If this is your first time working with a designer, you might have some questions: how do they charge? What do they charge? Are they making money off of the things they're selling me?

The first thing I learned about ready-made cabinets is that there are almost as many cabinet manufacturers on the market as there are furniture brands, and they have as varied a collection of looks and features as you'd expect in furniture.

Home buyers love the open floor plan for the comfortable and casual lifestyle it affords, and here in Southern California, a large integrated space is a natural fit with our climate and laid-back culture. However, creating a cohesive décor within these multiple connected spaces can pose some unique challenges, as you can't help but take in everything simultaneously.

Here your audience is captive, and you have a unique opportunity to offer them gracious hospitality along with the best and most concentrated design appeal you can muster.

I had the great pleasure to meet another design professional with very similar goals but a very different approach - I sat down with her to talk about her process. Gillian C. Rose is a Color Scientist and creator of the Color Our World™ Collection for Fine Paints of Europe.

One of the most exciting stages of the design process for me is the hunt and acquisition of fine art. A great painting or sculpture can be the muse or catalyst that sets the vision for the design of a space into motion for me. 

A common assumption is that the choice to reupholster is cost effective as compared with buying new, but this is not always the case.

Real estate tycoon and star of ABC's Shark Tank, Barbara Corcoran stated in an interview, "Home staging used to be a luxury, and now it's mandatory."