A Day in the Life of an Interior Mall Employee - Carrie

You've heard our sweet southern voices on the phones and you've read our blog posts for years but who are we really?? Over the next few weeks we will be showcasing each one of our fabulous employees in a series called "A Day in the Life of an Interior Mall Employee". Get to know us in our home away from home. See our offices, learn about our jobs and put a face to our name.

First up... Carrie.

Name: Carrie

Work Nickname: Krazy

Years Employed at IM: 6

Job Title: Product Development/Marketing

Describe a "Typical Day" for you at Interior Mall:

I check my email and answer any that need immediate attention, then I check my lists and piles of things that need to be done. I add any new products to the web, update old products and work on upcoming print ads.

How does your office reflect you?

I have pictures of my son, my friends, and my family all over my office. I also have sarcastic things up like, "I still miss my ex-husband but my aim is improving." :)

Fill in the blank

I'm known as the "Wild Child" of the office. Although I don't think I'm THAT wild.

Interior Mall Fabrics/Products used in Carrie's office:
Mulberry Silk 9014 Fuschia
Mulberry Silk 9046 Kiwi
Mulberry Silk 9040 Black

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Homemade Cleaners Toolkit: 5 Essentials to Make Your Own

Last week, I was helping my brother clean out his apartment when he complained about the prices of eco-friendly cleaners. Always looking for converts, I recommended he start making household cleaners himself — it takes very little time and all you need are these five essentials.
You can use these five basics to clean almost everything in your home, from fixtures to floors to laundry to the bathroom. Making household cleaners is one of the easiest DIY projects around and it will make an enormous difference in your home. In addition to being eco-friendly and inexpensive, it also reduces indoor air pollution.

THE FIVE ESSENTIALS:

Vinegar: This is the natural-cleaning powerhouse. It does so many things around the house that it has merited its own post time and time again. Vinegar cleans, adds shine, disinfects, and gets rid of of bad smells, mildew, and other household funk.

Baking Soda: Mixed with vinegar, it makes sinks and toilet sparkle. Mixed with a bit of water, it works great on bathtubs and gets rid of the stuck-on food on your stove top. A good, basic scouring tool.

Lemon or Tea Tree Essential Oil: A few drops will make any cleaner antibacterial.

Liquid Castile Soap: A little castile soap, like Dr. Bronner's, goes a long, long (long) way. Mix it with water to clean your counter tops (vinegar can ruin marble and granite). Also good for dishes, floors, and anywhere else that needs basic, gentle cleaning.

Rags: Make 2012 the year you reduce your paper towel usage! I color code mine for different uses: blue for my kitchen counters, green for the bathroom, and pink for dusting.

FIVE CLEANING RECIPES TO GET YOU STARTED:

Glass Cleaner: Mix equal parts vinegar and water in a spray bottle. Add a few drops of lemon or tea tree oil.

Toilet: Pour in one cup of baking soda, followed by one cup of vinegar. Clean with toilet brush as usual and flush.

All Purpose Cleaner/Kitchen Cleaner: Pour 1/4 cup Dr. Bronners into a one quart bottle and fill to the top with water. Add 2-3 drops of essential oil. Spray and wipe off with a damp cloth.

Linoleum Flooring: Mop with half a tablespoon of Dr. Bronners mixed into a half gallon of hot water. You can also add a few drops of essential oil.

Dishwashing Soap: Fill squirt bottle with one cup of castile soap, 3-4 tablespoons of water, and 5 drops of lemon (or other citrus) essential oil.

Painting Fabric on Furniture?

With the new year upon me I have felt the overwhelming urge to make sure I'm up on the trends for this year. I consider myself pretty current on fashion and home decor but I've been seeing a repeating trend in home decor that I just can't seem to wrap my brain around... Painting Fabric on Furniture. I'm assuming if I'm this confused most of our readers probably are to so I've set myself on a mission to not only understand how to do it but to feel confident enough that I would. Here's what I've found:

Things You'll Need
• Drop cloth
• Transparent paint
• Opaque paint
• 2-inch wide nylon paint brush
• 3-inch wide nylon paint brush
• Scrub brush
• Soap
• Water
• Hand-held shampooer
• Bleach
• Sponge
• Heat gun

Directions
•1 Choose your color. If you have a light-colored fabric, stick with a transparent paint as your main color. If you have a darker piece of furniture, use an opaque paint that's a couple of shades darker than the original color, but in the same color family. The same goes for furniture with patterns. Rather than trying to hide the patterns, which will result in thicker coats of paint that will be uncomfortable and could possibly result in cracking later, stick to muting the pattern as opposed to hiding it.

•2 Prepare your furniture. You can't paint over dirty furniture. Clean your furniture thoroughly with either a scrub brush, soap and water, or a shampooer with hand-held attachments. Don't use spray-on upholstery cleaner since it leaves behind residue. Make sure you rinse the fabric well. Gently blot stubborn stains with bleach, using a light touch. Allow the furniture to dry as much as possible before you begin painting.

•3 Mix and apply the first coat of your main color. Mix your paint as follows: 1/2 paint and 1/2 water. Start with short, even strokes on the front of your furniture with a 3-inch wide soft-bristled brush. After you have finished painting the entire piece of furniture with the first coat, if you're not satisfied with the coverage, mix your paint again. This time with only 1/4 water to 3/4 paint and apply a second coat.

•4 Add your accent color. Mix your accent color with only 1/4 water to 3/4 paint. Using a sponge, dab the accent color over your furniture fabric. Don't press too hard or it will overtake your main color.

•5 Prepare your furniture--again. Air dry for 2 days. Then, using a heat gun, dry thoroughly to set the paint. After you've completed this process, repeat it to really set the color. Allow the furniture to sit for another 2 days. Shampoo, rinse and dry your furniture with the heat gun. This is absolutely necessary to prevent paint from adhering to clothing, etc. Once you have completed this process, it will be ready for use.

Although I still don't feel like an expert on the subject, I would feel confident enough to at least try this method on a CraigsList pick up or garage sale bargain. I've seen the results and with most fabrics you can't even tell it's been painted. Think of the money that you could be saving by painting on new fabric rather than having to re-upholster. Now don't get me wrong, some fabrics NEED TO LEAVE but if it's just a matter of not liking the color on a chair or sofa, why not just paint it?

Instructions provided by EHow.com

Picture provided by Apartment Therapy

5 Things To Do 10 Minutes Before You Go To Bed - from Apartment Therapy

Ever wake up in the middle of the night wondering if you put the laundry in the dryer worried you won't have anything to wear to work in the morning? How about laying in bed for a solid hour going through a mental checklist of things you probably should have done but are now to far sunk into bed to get up and do? Apartment Therapy comes out with a lot of useful information but I really loved this article and thought I'd share. Here are 5 things to do 10 minutes before going to bed. Hopefully these will work for you!

1. Do The Dishes - It's a proven fact that we're more likely to eat at home and make dinner ourselves if the area in which food preparation happens is clean. It's easy to cook dinner and leave cleanup for later, but making sure the dishes are done before the morning routine starts makes for a healthier day. Breakfast is a snap, dinner is easy and best of all the dishes are easy to do. Doing them each night eliminates those little bits of crusty stuck on food that can take extra time to scrape off later.

2. Pick Up Outerwear - It's easy to come home, take off your jacket, your shoes, your hat and get comfy! After all, that's what a home is for! But if your home is anything like ours, more than a days worth of shoes on the floor can be a disaster. Literally. Making sure that stray bits of clothing and shoes have been returned to their closets and baskets makes other chores on our list easier throughout the week. No one wants to clean their space before they can clean their space. Knowing you have a few minutes to spare to vacuum is easy when you don't have to tidy before hand!

3. Replace Entertainment - Most often our days are filled with busy stressful things and after our projects, homework or activites are done, there's nothing more we want than to sink into our couch with a snack and a great dvd or video game. The downfall to such habits usually necessitates a little clutter out in the open. Game boxes, dvd cases, controllers, remotes... they can seem simple and harmless, but keeping it in check each night means our main living spaces are ready to go for the next nights fun. Plus it keeps things at bay in case impromptu guests come over.

4. Tie Off Trash - Each morning before we leave the house we take the trash out. It's a great way to keep our space clean and to prevent having to drag more than 1 bag outside at a time. Because if more than 1 bag goes out at a time, that means there was a bag sitting and waiting in your home. And although it's easy to do (we've been there too), the thought of a bag of trash just hanging out is kind of... gross. By tying it off each night, it's ready to grab as we walk out the door to walk the dogs. We don't have any fuss, mess or frustration. We also have smaller bags than most, so if this isn't applicable to you, then adjust it as it works with your home.

5. Make A List - It seems silly, but there's nothing more annoying that having been out all day, only to return to discover you forgot to pick up something important. Shampoo, toilet paper, copies that needed to be made, whatever the case may be, a simple list of things that need to be picked up or done the next day can be quite freeing. We put the list in our pocket on the way out the door and it helps us keep track of the things on our agenda.

Pantone Color of the Year 2012

And the 2012 Pantone Color of the Year? Drumroll plase...

....

Tangerine Tango!

Announcing the Schumacher App!

Schumacher introduces an essential digital resource for discerning interior design professionals and registered To The Trade users. Schumacher for iPhone gives our customers and their clients instant access to the latest offerings, product information, stock, and order status updates. Additionally, this new app allows designers to place memo and product orders; create project lists and tag favorite products; search for nearby showrooms using GPS; view pinch and zoom high resolution photographs; review product details; and learn about new trends, events, and offerings.

Available exclusively on iTunes.

With the temperatures and leaves beginning to fall and with
Thanksgiving right around the corner, consider warming up your home with
autumn-toned pillows or table runners. Create a warm feeling by using fabrics rich
in color with orange, red, gold or olive hues. Here are some favorites
available directly from www.InteriorMall.com.

The use of burnt orange and green adds a great color pop to any room or space.

Waldemere Geranium by Robert Allen

Eggplant and Olive make a non-traditional pairing that works well for fall and winter.

Candy Stripe Eggplant by Kasmir

Velvet flocking adds an interesting textural element and the dark velvet really pops against the lighter silk background.

Isadora Velvet Olive by Robert Allen

Houndstooth checks and woven fabrics are also a great way to make a home seem cozy.

Square Pegs Beige by Robert Allen

Nothing says Fall like a good old fashioned wool and cashmere Tartan Plaid.

McDonnell Tartan Cranberry by Ralph Lauren.

Don't forget to check out all of Interior Mall's fabrics for more cozy inspiration. And for holiday ideas don't forget Interior Mall's large selection of gift items.

Tropical Inspirations

I recently went to the Bahama's for a much needed vacation and found myself in a completely other world. The use of color there is absolutely extraordinary! At one point during my trip, my family and I started calling out random colors and timing ourselves on how long it took us to find a building of that color. I don't think I could have found a white, beige or other neutral colored building if I had tried. Everything there is coated in beautiful colors of pink, purple, orange and yellow hues.

This of course, made me think... why is everything so blah here? Maybe an Alaskan winter wouldn't be so bland if all the building were painted bright orange. Perhaps, a Texas heat would be more bearable if the buildings there were painted a cool blue. Why are we so afraid of color?

Patterns: Suzani

As we receive more and more fabric books and samples from various manufacturers we have noticed they all have 1 major pattern in common in at least 1 book and that's suzani inspired patterns. Many of us have seen suzani more and more in interior decorating and even fashion but most don't know what exactly it is or where it came from. Suzani comes from the Persian word for "needle" and the word refers to embroidered hangings or fabric coverings. (Like the image)
However, for most suzani lovers and collectors, the word has a more specific meaning. Suzani is synonymous with the finest old embroideries of Uzbekistan, in Central Asia. In recent years, we have witnessed a remarkable revival of this old traditional art form.

The birthplace of suzanis is in what is now Uzbekistan, the area along the Silk Roads that interconnected the cultures of Europe, Turkey and China with the Muslim world. With the establishment of the Silk Road, the Suzani art flourished. In the 19th century, Uzbek women produced excellent embroidered hangings, table covers, bed covers, wrapping cloths, and prayer mats for their households and their daughters' dowries.  In the 20th century, Communist rulers in Uzbekistan forbade hand crafts, including Suzani. With the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Uzbek artisans have begun the long process of reviving their centuries old craft traditions and techniques.

Because hand-made, traditional Suzani can be quite expensive many fabric manufacturers have begun to make it easier to get the suzani look but without the costs by printing and mass producing suzani inspired fabrics like the fabrics below.   

Feel free to stop by check out all the other suzani inspired fabrics that Interior Mall has to offer.