A well-known real estate company recently reached out to me and asked me what my favorite design trends for 2023 were. My first response was custom tile installations. A beautifully installed glass mosaic or custom tile piece can instantly boost the mood in a space and add a unique, personalized touch. This is something we’ve been seeing more of in the design world and I expect we’ll be seeing a lot more of it to come.

Custom tile work is about infusing your personal style into your living spaces in a way that off-the-shelf options can't match. It's about choosing the colors, patterns, and textures that speak to you and crafting them into something that's uniquely yours. Whether it’s a bright backsplash in the kitchen or colorful stained glass in the bathroom, custom tiles can add cheerfulness and vibrancy to any space.

Have you ever thought about what your home says about you? I believe every home has a story to tell and that narrative comes from your personal preferences, memories, and aspirations. My favorite part of interior design is helping my clients uncover their story.

I like to start all my client consultations with a Personal Style Survey.

When it comes to interior design, the perception of space is key. It's not just about arranging a few pieces of furniture or choosing the right shade of paint. It’s about understanding the structure, functionality, and aesthetics of a home.

One of the main things my clients want is to create a sense of space in their homes. Sometimes this means moving a door, adding windows, or rethinking the flow of the entire home. Other times, a feeling of spaciousness can be achieved by making strategic design decisions that help visually expand an area.

Color in interior design is like the soundtrack to a film; it sets the mood, tells a story, and guides our feelings throughout. We've all felt it—a room painted in a soft lavender that invites relaxation or a vibrant kitchen that seems to hum with energy. These choices aren’t just about aesthetics. They tap into our emotions, creating spaces that can be both peaceful sanctuaries and centers of inspiration.

Colors do more than just please the eye.

There’s something about autumn that always tends to feel like a new beginning. It may be because it’s the start of the school year. That sense of anticipation is contagious, whether or not we have children, and whether they are still in the pencil-and-backpack stage or all grown up.

Even if those school years are long behind us, fall often brings a change to our rhythms. Depending on our personality, the cooler air and shortening days can be invigorating, inspiring new ideas, projects, and activities. Yet for another person it’s a signal to slow down, to turn inward to their home and their thoughts, to seek comfort and contemplation. This nesting instinct often sparks ideas for enhancing our living spaces so they better reflect where we are in our lives.

Choosing a new home is a big, big decision, one that brings up all kinds of emotions, anxieties, hopes, and dreams. That’s why I always recommend that my house-hunting clients take my Style Preferences Survey before starting their search.

Even when you know what you want, it can be tough to objectively evaluate a potential home, and see its flaws, as well as its possibilities. There are other distractions, too. The owner’s belongings and their energy inhabit the house, which can make it hard to visualize yourself there.

When Larisa McShane came to the United States from her native Russia in 1994, Diane Pinelli had long since left Broomall to make her mark in New York as creative director for a women’s sportswear company. Pinelli’s work often took her abroad, where she gathered ideas applicable to home decoration as well as clothing.

Meanwhile, McShane was building a resume so eclectic — combining architecture, engineering and interior design — that she has trouble describing herself in just a few words. “Interior designer” is as close as she can come.

“I found a needle in a haystack,” Pinelli said. “We were two creative people, and we bonded. We pretty much do the same thing, just in different mediums. I felt like I had a partner.”

These days, the kitchen is the heart of many of our homes. It’s where the whole family gathers in between the rush of daily life. It’s where you might enjoy a warm cup of tea with your partner on a quiet, chilly morning, bake cookies in the afternoon with the kids or whip up a casual dinner for friends.

When I help clients design a kitchen, I encourage them to discover the colors, textures, and styles that give them joy and then incorporate those into every aspect of the design: cabinets, counters, flooring, lighting and art.

Is your high school-age son sleeping in a dream bedroom decorated when he was eight? Then it’s time for a change! Your son is growing up and his room should reflect the person he is now.

When your boy was little, you made his choices for him: his meals, clothes, room décor. Now he’s a young man and discovering his own likes and dislikes. He’s learning to make his own decisions. This should include making decisions about his personal spaces.

Just because boys don’t seem as interested in interior design as girls doesn’t mean they don’t care what their bedroom looks like.

Hint: Don’t expect it to be like what you see on TV.

This is what working with an interior designer looks like on home renovation shows: There’s an initial meeting, then sketches, a few phone calls to smooth out glitches, and – ta da! The clients walk in their front door to a transformed home full of surprise upgrades. “It’s beyond anything we expected!” they say through tears of joy.

That’s not how a successful home renovation process really works. No matter the scale of your project, when it’s complete you should be thrilled, but you shouldn’t be surprised.

Our bedroom is often the only place where we can indeed be ourselves. It is where we power down our defense mechanisms and allow the subconscious mind to take over while we dream. But, unfortunately, it is also often the most neglected part of our homes. We spend most of our energy, time, and money decorating the features of our homes that serve others. Well, it’s time for a change. Here are five ways to invite romance into your bedroom.

Here are five ideas that will help you shake things up in the bedroom, jump-start your mood, and hopefully your love life! Even though we may not always like it, we thrive on change.

Choosing the best design professional for your project can be the difference between a successful home renovation and a disappointment. Read more and understand who is an interior designer vs. interior decorator – who is best for you.

Two professions in the world of home renovation are interior designer and interior decorator. While their names sound similar and there can be overlap in what they do, there are important differences. The education, training, certifications, and services they offer can be vastly different. Which professional is the best choice for your home design project?

I love seeing kitchens that dare to take a chance with bold colors, unique materials, and statement-making fixtures. In this article, I analyze seven beautiful and audacious kitchens in their design and explain why I believe they work (or don’t). Read more on bold kitchens that stand out from the crowd.

Why it works: This one long wall contains everything the gourmet cook could want, including visual impact.

These are extraordinary times. Social distancing and sheltering in place have completely upended our lives in ways we could not have imagined a month or so ago. Many of us have never spent as much time in our homes as in the past few weeks. And never has the idea of home as sanctuary felt as true. The time to dream is now, read on!

When I see a well-designed space that I viscerally respond to, I deconstruct what I see to understand what it is I find so appealing. It is the same thing that I teach my new clients to do as we go through the style discovery process together. I am inspired to teach my clients to see the elements that make up successful and satisfying designs.

In the image of this dramatic bath, I find appealing the contrast created by the dark gray geometric shape with light and dark shapes created by lighting.

We are excited to tell you about the recognition we’ve received from a variety of sources these past few months. Read more on recent happenings at Larisa McShane and Associates.

Our “Teenager’s Dream Bedroom” won a 2016 Interior Design Award from the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) Pennsylvania East Chapter. Thank you to the judges and to the ASID for the honor.

Also, Houzz.com has awarded Larisa McShane and Associates a “Best of Houzz 2016” Service Award for client satisfaction for the third year in a row.

What is the first thing people notice when they walk into your living room? Is it the striking piece of artwork, your impressive fireplace, or is it the TV on a blank wall? A focal point in any room is the element that attracts interest and attention, it is the thing that makes your guests stop and say “wow”, it inspires an interesting conversation. You can use a focal point to make the room more exciting, it is a wonderful way to bring balance and cohesion to a room. The easiest way to create a focal point in a room is to accentuate an existing, strong element within the space. Here are some ideas:

Accent the Fireplace
A fireplace is a natural gathering place, so make it the centerpiece of the room.

Whether you’ve decided to redecorate one room, re-design the whole house or you’ve just moved into a new place, figuring out where to start your interior design project can be overwhelming. Should you start with choosing the wall color or a piece of furniture and build from there, or should you find inspiration online and try to replicate it? Read more on Interior Design Ideas by an Interior Designer.

There is a secret formula to getting brilliant design ideas, and I’m about to share it with you…I discovered an exercise many years ago when I started my business and it has become the cornerstone of all my professional work. This is my secret to creating any client’s dream home.

Technology has created some interesting challenges; it has changed how we connect with people and how we work. It has also changed how we understand physical space and how we approach contemporary interior design with that new understanding.

As everything becomes digital, we find a new abundance of physical space– what used to be an entire office becomes a laptop, what used to be an entire library becomes a kindle. And two new questions arise: “What do we do with all that stuff?”

The beauty of it is we now have the opportunity to keep only what we love.

When it happens, everything falls away. The moment becomes effortless. You glance up at the clock–it’s hours later, and you haven’t eaten all day. Suddenly, reality rushes back. You, my friend, were just in a state of flow. You may have been painting, writing, playing a video game, or researching on the web, but you didn’t notice the time drift past you.

Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, a psychologist noted for his work on happiness and creativity, describes flow as completely focused motivation–“being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you’re using your skills to the utmost.”