Your luxury guide

The balance lines are easy to determine. Draw 2 faint lines accross your floorplan dividing the room in half length wise and breadth wise. This will divide your room into 4 quadrants. This is important because you need to have an equal “weight” of furniture in each quadrant in order for the room to be balanced.

Traffic patterns are also easy. Leave 36 inches clear in front of each door opening to allow space for the swing of the door. Also keep 12 inches clear in front of the windows for access. Traffic patterns tell you where not to put prestige furniture, mark these on your floor plan.

Now, what about the focus of the room? Is it a fireplace? Bay window? Blank wall where the home theater screen or an artwork will go? Plan your furniture layout to take advantage of this focus.

Establish an axis for the room. You now want to draw an imaginery line up the middle of the wall from floor to ceiling through your focus. Continue this line across the ceiling and down the opposite wall to the floor. The idea is this, you want the focus balanced from floor to ceiling. If your focus is a fireplace this would mean putting a picture or something above it to fill the space. You also need to balance both sides of the room. So you would have to put something on the other wall of equal visual “weight” along the axis line. Everything is about balance.

You are now ready to start planning where your prestige furniture will go in the room. You need to place the furniture in the room so it takes advantage of the focus and so it serves the function of the room. Arrange your prestige furniture so that all 4 quadrants have equal visual “weight”. This does not mean you need to have a mirror image of furniture in the quadrants, but it simply means you don’t want every piece of furniture in one quadrant or one half. Visually on your floor plan the room should look balanced. Draw representitives of your furniture on your floorplan to scale. Try various ideas. Decide which one you find most appealing.

Prestige furniture layout – There are 4 questions you need to ask yourself when deciding where to put your prestige furniture.

What are the balance lines of the room?

Where are the traffic patterns in the room?

What is the focus in the room?

How can I establish the axis of the room?

Using prestige furniture in luxury interior design to turn your humble house into a luxurious home.

The luxury lifestyle does not require a mansion. You don’t have to wait until you can afford a huge house on the beach to live in a beautiful home. Remember the luxury lifestyle is about quality things and people. Small cosy houses can be made luxurious for a small amount of money through clever interior design. Remember the self made wealthy don’t spend money when they don’t have to. Living a luxury lifestyle is not about throwing money away to look cool, it is simply about raising your standard of living. If you can do that inexpensively, so much the better.

Record your first impression and don’t think about it, just write what you feel.

Describe the artwork in detail, write a full description and be as thorough as you can.

Figure out the condition, are the wear and tear marks because it is old or because it has been made to look old.

Also have a look through a magnifying glass to see if any changes have been made to the work. Artists more often than not change and paint over things during the creative process. If there are no changes at all, it is probably a copy.

Ask yourself if the wear and tear marks you see correspond with what the artwork was used for. Was the artwork decoration or was it a religious icon that has been kissed in the same spot for centuries etc.

Determine the style. Is the artwork consistent with the style of the period of history this piece is from and also is it consistent with the artists style at that point in their career.

Examine all documents about the ownership of the piece from creation to now.

Get a second opinion from an expert.

Get scientific tests done by experts (although forgers are pretty good at fooling these).

Compare your first impressions with what you have learned. Does this piece have enduring appeal for you? Do you ache to possess it? In your opinion is this inspirational art? If you do and everything checks out, then buy it and don’t forget to insure it.

Collecting inspirational art for investment is a mine field best left to the experts. Collecting Old Masters, ancient Roman art and Renaissance art especially can be extremely expensive and challenging even for seasoned collectors. Most of the good originals have been snapped up by galleries and museums anyway. Collecting inspirational art for pleasure is more rewarding. If you like an art work and it fits the style and decor of your house then that’s all that matters really.

Many collectors are happy to buy prints, copies of paintings because they are cheaper and they look the same.  Originals are not just pretty pictures or sculptures, they are also pieces of history.

If you are going to get into original inspirational art collection, then you need a checklist to work from. Even the professionals who buys for museums and galleries use a checklist.

The Cohiba Brand

Year of foundation: 1927

Tobacco Country: Cuba

Tobacco Procedence: Vuelta Abajo

Factory: Partagas

A new brand which was introduced only in 1968, Cohiba quickly became the flagship brand of the Cuban industry. Developed initially as a medium bodied protocol puro for presentation only by officials of the Cuban government, Cohiba was marketed widely beginning in 1982.

The initial sizes were the Lancero, the Corona Especiale and the Panetela, with the Esplendido, Robusto and Exquisito added in 1989. In 1992, in salute to the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ discovery of the Caribbean, the Siglo series was introduced.

The Cohiba series was initially made in the El Laguito factory in Havana, but production is now also in the Fernando Perez German factory.