My clients are amazed at the difference the small changes can make in a home. Even with a small budget, recommendations on paint, draperies, and rugs can transform a space from Blah to Beautiful.

A single fantastically placed piece of art can make the room feel different. And when it feels different, you will feel different in the space. Perhaps you will use the space more frequently or in an entirely different way. That is the real joy of living in a constantly changing piece space that consistently elevates your mood.
Each time we bring home a new piece of furniture or art piece, we have a new story line for our lives. Objects should make you laugh, smile, think, and ponder. They should create a conversation out of nothing. Pull together a dinner party and find new avenues of just being together.

When design is done right, it doesn’t mean throwing out everything you have put together over the years and starting again. Good design is INCLUSIVE. Taking pieces from your past and present and creating a new future. Adding new objects that resonate with who you are and where you are headed. Good design is not about the landfill, but about filling your space with joy.

Getting started is easy. Look around your space and decide what you love. What you love about living in the space and how each object you love makes you feel. If you have some pieces that are poor quality or need replacing, begin to let them go. If you have a well made but shabby piece, recover it in a sassy fabric. Add new foam or springs and give it new life.

Think about the colors that elevate your mood. Do you love pattern and color or are you attracted to the soothing neutrals? What style do you like? Look at magazines to get a sense of what others have done and elements of the work that attracts you. When you have the basics down, it’s time to call in the professional. Sara Arndt Interior Design can help you vision the possibilities and how to make them reality with the least amount of impact on mother earth, our ecostystem, and your pocketbook.

Be Yourself. Be Fabulous. Have Great Design.

One technique I use to address additional usable spaces in my client’s homes is to ask questions about how they use their spaces.  So many people have a Living Room that is used once or twice a year.  Sometimes it’s a nook room that you can’t decide how to furnish because the space is small or awkward.  Other Challenges are using one space for two purposes.  Designer to the Rescue!

Take that Living Room.  It may be 1/6th of your floor plan- in a 2500 sq foot house that could be 400+ sq feet that is acting like it doesn’t exist.  Who needs a 400 sq ft hallway to the parts of your home that you actually use?

Most clients need an area for reflection and reading and can’t find unity and harmony in the Media Room with the constant buzz of the television.  This is a great opportunity!  Take that Living Room and redesign it with your needs and desires in mind.  Make an area cozy, a chair and a half to cuddle in or put your feet up after a long day.  Add a great reading lamp, a nice rug and voila!  You have reclaimed your space in a different way.  Who says bookcases need to be confined to the library?  If you are a reader and the Living Room is to become your Reading Room….bring those shelves and books in!

An awkward nook can achieve the same use or even become a bill-paying station or small office.  Even if the space is strangely shaped, there are ways to design it to create additional usable square footage for you.  What about a place for the home gym?  Strange shapes call to the weights and treadmills…use me!

Double duty rooms are wonderful design challenges.  They require excellent design and many questions about use and how the rooms will function independently of the alternative use.  One of my favorite solutions for a small house was a client who needed a home office for herself.  The designated office was built out for her husband and they could not share.  We converted a Dining Room into a Dining Room/Home Office with gorgeous cabinetry that closes when the office is closed and looks like a built in Hutch.

Dining Room/Home Office

Open to Office

Get Creative with the Space you Have!  Be Yourself, Be Fabulous, Have Great Design!

Cathy Rigby and Tom McCoy

Master Bedroom

My husband Russ and I have hired Sara Arndt multiple times and there is no one else we would rather work with. Not only does she have an amazing talent for design, but she is also a great listener (and mediator when the time calls for it!). She gets that this is your home and your budget and works according to those guidelines. We interviewed many designers but when we met Sara, we knew we wanted to work with her and have never regretted that choice. She made what could have been a tumultuous time such a joy and our home is more of a reflection of who we are now because of her.

~Julia Watroba

Fireplace Before and After

Sara was a joy to work with from start to finish.  She helped us transform an empty house into a beautiful home that truly reflects our style (only better). Sara is not only professional and dedicated, but also understanding and warm.  She is remarkably creative, yet has a very practical approach to designing a “living space”.  She helped us achieve our dream home within our budget and time frame – well worth the investment is a tremendous understatement. 

Natalie and Jonathan Fischer

Living Room

We contracted with Sara Arndt as our decorator and interior designer for nearly a year during a major update to our home.  In these times when professionalism and genuine customer assistance are often lacking from those providing products or services, Sara Arndt is a delightful and appreciated breath of fresh air.  Her project management and design skills kept our work on track and produced results we continue to enjoy.  Perhaps even more significant was the tireless energy and commitment from Sara to ensure that tasks were completed properly and to our satisfaction.  While any major project involving numerous contractors and trades workers will experience some bumps in the road, Sara made every effort, sometimes at her own cost, to see that we “got things right”.  If you are considering redecorating or remodeling of any living space, we invite you to discuss your plans with Sara Arndt before choosing a decorator/interior designer to assist you.

Jim and Judy Merry

Fullerton, California  

Trompe L

The best designs are always in flux.  In my house, we have too many beautiful art pieces for the walls.  This leads to constant movement- a good idea to increase your home’s chi or energy.  We place and replace artwork throughout the house during the year as we decide to redesign.  This happens a lot at my house as you might imagine!

The other constant flux is with accessories.  Many times I will bring accessories from my storage to client’s homes for parties they are going to have or for special occasions to give the house a lift.  I rotate my accessories to change the look of the rooms without always purchasing all new furnishings.  You would be amazed at what  simple rug changes have done for my living room and dining room.  It feels like I moved!

Living Room With First Rug

Lamps to add ambient lighting can solidify a design by bringing all the elements together.  Soft lighting creates a feeling of intimacy that your family and friends will enjoy while being entertained.

Always remember: Be Fabulous.  Be Yourself.  Have Great Design.

Creating a sacred space in your Master Bedroom is a change that can bring serenity all year long.  Usually I create at least two options or scenes where the winter and summer bedding both work with the paint, art, rugs, and drapery treatments. 

It makes a huge psychological difference to change your bedding seasonally.  Just creating a different dynamic with color can make a difference in the way your body temperature responds.  Warm browns and plums create a sense of hibernation.  Summer blues feel cool like water, greens cool like the dewy morning grass.

The quality of the fabrics against your skin creates a sense of heightened luxury.  Thread count and fabric content can go a long way to making you feel like you are at a spa getaway all year round.  Good bedding, seasonally weighted duvets and supportive pillows make sleeping serene. 

My Master Bedroom has two large windows that look out to the backyard.  While I change the seasons with my bedding, I can watch the leaves fall and flowers bloom.  It’s a great way to keep in tune with Mother Nature.

2009 Hot and Not List

HOT: Green Luxury-we see this cropping up in all elements from rugs to fabrics.  Environmental Lux is Hot!

NOT: Cheap from China- anything that screams landfill is NOT!

HOT: Mix it up.  In patterns and colors mixing tableware to dining chairs creates a WOW factor.

NOT: Traditional sets.  Of almost anything.

HOT: Grey-Silver-Plum-Periwinkle add Shimmer, it’s HOT!

NOT: Chocolate Brown and Aqua Blue mix…ho hum…so last year.

HOT: Ambient Lighting.  Creating the warm glow to incduce atmosphere, very HOT!

NOT: Track lighting.  Period.

HOT: Nesting.  Creating sacred space in the house you own.  Using elements that delight the senses.

NOT: Keeping your space static.

HOT: Eclectic Mixes.  Using elements from many different genres to create your own style.  Very HOT!

NOT: Traditional Single style, in the box designs.

Be yourself.  Be fabulous.  Have wonderful design in all parts of your life and style. 

Sara Arndt Interior Desgin, Inc.

Although it may not be the time for a complete remodel, it is a great time for changing soft goods.  Consider a room with hardwood floors and mini blinds.  Take that same room and add a handmade area rug and cusotm soft drapery treatments and your holiday guests will be amazed!

Many times Holiday accessories can get overwhelming.  A designer can help weed out the accessories and place them in creative vignettes.  Take the view that professional clothing stylists to the stars have.  They take the last accessory off the star that was put on….less is more.  You actually CAN have too much of a good thing!

Custom draperies can be installed in one-two weeks in time for the holiday party!  Rugs can be approved of on site and left that day.  Accessorizing is a quick on site process.  It’s a simple way to have your family and friends do a double take when they enter your new updated space!

The question is, what is having your own customized space to retreat from the rest of the world worth to you? 

I know in my own home, I find quiet after the storm.  Graciousness of living specifically tailored exactly to my family’s needs.  The leather chair with down cushions and a fantastic reading lamp that calls out for a good book and a few hours time.  The dining room with it’s openness and inviting flavor that draws friends and family to it just by being rich with color and textures.  Don’t forget the media room where deep relaxation, movie nights, and wii competitions are staples.

Of coruse, there was an input to make these spaces feel the way they do, to make them draw a crowd or reveal a place for solitary time.  It took money and time to create the feeling that there is no other place I would rather be when I’m not working.  And it was worth it!

Consider the end result when determining if it’s the right time to start your project.  With products and goods escalating in price, the best time is now.  The sooner you begin, the sooner you will have your very own customized retreat.

We all have different ideas about what is sacred to us.  Sometimes just finding the space for a good book and a cup of tea makes all the difference in the world.

As an Interior Designer, I ask my clients a lot of questions to discern what is sacred to them.  We create spaces that enhance the value of the time they spend alone and with friends and family. 

One example is a project that began in the kitchen.  My clients realized that this was the integral part of their home.  The heart where everyone wanted to gather.  It was incredibly dated and worn when we started- had not been touched in 20 years.  The new facelift created sacred space with its simple beauty.   My clients increased the number of parties they give, and the new space encouraged more people to be involved in the cooking process.   From the kitchen, we stretched out into the gathering spaces, the dining and living rooms came to life and are now used frequently.  The energy of the house shifted and moved.  From one sacred space came a number of sacred spaces.  Each one rhythmically sounding the value of friendship. 

We all have places in our lives that could use enhancement.  We all need to feel the connection with others, friends and family.  What a joy to have that ability to connect in our homes in ways we never expected.

A designer is able to integrate innovative design solutions with informed selections from the vast universe of product resources and services.

Why hire a Professional Interior Designer?
Interior Designers know the right questions to ask to prevent you from making costly mistakes.

Interior Design is a process that considers both the human environment and your personal life experience, within the framework of a given space.

It results in a setting that combines creativity and good taste with comfort and function in the context of the home. The designer delivers an environment that can lift your spirits.

I don’t have a large budget, should I still hire an Interior Designer?
Professional interior designers can work with any size budget to help you create the space you desire.

Sometimes, a consultation with an interior designer can get you on the path to complete the project. Work with your interior designer to create a budget that works for you.

What do I do if I have a specific time frame?
Talk to your designer. Designers can work within your time frame and your budget-to your satisfaction.

What Benefits does the Interior Designer offer me?
Project Management that addresses your specific needs. Designers operate with schematic design, space planning, final design with specifications and working drawings, and project monitoring to complete a project with a post-occupancy review.

They also offer the ability to create home environments that reflect your personal taste and preferences while allowing for changing individual and family needs.

Designers have knowledge to select suitable, attractive and durable furnishings the meet fire codes and flammability ratings. Your safety, health and welfare are a top priority.

What is my role in the process?
Before contacting an interior designer, take some time to think about what you want and what you need.

• What feeling do you wish the completed project to communicate?
• For whom is the space to be designed?
• What activities will take place here?
• What is your time frame?
• What is your budget?

The more information you can provide, the more successfully your designer will be able to meet your expectations.

Why should I have an interview with the Interior Designer?
The interview is your opportunity to acquaint the designer with the nature of your project, based on your outline. It is a good time to share the designer’s observations and insights, to assess your mutual compatibility, and to review the designer’s portfolio.

Remember, Professional Interior Designers can do the following for you:
• Create solutions for your unique needs.
• Control end results and monitor process.
• Improve home environment.
• Avoid costly mistakes.