Spring, 2006 - Renaissance Design Consultations

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Volume 10
S.A. "Sam" Jernigan
designer, IFDA
(530) 362-1339
www.RDesignConsultations.com
P roviding
independent
& innovative decorating
solutions (with NO
“selling” orientation)
since 1992...
I work for YOU ~ not “the store.”
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Spring 2006
Hello....
A
fter relocating here to gorgeous Grass Valley
from Sonoma County in the fall of ’04, this is
the first newsletter in my new locale and I can’t say Thank
You quickly enough to those of you who have become
clients of mine this past year. It’s been my pleasure to
assist you in achieving your personal vision of “home.”
And I’ve also appreciated the opportunity to work with a
number of local Realtors in staging listings of theirs so as
to facilitate a higher selling price and quicker sale on
behalf of their homeowner clients.
In brief, having begun my career as an interior designer
in 1987 and subsequently
establishing my own business
I believe strongly in
in 1992, it has been my
giving you “inside”
practice for many years now
to prepare these newsletters
information so as to
on a regular basis. How
better equip you to
regular? Well, usually they’re
make purchasing
annual — every once in a
decisions in today’s
while I ambitiously get out
glutted marketplace.
two issues in the course of a
single year.
My goal in communicating
with you is, of course, to help you learn more about my
various (and quite unique) services in hopes that you will
keep me in mind when you next face a decorating
dilemma....as well as helping remind you to refer me to
friends who may similarly need assistance. But a
concurrent focus of this effort is to continue to be a source
of consumer education for you as I believe strongly in
giving you “inside” information so as to better equip you
to face the sometimes bewildering array of choices in
today’s glutted marketplace.
(continued on back page)
Trends 2006
Here’s what the national gurus
of color, the Color Marketing
Group, have decided will be the strongest color directions
in home furnishings this year:
In-your-face saturated blues and greens -- think shades of
rich marine blue and punchy kelly green.
In a flashback to the 80’s (oh, must we?), gray is also being
paired with a variety of hues such as yellow & gray, pink &
gray, and purple & gray.
Brown continues to dominate and become ever more
prevalent on all surfaces adding richness, sophistication,
and warmth to spaces both contemporary as well as classic/
traditional.
Orange continues to be one of the strongest trends including impacting red tones and turning them into fiery paprika
inspired hues.
Overall, ethnic trends continue to be strong and provide
the inspiration for saturated saffron yellows as well as
gold hues.
A few of the DISCOUNTS
available for my clients:
“Decorating Insurance”
for YOUR next project
I
f you're getting ready to pay the kind of $$$
necessary to decorate, redecorate, or remodel
and will subsequently be living with your choices FOR
YEARS thereafter...a 1-hour design consultation will
provide you with the unbiased professional advice you
need before you begin that next project.
Remember, I do NO selling whatsoever ~ I work strictly
FOR YOU, not "the store." I will, therefore, give you my
honest evaluation and also provide the technical expertise
gleaned from nearly 20 years now as a decorating professional to eliminate the guesswork and $AVE you money
and frustration !!
-- not to mention
How does a consult "work"? Well, after we set an
appointment date, I encourage you to set aside a sheet of
paper and begin to write down your decorating/purchasing
questions as you think
of them. That way, during the consult, we'll I simply call it
cover all the questions “decorating insurance”....
YOU want to address
and use our time to- You'll call it peace of mind.
gether as effectively as
possible. We can focus
on one room, or the whole house -- YOU decide. I also
suggest you take notes during our meeting to refer back to
later (especially important before you head out to shop).
¡
Other services include:
Thomasville furnishings.................... 40%
Pottery Barn....................................... 20%
Premium carpeting (trade-only showroom) 40%
Wood, tile flooring “
“ ............ 20%
Antique furniture (see page 30).............. 25%
Magic Carpet (imported rugs)................. 20%
Arezzo Lighting (Roseville)................. 20%
Naturewood furnishings .................... 10%
DISCOUNT POLICY: Minimum purchasing assistance
fee of fifteen minutes applies per vendor. Non
on-site purchasing assistance including online or
catalogue vendors priced at regular hourly rate.
2
♦
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♦
♦
Project management services
Shopping for you or with you (including
extending “trade discounts” when available)
Rearranging your existing furnishings and artwork
Space planning for home or office (including
2D and 3D scale drawings/wall elevations)
Fees:
See Website - prices vary by location:
www.RDesignConsultations.com/fees.htm
50% discount for on-site purchasing
assistance (i.e. shopping for or with you)
Call TODAY to schedule your in-home or in-office
consult (commercial design services also available).
530.362.1339
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Water Street Antiques Warehouse
11101 Highway 88, Jackson
209.223.4189 Open 7 days a week. M-F till 4:30, weekends till 5
Rena
i
Reco ssance
m
Re so mende d
urce
W-h-a-t a find! While it’s easy enough to round up vintage accessories, lamps, and smaller
items at various antique malls/shops regionally -- when in need of a major piece of period
furniture, the task usually requires traipsing to multiple antique shops only to find one table
here, and another table 35 miles away. And often neither are still the right shape, wood/tone,
size, etc. So the search drones on.
Having been in search of a
European antique hutch for the
kitchen of the new home my hubby
and I are building (and that I
designed), I have been on the prowl
for months and burned untold gallons of petrol
in the process. So I was flabbergasted to see the sheer scope of
the antique warehouse I found this past weekend while on a
Sunday drive outside Placerville. About 20 minutes or so away
is the massive 50,000 square foot treasure trove of predominantly European antique furniture with row after row after row
of lovely and well-priced hutches, tables, armoires, display
cabinets, benches (including hard-to-find church pews), etc. A
few knickknacks and a good-sized Asian collection round out the
offerings by these importers who also offer an equally enormous
warehouse of reproduction furniture which they manufacture right on the premises. Better news still: I’ve registered
and received a generous 25% trade discount on their antique furniture and.....at last....found my beautiful pine hutch,
circa 1880 from Hungary -- and at a bargain price too! WORTH the drive!
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Your new floor: solid
hardwood.....or engineered?
Here’s a brief overview courtesy of FloorFacts.com:
Solid Hardwood Floors - are a solid piece of hardwood
cut into wood planks that are generally 3/4" thick. (For
above ground level areas only, not recommended for
concrete slabs.)
Engineered Hardwood Floors - are several plies of wood
that are glued and laminated together to form a wood
plank. They range in thickness from 1/4" to just over 1/2.”
(Can be installed almost anywhere in the home, including
over dry concrete slabs.)
Longstrip Hardwood Floors - are really an engineered
construction but are much longer and wider. The top layer
of a longstrip plank generally has 2-3 rows of thin
hardwood strips spliced together to form a solid surface.
This gives the appearance of having 2-3 planks locked
together, but it is really just one board. Longstrip planks
can be glued-down, stapled or floated over a wide variety
of sub-floors and installed in almost any area of the home.
This includes installing over dry concrete slabs.
Exotic Hardwood Floors - are used to describe hardwood
species from around the world. These hardwoods are not
found in North America and instead come from Australia,
Africa, Brazil and the Far East. Exotic hardwoods offer
unique wood graining and colorations. Most exotic floors
are available in engineered wood construction but some are
available in solid hardwood planks as well.
Once installed it is extremely difficult to tell these three
different wood flooring construction types apart. Both the
engineered and the longstrip have several thin layers
(plies) of wood that are glued together. By gluing the plies
together you get better dimensional stability within the
plank itself, which allows these floors to be used on job
sites that have a higher percentage of moisture content than
normal. This includes basements and over concrete slabs
where solid strip wood floors are considered off limits.
Another choice you have to make is whether you want a
pre-finished or an unfinished hardwood floor that has to be
finished in your home. The pre-finished floors offer a
wider variety of wood species and saves hours of labor and
cleanup; while the unfinished wood floors allow you to
have a custom, job-site finish and a completely smooth,
uniform surface. You also receive an extended factory
finish warranty (often 20+ years) with pre-finished floors,
but not with most job-site finished flooring.
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3
(continued from pg. 1)
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When shopping for higher ticket items such as new furniture, flooring, window coverings, and major appliances (i.e.
the category known as “durable goods” by economists), special attention must be paid as these are items intended to last
a minimum of 5-8 yrs. in most applications. And realistically, who can afford to make a mistake with these costly
purchases? Especially as you will most likely have to live with your selection(s) for many years thereafter. And so both
here in my newsletters as well as in the library on my Website — including the archived copies of newsletters past —
you will find an array of articles that I have either sourced or, in most instances, authored which will outline information
you need to have BEFORE you go shopping. Because I do NO direct retailing of any merchandise whatsoever (unlike
the majority of decorators/designers who are actually commissioned salespeople), you can count on this information
being wholly unbiased. Instead, as I like to say, “I work for you — NOT “the store.”
Referrals
GREATLY
appreciated!
So, I hope you enjoy this first issue from my transplanted business which is also now
available along with other previous newsletter issues in “The Library” of my website:
www.RDesignConsultations.com. If you haven’t visited this portion of the site, I hope you’ll
do so when you have some free time -- in it, you’ll also find an assortment of other articles on
decorating-related topics including a recently published article by the National Realtors
Association quantifying the cost of various remodeling projects vs. the payoff of those projects
in terms of specific equity added to a home’s value upon completion of the remodel or addition.
Some objective information to aid in any decision you may be currently contemplating.
All in all, my goal will always be to provide you information on the latest trends -- including “warts n’ all” data as to a
product’s limits/drawbacks to help prevent you from making a costly mistake -- as well as where to shop so as to obtain
the most overall value and style from your decorating dollars. I call this service “decorating insurance”.....but you’ll just
call it “peace of mind.”
Cheers ~
© S.A. Jernigan 2006. All rights reserved.
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design
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Address Correction Requested
PO Box 561
Auburn, CA 95604