Kelly McCorkle and Michelle Nicholas, two seniors from Nacogdoches in the interior design program in the School of Human Sciences, designed a model room in Oak Manor Nursing Center as part of a competition with the other retirement homes in the region, and they won.

“We received a telephone call from the administrator, Cindy Pugh, asking us to help create their model room, and then the students had two weeks to create a concept, shop locally to see what items were there and had [to work within] a $200 budget,” Dr. Mitizi R. Perrit, professor of interior design, said. Read the rest of this entry »

At the Interior Design Show this past weekend, British innovator-icon Tom Dixon lamented the impossibility of creative rebellion in today’s art and design world. In the eighties, he said, postmodern design values were near-universal, and thus easy to subvert. In the oughties, however, the aesthetic is increasingly fractured, and there is no one standard to either strive for or strain against. If anything goes and nothing is new, how are today’s students to design anything truly radical? Read the rest of this entry »

People love to think about what’s hot and what’s not, both in fashion, car style, and don’t forget home design and furniture trends that define the essence of your home. Fashion is about style and preference of product that makes you feel a certain way. And car trends go from getting a sports car to a SUV, and also the hottest color is no longer silver anymore, it is Pearl white for luxury cars. Now let’s get into the topics on the 2008 fashion, style, and color of furniture and design trends that will make you a design professional.

Strong mix and match colors. Of course you can mix colors like red and green or else your home would look like a home from a Dr. Seuss story. But popular colors you see at stores like Bloomingdales are using it, such as Black and White and Silver. Contrasting colors add depth to your decor and you should choose colors from matching palettes, such as contrasting earth tones, or baby colors, etc. Read the rest of this entry »

Leather sofas are synonymous with luxury and high quality in any home. They also have an innate ability to lend a touch of class to any room. But before buying a leather sofa there are many things that need considering. Here’s a look at some important points to keep in mind.
Types of sofas
Gone are the days when your choices in various styles and colors of leather were extremely limited. Instead, today you have a wide variety of choices in the range of sofas, from sectionals and recliners to leather sofa sleepers in sizes up to queen. You also choose the more traditional straight, one piece sofa.

A sectional leather sofa is far more versatile than one that is one piece. For houses that are limited in space, it can be split and the sections placed in different rooms. Or, a section could be placed against each wall of the room, spreading them out and giving a unique type of room decor.
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The TV commercials for them seem to run day and night. And they are currently the buzz among mattress shoppers.

I’m referring, of course, to the Sleep Number bed and the Tempur-pedic bed.

Is one better than the other? To help find an answer, I evaluate the two beds by several important criteria below and indicate which is better.

Comfort

Both beds are considered comfortable by the clear majority of their owners, according to extensive research I’ve conducted. Tempur-pedic is mainly comfortable because the memory foam reduces pressure points on your body. And the Sleep Number is mainly comfortable because it lets you adjust the firmness level to your preference. Advantage: Tie Read the rest of this entry »