You can rest assured that they will deliver a stunning finished product by providing them with a clear vision and all the necessary information.

How Working with a Designer will Save You Money

Interior design can be a costly affair – especially if you’re not familiar with the process. Besides the many benefits of working with an experienced interior designer, they can help you save money in the long run. How do they do this? You may ask.

  • They will help you avoid bad contractors who can do more harm than good, resulting in more costs for repairing and fixing stuff.
  • Interior designers know where to find quality materials at a fraction price as they are well connected with suppliers.
  • An interior designer can also be a great asset in helping you stay on budget. They will work with you to choose finishes and materials that fit your budget and meet your needs.
  • Designers also have a keen eye for detail and can spot potential problems before they become costly.

Let OPENUU Help You Design Your Next Project

Partnering with a reliable and experienced interior designer will help you create a beautiful and functional space that you will love for years to come. They will help you stay on budget, navigate the design process, and avoid costly mistakes. 

At OPENUU, we understand that each project is unique and take the time to get to know our clients so that we can create a space that reflects their individual styles. With us, you’re guaranteed a finished product that is stylish and practical.

Contact us for a free consultation today to learn more about how we can help you with your next project!

Jun 20

Aspects of Co-living Design

By Blog

Many people today are choosing co-living. It’s a trend among millennials. There are many designs of co-living. One familiar one is the college dorm. Your personal space is limited to a room (or sometimes half a room), but in return you have access to a recreation lounge, a dining hall where all the cooking is done for you, and bathrooms that you don’t have to clean yourself. Many students disliked sharing a room, however (especially when it was with a stranger), and moved into student condos. Student condos often have four single bedrooms and a shared living room, kitchen, and bathroom. There is often a gym, a grill area, and a pool shared by the whole condo complex. This model has proved to be more appealing than the dorms.

Co-living actually has a long history – from Victorian boarding houses to the communes of the 1960s, In Israel, for instance, there has long been a long tradition of co-living on kibbutzim and co-working them as well, typically on a farm. There are some differences with the current trend of millennial co-living. They tend to live in urban areas, unlike the kibbutzim and communes that tend to be in rural agricultural areas.

Some co-living communities are more intentional than others. A cult would be the highest level of intentional living where everyone shares ideals, rules, perhaps even uniforms. Dorms are intentional to the degree that the residents are all students at the same college. A step up in intention from there is a student co-op with daily or weekly shared meals and a chore wheel. There are more of these than you might think. The North American Student Cooperative Organization (NASCO) is particularly big in the West (Austin, Lawrence) and in the Midwest (Madison, Urbana, Chicago). 

Millennials may opt for co-living which is not intentional, but let us look at the intentional communities as they may be less familiar than condos and dorms. Most intentional communities affiliate with the Federation of Intentional Communities (FIC) which divides them into six types: student housing, religious community, communes, ecovillages, shared housing, and cohousing. We have already considered student housing. We will consider communes and religious communities together.

Communes

There are some old-style communes still surviving, typically due to a cottage industry. Ganas in Staten Island, runs vintage clothing, furniture restoration, and bookstore cafe businesses. Twin Oaks provides hammocks to Pier One, farms and produces tofu and heirloom seeds, and indexes books. Very few communes continue to share all possessions; often there is a hybrid model with a core group. Some rule by consensus. Some have a guru. Some have a guiding philosophy such as feedback learning at Ganas. The commune is a religious community if the philosophy is spiritual. They may have stricter rules or not. Some non-religious communities have strict rules, as well, such as vegetarianism. 

Ecovillages

If you thought communes would be the most radical intentional communities, you thought wrong. Some, like Camp Hill, which cares for persons with disabilities, are quite “straight.” I have heard rumors of dorms, but in all the communes I have visited, everyone had their own rooms. (There was one with a communal clothing closet.) Ecovillages can be more demanding. They may be off the grid. They may be in a developing country. Members may eat mainly beans and rice. Then again, they may have to eat meat that they raised and slaughtered themselves. Housing may be in huts. There is typically little privacy. Generally, the ecovillage is remote. 

Shared Housing

This is the intentional community type most likely to appear to those millennials interested in co-housing. It is also the category that can take on the most diverse forms. What makes it intentional is not the number of bathrooms or whether everyone ships in on a weekly community-supported agriculture (CSA) delivery. It is what the residents share. Perhaps this is a house for people from a certain home culture foreign to the host country. It could be a house full of Laker fans. Any unifying attribute (it doesn’t have to be a guiding philosophy) will do. The FIC divides them according to governance, economics, energy sources, food sources, education, and some lifestyle preferences. 

Cohousing

This is probably the most mainstream type of intentional community. In many cases, the members are affiliated mainly for the economic benefit of pooling resources to purchase real estate. They may share little more than a riding lawnmower. On the other hand, it may be something more interesting. There is a community near Taos, New Mexico where the residents have all built their own earthships – houses made from old tires, glass bottles, and other recycled materials. 

People are surprised to learn that all these models of intentional community are thriving with people of all ages. Some stay for years on waiting lists for the more established communes. Intentional living is not the only co-living model. With this trend in popularity among the millennials, we can expect many creative new designs to emerge. Contact us to learn more. 

Jun 13

Incorporating Smart Devices in Co-living Design

By Blog

Co-living is among the most practical, economic, and friendly ways to live. Private bedrooms and shared public spaces provide for more efficient use of the space and amenities. The better the shared features of a co-living house, the more everyone enjoys their residence. Today, one of the best ways to upgrade a co-living house is to add smart devices and an integrated smart control system.

Smart devices are responsive and intuitive. They make the entire house more accessible to every member of the co-living household. Even personalization becomes possible when the smart home recognizes each person as they occupy the house.

Let’s dive into what is possible when incorporating smart devices in co-living.

Smart Lock and Individual Codes

When it comes to shared spaces, smart locks are an excellent upgrade. A keypad smart lock can have a different access code assigned to each member of the household. As co-living roommates come and go, codes can be generated or deleted. In fact, you can even activate codes during certain days and times – like the scheduled arrival of your cleaning service or a temporary gate code for a delivery.

Smart Check-In and Video Doorbells

Doorbells and check-in also play a key role. In co-living, who is inside the house can matter. A quick check-in app or tablet in the entryway can let other residents know who comes and goes.

Video doorbells are a great way to keep track of guests, share greetings, and even let in expected guests via the smart lock without personally answering the door. A video doorbell can also serve as a porch security system with basic features like alarms and security alerts connected to the program.

Smart Thermostat with Comfort Tracking

A smart thermostat can help coordinate comfort and affordable utilities for the entire co-living household. When no one is home, the smart home can optimize the HVAC to use the minimum amount of power. As residents return home, the thermostat can balance their comfort level to the perfect indoor temperature. Multi-zone smart thermostats allow for personalized temperatures in every part of the house.

Shared Control Tablet or Panel

Each co-living resident will be able to download the smart apps on their personal devices and log into the household account. However, many co-living homes will prefer a centralized tablet mounted to the wall or propped on the coffee table to share mutual easy control of the smart home. A central tablet may soon become the hallmark of shared spaces just as it has reached prevalence in hospitality industries.

Smart Parking and Garage Door

For co-living with a parking area, smart parking devices are essential. Garage door and gate openers, in particular, can respond to the approach of a resident’s phone to open only for authorized vehicles. Likewise, a quick app tap could easily replace the tedium of passing out gate openers. Even smart lighting can be used to easily indicate which parking spot each arriving resident should take.

Smart Lights and Voice Commands

Speaking of smart lights, this is often where most smart homes get started – and get personal. Smart lights are LED bulbs that screw into normal light sockets. However, they can achieve any color in additiont to illuminating white light and take voice commands in addition to light switches.

Smart lights can bring mood lights to the living room, personalized lighting to each bedroom, and custom lights in the kitchen. The key to enjoying smart lights is to build ‘groups’ by room, then build voice commands to control each light as the co-living residents enjoy most.

Smart House Decorations

Smart homes have become so advanced that even decorations can respond to voice commands. Light panels hung on walls and smart sculptures can change colors, glow in set patterns, pulse to music, and respond to smart routines to change the mood from room to room. Smart decorations are bringing the smart home experience to life in every corner of the home.

Announcements and Drop-Ins

Another great element of smart homes for co-living is the inner-house communication system. An array of smart home speakers listening for voice commands can also act as an intercom. Residents can make house-wide announcements or ‘drop in’ on another area of the house for an across-the-house chat.

Personalized Routines

Last but not least, routines can be what personalizes a co-living home for each individual resident and for the residents as a group. You can set up a routine – a set of commands executed with a single voice command – for anything. A “morning” routine might slowly sunrise the lights and start the smart coffee pot brewing. A “Night Security” routine might lock all the doors and set the doorbell to security mode.

Smart devices have great potential in co-living because they increase and personalize the value of shared amenities. When the home itself responds to the individual and group needs of a shared living household, it provides a better experience for everyone. Contact us today to explore smart home upgrades for your co-living space.

Jun 06

How to Plan Your Co-Living Space for Harmonious Shared Use

By Blog

Co-living is a wonderful and practical way for many people to enjoy city life. Whether you are designing a space for co-living tenants or planning the kitchen and livingroom of a home you share with friends, the shared spaces are what matter most in your co-living home design. These are the spaces where everyone comes together for meals or enjoys separately according to their schedule. To create harmony, your co-living space should both flow with easy use and be aesthetically pleasing to every member of the home.

Designing and/or renovating your co-living space is all about considering what is most beautiful and beneficial for the group. As professional designers, we can offer a few great tips on how to design beautiful and harmonious co-living spaces.

Create Open Spaces and Foot Traffic Flow

The first tip is to design with space in mind. An enjoyable co-living space is one where everyone can easily move around, reach the storage, and enjoy the seating without feeling crowded. A beautiful room is one that is spacious, drawing the eye to a few key pieces of decoration that make the entire space feel luxurious rather than busy. Make the most of your space with just the right furniture and artistic pieces while leaving plenty of room for both movement and gatherings.

Choose a Color Palette for Furniture and Decor

People are happier in co-living spaces when they feel well put-together. Your co-living design doesn’t have to be eclectic; your shared living room, kitchen, and other shared spaces can be as beautiful as magazine spreads and as inspiring. The key is in the color-palette. Choose a sunrise palette of warm yellow, gold, orange, and cream with hints of blue just like the sky at dawn. Or decorate in the cool shades of creamy gray for a touch of elegance. 

By choosing a color palette, you will make it easy to find furniture and decorations that make the room design come together so that each aesthetic piece is a part of a more beautiful whole. Bring your palette to life with an accent wall, throw pillows, and a few pieces of art on the wall.

Hang Inspiring Artwork

Speaking of wall art, choose your paintings and prints carefully. Co-living means decorating in a way that shares the tastes of everyone in the home. For this, your best options are things that everyone finds inspiring. Choose landscapes, floral prints, and abstracts to hang on your wall. These can uplift the spirit and make each co-living resident feel inspired when they move through the space without presuming each person’s individual taste in art.

Many beautiful pieces can also make a room feel larger, acting as additional windows to places more spacious and majestic.

Place Small Aesthetic Decor on Tables and Counters

Small pieces of decor are the key to making a co-living space feel decorated while also keeping the surfaces clean and accessible. Little clusters of beautifully potted plants, sculptures, and lights are the perfect touch for a space that is both lived-in but also always kept clean to be harmoniously shared by all residents. Neutral tones and splashes of your chosen accent colors are the best way to make your decorations on tables and counters will be aesthetic to everyone and also remind residents to keep those surfaces attractively clean.

Clever Coaster Placement

Coasters can act as both a helpful utility for social gatherings and lovely decor. Stone coasters and inlay coasters are both a beautiful addition to your coffee table or countertop. Coasters protect your polished surfaces while also making it clear that social gatherings are welcome. This is a wonderful way to signal to your co-living residents that the space is decorated not as a museum, but to be enjoyed by all who share the space.

Pace a Large Artistic Clock on the Wall

Give your space a useful and elegant feature with a large wall clock. Many people, especially when cooking, like to glance at the clock to keep track of their timing. Residents moving through the space will always know what time it is and clocks are wonderfully neutral way to decorate according to everyone’s tastes. The right clock can also express the shared personality of the residents by adding a little quirkiness and refinement to your co-living space design.

If you are planning to design or renovate co-living spaces, consider the harmony and enjoyment of every resident in your design. The key to great co-living design is to make choices that are beautiful and useful to everyone. Give each co-resident plenty of space to move around, accessible surfaces, good lighting, and beautiful decorations that enhance each person’s ability to enjoy the space together and alone. Contact us today or explore our shop to find beautiful pieces and color palettes for your co-living space design.

May 30

Essential Baby Nursery Decor for Fashion and Function

By Blog

There is nothing that compares to the magic of having a new baby in the home. From the second they cross through the threshold into the house, you want them to know that it is a safe, comfortable, and inviting space for them for the rest of their lives. Baby nurseries are a challenge because you want them to have decor that is aesthetically appealing to your little one but at the same time functional for midnight feedings. These baby nursery decor ideas are a combination of fun and functional for everyone involved. 

Comfortable Arm Chair

Any mom will tell you that if there is one piece of furniture you want in a nursery other than the crib, it is a comfortable armchair, preferably one that reclines a little. This chair will grow with your needs from midnight feedings to mid-day naps to storytime when they get a little older. Choose a fabric and color that is relatively neutral, so the chair will fit your decor no matter how your taste changes over the years. 

Changing Table

A changing table may seem like a luxury, but it is well worth the investment, especially if you are changing a lot of diapers in the middle of the night. A changing table saves a lot of time and energy from changing your baby on the ground, and it is a lot easier to clean than the carpet if an accident happens. A dresser with a built-in changing table on top is excellent even if you already have a dresser because babies always need extra storage for toys, blankets, and other baby stuff.  Again, it is an excellent idea to get one in a neutral color or one that you can paint to always fit in well with your decor. 

Soft Rug

Having a soft rug is a good idea even if you have carpet in the room because some carpets can be rough on a baby’s sensitive skin. A rug is great to pull a room together and give you traction on smooth wood surfaces in the middle of the night. It is also great to be able to put your baby down and let them explore their world without worrying about them hurting themselves on hard surfaces. The nice thing about a rug is that if it is well-maintained, it will last a long time and can even be moved to a different room if it’s no longer needed in the nursery. 

Wall Art

Babies’ minds develop at a crazy pace, and they are always looking for new stimuli in every form.- so give them something to focus on and decode with colorful wall art. A few other ideas are going big with a lively wallpaper and customizing the baby’s room by putting their name over their crib. Pro tip: get some wall art that you’ll like too, because there will be plenty of sleepless nights where you can’t do anything but stare at the wall. 

Night Light/Noise Machine 

As your baby gets a little older and transitions to their own room, you will savor the few-hour stretches of sleep you start to get. Squeeze the most time you can by getting a white noise machine that will help to soothe your baby to sleep and hopefully keep them sleeping longer. There are plenty of options out there but you may find the best ones for you to be ones specifically made for babies as they often mimic the sounds of being in the womb.

Time to Play

If you are planning for a baby, congratulations! Now is the time to start playing with ideas to make your baby’s room as accessible and cozy as possible for them and you.

Contact us for design ideas and furniture to furnish your baby’s new room and make it not just a place to sleep but a place where the whole family makes memories. 

May 23

8 Bathroom Designs to Create a Relaxing Bath Time Escape

By Blog

There is nothing quite like a long hot bath to relax at the end of the day. Soaking in hot water releases tension in your muscles and the quiet escape can ease the stress from your mind. Every private bathroom should be a peaceful oasis. You can always redesign your bathroom to be more relaxing with just a few thoughtful design changes. A little bit of decoration, new shelves, and soft lighting can help to transform your bathroom into a private steamy retreat from the outside world.

Adults today rarely bathe partly because our bathrooms aren’t designed for a comfortable soak. Tubs are too small and cramped in by walls on three sides. The edge of the bathtub may be too sharp or slippery for comfortable lounging. There may be nowhere to put your drink, and the only lights are brilliant vanity bulbs. A bathroom with steps leading to a comfortable soaking tub will naturally inspire you to take more baths, and to make the most of each bath you take. 

DIY Bathroom Decorations for Bath Ambiance

Decorate with Jars of Candles, Oils, and Bath Salts

Make the space around your bathtub beautiful and relaxing. One of the best ways is to decorate with your bath supplies. Bath oils and salts are often lovely in jars and will look perfect next to your scented candles and votives. Some bath candles melt into bath oil you can add to your bath.  

Relax Into a Bath Neck Pillow

Change the shape of your tub with inflatable pillows and pads. The right neck pillow or bath insert can transform your bath experience. You can make it both easy and safer to doze off in the warm water.

Set the Lights to Your Favorite Color

Swap out a few bulbs for smart light bulbs and take control of your bathroom color. It’s easy to turn a standard light fixture (but not a specialty-size fixture) into a smart light. Then dim the lights and set them to your favorite color at voice command when it’s time to take a relaxing soak.

Place a Smart Speaker for Relaxing Music

Mount a smart speaker on the wall of your bathroom. You can set it to play you anything from relaxing spa music to news and podcasts, as well as setting your smart lights from the path without lifting a finger.

Bathroom Renovations for the Bath Experience

Install a Soaker Tub

The single biggest bath obstacle for most adults is an enclosed 5-foot tub. That’s just not enough space to soak. If you are taking on a major bathroom renovation, consider installing a soaker tub, maybe even spaced out from the wall so you have room to soak or to sprawl.

Install Shelves or Niches Near Your Bathtub

Baths are so much better when you can set down a drink and tip in bath oils at your leisure.  A few extra shelves or an installed bath niche can give you that extra space you need to stretch out and relax.

Design Layered Lighting

Give yourself more than bright vanity lighting or a shadowy overhead light. Layered lighting is ideal in the bathroom to give you both full illumination coverage and relaxing mood lighting options.

Install a Towel Warming Rack for Toasty Warm Towels

Towel warming is a simple yet luxurious bathroom upgrade. These lightly powered towel bars warm your towels while you are in the bath or shower. When you step out, a toasty towel or two await you.

Top-Up With an On-Demand Heater

One powerful bathroom upgrade is an on-demand heater. This is an enclosed set of heating coils that warm water as it passes through the pipes. You can take a long hot shower. For longer bathing, you can top up your hot water without the extra seconds of cold water clearing the tap, or taxing your tank water heater.

A bathroom designed for bathing is helpful for stress, muscle recovery, medical soaking, and private escape. Fill the tub, dim the lights, and enjoy a truly relaxing soak. For more bathroom renovation ideas and a great selection of beautiful decoration pieces, shop with us today.

May 16

What Makes an Interior Designer Fee Worth It?

By Blog

Why hire an interior designer instead of decorating DIY? Homeowners have been working with interior designers for centuries, combining vision with talent to create beautiful spaces. You may have a vision for you living room that only a professional designer could bring to life. But many people have a few questions about why interior design works the way it does, especially when it comes to cost.

Interior designers are often paid in addition to the cost of any new furniture and decor. Why are interior designers’ fees set where they are and, you may be asking yourself, is it worth it? Just what services, value, and final result will you see in return for investing in an interior designer’s expertise? And how can you maximize that value, hiring an interior designer for the best result when it matters most?

These are exactly the questions we will help you answer today.

The Design Itself

First, let’s not underestimate the value of the design itself. To make the design, an interior designer listens to the homeowners and gets a feel for their personality and preferences. They walk through your house and take into account the architecture and the rest of your home decor. The final design is personalized not just to the house, but to you and your vision of a beautiful home as well. No number of magazine and Pinterest images of designs will give you a design as precise, perfect, and personalized as the one your interior designers creates to start your project rolling.

Discounted Furniture and Design Pieces

Another overlooked value is that interior designers often have the scoop on amazing prices for beautiful furniture and pieces of art that will transform your space. The OPENUU team typically saves between 10% and 15% of the total purchase-cost of your interior design in furniture discounts alone. DIY-ing your home design could actually cost more without these decorator insider deals.

Your interior designer likely also has a few contacts with trustworthy local trades and may know how to get you the best deals on structural work as well.

Project Planning and Coordination

When you hire an interior designer, you don’t have to be the ringleader for the project planning and execution. You don’t have to be the one in charge of scheduling the painters and the electricians at the right time in your project because your interior designer will handle it for you.

Homeowners are often very busy people with full-time jobs and family obligations. Your time is valuable, so we aim to take on that stress and time-consuming oversight when making your home more beautiful

An interior architect is not just your designer, they are the central manager of your entire design project. Your interior designer, and possibly their team, take on the responsibility of coordinating the transformation of the room.

Contractor Hiring and Management

Your interior designer also handles the contractors who may do work on you home as part of the design. Contractor management is a delicate but necessary part of any home renovation. We know great quality contractors that we have worked with many times over years of partnership. You need trustworthy teams and well-organized oversight that your interior designer can provide, so you don’t have to.

Dedicated Concierge Service

Your interior designer is also your liaison, the one person in the project who is fully answerable to you and responsible for your happiness.  Interior design is often a concierge service where your designer is available to call any time during the project and they will do their best to make you happy. Having someone on-call to help make your design perfect, handle emergencies, and manage the project for you has value so you don’t need to deal with it.

Delivering Final Results

Finally, your interior designer is responsible for delivering final results. Why do we pay the interior decorator fee instead of DIY decorating each room? It’s for the results. In the long run, we save you time, money, and headache.

Contact us today to explore interior design and renovation with more bang for your buck.

May 09

The Four Elements of Decorating Your Home with Mirrors

By Blog

Everyone knows that a mirror in the right place can bring a room to life. It reflects the light and creates an image of elegance. Mirrors have been used in many ways to take a room from merely beautiful to breathtaking. However, use mirrors carelessly and you’ll create a room that feels disjointed or cluttered. Every homeowner should know the ins and outs of decorating with framed mirrors, whether you’re brightening up the living room or giving your bedroom an elegant allure.

When decorating with mirrors, the frame design plays a major role in the look and feel of your mirror, along with the size and placement. We have a wonderful selection of framed mirrors, but how do you know which is the best, or the best place for a mirror in your home’s interior design? As experienced decorators, we’re here to share a few tips and inspirational ideas on how to mix beautiful framed mirrors into your home decor.  

Make a Room Look Bigger with Large Mirrors

One of the best uses for a mirror in home design is to make small rooms look larger. Oversized mirrors, especially wide mirrors, reflect the space in a room, giving it the impression of being up to twice as large. In restaurants, we sometimes see an entire mirrored wall to make the dining room look double the size. In homes, an elegant and bold frame creates both the illusion of space and the solid feeling of a beautifully decorated room.

Center mirrors providing the spacious illusion at shoulder-height. One option is to hang vertical mirrors in panels, another is to hang a long mirror or two mirrors over the couch in a narrow living room.

Brighten a Room by Reflecting Light

Mirrors are also wonderful at increasing the light level and reducing shadows in a room. If you have a room that gets sunlight but is typically shadowy, strategically placed mirrors can finally make this room shine in its best light. Place mirrors about head-height (or at different heights) around the room. Use smaller mirrors and even set them at angles to reflect more light. Today, mirror decals and small mirrors are all the rage . You can also use traditional framed mirrors spaced around the room (or just across from the window) to amplify the light in a room and beautifully brighten your space. In fact, guests won’t even realize the extra light is coming from your elegantly hung decorative mirrors.

Aesthetically Reflect Your Art Pieces

Do you have a beautiful piece of art hanging on a wall or on a sculpture pedestal? If you have an eye for the aesthetic, consider using an opposite mirror to reflect your art a second (or even third) time. We have seen mirrors uses beautifully in display niches and homeowners who have used mirrors to turn one piece of art into their own original artistic presentation. Reflect your mural across the wall to enjoy it from more angles or create a mirror that shows off your favorite artwork around corners and from a wider range of seated perspectives to really make your art pieces pop.

Balancing Your Mirror’s Frame with Your Framed Art

Have other framed art hanging from the walls? Be sure to blend your framed mirror design in with the rest of your framed artwork. Match the size, color, and style of your existing frames for your mirror to join your unified decoration style. Or, if you like eclectic frames, choose a bold mirror frame that beautifully contrasts and even highlights the frame and style of your other hanging wall art.

Mirrors are one of many available elements that can transform your space when used to accentuate the design. If you’ve been dreaming of the perfect use of light and space in your home, explore our beautiful selection today and shop your perfect new home design.

May 02

4 Things to Consider When Renovating Your New Office

By Blog

If you’re renovating your office or moving into a new one, you know this on a deep level: the workspace is an incredibly important factor for success in business.

Trying to shape your environment to be angled towards success is now a key part of your job during this transition which can be stressful and complicated.  To make things easier, we highly recommend you set goals for what you want to achieve. Today, we’re going to dive into a few different factors to consider for goal setting on your office renovation (or relocation) project.

Size – Creating Room For Growth

The size of the space you’re in matters for a lot of reasons: heating and cooling costs, acoustics, comfort, etc. Something that is important to keep in mind and is often overlooked is ensuring that there is space for future company growth. The last thing you’ll want is to be stuck somewhere that limits your potential or forces employees into cramped conditions, or squeezing in extra desks to make room for new employees.

Of course, you do want to be reasonable. Track your potential expansion and plan accordingly. What do trends say about your potential growth 1, 5, 10, 15 years out?

What does that mean for your potential future headcount and the space you’ll need. These are all variables to consider when assessing size needs for your office.

Office Acoustics – Managing Noise

The advantages of an open office layout — increased creativity, a sense of community, enhanced flexibility, and increased collaboration — have been enumerated and explained at great length. Originally pushed forward by successful tech companies in Silicon Valley, this model has been adopted by many workplaces. Unfortunately, this switch does come with some drawbacks. Namely, increased noise level.

This is why it’s important for office designers to also think about the acoustics of the workplace. Accounting for the noise level an office environment brings, especially one with an open plan, is a key part of preventing your workforce from becoming distracted. There are a few different things you can do as a designer to address acoustical problems:

Utilizing Absorptive Materials

Using absorptive materials along walls, ceilings, or other structures can help to decrease how far sound travels. There are a wide variety of material options that can compliment existing design choices.  Absorptive materials will prevent the volume in your workplace from becoming unbearable and keep your teams productive.

Installing Sound Masking Systems

Perhaps a less intuitive option is to add sound to your workplace. We don’t mean just any sound. For a sound masking system to be effective, it needs to produce a beautiful rendition of perfectly ignorable white noise. Our brain is able to filter out consistent sounds and cause them to fade into the background, making the white noise from the sound masking system entirely unintrusive. However, the white noise will help to limit the range of the sound of conversation, ensuring your office is safe from oppressive volume levels.

Creating Soundproof Spaces

We all know someone who has no idea how loud they are once they get on the phone. They get a call and suddenly it’s like sitting next to a freight train. Crafting spaces that both are soundproof and amenable to phone calls, meetings, and short focus sessions is a great way to stem the tide of distracting noise in the workplace. These are achievable from small phone booths, to large conference rooms.

Number of Conference Rooms and Private Spaces

Speaking of spaces designed specifically for meetings and phone calls, it’s also important to factor in conference room space into your plan. How many meetings does your company typically have going on at once? How many people are in the average meeting? What is the largest meeting typically had at your company, such as monthly townhall meetings

These are all questions whose answers can help illuminate the conference room issue. Ensuring that meetings can be booked with minimal conflict and strife is a huge part of the success of an office space. Extra points for having meeting rooms that easily facilitate top tier collaboration between your employees.

Casual Spaces

Another thing popularized by Silicon Valley trends is an increasingly casual workplace space. Offices will come equipped with game rooms and fully stocked kitchens loaded up with every snackfood imaginable. While we don’t all have Google’s budget when it comes to stocking the fridge for our employees, that doesn’t mean casual spaces can’t exist. Thought should be put into the places your employees will congregate as they will affect your culture and their wellbeing.

Our design team can help you parse all the little decisions you need to make for your new office, taking into account your goals and budget. For more information on how we can help, contact us today!