One of the catch phrases from The State of the Union address last Tuesday was that the US needs to have “innovation to win the future.” In reflecting on this, I realized that Casart Coverings is already doing our part by offering innovation to style the future of interior design.
Casart wallcovering provides a new way of thinking about interior design with “slipcovers for your walls” — professionally-painted, decorative finishes and designs that are reproduced onto high-end wallcovering, which has the flexibility of being installed without wallpaper paste and can be easily removed and even reused. Prior to this, there was only the option of primarily painting or wallpapering — both are labor intensive and big commitments — particularly traditional wallpaper — you’re stuck with it for a while because it is so difficult to remove. There are others, as well who are breaking barriers in the interior design industry in helping to make online services more convenient and popular.
I was pleased to discover Room in a Box featured in House Beautiful’s December/January 2011 issue. This is the Los Angeles interior designer Windsor Smith’s innovative solution to offer her sought-after style to many more clients that she can actually be physically available for in person. Thinking out of the box, with Room in a Box, she brings her design services to many online. The responsibility of the preparatory legwork, which takes up a lot of the designer’s time, falls instead on the client to provide: the type of room, filling out a questionnaire for likes and dislikes, taking and uploading photos of the existing space, measuring the furniture and the room, drawing the the floor plan and elevations and sending it to Smith. She and her team get to work designing your custom room. In about six weeks her design ideas, photographic room rendering (like a realistic Olioboard), along with a schematic floor plan and all the accessory details arrive. It’s up to the client to act on this plan by doing all the shopping, etc., to complete the look. Windsor Smith Home’s website provides a portal with direct links to where are the items can be purchased. Having the client involved helps to hold down the cost while making Smith’s interior design affordable. You can receive a custom designed room this way from about $1,250 to $4,800 (depending on the room and size).
Here are some examples of Windsor Smith’s interior design.
Note: I used this photo above in a previous post to demonstrate the powerful branding power of color. Smith’s is peacock blue, another one of my favorites, except for our Blue Butterfly, of course.
House Beautiful also gives credit to other talented designers who use this method of affordable and fast online service like: Betsy Burnham (Instant/Space), Mary McGee (Online), Tobi Fairley (Inbox Interiors) and Vanessa De Vargas (E-Decorating) all offer new services to help style the future of interior design.
These are all great ways to help you online, if you are thinking of re-designing your interior space. Through these methods, we can all help bring American innovation to style the future. For more information about e-decorating go here.
— Ashley
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