We love creating custom designs to embroider on fabric.

Do you ever wonder how interior designers always seem to find the perfect fabric for the project? How the drapes just seem to be created by magic, and the pillows and shams on a bed look absolutely made for the bed?

It’s not really magic, although we’d like you to think so. We’ll say it again: the entire staff at LRM Interior Design is obsessed with every detail. That means if we can’t find the perfect fabric for your curtains, or the perfect pillow for your bed, or the correctly sized cushion for your window seat, we make it. From scratch.

Honestly, we wouldn’t—and couldn’t—do it any other way. Everything installed on any and all of our projects has to be perfect. So if we can’t order what we need for the design, we are lucky to have the contacts that will create our projects to our specifications.

For instance, the piece in the photograph above is for a project in Newport Coast. We designed sheer panels to hang from the canopy of the bed in the clients’ master bedroom, and had this complicated pattern embroidered directly on the fabric. This is just one of many custom embroidered pieces throughout the home; we also have created custom window treatments and specially designed sheets and pillowcases.

What we love about custom embroidery is that we can choose from any fabric and any design and have it produced using one or many of their hundreds of colored threads to choose from. We love making fabrics, pillows, window treatments and other soft furnishings completely personalized for our clients. As a matter of fact, we have a special affinity for custom window treatments, cushions and pillows. We know that your friends and guests won’t realize that the work is custom; what they’ll notice is how amazing every detail in your home is.

And even if no one but you and your significant other ever see your master bedroom, it’s a wonderful feeling to know that your bed the only bed like it in the world, and it’s just how you want it. Below is a photograph from another project, this time on Laguna Beach’s coast. The room’s focus is the bed, yet every detail in the bedroom is coordinated. And it’s not just us that think so: This room won LRM Interior Design an ASID award in 2009.

Are you looking for a fabric pattern or soft furnishing that you just can’t find anywhere? Look no further. LRM Interior Design can create whatever fabric pattern, pillow or window treatment you require. We can also mix and match ready-made bedding with custom pieces to design the bed of your dreams. For a consultation, please contact LRM Interior Design on (949) 497-6806 or contact us online.

From the headboard to the bedskirt, this bed was designed and customized especially for our client.

If you are planning on moving when the recession recedes, that’s another reason to make a few home improvements – focus on adding value to your home before it’s time to sell. Besides, why not make your home more pleasant and up-to-date while you’re still living in it? And I’m not the only one who thinks so: Ed Del Grande, the Orange County Register’s home repair guru, recently told a reader the same thing. You can read the article online here, but read on for my top tips!

Make Smart Decisions
Interior designers can help clients make smart decisions about what improvements to make and how to go about them – there’s no point in planning an “upgrade” that will clash with the style or architecture of your home. Here’s a few target areas that are good places to start:

• Replacing windows and doors adds value to a home and can actually help lower utility bills
• A potential buyer’s eye will focus on a few key areas:

- The kitchen: think about updating the cabinetry
- The bathrooms: don’t underestimate the power of fresh paint and a new shower treatment
- Landscaping: make visitors say “Wow!” before they even step inside

• Upgrade finishes like mouldings and light fixtures
• Refresh living areas with new paint schemes
• Replace worn-out flooring for a new look in hallways, kitchens and living areas

A good interior designer can design a new kitchen or bathroom from the ground up, providing material selections and colorways. But why spend the money on a professional? Because of a little-known fact: due to their relationships with a wide range of vendors – including those for flooring, fabrics, fixtures and furniture – they receive prices that are better than sale prices you can find in-store or online. An interior designer worth their salt will pass these savings on to their clients!

Find New Space in Your Home

Where you see a jumbled mess, a talented designer will see the possibility of organized bliss. Pay for a consultation – or better yet, see if you can find a designer offering a free consultation – to find places ripe for transformation. Creating a new area for storage or a specific purpose takes a little planning but a lot of creativity, and if you’ve chosen wisely, your designer can take a small budget and a small space and make a huge change in your home, and your life.

•    Cluttered hallways or coat closets? Clear them out and replace with a custom, built-in desk or shelving system. With a specialized design, you should be able to organize what was once a mess – and make it look beautiful, too.
•    An odd niche? Turn into a dedicated office space or a beautiful hutch to display collections or photographs.
•    Lofty ideas? Open up a child’s bedroom with a loft area, or add high ceilings and light to a living space.
•    Want to relax? Formal living or dining rooms are being swapped for family or entertainment rooms, or combined with the kitchen for an open-plan living space.

Take a Fresh Look at What You’ve Got

Does it need to be a new purchase to feel like an update? Not if you do it right, in my opinion. Would you be willing to pay for a few hours of a designer’s time if they saved you thousands – or tens of thousands – in material costs by working with your existing furnishings? Here are some of my favorite ways how:

•    Get a new ‘do: Re-do and re-use – recycling is all the rage, don’t you know! With the right vision, we can reupholster, repaint and reinvent just about anything in your home. A tired coffee table can become a luxurious ottoman, and a fading sofa can come to life when the cushions get new stuffing, the shape is restyled and fabric is replaced.
•    Change the details: transform the sofa with new accent pillows; reshuffle accessories on table tops and mantlepieces and in display cabinets; reframe existing art; or even add some greenery by way of new houseplants.
•    Finer art: Can’t afford a Renoir? Why bother? Frame and hang something more personal, like existing photographs from a trip or album. Have a collection? Get a professional to mount, mat and frame them – even something as mundane as a button collection can look amazing when showcased in this way.

Shopaholics, Rejoice

If you’re more of a hands-on shopper, you can take advantage of both a designer’s eye and the numerous sales, clearances and close-outs that pop up in recession times. I’ve been hired to go shopping with several clients to advise on purchases, ensuring that they are right for the home and the budget. This is a great way to refresh and update your home on a low budget and in a short amount of time!
For more expert advice and ways to transform your home even when times are tough, contact LRM Interior Design for a free consultation.