Start your Room Redo for the Holidays NOW! It’s September – after Labor Day – and time to start your room redo to be ready for the holidays. Do you really need to start now? With the kiddos back in school and the weather starting to cool off, many of us are heading back indoors and starting to think about freshening up our interior spaces for the holidays.  You might be wondering how much time you will really need to complete your project and be stress free for the holidays?  If you take one thing away from this post it
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In the spirit of our upcoming “5 Day Improve your Room Challenge” this blog post will feature a case study of a beautiful project we recently completed.  I’m going to walk you through the first two important steps of any project – Defining the functional requirements and the color palette for the space. We’ve been busy here at New Perspective Design, working behind the scenes on some new product and service offerings coming soon!  We are looking to launch our FREE 5-day Room Challenge next month so keep an eye out for the opt-in in a future blog post as
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This week we’re going to focus on pet proofing tips for your home design featuring our four-legged New Perspective Design Team. We may be biased, but here are nine of the cutest furry family members each featuring an innovative suggestion for pet-proofing your home. Years back a vet told me pets and pretty things don’t mix – but I’m here to tell you that these days they most certainly do! Take a peek at my best recommendations for decorating homes with pets and keep them in mind as you approach your next project. Sydney is super friendly so she’s going
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Continuing in our series on bathroom renovations, today we are going to focus on how to maximize storage options.  I think we can all agree on the idea that you can never have too much storage in a bathroom.    A renovation project is the perfect time to take a look at the options you have to maximize your storage.  In this article, we are going to look at changes you can make without changing the footprint of the room (e.g. working with the space you have). 1. Recessed Mirrored Medicine Cabinet This is the tip that tops my list of
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Once you have the budget determined for your bathroom renovation, its time to outline all the tasks that need to be done and in what order to help you manage the timeline of your project. In this article we will walk you through who you need to hire and what responsibilities each tradesman has to complete your job. A quick rundown on insurance before we start – Make sure whomever you hire carries the correct insurance.  Each trade or the GC you hire should carry General Liability insurance usually in the amount of at least 1 million dollars.  This protects
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Bathroom renovation costs can vary significantly depending on the plumbing fixtures/requirements, tile selections, storage considerations, etc.  In this article, I want to give you a walk through of the costs of a standard 5’x8’ bathroom.  Think hall bath where the door opens and there is a single sink vanity, toilet, and shower/bathtub combo lined up against the wall opposite the door.  I’m choosing this bathroom for our example because it is a common layout and one of the less complicated renovations.  It’s also one of the less costly bathroom renovation projects that we work on. We’re located northwest of Chicago
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Back to the top 10 list this week.  With still no green leaves outside and an occasional warm day around here, I thought it would be fun to resurge the list with a vacation flair and talk about the trend we saw of Coastal influences in furniture.  So let’s head for the beach (or imagine so) and look at how touches of coastal influence can brighten up your interior all across the country -not just at the beach. This bed by Universal Furniture is the perfect example of a coastal piece.  Combining texture and warm color tones gives this bed
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I want to take a quick break from our top 10 trend list to answer a question that came up in a recent conversation – what do Interior Designers really do?  Most people can answer with some version of “pick colors, and fabrics and furniture…” and while that is a small piece of the puzzle – what we really do is help you maximize the beauty, functionality and investment in your space.   With all the access to online photos – Pinterest, Houzz, etc you may wonder why you can’t just copy a picture that you find in your own
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“Bringing the outside in” is always a good strategy in design to link beautiful exteriors with beautiful interiors.  When I write this phrase, I’m sure you imagine serene interiors with natural finishes and pops of green.   Well – not exactly.  If you’re remotely close in location to where we are, northwest of Chicago and most recent home of the Polar Vortex, you know looking outside for us right now means a sea of white.  2018/19 is proving to be a winter white wonderland here in Illinois, so I thought I’d take a new twist on bringing the outside in and
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Happy New Year!  January brings us back to the top ten trend list for 2019 this week.  As you take down the holiday decorations think about something new this year for those bare walls.  The quickest way to freshen up your space is with new art and this is the year to do it!  Vibrant, bright abstracts, watercolor landscapes and whimsical animal art top our list of what to look for in 2019 and beyond. Exhibit A…this first picture.   This series is a New Perspective favorite as both Pam and I fell in love with the quirky formality of these
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