No matter what the economy, kitchen interior design seems to be unaffected. Floors and appliances wear out and need replacing, cabinets get old, paint fades and the family cook suddenly finds the whole room unworkable. That's when it's time to renovate, and designers say this year's kitchen interior design trends are pleasing both to the eye and the environment. "We're noticing less new construction and more renovation. More clients are staying put, and want their current space to function properly and look great," said Kati Curtis, an interior designer with Kati Curtis Design in Manhattan and a member of the American Society of Interior Designers. "They are more willing to spend on top-quality, energy-efficient appliances and materials that look great, perform well and will last." Kate Talbott, a kitchen and bath designer at Millbrook Cabinetry and Design on Route 44 in Millbrook, said this year's trends lean toward big open rooms for dining and seating — the great room concept. Perhaps because of that, furniture styling is also of interest to homeowners. "Making things look like furniture … furniture legs on islands, furniture details on bases, making islands look like tables, things like that. It's definitely a popular look," she said. In cabinets, people are opting for painted wood rather than a natural oak or cherry wood stain. "White is incredibly popular for anyone doing paint," said Talbott, adding that a glaze on top of the standard white is a...

As in everything we do the "yogic" way is of course, to consider the environment first. What are some necessities you will need for your yoga studio?

Never place a large mirror in front of your bed! This is a big no-no in Feng Shui. Having a mirror in front of your bed can redirect harmful chi back at you.

Kitchens and bathrooms are by far the most important rooms in the house when it comes to remodeling, selling and buying. Interest in these highly specialized and technical areas of the home gobbles up a huge portion of HGTV and DIY Web sites, and is a specialty among designers like me.

Put simply, an induction-cooker element ("burner") is a powerful, high-frequency electromagnet, with the electromagnetism generated by sophisticated electronics in the "element" under the unit's ceramic surface. When a good-sized piece of magnetic material such as a stainless steel skillet is placed in the magnetic field that the element is generating, the field transfers ("induces") energy into that metal.

In hopes of avoiding the last minute scramble to try and make the virtually impossible happen for a client, I wanted to provide a post on basic tenant fit-out costs in NYC. We want our potential clients to be armed with the proper information to plan wisely, from both a timing and a budget standpoint.

Which got me thinking...Although it's never an exact science, there are a few guidelines we can use to determine what your project will end up ROUGHLY costing before even beginning the design.

But when BM came out with their Natura line I thought I HAD to specify it, since it's NO VOC, vs. low VOC. Well, my rep Rodger Lippman explained to me that there are some trade offs of using no VOC paints.

HA: How to balance wall treatments when so much is glass / preferred window treatments? KC: Let the view be your art, and possibly intersperse sculptural pieces that don’t interfere with the view.

Maybe it's my age, but it seems like everyone around me is having a baby. My friends, and fortunately my clients are expecting little bundles of joy. So naturally I've been thinking a lot about Nursery Design, and there are so many great, stylish, options to help us create a hip, modern room for the hip, modern baby.