Conscious Designs and Home Decor

While the objective of most enterprising efforts is to remain in the black, when it comes to residential and commercial designers, it is those clearly focused on the green movement that have a fighting chance of staying in the black. Clodagh Design, a leading design and architecture firm, is among the industry's leaders in eco-consciousness designs for commercial, residential, spas and hospitality projects.

The award-winning designing woman of one-name identity is a tour de force with accolades from industry insiders and consumer publications alike. Both have recognized her hugely successful 25-year career as a designer and as the owner of top design firm with worldwide recognition.

While predictability is never a characteristic of a Clodagh design, the usage of natural materials, such as stones, metals, and woods, in conjunction with the precepts of feng shui and Zen methodology to achieve unilateral form and function is the foundation of all Clodagh designs. Whether it is a residence or a customized retail space, projects by this firm converge Eastern and Western cultures fluidly with flowing artistic leeway applied liberally.

A recent delivery of this edgy luxury eco-consciousness is spotted at the guestrooms and common areas of the new W in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The vast Nemacolin Woodlands Spa in Laurel Highlands, Pa., a spa on the list of top-100 spas in the world with more than one major publication, is another sighting of the firm's eco-minded sustainable creativity. The arduous company also designed the interiors and the common areas for the 450-unit, 23-story Caledonia Condominium on Manhattan's west side.

Clodagh is a member of the hall of fame of Interior Design Magazine and has been named to the top-100 lists of designers by industry stalwarts, such as Architectural Digest and Hospitality Design. The New York Times, Esquire magazine, and New York Living are but a few of the well-known publications that have featured the designer's works.

The enterprising Clodagh is a diverse organization with three business models headquartered in NYC's NoHo district. Clodagh Signature is a product-design group, and Clodagh Collection consists of home furnishings and accessories with licensing agreements with upscale luxury brands. The Ireland-born designer also is the author of two books: Your Home, Your Sanctuary and Total Design, which include her four C's of design: contemplation, cleansing, clarification, and creation.

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Monte Carlo Fabulous Silver Snow Finish California King

This is an original home design in the magnificent Michael Amini Signature Series of fine furniture. Just looking at the subtle textures, gentle curves and soft tones is a warm encounter with elegance and echoes of the past. Each carefully crafted piece is a timeless treasure and a serene waltz with romance and elegance. The Michael Amini Signature Series is heirloom quality furniture and the realization of your most beautiful dreams.

Monte Carlo is a jewelry box state perched above the quiet blue waters of the Mediterranean. A gentle climate with 300 days of sunshine a year. A grand capital built by the finest artists of their times and frequented by celebrities from all over the world. Stylish, splendid, extraordinary, brilliant and bright have all been said about Monte Carlo which is unquestionably the most prestigious resort in the world. The same words can be used to describe this fabulous Monte Carlo Collection of fine furniture.

Expertly crafted from Birch solid hardwood with handsome Cherry veneers and Ash burls, this unique Collection is finished in a fabulous Silver Snow finish that radiates five-star quality and style. Heavy marble tops and finely stitched leather inserts with nail head trim underline a sumptuous design approach that provides a dazzling list of features. The handsome, fluted posts and columns have Corinthian style capitals - a common Roman order that was used in the Temple of Mars Ultor. Monte Carlo is an exclusive Collection created for the cultural and cosmopolitan elite, the avante garde and the truly discerning who demand the very best in everything for their home.

This majestic Poster Bed is outstanding among other beds and will grace your home with the supreme ambience of classic taste.

Features:
Exclusive Monte Carlo Collection
Solid Birch Hardwoods
Hand Carved
Cherry Veneers and Ash Burl
Silver Snow Finish
Leather Panel Inserts with Nail Head Trim
Corinthian Style Capitals on Posts
Wrought Ironwork Canopy Frame

Specifications:
8528 Monte Carlo California King Poster Canopy Bed (87"W 112"D 92"H)
Consists of:
California King Poster Headboard (87"W 13"D 92"H)
California King Poster Footboard (87"W 13"D 92"H)
Rails & Wood Slats
Canopy Frame

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Interior Decoration Furniture

Beautiful furniture has to be designed and created to be used and cherished through the years. That’s why making furniture is an art in itself. The end result can be a simple and functional item, a piece of craftsmanship or even a work of art.

The very first thing to go into an empty room is furniture. Everything else cushions, mirrors, lamps and other accessories will follow. That’s why the role of furniture in interior design has such a heavy weight, and will determine what other items will be added to finish the painting. Home accessories are just the finishing touches, while furniture is the bulk of the project.

First of all you need to think what look you want to achieve. If you like an eclectic and cozy home, chooses different furniture items from different styles, but follows a consistent colour scheme so that everything looks great together.

For example, if you are furnishing a bedroom, the first thing to do is to choose the bed. Once that has been done, you can choose everything else around it. Your bedroom is your sanctuary, the place where you relax and rest, so it makes sense to work around your bed.

If you went for a romantic and ornate Rococo bed, usually finished in white or cream, you should then stick to pastel or neutral colours, or you can even experiment with Venetian mirrored furniture, but stay away from shiny colours, and above all, stay away from any furniture finished in black, even if the style is very similar.Black and white will clash, while cream, white, and silver and mirrored finished furniture will melt together beautifully. Be adventurous and choose some mirrored bedside tables, an ethnic silver embossed chest of drawers, and a white or cream wardrobe.

Now if instead you go for a Louis XV style rattan bed finished in black, then stay away from light colours and go for a dramatic look. Choose a beautiful black wardrobe, ideally mirrored fronted so that it adds depth and brightness, some lavish silver or black bedside tables and a big Venetian chest of drawers. Combining black furniture with mirrored furniture will add depth and light to the bedroom, without losing the luxurious dramatic look we want.

Now that you have chosen your furniture, you can complement your look with lavish bed linen, cushions, a beautiful mirror, some practical table lamps and a gorgeous chandelier. Just make sure that the colours of all those accessories won’t clash with the soft colour scheme of your furniture.

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Essentials for Luxe Living

What comes to mind when you think of the word luxury? Viewing the latest haute couture finery? Cruising calm blue waters in the season's latest yacht? Savouring a rare, hard-to-find vintage? So often, we only associate luxury with big-ticket items and once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Yet with just a few small additions, we can live luxuriously every day in our own homes as well.

Here are 5 of our favourite essentials for luxe living:

Fili D'Oro
Once you've tried Fili D'Oro's luxuriously soft sheets, you'll never go back to store-bought sheets again. The linens are sold only to hotels, including the Ritz-Carlton hotel group, but many hotels offer them for purchase either online or through their on-site gift shops.

Ploh
Plush, yet discreet, ploh's exclusive bed pillows, duvets and featherbeds deliver a sumptuous experience to the well-dressed bed. Our particular favourites include the limited edition masurian down pillows and the "ultra-luxe" featherbed - 3 inches of feathers with a full top layer of irresistible down.

Molton Brown
Molton Brown's diverse selection of sophisticated scents and cleanly designed packaging offers something suitable for every lifestyle. Recharge with their black pepper body wash, or pamper dry skin with the lightly scented white mulberry hand wash and lotion set.

Bottega Veneta
Bottega Veneta's classic, understated style is perfectly suited to its wide range of items for the home. Each piece is meticulously crafted and often incorporates the signature hand-woven intrecciato pattern characteristic of the brand. From storage trunks to table chargers, Bottega Veneta can help take your home to the next level.

Dior L'Or de Vie
Youth may be the most fleeting luxury of them all - unappreciated until it has departed. With Dior's new L'Or de Vie anti-aging skincare regime, you can forestall the inevitable, at least temporarily. Ten molecules with both anti-oxidizing and regenerating properties are extracted from the sap from the vine shoots of the sauvignon grapes from the Château d'Yquem.

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Cesar's Exterior Designs

It's one thing to travel to the most over-the-top, lavish hotels and resorts (like I have by some fortunate fate), but it's another to enjoy your home as much as a favorite luxurious retreat.

So I have, thanks to my discovery of a gem company, Cesar's Exterior Designs, which decks out the exteriors of historical homes, private residences, posh hotels, and stunning commercial areas.

If you've seen the Ivy Hotel in San Diego, The London in LA, or any number of estates listed for sale in the Southern California area, then you know Cesar's Exteriors has graced the grounds.

From custom glass fire-pits to mosaic-style bubbling hot tubs, Cesar's Exteriors' team of 60 skilled craftsmen designs and builds nearly anything, precisely to your order.

Right now, I'm gazing at my custom BBQ area and solar-powered lighting system that makes my home look right up there with the Playboy Mansion. An extra bonus to love: green design is what Cesar's Exteriors lives for. They even recycle marble from your outdoor kitchen top to use it in your sultry fire pit.

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Wicker Furniture - Beautiful, Affordable, and Durable

Are you in the market for new furniture? If you are, perhaps you may be interested in looking at some wicker furniture. Wicker furniture offers a whole new dimension to your home furnishing. Not many homeowners realize this, but there are actually many benefits that are overlooked.

Wicker furniture has been around for ages. In our modern society, we often see such furniture in hotel lobbies, holiday resorts, etc. We seldom see them in home. So that perception seems to have stuck. But why do you think hotels and resorts like to use wicker furniture as their chief furnishing?

Just ask yourself, how do you feel when you walk into a setting full of rattan furniture? Chances are, you start feeling more relax. The entire mood in the room is a relaxing one. That is because the furniture has this natural quality - it is able to create a relaxing environment.

Most people who visit hotels and resorts want to relax. Therefore, it makes good sense to place wicker furniture in such settings. But what about the home for the average homeowner? Is the furniture a suitable candidate?

The home is a place for relaxing. It is a sanctuary, where you can go back to after a busy day at work. Surely, you want your home to have a relaxing environment that welcomes you home each and every single day. That's why more and more homeowners are buying wicker furniture for their homes.

Contrary to popular belief, wicker furniture cost less than other furniture types such as wooden furniture. Many people think that wicker furniture is expensive because they see such furniture in 5 star hotels. Clearly, that is not the case. Some wicker furniture are indeed expensive due to their rare and complex patterns, but in most cases, such furniture is actually more affordable than other furniture.

The furniture is cheap because they are manufactured in Asian countries where labor and materials are cheap. When the cost of production is cheap, the retail price tend to be cheaper too. If you really want to save more money, you may even buy wicker furniture at wholesale prices. That does mean having to buy more in a single order, but you also save a lot more.

Cane is well known for its toughness. After treating with heat in the manufacturing process, the cane is then allowed to cool. Once cooled, the cane quickly regains its tough qualities. You can't easily bend it, and you certainly can't easily break it. In other words, you can expect your wicker furniture to last for many years.

The furniture requires very little maintenance. Just wipe it with a wet cloth every now and then to prevent dust from accumulating in the gaps.

By Darren W Chow

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Modern Furniture For Modern Times

The world is ever changing and things are going faster than they were. Everything turns out quickly and almost everyone is in a hurry making it difficult to keep up. In modern times like outs, it makes it then our business to cope with the ever changing times. As for maintaining a modern home, it is necessary to use modern furniture. This home improvement mission comes with the purpose of modern furniture offering modern solutions to modern times.

What solutions does modern furniture offer us?

Compact and Light, modern furniture is made of materials which makes it convenient for us to use. They are light and easy to move around. This is especially true for people who are on the move - those who move from assignment after assignment; one city after another. It's all in the past when furniture used to be bulky and heavy. They used to be made of heavy wood and other similar materials. This gives the person on the go a difficult time moving them as they require a lot of manpower to be carried and transferred.

Convenient and easy to maintain, modern furniture is not difficult to clean. This means less labor for the person who owns it. This will most especially be loved by the modern person - someone who typical wants to use his or her time judiciously and not simply to be spent on cleaning and maintaining fixtures. Nowadays, people stay longer outside the house and oftentimes use it for a place to rest. Having convenient and easy to maintain fixtures truly fit to the modern person's lifestyle.

Functionalities wise, modern furniture come very handy and useful. A typical sofa by day can be used as a bed at night or when a friend or a relative comes to sleep over. Arm chairs offer that added ability to be reclined when the owner would like to take a quick nap. This feature also offers added comfort to the use of the said fixture. This dual purpose of course adds value to the consumer because fixtures may be kept to a minimum and this makes them versatile for use as well.

Fashionable and stylish, this furniture comes with a variety of designs. They come in different patterns, colors, shapes and sizes. This makes it easy for consumers to mix and match them to their existing home's designs and their preferences as well. They are undeniably able to follow the styles of today and gives you that added pizazz and that personal touch.

By Allison Ayson

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