Life is better by design

When you look at your life, do you peer at the nooks and crannies that make up the base of your every day?

Internationally recognized interior designer, author, producer and TV host Mark Brunetz believes to live your best life, you need to take serious notice of your surroundings.

“I want to decorate the world with love and joy and empower people to live in the best space possible,” said Brunetz, speaker at the recent Interior Design Society National Conference held Jan. 23-25 at World Market Center. “As designers, we hold the power in our hands to change people’s lives.”

The former host of “Clean House” on the Style Network spoke of how design can turn a waiting room into an inspirational space, a classroom into an educational apex.

“Designers are the gatekeepers of that gold,” said Brunetz, creator of the charity-driven organization Design Without Borders. He has traveled the world to assist in redesigning charities, most recently to South Africa.

“They told me they had their dignity restored,” he said after completing the 10-day, two-room project for a nonprofit employment business. “We made a big difference in how they help other people.”

He values significance over stuff.

“I believe it’s everyone’s birthright that they live in a space that empowers and fosters their life,” said the busy Brunetz, who has worked in the entertainment industry for more than two decades and co-founded Fortis Films with actress Sandra Bullock in 1994.

He paraphrased Nobel prize winner Oscar Arias who said the effect of one good-hearted person is incalculable.

“I wish I could quantify that feeling of all the people we’ve touched,” he said.

To that end, Brunetz has created Design for a Difference, a free national interior design contest that awards $25,000 to the winning designer and $2,000 to four regional winners who submit an idea to make over a space for a charity and make a positive impact on their community.

“I wanted to plant a seed and have designers run with it,” he said. “We wanted to give a platform to people, to charities, to make a difference in their lives, in their community, through design.”

Design has always been important, said Thomas C. Burger, locally based owner of Zen Interiors with clients in the entertainment and sports industries as well as the late Prince Rainier III, Prince Albert and the royal family of Monaco, 100 United Nations Building in New York City and Bed, Bath &Beyond.

“Since man has been building structures, he has been using design to better his world,” said Burger, who came to Las Vegas nearly a decade ago.

He spoke at the IDS conference on the business of design.

“You are not in the business you think you are,” he said, encouraging the creative group to focus instead on marketing to further their goal of designing beautiful spaces. “Designing is an exciting business, and people are realizing once again how important design is and how it affects your everyday life.”

Burger believes your environment calls you forth.

“If you live in chaos, you are going to work late and work harder,” said Burger, who has more than 30 years experience in the design field. “You spend time looking for the shoe or sweater and it affects your life in different ways. When you don’t have a pleasing environment, it will cause you to start your day somewhat miserable.”

And on the other end of a workday, your space needs to enable you to recharge.

“When you come home at night you need to be embraced by your surroundings,” Burger said.

Design affects the way the human body reacts and how it perceives its environment.

“People think that those who live in beautiful homes and stay in five-star hotels do so because they are successful,” he said. “But really they do so because they live in beautiful spaces, stay in five-star hotels. They care about the space around them, big or small. Everything with which you surround yourself impacts all areas of your health, your wealth, your happiness, you.”

Design is simple, yet complex, and there are secrets designers understand to bring forth the best in not just a space, but that particular client’s space.

“Most people think a well-designed home reflects who they are,” Burger said. “The truth is that a well-designed home is a reflection of who you want to be and that which you can expand into.”