Karolyn Spagnolo has a puzzle to solve and she is relishing the challenge.

The Glenshaw interior designer is trying to figure out a way she can change the color on the walls and install recycled flooring on a model living space she is designing for the upcoming Designer Showcase at the Pittsburgh Home and Garden Show, which begins in early March.

Spagnolo is one of six Pittsburgh-area interior designers, participating in a designer room showcase whose theme this year is “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”. This theme was chosen to reflect the fact that people are putting more money into making their homes more comfortable than ever before, but are still keeping an eye on their
bottom line.

“The theme is a continuation of what we have been exploring for a while,” says John DeSantis, director of the Home Show, who chose this year’s concept for the Designer Showcase. “We’re trying to draw the homeowner’s attention to green sustainability.”

The designers have been given the task of not only using recycled materials in the rooms they are designing, called vignettes, they’re also being asked to incorporate various Green Design elements. One such innovation is using zero VOC – volatile organic compound - paint that dries quickly, is odorless, and emits no harmful chemicals. Basically, a person should be able to walk into a room just painted with zero VOC paint and not notice any odor at all, she says.

“This year is definitely all about green design and sustainability,” says Spagnolo, who works closely with Construction Junction in the city’s East End to find recycled materials for her clients. “It’s all everyone talks about. Can we combine function and sustainability?”

The green design building and sustainability concepts go back to the 1970s, when the environmental-protection movement first began attracting nationwide attention.
There are a variety of definitions for the “green” concept.

A green design, for example, conforms to environmentally sound principles of material and energy use. A green building might make use of solar panels, skylights and recycled building materials, with the goal of protecting peoples’ health.

“It’s really not that hard to use recycled materials,” says Spagnolo, who also handles marketing for the West Chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers, based in Pittsburgh. “It’s really caught on. I’ve traveled the country and I’ve seen it all over.”

As Janet Klosky, president of ASID’s West Chapter, says, “Our selections affect everything.”Other area interior designers creating rooms for the Designer Showcase include Megan Moran and Megan Reed of Butler, who are designing a bedroom; Joann Fullen of Joann Fullen Interiors of Penn Hills, who is designing a family dining room; Andrea Pohl of Andrea Pohl Interiors of Gibsonia, who is designing a custom kitchen, and Nancy Drew and John Gurman of Drew Designs in Pittsburgh’s Regent Square neighborhood. They are designing a media and game room. Delmont area-based interior design firm, C.J. Interiors Design Studio LLC is designing six model rooms.

“The Designer Showcase is one of our more popular features of the show,” DeSantis says. “People are literally stepping into the pages of a magazine.”

SPECIAL SPACE

Christine Jones and Jennifer Leffler of C.J. Interiors have been working on plans for the 2010 Dream Home since October. Jones says they want to give show attendees an idea of what the home of the future may look like, such as the color schemes or kinds of appliances that might be used. This future home will also utilize LED lighting that can be adjusted according to one’s taste, or mood.

“The home will have a lot of futuristic concepts like a smart counter top (with a built-in computer) that will have the ability to read the bar coding on food labels,” says Jones, who participated in last year’s Designer Showcase. “This is something that could be a reality in the next five years or so.”

“The home will be completely smart too,” she says. “You can walk in the door and the temperature and lighting
will automatically change. Again, we want people to be able to see what could be available in the next five years.” To make the model home more real to Home Show attendees, Home Show officials have hired actors to occupy
the space.

LED lighting will be installed throughout the model home, which allows people inside to literally change the color of a room by simply flipping a switch. “This kind of lighting was only available in commercial or high-end homes,” DeSantis says. “Now, it’s moving into the residential market.”

The kitchen will feature cabinets made by Poggenpohl, a German manufacturer of high-end cabinetry and black Cambria counter tops with a broken-mirror finish. Instead of a traditional refrigerator, the kitchen will have built-in refrigeration columns throughout the room.

The home theater room features a large-screen television. During the Home and Garden show, this space will be occupied by a teenaged actor playing video games. When a point is scored, Jones says, the entire room will light up and fill with sound. Cardello Lighting, Keystone Premium Flooring, Audio Communications in Monroeville, Hillman Appliance in Cranberry, and Lit Design, an Ohio-based supplier of Lighting all helped in the design
of the room.

In the master suite, there will be his and hers Kohler showers, a soaking tub designed by Outlaw Studios in Pittsburgh’s Strip District, and a meditation area with a working waterfall. The bedroom will have a simplistic look, with lots of silk. The only exception is a six-foot headboard on the bed, which Jones says
she added to give the room “a
little drama.”

The centerpiece of the living room is the fireplace, which has a waterfall flowing over its top. The idea behind this is to give the living room “a fire and ice look,” she says. “We want people to come into the space and say ‘look at this’ and ‘look at that’,” she says. “We want them to
be wowed.”

In addition to the teenaged actor, there will be an actor and actress portraying a married couple as well. The actor will be in the kitchen cooking an actual dinner, while the actress will be in the master suite. All three performers will be in character and will be able to explain how the various appliances work.

“We last hired actors for our model home at the 1989 show,” DeSantis says. “The theme year was 2039 and the home was a condo on the 45th floor of the U.S. Steel Building, which had been turned into condos. We decided to bring the actors back this year.”

FREE CONSULTATION

As it has done during the previous home shows, the West chapter of ASID will have interior designers available for free 15-minute consultations. Home Show attendees can come in with color swatches or blueprints and ask any of the interior designers at the show a design-related question.

“The number one goal of most any homeowner who works with an interior designer is to do it right the first time,” says Spagnolo, who has been an interior designer for 13 years. “With these consultations, we tend to get average, everyday people. I’d say eight out of 10 of our consultations during the show are for design. The rest involve space planning, or kitchens. I’d say most of the rooms I am asked about at the show involve kitchens or bathrooms. Everyone has a question.”

In most cases, ASID’s “Ask a Designer” consultation lasts longer than the allotted 15 minutes, says Spagnolo, adding it’s a great way to generate new business. In fact, through the previous “Ask a Designer” consultation, Spagnolo began working with a married couple who owns a luxury home in the Cherrington residential development in Moon Township. She ended up helping the homeowners redesign their master suite, game rooms, and family room.

“We all work well together and people coming to the show get to see an array of workmanship,” says Spagnolo. “It’s a great way to meet clients.” Jones agrees. “This is a great way to show our work, meet potential clients and answer questions,” she says. “It’s a lot of work.”

The Home Show, sponsored by Duquesne Light Co., is scheduled for March 5-15 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Downtown Pittsburgh. More than 350,000 are expected to attend the 10-day event, which will have 15,000 venders, making it the Pittsburgh area’s largest home show. NH