Category: Inexpensive Interior (and exterior) design

Interior Design — Mid-century Modern

Yes, it’s been a while since I last posted anything. I’ve been pretty busy with setting up the sound studio at home (almost done), which included hanging doors between my existing office and the family room, moving the computer out of the room, and so on and so forth. Add to that being out of work, which has had an effect on my wanting to get anything done in the first place. I like working. I’m not the kind of person who is happy hanging out by the pool, relaxing, and doing and thinking about nothing- though that is nice for a vacation.

So, as I mentioned in this blog, and for people who know me, I really dig mid-century design, architecture, furniture, and so on. Luckily so do my wife and kids. We live in a 1950’s California Ranch with a big open living room and open beam ceilings, though we would someday like to live in a more mid-century modern home that’s more open, flatter roofs, big floor to ceiling windows, etc. Fortunately there’s a plethora of them in San Diego’s East County, where I happen to have been born, raised and still live in.

I’ve always appreciated mid-century architecture and design since I was a kid growing up in the 60’s (I was born in 1963), even before I knew what it really was. Coincidentally there happens to be some pretty cool shops in San Diego and a mid-century modern following among home-owners, designers, architects, and people in general. My favorite shop so far, located in the Little Italy area of downtown San Diego is Boomerang for Modern, located between Kalmia and Laurel on Kettner.

If you walk in or look from the outside, it looks pretty small.  But once you go in, be prepared to see some pretty cool stuff. The first floor is set up like a small living room/showroom. The second floor looks like a nice apartment living room and gives you an idea of what your place could look like, while the third floor is set up as a bedroom display. I highly suggest next time you’re downtown, check it out, sit and chat with David the owner, and maybe take something home.  Pics after the jump.

Speaking of home, we’re taking our house from shabby-chic (yecccch), to a more mid-century interior design. That will be in another post with before and after pics, and progress updates as well. Now if I could afford some of the cool furniture from Boomerang…

Web Design Part 2 – Color

There seems to be a lot of people who like to design web sites, and or anything else, that don’t understand color theory. Let it be known that knowing color is very important in any design work, whether web, logos, print, even painting your house or office – if they let you have more than white walls or are stuck in a cube. I just came from an office that was an endless sea of gray cubes, with very cool spectrum lighting. Perfect for programmers and engineers, horrible for designers/creative types.

There are 6 separate color themes, all based on what’s called a color wheel. The color wheel is a pretty good representation of color theory. If you have any good paint program like Photoshop, Corel Painter (that has a very nice one), you know what the color wheel is. Even Mac’s come with one built in with tons of features. This is what one looks like:

color-wheel1

Or go to your local art supply store and buy one. They’re fun and cool to have around, and look like this:colorwheel

Plus, your friends will ask what it is. Make sure you put it next to a really sharp xacto knife, a straight edge, and a hand waxer (used for paste-up, way before cut and paste on computers), and then you’ll have some great conversation pieces. Just make sure you keep your thumb or fingers out of the way when showing how it all works. Trust me.

I can type up a whole lesson on color theory, but I suggest you Google it, or check out this site which I like a lot: Color Wheel Pro: Color Theory Basics.