A Sikh man wearing turban and a curled mustache sits on the floor in front of a chair in a living room. On the coffee table in front of him are a laptop and a calculator. He looks down at the calculator, a pen in his hand. A woman, probably his wife, leans on his shoulder and looks down with him.
Accessibility Design 101

Home Remodeling for Accessibility: Financing Your Remodel

by Laura Grey No Comments Share this  

This is the last of three articles on how to remodel your home for greater accessibility. The first article focuses on the first stage—how to plan an accessible renovation. The second article features a renovation success story about a real-life remodel undertaken by Jody and Drew Yarborough, a Californian couple who renovated their Silicon Valley […]

A man and a woman wearing work clothes review something on a tablet while standing in a room undergoing renovation. A bare bulb hangs from the ceiling over their heads.
Accessibility Design 101

Home Remodeling for Accessibility: A Success Story

by Laura Grey No Comments Share this  

This is the second of three articles on how to remodel your home for greater accessibility. The first article in this series focuses on the first stage—how to plan accessible renovations. This second article features a renovation success story about a real-life remodel undertaken by Jody and Drew Yarborough, a Californian couple who renovated their […]

A woman sits in a wheelchair in front of a computer sitting on a counter. Her smiling young daughter stands next to her pointing at something on the screen. A son sits in a chair behind her facing away from her toward a window.
Accessibility Design 101

Home Remodeling for Accessibility: The Planning Stage

by Laura Grey No Comments Share this  

This is the first of three articles on how to remodel your home for greater accessibility. This one focuses on the first stage: planning an accessible renovation. Article two features a success story about a real-life renovation undertaken by Jody and Drew Yarborough, a Californian couple who renovated their Silicon Valley home to make it […]

A large loft apartment with exposed beams, ducts and brick is decorated with midcentury modern (MCM) dining furniture, a Persian carpet, and a dark leather sofa, mixing industrial and MCM styles
Design 101

Decorating with Texture

by Laura Grey No Comments Share this  

Texture is one of the elements of design that does the most to make a room feel welcoming and comfortable. We notice and remember colors and patterns, but textures really make a room feel interesting. They invite us to let our eyes and hands explore a space. Decorating with texture and three-dimensionality can bring warmth, […]

A close-up of a cluster of swirling decorative art glass pieces by glass artist Dale Chihuly. The glass vessels have uneven shapes and swirls of color mixed into the glass and creating patterns that look much like large jellyfish, but in bright colors—orange, green, yellow, brown, and black.
Design 101

2023 Interior Design Color Trends

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After nearly a decade of grey upholstery, pale woods, and all-white kitchens, color and warmth are returning to home interiors in a big way. We’ve reviewed the color forecasts of dozens of interior designers, style journalists, paint retailers, color consultancies, and furniture companies to learn about the big color trends of 2023 (as well as […]

Swatches of paint, fabric, and wood trims are fanned out and and overlap each other on a pale desktop
Design 101

Do Interior Design Trends Matter?

by Laura Grey No Comments Share this  

People can’t help but be intrigued by novelty. In the world of interior design, new and unusual materials, styles, and fabrications drive sales. Changes in color, pattern, or finish grab our attention, and we hunger for something new. What was out of style comes back around; colors we once found annoying pique our interest. We […]

A Midcentury Modern minimalist rush-seated wooden dining chair in pale wood sits on a light-wood floor with a white bare wall behind. To the left of the chair is a pair of small MCM cabinets in a mid-toned wood (perhaps walnut) with a prominent grain. It has two sliding doors across a cabinet on the top, and a wooden shelf below, all on a metal frame. It is about as tall as the back of the chair. Resting on the cabinet is a minimalist line drawing of a face in simple black lines on a white background. Books rest on top of and below the cabinet with spines facing away from the camera.
Design 101

Sustainable Interior Design

by Laura Grey No Comments Share this  

Sustainability is, simply put, the goal of creating and maintaining an environment in which we can safely coexist with other humans, animals, and botanical life, both now and far into the future. This beautiful goal means we have to be honest with ourselves about how we live. Living sustainably can sometimes mean changing the way […]

Stained glass window showing a view of a bay with a large rock at right, and purple wisteria vines hanging from the top and along the right side
Design 101

Let’s Talk About Taste and Style

by Laura Grey No Comments Share this  

In the worlds of fashion and interior design, a few individuals wield great power. We look to them to find out what’s considered correct, attractive, and stylish. These tastemakers are lauded for their supposed innate understanding of what is good, what works, what matters aesthetically. Followers look to them for ideas or approval regarding taste […]

A woman in a wheelchair is in a kitchen with a platter of bruschetta on her lap. Her stylish itchen has white cabinet, grey counters that look like rustic wood, and floors that look like rustic white planks with stripes of bright colors but are probably tiles. The cabinets have accessible horizontal drawers instead of cabinet doors.
Accessibility Design 101

Universal Design

by Laura Grey No Comments Share this  

Making life more equitable and safe for people with disabilities is an essential goal of any ethical culture. Most of us believe improving accessibility benefits society as a whole. Naturally, we want all people to feel safe and comfortable navigating their surroundings. What we may not realize is that nearly all of us experience disability […]

Design 101

The Birth of Midcentury Modernism

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Midcentury modernism was one of the most celebrated design trends of the 20th century. At times minimalist and sophisticated, at others whimsical and family-friendly, it embraced simple shapes, open space, and modern mass-production technologies. These features made it accessible and affordable, and hastened its spread during the post-World War II economic, baby, and housing booms. […]