Does your dental office have a Waiting Room or a Reception Area? Merely a matter of semantics? Perhaps, but then again, if you were a patient which would you rather walk into and spend time in, a place that is warm and inviting and makes you feel comfortable and glad you came, or a holding area crowded with others similarly waiting for their turn?

As part of a well planned dental office design the goal is to create a Reception Area that greets your patients, makes them feel at home, relaxes them, and gets them ready for their treatment time. As part of a well run dental practice you don’t want your patients waiting any longer than is absolutely necessary. If you have patients waiting for very long, there is something going wrong in your operation that needs to be addressed. Of course, I realize that sometimes, things go awry, but those need to be the exception and not the rule.

“But, my patients always bring family members along with them that need to hang out in the Waiting Room,” you say. That may be all well and good, but again, would you rather them be waiting in a cold, sterile pen, like so many cattle waiting to be lead to slaughter, crowded with others similarly uncomfortable or in a Reception Area that makes them comfortable, offers them a refreshing beverage and provides them interesting viewing and/or reading material? Which brings me to my next point.

Whoever thought watching videos of dental procedures while sitting in the Reception Area is a good idea is out of their mind! No one wants to be reminded of possible dental problems and no one, other than perhaps the guy that made the video really wants to see the inside of people’s mouths! Such videos need to be reserved for educational opportunities one-on-one with your patients in a Consultation Room and not shown on continuous feed to everyone in the Reception Area. Seeing these things just builds anxiety in patients.

So, take a look at your dental office and ask yourself, “Do I have a Waiting Room or a Reception Area?” If your answer is the first, perhaps you’ll want to be planning to take a good, hard look at making changes to your dental office design in 2010.

Since I won’t be blogging for a bit, I thought I’d leave you with some lovely pics of CM’s nursery. It is not completely finished – still waiting on a sette and mirror over the dresser, so I’ll be adding pic of those when they arrive.

When you open the door, this is what you see:

Love the Bless design poster and Oeuf crib – these were the starting point for designing the nursery. The Eames rocker and vintage playground rhino turned into a rocker totally rock, as does the mobile that I made over the rocker. I guess it is a good thing that I love everything in this nursery!

Crib linens are Pom Pom from Olivine, a local store in the cute shopping area near our house. I really like that store – it smells really good, like sea grass and other fresh things. I was surprised that Boom liked the linens, as I thought he might think that they are a bit too girly, as they do have a ruffle on them. But he really liked them, or perhaps he was tired of looking for the perfect crib linens, either way we went with it. He did think I was a bit crazy when I was ironing the crib skirt and bumper cover…

Of course I love this rockin’ rhino!  Really, it is just too cute for words!  And I love that it is something old, but repurposed, and has lots of character.

And the rocker from Boom’s Mom and sisters.   So stylish, but very comfortable as well!

The mobile that I made has to be one of my most favorite parts of the entire nursery!  I put a little beaded African angel from Coco right in the middle, which is just perfect.

This is the opposite wall from the crib (where the door is) – Boom came up with the idea of the Ivy League pennants – paying homage to his alma mater, Cornell.  We hung a vintage type drawer under the pennants, and Boom’s old pine wood derby car on one side and a frame I painted for CM on the other (no photo in the frame yet).  Shelving with storage for lots of books (still need to acquire) and toys.

Here is the dresser wall.  We got the yellow knobs from Anthropologie!  Still waiting on the mirror to be delivered.

And the other wall is the sette wall, we don’t have the frames up yet, as we need to wait on the sette for placement.   So I’ll show that once we get everything in place.

So at least one room in our house is nearly done!  Too bad it probably won’t be inhabited for a few months, and the dweller won’t really appreciate all the hard work that went into it.  I guess the nursery is really for the mom.  And I love it, so all the hard work was well worth it.

Scottish architecture firm Rural Design have completed a small timber house on the Isle of Skye in Scotland.Called Fiscavaig Project, the two-storey residence is raised slightly above the ground on short wooden columns.The building narrows towards the north facade, which is entirely glazed to provide views over the surrounding landscape.The decision to lift the building off the ground on small piloti released the design from convention and allowed it to relate to the wider context – the views to the north and the sun from the south. The form of the house deliberately narrows to the north, reducing its surface area, and leans into the weather.The entrance bridge lifts one off the landscape and immediately upon entering one is connected with the view through the fully-glazed elevation to the north. The other windows are secondary and draw light into the two storey volume.

Occasionally, I see an item for the blog that elicits a WOW!!! The Popeye Minaudiere from Sylvia Toledano is definitely wow-worthy. Scroll through the polychromatic gallery for more inspiration. For more wonderful items from Sylvia Toledano go to vivre.com and check out the handbags. There may be a few WOWS in your day.

I may try a cane with the colors and elements in this purse!

Here are some images of a fashion store in Belgrade, Serbia, designed by architect Irena Kilibarda of Dsigned By for fashion designer Tamara Radivojevic.Called Fashion Studio and completed in 2007, the space is located in an existing apartment building.A workspace for the designer is elevated on a mezzanine above the retail space, accessed from a corridor outside the shop.The shop supplies itself by natural light through open-back windows that make the interior space, made visibly larger by prolonged existing window apertures and the possibility of using the window bench for sitting/hiding heating system, visible to the passing spectators.

The main principle to modern design is less color, less clutter, less furniture. Creating a modern design is quite simple–pick a few essential pieces that have straight, modern lines and minimal color. Decoration can simply be clean, white walls with polished concrete floors. A modern interior typically avoids a lot of extra decoration and only incorporates items that are functional. Add a few splashes of color using something functional, such as a lamp….

Graphics

modern

Personalize your home with art and accessories and decorate using a specific style.  If your style is Southwest, try a lampshade using your color palette  in that style.

Dreamy dreamy dreamy. My little house in the prairie.

source: skonahem

Playscape provides a taste of playfulness that allows youth to able freely demarcate their own chilling groups, bringing people into a surrealistic and playground environment, where each and every part of the installment are bound to be made experiential. Its about the beauty of the design that attracts people, and not the functionality.

I can never remember what I want in my future apartment… so I am going to collect them here. feel free to take my awesome decorating ideas and findings

-frame with tapes in it

For your tables, you can purchase a piece of glass for $100.00 and use any number of things for your base. Large Flowerpots, cement columns, and even bricks wrapped in fabric will make a great base for your dining and occasional tables. If glass is too expensive, you can purchase plywood or MDF board and paint or tile it instead. Use the same methods to build a desk. On top of two, file cabinets, place glass, MDF, or a hollow core door.

If you find yourself unable to get a free sofa, you can build one yourself. Two solid doors can be turned into a sofa by cutting one in half to use for the sides and using one horizontally as the back. Screw these items together to make the back and sides, and then assemble a base for the cushions out of 2X4’s. Your other options are to take a bench made for the outdoors, or a twin-sized bed, and convert it into a day bed using pillows.

For your bed, all you really need is a mattress, but you can build a simple sturdy bed with plywood and cinder blocks. For your headboard, the choices are infinite. You can use a fence section, an old door, or a standing screen.

We all have shelves somewhere within our homes, whether they be for books or simply storage places for odd bits and pieces which don’t need to be on show all of the time in a lounge or dining room, or used as a place to store jumpers in the bedroom.

Image: Belle Maison

Finding ways to disguise their purpose when not being used is relatively simple if you opt for fabric panels or roller blinds. In alcoves curtains or roller blinds are easy to install and fit, like wise if you have an open shelving unit you can easily fix a curtain track or pole to hang fabrics from.

If you want a coordinated look to your home you could always use the same style and design of roller blind or ready made curtains to enclose shelves. Alternatively you could go bold and inject some vibrancy into a dull area by using a bright contrasting coloured fabric!

If you are stuck for ideas visit interior design blogs for inspiration! There are both professional and home makers who are a wealth of information and have some really brilliant design concepts and fabulous ideas which you can use within your living space which don’t cost a fortune!

Original modern art painting, ABSTRACT Contemporary FINE ART Original PAINTING. Acrylics on 100% cotton stretched wrapped canvas. Size: 60×73 x1,7cm.(23,6×28,7 x0,7in inches) No need to frame it-just hang it.

Original, not print. Painting is signed in front and at the back. Dated.
The sides are painted, so there’s no need to frame it.

I use a gloss varnish to add shine and to protect the painting from harmful UV rays and dust.

I am Member – EBSQ art association .
Each of Nataera’s paintings comes with a COA (Certificate Of Authenticity). The COA lists the title, medium, size, and other useful information. Each painting has an identification number associated with it which also appears on the COA. Finally, the COA is signed and dated by the artist-Nataera. The COA is your assurance that the artwork is a one of a kind original created by Nataera.

Shipping via post-office is 50 $ (7 days to arrive).
I do and i have Shipping insurance for it.
I pack all my paintings with great care.
Tracking number – automatically provided by www.laposte.fr/colissimo

If you should have any questions, please feel free to contact me and I will get back to you promptly.

YOU CAN SEE MORE MY PAINTINGS AND BUY IT ON ETSY SHOP:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=35528399

Booooooom

Twitter

I can’t believe I’m just stumbling upon this site now. The site is called Booooooom–with 7 “o” s. Booooooom’s bio on Twitter Reads:” art+photo blog with a soft spot for hand-made work by unknown people.”—

This is the exact page I stumbled on—A post about Claire Morgan, an amazing visual artist:

The blog covers Art, Design, Music, Photography, and Film… I’m so inspired.

Here’s a great photography duo I just found on Boooooom:

From the Booooooom Information Section: “

Hello friends! My name is Jeff Hamada, I am an artist from Vancouver. I created Booooooom in hopes of fostering a community of people excited to go out and be creative!

We have quickly become one of the largest blogs on the internet, with well over 1.9 million pageviews each month, and readers from all over the world. Incredibly, this is mainly the result of good old fashion word-of-mouth! So if you’ve told even one person about Booooooom hold your hand up to the monitor and accept this high-five! Did you feel that? That was no regular high-five, that was the highest-five in the history of highs and fives.”

On that note, I’m going to take the high-five creative energy and go shoot some photos.

An installation at the Tunnel leading from CityLink to Esplanade that portray the different part of the body at different angle on to the installation mirror.

Canvas Bar operate as a boutique in the day and brings in new bar at night that could be enjoy together with the variance colors of canvases. Changing the whole lot of experience of buying a canvas box rather than the old method of altering, bringing canvas into a much higher values. Canvas, being seen as only a product in trading, has become the main feature in the entire Canvas Bar. Repackaging, rebranding into individual box, Canvas Box is ready for sales. With each sale, Canvas Boxes descend, changing the façade design every day, every moment. Canvas Bar gets people physically in touch and mentally attach.

An account in using contrasting method, between the soft and rigid, where the introducing of the soft PVC and Glass curves to the rigid visage of the existing concrete structure of this architectural building. Undoing the image of infrastructure builds as the softness curves is being implied. On the other hand, it still respects the current structure of the home as while as the characteristic of the client’s initial model.

A lovely organized closet via The Style Files.

 From there, I subscribed to blogs that inspired me through their beautiful pictures and images. Sometimes I refer back to these sites just to get inspiration at the start of a workday if I’ve got a long day of web/graphic design ahead of me:
The Sartorialist
The Pioneer Woman
The Dieline

The Pioneer Woman's photos are always so gorgeous.

And lastly, I read blogs which inspire me through their writing, content, and (especially) their humor. We can’t all be serious all the time!
Serious Eats
Geekologie
The Meatloafy

Doesn't every cat sleep with a snuggie like Meatloafy?

Of course, this is not an exhaustive list. I read many other blogs and I am forever adding more to my blogroll. Scroll to the bottom of the main page to see my most current blogroll.

The office design of a workplace is very important. This aspect of a work environment can make or break a company in how efficient the job gets completed. An office design needs to take into account a few key elements such as size of the space, company goals and employee input. These are all very important aspects in designing a perfect office space.

Office spaces and employees are all different. Drab offices are becoming a thing of the past. Employers are realizing that to be efficient companies need to keep their workers happy. Some offices are too tight, dark and sad. These are the offices that need a redesign and the office manager or owner is the place to start with determining what needs to change.

To begin, an office manager needs to use their observation skills. There are a few questions to ask one self. Are there any problem areas within the office? Are the areas too cramped with office equipment?

Someone trying to determine whether the present office space is suitable should draw a picture of the traffic throughout the office during a workday. See how workers move within the building. A visit to worker areas and conference rooms every half an hour can show what is getting completed in what area and what is not.

Communication with employees is crucial to finding a design that works well. However it can also bring about employee demands that are not realistic. Work with employees to come to a compromise on the most important problems. Just remember that one office interior design will not please everyone. Do the best you can.

Determine office goals for a redesign. Make a list of four to five goals and then brainstorm on a way to meet them. One popular idea with work areas is to move the supervisor to the middle of the main room and put the workers around the edge. This places the workers who spend the majority of their day by the windows and natural lighting. This move alone increases morale and therefore increases the amount of work that gets done.

After determining where the areas of concern are in a workspace, the next question is what should occur? Should a total redesign with construction take place or will just rearranging furniture and equipment suffice? Will the job be too expensive and would it be more realistic to shop around for new office space entirely?

An office design can be difficult and challenging. It takes planning, patience and initiative. A team approach and good communication with everyone from every level in the organization is important. It is worth the time investment as a happy employee will complete more work in an efficient manner. In the end your profit margin will increase and that will boost everyone’s morale.

Dear Designers’ Sunday afternoon surf  brings you her five absolute favourite things from The White Company.

because nothing beats, crisp, clean white bed linen. And this one is exceptionally beautiful……….

because this is my favourite room fragrance and the large candles last absolutely ages……….

because the colour is just right for my newly decorated guest bedroom……….

because, just possibly, this might be the perfect ceiling light for my yet to be decorated master bedroom……….

……….just because it’s almost Christmas.

bits and baubles in silver and gold… such a lovely distraction from the to-do lists, the long lines and the other bah-humbugs of the season. i adore a neutral palette anytime of the year, but during the holidays, there is something especially soothing about using tone on tone metallics. one of the most remarkable things about being in a recession is how it makes us all more introspective, even when it comes to our decorating. our pocketbooks may be short on silver and gold, but it’s not impossible to make our homes look stellar this holiday season.
all photos (except sage creek package) were taken by the wonderfully talented chris everard

all it takes is a little thinking outside of the box. at the shop this year, we trimmed our twelve foot christmas tree with etched vintage glassware. so many of us have cabinets filled with china and stemware that has been passed down to us by the beloved people in our lives. now is the time to bring it out and put it to good use. attempt to see things through different eyes to find inspiration this holiday season. just think back to how magical the holidays were when you were a child… <<it’s all the simple things>>… and sometimes it is too easy to lose site of these things as life keeps moving us forward.