Sex Designed: 13 Design Aspects that can Heighten the Experience of Making Love

27 Sunday Oct 2013

Posted by Michael Raun Home LLC in Changing Perception, Design, Design with Drama, Emotional Design, Empowerment, Inspiration, Life Designed, Music and Design, positive reinforcement, ROmance, Setting the Mood, Sex and Design, Sex Designed, Sexy Design

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Candles, Chandeliers, color, contrast, Curtains, Human Form, humor, Jewelry, lighting fixtures, Luxurious fabrics, mirrors, molding, Mood Lighting, music, pillows, romance, Sensuality, Setting the mood, sex, Sex designed, Sexuality, sexy, sexy design, Soft fabrics

*Please press play on the music before you begin to read!”

Candles burn dimly with a hint of Jasmine and brown sugar in the air. The room is dark with just enough light to see and caress the silhouette of a body as the intoxicating chants of India echoes in the background. The haunting vocal layered over a tribal-like bass is rhythmic and you can feel the fluid movement of your bodies. It’s warm and you feel the tug of the sheets as your feet pushes the comforter to the floor. Your hands reach out across the bed, intertwined and you can feel the warmth of breathe, breathing into the side of your neck. And then, whispered words…

You’ve harnessed the feeling and energy of your space!

Every choice we make ads to the richness and experience of life and love-making happens to be one of the great joys of living. The right design, in the right setting, with the right ambiance and the right person can set the stage perfectly, for unimaginable romance. It’s indescribable!!

We’re conscious of our sex appeal as it pertains to our physical selves but do we take the time to translate our sexuality and sensuality into our spaces?

When it comes to creating the right environment for love-making, are you secure and empowered in your sexuality, in your personal space?

Nothing makes me feel sexier than living in a beautiful space that I’ve had a part of creating. It is the external manifestation of the beauty within that positively reinforces my sense of self. If I can see and appreciate the beauty created of myself, for myself, I can be confident in just being me! The expression of self that comes through is true to my energy, fluid and consistent with my experience. For me to readily access my feelings, to genuinely express my emotions, I need to exist in an environment that empowers me to be confident in who I am.

Some may ask, how do you interpret “sexy” into a space? When we think of the human body, sexy can come from form, scale, color, texture and proportion. A room conforms to the same criteria and follows the same sensory stimuli as the human form.

A well designed room, that is authentic to its inhabitant, is like a well dressed person secure in their sexuality.

When I think of a “sexy” space, I think of aspects that pertain to texture, dimension, form, depth, volume, saturation, shape and contrast. More specifically, I think about the things I love; the things that stimulate my senses:

1. I love luxurious looking, soft fabrics that feel great against the skin and makes a space seem that more opulent e.g. velvet, silk, faux furs and soft cottons

2. I love vivid color that gives a room richness and depth. It’s amazing how beautiful everything looks in a stunning space.

3. I love soft light that projects a glow on every surface in the room. It cast the right shadows and gives the room a definite mood.

4. I love long, flowing drapes that play with volume and height and adds to the drama and romance of a space.

5. I love reflective surfaces that bounce light around the room and gives a space exponential depth

6. I love crystal and metal finishes as each can add an element of glamour to a room

7. I love the shapes , scents and colors of flowers. They bring life to a space, providing visual and aromatic appeal.

8. I love the form and texture in beautiful lamps and lighting fixtures. The right lighting can act similarly to a great piece of jewelry.

9. I love the exotic feel of patterned pillows and the depth they provide when the fabrics and prints are mixed

10. I love non-aggressive, nicely scented candles that act as a great backdrop to awesome décor. It informs the space and the moment by stimulating your sense of smell.

11. I love hearing sensual music and sounds that set the mood by relaxing the mind. They echo the design of the room and act as a liaison between the energy of the space and the energy that you embody.

12. I love intricate moldings reminiscent of another area that add to the romance of a space. If you don’t have these features, you can add them with paint or by adding molding to your walls.

13. And finally, I love a space with humor that integrates accessories that allows it to be light-hearted and accessible in feel.

A heightened state of being, where the bodies and minds are stimulated on multiple levels, can make for great sex. From the lighting, to the scents, to the colors and textures, the right design can be a catalyst to great love-making.

Find your voice, within a life designed, one room at a time!

The Art of Hanging Art

10 Thursday Oct 2013

Posted by Michael Raun Home LLC in Design, Hanging Artwork, Inspiration

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Art Deco, Hanging Artwork, Inspired Design, Midcentury, New York Design

A couple of months ago a friend and client asked me help him decorate this office. Having worked on his home earlier, I had a good sense of his taste and wanted to make his office an extension of his space at home.

He and his wife are drawn to a mid-century and Art Deco sensibility. Their furnishings embodied their style which in turn, reflected their fashion sense. They were and are a modern couple with classic tastes with a vintage feel. Nothing, to me, exemplified this more than New York City itself.

View of New York cityscape from the Office

.As I stood in his office during the consult, I remembered the expansive view of the New York skyline. Floor to ceiling windows framed the building, allowing me to see the south and east cityscape.

I always had a fascination with this urban cityscape, ever since I was a little boy. We would come to NY from Barbados, most summers, and I would sit on the chair of the L train and watch the NY skyline passing in the distance. It was magical and in the mind of a young child from a small island in the Caribbean, the city seemed like a field of shapes.

Standing in my client’s office, staring down Madison Avenue, I could not help but smile at how far I had come. I was amidst the shapes and I was going to translate New York City through the eyes of a 7 yr-old. I knew I was going to draw on the shapes of the sky scrapers to hang his artwork and I would use the Art deco feel of the buildings to inspire the look and feel of the space.

The Art Deco Style of the Chrysler Building

Where do you look for inspiration to define form and shape?

Inspiration is all around us when we’re receptive to the energy of the world. Things that exude energy are the things we’re most inspired by. In a city like New York, decorating an office space with that much exposure to the cityscape needs only to be translated as a part of its environment. I only needed to look out the window to find my inspiration.

As a designer, I usually see the world in shapes, whether it’s the circle of a lampshade or the square of a picture frame. I look to the physical environment, both internal and external, to help guide me with form. A collection of shapes becomes a bigger shape, and bigger shapes can be used to mimic patterns.

“I approach a large wall like a big canvas and on that canvas I can use any shapes to play with scale. Commit to an idea and allow that process to evolve without limitation!”

The Process: Taking Inventory and Planning

I laid out the artwork the client requested I use to hang on the walls. Each piece was square or rectangle which made it easy to imagine how I would play with shape. As my eyes moved across the room, from window to wall to window, I knew I had to hang the artwork to mimic the lines of the skyline. I needed to play with scale to capture the energy of the skyline and I could only do that by continuing the buildings from outside inside.

But what Iconic NYC building could I use as a template for hanging the Artwork?

The Empire State Building

“I began to organize the shapes to create the intended form to mimic the lines of a skyscraper.”

I had the form and I knew exactly where I was going to hang the artwork. I knew I wanted to integrate an end table into the base of the form, so I used the furniture piece as the starting point for positioning the rest of the artwork. Once it was centered to the wall space, I measured and hung the first piece.

The subsequent pieces were all hung centered to the wall, with each layer creating the framework of the building.

Once all were hung, the finished form fit into the overall look and feel of a New York high-rise office space.

When It comes to hanging artwork, sometimes thinking outside the box is the best solution. Allow your environment to inform and guide your design decisions and you’ll capture the right sensibility.

Find your voice, within a life designed, one room at a time!

The Beauty of Emotion

30 Tuesday Jul 2013

Posted by Michael Raun Home LLC in Design, Emotional Design, Empowerment, Inspiration, Language of Emotion, Life Designed, Nature, Physical World

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Connection, Creative Voice, Emotion, Finding Happiness, LIfe Designed, Michael Mclawrence, Nature, Passion

“I came into this world on the fringes, born of a broken love, marked and scared by a hurt set into motion long before my first breath.”

I was born into a struggle I could not avoid, destined to be my life’s challenge, spending each and every moment convincing myself that I am worthy, that I am good enough; good enough for me, good enough for them, good enough to have a place in this world. Thrust into a world without my parents present and accessible, I was introduced and dysfunctionally nurtured by this marginal state of being. I yearned for a sense of belonging, constantly questioning why and how, set on a journey with no map, going in no direction.

At my core was an empty spirit space, surrounded by walls built on mistrust, firmly held together by my fear of abandonment and no matter how I tried, no matter who else tried, nothing could repair the loss of that which I never had. I lived in a reactive state, with no sense of being, no real sense of self.

As a child, I imagined reality as I wanted it to be, the framework to a life built on constructs of a young mind. I found refuge in imagination, forged relationships with the inanimate and began to understand, relate to and converse with the physical world around me. Things were and just are; no pretense, no disappointment. I could understand them more than I could understand people, more than I could understand myself.

If you quiet your thoughts from all the external noise just enough to hear the physical world’s echoing voice and see its true, enduring beauty, you’ll begin to understand the language of emotion. Where people could not speak to my soul authentically with this language, the physical environment spoke to me through color, and texture, and shapes. This, I later came to realize, was and is the way through which I would speak to the world around me.

I found purpose in my passion for design, life-design; life designed. I found strength and assuredness in my creative voice. I began to feel worthy because a collective something was listening, speaking to me. I felt like I was not alone! My identity to that point was premised on who I came from, what they could not give and not on what I was born into; a world of extraordinary beauty with a higher consciousness that spoke to my spirit. I surrender to that voice!

I lived my pain, in the shadow of my self; faceless, voiceless, hiding in the shame of my parents past, limited in possibility by what I did not have. And only when I was able to find my language, to speak that language, was I able to hear my voice, resounding, loud and clear. I could intimately speak the language of my conscious self.

Underlying the beauty of things is a stream of emotion that transcends the physical and speaks to the soul. A life, openly communicating with the physical space, the backdrop to life’s experiences, of each memory, is a life that allows the world around me to speak to me, about me – “I am not alone, you are not alone, and we deserve to be here, to be heard, to be happy.”

On this journey, find your voice within a life designed, one room at a time!

michaelraunhome

Category Archives: Design

Sex Designed: 13 Design Aspects that can Heighten the Experience of Making Love

*Please press play on the music before you begin to read!”

You’ve harnessed the feeling and energy of your space!

When it comes to creating the right environment for love-making, are you secure and empowered in your sexuality, in your personal space?

A well designed room, that is authentic to its inhabitant, is like a well dressed person secure in their sexuality.

The Art of Hanging Art

Where do you look for inspiration to define form and shape?

“I approach a large wall like a big canvas and on that canvas I can use any shapes to play with scale. Commit to an idea and allow that process to evolve without limitation!”

“I began to organize the shapes to create the intended form to mimic the lines of a skyscraper.”

Find your voice, within a life designed, one room at a time!

The Beauty of Emotion

“I came into this world on the fringes, born of a broken love, marked and scared by a hurt set into motion long before my first breath.”

*Please press play on the music before you begin to read!”

You’ve harnessed the feeling and energy of your space!

When it comes to creating the right environment for love-making, are you secure and empowered in your sexuality, in your personal space?

A well designed room, that is authentic to its inhabitant, is like a well dressed person secure in their sexuality.

Share this:

Like this:

Where do you look for inspiration to define form and shape?

“I approach a large wall like a big canvas and on that canvas I can use any shapes to play with scale. Commit to an idea and allow that process to evolve without limitation!”

“I began to organize the shapes to create the intended form to mimic the lines of a skyscraper.”

Find your voice, within a life designed, one room at a time!

Share this:

Like this:

“I came into this world on the fringes, born of a broken love, marked and scared by a hurt set into motion long before my first breath.”

Share this:

Like this: