Articles

With the growing popularity of bread-making at home, more people are exploring how to craft high-quality, healthier bread right in their kitchens. A well-designed kitchen doesn’t just look great; it makes each step in the baking process smoother and...

Healthy eating starts with daily habits, but the design of a kitchen can either support or hinder those habits. A modern kitchen equipped with the right appliances and organized for easy access to healthy foods makes it easier to prepare and enjoy...

With open-plan kitchens so popular, has the classic kitchen triangle had its day?

I am thrilled to have been featured in the recent InRegister article on the bathroom in Zsa Zsa Gabor’s Palm Springs home. As the founder and lead designer of Ourso Designs, I was honored to share my thoughts and insights on the design of this...

We wanted to take some time to recognize one of the greatest American architects to ever live, Frank Lloyd Wright. You might have heard of him before, but not everyone knows he was, and continues to be, one of the most important American architects....

Real Renders: 3rd Edition

We are back again with another round of Real Renders! This is our favorite series where we feature computer renderings from some of our current or recently completed projects. Creating these renderings is the best way to...

In the past, the easiest way to incorporate a feature wall into a room was to paint it another color. Now we are seeing this exciting trend of incorporating three-dimensional tiles, panels, and accents to draw the eye to a space. These designs...

As we begin to dive into the summer months, people are beginning to spend more and more time outside. Warmer weather and longer days are the perfect combination to set the stage for an outdoor evening. We are seeing more and more people wanting to tr...

This beautiful home built in the 1980s/1990s had the traditional segmented home with the kitchen separated away from the living room. Due to the load of the existing loadbearing wall, structural beams were added for support. These beams are not...

The beauty of mosaic tiles is one that has stood the test of time. This classic style is one that can easily elevate the design of any space by adding color and visual interest. The days of limiting the amount of mosaic tile in a space are gone! Now...

We are back again with another round of Real Renders! This is our favorite series where we feature computer renderings from some of our current or recently completed projects. Creating these renderings is the best way to help our clients better...

Green. Green. Green. Purple.

Heading into a new year, we always like to take some time to check on industry trends we are expecting to see this year. In particular, we love to browse paint company's colors of the year. This year a lot of these...

What. A. Year.

Every year we like to take a look back and share our most popular blog content in a ranked list. Not only is it a fun tradition but it also gives us as well as our audience a chance to see what kind of content people enjoy.

Remodel...

This home had great bones to work with. It just needed some updating to fit with these clients’ personal design styles. In the kitchen, they liked the wood look of their existing cypress cabinets but didn’t love the finish, so we decided to...

In the interior design industry, design trends are constantly coming in and out of style as people's preferences change or as knowledge of materials change. However, there are certain design aspects that have gone out of style and have been deemed...

The name A. Hays Town is famous among the southern design community as the architect whose distinctive design style truly embodied the spirit of classic Louisiana architecture. In his almost 80 year career, Town excelled in the commercial industry...

Long gone are the days of rattan being described as dull and dated. This material and style of weaving are making a HUGE comeback. Years ago this texture was primarily used for outdoor furniture and became a staple of oceanfront home furnishings....

We are so excited to announce that Ourso Designs has won the bronze award for an Addition less than $250,000 in the 2021 Qualified Remodeler's Master Design Awards! In partnership with Frank McArdle of Big River Construction and Anne McCanless of...

Owner, Richard Ourso, loves any opportunity to add character and more modern pieces to complement the old traditional elements of his A. Haystown style home. This area of his kitchen originally housed the traditional 1990s style desk area which was...

Soffits lowering ceiling heights and walls creating compartmentalized spaces left these clients with a closed-in, not very functional kitchen. Our first priorities were to remove these dividing walls to create a more open space and also remove the...

Are your windows giving you what you want but aren’t looking their best? Are you wanting more out of your window treatment without them being sort of, blah? Here is what you need to know about the different window treatments and what options are out...

Back in May 2021, we featured this project in a blog post called Real Renders where we showcased a few projects at the completion of the design process but construction was not yet completed. We are so excited to finally share the completed project.

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Bigger. Brighter. Busier.

The maximalist design style is loud, composed of mixed patterns and excessive, but curated collections and saturated colors. Maximalism encourages utilizing your space in the boldest way possible. It's all about design and...

Summer is the perfect time for indoor plants. Plants are great additions to your home no matter the size. Whether you have a green thumb or never have been able to keep a plant alive in your life, there is a plant out there you can use to add some...

During the reign of King Louis XVI, taste began to change from Rococo style, which was known for heavy ornamentation and curved lines, to Neoclassicism, featuring clean and straight lines. Louis XVI style was the last stage of the baroque style and...

This client’s home had great bones to work with, but also had a few things that made their kitchen less functional. Their main issue with the space was that their cooktop was located on the island, and since the island wasn’t very big, it limited...

Calling all of our at home baristas and bartenders...this one is for you! Adding in a home bar has become such a fun addition to a person's home. Whether you are a coffee connoisseur or a wine aficionado, there is a home bar that can work best for...

There are many different options when it comes to choosing the perfect flooring for a space. Some people prefer tile floors while others like traditional wood floors. While different options work best for different people, there is one type of...

Computer rendering is an often-overlooked step of the interior design process. By entering a space's measurements and materials into a rendering program, we are able to get a photorealistic view of how a space will turn out. In this article we will...

This client previously trusted us with redesigning their kitchen and asked us to tackle their master bathroom next! Originally, their master bath was not the most efficient. There was a large linen cabinet that took up a lot of valuable space. The...

The unseen key to an expectional kitchen.

Between a well-organized pantry and an efficient kitchen, your cooking, cleaning and coffee-making becomes effortless.

Placement

Where the pantry is located depends on the design of the kitchen and the...

Master bath wet rooms are growing in popularity and it's easy to see why. Eliminating bathtime barriers and emphasizing simplicity can enhance your open floor plan and make your self-care days even more relaxing. A wet room is essentially a curbless...

Ever since humans discovered fermentation, people have experimented with new methods of brewing, bottling, and storing their alcoholic beverages. As our technology and tastes evolved, so did these methods. (Mostly) gone are the years of keeping wine...

“Less is more.” This is a quote that can be applied to any number of situations where simplicity equals success, but it was German-American architectural pioneer Mies van der Rohe who said it first. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, born in Germany in...

Throughout this year, we have begun to notice more and more designs incorporating curved furniture. We love this trend because it ditches hard lines and angles that sometimes create a sense of rigidity and separation. Instead curved furniture, when...

The main goal of this remodel was to go from closed off and dark to open and bright. To better utilize this space, we also modified it to include more storage. The angled island made navigating the kitchen difficult. We reconfigured it to be parallel...

Working from home is more common than ever, but putting together a home office isn’t always easy. It’s a delicate balance of comfort and efficiency. Your home office needs a degree of separation so you can focus and eliminate distractions. On the...

History Lesson: Alvar Aalto

Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto was a Finnish architect, furniture designer, and city planner who was known for his distinctive mix of modern refinement, domestic materials, and personal touch in the details of it all.

His first...

Entertaining family and friends is a favorite pastime for these clients, but having a closed floor plan prevented them from doing this efficiently. Our top priority was to open their home and create more space for entertaining.

A beautiful...

These clients have a beautiful, contemporary home built in the 1980s. A home that’s style has withstood the tests of time. After nearly 40 years in the home, the clients wanted to rework their master bathroom into a space that kept the house’s...

A traditional countertop design extends the lip of the countertop just a few inches beyond the edge of the actual counter. A waterfall countertop continues the past the edge of the counter, vertically down to the floor, extending the material to all...

A Bathtub IN the Shower? Not something you see everyday! This small bathroom renovation includes a large shower unit that houses a full standing shower with a separate bathtub.

The champagne gold color of the faucet is repeated in the hardware on the...

2 teens sharing one bathroom? Not ideal! These clients wanted to provide separate bathrooms for their children so they rerouted their original master bath to their daughter's room and created an addition to house their new master suite.

This new...

Almost two years ago, a client contacted us about remodeling a home near LSU's campus. They wanted to turn the home into a tailgater's paradise, the perfect spot for friends and family to gather each Saturday ahead of kickoff. We teamed up with Frank...

Sleek, white cabinets meet vibrant pops of color and a butcher block counter tops. The blue paint color provides a contrast with the wood on both the floor and the island counter top.

Together the clean, white cabinets and the large, gold pendant...

We were so happy to be a part of this new build alongside R&B Renovators in the recently-minted Long Farm subdivision. In our space planning, we wanted to bring some cool Acadian style to this home, while incorporating some of the farmhouse elements...