Green Design and Dorothy Draper

   Sustainability, otherwise know as green design, focuses on using products that protect the environment while conserving energy and looking great, for future generations. Solar Panels and EnergyStar Appliances are just a few of the products that can be used to cut down on not only your carbon footprint, but your electric bill. Now, don't be frightened when you see that these things generally cost more initially, because they will pay for themselves in no time. Supposedly global warming will increase by 70% from 2002 until 2030, and then we will all be wishing we would of gotten solar panels and switched out our appliances. We don't want our carbon footprint to be the cause of global warming!
   All this talk of global warming and how to cut down on your carbon footprint may scare you into thinking interior design is not something to be messed with, but thats NOT true. Now, more than ever, interior design is an important almost necessity. Designers are trained to make your house as cost effective, gorgeous, and energy wise as possible. We can help you cut down on your energy bill!
  A major way to do this is by switching all your old lightbulbs with florescent ones. Not only do the florescent bulbs last longer, but they are more energy efficient and cost effective. Our own Art and Architecture building saved 40% when switching to florescent bulbs. Another trick of the trade is to harvest your own lighting. As in use natural daylight, but make sure to use indirect daylight and not direct because when daylight directly flows into your room it can cause damage to furniture over time and cause the room to be hot, making your ac bill go up. It is also smart to get some sort of automatic controls for your light switches, that way you are not wasting energy by lighting a room not being used.
   On a different note, when choosing finishes, it is always nature friendly and cost effective to use stuff from your own region. Instead of vinyl flooring, use linoleum, and always use natural fibers.

"It is just as disastrous to have the wrong accessories in your room as it is to wear sport shoes with a formal dress" Dorothy Draper

Dorothy Draper was the interior design queen of color texture and pattern. She loved to have her masterpieces be decorative, applied, temporary, classic, fashion oriented, stylistic, trivial, feminine, and surface oriented. However, the picture opposing hers was just the opposite, it was architectural, sleek, clean lined, contemporary, inherent, integrated, pertanent, and masculine. It was more like this:

"Ornament is a waste of the energy of labor, and therefore a waste of health... today it also means squandered material and capitol... to the modern person" Loos 

We also touched on wallpaper and its stigma- it is VERY important and can make a room. Along with a themed room in Barcelona, made to feel like you were under water.