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* DESIGNING WOMAN: Tennis star Venus Williams displays one of her designs during a news conference launching her interior design and decorating company at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, CA. The company, based in Palm Beach Gardens, FL, is called “V Starr Interiors,” a play on her full name–Venus Ebony Starr Williams.

As president and CEO, the 22-year-old is involved on every level. She designed the company logo, which features a looping V, and decorated its offices. She’ll earn an associate’s degree in fashion design from the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale next year, and she was certified as an interior decorator this year. V Starr already has two clients, and she’s looking for others who will trust her company to design a home and buy and install furnishings. “Sometimes people don’t have a clue what they want or they can’t do it themselves,” said Williams. “That’s where I come in and I make it happen. A lot of people think it is just picking the fabric or a sofa, but there’s a lot more that goes into it.”

Cynthia Smith is a professional “arranger.” She is owner-designer of Remarkable Rooms based in Louisville, Ky., and www.remarkablerooms.com. Here she answers questions about how repositioning belongings can have dramatic results on the look of a room.

Q. How does interior arranging differ from traditional interior design?

A. Interior arrangement provides a more cost-effective alternative to traditional interior designers and decorators. It’s not only cost- effective, it’s also quick. You can have the main living areas of your home professionally arranged in maybe four to six hours.

It doesn’t take as much time as traditional interior design, and it’s not as much of an invest-ment.

In this time of mobility, interior arranging has a lot to offer homeowners. People tend to move around a lot now, and they want to feel at home as soon as possible.

They face the challenge of how to place their furnishings, how to combine and edit them. An interior arranger can help them configure their new space in beautiful ways.

Interior arrangement can also help people who have lived in their homes for years make a dramatic improvement in their environment.

Q. How can interior arranging improve the way spaces function?

A. Furniture is often placed in ways that divide and close up spaces.

For example, a sofa in a living room might block off easy access to doorways and to the dining room area and kitchen. By changing the location of the sofa and other pieces of furniture, there’s the opportunity to highlight architectural features such as a fireplace with a mantel or a built-in bookcase.

At the same time, you’re leaving plenty of space for moving around the room. Sometimes, after living with furnishings for a long time, it’s hard to see the possibilities.

A professional interior arranger can often see new possibilities that homeowners might miss.

Q. What’s the interior arrangement process?

A. You start by completely emptying a room and looking at it as a blank canvas. Then you identify the focal point and start placing the major furniture, locating the primary seating so that it addresses the focal point.

You fill in with tables and lighting and accessories from around the house. You can draw from resources from all over your house. Some of the furnishings that end up in the room might have been in there to begin with. Other pieces may be taken from the room and are available to be placed elsewhere.

Furniture is placed in such a way as to complement the architecture. Accessories are placed so that they tie the furnishings to the walls and create an interesting pattern that the eye can follow around the room. Placement is the key.

Homeowners are delighted to discover that they don’t have to go shopping. You can create a new look without purchasing new furnishings.

Most people have resources in their home with untapped potential - - plates, candleholders, quilts, musical instruments, collections that may not have been on display in the past.

These items can be relocated and you won’t have to buy a single new piece of furniture or accessory for the room.

I find that homes are really rich with belongings that express personal style and history. The homeowners’ style is inherent in the belongings they have already chosen. The goal is to maximize and showcase what they already have.

Q. What about cluttered spaces? Do they pose a special challenge?

A. People tend to accumulate things over time, and as a result rooms become overfilled. The eye cannot really rest and focus on the beauty of individual pieces if a room is overfilled.

Have a design or decorating question? Write Catherine Murrell at the Courier-Journal, 525 W. Broadway, P.O. Box 740031, Louisville, Ky., 40201-7431. Individual replies are not possible.

Architects and interior designers influence the selection of materials for the construction and decoration of hotels, restaurants, offices, theatres, sports centers, townhouses, apartments etc. According to expert’s evaluations, in Russia around 65-70% of all construction and interior design projects are made with the use of materials, furniture, lighting equipment and other accessories recommended by the architect and/or designer of the project.

We have brought together nearly 800 of the best Russian architecture and interior design companies, bureaus, creative studios, workshops, associations, as well as freelance architects and interior designers. The database contains:

- 40 Major Russian state (or former state) architecture design institutes and organizations

- Over 50 well-known architecture design workshops in Moscow

- Over 50 well-known architecture design workshops in St. Petersburg and 11 other Russian millionaire cities

- Over 600 leading private architecture bureaus and interior design studios, freelance architects and interior designers

- Creative groups

- Comprehensive list of specialized magazines, printed editions and internet-resources in the field of architecture and interior design in Russia

- Associations and unions in the field of architecture and interior design in Russia

To make the use of the database more convenient a special review of the market of architecture and interior design services in Russia is included.

Companies mentioned:

Akzo Nobel Decor

Mosproject

Mosporject-1

Mosproject-2

Mosproject-3

Mosproject-4

Salon Interior Magazine

Lukoil

Uborevich Design

….and over 400 other companies

INTERIORS, INC. (OTCBB: INTXA, INTXP) today announced the adjournment of its annual meeting originally scheduled for December 21, 2001 until January 18, 2002.

About INTERIORS…

Interiors, Inc., is a designer, manufacturer and marketer of museum-quality traditional and contemporary picture frames, framed wall mirrors, oil paintings and prints under glass for the residential, commercial, institutional and contract markets. The Company primarily markets its products to museums, art galleries, designers, interior decorators and custom frame retailers. The Company’s principal operations are located in Mount Vernon, New York.

A new Web site is launched to answer the problems many face when they decide to change their home to a Santa Fe or Western style decor.

‘Where can I find help on converting my home or office to a Southwest design without replacing all of my furniture? How can I keep the cost reasonable?’

Those are the questions that SantaFeDecor.com was created to answer. “There is very little help out there in books or on the Internet to assist a homeowner who wants to decorate her home herself,” says Linda Story, owner of Santa Fe Decor Inc. “Sure if she has lots of money, she can hire an interior decorator. But most women want the joy of doing it themselves. They want the compliments, not their decorator.”

SantaFeDecor.com came on line to help the individual homeowner decorate their home on a reasonable budget. According to Story, “We provide suggestions on how to use many different Southwest furnishing accessories to compliment the furniture they already have. Then as they have more money they can begin to change the furniture piece by piece. We believe the feel of the Southwest is more in the accessories than in the furniture.”

SantaFeDecor.com also provides photos depicting many different groupings and uses of Southwest, Western, and Native American art in the home decor. This photo idea gallery helps women develop their own style of what they like. Santafedecor.com also provides a variety of Southwest accessories at 30 to 50 percent below retail. The homeowner can order on-line securely once she develops a style she likes.

The web site also offers help finding accessories that are not available on their site. A home decorator can send an e-mail question and the owners will respond back personally to help her locate what she wants. They are developing the ultimate resource database for Southwest furnishings all over the United States.

“We guarantee the customers satisfaction. If she isn’t happy with an item, she can return it for a full refund,” says Story. That’s how important satisfied customers are to Santa Fe Decor. Finding information or shopping with SantaFeDecor.com is designed to be easy and convenient.

“Garden Decorator” (Laurel Glen, 2000; $24.95; 144 pages) by Gilly Love, bridges the ever-decreasing gap between interiors and exteriors. Applying interior decorating ideas to outside spaces, with a dash of horticulture thrown in, the inspirational and practical techniques in the book will be invaluable to anyone who wants to transform their outside area into a stylishly decorated room.

Key features include: A beginner’s guide to decorating a garden while requiring no special gardening or do-it yourself skills, use of outdoor space for entertaining, simple techniques with impressive results for any size space and fifteen step-by-step photographed projects. The `Garden Decorator’ is a must read for any gardener who wants to make the most out of his/her outdoor space.

Whether in small doses or one fell swoop, you’ll be charmed by the latest twist on this pretty and fresh design style.

Beautiful rooms are always in season, and romance-an inviting design trend from the past-is making a comeback. just in time to court our senses, lighter and brighter palettes; a flush of floral fabrics; plump furnishings; and subtle, dreamy hues bring timeless charm and a new perspective to any space. Romantic touches create positive energy and memorable environments, especially when the focus remains on comfort, simplicity, color, and fluid patterns.

Wendy and Avron Fogelman asked interior designer Cecil Hayes to bring romantic style into their Boca Raton, Florida, home. “We were used to more traditional decorating,” Wendy says. “In our living room, we wanted to indulge in another wonderful style by bridging the comfortable feel we love with lighter hues, floral patterns, and the look of romance.”

Mix-and-Match for Impact

Cecil achieved soothing results by pairing lighter elements with French influences and a natural quality of simplicity. “The living room does romance you once you walk in,” Cecil explains. “It is open, airy, and filled with pastels.” The designer created maximum impact with fabrics, medium-tone woods, mixed period pieces, and a striking area rug in pleasing shades of olive, salmon, cream, and beige. “The room is anchored by a very large, rounded picture window,” she adds. “Wendy and Avron wanted the furnishings to lead the eye toward the window to the water and the view behind the house, so we kept everything light. all the elements work together comfortably.”

In spaces that welcome with classic simplicity, romance is always in the air. MAJELLA CHUBE HAMILTON

The easiest and least expensive way to change the look of your interior is to paint it. But there’s a catch: With some manufacturers offering more than 100 shades of blue alone, today’s huge array of color choices can be overwhelming. To simplify the selection process and take the guesswork out of color combinations, we created a palette of 20 colors–shown on the next pages–designed for summer decorating. These pale blues, greens, and sandy neutrals can make any room look like it’s just steps away from the beach.

To illustrate ways to use the palette, we asked photo stylist Emma Star Jensen, who had recently moved to Oakland, California, from Australia, for help. She loaned us the living room in her newly purchased bungalow to use as a decorating laboratory. With Jensen, we selected 5 of the seaside colors, and pulled in furnishings to complement them. The result is a serene and relaxing environment that’s full of inspiration.

Color tips

Here’s a breakdown of what Emma Star Jensen did and how you, too, can pull it together.

* Choose a main wall color and add accent hues. We chose a soft blue (Sky’s the Limit) for the walls and used green (Hillsmere) as an accent in the interior of the glass-fronted cabinets.

* Call out architectural features. We used a different accent color (Malibu Beige) around the window to give it more prominence. The shade was repeated on the wall in the kitchen that can be seen from the living room.

* Use a contrasting trim color. We painted the doors and trim of the cabinets a soft white (Swan Wing) to make them stand out against the blue walls, and we painted the baseboards in a flattering neutral (New Linen).

* Incorporate colors of furnishings. Use fabric and accessories to play up or contrast with the anchor colors. The pale blue ottoman between the sandy-colored sofa and chair matches the blue walls, and the green inside the cabinet rounds out the look. “Blue can be a rather cool color when used alone, but team it with a green in a similar tone and you get instant warmth,” Jensen says.

* Add sculptural interest. We used vessels of different shapes and sizes. Jensen’s collection of pitchers and vases looks artistic against the green backdrop.

Seaside allure

We worked with Kelly-Moore color stylist Mary Lawlor to select from 1,362 hues in the company’s new system, ColorXperience. Each of the three new paint palettes–”The West in Color”–includes 20 hues inspired by a region: the seaside (shown), the mountains, and the desert. All the colors in each palette work with one another, whether you’re painting an accent wall or using several shades in one room. The magazine printing process affects color reproduction, so allow for paint variation. See page 131 for more information and color-chip reference numbers.

Decorative painters of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries ornamented all parts of the visual world–from interior walls and furniture to window blinds and floorcloths–but they remain largely anonymous. George Bridport was one such decorative painter whose fine designs and artistic ability were appreciated and promoted by the architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe. In her research for the article on Philadelphia painted furniture on pages 134-145 of this issue, Alexandra Alevizatos Kirtley unearthed much new information about Bridport. She writes:

George Bridport was born in London on March 22, 1783, and baptized on April 20, 1793, at Saint Marylebone, Middlesex, London, the same church where his parents Mary Morgan and George Bridport were married in 1781. (1) Information about his early training is sketchy, as he was not registered as an apprentice in painting, decorative painting, glazing, or drafting, nor was he a member of any London guild company. (2) In 1806 he described himself as an architect when he submitted a now-lost “design for decorating ceilings” to the Royal Academy of Art. (3) Latrobe’s accounts for work he performed in London between 1792 and 1795 list the painters, glaziers, carvers, upholsterers, wallpaperers, ornamental plasterers, and other decorative craftsmen he employed, but do not mention any craftsmen with the surname Bridport, or any of the artists Latrobe later suggested as Bridport’s mentors. (4)

The earliest evidence of Bridport’s work as a decorative painter is his trade card (illustrated on p. 78), which was dated to 1807 by Sarah Sophia Banks (1744-1818), whose immense collection of trade cards at the British Museum offers considerable insight into the work of London artists and artisans contemporary with Bridport. The front of the card proudly announces Bridport’s residence on Cavendish Street, a posh area in northwest London near Saint Marylebone’s Church. The back of the card details the range of materials he decorated and styles in which he professed proficiency: “DRAWING ROOMS/Decorated in the French, Egyptian, Turkish,/Indian, Chinese & Gothic Styles./Transparent Window Blinds/in the above various ways./Ensuite with the Rooms./Temporary Rooms Painted/for Balls. HOUSE PAINTING.”

By 1808 Bridport had brought his talents to the United States. In February of that year Latrobe wrote from Washington, D. C., where he was working on the Capitol, to his brothers-in-law in Philadelphia: “Bridport, whom you sent me, and whom I employed for a month is lost…. Pray hunt him out for me.” (5) Latrobe had intended to have the ceiling of the Hall (or House) of Representatives painted by the fall of 1807, when the Congressional session opened in its new home, but he was unable to procure a suitable painter until he met Bridport and deemed him exactly the quality of painter required for the Michaelangelean job. According to Latrobe, Bridport worked on scaffolding in “equatorial weather,” and the sound of “his groans have reached me” in Philadelphia. (6) But the results were admired immediately. Latrobe commented that the House “Members will think [the ceiling in their chamber] too fine.” (7) In preparation for the work, he had introduced Bridport to Samuel Wetherill, Philadelphia’s premier paint supplier, stating, “I beg especially to introduce him to your attentions as the present transaction may probably be the commencement of considerable transactions with him in the line of your business.” (8)

In August 1808 Latrobe wrote to Bridport, “I want you to have done at Washington about the 1st of October, Mr. [William] Waln’s house [in Philadelphia] then wants you.” (9) In 1809 Bridport was again in Washington to paint the ceremonial oval drawing room for the President’s House and to outfit an elegant temporary Senate Chamber (see illustration on this page). Latrobe wrote in 1809 to Joseph Norris, the president of the Bank of Pennsylvania, about Bridport’s flair for painting the types of decorative work that Latrobe had designed for the ceiling of the bank: “Mr. Bridport … knows exactly what ought to be done. He understands his business well. [He] is a very excellent artist, by profession what is in England called, a decorative Architect and having been brought up under the famous Dixon … he is besides a sober reasonable man of business.” (10)

Latrobe’s reference to Dixon may suggest Bridport’s training, possibly referring to either Robert Dixon (1780-1815), a landscape painter and architectural draftsman, or to Cornelius Dixon (w. 1771-1794), a decorative painter who worked primarily in theatrical set design. (11)

The 1810 United States census lists Bridport as a “Decorator” living at the northeast corner of Market and Tenth Streets in Philadelphia, next door to Adam Traquair and John Miller, marble masons who consistently received stonework commissions from Latrobe. In that year he was a founding member of the Society of Artists of the United States (or Columbian Society of Artists). The 1811 Philadelphia directory lists him again as a decorator at the corner of Market and Tenth Streets, but by 1813 he had moved slightly west on Market Street and listed himself as an ornamental painter. In the 1816 and 1817 directories, he is listed at Eighth and Market Streets as an artist, and he and his brother Hugh (1794-1870) advertised a drawing academy in the 1817 directory. (12) In an elaborate advertisement in Paxton’s Philadelphia Directory and Register for 1818 (see illustration on p. 80), Bridport identified himself as a decorative architect and furnisher on the northwest corner of Seventh and Chestnut, across the street from the Walns. In it he noted that he could supply everything from carpets to looking-glass plates, and that his “arrangements in Europe will enable him to offer Goods of superior quality & fashion.” In 1819 Bridport left for Cuba, where he died later the same year.

Four of Utah’s very best interior designers will compete for the title “Utah’s Design Star” during the 28th Annual Deseret Morning News Fall Home Improvement, Remodeling and Decorating Show, which opens on Friday.

Each of the four will be given a 12-foot-by-8-foot room. Each will have two days to complete design work. Each will have a budget of $500 to work with.

Judges will select a winner at the end of the two days. The winner will be announced and awards will be given out at 5:30 p.m. on Friday.

This will give visitors to the show the opportunity to judge for themselves.

The winner will be featured in a design segment on ABC’s “Good Things Utah,” and in Utah Style and Design Magazine and, in addition, will enjoy a four-night Baja, Mexico, cruise.

Judges will be Vern Yip, from HGTV’s hit show “Design Star” and formerly with “Trading Spaces,” Utahn Temple McDowell, former “Design Star” final four contestant, and Jill Williams Grover, interior designer and author.

The four designers are Jennifer Chipman, Jonnie Parker Hartman, Mandi Mauldin Felici and Rebecca Ruff.

Chipman has always had a natural enthusiasm for color and design. She began working in the design industry by doing displays for retail stores.

She also worked as a retail interior designer while earning her degree in environment and behavior from the University of Utah in 1997.

In 1998, she started her own home-based interior design business - - Chipman Interiors. She has had the opportunity to design homes for the Salt Lake Parade of Homes, Utah Valley Parade of Homes, as well as model homes and spec homes for several local homebuilders and residential clients inside and outside of Utah.

She has also done design work for office and medical buildings as well as become a wedding consulting and floral designer.

Her most rewarding times, she said, involve raising her three children and collaborating with her husband, Matthew.

In her free time she enjoys playing the violin, cooking, gardening and spending time with family and friends.

Hartman graduated with her degree in fine arts from the University of Utah. She also had the opportunity to study abroad at Parsons School of design in France.

For the last three years she has been running her own interior art business, creating large-scale art installations for commercial, public and residential spaces.

Some of her favorite work includes working for Anthropologie as its interior art and display coordinator and creating public art for Salt Lake City. Her sculptural work was recently installed downtown in front of Abravanel Hall. She also enjoys painting larger-than- life murals that bring new energy to homes and offices.

Hartman loves creating whimsical and colorful design by using ordinary objects in unexpected ways. She not only loves the fine arts, but also has a passion for the performing arts. By day she designs and creates and by night she is a ballet, tap and jazz dance instructor.

She performs and creates every chance she can get, and feels fortunate that she can use her talents both in art and dance as her career.

Felici is an artist and designer who recently located to Utah from California. She received her BFA from BYU in 1998 and her MFA from California State University Long Beach in 2003.

Her most recent artworks have included installations dealing with the ideas of home, family and nurturing relationships. These themes have led her into interior design.

“Designing a living space is no different than creating a piece of art or an installation. Every item, every color and every texture will contribute to the overall feel of your space. The way you decorate your home is the most important art you can make because it deeply affects you and the members of your family,” she explained.

Ruff received her bachelor’s degree in interior design from Utah State University. As a mother and wife who understands everyday family living, Ruff has excelled at combining bold design with family functionality. She approaches every design with a bold, “no- fear” attitude and enjoys helping others realize and experience a life of adventurous design.