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The Home of the Future

October 2, 2020October 2, 2020

An Interior Designer’s Tips for Building a Home That Can Adapt to Changing Needs

Homeowners are looking for a home of the future that’s not only functional and healthy, but also flexible and inviting whether its a home office (or two) for work/school, a gym, coffee shop, entertainment area (home theater), or a place to vacation at home. Read on for my interior designer tips on how to make your home easily adapt to your future needs.

When you’re designing a new home consider first how to create a clean healthy environment. Some options to consider include:

– a floor plan with a mudroom/laundry area and shower just inside the garage door where family members can get cleaned up before entering the rest of the house

– a high quality air purifying system that removes toxins including viruses and bacteria

– bathrooms with all tiled walls and ceilings that can be hosed down when needed.

– a floor plan that allows great cross ventilation of fresh outdoor air and for sunlight to penetrate further into the home.

Click now to continue reading our City Lifestyle article here.

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Interior Design/Interior Decorating

Interior Design: A Historic Kansas City Kitchen Remodel

September 25, 2020September 25, 2020

Are you dreaming of a kitchen like the after but your reality is the before?

BEFORE

AFTER

As I toured this historic high rise condo on the plaza in Kansas City for the first time as an interior designer, the reality of the situation was bleak. The condo hadn’t been updated for years and the maze of tiny crooked rooms made it difficult to imagine the beautiful open kitchen it could be.

To start I knew we had to enlarge the kitchen so we took over the tiny adjacent maid’s room shown above to gain a few more feet, knocking out that wall.

Our end goal was a large open inviting kitchen full of natural daylight that was classic like this historic high rise located in the famous Country Club Plaza so to start we tore down the existing entrance wall to open the kitchen up to the existing dining room and resized the mismatched windows in each room to be more consistent.

We also relocated the adjoining dining room to the over sized living area and made the former dining room a hearth area that opened into the kitchen.

To make the rooms feel more expansive but also timeless, we tore out the flooring in the kitchen and wove in new wood floors to match the existing wood flooring elsewhere.

Next we began to lay out a floor plan that included a gorgeous custom island along with designing custom flush mount European style cabinetry that was also functional and a lighting plan that would make the room pop.

On the right we designed a beautiful custom stove hood with lit glass cabinetry and large drawers underneath to hold pots and pans. Plus we took the beveled subway tile to the ceiling to add height and drama to the space.

In the back we designed a pantry area that disguised the crooked structural wall and added doors that opened to reveal a coffee station and appliance storage along with additional glass lit cabinetry.

On the left we created a bar area with a wine cooler, additional sink, and storage along with lit glass front cabinetry to hold glassware.

And on the island we added a thick mitered top to give the beautiful Cambria marble style top even more importance!

The result – a large open living/work space that lives large and is also functional.

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Interior Design/Interior Decorating

Interior Design: 8 Ingredients of Timeless Design

September 17, 2020September 17, 2020

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 2MB-great-room.jpg — Interior design by Karen Mills featured in *Architecture Today Interior Design* book

So if you would like to avoid trendy decorating and have a more enduring design too, here is an informative article I wrote for Houzz . (Click link below to read)

8 Rooms with Staying Power

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Interior Design/Interior Decorating

3 Tips for Keeping Home Sanitary

August 28, 2020August 24, 2020

3 Steps You Can Take To Help Protect Loved Ones At Home From Germs Now

As an interior designer I know many of our clients are looking for a home environment that will make them feel secure, safe, and sanitary without giving up beauty. Read on to learn my suggestions on how to create a cleaner home environment now.

Purify the indoor air. To begin install a high quality air purifier that will clean the air in your home on a regular basis. Select an air purifier that will reduce airborne and surface contaminants along with dust and dirt that may include bacteria or viruses like the Vollara unit I recently used on a home project that even removed the smoke odors embedded in the drywall. But don’t stop there. Remember to bring fresh air into your interior every opportunity you get whiles also having your air ducts cleaned regularly.

2. Remove contaminants before entering your home. Begin by mounting a motion sensor activated disinfectant cleanser bottle directly on the wall in your garage near your interior door to sanitize your hands before entering your home.

Next place a shoe rack in the garage by your interior door for depositing shoes that have been contaminated or purchase a small disinfecting mat that you can step onto before entering your home. Leaving items in the garage that need to decontaminate for 24- 48 hours before being brought inside can also be helpful in keeping contaminants at bay.

Other ways to help keep yourself and your interior clean include placing the clothing you’re wearing into a nearby hamper or washing machine as your enter the house and proceeding directly to the shower to wash off.

In this master bathroom we designed for a high rise building, we included tile on floors and much of the walls that can be scrubbed clean along with an adjustable spray arm that make the cleaning process easier.

Lenova kitchen faucet with an ozone generator

3. Create a More Sanitary Interior. By keeping the inside of your home cleaner you increase the odds that you will stay healthier.

According to the press release by Lenova, their faucets are the first conventional faucet line that is also an ecologically safe way to clean food and any other water-safe surface without chemicals. A small, thin ozone generator uses regular house current to produce ozone water (aqueous ozone), a natural disinfectant 100 times stronger than chlorine that kills 99.9% of common viruses, bacteria and germs. Adding foot pulls at the bottom of frequently used interior doors provide additional peace of mind.

Other ways to keep your home more sanitary include having your home cleaned regularly, using the sanitize cycle on your dishwasher, and opting for washable materials such as washable indoor/outdoor rugs or bedding made with natural bedding like this master suite.

In summary by simply purifying your indoor air, removing all contaminants possible before entering the house, and keeping surfaces clean you can create a home interior that’s safer overall for the whole family. Click now to read this article on City Lifestyle magazines nationwide.

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Interior Design/Interior Decorating

Interior Design: Recipe for a Successful Kitchen Design

August 22, 2020August 22, 2020

The Secret Sauce for Cooking Up a Beautiful Kitchen While Avoiding Costly Mistakes

If you’re seriously considering remodeling your kitchen, read my suggestions as a kitchen designer here first before tearing out walls or hiring a contractor because your kitchen’s a huge investment that can cost thousands of dollars to correct or years of regret if you rush into it and hire someone who’s not reliable or does a poor job. 3 Reasons Why White Kitchens Stand the Test of Time

First I recommend that you look for design inspiration in interior design magazines and online to get ideas of what you like so you can effectively communicate your vision to the team you assemble.

Next make a list of items you absolutely must have in your kitchen and another list of things you would like to have. If you’re not sure, start compiling a list as you use your kitchen everyday so your new kitchen will meet all your requirements.

Then hire an interior designer to show you how to layout a kitchen that’s both functional for your family and beautiful! Some interior designers can be had for as little as one-two hours to review your ideas, plus they will have great resources for contractors, architects, and trades people to help you accomplish your goal. 3 Big Kitchen Trends for 2020

Kitchen designers that don’t serve also as the contractor can also serve as a trusted advisor who will help with selecting contractors, making it functional, creating flow, coordinating finishes, assisting with lighting, and advising on the latest storage options to ensure your kitchen design looks great! And if you can’t afford an interior designer for the whole project, I would at least hire an interior designer experienced with remodeling for a couple of hours to help you create a master plan.

In summary if you have a professional create a master plan that’s not only functional and beautiful with good flow and coordinating finishes, you will have a much higher chance of success and loving the kitchen you’re in!

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Interior Design/Interior Decorating

Interior Design: Tips for Selecting Correct Size of Area…

July 17, 2020July 17, 2020

How to Right Size Your Rug by Room

example — Interior design by Karen Mills

Best Living Room Rug Size – When or calculating the ideal size for an area rug for your living room, try to find a rug that lays underneath ALL of your furniture in the room. But if you want to show off more floor or save money, you can also buy an area rug where only the front feet of your upholstered furniture sits on top of the area rug like shown here.

Karen Mills' rug sizing example — Interior design by Karen Mills

The last option and definitely least preferred by the interior design and rug community is to place a smaller rug in front of your sofa but not under the feet. Please note however, that this example is a larger rug that would actually work under the feet of the sofa and chairs nearby (not shown).

3 Tips for Getting Cozy with Area Rugs

Karen Mills' blog rug example — Interior design by Karen Mills

2. Best Bedroom Rug Size – Interior design clients often have a difficult time understanding this concept but a bedroom area rug should be large enough that it can be laid perpendicular under your bed just up to the edge of the nightstands without sliding under them and still have a few feet showing at the bottom of the bed like shown.

3. Best Dining Room Rug Size – As an interior designer I often see rugs that are just too small under the dining room table. Calculating this rug size can be tricky because you want two feet on each side of the table for room to slide back the chairs, but also need to ensure the final rug size fits into your space like the one shown here.

For more design ideas and photos, sign up for our weekly interior design blog here

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Interior Design/Interior Decorating

Interior Design: 7 Steps to Designing a Room

July 10, 2020July 10, 2020

Like any project that involves money, you need a budget or at least a range before you start. Do some research and bring in the experts – an interior designer, contractor/builder, and architect to give an estimated investment. Then follow these 7 steps to create the room of your dreams!

Master bedroom retreat example — Interior design by Karen Mills

Decide on a design style or mix of styles that will flow with your architecture and existing furnishings you will be re purposing. As an interior designer in Kansas City, I always suggest clients select several photos of room designs they like and make sure any spouse or significant other involved agrees. Here in this bedroom we mixed a more contemporary transitional style with a rustic antique look. How to Mix up Furnishings to Create a Fresh New Look

2. Determine your color scheme ensuring it coordinates with adjoining rooms and any existing furnishings to be used in the interior design. If you have no idea, take a look in your closet to see what colors you’re drawn too or pull colors out of an inspiration piece such as art, a rug, or fabric. In this living room we selected a white, warm gray, and teal color scheme.

3. Create a floor plan so you know what fits in your space and the sizes you need. To do that go online and use space planning software or get an interior design expert to help.

4. Set a timetable. At this point you might want to bring in an expert – interior designer and contractor/builder to review your design plan/timetable because investing in a master plan can help avoid thousands of dollars in costly mistakes and a reasonable timetable helps reduce stress. 3 Big Design Mistakes We Make in Living Rooms

5. Design and order custom furniture and any built in cabinetry after consulting with your interior designer. At this point all custom designs need to be finalized and ordered . In addition permits need to be pulled for construction.

6. Select and order all plumbing, flooring, tile, and general lighting.

7. Design furnishings

Furnishings may include rugs, window treatments, pillows, bedding or other items. Also ensure you select art, finishes, and other decor needed. Here custom made pillow enhance the custom sofa and other decor.

In summary you need to determine your design style, color scheme, and floor plan to start. Then create a timetable, design cabinetry and custom furniture, select plumbing and flooring before even thinking about decorating.

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Interior Design/Interior Decorating

Interior Design: 3 Tips To Help You Choose the…

July 2, 2020June 17, 2021

Suggestions for Selecting Paint Colors for Your Interior

Paint color, one of the biggest issue faced by homeowners starting an interior design or interior decorating project is often an overwhelming task so today I’ve broken it down into three manageable steps for you to implement. 3 Reasons Why White Kitchens Stand the Test of Time

View color swatches on a white background – When you’re ready to select paint colors for your interior, start by placing the color swatches on a solid white background to get a true reflection of the color before painting a large sample of the paint on your wall in the room where you want to paint. While making selections, ensure you’re wearing neutral clothing and don’t have bold colors nearby on walls or furniture that could reflect on your paint sample.

2. Make your color selection during daylight light hours. And if its a cloudy day, look at the paint sample again on a sunny day to get the full range of changes that color will make as you transition from sunlight to cloudy to dark. 3 Color Scheme Options for Your Living Room

When selecting trim and ceiling paint colors, look to the lightest end of your paint strip for options along with whites.

3. Paint large swatches of your paint selection on a backed poster board – All too often I walk in as an interior designer and see clients who’ve painted a light neutral over another color on the wall and the original color is bleeding through or distorting the new color. Once you have the board painted, place it against a neutral white background so you can view it during both daylight and after dark.

But what if you don’t even know where to start with paint colors. Then pull inspiration from your closet, artwork, or a rug, for example. Then let the fun begin!

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Interior Design/Interior Decorating

Interior Design: 3 Biggest Mistakes We Make in Basement…

June 20, 2020June 20, 2020

Interior design tips for finishing a basement to live like upstairs

Often we when I walk into finished basements as an interior designer, the first thing I see are the ledges along the wall, a telltale sign that I’m in a basement. Or I see the outlines of the duct work along the ceiling covered in drywall including there it narrows and widens. And each time I ask why. If you want to make your basement inviting and attractive think of it as a ground level space where there’s plenty of light and beautiful architecture. Read on for my 3 ways to increase the visual appeal of your remodeled basement. Interior Design: 5 Hottest Product Trends for Kitchen Design/Remodels

1. Not taking advantage of natural daylight – In this recent basement design we situated the bar area in a spot surrounded by natural light to make the space feel like the main level of the home. To further enhance the light airy feel we designed the bar with white counter tops and lighter paint colors to bounce more light around the room.

2. Not hiding the telltale signs of a basement living space. –When finishing your basement ensure that you hide all ledges, duct work, and niches or anything else that screams basement. Here in this space we added wood flooring, artificial light, and and accent lighting to give this basement a first floor feel.

3. Lack of adequate artificial light – As an interior designer I can’t emphasize enough the importance of artificial lighting. Here we started with general can lights, added task lighting over the island, and then topped it off with accent lighting inside the shelves and under the cabinets to create a wow factor.

In summary light is key to creating a basement interior design that draws you into the space along with finishing in a way that’s appealing and not trying to gain every square inch of space at the cost of an attractive room.

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Interior Design/Interior Decorating

Interior Design: 3 Tips for Adding Glamour to a…

May 28, 2020May 28, 2020

Ideas for Softening the Look of Your Cabin

The romantic lure of the rustic style home or cabin is undeniable. Maybe its because of our rich heritage of building log cabins to protect our families from the weather. Or maybe its the way rustic homes connect us with the outdoors with their rough hewn beams, simple style, and organic materials like stacked stone fireplaces.

But even though we still love our rustic home, sometimes we crave furnishings that are more refined and luxurious to offset the rugged architecture for that perfect mix of masculine and feminine. If that’s you, here are my 3 tips as an interior designer to help you create the perfect blend.

Select a muted color scheme that picks up the hues reflected in your finishes. By picking up existing colors in the home’s architecture for the furnishings, the overall design style is strengthened and the furnishings connect better with the hard surfaces . Here in this great room we pulled out the beautiful gray blue and taupe color scheme from the hues found in the nearby stone fireplace. Then select furniture and an area rug in a lighter color and softer materials in the same hues to create a more inviting comfortable feel that also adds interest to the space. 3 Ways to Create a Rustic Glam Style

2. Keep it simple Because of the rugged nature of this style it’s important to balance rough elements shown here with furnishings that have cleaner lines and softer edges to create the perfect balance of rugged and sleek. Here in this living room the softer lines of the sofa and tables help balance the rough hewn fireplace and stone columns in the background.

The same is true with this family room where the textural pillows, shag rug, and light neutral swivel chairs add texture and light to the darker hard surfaces of the fireplace, floors, and leather sofa. 7 Steps for Creating a Room Design

3. Layer in organic materials that coordinate with the room’s rugged finish to soften the room such as natural cottons as seen in the bedding and the casual fabrics on the chairs. The textural rug also adds light and interest to the room.

The beautiful simple pale blue shimmer wallpaper in an organic pattern also provides a nice juxtaposition against the stone columns and paneled wood ceiling.

In review by toning down the dramatic tile, stone, and wood throughout this rustic lodge with lighter muted colors, softer textures and organic elements you’re able to achieve a more inviting look.

If you’re looking for interior design, decorating, or remodeling inspiration, ideas, and photos, sign up for our weekly interior design blog here

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