When looking at the four blank walls in an un-defined space, it can be difficult and somewhat frustrating to imagine what the finished product will look like.  Getting started on a new project can be a tedious task.  However, with the right inspiration, you can make that blank canvas into your own personal masterpiece in no time.

A simple way to select a colour scheme for a room in your home is to start with a fabric you love!  A patterned textile will showcase colours that complement each other.   Once the appropriate fabric and colour are chosen, the rest is easy.  Use the fabric’s colour and style as a base style for the rest of the space.

Belle Maison’s Julie Thigpen (www.bellemaison23.com) put together a “Décor Inspiration Vignette” that I absolutely love.  The inspiration behind her     design came from the Amy Butler fabric (Nigella Twill Water Lotus Forest) at the top left.

Resources: 1) Fabric Amy Butler Nigella Twill Water Lotus Forest – $14.98/yd; 2) Devon Mirror – $149; 3) Santee Sioux Pillow – $54; 4) Gold Festival Pillow – $128; 5) Jasper Table Lamp – $535; 6) Cinchwaist Iron/Glass Table (Arteriors Home); 7)Savoir Chair in Sangria Fabric – $899; Jacqui White Chest – $1,525

In terms of some tips and key points to keep in mind, remember the following:

• When dealing with large furniture pieces such as the sofa, they are best upholstered in light, muted tones.
• Select a neutral hue from the palette of colours and punch it up with a bold colour on an accent chair with throw pillows in a selected patterned fabric.
• Another neutral hue in the fabric is often great for wall colour.  Whether it’s rich or muted, this colour will translate well into a large area as it is neutral and will showcase unique items in the room.
• A classic chair can be brought to life using a bold colour from the fabric, such as hot pink or peacock blue just as Belle Maison did.

Don’t be afraid to be creative and experiment!  Colour and pattern will bring other elements of the space to life.  Mix and match to create a room that defines you and expresses your personality. Discover the hidden potential your space has to offer, based on one simple fabric!

By Kiersten Lowden
Custom Home Interiors

A post by Custom Commercial Interiors

When most people think of a roof, it’s mainly seen as that space above their heads that protects them from the elements.  It’s protective and essential, yet other than that, does it really serve any other purpose?

Well it can.

It can even make you money.

Intrigued?

With the passing of the Green Energy Act in May of 2009, solar energy has been prioritized by the Ontario Government and programs to support a wide range of projects are in high gear.  Custom Commercial Interiors (CCI) has teamed up with solar developer Advanced Solar Investments (ASI) to offer this great opportunity to building owners in the Ottawa and surrounding areas.

The best part about working with ASI is their patented racking design enhances product performance in Canada like no other.  The Solion SunMount eliminates many installation concerns of commercial buildings and has a proven record for reliability and safety.   The system has over 5 years of engineering and design testing behind it and has already been installed across Britain and Europe.

-Suzy Kendrick

Wow!  What a turnout at Custom Home Interiors‘ 1st Tweet-Up!  With the delicious food, fantastic company and wine flowing, we’re still trying to figure out what the best part of the event was.  So, for now, we’ll just say the whole thing!

Kimberley Seldon withThe Moggit Girls, Mary Taggart, Jane Daly & Heather Burke

Custom Home Interiors’ Suzy Kendrick (far left) helps one event attendee with their first tweet

Behind the scenes, a lot went into getting the CHI Showroom ready for the Tweet-Up.  We are in the final stages of a total showroom renovation, so all the staff pulled together and worked really hard to make CHI shine.  We cleaned!  We organized!  We “made pretty”!

For some of the “pretty”, we’d like to sincerely thank @MVPetals (Florist Michelle VandenBosch).  Michelle prepared 3 amazing floral arrangements for us and WOW did they ever add to the beauty of the new diggs.

Floral arrangement by @MVPetals a.k.a Michelle Vanden Bosch

A BIG special thanks to Kimberley Seldon, and her daughter, Raleigh, for coming up from Toronto to see us again.  We were thrilled to have her back.  Since Kimberley’s seminar at the CHI Showroom in March was such a huge hit, we knew a reunion would have to be arranged.  However, this one would have a little twist to it.  We wanted to put a face to all the names we “tweet” with so frequently.

Tweet-Up n. A real world meeting between two or more people who know each other through the online Twitter service.

Names tags were worn by all showing their Twitter handle at the top and “real world” name underneath (ex. CHIOttawa/Tim or CCIOttawa/Suzy).  One person even did their very first “tweet” at the event.  Once everyone had arrived, we were treated to some insider tips from Mary Taggart from Ottawa at Home magazine on how to get yourself published.  Then Kimberley Seldon gave some tips on how to use Twitter effectively. (Credit to Design Ties for writing down these great points!)

• 30% of your tweets should be about you and give some insight into who you are. Let people get to know the real you.
• 30% of your tweets should be about your business (assuming you have a business you want to promote).
• 30% of your tweets should be thanking people who mention you in their tweets. Share the love!!

For all you mathematicians out there, yes, that still leaves 10%.  So, we decided that the last section should be bumped up to 40%.  Make the extra 10% about recognizing your followers.  Keep sharing the love and give props!

Kimberley Seldon explaining the benefits & best practices of Twitter

On that note, we really wants to show Twitter some love.  Twitter has given CHI such a tremendous amount of brand exposure as well as introduced us to many designers in the Ottawa community.  Through these connections we’ve been given fresh & cool design ideas and found a great way to spread the news about different events.  As I’m sure you all know, news on Twitter travels fast!

So why should your business develop and maintain a social media strategy?  Here’s what we think:

“Twitter has enabled me to create and nuture meaningful business relationships as I am able to share and collaborate with my peers.  It’s critical that you manage your brand effectively on Twitter and especially pay attention to what people are saying about you.” – Tim Das, Custom Home Interiors

“Being new to Ottawa and the design industry, Twitter has been a fantastic way to meet people and find out what’s going on in the world of design and decorating in the nation’s captial.  Building and maintaining a reliable network of contacts is so important in business development and as I move forward with the development Custom Commercial Interiors, I know that Twitter will continue to be a powerful tool.”  - Suzy Kendrick, Custom Commercial Interiors

We’re not the only ones who think Twitter is great!  Take a look at this video from our Tweet-Up:

Thanks again to those who attended.  Until next time!

- Tim Das & Suzy Kendrick

Did you know that the idea for Custom Home Interiors came from a Carleton University business plan competition just over 4 years ago?

From left to right (Andrew Emmans, Tyler Dren and Dylan MacNamara)

Passion, perseverance and the drive to succeed.  Three very important characteristics that were instrumental in getting Andrew Emmans, Tyler Dren and Dylan MacNamara where they are today.  These are also traits that Ernst & Young recognizes in the best and brightest entrepreneurial minds in Canadian business and, for the past 2 years, the directors of Custom Home Interiors have been on their radar.

Entrepreneurs are the engineers of Canada’s economy. Their hard work and commitment, despite the natural pitfalls on the road to success, are not only admirable, they’re somewhat rare. These are the men and women who have the energy and enthusiasm to change our economy for the better. They are the trailblazers who lead the way in challenging times.” – Ernst & Young

THEN & NOW

The Beginning – 2006

• 1 Builder
• 2 Model Homes
• 3 Catalogues (Suppliers)
• 3 Staff (Andrew, Tyler & Dylan)
• E-commerce website

Present Day – 2010

• Servicing a number of builders in Ottawa
• Model homes all over the city
• 350 Suppliers
• 150 Services
• 8000 sq. ft. Showroom & Design Resource Centre
• Small fleet of delivery and service vehicles
• 10 Staff (Andrew, Tyler, Dylan, Dawn, Tim, Michaela, Peter, Amy, Kiersten &  Suzy)

Director of Sales and Marketing Andrew Emmans says the key to CHI’s success so far has been commitment to always taking something away from every business experience, whether positive or negative.  “When faced with adversity, it is important to maintain a positive frame of mind.  Failure is not a word often used in my vocabulary.  I feel a better alternative to failure is LEARN,” he says.  Emmans expresses this opinion to all of the CHI team members and strives to motivate them on a daily basis.

Full Speed Ahead

CHI currently owns 7 other businesses under the Custom Home Interiors and Obvious Advantage Inc. umbrella; Custom Commercial, Bar, Restaurant, Office, Condo and Cottage Interiors.  All are separate businesses and have their individual URLs.  The company plans on developing the other brands over the next few years starting with Custom Commercial Interiors which will be launching in the Fall.

Good Luck Gentlemen!

- Suzy Kendrick

Tags: andrew emmans, Business, custom commercial interiors, custom home interiors, dylan macnamara, entrepreneur of the year, entrepreneur. carleton university, ernst & young, leadership, tyler dren

Everyone has dreams, goals and ambitions. Certain dreams and ambitions might involve starting up a business or finally doing the thing that you love most. BUT! You are inexperienced, scared and unsure where to turn to?

Well now there is an answer………

When Kimberley Seldon held her Business of Design seminar at Custom Home Interiors in Ottawa, a common issue that arose among designers was that there was no actual place to go for help when it came to dealing with business issues and practices related to the design industry. Especially if you are just starting out and do not have the budget to hire a business coach.

As a result, Ottawa based designer, Donna Hargrove of DH Designs, decided to start the Ottawa Design Network Group (ODNG) and mold it into a community of designers, decorators and students. The sole purpose of this group is simple. Share information and support each other in developing their design business and create an open forum where design professionals can express their concerns and find common solutions to the issues that they face on a daily basis.

The motto of the Ottawa Design Network Group is 80% Business / 20% Design

The ODNG held it’s first session at the Custom Home Interiors showroom and the attendance exceeded our expectations. Over 25 designers from all over Ottawa and its surrounding areas showed up with the right attitude and zeal to share and collaborate with their peers on design and business issues!

If you were unable to make it for the first session, the ODNG group has decided to meet once every 6 weeks at the Custom Home Interiors showroom.

Next meeting has been scheduled for:

Thursday June 24^th 2010
6:30pm
CHI Boardroom 1

If you are a design professional and reside in the Ottawa region, and are looking for a place to connect and collaborate with other designers, please click on the link below to register for the next session!

http://bit.ly/cbyYTx

As the newest member of the CHI team, I’ve had the pleasure of getting to learn about all the fantastic products CHI features in the showroom.  One really great thing I love about the items we carry are the interesting back stories or company histories that accompany many of them.  Dutch Quality Stone is one of those products.

Started as a family company in Ohio 20 years ago, Dutch Quality Stone prides itself on the fact that 85% of the people they employ to manufacture the product are Amish.  (Interesting Fact:  The world’s largest Amish Community lives in Wayne County, Ohio.)  Company Representative Bill Archibald says this is because the Amish are extremely fussy about their work; quality and consistency being their primary concerns.

“In our corner of the world, people believe in doing things right.”  www.dutchqualitystone.com

Curiosity got the better of me and I wanted to know about the Amish way of life.  I discovered that Amish children start learning trades as early as Grade 8.  No wonder they have a reputation for hard work and fine craftsmanship!  For your own education, check this video out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1ALGtEpbfU

Wondering how these manufactured stone veneers are made?  Basically, it goes a little something like this.  The stones come from a quarry where, I like to think, they are selected based on their individuality and “specialness”.  They’re brought in and a latex mould is made.  Then, the veneer is made using a combination of concrete and fired shale.  (Shale means broken down pieces of stone.)  From there, they are painted and have many different colour combinations depending on the layout you select.

“Dutch Quality Stone has been at the forefront of advanced stone replication for over a decade, perfecting the process of recreating incredibly vivid stone products.”  www.dutchqualitystone.com

At CHI, we specifically showcase “The Trillium Collection” which represents the best of what the company has to offer.  These stone styles and colours have been specifically selected for the discerning Canadian Homeowner.  Sample boards are available for designers to use as well.  These are my two favourite styles:

Prestige Weather Ledge

Natural Blend Ledgestone

Whether for the exterior or interior of your home, stone feature walls or store fronts, this products adds such beautiful character.  At significantly less than the cost of natural stone, accompanied by its 50 year warranty, it’s a great product to consider for your home or commercial space.  Come visit us in the showroom and check it out for yourself!  And make sure you say hi to me as well when you’re here, I’m looking forward to meeting you all!

-Suzy Kendrick

Tags: 50 year warranty, amish, CHI, commercial, custom home interiors, dutch quality stone, Home, interior decorating, interior design, natural blend ledgestone, prestige weather ledge, quarry, shale, stone feature walls, stone veneers, store fronts, the trillium collection

Ever had one of those nights where you just wanted to get to bed? But you had a million different things to turn off and it just felt as if you didn’t care that the energy bill was going to run up because you left everything on???

Well, there is a solution. The answer lies in the form of “Control 4 Home Automation“. Play the video below and discover how you can make your life, a heck of a lot easier!

What are the benefits of Home Automation?

1. Entertainment

Impress our guests or simply enjoy the comfort of having a fully integrated home theatre where you can experience the feel of a movie theatre in your own home.

2. Safety & Security

Going beyond the call of duty of traditional alarm systems, a control 4 security system will enable all indoor lighting, in the event of a robbery. In addition, occupants will also be warned in the event of a gas-leak or water -leak.

3. A convenient lifestyle

Control almost every electrical device with a single touch-pad or remote control. Enjoy the possibilities of having mutli-zone audio, where different types of music can be played in different areas of the home.

4. Energy Efficiency

Lighting levels and temperature is also an integral feature of Control 4. Lighting and temperature can be adjusted automatically, based on room occupancy and the weather.

Discover a world of possibilities with Control 4 Home Automation system. Contact a Custom Home Interiors representative at 613-248-1244 for more information or visit or www.control4.com

Have you ever asked yourself, what is it that truly makes a home beautiful? What is it that really makes the home stand out? Some would say that the interior décor or paint that makes the difference. Others might claim that beauty is in they eye of the beholder?

At Custom Home Interiors, we consider window treatments to be an integral piece of what really makes a home beautiful. As the function and purpose of window treatments have evolved over time, designers and decorators now maximize the inclusions of window treatments as a means of providing privacy, controlling natural light intake into a room, as well as a way to control temperatures during summer and winter.

Modern day window treatments are designed and built with state of the art features that essentially enable a homeowner to act as Mother Nature and control light and temperature through window treatments. As we live in an environment conscious society, issues like energy efficiency become a priority as window treatments are now designed to be environment friendly.

There are many window treatment manufacturers in the industry that produce window treatments. One company in particular that we are quite fond of is Hunter Douglas. “Hunter Douglas offers the industry’s largest collection of energy-efficient, custom-made window treatments. Designed and assembled in the U.S., and backed by a lifetime Guarantee, our sheers, shades, honeycombs, blinds and shutters can be customized with lifting systems for added safety and convenience” (Hunterdouglas.com).

So what are the things to consider when purchasing window treatments?

-       Room Type

-       Decorating Style

-       Material

-       Color

-       Specialty Shapes & Design Options

-       Privacy & Light Control

-       Pricing

-       Measurement & Installation

The beautiful part about window treatments is that there are custom solutions for just about any type of consumer. Whether you are price-conscious or design conscious, Hunter Douglas has the answer.

So maybe when you ask yourself, what makes your home stand out? ; Hunter Douglas might have the answer.

Below are samples of Window Treatments that are available through Hunter Douglas:

The Sillouette Ultraglide

Tailored Vignette

The Nantucket Easyrise

The Skyline Easyrise

Duette Honeycomb (Hunter Douglas Signature Energy Efficient Line)

With Hunter Douglas window treatments, you can Insulate your room, protect your room from intense UV Rays, absorb sounds and enhance acoustics, maintain privacy and still remain fashionable and stylish.

For more information on Hunter Douglas, visit www.hunterdouglas.com or www.customhomeinteriors.ca

As Kimberley Seldon held her first Business of Design Seminar of the Year at the Custom Home Interiors showroom in Ottawa, participants had left the seminar satisfied and content! One of the attendees was quoted as saying “This seminar has given me a renewed belief towards my interior design business and i’m glad i attended the Kimberley Seldon Business of Design Seminar”.

The following are a few snapshots of the the Kimberley Seldon Business of Design Seminar:

(Directors of Custom Home Interiors, Andrew Emmans (left) & Tyler Dren(right) gets a quick shot with Kimberley Seldon (centre)

If you were a attendee of the Kimberley Seldon Business of Design Seminar and would like a copy of the photos, please feel free to email me at timothy@customhomeinteriors.ca

Thank You
Tim

Hard work, dedication & professionalism is what Kimberley Seldon prescribes as the three main ingredients for success in the Interior Design & Decorating Field. As Kimberley Seldon started of her career in TV production in Los Angeles, she has come a long way to be succesful in the Interior Design Industry as not only does this Toronto based designer have her own line of decor products, she is the current Decorating Editor for the Style At Home Magazine and she is also a regular guest star on the City Tv’s City Line hosted by Tracey Moore.

As Kimberley spent the last three days at the Custom Home Interiors showroom, hosting her Business Of Design seminar to the various Interior Designer’s and Decorators of Ottawa, as well as the budding Designers and Decorators, we got a chance to get up close and personal with Kimberley to get her thoughts on her recent Ottawa visit as well as get a sneak peak at what her seminar attendees had learned this past weekend!

I would like to thank Kimberley Seldon and the Kimberley Seldon Design Group for choosing Custom Home Interiors as her place of choice to host her Business of Design seminars. Also reserve a special thanks to all the staff at Custom Home Interiors for making this event possible!