Interior Design
by Reita Bayman

Do you have questions about Interior Design? About how to think about design?

We're not talking about what window treatments are in or which colors are hot this season. Those are temporal decisions which should be based more on how the choices will work with what you already have and with what you want to achieve and less on the trendiness of the options.

Decisions about window treatments and similar elements are tactical decisions. They are the implementations that go toward creating the strategy you are putting in place. They are the methods you are using to achieve your intentions.

True understanding of design is based on your personal experience in design, the success you've had, and on your understanding of the Design Formula. That is, on your knowledge of how texture, color, scale, and feel work together to create rhythm and relationships.

Each of us is born with a certain level of intuition when it comes to good design and good design choices, just as some of us have more natural ability to draw than others. All of us, however, can learn to become proficient in anything we choose. All we need to do is study the proper elements, apply them, have our applications evaluated, and then modify our understanding to get better results.

While good design is certainly an art, it is also a science. The better you get at the science (which can be learned) the better your artistic results will become. By that we mean there are rules of design which, when applied correctly, will help you achieve better results every time you apply them.

For example, rule number one: don't go shopping without a plan. You wouldn't go to the supermarket first thing if you were planning a dinner party. You'd decide the reason you were planning the party, when you wanted to have it, who you wanted to invite and so on. You'd make lists and lists of all the elements of your plan.

Then, and only then, would you go shopping for the food. Yet, most of us think nothing of going out and buying a piece of furniture we like it, having it delivered, and then trying to make it fit. From experience, you know that never works.

Rule number two comes out of rule number one: If you only buy things you like, you will create rooms that are out of balance and uncomfortable. Rooms that are filled with 'stars' are like movies filled with stars: we never know where to look or who is most important. Our focus is split and our attention is divided.

Successful rooms have few stars and many supporting characters. Decisions on what to use for support are based on the Design Formula.

First you decide what space needs to be filled with what size object in what color with what texture and feel to achieve what goal and then you search for something you like that meets all those criteria. In that way, you create rooms that work.

To help you become a better designer, we will answer your questions about design. Send them in to this site and we'll respond to those that are the most universal in nature, the most interesting, and the most informative.

In the meantime, watch design programs on television not for the things they do but for the reasons they do them. And if you can, join one of our Secrets of Interior Design classes. You'll be amazed at how much good design you can learn.

Reita Bayman

Reflections Interior Design
12423 Cedar Rd.
Cleveland Hts. 44106
216-229-1000


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