Strategic Changes Make a Big Impression: Learn the key moves to create a big impact.

This bedside table design was inspired by three different vintage pieces. For this client, our mission was a mid-century look and feel, but we were stuck against tight dimensions in space and running up against road block after road block with sizing of existing, vintage options. I find that it's best to secure your designs in some type of inspiration. All great design needs a "seed"—where are you growing from? What are you referring back to in order to stay on course? How are you utilizing or paying attention to nuance in your designs? Repurposing existing furniture pieces is another way to exercise your creative and win some serious applause on both design and cost-savings. Sometimes your starting place is that ratty old sofa in your living room, or basement. I'm constantly reviewing existing client furnishings and thinking about how we can shift the bases into something more interesting or fresh. It's important to find a great upholstery shop or carpenter who can interpret your designs. You need to establish a successful line of communication with your vendor, and how best they read your designs. Often detailed shop drawings are required, and hand sketches are an incredibly successful tool when trying to elevate your ideals, or communicate to a vendor your desired end result.

It's hugely important to request routine shop images from your vendors. Weekly, or bi-weekly image review is the best way to manage and guarantee the quality of your end result. As the lead designer on any piece or project, minding the details needs to be at the forefront of thought at all times. Quick snapshots like the one shown here are great for detailing and helping to understand how all of the parts are coming together. The TV console and bedsides in the following slides were built by Brooklyn based KWH Furniture.

I recently designed this TV console and chair for a project on the Upper West Side in New York. The oversized chamfer detail on the console draws the eye to the integrated door hardware and leather wrapped panels. While we are still prototyping the "DMc Channel Chairs," one of the big compliments from this client is on the size, scale and comfort. When I approach designing a piece of furniture, I pull my design ideas through four key areas of consideration: Ergonomics–Determining overall size, scale and best function–designing the right piece for the right use with the right fit is foundational. Artisanal Quality–I like to work with artists or masters of craft–the commitment to the process is almost always more genuine and more profound, as well as understanding of materials. Material selection–I focus on sturdy materials that are beautiful and forgiving–furniture is meant to be used and needs to be produced for longevity and with the concept of patina in mind. Finish details–Be bold. Everything you design should have a voice and a level of design saturation that speaks with it's own point-of-view. Think about the details–what takes it forward?

I'll leave you with this image as inspiration for your next furniture design project. Note the architectural detailing both in the room and the bench itself. In this case, we worked with Bright Furniture to add the arms and took our cue from the intersecting geometric patterning of the upholstery fabric. We tied the fabric to the bench, and gave the bench a more dynamic presence as a centerpiece in this living room by adding the additional structure to the base design. Remember, be bold and stay true to quality, comfort and function. If you can zero in on these factors when designing a piece of furniture, you'll be a success every time!

This is a great example of how one can take an existing piece and turn it around completely. In this case, there was a pair of matching sofas. The original sofas were much more traditional, but by shaving down the top of the backs, cutting down each sofa and connecting them at the center, I was able to reuse the pieces to create a beautiful 11' sofa to insert in a wall niche, expand the room and bring forward a more contemporary result. For the client, they achieved the contemporary feeling they were aiming for and saved on the cost of a new sofa by more than half the price.

Take a look at this sofa and flip to the next image.

One of my mantras is "Design = Collaboration" and often, my team works with vendors whose work we love, admire, and appreciate to customize a piece of furniture for the specific needs of our client. The net result is a beautiful collaboration between designers (read as: teamwork). Never be afraid to ask about customization. Great design is about growth, sharing, and evolution. We are all here to add to one another, and expand great ideas. Again, remember my other mantra: "time, energy, effort and expense…" You're worth it. Make it your own. Go for it! This Alana bench from Bright Furniture is a great example a base design from which we launched on a recent project in East Hampton, New York. Flip to the next image!

Home Renovation Tip: Get an Understanding of What’s Already Around

Milk, sugar, or oats? Bound to start a conversation, the white porcelain Ceramic Mug with Gold Hooves from Barbara Sniegula's Wrocław, Poland, studio brings surrealism to tea.

The Midnight Scoop’s front tip is thin and designed to slice through freezer-hardened ice cream without heat.

On the black-and-white palette, Susanna remarks: "It makes it easy to add accent colors, like petrol blue, and also makes the apartment’s architectural details—like the original doors and deep window ledges—more prominent."

Telecommuting can take both a physical and mental toll—especially when you’re suddenly working in tight quarters with partners, roommates, children, or other family members. Tip: Invest in high-quality, noise-cancelling headphones, and keep shared live/work spaces clutter-free.

In the entryway, a plastic Uten.Silo organizer by Vitra shelters keys and other bits of potential clutter. A white-painted cafe chair suits the minimalist color scheme.

Home Renovation Tip: Remember to Stay Positive

Home Renovation Tip: Decide on a Sensible Scope of Work

If you frequently entertain guests in your home, or love holding long leisurely dinner parties on the weekends, it’s a good idea to keep these points in mind when designing or remodeling your kitchen. Here are some tips on how to turn this functional area into a space that's fit and fun for gatherings.

Home Renovation Tip: Make a Realistic Budget

Selecting a new vanity for your bathroom has myriad benefits. It can make the space feel completely new, provide extra storage, and even allow for smoother morning routines. Here, we’ve culled some of our best tips for how to pick out a new bathroom vanity for just about any bathroom size.

Home Renovation Tip: Determine Splurge-Worthy Items Upfront

A guest suite with a pink Muuto Tip table lamp.

Tip: Focus on the shape of the room, the existing windows and daylight, and the flow of the space.

The tip of the cantilevered section is an outdoor living area with a double-sided fireplace.

A Zen rock garden on one of the balconies with a Vitra Tip Ton chair.

Avoid unwanted surprises and dodge disappointment by following these six easy tips for buying furniture online.

One of the couple’s major budgeting tips is to complete the renovation in stages, saving certain updates—and costs—for later.

The Woven Throw comes in four designs, including this one tipping a hat to the greatest albums of all time.

A labor of love, the Massaro House is perched on the island’s rocky tip, just as Wright originally intended.

The home's archetypal form rises from the windswept caatinga, a vast stretch of flat, semiarid land where the northeastern tip of the country juts into the Atlantic.

If you thought being productive at home was just another oxymoron, think again. Here are six tips for creating a focus-friendly home office.

Give your IKEA furniture a quick facelift with these DIY tips—guaranteed to transform your basic pieces into custom, eye-catching furniture in less than an hour, tops.

Josh Greene takes it upon himself to pay it forward—whether you leave a 20 percent tip or not.

The Réveille boys brew Four Barrel coffee and use Bodum Presso jars to store tips, and beans alike.

On the northwestern tip of Scotland’s Isle of Skye is a vacation rental that's inspired by the region’s traditional “crofter style” cottages, but covered with a skin of tin. Designed and built by Gill Smith and Alan Dickson of Scottish practice Rural Design Architects, this house sits along the rugged Isle of Skye coast and has a rudimentary form that recalls children’s drawings of pitched-roof homes. Smith and Dickson constructed the house using corrugated metal sheeting, which is commonly used for agricultural sheds or

The new kitchen serves as a hub where the entire family can gather and swap cooking tips as they prepare a lavish feast. The kitchen features Arti-startm surface downlights by BK Lighting.

In the suburb on the mountain’s lower slopes, Michael O’Sullivan and his sons Seamus and Finbar exchange motorcycle tips outside the compact, innovative home O’Sullivan designed.