HOME DECORATING Personal specifications shape design elements

A New Jersey company makes ceramic tiles from customer's designs.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
You want to spiff up your home. You'll redo your kitchen, maybe, and add color to the bath. Or bring in a new rug.
You've watched the home decorating shows. You've read the magazines, seen the catalogs and searched the Internet. But you don't want to be restricted by someone else's vision. Just as if your rooms were your wardrobe, you want to make them your own. You are part of what the Wall Street Journal says is a big trend. The newest kid on the interior design roster is the homeowner.
People are ordering their own curtain fabrics, designing their cabinets and creating images for their tiles. They can personalize the rug with the image of the family dog.
It's an idea that is broadening from the affluent world to a mid level market. Imagine Tile of Bloomfield, N.J., will make ceramic tiles based on your drawings or a photograph, for less than $75 per square foot, the WSJ says. And Home Depot lets customers customize. Its Expo Design Center charges 5 percent to 10 percent extra for a rug dyed to your specs.
Apparently, it's a backlash to the canned, packaged looks from retailers, manufacturers and television reality shows.
The danger here, of course, is that not everyone is blessed with good taste. A little professional consultation couldn't hurt.