Top School Interior Design - Online School Interior Designs

Top School Interior Design - Online School Interior Designs depends on right choice of school to attend. Your clientele will definitely depend on the contacts you know, and the relationships you build in school with other prospective interior designers are fundamental to building a great career. However, the first thing to hurdle is your choice of school. 1. Focus

Is it solely Top School Interior Design - Online School Interior Designs? - Does it offer other courses? - Does the school participate in any interior design competition? - Have they accomplished anything of re-known in the industry? - Do the strengths of the school play to your strengths?

Alumni Accomplishments

Have any re-known students come from this facility? - Do they offer job placement opportunities? - Do they have significant connections within the industry? - Read professional reviews on the performance of interior design schools

Curriculum/Programs

You must assess whether the curriculum is relevant to you field of study. You may want to compare the curricula of different schools to see which offers the best form of education. It would also be wise to check the quality of the teaching staff at that school. Having established artists who teach at Top School Interior Design - Online School Interior Designs is also an indication of a good training program.

Student to Teacher Ratio

How big are the classes - How many teachers and classes are available

Accreditation and Educational Standards

Accreditation means the school has passed a certain standards of educational quality. Accreditation is performed by the U.S. Department of Education. Interior design schools must be accredited to prove their level of competence. Check with the State Post-secondary School Licensing Bureau to see if the college you are investigating is accredited. Also, check National Approval and Accreditation for this concern.

Cost

Some people may proclaim that to obtain their education, they would spare no coin. Unfortunately, it also pays to be practical in your choice of Top School Interior Design - Online School Interior Designs. If the school you choose has a tuition rate that is beyond your financial capability, you might find yourself working unable to pursue your studies consistently due to the financial stress which may lead you to look for part-time work.

Scholarships

You might want to consider whether Top School Interior Design - Online School Interior Designs you are looking at offers any scholarships. You also might want to know the terms to them too. Some schools offer scholarships based on academic performance. Some offer them based on interior design competitions they hold regularly.

Advice for New Moms: Pewter + Sage

I'm pleased to welcome Sarah of the blog Pewter + Sage as this week's guest blogger in the Advice for New Moms guest post series. Sarah is a new mom herself, having just had her sweet baby girl Maura just three short months ago. In addition to her new role as mommy, Sarah is also the owner of her own business, where she makes beautiful custom stationery for weddings and just about anything else you could think of. If you haven't checked out Maura's birth announcement yet, be sure to do so here; it's absolutely gorgeous.

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Hi! Odi et Amo is one of my favorite stops on my daily blog list, so I’m super excited and honored to be included in this Advice for New Mom series. Congratulations again to Averill and Dave! Can’t wait to meet your little guy and see his awesome nursery. I’ve only been a mom for 3 months now, our little girl Maura just turned 12 weeks on Friday! Sometimes my husband and I still look at her and think “We have a baby?!” It is an amazing feeling, a crazy ride, a tremendous blessing. My “advice” is a bit random, just some things I’ve been jotting down ever since Averill asked me if I’d like to participate. Hope it helps!

{Maura's Nursery}

If you get a chance before you give birth, go out and purchase some cute thank you notes. Maybe even take some time and put your return address and stamps on them. Trust me, you will need these once your little one arrives! I don’t think we will have to buy Maura any clothes until she is like 2 years old! Our family and friends and neighbors have been so generous and I have been writing a lot of thank you notes. You will not have much free time taking care of a newborn and anything like this that you can have done ahead of time will be a huge relief. On this same note, if you plan on sending out birth announcements, try and get as much done on those as you can too while still pregnant. Oh, and complete the nursery as much as you can. The two additional projects I decided to do in her room after she was born are still unfinished!!

I highly recommend setting up a changing and sleeping spot for the baby downstairs (if you have a 2 story home), this makes things much easier during the day. We have a hand-me down Pack ‘N Play from our friends in the living room where Maura loves to take naps. As terrible as it sounds, her downstairs changing spot is the kitchen table! And it turns out this is one of her favorite places to be, she is so happy just laying there smiling and playing with us. So, go with what works for you. You will figure out what that is as you go.

Keep all your receipts. Both for any gifts you are given (if they are smart enough to include a gift receipt) and for anything you buy for the baby yourself. A lot of stuff I thought we would want or need (even when we closed out our Babies R Us registry after she was born) I have not ended up using. This way I can take them back and put that money towards other things…like diapers!

If you are like us and want to/plan on having more kids, try to get your big ticket items (like the car seat, stroller, high chair, swing, bouncy seat, play mat) in neutral colors. This way you don’t have to get another version of everything if you are blessed with both genders.

If you are going to try breastfeeding, I highly recommend nursing tanks. I have four Gilligan and O’Malley nursing tank tops (2 white, 1 black and 1 gray) that I got at Target for $16.99. I wear one literally every day. With a cardigan (or zip up hoodie). Cardigans are my other best friend.

I know everyone has a different philosophy on sleeping but here’s my two cents. Try and get your little one to sleep in their crib at night as early as possible. Both you and the baby will get a better sleep. We planned on having Maura sleep in the new Pack ‘N Play we registered for in our room for the first few months. However, she didn’t really go for it. Figures, she likes the hand-me down one we have downstairs but not the new one we have upstairs! So, in desperation one night, we put her in the crib. And she slept fine! We could still hear her on the audio monitor (a must have) and I could still get to her quickly for the night feedings. We sleep better because we are not sitting up to peer at her and see if she is still breathing every 5 minutes and I think she sleeps better because our tossing and turning doesn’t wake her up either. Sleep is a rare commodity in the beginning, so try and get as much as you can! And trust me, it will get better.

It’s all about attitude. I learned this the hard way. Maura had colic for a few weeks (thankfully it has passed now) and it was really tough. At times I broke down and cried in her room in the middle of the night when she would not go to sleep and all I could do was count down the minutes of sleep I was losing because each second that ticked away brought me closer to the next time I would have to be awake to feed her. However, once we took her to pediatrician and she told us it was probably colic, it was much easier to deal with the crying and the sleepless nights and frustrating feelings. Once I looked at the situation differently, it was easier to face. I mean, here was this little thing, uncomfortable and not able to help herself. Completely dependent on me. For everything. The poor little baby. I’m her mom, this is what I do. This is why I’m here. So I changed the way I was looking at things. And everything got better.

Make the most of this time. Three months have gone by so quickly, I can’t believe it! I mean, this time last year I wasn’t even pregnant yet (though we were working hard at it!) and now I have a daughter! Amazing. Take lots of photos, record video, keep a journal of your baby’s milestones. Just spend time together. This is such a special time in your life, enjoy it.

If no one minds, I’d like to also offer the following “advice” for labor and delivery as this was one of the main things that I stressed out about and feared during my pregnancy:

-Go in with an open mind. (Whether you plan on delivering naturally or have decided to go with the drugs, whatever your birth plan, even if you don’t have one – stay open-minded, try to go with the flow and don’t worry if things don’t go exactly as you had envisioned. You might not react the way you thought you would to the pain, you might experience symptoms you didn’t think you would, you might be more of a warrior than you gave yourself credit for. Just do what’s best for you and your baby.)

-Expect the unexpected.

-Try to make the most of your hospital stay. Even though we looked forward to going home as a new family, I actually really enjoyed the 2 days and 3 nights we spent in the hospital after Maura was born. The nurses were so helpful; ask them as many questions as you want (they know what they are doing, we didn’t!!) Our hospital offered classes we could attend and videos we could watch; I learned a lot. We did make use of the nursery at night. I would highly suggest this, even though it’s a bit heart wrenching to see your new little one wheeled away in the bassinet for a few hours. It helps for you to get some sleep; you’ll be a better parent if you’re well rested. Even though I was exclusively breastfeeding, they had Maura on what they called an “Out on Demand” schedule at night – whenever she woke up crying and hungry they just wheeled her back to our room. I would feed and burp her and then I could call the nurse to come back and get her when we were done.

-As funny as it sounds, take as much stuff back with you from the hospital as you can!!! The large stretchy underwear they give you to wear is actually a godsend; try to steal a few pairs! Our nurses were super nice about giving us stuff to take home, they loaded us up with bag after bag of Vaseline, baby bath soap, pacifiers, diapers, pads, even formula just in case we wanted to try it. Don’t be ashamed –those first few days at home are hectic and it helps if you are not running out to Target or CVS at the last minute for something you might need.

Thanks for having me! Congratulations again to Averill and any of you out there who are also expecting!

Week Five: A Tour Inside

Last Saturday Dave and I took Dave's grandmother and her best friend on a tour of our new house. Both widows in their 80s, these ladies drive around the South and Southwest volunteering their time and energy to various Christian charities and churches and I am constantly amazed by their energy and faith and we had a great time visiting with them. In any case, as promised, I took a few pictures of the inside to give y'all an update on the progress. I am still amazed at how much progress has been made in just about a month's time. After all, just a few weeks ago, the house looked like THIS.

When you step into the house, you're greeted by this two-story entryway and gently curving staircase (both two of my favorite features in the design). On the immediate right is the dining room; on the left, the study, which will be separated from the hall by french doors. Straight ahead is the family room, with kitchen off to the right.

The family room's primary feature is a huge wall of windows that overlook the backyard (right now, just a bunch of Texas red clay). The other prominent architectural feature is the fireplace, with large nooks on either side. Once we move in, Dave and I are hoping to create some built-in shelves/storage in each nook for books, pictures, and maybe even a small TV. This picture was taken from the kitchen, which will be separated from the rest of the family room by a bar-height counter.

The original plan also had a large nook over each of the lower nooks as well as over the fireplace. Fearing too many holes would make the wall look busy and just become collectors of useless ephemera and dust, I had them removed.

Since we toured the house late in the day, the long shadows made it difficult to photograph many of the rooms. Here's a shot though of our master bath in its current state, complete with the tub smack in the middle of the room, and a view into the closet and study beyond.

The entryway from the top of the stairs. I love the west-facing clerestory windows at the top, which will let in plenty of afternoon light.

Here's a shot of the exposed ceiling on the second floor. At this stage you can still see everything, including the huge amounts of wiring running through all the walls and up clear to the roof.

Unfortunately, I paid absolutely no attention to the location or number of recessed light fixtures in the house when we customized the plan. Since so many homes seem to come with limited lighting, I may have been a little afraid to actually get the answer and had already factored into my budget the likelihood of having some installed myself. After taking a close look though, the house appear to have ample lighting in the "public spaces", though it looks like I'll have to be added much of my own lighting to the bedrooms (which is fine, since I think recessed lighting can be a bit harsh for a bedroom anyway).

Alas, this picture is almost too dark to be worth posting, but I went ahead and included it anyway so you could see the window seat that's going into one of three bedrooms upstairs. I've always loved the idea of a window seat (though in practice how often does one actually sit in it?) and completely forgot that one was included in the design, so this was a very nice surprise on Saturday when I saw it.

This is Dave's "man room" (also known as the media room). The curved ceiling and small windows should give the room a nice, cozy feeling. By the way, does anyone know why some of the lumbar is hot pink? We had Borax (an anti-termite treatment) put on the lumbar used in the foundation, but that turns wood bright blue, not pink, so I have no idea why we've got pink here.

This week, much of the construction will be on hold while various inspections are done to confirm all the wiring, etc. is correct before they Sheetrock the walls. Once Sheetrocking begins (hopefully next week!), things will really start to come together and I'll be back with more updates.

On my love of blue.

Atlanta Showhouse

It's no secret that I've been having an ongoing love affair with blue the past year or so -- in fact, my family room is practically a homage to the color. Perhaps it's attributable to living in Houston, where the heat and strong light make cool blues particularly refreshing and attractive: no need to worry about a room feeling too cold, after all! Or perhaps it's that I love the richness that can come with some of the more jewel-tone variations of blue: turquoises, teals and rich cobalts are all very appealing to me (and very of the moment). Or because blue and white is a classic and, like a good navy suit, will really never date. Or maybe, like love more generally, my love of blue is arbitrary and ultimately inexplicable.

Since I'm always on the look out for great and inspiring rooms to share with y'all -- and it's been quite a while since I featured a round-up of my favorite blue rooms -- I thought I'd see us through the weekend with some of my new blue favorites. I'm afraid I'm fresh out of my usual design blather this week, so for once I'll spare you my own opinion on these rooms and allow you to enjoy the eye candy free of distractions.

T. Keller Donovan

Waterleaf Interiors

Christina Murphy

Sara Gilbane Interiors

Tobi Fairley

Kim Coleman

Phoebe Howard

Phoebe Howard

Phoebe Howard

Lonny Magazine

Kelley Interior Design

Michael Partenio

Kendall Wilkinson

I'll be back next week with a very exciting progress report on some home design projects. Until then, have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Small modular home office furniture - Modern office furniture online

One of the other great Small modular home office furniture - Modern office furniture online is that it can adjust and grow as your business changes and grows. Once you have choose a modular office system, it is easy to add onto or change configurations as needed. It offers room to grow your business without having to restructure your entire office environment.

Ergonomics is an important consideration for any office and another bSmall modular home office furniture - Modern office furniture online is that you can be assured you are meeting the ergonomic needs of your employees. Small modular home office furniture - Modern office furniture online offers many adjustable settings such as keyboard height, which is different for a vast number of employees. It just makes good sense to be able to offer your employees options so that they can be comfortable in their workspace. A comfortable worker is an more efficient worker.

Regardless of your type or size of business, with Small modular home office furniture - Modern office furniture online you can provide the perfect working environment for any employee. You choose the level of privacy and add or remove workstation walls depending upon your needs. You can also customize storage options and hide unsightly and dangerous wires and data connectors throughout the walls or the base of your modular offices. Even as the boss, their is a great benefit of modular office furniture for your own work space. On a tight budget to begin, you may just want a basic desk. But has your business grows, it it is a modular desk, you can easily add on shelves, hutches, filing cabinets, extended work area etc.

Small modular home office furniture - Modern office furniture online

Small modular home office furniture - Modern office furniture online

Small modular home office furniture - Modern office furniture online

Small modular home office furniture - Modern office furniture online

Small modular home office furniture - Modern office furniture online

Red, White and Turquoise

Outfitting a room in complimentary colors (which are two hues that are opposite each other on the color wheel), like red and green, has long been a designer's trick to achieving pleasing visual contrast in a space; however, these complimentary pairings (blue/orange, yellow/purple, red/green) can often read as very traditional. To get a more modern feel, try adjusting one or other of the hues slightly (e.g., green to turquoise or blue). Right now, I can't get enough of spaces with red and blue accents -- especially when the blue is cool robin's egg blue or a vibrant turquoise.

I love both of these guest/kids' rooms from domino. While the first is decidedly more traditional, the red chandelier and red picture frames keep it lighthearted. In the second, I love the graphic contrast of the black and white rug with the solid walls and bed linens. Such a great statement. And the best part is those red bed frames were from Target (and still available on their website here)! Now if only another American shelter magazine could integrate such budget-friendly items into its spaces....

designed by Tobi Fairley

The rug in Tobi's space is very Jonathan Adler to me, and I think it's such an interesting contrast to the very traditional furnishings and fabric. The differing scale of the patterns keep it from being overwhelming, though it's admittedly a busier look than a lot of people like.

This space is actually from Serena and Lily's catalogue and I love how the red/blue color scheme is tweaked to hot pink/robin's egg blue to suit a little girl's room. It's fresh and young, but still sophisticated, especially when paired with the white built-ins and Jonathan Adler ceramics.

I know I posted this picture only a few days ago, but I couldn't resist including it in this post again. I'm just completely in love with this space.

Leave it to British mag LivingEtc to really turn it up a notch. Everything in this room, from the colors to the butterflies to the wallpaper is just completely on-trend.

This is actually from wallpaper purveyor Graham & Brown, but it's an excellent illustration of how a bright cherry red can work beautifully with a paler green-blue. By the way, the wallpaper featured in the photo is called Viva by Barbara Hulanicki, and is priced at a reasonable $60 per double roll.

And last but not least, a few of my favorite red and/or turquoise items, perfect for a pop of color just in time for spring: