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CNN Saturday Morning News

Interview With Vern Yip

Aired July 05, 2003 - 09:40   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: How about this, giving your room a new look without spending a whole lot of money? Seems impossible, doesn't it?
Well, get out a pen and paper, because I think you're going to get some tips that you're going to like from our well-known designer, Vern Yip.

KRIS OSBORN, CNN ANCHOR: Well known he is, very popular show. He should look familiar to all of you fans of the TLC show, "Trading Spaces."

Vern's here to talk about three definitions of style. And it's like speaking Greek to me when (UNINTELLIGIBLE), OK? So I'll 'fess up right here, I know nothing. So help us out, help me out.

VERN YIP, INTERIOR DESIGNER: Fredricka and I are coming over to your house...

WHITFIELD: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

YIP: ... afterwards.

WHITFIELD: Right.

YIP: We're attacking your place next.

Well, you know, with this Stainmaster Guide, we really wanted to sort of target the three sort of prominent design styles that people are really finding themselves in today. And that, you know, those categories really fall into the traditional, the contemporary, and this new category that's really emerged over the past, you know, several years as being probably the most popular, which is transitional.

WHITFIELD: Is that simply because you can do anything? You can put any kind of style into transitional? You don't have to commit to a theme?

YIP: Well, it's not a free-for-all where you can basically do...

WHITFIELD: Yes, well, it sounds good to me.

YIP: No, yourself, then. But it is a lot more accepting of the fact that today, we're not really asking people to peg themselves in one particular vein all the way through like we used to. It's not your mom's version of traditional, where you go a furniture store and you buy the whole furniture set, or it's not the contemporary, where it used to be very, very cool and sort of cold.

All of these design styles are extremely warm. You want your home environment to sort of reflect your individual personality and for it to be a welcoming environment.

WHITFIELD: So you're kind of suggesting to people that, you know, you really need to be led by what it is that you like. And then look for a bargain, because how are you, you know -- everybody thinks they know what they like, but then once they start seeing the price tags on it, et cetera, they can't really achieve that, so they end up with what I would call transitional, which is, you know, kind of a hodgepodge of everything. But you're saying, really, that's not it. It's a creative look.

YIP: Well, it is to a certain extent. What you really have to be careful about, whether you're working with a small budget or a large budget, is, you always want to invest in quality. You want the things that are in your home to have a certain level of quality. Otherwise you find yourselves continually replacing those items over and over.

So you start with the room as a canvas, where you pick your wall color, but you also have to remember to address the ceiling and the floor. And you invest in quality materials in both of those arenas, as well as the walls. So you really have those six surfaces to think about.

And then after you've established that canvas, what you really do is, you begin to color it in with things that reflect your personality a little more, whether it is traditional, whether it is contemporary, or whether it is transitional, which really means the ability to sort of inject your individual personality into a space.

So you can have things that are from other cultural influences. You can have, you know, your mom's antique piece in with, like, a little more of a modern couch.

OSBORN: What if you just like tons and tons of stuff, and you don't have room for it all, and it all just kind of (UNINTELLIGIBLE) masses there, you know?

YIP: Well, then we tell you to go get a storage area.

OSBORN: Part of (UNINTELLIGIBLE), part of it is like using space well.

YIP: Absolutely. You want to make sure that even if you have tons of stuff, that not all is out at the same time. It's very difficult to kind of see what goes on in a space if it's all cluttered. And so in all three of these styles, we sort of push the idea of editing a little bit, so that when you come in, you can kind of understand what it is that's in the room.

And it's really more about the people in the room, and not necessarily about the things that are in the room.

WHITFIELD: All right. Well, you know, when I look at a room and I -- or I look through magazines and say, Oh, I really like this idea, I like the way this looks, when it really comes down to it, I don't know where to begin. Do begin with the paint, you know, the wall color? You were mentioning you want to put all these things together.

Or do you just start looking for small individual pieces, or those great investment pieces, and work around it? Where do you really begin?

YIP: You really begin with injecting things in the room that represent you and things that you love. And people ask this question all the time. You know, if I'm starting in a room, and I have to pick a paint color, you know, should I do that first?

It's really wiser to start picking things that are a little more limited in color range, and then picking a paint that will go with that. For example, it makes more sense to pick your carpet first or to pick your upholstery first, your sofa or your throw pillows, your drapes, because you're going to be a little more limited. And then you can go ahead and pick the paint to support that.

WHITFIELD: Great.

OSBORN: My cat is the king of my apartment.

YIP: We should do the place around your cat.

WHITFIELD: Oh, that would be fun.

OSBORN: Because I'm worried, I don't know what nice furniture necessarily is. But I'm worried about having any, because I (UNINTELLIGIBLE), I'm not going to declaw him. He's just a -- you know, he's a panther. You can't do that.

YIP: That's right, that's...

WHITFIELD: So (UNINTELLIGIBLE) knotty, knotty fabrics, I guess, (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

OSBORN: Yes.

YIP: All right. Vern Yip, always good to see you. Thanks very much.

YIP: Thank you. Nice to see you guys.

OSBORN: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired July 5, 2003 - 09:40   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: How about this, giving your room a new look without spending a whole lot of money? Seems impossible, doesn't it?
Well, get out a pen and paper, because I think you're going to get some tips that you're going to like from our well-known designer, Vern Yip.

KRIS OSBORN, CNN ANCHOR: Well known he is, very popular show. He should look familiar to all of you fans of the TLC show, "Trading Spaces."

Vern's here to talk about three definitions of style. And it's like speaking Greek to me when (UNINTELLIGIBLE), OK? So I'll 'fess up right here, I know nothing. So help us out, help me out.

VERN YIP, INTERIOR DESIGNER: Fredricka and I are coming over to your house...

WHITFIELD: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

YIP: ... afterwards.

WHITFIELD: Right.

YIP: We're attacking your place next.

Well, you know, with this Stainmaster Guide, we really wanted to sort of target the three sort of prominent design styles that people are really finding themselves in today. And that, you know, those categories really fall into the traditional, the contemporary, and this new category that's really emerged over the past, you know, several years as being probably the most popular, which is transitional.

WHITFIELD: Is that simply because you can do anything? You can put any kind of style into transitional? You don't have to commit to a theme?

YIP: Well, it's not a free-for-all where you can basically do...

WHITFIELD: Yes, well, it sounds good to me.

YIP: No, yourself, then. But it is a lot more accepting of the fact that today, we're not really asking people to peg themselves in one particular vein all the way through like we used to. It's not your mom's version of traditional, where you go a furniture store and you buy the whole furniture set, or it's not the contemporary, where it used to be very, very cool and sort of cold.

All of these design styles are extremely warm. You want your home environment to sort of reflect your individual personality and for it to be a welcoming environment.

WHITFIELD: So you're kind of suggesting to people that, you know, you really need to be led by what it is that you like. And then look for a bargain, because how are you, you know -- everybody thinks they know what they like, but then once they start seeing the price tags on it, et cetera, they can't really achieve that, so they end up with what I would call transitional, which is, you know, kind of a hodgepodge of everything. But you're saying, really, that's not it. It's a creative look.

YIP: Well, it is to a certain extent. What you really have to be careful about, whether you're working with a small budget or a large budget, is, you always want to invest in quality. You want the things that are in your home to have a certain level of quality. Otherwise you find yourselves continually replacing those items over and over.

So you start with the room as a canvas, where you pick your wall color, but you also have to remember to address the ceiling and the floor. And you invest in quality materials in both of those arenas, as well as the walls. So you really have those six surfaces to think about.

And then after you've established that canvas, what you really do is, you begin to color it in with things that reflect your personality a little more, whether it is traditional, whether it is contemporary, or whether it is transitional, which really means the ability to sort of inject your individual personality into a space.

So you can have things that are from other cultural influences. You can have, you know, your mom's antique piece in with, like, a little more of a modern couch.

OSBORN: What if you just like tons and tons of stuff, and you don't have room for it all, and it all just kind of (UNINTELLIGIBLE) masses there, you know?

YIP: Well, then we tell you to go get a storage area.

OSBORN: Part of (UNINTELLIGIBLE), part of it is like using space well.

YIP: Absolutely. You want to make sure that even if you have tons of stuff, that not all is out at the same time. It's very difficult to kind of see what goes on in a space if it's all cluttered. And so in all three of these styles, we sort of push the idea of editing a little bit, so that when you come in, you can kind of understand what it is that's in the room.

And it's really more about the people in the room, and not necessarily about the things that are in the room.

WHITFIELD: All right. Well, you know, when I look at a room and I -- or I look through magazines and say, Oh, I really like this idea, I like the way this looks, when it really comes down to it, I don't know where to begin. Do begin with the paint, you know, the wall color? You were mentioning you want to put all these things together.

Or do you just start looking for small individual pieces, or those great investment pieces, and work around it? Where do you really begin?

YIP: You really begin with injecting things in the room that represent you and things that you love. And people ask this question all the time. You know, if I'm starting in a room, and I have to pick a paint color, you know, should I do that first?

It's really wiser to start picking things that are a little more limited in color range, and then picking a paint that will go with that. For example, it makes more sense to pick your carpet first or to pick your upholstery first, your sofa or your throw pillows, your drapes, because you're going to be a little more limited. And then you can go ahead and pick the paint to support that.

WHITFIELD: Great.

OSBORN: My cat is the king of my apartment.

YIP: We should do the place around your cat.

WHITFIELD: Oh, that would be fun.

OSBORN: Because I'm worried, I don't know what nice furniture necessarily is. But I'm worried about having any, because I (UNINTELLIGIBLE), I'm not going to declaw him. He's just a -- you know, he's a panther. You can't do that.

YIP: That's right, that's...

WHITFIELD: So (UNINTELLIGIBLE) knotty, knotty fabrics, I guess, (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

OSBORN: Yes.

YIP: All right. Vern Yip, always good to see you. Thanks very much.

YIP: Thank you. Nice to see you guys.

OSBORN: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com