Well, it's been quite a while and I'm still unemployed, but have finally taken a just over minimum wage temporary job in an office for two weeks. I'm not used to being at the lowest level. People are treated like they're mannequins on stools. This is a very stressful job. These are like the busiest two weeks with these massive presentations and multiple copies, thousands of pages to print and collate, and a million people coming from all directions with demands. It really is work for a few people. I'll stick it out for the next two weeks, but I do have a real job interview next Monday, and it could be something better, so we'll see. Yesterday a very unpleasant woman who works there came up to me and demanded to know where Cindy (the woman on vacation) keeps her Wet Wipes because she didn't want to get any infections (although I don't think swine flu has hit this office yet). She got very insulted when I wouldn't stop what I was doing (which was critical for tomorrow) and search the cabinets. I was ready to tell her to head to CVS, but I just smiled and said I was sorry. Ahhhh. All this only happened because I went to a dermatologist before my health insurance expires and this Temp Agency was on the floor, so I went in, filled out the forms, took all the little computer tests, and they called me the next day. I guess I really didn't have a choice, did I?

Today was a little better, but I was supposed to set up an international conference call that went on all day. Yesterday I had prepared 10 300 page presentations for today's meeting. I left late, came in early today, but I don't think I get overtime. Well we couldn't get on the conference call all day. All we got was muzak. I even had lunch delivered for my empty conference room and when I finally moved most of it to the kitchen, it vanished in seconds like wolves had been let loose.

I am from Cornell University and Harvard Business School. The world wasn't supposed to be like this. I wasn't supposed to have a cheating husband, I wasn't supposed to be the sole support of my kids, I wasn't supposed to find a best friend instead of a boyfriend, I was supposed to have a white picket fence and a garden, and a puppy (which I decided to have despite all the crap going on). Thank goodness for 3dhomedecorator.com. It has kept my interest alive, I have ramped up Google Adsense to almost pay the monthly cost of the remote server, I am determined to find the key to internet success. If each of my 100,000 visitors would only spend $1 each, I would be able to survive. So please go to http://www.3dhomedecorator.com/ and donate $1.

In order to survive the past few months I have taken up dog walking, tutoring, babysitting and other miscellaneous jobs. I have bonded with all my neighbors, found out who my true friends were, played tennis with a lovely ex-governer's mother, taken up networking (which is not really my strength) and fallen in love with Bernese Mountain Dogs.

I'll write more soon. Thanks All!

This is a tough time in the real estate market. I lost my job with a national real estate developer several months ago after I had been there about a year and a half due to problems occuring in a far off city. Some bosses are ok in good times, but verge on incompetence in bad ones since they're carried along by the strength of the market. Real estate is a market where you have to be somewhat tough and lack of decision making ability and unwillingness to face issues, and hiding behind equally incompetent people, can lead to disasterous results. It's the Peter Principle, where someone rises to the point just beyond their abilities. True project management isn't about running around shaking hands, it's about figuring out how to get around the problems, certainly not easy, but hopefully doable.

Make Sure Your Design Suits You

Working with design professionals requires courage. When you are starting to design a project, whether it’s a single room or a whole house, you need to determine how you are going to use it! If you are working with an architect or interior designer, remember, YOU ARE GOING TO LIVE IN THAT SPACE, not them, so don’t let yourself be bullied into accepting something that your gut tells you isn’t going to work for you. Obviously you hire a professional because of their expertise and vision, but you have to realize that many architects design form before function or from the outside in. They design shells that look beautiful, with angles or openings or window placements that make it impossible to decorate at a later date. Interior designers try to put together a package which they feel belongs together, and you want their input, but, again, you have to live with it, so you had better like it! If you hate a color or texture, don’t accept someone’s assurance that you will like it better when it covers your furniture or your walls. If you don’t like a style or shape, it’s unlikely that you will like it anymore combined with other elements.

I am an architect whose career has been spent managing the development of rental and for-sale multi-family communities from townhouses to high-rises, as well as consulting on single-family homes. I have worked with many architects and designers and have dealt with the form versus function issue many times. When a plan is being prepared for you, insist, and I cannot emphasize this enough, that the architect show furniture on the plan, so you can see how, and if, it works.

You know how you want to live, so if you like big fluffy sofas, or a king size bed with a flat screen tv on the opposite wall, or have a baby grand piano, make sure they will not only fit in the room, but that there is a wall long enough for a bed to go on, or a space for a sofa that won’t block an entry, or a corner for a piano and its bench, and that a room can be furnished in a way that will allow you to look at the entertainment wall or fireplace or flat screen or whatever point of interest you decide. If you have a dining table and hutch or buffet, make sure they work in the room that’s being designed for them. Do not count on your architect to take into account your preferences automatically and do not trust blithe assurances that everything will fit. You are the client, you are the boss, and it is your home.
To test how things fit in a room, please visit www.3dhomedecorator.com , where you can choose a floor plan, place home furnishings, paint, wallpaper, add lights, artwork, rugs, windows, doors and more and see the results rendered in 3d images.

Welcome to 3d Home Decorator Blog

This is a new blog arising from 3d Home Decorator where I hope we can talk about issues relating to interior design, planning, room layouts, paint techniques, color choices and engage both us ordinary people and professionals to give us their opinions.