Lotus Interiors

In The News

Dec. 13 -- Fancy home design was once limited to the wealthy.

But consider the popularity of Martha Stewart and slick "shelter" magazines.

It was only a matter of time before furniture retailers and even paint stores started touting in-house designers.

"There's a whole new market opening up," said Tracy Baisden, a designer now working at Passonno Paints and Wallpaper's Albany store on Western Avenue.

Her customers are all the people who have had their appreciation of home decor raised by watching Martha Stewart or HGTV, or reading any number of home magazines, and want more comfortable and fashionable surroundings.

And if they can't find it at design centers at their neighborhood stores, they'll just talk to the kitchen designers on staff at Home Depot or go with the Laura Ashley offerings at Home Depot, or the Martha Stewart line at Kmart.

"I think it's just broadening the market," said Sandy LaValle, a traditional interior designer in Delmar who charges $125 an hour in her work for business offices and home owners.

"I don't consider it competition at all. I think it's awesome."

But some critics, especially retailers of upper-end merchandise, scoff.

They say the new push might just amount to window dressing, or, at worst, marketing hype that will confuse consumers about who is qualified enough to be a designer.

Pam Nichols wanted to do some thing about the state of the home office used by her lawyer-husband.

"It was hideous," Nichols said.

The walls and carpets were drab, the slant of the ceiling made some colors look awful, and the small size of the windows defied mass-market drapery products.

Nichols said she knew from her experience in trying to find the right color for a bathroom -- "I went through four different paints" -- that the home office problem was out of her league.

She called on Baisden, who picked out the right paint, wall decor, carpet and custom window treat ments to create an office Nichols now calls beautiful and masculine.

"It's not cheap," Nichols said, "but it's amazing what they can do."

Actually sometimes the decorating help is cheap for the consumers, but it all depends on the the store.

Baisden is based in the Passonno Paints Albany store, and handles lots of customer questions and in quiries right there, free to people who come into the store.

Passonno pays her on an hourly basis.

Her work includes helping people who might bring in a carpet or fabric sample, or even a Polaroid photograph of a room, and want suggestions on what paint and window treatments they might get.

"It's a lot of hand-holding. It's a lot of listening. It's a lot of psychology," she said.

Many consultations are one- or two-hour jobs, Baisden said.

Some people just want to decorate a kitchen or a bedroom.

Some want to go through the whole house, but are prepared with concise questions, and may ask only one or two questions about some rooms.

The 39 Raymour & Flanigan Furniture stores are taking a different approach.

The chain announced a new in-home design service free to customers buying store merchandise, which includes lines such as Bassett and Broyhill.

The average purchase at the store is $1,100, said Mark Mander, marketing vice president for the chain in Syracuse.

"I try not to get into paint or color or carpets," said Stacey Larkin, who works as the designer in the Latham store.

She is paid on commission by Raymour & Flanigan, she said.

But to some competitors such service isn't so new or gee-whiz.

"You can't sell furniture without giving design help," said Bill Moor adian, co-owner of Mooradian's Inc. stores, whose merchandise caters to the middle and upper-middle seg ments of the market.

"We've always had designers on staff."

So, too, has Stickley Furniture, the top-of-the line classic furniture maker with a showroom on Wolf Road in Colonie, noted general manager Steven Coons.

Coons worries that because anyone can say they are a designer, consumers may be misled.

Designers at Stickley, for instance, have all been to college for design, often obtaining four-year degrees specifically in interior design.

Baisden is getting a two-year degree, and plans to earn a professional certification from the American Society of Interior Design, she said.

(c) 1999, Times Union, Albany, N.Y. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
COPYRIGHT 1999 Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News

DESIGNING FOR DINING
by Tracy Baisden

It’s not just a great meal that makes for a fantastic dining experience. While the food—the presentation, the taste,
and the aroma all are very important, they are not the only things that make the meal. The atmosphere that surrounds you while you are eating that food has a lot to do with the experience as a whole.

If you have ever been to a restaurant or friend’s home where there is a wonderful ambience created by beautiful surroundings, great lighting, impeccable service and conversation, than you
know how important it can be to the experience you have.

A large part of what makes a great dining atmosphere comes from Color Psychology, a field of psychology devoted to analyzing the effect of color on human behavior and feeling, and its principles hold true when it comes to eating. While we all have different tastes when it comes to color, art, design, music, etc., the human psyche is
also affected in certain ways by the use of color in a space. By understanding how the use of color affects the way it makes people feel, you can begin to create the space you desire by choosing the right colors.

The following is a list of colors and the way they are generally interpreted by people psychologically. This can be used as a guideline for designing a room that creates the pleasurable dining experience you desire.

RED (Physical): A powerful color that catches your attention more than any other. It can evoke feelings of
passion, strength, liveliness, and friendliness. To some, it can create feelings of aggressiveness, defiance, and boldness. Red should be used for visual impact. The correct shade of red makes all the difference when
used as a main color in a space. Red can stimulate the appetite and can be used to beautifully enhance the
colors of food such as red wines, tomatoes, red sauces, apples, and meats.

BLUE (Intellectual): Blue is a color people either love or hate. To those that

enjoy blue tones, they create a
sense of serenity, calmness, and intelligence. For those who are not fans of the color, blue can create a
feeling of coldness, and be unwelcoming, sterile, and unemotional. Blue actually suppresses hunger and
is not a good choice to use in dining spaces because in nature there is very little blue food, and we tend to
instinctively avoid associating blue things with eating.

YELLOW (Emotional): Yellow can be soothing to the eye and make us feel calm, creative, and optimistic, but
if the wrong shades of yellow are used they can lead to irritability, anxiety, and fear. According to color psychologists, yellow is known to make babies cry. In
the 1950’s, when yellow kitchens were all the rage, there were a record number of suicides by housewives. This is
a color that can be very successful when used in warm tones of yellow that have a touch of brown in them to
mellow them out.

GREEN (Balance): Green is a color that represents nature, balance, and peace. When used in the right shades, it can be a perfect compliment to food since it
is the very essence of nature. It can make people feel at ease, but can also create boredom and feel bland when
the green is too muted.

VIOLET (Spiritual): Purple is color that must be used very carefully when it comes to design. It is a color that creates a feeling of spiritual awareness, truth, and luxury, but if the wrong shade is used, can look cheap and create a feeling of introversion and suppression.

ORANGE: This color represents food, abundance,
and security, so it can be an especially good choice for dining rooms when used in the correct way. The human reaction to this combination of red and yellow is both physical and emotional. Many restaurants use red and orange lighting to stimulate appetites as well as using
these colors in their logos and marketing.

PINK: The very color of femininity, pink can also represent inhibition and physical weakness. Too much
pink can be physically draining and should be used very carefully since it can tend to make food look putrid.

GREY: Pure grey is the only color that has no direct psychological properties. It must be used with exact precision or it can make other colors look dampened.

BLACK: Black is all colors, totally absorbed. This is one color that has a lot of psychological impact. Positively,
it can create total clarity. Black works great with white, can give a look of total

sophistication, but can also be overly serious and ominous.

WHITE: White does the opposite of what black does – it reflects back all colors. It can be a strain to look at, and can create emotional barriers. While appropriate for art galleries, white walls are usually not a good choice for dining rooms since they can make warmer
colors look garish and does not help create an inviting atmosphere.

BROWN: Like green, a symbol of nature and balance.  It is actually more popular than black in design and ends to make people feel secure and supportive.
Understanding how color affects you and the people round you can help you to create beautiful and nurturing spaces that make people want to come to
your home and linger there. This article only touches on the importance of color psychology, as hue and tone of color are equally important and require even more knowledge and finesse.

Tracy holds a degree in Interior
Design, has 17 years experience in faux finishes, murals, and scenic art, and is a color expert. She gives home color consultations and teaches classes
in Color Psychology. You can visit her website at lotus-interiors.com, email Tracy at tracy@lotus-interiors.
com or call her at 518-392-3388.
Samples of Tracy’s Dining Room
Designs. To see more examples in
color, visit lotus-interiors.com