DécorGirl Values

• Good design is for everyone.
• A fabulous interior requires a plan.
• The basic interior design concepts can be learned and executed by anyone.
• Do it once and do it right.

 Who is DecorGirl?

Lisa – Interior designer, acrylic artist, obsessed with color, passionate about architecture and design.  Runs interior design firm Interior Design Factory, Ltd. specializing in full service residential and commercial design and was one of the first to offer online decorator services.  Aside from interiors she is frantic for user friendly fashion (wears functional Louboutins), loves painting, reading, travel, gardening and cooking (color coordinated of course), and is strangely infatuated with classic & exotic cars.  Known for hot pink driving gloves on the racetrack.

Why blog?

• I love sharing information.
• Because I’m not the snooty high-end designer (though I’ve done the work) who feels everything must be some big secret.
• There are tons of tips and tricks used by designers which anyone can implement.
• Through my design work I’ve learned that to push through the fear, sometimes all someone needs is to know an idea is okay.

Design Philosophy?

Real people live in apartments, condos and homes and I’m all about real design for the way today’s families operate.  Interiors can function and look fabulous.  My motto is “do it once and do it right” and always use solutions which are creative, appropriate and individual.

Design Pet Peeve:

• Cookie-cutter homes with matchy-matchy sets of furniture.  “Garanamals” (1070′s clothes for kids where if you matched the animal tags the clothing went together) for the home are just lifeless.  A home must reflect its inhabitants not the neighbors or some picture from a catalog.

Color?

Color makes people smile.  It shapes feelings and responses.  What would life be like without it?  I’ve loved it since I was a child growing up next to the deep blue lake of Northern Michigan.  I’m known for it.  There is a certain shade of blue affectionately known by many as “Lisa Blue,” hence the cars, kitchen, front door, and metal wall panel on our house.

Color permeates my life, but how much is as important as how little.  There is a definite art/science to how colors work together; which I explore daily whether in interiors, artwork, gardening or the kitchen.  It speaks to me physically, intellectually and spiritually.  Using it well requires all three to be in balance.

How did I get here?

Birth, early not late and in the morning…must be why I hate being late and am a morning person.  My love of interior design started as a child when I used to lie on the floor, look up at the ceiling and make mental floorplans of the room using the ceiling as the floor.  I was also fortunate to have a mother who let me decorate and paint my room.  Yes, I did it but I had to learn to do it right, sanding, filling, taping-off and cutting in.  Out with the soft pink girly room and in with sky blue walls and bright yellow trim.  DIY was an everyday experience with craft projects, cooking and even a little furniture making.  Of course I made my own Barbie house, furniture and designed/sewed the clothes.

My design career was side tracked by 10+ years on Wall Street in the financial industry – which I loved.   After studying design and working simultaneously on projects throughout the country with two of the top interior designers I escaped to my own firm Interior Design Factory, Ltd. where I work with clients big and small, commercial and residential.

The What – Editorial Guidelines:

What is written by DecorGirl (Lisa M. Smith) is not to be taken as fact nor absolute. If you decide to use tips, techniques, advice, and/or recommendations, and are injured, DecorGirl is not to be held responsible.  DecorGirl fully supports DIY if you know how to use the tools safely.

DecorGirl reflects my own opinion, thoughts and viewpoint.  It is written with the best intentions to inspire, spark creativity, possibly validate, and unleash the readers from design stumbling blocks.

I try to use as many of my own photo’s as possible.  If I a photo by someone else I try at least to credit the source.  If I make a mistake I apologize and please let me know.

Comments

Be nice.  Contributions should be thoughtful, honest, intelligent, necessary and kind.  That pretty much nixes any comments full of shameless self-promotion, rudeness or spamming all of which will be removed.  If you want to tout a product this is not the place to do it, all comments are moderated and I am lethal with the trash button.

Advertising/Editorial Coverage

I only recommend things I like and in many cases have personally tried and tested.  DecorGirl does not offer paid editorial content.

DecorGirl does not accept money, gifts, cars or cute shoes in exchange for favorable recommendations.

Any ads which may appear on this site, which at this point are none because I don’t like clutter, would be only for products, stores, or brands which I personally feel are in the best interest of the readers and what I would personally endorse.  If I don’t use it, like it or believe in it – you won’t see an ad for it here.

Oh and one more thing on ads… you won’t see any advertisement for items which are completely irrelevant to home design or home décor, I can’t stand that!

Sharing/Linking Back

If you find something on DecorGirl you wish to write about we would certainly appreciate if you credit DecorGirl as your source and provide a link back to DecorGirl.net on your blog, website or publication.  We will do the same.

DecorGirl is happy to grant permission to other websites and blogs (non-commercial only) to publish up to one (1) paragraph of text per article as long as a link back to the full entry on DecorGirl.net is included.  Written permission is not required if the above rules are followed.  Permission is required for the use of images from DecorGirl as many are copyrighted.

We do not solicit or accept solicited links either.

If you have any questions regarding this policy please feel free to contact me at: lisa@DecorGirl.net

But wait there’s more… you can feel safe that DécorGirl will never ever share, rent or sell email addresses to anyone for any reason or any amount of cash, not going to happen.

Well, I meant that to be short and sweet…  Click back to the main page, have a cup of tea, coffee, or cute martini if it’s after work and have some fun!