Find Your Interior Design School Today
Now you can get your interior design training online and take classes around your schedule.Turn your passion for home decorating into a career in interior design. A successful interior design career starts with training from a reputable interior design school. Search our school directory for interior design schools in California, New York, or even online. For more tips and advice on interior design schools and careers, check out our interior design articles.
Featured Articles - Interior Design & Decorating
Home Interior Decorating for the Four Seasons: Winter
by Melissa Pringlemelissa.pringle@interiordesignschoolreview.com
Interior Design School Review Columnist
Interior design schools teach students how to use small accents to make a huge difference, and winter is the perfect time to make a few small touches go a long way. While many think about home interior decorating for the holidays, remember that there are usually two months of winter after the holidays are over.
Keys to Winter Home Interior Decorating
Winter interior design is all about creating an environment that reflects the beauty and intensity of the winter season, while leaving the cold outside. Good winter home interior decorating should create a warm, comforting, attractive environment, and the best ways to do this are through warm colors, rich textures, and winter-themed accessories.Deep Interior Design Colors
Interior design schools of thought all seem to agree that deeper, darker colors make a room feel warmer. Replace summer's light lampshades with ones that are mulberry- or copper-colored, and replace sheer or bright curtains with deeper, richer versions of the same colors. If you must have a touch of "snow", consider adding white flowers as mantel decorations or a table centerpiece.Rich Textures
Carpet can bring warmth and color to a room. If your carpet is not the right color, bring out rugs in deep winter colors, such as pine-green. Regardless of their size, these can add a sense of warmth to a room with light-colored carpet, bare wood, or cold tile.The Right Accessories
Candles are some of the best home accessories for winter interior decorating. Their intense glow not only looks warm, but adds heat to any room where they're shining. Group them in collections of various heights and thicknesses.Interior Design Schools
If you're intrigued by home interior decorating and want more tips and possibly a career in interior design, check out one of the many interior design schools located across the country. It's the best way to prepare for a professional interior design career.Sources
About the Author
Melissa Pringle prefers winter interior decorating that encourages curling up with a good book and some hot cocoa.
Visit the Interior Design School Review News archives »
Sustaining Your Design Career in 2006
by Wendy Croixwendy.croix@interiordesignschoolreview.com
Interior Design School Review Columnist
If you've already completed your formal interior design education, it's not too late to carve out a career path in sustainable design. If you're still in interior design school and looking for a home interior design project with relevance, think sustainable design.
Does it seem as though eco-speak is a foreign language? Check out the glossary of "Common Green Terms" on the ASID website. Designers Lucinda Jennings and Victoria Schomer clarify some commonly used expressions and concepts in sustainable design, giving you the words and ideas to express your "green" intentions.
Design an Interior that Loves the Environment--and Do It with Ease
Green materials offer home interior designers more choices than ever. From floor coverings to upholstery materials to window treatments, environmentally friendly fabrics and furnishings make sustainable home interior design a breeze.-
Use Green Fabrics in Your Home Interior Design, like:
Mayer's ecologically friendly Terratex upholstery materials. Four product lines (Foundation, Links, Constructure, and Electron) come in dozens of colors produced using renewable energy sources. Renewable energy sources like solar, wind, or hydroelectric power aren't depleted when they're used. -
Use Green Window Treatments, like:
The Quiet Shade System of cloth window panels. Manufactured by MechoShadeGain, these motorized window panels maximize daylighting while minimizing heat and motor noise. Daylighting means the design of an interior that reduces the use of electric lighting and glare by using natural light in interior spaces. -
Use Green Counter Surfaces, like:
Avonite's Cozumel, a countertop material for kitchens or baths made from fragments of reclaimed glass. The textured, neutral Cozumel is from AvoniteSurfaces's recycled collection. Recycling, in greenspeak, refers to the collection and processing of solid waste materials and then using old products as the raw material for the manufacture of new. -
Use Green Veneers, like:
Tabu's Green, a Forest Stewardship Council-certified veneer that comes in fourteen vivid colors. If you use this all-natural wood veneer in your home interior design, you'll earn LEED-certified wood credits. LEED™ is the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Building Rating System that sets the industry standards for green design.
Now you're designing--and speaking--green!
Sources
About the Author
Wendy Croix, Ph.D. is a creative writer, freelancer, and self-confessed home improvement junkie. She's also a professor with twenty years’ experience in education.
Visit the Interior Design School Review News archives »
Natural Interior Decorating Tips for Fall
by Craig Friesencraig.friesen@interiordesignschoolreview.com
Interior Design School Review Columnist
Everyone loves to bring fall colors indoors to brighten their homes. The decorative appeal of gourds, squash, ornamental corn, and wheat has made them popular items in grocery, florist, and craft stores. Imagine using dried produce you grew yourself to achieve the same home interior decorating look. Here are some “how-to” ideas to get you going.
The Growth Period
When selecting seeds for your home decorating fall harvest, be sure to seek out hybrids that are specifically intended for this purpose. It's also important, when planting for home interior decorating purposes, not to over-plant. Ideally, begin by planting a few seeds. If you end up with an abundance of viable plants, cull out some to give the remainder the best chance to grow. Many gourds, squash, and corn varieties produce abundantly so you don’t need to plant a lot.Harvesting for your Interior Decorating Projects
When it is time to harvest your produce for your home’s interior decorating projects be sure to do so when the plant is fully ripe and dry. Leaves may be cut or picked as they reach the desired colors. Once cut, dry them by placing them in a shallow pan and pouring hot sand over top. Finish by touching them up with an iron and dipping them in clear varnish.In dealing with squash, remember that it is perishable. However, the length of time you can keep a whole, mature, undamaged pumpkin should suffice for your home’s interior fall decorating. Gourds are best left to dry on the vine. When they are very lightweight and rattle when shaken, they are ready to be brought in.
Ornamental corn should also be picked dry. Then peel back the husks but leave them attached. Hang the corn by tying a string around the cob so the plume dries flowing downward.
You will be thrilled at what you can achieve by using your own produce. These simple tips for your autumn interior decorating projects will help you create professional-looking decorations every autumn.
Sources
About the Author
Craig Friesen is a freelance writer and self-employed entrepreneur living in Abbotsford, British Columbia.
Visit the Interior Design School Review News archives »
Old World Design for Modern Interior Designers
by Melissa Pringlemelissa.pringle@interiordesignschoolreview.com
Interior Design School Review Columnist
Creating a specific look in your home requires the right combination of furniture, wall décor, and small accessories. Interior design schools can teach you how to create romantic, modern, antique, or other types of home interior design. If you're looking for an Old World look, here are a few ways you can create that interior design look in your home.
Achieving an Old World Home Interior Design
Walls: Old World style walls should be rich in color and design. You can cover your walls with floral or gilded paper, or stencil a pattern of various colors over neutral background paint. If you don't want intricate patterns on your walls, choose a heavy color, such as deep forest green or rich burgundy.Furniture: Heavy, ornate furniture can help create an Old World style. Look for tables with carved designs on the legs or tabletop. If you have a lot of books, buy bookshelves of the same height and design, then line them up side-by-side along the walls to give the room a library feel.
Decorations: Heavily decorated accessories and wall hangings can create an Old World-style home interior design. Choose picture or mirror frames that are thick and heavy, with colors such as deep wood brown, black, or gold. Display intricately decorated plates on the wall or in china cabinets. Choose accessories with ornate designs, such as lamp stands that are gold or carved into beautiful designs.
Learning at Interior Design Schools
If you want more tips on designing various room styles, or if you want to be a professional interior designer, consider attending an interior design class at one of the many home interior design schools across the country. Interior design schools offer classes that can teach you how to create the perfect home interior for your house and the houses of your design clients.Sources
- Stylish Solutions: What You Can Do About a Coffee Table… and Answers to Other Decorating Dilemmas (New York: Clarkson Potter/Publishers, 1998)
- 301 Decorating Projects and Ideas. (Des Moines, Iowa: Meredith Books, 2004).
About the Author
Melissa Pringle loves bookshelves and ornate china, and hopes to one day have an Old World style library in her home.
Visit the Interior Design School Review News archives »
House Cleaning: An Interior Design Job?
by Craig Friesencraig.friesen@interiordesignschoolreview.com
Interior Design School Review Columnist
You have spent considerable time, money and effort on your interior design job. Your home looks exactly the way you envisioned it. Be wise and undertake the ongoing interior design job of proper household cleaning to keep your home looking this perfect for years to come. Interior design schools recognize the importance of maintenance and instruct their designers on the best way to preserve their work. Here are a few tips for you.
Too Much, Too Little, or Just Right?
You've invested time and money into your interior design job so that you can enjoy your home. It's important to keep it looking good, but there's no need to obsess over preserving the look: find the balance that works best for you. And remember, more is not necessarily better. Over cleaning or cleaning with the wrong products can actually cause damage.Interior design schools give detailed instruction on what to use on specific surfaces and what to avoid. Contact the designer responsible for your interior design job and ask for some cleaning guidelines. If you did the work yourself, contact the manufacturer of the products you used.
Natural Cleaning Products
Here are some mild cleaning products you can count on to keep your home comfortable and clean:- Vinegar
- dilute 1-to-1 with water for use on most surfaces, except marble
- use full strength on tubs, stoves, and toilet bowls
- Lemon Juice
- use on a soft cloth for polishing brass or copper
- cut a fresh lemon in half, sprinkle the top surface with baking soda and use to scrub dishes or counter tops
- mix 1:2 with olive oil for a wonderful furniture polish but only use this occasionally
- Baking soda
- use on tubs, sinks, and counters in place of abrasive cleansers
These handy cleaning tips can help keep your interior design job looking its best.
Source
About the Author
Craig Friesen is a freelance writer and self-employed entrepreneur living in Abbotsford, British Columbia.
Visit the Interior Design School Review News archives »
