Marble Shopping Trip!

One of our favorite parts of interior design is shopping for all the right materials to make the whole design a cohesive composition. We were shopping for marble the other day and just have to share these beautiful finds with you! Grab a towel; you may drool over these luxurious pieces!

Home Buyers, you may need an interior designer as your realtor!

It’s a competitive market for buyers in Austin, Texas these days! This past August, over twice as many homes sold; 3,082 single-family homes in 2013 compared with 1,490 homes, in August 2010 . (http://www.inman.com/wire/austin-texas-housing-market-doubles-in-size/) With an average of over 158 people moving to Austin each and every day, single family homes are flying off the market at a rapid pace (http://www.realtyaustin.com/blog/how-to-keep-up-with-158-people-moving-to-austin-per-day.html). This all makes the city one of the most competitive real estate markets in the country. Buyers may face a quickly shrinking selection of homes as well as having to compromise on their wish list for upgrades to their home.

There are so many things to consider when buying a new home; but reconciling your wish list with what you’re willing to compromise in features of the home doesn’t have to be a negative.  Komal Sheth, lead interior designer at Spaces Designed, is also a realtor who has valuable experience and insight into who design and real estate. Her perspective on finding the right home for clients sets us apart from traditional realty companies. Komal looks at the big picture; past just the closing of a home buy into the likely renovation projects, into the resale of the home down the road.

Above: after kitchen of the Kao Residence

Above: before kitchen of the Kao Residence

When Komal works in the role of realtor, she often helps homebuyers select a fixer upper that has good bones and the most potential for a successful redesign. We can consult with outside sources such as contractors, architects, engineers, and material suppliers to get a comprehensive picture of what house is the best buy could with respect to the future remodel projects. Because our company has done so many remodels, our interior designers can also foresee many of the problems likely to occur during renovation.

Even if a homebuyer has to jump on a house that’s less than perfect in order to own property in Austin, Spaces Designed can walk them through each step of that. Remodeling a less than perfect property can provide the client with beautiful spaces far beyond their expectations for a new home. We are not just selling clients on the property. We can provide a new lifestyle that is tailored to the specific needs of each client. Have no fear, new home buyers! You may just need an interior designer as your realtor!

Support Your Local Artists!

We want to take a moment to applaud the work of local Austin artists Jake Bryer and Erica Wildman, and Leigh Watson of Watson Designs! They worked with us on the Far West ER project. We just love incorporating art into overall interior design schemes. But it’s especially a treat when you are able to commission artwork and collaborate with an artist from early on in the design project. Take a closer look at this great artwork!

Furniture Find!

We love finding fresh ideas for furniture. So we’re sharing this blog post on four great updates on the four-poster bed. Click on the link to view and Enjoy!

Less Is A Bore

We can appreciate a pure white, modern, minimalist space as much as the next interior designer. But our interior designers lean away from the “less is more” and much more towards the “less is a bore” interior design style. You can see a great example of this in the dazzling entryway pictured below from the recently completed Steiner Ranch Residence. We at Spaces Designed loooove color, texture and pattern!

Still not sure what we mean by “less is a bore”? Here are some more examples found on Houzz. These designs are bursting with visual interest!

 

 

 

Contemporary Spaces by New York Media and Bloggers Vendome Press

Keep It Cool

Lately, Austin weather may be making you feel as though you are walking into an oven when you step outside! You may be tempted to set the AC at 65 degrees! (Even at the expense of a higher utility bill and the more rapid depletion of the planet’s natural resources! Oh my!) But another solution could be to install ceiling fans in your home or even your office. You can keep things environmentally friendlier, keep the air circulating, and keep cool without cranking up the AC too high.

Gone are the traditional fake-wood-with-gold-hardware ceiling fans! There are many stylish alternatives these days. In this Austin residence, our #interior designers selected some seriously chic and contemporary ceiling fans.

These are some other ceiling fan ideas from houzz.com. Enjoy!

 

Garages Can Store More Than Just Your Car!

In a recently completed custom home build in the lush Steiner Ranch area, our #interior design team had the pleasure of being involved of every phase of the design, build and installation of furniture and fixtures. It was important to the clients, and our interior designers, to utilize every inch of space cleverly in every room, even in this garage!

Oh, the garage. Such a typically forgotten space! But garages have abundant wall space that’s just waiting to become a home to clutter-reducing and clutter-preventing built-ins and work surface. These cabinets and work desk are in a bold bright red to add some unexpected excitement to the space. Artifacts from the client’s extensive collection are hung from the ceiling to warm up and personalize the space. So for your next design project, don’t forget the garage!

Not Your Average Laundry Room!

This laundry room is just one small part of an extensive project our #interior designers completed successfully. This Austin home is located in the beautiful Steiner Ranch subdivision –  As much as it may play only a supporting role to the overall interior design scheme, the laundry room still deserves a good dose of clever #interiordesign.

The simple color scheme in pure white and crisp green invokes a fresh, breezy feeling in the space. Using a bold splash of green on the countertops in a mundane space like a laundry room adds in an element of brightness and fun! The door to the adjacent hall was designed as an inconspicuous pocket door in order to save some space in this relatively narrow room. The design team, wanting to keep the laundry room a moisture resistant room, chose an understated and contemporary porcelain tile for the floor, and a stylish wood-like plank backsplash tile.

Walk-in Closet Wonder

We recently completed an interior design home remodel for a client that included a dazzlingly dreamy walk-in dressing room and closet.

Above: Steiner Ranch Residence dressing room closet

We may not all be able to have a room-sized walk-in closet; but here are some smaller walk-ins that give the impression of being more of a dressing room, like the one above. It just takes some clever space planning and accessory and furniture selection.

Finished Photos: Steiner Ranch Residence

We are so excited to show you completion shots of this beautiful Austin home, the Steiner Ranch Residence! Our #interiordesign team, did a comprehensive interior project including the kitchen, bathrooms, master bedroom, living, dining, study and outdoor spaces. The interior design style is an eclectic mix of contemporary and Asian antique. Many parts of the design incorporate ways to showcase the extensive and unique art collection of the owners. Earlier this summer we had a post about our photo shoot of epic proportions (Lights! Camera! Action!), and promised to show the finished photos.

Well here they are! Enjoy!

Above: dining and bar space

Above: kitchen

  

Above: living space

Above: outdoor space

Above: entryway

Above: study

Above: bathrooms

Above: master bath

Above: master bedroom closet

Above: master bedroom