A problem many hotel owners have with furniture and upholstery is maintenance. From a simple spill to soiling, there are many things that can ruin your great furniture in an instant or over time. Luckily, there are many simple techniques you are able to apply to your upholstery or furniture that will keep it looking fresh and new for a long time.

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This is very important for hotel owners to remember, because no guest likes being in a room that appears clearly used. Everyone knows it has been used before, but in that business, appearance plays a huge role.

One method is controlling the amount of soil that the upholstery brings. This can come from the arm and head part of the cushion, as well as the back and bottom of piece of furniture. This can be prolonged and avoided by constantly flipping the cushions around, much like rotating tires on a car. It reduces the amount of wear on one side, as well as evening out the cushions overall wear and tear. This can best be avoided by placing covers on these areas. This will greatly prolong the life of your furniture.

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It is also recommended that you vacuum your upholstered items. This may lift much of the dirt that is extremely difficult to remove with just spotting or blotching. However, spotting and blotching are both very good techniques, especially if it the dirt or spot is immediately taken care of. Most spills of this nature can be easily removed if taken quick action upon, even with just water or any neutralizing spotters.

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Every year or two, there should also be a scheduled time to get your upholstery professionally cleaned. This can give you a longer life span on your investment and have a great effect on your furniture.

Interior Design Trends of 2010

The interior design world is a very fast paced environment for most people in the industry. Keeping up with the latest trends are usually imperative to staying successful in the interior design world. Many people say that the year 2010 will encompass many colors that involve a connection with earthly, organic tones. They say that the inspiration from the fashion world usually flows into interior design around a year after they come out. In 2009, "going green" burst into the fashion scene and thus, bringing earthly tones to the interior design world in 2010.


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Some of the colors that have been brought into the interior design world in 2010 are beiges, browns, and greens. Striving for an eco-friendly, naturally processed dye, these colors bring out many neutral earthy colors. Mixing these tones with vibrant global tones can also compliment each other very well. Colors like purples, yellows, and blue's work well with this.


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Green is known to be a very calming color both physically and emotionally. The use of this color in interior design can lead to a great peaceful environment. Colors such as yellow are proven to be more stimulating and vibrant. Mixing greens with accents of yellow also goes well together bringing a unique blend to a room.


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Purples and orange also compliment earthly tones. Purple is known for resembling wealth, sensuality, and relaxation. Being more scarce in prior years, violets and purples are becoming increasingly popular in modern design. Purple also gives the illusion of depth, opening up rooms and creating and illusion of space. Orange can also be used subtly to produce unique statements in rooms. Stimulating social behavior, orange is highly used in children's rooms, but can also serve as a nice focal point in rooms with complimentary colors around.


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Interior design will always remain an ever-changing industry. Hopefully we will continue to see more of these earthly tones in the future.

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Interior Design Lighting Tips

Many people look forward to redesigning various rooms in their house or apartment. Whether it be a simple remodel, revamping, or rearranging, it can always be fun and beneficial, especially for the individual who enjoys a change of scenery every once in a while.

One thing to remember when doing this however is lighting. Ever wonder why so many catalogs with various luxurious furniture always look so great in those rooms? Yes, they are expensive, but also coexist with the correct amount of lighting in different areas to make the furniture shine at its best. It’s seeing a picture of a great furniture set up in a catalog and purchasing it, bringing it home, and setting it up, soon realizing it doesn’t look half as great as it did in the catalog. Here are some tips to make your furniture set look just as good, or even than those in the high end catalogs, with the use of lighting.

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1. Place or expand windows to let more light into darker corners. This greatly opens up the room and allows it to feel more “airy” and open.

2. Determine where the most exposure of light is. For example which direction the sun rises and sets in relation to the windows in the house.

3. Arrange your furniture so as much of it gets in contact with the natural light. When sunlight hits furniture it tends to reveal its more natural vibrant colors.

4. Shine artificial lights towards the ceiling. This causes it to bounce off and produce a softer more pleasant light.

5. Add art glass or grilles to your windows for different effects of lighting.

6. See where you can add door/window combinations. This is a unique way of bringing in light in certain, unexpected areas.

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Adding natural light to your house also carries health benefits. Sunshine and vibrant colors tend to brighten people’s moods, as opposed to dark, ominous rooms. This may lead to mood swings, depression, or seasonal affective disorder.

Best of luck on your interior design endeavors!

2010 Hotel Trends

What is the number one reason why people stay at a hotel? Most of the time it is because they are staying in the area for a vacation. They’re either hoping to relax or escape the realities of their world at home which are full of cell phones, computers, work, and the stress that comes with it all.

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So the end solution to the equation is, a hotel guest is looking for fun. Many hotels are catching on to this and creating an environment that is not entirely filled models scattered between a number of high class bars and restaurants, but a more simple type of fun. Many hotels are starting to open up avenue’s of different kinds of fun that many hotel guests can enjoy that aren’t so taxing to your wallet. Games like Xbox, Wii, ping pong, bingo, and sometimes even relaxing Sunday games such as Chess or Scrabble. Not only this, but many hotels are scaling down the restaurants they are opening up to more affordable food that still maintains a decent quality. Keeping some of these open twenty-four-seven, hotel guests don’t have to worry about when room service closes, or going out of their way to find food outside of the hotel after certain hours.

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I think this idea is genius. Many hotels feel their standard of luxury must be at its highest for guests to enjoy it. The truth of the matter is not everyone is looking for the same kind of fun, and a hybrid mix of high class bars and restaurants with simple fun would be the perfect combination for hotels. It would cover a range of demographics, as well as be less taxing on wallets, especially in this economic downtime.

Renovating Hotels in this Economic Climate

As mentioned in the previous post, right now is the best time to invest in electronic renovation. As much as furniture, design, and upholstery are all great, they’re too expensive to renovate right now correct? Wrong.

According to recent hotel articles and posts, right now it is the BEST time to invest in things such as hotel furniture, case goods, and upholstery as well. Why? Because of the economic climate.

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Right now nobody is really making any money, and the first thing the economy hits when it plummets is hospitality. Things like hotels, restaurants, and services. People cut back on these luxuries to save money. Instead of vacationing, they spend those hours working for more money. Instead of going out to eat in restaurants and feeding money back into the economy, they go grocery shopping in attempts to save as much money as they can.

Then the economy starts hitting other highways of businesses. One of these businesses is eventually the makers of hotel furniture, hospitality furniture, and businesses of that nature. Because of this, they lower their prices and thus, making it “more affordable” for the hospitality industry to afford these new renovations.

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The factor that offsets this entire scheme is the fact that many businesses right now say they cannot afford to renovate. They say that they cannot afford to spend money on revamping their business right now. That makes sense right? Why would you spend money upgrading your hotel when its barely floating on the revenue stream you are getting from just being in business? My answer to that is how can you afford not to. With prices lower than they have been in a while, and giving your business an opportunity to catch up to the rest of the hospitality leaders, while giving your business a huge temporary competitive advantage, the investment might pay for itself.

Future of Hotel Renovations

It seems that within the hospitality industry many renovations are being in progress. During many hotel conferences and expos, renovation talk have been circling around panels and forums.

Many hotel businesses had design wars such as furniture, beds, and bathrooms. They all compete on the best designs, level of comfort, and efficiency. Renovations are usually highly expensive due to the changing out of many expensive furniture pieces, redoing bathrooms and design. However a new wave of renovations have hit the hotel industry.

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Technology. It has swept the nations hospitality industry. I usually visit hotels from time to time, and the other weekend I ventured out from my modest home in southern California to Las Vegas, Nevada. Las Vegas, known for its high end expensive hotels, never ending night life, and casinos, had to have the latest in hotel technology, however I was thoroughly impressed with not only the interior designing, furniture, but also the upgraded technology I had not remembered in my last visit to a hotel.

At my stay, there was a bedside electronic control panel. This would control things such as the curtain, lights in every room, the room temperature, the television, and bathroom functions, all from a control panel from the bedside! Laying in bed, I could draw the shades, shut the bathroom lights, turn the television on and browse channels while I dim the lights next to my bed. This eliminated the hassle of having to get out of your comfy bed in your pajamas and manually executing these things. Highly impressed, I realized the truth in hotels renovating their electronic components as well.

I feel like not only with exceptional furniture and design, but technology the hospitality industry just opened up a new chapter in the history books.

New Hotel Trends!

Some pictures of new hotel trends:


Loft-style Living


Going costal: Beach front Hotels



Aquatic Life

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