Design Dose
Happy Hour | 10/16/08

Expert Opinions

Pin It

Jill Weinberg of Refind Interiors recently hosted a panel discussion on home remodeling at Pauline Grace’s showroom. Local experts in lighting, kitchen and baths, tile and stone, and home furnishings gave tips on how to successfully tackle a renovation project. Here are some tips I picked up from the panel:

Jill Weinberg’s pre-construction tips:
-Before you even start, flip through magazines and keep a file of looks you like.
-Determine how you want to use the space you’re renovating
-Prioritize and set budget.
-Build in a 15 to 20 percent cushion for those inevitable unforeseen costs.

Kate Solovio of Materials Marketing on trends in stone and tile:
-Natural stone tiles cut in an elongated plank size to mimic wood floors are the new hot thing (see photo).
-Also look for beveled and stainless steel tiles.
-Add interest to your room with bamboo and wood mosaics.

Community Home Supply’s Julie Bower on kitchens and baths:
-Go green!
-By January 1, 2010, high efficiency toilets, or toilets that hold 1.28 gallons of water per flush, will be required. Consider installing these and low-flow faucets.

Jeff Wonsetler from Lightology:
-Today’s standard lightbulb is being phased out for more energy-efficient version.
-Screw-in, dimmable LED fixtures are the future.
-Compact fluorescent bulbs are will soon be required, so don’t buy fixtures that won’t accommodate them.

Pauline Grace’s Megan Hinchsliff on design trends:
-There’s a lot of chocolate brown out there, and a bright, chrome yellow seems to be accent color of the moment.
-Vinyl is a popular right now—it wears like leather but is less expensive, and it’s easily cleanable.

Posted at 9:39 AM in Happy Hour | Back to all posts

Add your comment:

About This Blog

Design Dose is the online extension of the inspiration, advice, and scoop that Chicago Home + Garden provides every season, only in smaller doses. Here we share news and trends, discuss design obsessions and dilemmas, and take you behind the scenes to exclusive design events and showrooms. Have a local design fave, scoop, or dilemma of your own? Share it with us here.

Follow Chicago Home + Garden on Twitter at twitter.com/chicagohomemag

Categories

Recent Posts

Share

On Twitter

Archives

Feed

Atom Feed Subscribe to the Design Dose Feed ยป

Design Blogs We Love