Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Black Mana Studios Launches Interior Design for iPad: Bringing Home Designs To Life

Black Mana Studios introduces Interior Design for iPad, a user-friendly, technologically advanced interior design iPad app that rivals the best desktop interior design software available today.

Cupertino, CA (PRWEB) December 19, 2012

Whether it's a new floor installation, kitchen renovation, or whole home redecoration, it can be difficult for both budding designers and professionals to really picture what the final design will look like. How will a designer know if the shade of wood floor selected will coordinate with new countertops? Will a couch look better in a different spot without having to go through the arduous process of moving it? Thankfully, now it only takes a few taps for anyone to plan interior design. Black Mana Studios is pleased to announce the launch of the most technologically advanced interior design app available on the App Store – Interior Design for iPad.

Interior Design for iPad is a user-friendly app that can take on any interior design project or create any floorplan quickly and easily. With little to no learning curve, any user could be designing a new interior in as little as 5 minutes.

From drawing floor plans in 2D to walking through them in vivid, stunning 3D. Users can drag and drop objects into the plan, remove walls, alter the shape of rooms or apply new wooden floors from a selection of over 50 real wood grains, all by simply tapping on the screen. In Addition, the app includes over 3300 objects and materials for free, so users can create highly detailed designs, quickly and easily.

Interior Design for iPad is one of the only apps in the world that supports render, giving users the ability to create an amazing final image including shadows and other special effects.

Once the user has completed a layout, it can be shared with friends, family, or colleagues by exporting it to email, to their device photo album, Dropbox, or a favorite social networking site.

Interior Design for iPad gives any iPad user the power to take a personally created design or layout ideas and bring them to life, all with a few taps on the iPad screen. Interior Design for iPad is available now in the iTunes App Store at: https://itunes.apple.com/app/interior-design-for-ipad/id541375152

About Black Mana Studios
Black Mana Studios LLC, creators of Interior Design for iPad, are an international presence with offices in the United States, Russia, and Israel. Their initial foray into professional mobile software was the first full-featured screenwriting application 'Screenplay,' which became the de-facto mobile screenwriting solution for thousands of movie and TV personnel. Since that time, Black Mana has created other groundbreaking apps including Home 3D, the world's first mobile three-dimensional interior design app. Founded in 2009, Black Mana Studios LLC is based in New York City.

Learn more: – http://www.blackmana.com
Interior Design for iPad – http://www.interior-design-ipad.com

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prwebappshout/interior-design-for-ipad/prweb10256462.htm

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/business/prweb/article/Black-Mana-Studios-Launches-Interior-Design-for-4131971.php#ixzz2FYldUG1z

Monday, December 17, 2012

DIY candy mint Christmas tree


http://www.sheknows.com/holidays-and-seasons/articles/978495/diy-candy-mint-christmas-tree

Easy & fresh holiday DIY

The holidays are many things, but they are not cheap! Between the gift buying, the traveling and the food costs, we're often left with just a few bucks to decorate! Instead of spending those last few cents on an overpriced centerpiece or mantel display, why not make a few of these adorable mint trees?

You can't beat a craft that costs less than $5. This mint tree only takes about 30 minutes to make and instantly adds some holiday pizzazz to mantels, coffee tables and even centerpieces! In addition, this is one craft your kids will love to help you make!

Supplies:

  • 1 bag of regular red circle mints
  • 1 bag of wintergreen circle mints
  • Hot glue gun
  • Assorted sizes of styrofoam cones
  • Silver glitter glue

Instructions:

  1. Unwrap the mints

    With dry hands (this is very important, otherwise the candy will get sticky), unwrap each candy so you can glue it onto the cone.

    DIY candy mint Christmas tree -- mints

  2. Glue mints onto the tree

    Using your hot glue gun, glue the mints onto the tree, right next to each other, covering up every bit of space on the cone that you can.

    DIY candy mint Christmas tree -- glue mint on tree

    We did two layers of red and one layer of green and repeated until we got to the top of the tree.

    DIY candy mint Christmas tree -- glue mints on tree

    DIY candy mint Christmas tree -- overhead view

  3. Fill in holes with silver glitter glue

    Since you can't overlap the mints, we added some silver glitter glue to cover up some of the holes. It gives the tree a bit of a tinsel look!

    DIY candy mint Christmas tree --add glitter

  4. Let dry and enjoy!

    Let the glue dry and clean up the loose strings with a cloth. Display on your mantel or table and enjoy!

More easy DIY holiday crafts

DIY chalkboard mugs
DIY holiday hair accessories
DIY holiday decor ideas

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Nendo's New Furniture Finds Beauty In Splintered Wood

A new collection from Japanese design studio Nendo is made from wood that’s been splintered to create functional design elements.

http://www.fastcodesign.com/1671434/nendos-new-furniture-finds-beauty-in-splintered-wood#1

The Japanese studio--whose name means "unmolded clay"--reverses traditional logic of woodworking to make splinters the focus of a new collection.

In woodworking, a splintered or broken piece of timber is generally deemed defective. But for Nendo, those "defects" provide a form of inspiration. The Japanese design studio's newest collection, called Splinter, is made from pieces of wood that are purposefully split down the grain, creating subdivisions that are curved to form armrests, hooks, and frames.

Splinter was commissioned by Conde House, one of the many furniture manufacturers based in Asahikawa, a city on the northern tip of Japan. Asahikawa is known for its freezing temperatures, sake, and skiing (not a bad combo), but it's also a center for Japanese woodworkers. The town has a furniture center that's nearly a mile and a half long on one side, and dozens of large and small manufacturing houses like Conde.

"We splintered each piece of wood as though peeling it away," Nendo explains. "Chairs' backrests divide to become armrests and legs, and the top of the coat stand peels away to provide coat hooks." The prototypical silhouette of a Wegner chair becomes subtly radical when its main support splits in half and snakes away in two different directions. "We approached the wood gently, going with the grain so that the wood would retain its original pliancy," the studio adds.

Nendo is known for its poeticism, introducing transparent wood, and silicon bowls that shiver in the wind. Founder Oki Sato has a flair for finding beauty in materials that are typically thought of as "waste." For example, his Cabbage Chair is made from the thin pleated paper you'd typically throw away after making a garment. Splinter follows the same logic, subverting a wasted piece of material by bending it into something utterly functional.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Interior design news: Chocolate for Christmas; architectural tour; and mantel ideas

Interior design news: http://www.oregonlive.com/hg/index.ssf/2012/12/interior_design_news_chocolate.html

HOLIDAY HUES: Over at 6DW (Six Different Ways), the idea of changing up color schemes for Christmas decorations. A couple of years ago, I introduced some chocolate brown to my gold decor: beautiful. What will your color scheme be?

TAKE A TOUR: This particular Pinterest board is like taking a virtual trip around the world to look at architecture. Thanks for the eye candy, Jonathan Boivin.

MAKE THE MANTEL: Make your mantel the centerpiece of the room this holiday season with ideas from Ciao Interiors:

"During this time of year, the mantel can serve as the centerpiece for your living room. It frames the hearth and is an ideal place to display your holiday decor. Follow these tips to create a magical Christmas vignette on your fireplace mantel."

GO GREEN: I have to agree with Robin Baron at Simplifying Fabulous: Green is an awesome color to work with.

"Green is one of my favorite colors. You might notice I use it a lot in Simplifying Fabulous and designs for my clients! The holiday season is a great chance to experiment with a range of the hue beyond the standard hunter green that many, unfortunately, stand by. There's a whole spectrum of the green worth exploring!"

-- Bridget A. Otto

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Design professor and students give back to poor communities

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2012/12/03/2003549184

Chen Chie-peng, a professor in the Department of Interior Design at Chung Yuan Christian University, believes that service should be a core value in the field of design. Last year he assigned "Reconstructing Disadvantaged Communities" as a graduation project for his college seniors. While Chen was in charge of raising funds, his students were responsible for all of the design and construction work. He hopes to be able reconstruct at least one residential space every year to make it more suitable for living.

Most people think that interior design is simply about decorating houses, and that only the rich can afford it, but Chen believes design should take a broader definition that also includes reconstructing spaces and readjusting traffic flow. Design is not only meant for the rich to enjoy, it is supposed to fulfill everyone's basic living needs, he says. Despite being ridiculed by his colleagues, Chen still believes that the disadvantaged also deserve to enjoy design services, because after all, differences in wealth occur merely because some people are more or less fortunate than others, he says.

Apart from learning various skills, including how to draw blueprints, paint and do carpentry, they also learn how to save on construction costs and work in situations where financial resources are limited. In recent years, many of his students have taken up his cause after graduating. One such student, who is a member of the Aboriginal Bunun tribe and grew up in Hualien County, started going home to the countryside on the weekends after graduating to help do reconstruction work and beautify the community where he grew up.

The year before last, Chen took a group of students who were about to graduate to do community service in the Chin Cheng Community in Bade City. The old community only has 100 homes and a little more than 200 residents, while each house is only around eight ping (24.4m2). Most of the residents are old veterans, families with foreign spouses and Aborigines. Chen says that he initially felt like the community was gloomy and forlorn, so he decided to take the students there to improve the surroundings, but they were only able to plant some trees and plants to make it look better and reconstruct some pavilions in the area.

With better interaction between teacher, students and residents, and after receiving NT$200,000 in donations, Chen decided to have the students use the money to enhance traffic flow and accessibility in the area so houses would be better suitable for the elderly. Although they only had enough money to do reconstruction for one home, Chen hopes they can work on at least one home every year and eventually complete reconstruction in the entire community.

(Liberty Times, Translated by Kyle Jeffcoat)