Coming Soon: One-Stop Shop for Home Rejuvenation

RICHMOND MAGAZINE

BY COURTNEY CRANE DAUER

DATE POSTED: 1/13/12 10:03 AM

A new design destination, DéCOR, is scheduled to open in Carytown in April. DéCOR — short for Design Center of Richmond, where “the ‘accent’ is on design” — will feature more than 30 interior decorators and designers, plus kitchen, flooring, lighting, landscaping specialists and more, all under one roof at 19 S. Belmont Ave.

Marc Cates, Andrew Chasen (of Chasen Galleries) and Arlyn Gleason are the creative forces behind the venture.

“The goal,” explains Cates, DéCOR’s director, “is to bring the design community to the client for one-stop shopping.”

One-stop shopping and access, too. DéCOR will be open to the public and not only to designers in the trade.
Local interior designer Kathy Corbet (of Kathy Corbet Interiors) is excited about opening a shop in DéCOR. She’s calling her store “at Market."

“I travel to markets all over the country and beyond, and I often find exciting items that are too good to pass up. I’m usually looking for clients,” she acknowledges. “With DéCOR, now everyone will have the opportunity to see and have these items."

Like others in the design center, Corbet plans to have hours to meet and greet, making the whole experience personable for customers and allowing them direct access to talented local design professionals.
With so many businesses, DéCOR’s scope will be broad, showcasing products and resources for people contemplating a whole-house redo or those just on the lookout for perfect accent pillows. "It's a place to look for fresh, new and innovative ideas in design and home rejuvenation," Cates says.
He also says they'll highlight what’s hot and trendy. So get ready.

For now, here’s a list of businesses that have joined DéCOR: Artisan Concrete Décor, Barden's Decorating, Bennette Sebastian, Commonwealth Curb Appeal, David Allan Ballas, Decorative Glass Solutions, Design Line Remodeling, Innovative Interiors, Jennifer Stoner, Jenny Andrews, John Magor, Kathy Corbet, Kitchens, Etc., Lighting by Design, Melanie Palma, Method Org,Moxie Interiors, Solar Film, Verve and Wendy Umanoff.

The list is growing daily, as even more vendors snap up remaining spaces.

Tips to Help You Claim a Home-Office Deduction

About 52% of all businesses are run from home. The number of teleworkers is growing annually.

It's good to know that some tax savings can result from this work arrangement.

A portion of personal expenses for your home can be turned into a business deduction -- if you meet certain rules.

To claim a home-office deduction, you must use the space in your residence as a principal place of business, as a place to meet or deal with customers on a regular basis, or as a separate structure used for the business.

You also must do the above regularly and exclusively for business.

If you're an employee, you must use the space for your employer's convenience and not for your own preference. Working after hours at home rather than staying late at the office is probably your own choice and not for your employer's convenience.

Usually, "employer's convenience" means that the employer does not have space for you on the company's premises.

But while the home-office deduction rules are written in black and white, there are some uncertainties that could affect your home office deduction. Think of them as gray areas.

One is the meaning of exclusive use. Clearly, the space must be available 24/7 for business and cannot be used by you or your family for personal reasons at any time during the day or night. Thus, if you use a TV room as an office during the day and your family watches TV there in the evening, you fail the exclusive-use test.

But what about walking through a room? The Tax Court has said that even occasional use of space, such as using a bathroom by family or guests, means your business use is not exclusive. However, the court has also said that incidental use of space, such as family members walking through the office to get to another part of the home, is minimal and won't cause you to fail the exclusive use test.

What's the difference between occasional and incidental use?

This is a gray area, but it seems that passing through is not equivalent to using the space.

Storage of some personal items in a space claimed as a home office won't violate the exclusive-use test. The court has allowed a home office deduction for a garage in which some personal items were kept. So, people, no. Things, yes.

A common belief is that claiming a home office deduction is a red flag to the IRS, practically inviting an audit. There is no IRS data to support this belief and, unfortunately, the belief may be responsible for some taxpayers forgoing the deduction needlessly even though they are otherwise eligible for it.

The best course of action is to talk over your personal situation with a tax advisor to make sure you meet the home office deduction rules.

Keep good records of all expenses related to the home office, and take a photo of the space used as a home office. The photo can help in case the IRS questions your return after you've stopped using the space for business.

To learn more about the home-office deduction rules, see IRS Publication 587, Business Use of Your Home.

By Barbara Weltman, an attorney and the author of J.K. Lasser's "Small Business Taxes" and "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Starting a Home-Based Business." Follow her on Twitter @BarbaraWeltmans.

How Much Time Should You Spend Getting Organized? None.

An MIT technologist argues that for many of us our old-fashioned approach to organization (i.e. our impulse to sort and file everything) is a giant waste of time.

When looking to clear your mind, it's often suggested you might want to start by clearing your desk. Or your inbox. After all, doesn't the sense of order and control generated by getting your to-do list, your correspondence or your calendar in order, help business owners beat anxiety, stop wasting time searching for information and generally get more done?

Not a chance, argues Michael Schrage, an author and research fellow at MIT Sloan's Center for Digital Business, on the HBR blog network. Schrage argues that like much else in our lives, technology has fundamentally changed how we interact with information. However, our organizational impulses and habits often haven’t kept pace with this shifting reality.

Schrage calls organization activities that were once valuable, like filing, "legacy information management behaviors," and points out that search functions, synced calendars, Siri and the like, have now gotten so good that these sorts of behaviors have become a total waste of time. So if you’re one of those people who can wile away a Monday morning relabeling e-mail folders or working out a new color coding system for your calendar, Shrage has a word of warning for you:

IBM researchers observed that email users who "searched" rather than set up files and folders for their correspondence typically found what they were looking for faster and with fewer errors. Time and overhead associated with creating and managing e-mail folders were, effectively, a waste.

By combining threading with search, technology makes an economic virtue of virtual disorganization. The personal productivity issue knowledge workers and effective executives need to ponder is whether habits of efficiency that once improved performance have decayed into mindless ruts that delay or undermine desired outcomes. Are folders and filing systems worth fifteen to twenty-five minutes a day of contemplative classification and sort for serious managers?

The answer appears to be no. So what should you be doing with the time you save by not fiddling around with your filing systems? Procuring the best technology, answers Schrage. "The essential takeaway is that the new economics of personal productivity mean that the better organized we try to become, the more wasteful and inefficient we become…. Our job today and tomorrow isn't to organize ourselves better; it's to get the right technologies that respond to our personal productivity needs. It's not that we're becoming too dependent on our technologies to organize us; it's that we haven't become dependent enough."

Do you agree with Schrage that tech rather than carefully crafted systems is the right answer for organization these days? And if so, what tools have offered the biggest efficiencies for you and your business?

Jessica Stillman

Jessica Stillman is a freelance writer based in London with interests in unconventional career paths, generational differences, and the future of work. She has blogged for CBS MoneyWatch, GigaOM, and Brazen Careerist, among others.

Reinventing Shipping Pallets

At Method ORG, our closet, garage and other material is delivered to our Glen Allen area wood-shop on extra long pallets. Periodically we give them away by posting a first-come-first-serve offer on Craig's List. We never really know what's done with them but here are few ideas in case you're feeling inspired to repurpose and create:


FROM HOUZZ:  Do you always notice a stack of discarded shipping pallets outside the loading areas of your favorite stores and think, "what a waste?", finding inventive ways to reuse unwanted shipping pallets in the home is becoming a hot DIY trend. The range of ideas is limitless, but here is a good start to some simple projects you can do yourself with very little cost.


The simplest use for a wood shipping pallet is to place it vertically against a wall and use it as an industrial-chic headboard. You really don't have to do anything but sand it down to make sure no rough splinters protrude. A consideration whenever using shipping pallets is to salvage the non-pressure treated kind to be certain you aren't exposing yourself to potentially harmful chemicals. If you aren't sure, ask the business you are requesting them from.

What about a quick shoe rack? These college roommates turned a pallet into a neat solution for shoe storage and mirror stand.

Here is another design for a bed frame to consider. More refined in style which means more labor intensive, yet still rustic and achievable. See more of this photos of this project by Houzz user kylemc1985.


Another popular use for pallets is a DIY coffee table. Have glass or plexi cut to fit the top and screw lockable casters to the bottom. Voila, you have made a remarkable statement piece. This look is so popular, there are actually many finished furniture products out there for sale.



The pallet coffee table need not immediately be associated with an industrial-chic aesthetic. It can look quite high-end with a darker finish and architecturally salvaged cast iron hardware. By Claire Watkins





So, you like the idea of upcycling shipping pallets, but it just won't go with your home's look and you have no interest in sanding for hours? You can use shipping pallets outside too for adorable flower beds. Painting them a bright color is an extra step of attention and whimsy if you so choose. By Debbiedoo's




Denise Sabia of The Painted Home found a unique way to incorporate the pallets into her home: take them apart and use the wood planks as wainscotting. I would have never thought to do that. by The Painted Home




Another Houzz member used oak pallets found near the Port of Seattle to create a custom hatch door to hide a sunken bathtub. Talk about a unique design element. See more of this 68-square-foot house. By Louise Lakier




Use part of a pallet for jewelry display.  Classic Lighted Jewelry Display/Organizer - $98.00 »  by Dave Kellum

A clever little outdoor folding lounge chair is one example of a commercial item that is capitalizing on the pallet upcycling trend.  By UncommonGoods









Blog post from Houzz
Vanessa Brunner
Staff Writer, HouBlogzz.com

Network With The Richmond Design Community

Join the Richmond chapter of the IFDA at their first social of 2012. Enjoy a glass of wine and network with some of the area's leading professionals in the interior design, home furnishings and related industries. 


Wednesday, January 12th at 5:30 pm


The Wine Loft
4035 Whitetail Way, Glen Allen, VA 23060

Method ORG Receives Top Award

Angie's List just announced that RIchmond's own Method ORG has been awarded their Super Service Award for 2011. Approximately 5% of businesses on Angie's List earn this distinction each year which is based on members' feedback.

The Secrets of Pure Light Soy Candles

John Erikson is one of my oldest friends (age and duration, ha ha).  His company was featured on The Mid Wife Life blog so we're reposting because we know so many of you would enjoy his candles...

John Erikson of Richmond, Virginia, has been burning the candle at both ends lately. As the one-man operation behind Pure Light Candles, that’s understandable; December is his busy season. But if burning the candle at both ends could be construed as exhibiting a flagrant disregard for the environment, then we have to find him another metaphor. Erikson strives to leave behind the smallest carbon footprint imaginable in the production of his soy wax candles—he is as concerned with the environmental impact of his work—and the “butterfly economics” of his cottage industry—as he is with the candles’ visual and olfactory aesthetics. His philosophy, he says, is “naturally elegant.”

Read the rest from The Mid Like Second Wife blog