5 Tips for Kitchen Design

The kitchen is a sacred space in your living area.  Whether a house or a studio, the kitchen is the central point of entertainment, the root of any good evening and truly the hub of your domestic life.  The kitchen reminds us of family and togetherness.  Sometimes, the kitchen is a solitary and meditative space, sometimes a wild array of scents and sounds.  Here are some tips for kitchen design.

a beautiful open space for casual evenings

1.  It is Your space, it Should Fit Your Needs
Figure it out:  Do you friends politely smile when you offer to cook or do they tell stories of your meals?  If you're a cook, too much fluff in the room can get in the way. Consider cutting any excess from the design.  Are you looking more for a space to simply entertain?  Well, in that case, go ahead and spruce up the room.  Add a  few extra stools and chairs.

2.  Extra Space
You can't always expand the room, but you can expand your surface area.  Adding an island or a table is a good way of creating space as well as entertaining area.  On the downside, they also consume a good amount of space, smaller kitchens need not apply.  Keep your tables small enough to be conversational, not so long or wide that you can't hear when the tables full.

3.  Multi-Purpose
The kitchen has become one of the most flexible rooms in the house.  Kids do homework around the table, friends drink and socialize, you eat, cook, read.  My parent's kitchen even has a wonderfully nap-able sun-seat.  Unless you're strictly utilitarian with your kitchen, keep the space's multi-purpose mindset intact.

4.  Thematic
There are so many appliances in the world that you can create nearly any ambience you'd like for your kitchen.  Sleek modernism is just as viable as country cottage.  Use the requisite items to set the tone.  Your kitchen will have an oven, stove, refrigerator, etc, use these pieces to create the feel you want.

5.  Small Changes Count
The small tweaks to your space can make a difference.  If your simply a bit board, switch up the handles on the cabinets, find new silverware or plates. Create a different sense of space by installing a chandelier or a hanging pot holder.  A redesign doesn't need to be whole-sale.

Have you recently gone through a kitchen redesign?  What inspired it?  What does it look like now?

Cyber Monday

A bit of backlash to the uber-violent Black Friday mobs, Cyber Monday gives you the chance to nurse the sprained ankle and black eye you got dashing for gifts while maintaining your shopping momentum.  We at Horne want to keep you moving along so we've done something that some have called us crazy for.
15% Off.
"Off of what?"  You may ask.
"Everything."  We respond.
"Eve..." You start.
"Yes." We cut you off, "Everything."

See, we don't like the guided shopping some stores do.  New items off the list?  Nope.  Big pricey things getting smaller discounts than other items?  Nope.  They push you through from one item to another encouraging certain things to be bought for cheap while keeping the things they know you want at a higher price.  We don't like that. 15%  Off of everything.  Get it.
See, we know you're shopping for special people in your life.  We want you to get them the items that speak to their sense of style, that put them apart from all the rest.
Or, you know, when you're tired of all of that, treating yourself to a little something for yourself.
So here's the deal:  Enter CYBERMONDAY at checkout and pull in some excellent new additions to your selection of modern home decor.

5 Tips for Studio Interior Decorating

Space is becoming more and more of a commodity.  Apartments, it seems, are shrinking with the economy and we're forced to cram all of our wonderful design ideas in smaller and smaller units.  Looking to keep your studio up-to-date on modern home decor?  We've got a few tips to keep you living in style without living in a jungle. 

Smart Choices
You're working with limited space.  When you go out hunting for new items, keep in mind that they should feel absolutely essential to the feel of the room you're trying to create.  Don't splurge on simple ornament, make the functional pieces of your apartment the ones that speak most clearly.  Avoid loud, aim for clarity.   
Vicious Editing
Once you've already gotten the pieces you want, you must become a heartless editor.  Slash and burn the pieces that don't absolutely add.  In such a small space, even the slightest excesses create a feel of clutter.  You're looking to create a clean looking area.  Studios look dirty quickly.
One. Single. Theme.
When you live in a multi room space, you can theme different rooms as much as you'd like.  When you exist in a single space, though, it should flow with a single theme.  Not that color variations and hues should not change, but that there should be no confusion of message in the design.  Asian Zen theme?  Go for it, but don't add a dash of Modern Euro into it. 
Define Areas
To give yourself a sense of space, clearly define areas in your room.  Despite it being a studio, there should be a distinct mentality of Bedroom, Reading Area, Kitchen, etc.  If nothing else, you don't want new friends accidentally standing in your bedroom uninvited. 
Use the Room
The space itself will come with its own opportunities and challenges.  Lofted spaces create an easily identified bedroom, window seat areas or odd geometry in the room create their own challenges.  Use the space, utilize dividers to clearly state differences.  Lighting, too, can be a way of identifying different areas in your space.

Most important to designing a studio is to believe that it is your space.  I personally prefer studios to one bedroom apartments, the unification of the room represents a unification of life.  No areas are seperated.  Whatever you choose to do with your space, own it. 

Warmth

Like Eddard Stark, protagonist of HBO's new drama Game of Thrones, always says:  Winter is coming.  This year, it's going to be a cold and snowy one in Europe and much of the US.  The design world is responding in force with a trend which - at the moment - is very simply being called "Warmth."
Though I'm a philosophic believer in the concepts of minimalism, personally I love a space with more character to it.  As the winter months approach, the appeal of welcoming colors has as well. Wood, rope, tartan and denim are all big at the moment, as well as neutral tones complimented by bolder, warmer colors. 

a classic coffee table brings a sense of home

Eastvold's Classic Coffee Table represents a chic, retro look with modern sensibilities.  Entirely handcrafted in the United States from ethically harvested lumber.  The classic design and dark wood maintain a homey aesthetic.

elegant and classic

This chair by KOI is made of top-grade leathers stitched in italy atopa nickle base.  The real appeal of this chair is it's sheer breadth of range.  The chair can fit in styles ranging rustic or euro-chic to mid-century modern. 

just the right amount of flair to cuddle under

Spun in England, dyed and knitted in Wales, this UK-delight, Donna Wilson does right by blankets.  The variety of colors open the blanket up to tie together disparate parts of the room's design. 

oh-so welcoming

Made from incredibly high quality cowhide from Argentina, these Doppio Cowhide Rugs are precisely the warm, dark tones that your living space craves.

While the weather starts to get frightful, we're looking forward to spending many-a-day warming up from snowball fights in design as welcoming as that cup of hot-coffee.

Gallery Design in Rio De Janeiro

Horne recently recieved an email from Triana Serrano who recently worked on the development of an exhibition in Casa Cor 2011,  Rio de Janeiro.

Like most galleries, the idea was for the walls to be mainly white.  White backgrounds are meant to focus the attention on to the piece.  More than any other color, we see white as a color of neutrality.  Solid choice for a background of a gallery.

The space itself holds a striking minimalistic appeal.  White and black form a sharp contrast on the walls while the sparse furniture and massive open-glass windows form a beautiful and functional space to appreciate the art.  The formality of the minimalist space definitely suits the world of the gallery.

Simple, clean lines counterpoint the glass liner and facade.  

Being form-and-function aware, the glass is Guardian's Climate Guard Light, reducing the damage solar rays can cause to human and art alike.  

Facinating about this space is the darker section of the wall.  Floating 40 cm above the floor, the wall is covered in Corten steel.  The section seems to be suspended in space making it all the more striking. 

The huge appeal of this gallery - also a big surprise - was the mirror-ceiling that increases the feeling of space, expands the sense of light and creates interesting dynamics for the entire artistry of the attendance to be viewed under.  

Advertising and art combined when three meter images were displayed on the glass facade, making them viewable from both inside and outside of the gallery.  

An antique piece of Analdo Danemberg wooden furniture was used to tie the space together.

80-20 in Design

In the past 5 years Pareto’s Principle has become increasingly famous.  Malcom Gladwell’s Blink brought the term into pop culture while more and more industries are starting to recognize how directly the term applies to their field.
The call sign of Pareto’s Principle is 20/80.  The phrasing around those figures has become variable, depending on the field it’s applied to, but the basic idea is that 20% of your effort will generally create 80% of your results.  So if you can parse down on the excess 80% of work you do, you can approach peak efficiency.
Despite a bit of research, I haven’t seen the principle applied to design.  Here are some basic thoughts on how it might be.

Space:
What if we were to look at our rooms and measure it out.  Thinking about a room with efficient space-usage, I wager we’d come up with something closing in on 80% open, 20% decorated.  Even an efficient minimalist space might follow this principle.  Between a couch, bed, desk and shelf, even the most basic studio might follow this advice.  If you’re attempting to find your balance between clutter and minimalism, perhaps looking into using the 80-20 rule might give a good guideline.

Items:
Yes.  You can fill that entire wall with ornaments or make a statement with every single pieces of dishware you own.  Your entire bedroom can be a sensory-overwhelming experience of colour and tone and sharp lines and vibrant sheets.  Yes, you can.  However, for every excessive item you include in your room, you’ll limit the statement each one can make.  A well designed room is like a small group playing a classical piece of music.  Each piece must be allowed the volume it requires without anyone else screaming over it or without being drowned in needless chatter.

Funds:
Let’s simply translate ‘effort’ into ‘funds.’  If you’re attempting to redesign on a limited budget, keeping this in mind might help you from making frivolous purchases.  Working at buying the important pieces of a room while whittling away excess, you’ll save money and create a cleaner, more mature look.  20% of the things you buy might create 80% of your rooms appeal.  Invest in well designed pieces rather than a large number of pieces.

These are just thoughts, what other ways might you find Pareto’s Principle - or any other off-topic principle - affecting your design choices?  What comes to mind as you set about shopping for your design needs?

Design Inspiration: Spain

I just returned from a whirlwind tour of Southern Spain.  Amidst Tinto de Verrano (almost no Spainaird drinks Sangria, but just about everyone in Seville drinks this Lemonade/Redwine mixture) and tapas, I was struck by the sheer beauty of the winding streets and style influences present in Andalucia. 
See, Andalucia was the hub of cultural...exchange...shall we say.  Between the Moorish conquest of Spain and the eventual reconquista, and subsequen centuries of trade and conflict, no region of Spain has had a more profound fusion of cultures.  No region of Spain shows it off quite as much either. 

In Seville, during the medieval ages, the term 'eating iron' came to represent lovers stealing kisses through the wrought iron window gates of their houses.  Wrought iron is still a very popular design element of Spanish interior design.  Wall ornaments abound in tapas bars as well as classically decorated homes.

Inside, Spanish homes are spacious and warm, earthy tones suggest that even villa owners aren't far removed from the beautiful landscapes that surround them.  Terraces inside as well as rough, stucco walls are still in style in Spain as well as traditional Terra Cotta roofing.

What I loved about Spain's food culture was there was a very distinct and tasteful level of style.  While some tapas bars would - like any bar or resturaunt - flood your sense visually, Spanish homes and home-style resturaunts always maintained an earthy, minimalized feel which emphasized the food and company, not the visuals. 
Spain's a country which - seemingly almost conciously - lays low on the international scene.  It doesn't take itself too seriously and it's style reflects a conciousness towards the importance of inner warmth and happiness.