A collection of interior design and interior decorating books by Touch of Design. Interior design and decorating books for interior designers, interior decorators, interior design students, interior design professionals, and consumers who are interested in interior design, interior decorating, interior design businesses, interior design careers, home furnishing, home improvement, home remodeling, the interior design field, purchasing home furnishings at discounted prices. Discounted home furnishings directory. Free Interior design reports and related interior design and interior decorating links.

To: Interior Designers, Decorators, Consumers Undergoing a Decorating Project

Now Everyone Planning to Interior Decorate Can Share Our Secrets of Success!

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Read Our Free Report on.....

How to Easily "Find Your Style" When
Planning an Interior Decorating Project

The most successfully decorated interiors are the ones which express the occupants' personality, interests, and feelings about life. You need to find a style to call your own. You and your family need a style that you are comfortable with, which reflect your lifestyle.

Some people are born with an inherent sense of knowing what they like, have excellent taste, the ability to choose and blend elements, to create design that reflects their style. Other people cannot easily do this.

You need to narrow down your preferred style to use to decorate your home, because there are so many styles and choices available to decorate with. A person attempting an decorating project that does not have direction, will become overwhelmed and not be able to put together successful combinations. Here are the guidelines on how to simply and easily find your decorating style:

To find your style, or the style direction you should go in, observe these following points:

  • Where do you live? City or country? Suburbs? Is the house architecturally very modern, traditional, Spanish, English, French, Mediterranean, Oriental, very old, or brand new? You really cannot fail with your decorating theme if you flow with the style and look of the home, keeping the initial theme consistent.

  • If you have chosen a distinctively styled home over another, this probably is a conscious or subconscious preference for this particular style. You may want to continue the same style in your interior to make the home really flow.

  • Is the home dark, overly sunny, light and airy? If the home is dark, then lighten it up in color, furniture, possible skylights, mirrors, etc. If the home is overly sunny, take care of the sun problems when planning decorating ideas.

  • Look at the existing furniture to see what you have selected in the past and have a tendency to prefer. What do you intend to keep? Work with these items in color and style.

  • What are your favorite colors, and which of these favorites could you live with for a long period of time?

  • Eclectic styles are always a very comfortable way to decorate.

    We all like many different styles and effects. We sometimes simply "must have" something that does not necessarily go with our intended decorating style.

    Eclectic arrangements and combinations add interest and relief from too much of the same look.

  • You may want to study and invest in artwork. Use the artwork as the focal point. Use the colors of the artwork to decorate the room around.

  • Save all pictures of color schemes and rooms which are decorated in styles that you favor.

  • Look through books and magazines. See what you consistently seem to prefer. Decide what you like about certain elements and ideas over others.

  • Save fabric and wallpaper samples that you come across and especially like.

  • You will gain insight touring model homes and seeing the actual rooms decorated. Snap pictures of ideas you see that you particularly admire.

  • Visiting friends' and neighbors' homes will give you a range of design ideas.

  • Tour decorating shops and studios for a wide range of displayed styles and effects.

  • Your occupation will also reflect in your decorating selections and preferences. Do you need to unwind in a calm setting, or is your work rather unstimulating and mundane? You may want and need to have a stimulating interior.

  • Do you entertain a lot, and desire elaborate treatments to show your status in life? Is the home primarily a backdrop for entertainment?

  • Be sure to consider animals and children when determining appropriate selections. Do you really need a more durable, cleanable fabric, or will the fabric be used minimally?

  • What is you interpretation of your home? Are you home often? Do you put the home to full use or do you just come home to sleep, bathe, and change clothes? Are you seeking a comfortable, cozy feeling, or is an extremely clean atmosphere desired?

  • Consider the ideal use for the room. Not the use the architect planned when the home was built.

    •

    Try to decide how you really want your interior to look. You and your family are the ones who must live in the home with the interior selections. You should have what you really want. If what you desire is not affordable, do the decorating in stages, so you can get what you truly want in the finished treatments.

    Some people know exactly what they want, so the designer's role is to guide them along keeping them on the right track, helping them avoid expensive mistakes.

    When you decide which design direction you are going to go in, assemble all the fabric samples (purchase a yard each, if samples are very small), flooring samples, and wallpaper samples. Look at all the samples together in the home. Live with the combination for a few days to see if you and your family are happy with the combined group.

    Try to categorize your preferences into a general style and then adapt the style to your individual personalities and needs.

    The House and Adjacent Rooms

    Look around your home or area to be decorated to see what you aleady have and will incorporate into the new interior, and see what direction your taste tends to flow toward. Note the following key items important for successful decorating:

  • Does the home have attractive features, or are there features that you will have to disguise?

  • Note mentally where the room is located in correlation to the rest of the home. How does the space flow? The whole house flow?

  • What is the room arrangement?

  • What are the focal points?

  • How much sunshine comes into the room? Is the room generally comfortable in temperature?

  • Is there a view to play up and accent? Or is the outside unattractive, and you need to disguise it?

    • This report has been excerpted from our books, Successful Window Dressing and Interior Design (will be available May 1996), and portions adapted from Secrets of Success for Today's Interior Designers and Decorators.

    About the author: Linda M. Ramsay is owner and president of Southern California-based Touch of Design®. She has a well-rounded business and educational background in the interior-design field and is the author of Secrets of Success for Today's Interior Designers and Decorators: Easily Sell the Job, Plan It Correctly and Keep the Customer Coming Back for Repeat Sales, Start Your Own Interior Design Business and Keep It Growing! Your Guide to Business Success, Interior Design Furnishing Directory of Discounted 800-Number and Hard-to-Find Companies, and available in May, 1996, Successful Window Dressing and Interior Design: Your Guide to Achieving Excellent Results!

    Having spent 18 years in the interior design field running her own business and also working for other companies, Linda, an entrepreneurial type, feels there is a definite lack of available information and sources for both consumers and design professionals on where and how to get better prices and higher quality for the amount of money spent on interior decorating furnishings.

    Book collection includes "should-have" books for interior designers and decorators, all buyers of ID furnishings and services (including and especially consumers), and for new start-up and existing interior-design businesses wanting to prosper and flourish.

    All of our books are current and newly published. They will show you how to easily have a prestigious and fun (but lucrative) interior-design career and business while making lots of money.

    For Everyone Wanting to Purchase Interior Furnishings....


    Interior-Design Product Directory of Discounted
    800-Number and Hard-to-Find Companies
    Insider's Home-Decorating Guide to Lower-Priced
    and Little-Known Companies That Offer You
    Substantial Savings and Higher Values

    If you are interested in buying goods less expensively, whether you are a designer, decorator, a giver looking for a gift that will be welcomed by the recipient or a consumer attempting to stretch your decorating dollars further, this is the interior goods resource book for you. Includes hard-to-find sources that offer quality goods with lower prices.

    Designers will be surprised to find how they can get better prices through many of these companies than through their regular sources. You get many sources for mini and wood blinds, vertical blinds, Duettes, pleated and roller shades; drapery rods and hardware; drapery, curtains, valances, bedspreads, quilts, linens, and fabric accessories; fabrics; art; carpeting and rugs, wood flooring, marble, resilient floorcoverings; wallcoverings; furniture; lighting and lamps; lamp shades; accessories, clocks, and collectibles; outdoor furnishings and garden accessories; historic hardware and fixtures; office furniture and accessories; stencilling; table pads; architectural details; appliance reproductions, and wood stoves.

    Don't Make Any Interior Furnishing Purchases
    without First Consulting This Directory

    Also included in this directory are hard-to-find sources that offer high-quality interior products (in many cases, handmade) with lower pricing. These companies tend to have lower overhead and pass their savings on in the form of lower prices and higher values. This guide will allow you to buy more while spending less and, therefore, get the most value for the money spent.

    This Directory is Packed with Sources and It Sells for $19.99!

    Additional guidance and advice included in this directory: When you should buy direct and when you shouldn't, how to maximize benefits and limit risks, where to find and how to work with a window-treatment installer, order placement instructions and suggestions, and step-by-step directions on how to work with and buy through these sources. Wisdom and knowledge are also provided for both the beginning and seasoned design professional. Appendices list professional interior-design organizations. The index cross-references all sources in each furnishing category.

    Interior designers and decorators will find new, otherwise unknown sources to purchase interior products from that outdo the prices and quality they are presently paying and providing. They will find many companies listed that they would otherwise never have known about. Many manufacturers specified will sell name-brand furnishings and furniture to non-stocking resellers (hard-to-find sources for design professionals).

    This Directory is a Gift That Will Keep on Giving!

    This directory is filled, page after page, with valuable sources for all categories of interior-design furnishings and should prove to be a valuable reference source for anyone wanting to get more for their money when making interior-furnishing purchases.

    These books should be a welcome addition to any interior-design enthusiast's library. All of the books are literally packed with information and are becoming very popular college textbooks. They are fast-start, "how-to" (they really tell you how to do it!), interior-design career skills and business manuals that bridge the gap between school and "actually" making money out in the field.

    Directories are included for design centers, interior-design magazines, trade journals, organizations, and schools. 120 pages. $19.99. Sorry, this book is non-returnable.

    Increase Sales and Profits Quickly With This Book!

    Secrets of Success for Today's
    Interior Designers and Decorators

    Easily Sell the Job, Plan It Correctly, and Keep Your Clients Coming Back for More!

    This information source is the only book of its type for the interior-design professional - a salesmanship and customer- psychology guide, an-all around job-planning and measuring manual, a career-skills reference book for survival in today's market of interior design.

    A Wealth of Knowledge, Experience, and Benefits
    for all Interior Designers and Decorators

    This book is an ideal book for designers and decorators striving to earn a living in this field, whether you are experienced or are just starting out with your decorating career. Decorators already participating in the interior-design field will benefit and welcome this new book and have the opportunity to perfect and maximize their skills. Everyone gains knowledge and training.

    Make the Most of Your Career by the Use of This Book

    This career-skills manual will put designer and decorator professionals way ahead of the competition in the job market, and way ahead of the competition they are up against out there selling the job. Ways to eliminate competition easily and safely are fully illustrated.

    Including:

  • How to ensure that you get the sale.

  • Your guide to accurate planning, measuring and selling the job.

  • How to effortlessly find your customer's style.

  • Improve your sales ability, design planning and measuring skills, and fabric-selection expertise.

  • What will & won't work for the specific situation.

  • How to select the right treatments, hardware, fabrics and interior selections.

  • Gain an increased knowledge of the interior design field.

  • Effective in-home appointments.

  • How to sell the job.

  • The realm of alternate and fabric window treatments is thoroughly covered.

  • All about fabrication and installation.

  • How to keep the customers coming back for repeat sales.

  • Follow the advice, use the information, and become a window-treatment expert.

  • How to safely cut down the price and costs of the job.

  • Solutions for problems, mispricing the job.

  • Learn methods for getting better-quality leads.

  • Proven and productive marketing and advertising techniques.

  • How to eliminate competition.

  • Complete fabric-planning sourcebook: bedspreads, slipcovers, upholstery, headboards, pillows, canopies, fabric accessories, all types of drapery and top-treatment styles.

    •

    How to be financially successful, today, in this career. Complete explanations and extensive professional advice are included throughout the book. Buy this book now if you want to increase your sales and profits and eliminate mistakes and problems. You get a reference packed with information to ensure your success. 336 pgs. (8½ x 11"). $39.99. SATISFACTION GUARANTEED!

    Testimonials Attest to the Fact the Books are a "Wealth of Proven Information, Knowledge, and Experience"

    ".....there's no shortage of ideas, tips, advice and recommendations..........." "Home Textiles Today"

    ".....a career survival manual for succeeding in the design business............" "ASID Report"

    ".....guidelines for securing design jobs and making money............" "Vocational Education Journal"

    "....a career skills reference for survival in today's market for ID professionals........." "Decorating Retailer"

    .....and we are getting many calls and letters from design professionals saying,
    "Thank you for making the books available!"

    Turn Your Business into a Thriving Success with this New Book!

    Start Your Own Interior Design
    Business and Keep It Growing!

    Your Guide to Business Success

    Now, prospective and current interior-design business owners can find answers to their business questions and needs. The problem with most start-up and existing interior-design businesses is that the business owners are creative people - not entrepreneurial types. They just don't have the necessary well-rounded business skills and experience to make their businesses survive, let alone grow, during troubled economic times. Many designers and decorators are throwing their money away on start-up attempts that have no chance of surviving due to not having overall current business knowledge and details. Designers often lack the marketing savvy to motivate the prospect to take immediate action - to pick up the phone, ask for the appointment, or buy what is being sold, NOW.

    At Last, You Can Easily Build an Successful
    Interior-Design Business of Your Own
    and Earn Easy Money and Profits.

    Start Your Own Interior Design Business and Keep It Growing! is packed with business survival skills and techniques that get prospects to respond quickly. Here's precisely what you really need to know to make all your business and marketing efforts profitable. Twenty-five information-packed chapters in this how-to book will take the reader step-by-step through every business process necessary to be successful in this business.

    Including:
  • This is your guide to business success. Don't start an ID business without this book!

  • How to compete with your competition and win!

  • Many more Touch of Design®'s money-making prospecting, marketing and advertising secrets.

  • How to minimize risks, maximize opportunities.

  • New sales strategies that work!

  • How to create a successful business image.

  • Coverage of legal, insurance, and business matters.

  • Correctly and accurately price your products and services.

  • What to include in your contracts and paperwork.

  • How to offer your products and services so prospects buy them now!

  • How to handle collection problems.

  • A complete and lucrative business plan covering everything you need to know.

  • Problem-solving information.

  • How to troubleshoot the job.

  • Offers many tips, ideas, suggestions, vast experience and knowledge.

  • Packed with successful, useful, practical, helpful, and profitable ideas and advice.

  • Directory of interior-design programs, professional organizations, trade journals and design centers.

    •

    Includes All Pertinent Information
    Required to be Successful Today!

    This book is a must read for new ID businesses - but should be read by all ID business owners who want to prosper and flourish in today's business climate. All will benefit and earn more money from this new book. Extremely comprehensive and complete. 384 pages (8½ x 11"). $39.99. SATISFACTION GUARANTEED!

    Increase Sales and Profits Quickly with These New Books!

    These books offer much value for the money and time spent reading them. They should be required reading for interior designers and customers in the market for products and services striving to get the most for their interior-decorating money! Both of these books are filled with details to ensure your success and are real values.

    We offer a 30-day SATISFACTION GUARANTEE on Secrets of Success for Today's Interior Designers and Decorators and Start Your Own Interior Design Business and Keep It Growing! if returned in resalable condition. A 25% restocking fee will apply on all returns. If you buy both of these books together, today, you will receive a discount of $10.00 and get a price reduction on postage. The majority of people who buy one of the books buy the other one within weeks. Order Today! See ordering instructions at the end of this report.

    Ordering Information

    These books are filled with details to ensure
    your decorating success and are real values.

    Please tell your friends interested in the
    interior-design field or interior decorating about these books.

    How to reach us:

    Touch of Design®
    PMB#290
    475 College Boulevard, Suite 6
    Oceanside, CA 92057
    USA
    Email: todesign@touchofdesign.com
    Web Site: http://www.touchofdesign.com
    Copyright 1996© by Touch of Design®
    Phone: 760.945.7909
    Fax: 760 .945.4283


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