About the Author

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Lesley Weidenbener is a writer in Indianapolis and the author of www.TheDesignFile.net, a blog about contemporary interior design. Visit the blog for design tips, DIY ideas and home tours. Lesley is also a newspaper reporter covering politics and state government and spends her free time working on her small city home with her handy husband.

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A new look for your kitchen: It’s in the bag!

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Over at The Design File, we’re always looking for easier ways to make our homes look fantastic. But if you’re like me, sometimes it’s hard to get the planning going for a big home project. I have so many ideas that I don’t even know where to start.

The kelton cool palette design in a bag But designer Rebekah Zaveloff — who wrote the “Kitchen design trends 2010″ guest post over at The Design File earlier this month — has sympathy for folks like me.

It’s why she and John “Nick” Nichols, her husband and business partner, created Design in a Bag, which provides ready-made interior design recipes for your kitchens and baths that start at just $59. You can also get customized recipes starting at $159 per bag. I think it’s a really neat product.

You can see an example at right. This is the Kelton, a cool palette bag, which costs $79 and includes tile that costs $9-$14 per square foot.

And check out the amazing before-and-after kitchen below, which was created using the Burgoyne bag, a warm palette that is part of the vintage collection.

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Each bag includes several finish materials — such as tiles, cabinetry materials and counter top pieces. The bags also have four coordinating paint swatches, a standard 3-d rendering to show you where to use which materials, and a shopping list to tell you where to buy everything.

Design in a bag“Design in a bag helps simplify the incredible number of choices available to today’s homeowner beginning the kitchen design process, taking hand selected design materials and grouping them in stylish recipes which cover a wide variety of kitchen styles,” Rebekah says on her site.

“Take the design out of the bag, tack the color swatches on the wall, lean the tile against the backsplash, the countertop material on your counter, layer the cabinet material with the glass,” she says. “Experience the elements of your design in your space. Seeing is believing.”

At the Design in a Bag site, you choose whether your look is modern, classic or vintage and then you can look through a number of choices to pick your favorite. You can also shop by picking cool, warm or neutral schemes.

See some of the options above. The top row is the Drexel for $89 per bag and the Le Muy for $119. The bottom row is the La Colle for $109 and the Hazlingfield for $69. The prices vary depending on the materials included.

Or, if you’re struggling, you can ask Rebekah for help by filling out a questionnaire and providing photos of your space. Custom bags — which combine elements from several ready-made options — are also available.

It’s like getting a custom design for your home — without paying a designer price!

Want to see more great, cost-saving ideas for your home? Then join us at The Design File for posts like these:

DIY: Use grommets to turn a sheet into a curtain

Home decor trends for 2010

Side-by-side matching chairs are designer favorite

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