It’s a known fact. Designers travel for Inspiration.

Taking in new sites and sounds certainly gets the creative juices flowing.

I had the pleasure of spending an afternoon with Design Cartel Gal Pal, Decorator and Biz Owner, Victoria, of The Clearinghouse Exchange (Greenport, www.tchx.net)  when we set out to explore Brooklyn.

Summer is the perfect time to discover Brooklyn.  Tip:  Start in Williamsburg. This Indie enclave is all about Epicure, the Eclectic and the Experience.

Victoria and I started at what we first thought was an outdoor Flea Market only to happily discover was an outdoor Smorgasburg!  We ate our way through the cleverly named venue.  A personal delectable favorite was Bon Chovie whose tagline is Swim Fast. Fry Young.

My guilty obsession.

Find one with ‘good bones’ and it is amazing how many ways you can reinvent seating and for a lot less than you think!

Be it a Desk, Wing, Club, Chaise, Occasional, Slipper or Dining Room seating. If you are on the hunt for one with good bones, think outside the box…ahem, frame.

Where to shop: Antique Stores, Attics, Flea Markets, Consignment Shoppes, Grandma’s house or Manhattan Upper East Side curbside before trash day.

Closets – One of the single most under-utilized spaces in our homes.

Metaphorically speaking, to clean out your closet is to gain control of your life.

To design your closet so it suits your lifestyle is to achieve Nirvana!

Are you aware of the Pareto Principle? It’s commonly referred to as the 80/20 Rule. It goes something like this: 80% of your sales will come from 20% of your clients. Or 80% of the time, your kids will gravitate towards the same 20% of their toys.

“Light is the magical ingredient that makes or breaks a space; it’s one of the most important elements in all my interiors.”— Benjamin Noriega-Ortiz, Interior Designer.

With that in mind, here are some Basic Lighting Tips to consider in your Design Plans.

Every room should have balanced lighting which falls into three categories:

• Ambient
• Task
• Sparkle

Color is subjective.

Its beauty lies in the eye of its beholder. When choosing a color for your space, rely on a few Tried and True Designer Tips.

Cool colors make a space appear larger. Warm colors make a space appear smaller.

Consider exposure of room. North? South? East? West?

Each exposure has a different effect on color which will change how the color appears over different times of the same day and whether it is a sunny or rainy day.

We all have Idols.
Maybe it’s Frank Gehry.
Or Ryan Seacrest (I’m joking)
Or Freddie Mercury (I’m not joking)

Mine – Lady Mendl, Elsie de Wolfe

Gotta love a chick that comes up with the brilliant idea to put her name on a business card, pass it around to her eclectic circle of friends and do what she was built by birth to do:  Paint a beautiful indoor landscape.  She is the first Interior Decorator.  Let’s learn from her.