Organize, Shmorganize…DECORganize

Organize,
Shmorganize…DECORganize
How the DECORganize Method was Born and How You Can Use it to Transform your
Home without throwing everything out and still end up with gorgeous living space!
By Rivka Slatkin
What’s Inside
Table of Contents
Part I.
Organize, Shmorganize…DECORganize
Chapter 1. The DECORganize Method
Chapter 2. It Sounds too Easy, how does it really work?
Part II.
DECORganizing Every Room in your House
Bonus #1- The A to Z Quick DECORganize Reference Pak
Plus Over 77 Practical Ways to Decorate and Organize your Home
NOW
Bonus #2- How to Decorate like a Celebrity
Part I- Organize,
Shmorganize…DECORganize
The DECORganize™ Method
Chapter One
How the DECORganize Method was Born
Sort, purge. See, store. Quantify, qualify, sort purge. Sound familiar? If
you’ve read any organizing books in the hopes of getting organized, no
doubt you have read “sort and purge” over and over again. Or qualify and
quantify. Or any other variation of going through your stuff, getting it all in
one place, and then deciding what to do with it.
The problem with the traditional methods of organizing is that it leads to
burn out. That’s right, if you’ve ever worked with a professional organizer
before, you know that organizing is a really strenuous and exhausting
practice. Each item has to be gone through and the inevitable question of
“Do you want this?” is asked many, many times throughout the organizing
project.
Another problem for many with the traditional “Sort, purge” organizing
formula is that for many, the room or project at hand does not stay
organized. It’s hard to keep up with the constant influx of stuff, and you
haven’t worked with a professional organizer in a while…and…and…and…
Many people start working with a professional organizer and then freeze
the project because the questions and the purging just get too difficult. In
professional organizing land, these people are known as the “Chronically
Disorganized”. There is a National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization
and the goal of the group is to educate professional organizers on how to
get through to these frequently backsliding clients.
But the main problem with lasting organization is that if you are creative,
most likely, you cannot get organized the same way others do. That’s
because you need beauty in your life.
You’re in luck! A new method of organizing is born! My method is called
DECORganize. I formulated it after working several years with a long-term
client/friend. This woman could not even throw away her child’s scribbles.
Nada. One day, my client decided she wanted to do a little decorating.
Some curtains, some color, etc. She would call me to look at paint samples
and I was happy to oblige, although I didn’t see what this had to do with
organizing, frankly!
After a while, this client had added the touches to her home and invited me
to see them. I was completely astounded at the transformation of her
home! Where was the clutter? It used to be that the clutter was falling out
of her closets, children’s books that she couldn’t part with were filling up
her bookshelves, stashes of old kids toys were being saved “just in case”,
etc, etc, etc. The clutter was gone! She had a yard sale for charity and sold
all of the kids toys and books, something she would NEVER do when I was
working with her, and her place was simply elegant.
I asked her what her secret was. She told me that when she started making
her house beautiful, the rooms were becoming special- and “sacrosanct”,
was the word she used. Since her home was now beautiful, she didn’t want
to clutter it up again!
I began doing this with all of my sentimental clients who were previously
unable to get organized. Decorating and rearranging first, and then
organizing, hence the name DECORganize ™.
The method may seem quite backwards to the traditionally organized
person, but if you are traditionally organized, you probably aren’t reading
this book (unless you are a professional organizer ☺
I am still amazed when I think about my client. This was a person who
would definitely be considered “chronically disorganized” struggling with
disorganization for more than 10 years. But because she is CREATIVE, she
needed beauty to get her started on the road to organizing.
And so, my formula was born. I worked it on another client. A woman
whose kids were all grown and had all of the Parenting magazines saved
from when they were little, crying over every one because she had wanted
another child after her 3 and never did have one. She wanted to save
birthday cards from people she didn’t even remember who they were, a
very sentimental woman. After feeling frustrated and sad seeing her so
distraught over her items and the stuck energy that was permeating the
room, I suggested we do a “blitz”. I said, “Let’s rearrange the furniture of
your bedroom and make it gorgeous, and see how you feel afterwards.” We
both needed a break!
We emptied the room enough so the furniture would have room to be
moved around, shifted the position of her bed and other furniture-giving
her master bedroom a more romantic feel with the king sized bed now
resting under the window in the center of the room rather than off to a
corner, where it was before.
We finished moving things around and she loved it! Then I said, “Okay, let’s
get the boxes of clutter back in so we can decide what to keep and where
things should go.” She said, “OOOOOhhh no you don’t! I’m not bringing
those boxes of clutter back in here! It’s going to mess up my room!”
Do you see where I’m going with this? My sentimental client, who had
previously been unable to part with ANYTHING, was now telling me that
she didn’t want any of her stuff back in her room! Either she would look at
it later, or just dump the whole lot of it into a garbage can, she didn’t care!
I believe that DECORganize works best for people who are creative. People
who are sentimental, love beautiful things, the dreamer, the nurturer, who
surround themselves with meaningful things. If you’ve been able to get
organized using basic supplies from office supply stores, that’s great! It just
doesn’t work for us creative types.
Yes, I’m a creative type too! I love beautiful things and if I see something in
a store and I don’t get it the first time, most likely I will go back to get it
after thinking about it the whole night long.
I’m not sentimental though and that’s probably why I’ve been able to get
by with using traditional organizing methods all of these years.
I can fully empathize and understand why it is so hard for many people out
there (you are definitely NOT alone) to get organized. You are beautifully
creative! You love to dream up ideas, nurture your family, and reminisce.
Because you are beautifully creative, you’ve got to work with beautifully
creative things too if you want to be organized!
You can’t just put your mail in a plastic tray, it’s got to be a textured woven
basket with a beautiful fabric liner, or a wall hanging wrought iron 3 tiered
wall envelope. Magazines in a beautiful rack not an industrial looking metal
holder! Do you see where I’m going with this?
Here’s how DECORganize ™ works in a nutshell.
Clear out the area you wish to decorganize. Literally, put things in baskets
or boxes to get them out of the affected area. Shift your furniture into a
better arrangement. Look in magazines to come up with a fresh look. Once
your bones of the room are set, start putting back your best things. Only
put back the best. You’ll worry about the other stuff later. Well, actually
you might not after seeing how great your room looks. But I guarantee you,
after putting back your best items, you are going to go through the rest of
the clutter a lot faster than before. And yes, you will be doing the
traditional sorting and purging but it will feel a lot more purposeful and you
will work through it all very quickly. Hence the title- How to get organized
without throwing anything out!
That’s the DECORganize formula in a nutshell. Decorate first, and organize
later. You don’t have to hire a decorator although you can. Most likely you
have an eye for décor since you are creative. You can certainly hire a
decorator or interior designer, or a field that I am personally interested in,
interior rearranging. Interior rearranging is the art of decorating with what
you already own, pulling pieces in from other rooms in your house and
using them to complete the project at hand. Interior rearranging is also
known as “One day decorating” or “Instant Makeovers” because most of
the time, custom furniture and other treatments are not being ordered and
waited for 6 weeks at a time. Beautiful items can be purchased from home
decorating stores and that makes interior rearranging a lot faster and
affordable than conventional interior design. If you are not on a budget and
in a hurry to get organized, go with an interior designer. If you are, look for
someone that does interior rearrangement.
Chapter Two
It Sounds Too Easy, How does it really work?
How does DECORganize actually work?
Where do I put my stuff in the meantime?
What do I do with all of the stuff afterwards?
I know that you may have many questions about DECORganizing. After all,
nothing in this world is that easy. This Chapter will address questions that
may come up when learning about how to DECORganize.
What supplies do I need to DECORganize?
Here’s what you need when you DECORganize:
1. An empty area or room to temporarily house the objects from the
room you are currently working on
2. boxes or laundry baskets to transport clutter out of the room
3. A rough plan for furniture rearrangement
4. Furniture sliders
Where do I put all of my stuff in the meantime?
You do need to have another area to temporarily put all of the clutter you
are moving out of the room you are DECORganizing. That stuff might stay in
that secondary area for a day or two, so make sure you are not time bound
about when you need that room next. On second thought, maybe you
should be time-bound so you’ll be motivated to finish the job to its
completion! Give it a thought.
When you have that secondary area available, you’ll need laundry baskets
or boxes to put all of the clutter into to move it out of the room you are
working on. Surface clutter on your dresser, coffee table, or dining room
table, for instance. Put that all into the baskets and boxes and move them
out of the room. All of the clutter on the floor? Pick it up and into a basket
it goes. You are going to be emptying that room down to the furniture.
How do I come up with a new furniture arrangement?
Here comes the fun part! You can rearrange your furniture and furnishings
in a whole new way, creating a magazine look for your room.
Here is what you need to take into consideration when thinking about
potential furniture rearrangements.
1. Establish your Focal Point
Your focal point is the first thing people see when walking into the room. If
you walk in the door and see straight to your kitchen, you need a focal
point on that far kitchen wall. If you walk into your living room and see your
fireplace, make sure there is a nice piece of art, or an interesting collection
of candlesticks on a shelf, anything that draws your eye up and around the
fireplace.
Designate one focal point for each room. Your seating arrangement should
be directed towards your focal point. You wouldn’t want your back to the
fireplace if it is indeed the focal point of the room. And, never block your
focal point!
Decide to decorate your main wall. Or give credence to an architectural
feature of the room such as an entryway, by hanging drapes and tying them
back to that entryway which you are facing.
Your TV should not be your focal point. If it is the first thing you see,
disguise it in a large attractive armoire. Or put it next to your main focal
point like your fireplace. Your kids toys, coats, file cabinets, laundry lines,
the toilet are all NOT focal points. If you are seeing these objects when you
first walk into a room, change your focal point! Put a low cabinet with a tall
vase of beautiful flowers opposite your entryway. Or put your bed with a
beautiful headboard or picture above it opposite your door. Focal Points
are probably the number one most important rule in interior design.
2. Inspirational Object- for this step, have a hunch about what you will
be putting back into the room.
For instance, you know your $8000 painting is certainly going back into the
living room during the DECORganize transition. The next thing to know is,
what colors are in your inspirational object. Allow no more than 4 colors
and 3 patterns in a room. And that, my friend, is what we will rearrange and
decorate your room around.
If we did not pick an inspirational object, your room might result in
mismatched colors, objects, and look cluttered. And we DECORganizers do
NOT want clutter!
The inspirational object does not have to be large- you just have to really
love it.
In one client’s home, the family did not have ONE object that they loved.
There was nothing they bought together that was sentimental, or
considered beautiful. It was like pulling teeth. I had nothing to work with!
Then, I looked at the hallway floor, which was an old kind of tile in brick
red, marine blue/green, and black. I said, “That’s it!” There is no way the
clients were replacing this floor and it was quite colorful!
We decided to keep a lot of their existing furnishings, like the neutral
brown sofas, but pulled out turquoise and red from the room; adding a few
throw pillows, and framing some artwork they already had in frames and
mats from our color scheme. The result? Gorgeous! We also added a
gorgeous area rug that pulled in all of the colors. Area rugs are wonderful
because they can be focal points as well as the one item you need to pull it
all together. This rug really did pull all colors together (the brown, marine
green, brick red, and black). It was the finishing touch!
Once you select your inspiration object, then you can go scavenging
around the house for other objects that will work will in your room.
Believe it or not, that old bed frame sitting in the garage might be just what
you need in your DECORganized bedroom. Or your antique mirror and
grandmother’s couch could compliment the room better than the modern
pieces that you currently have in the room.
3. Traffic Patterns
You never want to block a natural opening like a door or window. It just
would not feel right and is not good feng shui. In addition to considering
the natural traffic patterns from a door or window, you want to consider
the invisible traffic patterns that go on.
For example, do you always come into the house and turn on a light, put
your keys down, and go for the TV? All of these are considered traffic
patterns. If you put a large sofa in front of the light switch and blocking
access to things that need easy access, one of your traffic patterns is now
blocked.
Plan your room rearrangement around objects that drive traffic patterns,
like windows, light switches, and whatever you use frequently- such as the
TV.
It is possible to change traffic patterns, and this is a fine solution, as long as
you are not asking too much of yourself and others. I think it would be hard
to expect someone to have to bend or crane his or her necks to watch TV
because you decided the TV looks better on a different wall. Keep it
natural. (And don’t worry about carpet stains when you move pieces off of
them. You can always hide them with an area rug.)
Or, you wouldn’t want to rearrange a bedroom and have to pry open the
closet doors because you decided the bed would look better partially in
front of the closet. Accessing the closet is a necessary traffic pattern, keep
it open.
Allow adequate space between pieces of furniture.
You don’t want to hurt yourself when trying to get through a room. I’ve
heard people say, “Oh this x,y,z sharp object looks so good on that wall, it is
fine, no one will hurt themselves on it” only to find themselves bumping
into it in the middle of the night.
If you must close off one passageway to a room, make sure there is another
route to get from room 1 to room 2 to room 3.
4. Respect the architecture of the room
If you have a large room that is very wide, it might work better if you treat
it as two rooms. It may not have an actual wall going down the middle of it,
but it won’t look right if you treat it as two rooms.
It took me years to figure this out in my own home. I have a living room
that is very wide. About half of the room is on one side of the door, and half
of it is on the other side. For years I wondered what didn’t look right about
the room. I had a conversation area on the left side of the door and
continued the conversation area to the right side of the room. People
would have to sit straight up in their chairs if they wanted to hear what was
going on in the other half of the room.
Finally, it dawned on me to treat my large room into two rooms. I put all of
the conversation pieces on one side of the room, and then put my piano
and one chair with an armoire on the other side of the room. I used the
back of one sofa to divide up the living room from the dining room and
turned my piano perpendicular to the door to draw an invisible wall for the
second “room”.
Look at your room and decide if it would be right to create an invisible wall
by using a piece of furniture. If your living room and dining room flow into
each other, create an invisible wall by using the back of a sofa. Or pull a
bookcase out into the center of the room to divvy off that other area. A
screen works nicely too.
5. Potential Furniture Arrangements
Here’s an article from Home Decorating for Dummies, talking about
potential furniture arrangements for bedrooms. It will give you ideas and
decorating principles you can apply to any room!
The bed is the key piece of furniture in any bedroom, and it naturally
becomes the focal point. Bedroom furniture is traditionally arranged
according to a few general rules. For the most part based on common
sense, here are some general guidelines for you to follow:
•
Traditionally, folks tend to place a double, queen-sized, or kingsized bed against the center of the wall opposite the main door to
the room. With this arrangement, the headboard is the center of
attention as you enter the room.
If the dimensions of your room prevent you from positioning your
bed on the wall across from the door, other possible choices depend
on which walls are long enough to accommodate the bed. Diagonal
placement works well when you have the space.
•
Do not place a bed under a window, if the window will frequently
be open. Open windows can create uncomfortable drafts. Positioning
a bed between two windows, however, works well.
If your home is air-conditioned or heated year-round and the
windows are seldom open, you may be able to ignore this rule.
•
Do not place the bed where it obstructs a door into the room or a
walkway through the room.
•
Consider nontraditional furniture arrangements if doing so will free
up space or use space in a more interesting way.
For example, a bed may look dramatic placed in front of a secure
window; on a diagonal, which takes up extra space; sideways along a
wall, to maximize floor space; or in an alcove (a technique called lit
clos).
If your closet is large enough and you'd like to free-up floor space, put
your chest of drawers inside your walk-in closet. Doing this will let you
add additional pieces of furniture, such as a writing desk, a seating
group, or a big screen TV, to transform any bedroom into a luxury suite.
Make sure you have a guest bed for occasional sleepovers. A trundle
bed, which neatly stores a second bed beneath a regular one, is the
ideal solution for children's rooms.
Bottom line? Move Your Furniture Away From the Walls. And start with
your heaviest pieces of furniture. In your bedroom that would be your bed.
In your dining room, your dining room table. In your Kitchen, your kitchen
table. In the living room, your sofa. Consider these pieces your anchors.
Start arranging your furniture in the center of the room or around your
focal point. It’s not about spreading out the furniture to fill up a room.
Create vignettes of pieces in different areas, ideally in “3”s for maximum
fullness. Start with your major conversation area, then your secondary one,
then your eating area, then your craft area. Pull all of these areas out away
from walls.
•
Don't be afraid to place furniture on an angle if it looks and fits better
in that position. A conversation area placed on the diagonal in the
middle of the room is different and fun.
•
Pull your sofa away from the wall and put a long table behind it for
the placing of interesting accessories or plants.
•
If the room is large or a long rectangular shape, divide it into
separate areas and set your furniture arranging for different activity
areas such as reading, game playing, or TV watching.
•
Once you have your “anchor” in the room positioned opposite your
focal point, add your additional objects in close proximity to the
anchor. Additional seating should seem as part of the sofa grouping.
Coffee tables and lamps included. Otherwise, each piece would seem
to be in an island of its own. And, think about it this way. If your
other chairs and additional seating is far from the sofa, you’ll have to
have screaming matches every time you are saying something. Not
pleasant!
5. Good Lighting is worth everything
If a room doesn’t have good lighting, I tell people, that is the NUMBER ONE
reason why it gets cluttered up. Because no one can see where things go
and it is so unpleasant to be inside of it, items get dumped in it quickly!
Good lighting is a must!
Put lamps everywhere you can. On an end table, console table, on the floor
wherever! And use the lamp as a focal point for the table. Create a
grouping around the lamp in an odd number. Consider scale: you wouldn’t
want a lamp that was too tall surrounded by teeny tiny picture frames. That
would just show a lot of empty space between the groupings. Surround the
lamp with items of varying heights. Just make sure you ADD ENOUGH
LIGHTING!
6. Scale, Proportion and Balance
I just mentioned a little bit about scale to you in number 5 when talking
about creating groupings around a lamp. It’s important to think of scale,
proportion and balance when you are DECORganizing any area.
In one clients home, I dressed up a series of windows with long silk
draperies. After I was finished, the client thought they were beautiful, but
something was not right. I told her it was due to the fact that there was
nothing that felt of similar “weight” on the other side of the room opposite
the window. That was due to the fact that we had ordered tall bookcases
and they were not yet in. Once the bookcases were put on the wall
opposite the draperies, the room looked balanced.
Consider this for any space. You wouldn’t want to put a teeny tiny object on
a large bulky console table. Or a tiny chandelier above a huge table.
Color and pattern also affects the feel of balance. If you have a dark sofa
and on one side of it have a light table and on the other have 2 dark brown
smaller tables, the side with the darker colors is going to feel heavier and
out of balance. This also applies to a large colorful piece of art opposite a
white empty wall. Stand in your room and see if it feels balanced on all
sides. Play around with your arrangement to make sure it feels balanced.
Remember, think in terms of creating groupings throughout the room. Not
one object here and one object there. Work in odd numbers and if you are
working with objects of different heights, go down from one object to the
next in small-ish increments. No sudden drastic drop. (A table with lots of
candles, graduate slowly down from the tallest to the next)
Got your new room rearrangement in your head? Great job! That was the
hardest part.
7. Decorating Styles-Because the goal of this section is to assist you in
picking a “look” for your room that you are going to DECORganize,
you must know a little bit about decorating styles to determine which
one you love and want to apply to your home.
A very basic list of styles which stem from culture and time period are:
• Formal
• Contemporary
• Casual
• Traditional
Read over the following information, and notice which picture pulls you in.
Formal
For an Elegant and Luxurious Interior
If you love the look of elegant Ritz-Carlton hotels
or public buildings such as the White House,
you're probably drawn to their formal style of
decorating.
In a formal style interior, a central focal point draws the eye. Objects are
also more ornate and gilded.
Highly polished woods, glistening mirrors, luxurious and sensual fabrics,
sparkling crystal chandeliers and wall sconces, carved mirrors, oriental rugs,
highly polished brass hardware, gold-leafed accessories, tassels and fringe,
oil paintings, dramatic draperies with valances, leather and porcelain
accessories, and antique furniture are all elements of a formal interior.
Contemporary
Be Right Up to Date
Current, modern, of today, right now. If
that sounds like you, then you might like
a contemporary style of decorating.
Fundamentally, simplicity, subtle
sophistication, texture and clean lines
help to define contemporary decorating on the table.
Neutrals, black, and white are the main colors in contemporary interiors.
So if you love neutrals, you will mostly likely prefer the contemporary look.
In contemporary interiors, less is more. Each piece stands out as individual
and unique.
Smooth, clean, geometric shapes in black, white, or other neutral tones
will give you the contemporary look you want. A black sofa with a neutral
wall color and a sisal rug under a wicker coffee table adds textural appeal.
Contemporary pieces are simple and uncluttered, without curves or carved
details. That means exposed legs, no skirt, trim, fringe, or tassels.
You can always add a splash of color in one or two pieces or in the carpet
on your floor.
Since you are using materials like metal, stone, and opaque or clear glass,
you’ll want to keep adding texture whenever you have the chance to warm
up the space.
Don't clutter the room with collections or too many pieces. Open space is
just as, if not more, important as the pieces
you put in the space.
Casual
The Focus is on Comfort
Do you long for a casual style room that is homey, warm, comfortable, and
inviting? Who doesn't want to be comfortable in their own home?
Avoid perfect symmetry. Details are simple, and elements are rectangular
or softly curved and have a touch of whimsical.
Use an old or reconstructed birdhouse or wooden candlestick for a
centerpiece, stack pieces of old luggage for a side table.
For special accents on the table, add ruffles, pleats, buttons, ribbon, or
cording. Contrasting colored details incorporate the full range of colors in
the room.
In the dining room, pieces are often long, large, and horizontal, rather than
vertical and tall and petite. Tables are chunky and of a large scale, which
gives a comfortable feeling, while providing space for storage and
spreading out. This helps to create a restful look.
A dining room decorated in a casual style is the perfect place for found
items of wicker, iron, and rattan, or flea market finds. Old antiques fit in
well.
Light woods are often used for furniture pieces and wood flooring. Oak and
pine are the most popular, either painted or finished with a flat, low luster
varnish to protect the grain.
Hammered iron, antiqued brass, wrought iron, porcelain, or carved wood
are used for the hardware on doors and drawers.
Collections of treasured or found items are often arranged to add the
casual look. The shelf of a bookcase or corner tabletop is the perfect place
for an arrangement of treasures.
Window coverings are simple (not dressy) with a touch of whimsical. Add
a simple swag of fabric or fabric tie-backs if you must.
Rooms decorated in a casual style have light fixtures made of wrought iron,
tin, pewter, or wood. Simple chandeliers look old in wrought iron or
antiqued metals. Or electrify a hanging pan rack or hang a rack of antlers.
Keep in mind that a room decorated in a causal style should be:
•
comfortable, homey, welcoming, and sturdy.
•
Fabrics should be soft and textured.
•
Furniture is long, overstuffed, and low.
•
Surfaces worn and rugged.
•
Accessories are old and rustic.
•
A touch of whimsy is in order.
Traditional
Traditional style interiors are
comforting and classic. You may
have grown up in a home that was
decorated with traditional style
furnishings.
There is nothing wild or chaotic in
a traditional room. It is calm,
orderly, and can be somewhat
predictable.
Furnishings might look a bit outdated to some, while others will enjoy an
interior that embraces the benefits of classic styling.
Symmetry is very important in traditional decorating.
The dining room in a traditional home is generally a separate room, often
with some built-in corner cabinets for china storage. A large area rug sits on
top of a hardwood floor. The table is rectangular with a set of matched
chairs placed evenly around the perimeter. A matching sideboard, buffet,
or china cabinet is centered on one wall.
Traditional dining rooms can show off a variety of china, glassware, and
silver. Plates might be a classic gold-rimmed style or a simple floral design.
Use either beautiful tablecloths or pretty fabric placemats and napkins.
Whew! Congratulations on reading through all the material above.
Consider yourself a graduate of Decorating Styles University. Now that you
are familiar with decorating styles, you can actually label the pieces in your
home that you love according to a decorating style. You won’t make new
purchase mistakes because you know what your decorating preferences
are.
Do you love your ornate, crystal glasses with the gold rims? After reading
the Formal section, could you attribute your love of your crystal glasses
with a leaning towards Formal style decorating?
Now that you know which decorating style you prefer, you can start
DECORganizing. You are going to pull everything out of your cluttered space
and then put back the “best” or the most relevant items- meaning, any
item that complements your design scheme can go back into your room.
Copying a magazine picture or pretty catalogs is very motivating and gives
those of you that think you don’t have an eye for design, something to start
working with. All you need to do is find a picture that resembles your room
and literally copy that arrangement! Sounds iffy to you? It doesn’t have to
be. After all, that is why decorating magazines are produced. To inspire and
motivate you to create a home that gives you the same feeling as that
beautiful picture did. It’s that simple.
Okay, I’ve got my idea, now what?
Once you have an idea for how you will move your furniture, pull out your
furniture sliders (available at any house wares store) and start sweating!
The reason I say “idea for how you will move your furniture” instead of
having an official furniture-moving plan on graph paper is that I know you
are creative! Sitting down to draw out a furniture arrangement plan on a
piece of paper goes against your grain and just doesn’t feel creative to you.
Eyeball the room, think about what makes sense, look at pictures in home
decorating magazines, and try it! I like to keep it simple and if you have
your furniture sliders, it will not be too hard to shift the arrangement
around a second or third time.
What do I do with all of the stuff that is sitting in baskets in the other room
now? How does it actually get organized?
After your furniture is rearranged, go into your secondary area and see
what is worth granting a spot in your newly designed room. That old stuffed
pig? Does it really warrant going into your clean, clutter free, gorgeous
bedroom? Maybe it does if you prefer a “country” look! Those candles?
Those could go very nicely in a grouping of 3 on a shelf in your bedroom.
Only put back the best and what complements your design scheme most
accurately. You’ll worry about the other stuff later. Well, actually you might
not after seeing how great your room looks. But I guarantee you, even if
you can’t just light a match to all of the boxes of your stuff in the secondary
area, you are going to go through it a lot faster than before. And yes, you
will be doing the traditional sorting and purging but it will feel a lot more
purposeful and you will work through it all very quickly.
When you think about what to put back into a room, ask yourself- Do I have
too many categories of things in this room? Does it make sense to have the
sports equipment in the hallway? Technically, perhaps it does, but is my
hallway big enough to support another “category”? It’s enough to have the
shoes, umbrellas, coats, mail, keys, and library book returns. Can the sports
equipment go elsewhere?
It is helpful to make a short list of all of the activities that are happening in
one room. Julie Morgenstern, Oprah’s Professional organizer, recommends
having no more than 4-5 activities going on in each room. After all, for each
activity there are lots of things that accompany it requiring room for
storage.
Can I go shopping now?
Traditional organizing methods tell you not to go shopping until you know
what you have. That makes sense to you, right? If you went out to purchase
a sock container before knowing how many socks you actually have, they
might not all fit into the container and you will have to return it. Or, if you
purchase a bookshelf for your children’s books without seeing how tall your
books actually are, you many find that the bookcase was not the right
purchase for that purpose.
Yes, you do need to see how much of an item you have before purchasing a
“container” to house it all. When you DECORganize, you take care of this
step since you have emptied the project area and are then putting back the
best items, seeing how much of everything is left after weeding out the
items that no longer serve you well and putting back the rest! Say you are
DECORganizing a bathroom. You’ve removed the expired medicines and old
makeup. You’ve put back the best makeup and the potent medicines. Now
you can go out and purchase a beautiful makeup tray or medicine basket
because you have an idea of how much you actually have.
The bottom line is the while DECORganize is definitely quicker and
different than the straight laced organizing methods, most of the
organizing principles are still put into practice and none of the steps are
skipped. The difference is that your room is also now decorated instead of
just organized. And the process takes a whole lot less time than usual,
perfect for the fast-paced, sentimental, dreamy, beautiful creative person!
Part Two- DECORganizing Every Room In
Your House…What Everyone Wants to Know
Introduction
Your Options
Congratulations! You’ve made it to the meat of the book. In this section
you’ll find decorative suggestions for how to store and organize every room
in your home. I’ll start with a few organizing principles and rules that will
make the job of picking containers out easier and we’ll go from there.
Debbie Williams, in Home Management 101, provides the 4 basic storage
choices that exist no matter where you live or how big your space is. These
are the only options you have for storage so when you are standing in the
store thinking, “How should I store my toilet paper?” you’ll immediately
know what your options are.
The 4 storage options are:
1. Hang it up
2. Put it in a drawer
3. Store it on the Floor
4. Shelve it
No matter what you are dealing with, your tea pot collection or your
daughter’s barrettes, your papers to file or your mail, ask yourself- Do I
want to hang this up? Put it in a drawer? Store it on the floor, or shelve it?
These 4 options will ensure you don’t get too stuck in the guessing game for
how to organize, something that might not yet feel natural to you.
Now that we know what the 4 storage options that exist anytime, anyplace,
anywhere, and anyhow, let’s begin by going through room-by-room and
pausing at the “sticky” spots of each room where clutter really tends to
accumulate.
You already know what you first have to do to fix the room at hand, and
that is DECORganize. Take everything out of the area, make it beautiful and
pleasing to you by putting back the best, and ignoring the rest by going
through it later.
The following will be suggestions for how to make each room beautiful,
getting very detailed with practical storage suggestions.
The Entryway
You’ve already taken out the clutter. Now it’s time to spruce up your
hallway so you never want to clutter it up again!
Lighting
I always start with the lighting. Poor lighting is the number one reason for
disorganization. After all, if you can’t see well, you might as well just stash
clutter around because it’s not a pleasant room to be in anyway!
Look through design magazines or go to a home store to pick yourself out a
beautiful new light fixture. Or, if you already have one you love, put in the
highest wattage bulbs your fixture will allow. Shine it, polish it, maybe even
paint it, and then put it back up. What a difference it will make!
If you do not have an overhead light fixture, either hire an electrician to put
wiring in and pick the fixture of your choice, or be sure to put in several
floor lamps or wall sconces that provide a lot of light.
Mirrors
Hallways tend to be narrow spaces, so you’ve got to think of ways to get it
to look bigger. A nice antique looking mirror right across from the door or
even to the side of the entryway will reflect whatever light is available to
you. If you do not want to purchase a very expensive mirror, go to an arts
and crafts supply store and pick up glass mirror squares. Glue them onto
the wall in rows or perhaps in a diagonal pattern, like the one illustrated
below.
Figure 2
Figure 1
courtesy of Ballarddesigns.com
It doesn’t have to be expensive, both pictures you can create yourself.
Mirrors do make a huge difference and not only are they pretty and reflect
light well, but how practical are they in a hallway when you are running out
the door or wondering if you are having a bad hair day.
We’ve been talking a lot about beauty, though, understand that
DECORganize never sacrifices functionality. Before purchasing a beautiful
table or other piece of furniture, ask yourself what the storage capabilities
of that unit is. A console table under the mirror in the hallway? Perfect.
Does it have drawers for keys and gloves and scarves, even better! Is it
open without drawers? No problem. Measure the open spaces in the unit
to know if it can be filled with a basket.
Mail
A client of mine had no room for her mail. She bought a beautiful
handpainted cart with no drawers or cabinets. No worries! We purchased 3
baskets for her to have on the cart, one for incoming bills, one for medical
reimbursements, and one for “to-file”. Beauty is never sacrificed for
Function and vice versa.
Beautiful way to store mail. Of course
you can certainly use the sorters that
office supply stores have and mount them on the back of a door, but it’s
not as pretty!
There are less expensive wrought iron mail sorters on the internet, do a
quick search if you enjoy this look.
Photo courtesy of Charles Keath
There are so many floor options for storing mail in a piece of furniture. It’s a
great idea to have about 3 categories for mail: bills, to file, and medical
(items requiring action I like to keep in a planner) and place them in
baskets. The baskets can go inside of a piece of furniture or even on top of
the piece itself.
Of course you need to have some place for paper to go after it is
considered “mail”. Read the section on Paper.
Shoes, Hats, Bags
What else do you need room for in the hallway? How about shoes and hats,
gloves, scarves, diaper bags, umbrellas, whew! But you are only putting
back the best. So start taking out the matched sets of hats and gloves that
you love. Forget the itchy, mismatched, too tight ones. Those guys aren’t
worth the room!
Do remember the 4-storage option rule. Hang it, shelve it, store it on the
floor or in a drawer.
You can install several towel bars going down a wall and place hooks that
have clips on the bottom (available at any Target) to clip onto gloves, hats,
scarves, etc.
Or, you can purchase a wall hanging piece that has hooks on it to hang your
accoutrements from. However, most ready-made pieces of furniture with
pegs on it, don’t provide enough pegs. A pegboard will work nicely as well,
depending on your taste you can go modern to contemporary. Showing
your hats and gloves is probably not a go in a formal entryway. You choose
based on your style preference.
If you like, hide it all! Not everything has to be out and displayed. There is
always the closet option for storing your hats and gloves. They can be
inside a drawer of a rolling cart or hanging on the back of a closet door in a
shoe organizer. A bench with storage is also an option.
Which of the 4 will you pick? Any of them can beautiful the hallway.
Whatever you pick should really work around your natural habits. Don’t
start forcing yourself to store things in ways that are complicated, make
them beautiful and obvious.
For example, if your living room is right near the front door, keep an
armoire or cabinet near the entrance to put kids artwork and homework or
backpacks in. You are keeping the clutter out of the living room yet it a
logical and attractive spot.
One word of caution: before you go out and by art or collectibles, keep in
mind that a lot of the things you have can actually be turned into art. Do
you have masks from a foreign country? Kimonos? Blankets? Tapestries?
Hats? Purses? Dolls? Hang them on the wall or from the ceiling! Don’t buy
any more tchotchkes!
As I mentioned above, there are so many home decorating magazines that
you can find with pictures that look exactly like the room you are working
on. Find one that reminds you of your space and duplicate it as much as
possible without buying things until you have exhausted everything you
own. Does that Better Homes and Garden’s picture show a Mexican style
rug in the foyer? Do you have one you can put down under a beautiful
round table? You just might, in another room! Find everything that could
possibly go into your room at hand and then stop. Enjoy the clean space,
add a few plants, and love your newly organized hallway.
The Living Room
The Dining Room
Are you using your dining room? So many people rarely use their dining
room and so it ends up as a room stuck with all sorts of clutter! If you are
not using the dining room, I would suggest using it for other purposes. It
can have the looks of a dining room, and can easily disguise other functions
you may decide to add such as an office.
Should you do this? Well, take a look at all of the stuff that is currently in
the dining room! If there are a lot of work papers and family papers on your
dining room table as there are in most homes, go with your natural
tendencies and do go ahead and create a multi-purpose dining room.
DECORganize it first, though.
Your Table
You’ve taken everything out of the dining room except for the large pieces
of furniture. Including your table. Know that in a small dining room,
especially one that opens up into another room, your table does not need
to be in the center of the room. You can push it up against a wall or even
touching the back of a sofa, when your dining room and living room are
one. This will give you more floor space for the kids to play or for you to use
portable, rolling carts designed for a multi-purpose dining room.
If the table is not in regular use, take out the leaves and keep only 4 chairs
around it. You can replace the chairs with benches, tucking the benches
under the table when not in use and using them for other things when
needed such as extra living room seating or even hallway assembly lines for
backpacks, etc.
Buffet, Server, and China Cabinet
Because all of the pieces in a dining room are heavy, assess whether you
need all of your furniture pieces. You will know the answer to this question
when you start putting only the best items back into your dining room. Do
you really use all of those glass shot glasses taking a front and center role in
your china cabinet? Could you house your china in your kitchen cabinet or
pantry, freeing up floor space? Could you mount a shelf or folding surface
on the wall to serve upon instead of a server? Or put two nightstands
together to create a server?
After putting back your best linens, tableware, etc, you may find that there
is extra room! Tuck away a rolling file cart for papers that you can shove
under your dining room table when someone knocks on the door. Or use
some of the drawers in your hutch for sewing supplies.
Look at what you naturally do in the dining room and create a good looking
space for it. Add a rug from another room under your table if you like, hang
pretty window treatments, dust off your chandelier, and keep the rest of
the room empty of clutter. Take whatever things that are being stored in
the dining room and maximize their ability to decorate the room.
Candlesticks, linens, plates are items that need to be stored and can also
compliment your décor. Stacks of plates, groupings of candlesticks, and
folded linens in a stack on the bottom of a bakers rack looks great and gives
you functional storage.
Area Rug?
I often get asked if there should be an area rug underneath the dining room
table. The answer is that it depends on your lifestyle. If you are someone
that will vacuum after every large meal, go ahead and place an area rug
down. When doing so, make sure the chairs fully rest on the area rug when
they are pushed underneath the dining room table. When the chairs are
pulled out from under the table, make sure at least the front chair legs rest
on the rug. Without adequate coverage, your rug will look skimpy
underneath the dining room table.
Rugs are not necessary yet are often times a very good way to tie
everything together. Do get one that is big enough to be placed under a
table or sofa or choose a smaller one to go in front of the sofa, indicating
that it’s small size is not a mistake.
The Bathroom
The bathroom is one of my favorite rooms in the house! Please don’t get
grossed out! I mean that because I love pampering myself with creams,
lotions, masks, makeup…the list goes on. Bathrooms can be so beautiful.
Take everything off of the countertops, in the cabinets and drawers and put
it all away for now. Start with a fresh, clean slate. Wipe down the now clear
areas.
What’s next? You’ll never guess. Change the lightbulbs. The bathroom is
one place you really need to see what you are doing. In addition, a
bathroom that is airy and well lit is lovely. Put in fluorescent, white light
bulbs that give you the most light possible.
Window treatments
Assess the current window treatments you have in the bathroom. Should
they be considered among the things that are “best”? Do they go along
with the “feel” you’d like? A white roman shade is always nice in a
traditional bathroom. For a more rustic feel, white metal blinds are fine, or
do without the window treatment and stack packing crates around the
window for privacy as well as providing storage.
Makeup and Cosmetics
It’s my guess that if you are someone attracted to the DECORganize
method, you probably also love pampering products. Designate space for
these products. Don’t clutter up the countertops with them.
You can:
• Put them in drawers with premade drawer dividers, or make your
own by gluing lace against the inside of a drawer in a wavelike
pattern. You will be able to stick in bottles in the billowing out of the
lace.
• Stick them in baskets on a bakers rack
• Skirt the sink and store under the sink
• Put an attractive armoire or recycle a vintage cabinet in your
bathroom to use as instant storage
• Build drawers and cabinets along the walls in your bathroom
Do you have a nook to sit down in your bathroom to apply makeup? Set up
a rolling cart with a tablecloth over it. Place down a piece of mirrored glass
and keep your perfume bottle out, with your makeup brushes in an
attractive holder and perhaps a few necklaces. Find a chair from another
area of your house or an ottoman to sit on when applying your makeup.
Shower Curtain
Choose the longest shower curtain you can find. If you can put the shower
rod towards the top of the ceiling, even way above your shower and hang
the curtain from it, your bathroom will appear larger. You can hang a
mildew liner inside of the shower with real fabric hung on the outside.
Doesn’t have to be a sticky vinyl shower curtain that is saying, “I’m a
shower curtain.”
Coordinating Bathroom Sets
You are no doubt learning much about design through the DECORganize
method. You are starting to gain confidence about your decorating skills.
No longer do you have to match the toilet seat cover, to the bathroom mat,
to the shower curtain, to the toothbrush holder.
Get creative! Your wastebasket can be one kind of material, your bathroom
mat a bamboo mat, your shower curtain a rich piece of fabric. Put back the
best things and pull things from other rooms. Display your figurine
collection on a shelf above the toilet. Use wall space. Hang large pieces of
artwork.
Turn the bathroom into another beautiful room in your home. Why not
hang a gorgeous piece of art in the bathroom? Been to a salon that you
love? Ask them for their paint chips and look at the combination of textures
that are in the bathroom. I can assure you they don’t have furry mint green
covers on their toilets! You get the idea.
If you have to have toys in the bath, close the curtain. If you don’t have
enough room in your cabinets for toiletries, buy yourself good looking tote
bags or baskets to hang from hooks or stack on the floor near your makeup
nook. Pamper yourself.
Linen Closet
Yes, you must DECORganize the linen closet! Because if the linen closet is
full to the brim, where will you have room to put things away? Empty it out,
and put the best things back. Treat yourself to nice towels, don’t put the
old ones back. Yes I know, some members of the family insist (ahem!) that
the old ratty ones are most comfortable!
You can also fold towels and display them on shelves above the toilet in
piles freeing up some of your closet space.
If you have a freestanding bathtub, install a shelf or two above the bathtub
on the wall, as well as above the door. Utilize those shelves for storage.
There is nothing wrong with displaying what you will actually be using as
part of your décor. Even your toilet paper ☺ Anything looks nice when it is
clean and uncluttered so put smaller, easy to lose items in attractive boxes
or clear jars. Everything else can be folded, stacked, or lined up in a savvy
arrangement.
The Office
The only way you are going to keep a home office organized, is if it is
decorated beautifully. That’s right. It just gets too hard to keep all of those
papers together if your office just seems so unexciting.
Make your home office blend in with the rest of your home décor. If your
home is a country looking home, you can use a heavy oak kitchen table as
your desk with an antique desk lamp on top and wood crates for containing
your files and papers. Or, in a traditionally designed home, an office with
wood blinds, a Persian rug, and statues and artifacts collected from trips all
over the world cleverly displayed will never give you a clutter problem
again!
Clear it all out, even the paper, and give your office the respect it deserves.
Turn it into a work of art. The office is a great place to hang extra pieces of
art that you may have never found a place for. Instead of hanging pictures
one by one, hang a large grouping together and turn it into a wall of fame!
Filing System
Is it possible to DECORganize paper? Yes, I know it is possible to have a
filing system or paper management system that is just so attractive, it
organizes itself! Do you remember the feeling of the first day of school,
when you had your new school supplies and you wanted to write as neatly
as possible?
That’s the feeling you’ll have when you set up 1 filing system that is
attractive, clear, labeled, and easy to work with. My favorite home filing
system is a system called File Solutions. You can get it when you contact me
through my website www.organizeanddecorate.com.
Labels are color coded, ready-made, and easy to find because each section
corresponds to one of the following 4 categories- Personal, Financial,
Insurance/Taxes, and Lifestyle. I know “chronically disorganized” clients of
mine who have been consistently following this system for several years.
Purchase it, set it up, and then begin putting your best papers back. Sound
familiar, right? The essence of DECORganize.
You can store your files in many different ways depending on aesthetics
and practicality. Like I mentioned before, if you really enjoy an American
Country look, find yourself a wooden file cabinet or use 4 milk crates for
each of the 4 different categories. If you prefer a more contemporary style,
use a metal rolling file cart. In a traditional office, the file drawers could be
part of your traditional desk or in sturdy leather portable file boxes.
Book storage, magazine storage and reference material also belong in an
office and find yourself the “container” that works best in your décor to
keep these items. You know what I mean, don’t you? A wooden bookcase,
fishing tackle box or antique mirrored medicine cabinet for office supplies,
a Shaker style pegboard, or a metal magazine rack-what’s your decorating
style? Choose one and go with it.
Bedroom
While I’d love for you to cut out a picture of a bedroom that tickles your
fancy, even when you start JUST by clearing out your bedroom of all the
clutter that has amassed in your room, you will be AMAZED by the results.
It is enough of a “look” to have your surfaces clear of clutter! The
decorating will certainly come next even if you don’t have your inspiration
piece quite yet.
After you clear out your space, what to do? Make your bed, assess your
artwork, and make some immediate rearrangements to your bedroom.
Bring in a large piece of art or some romantic sculpture to place on your
dresser or behind your bed.
Start clipping pictures of new bedspreads or if you have several quilts that
would look great together, cultivate a new look.
You are going to have to sort through your clutter eventually to decide
what goes back in the bedroom, but enjoy the clear space for a few
minutes!
The Closet
When you are ready, start with what category seems most manageable to
you. The clothes? Go through which clothes make you feel phenomenal!
Not what is:
• Stretched out
• Stained
• Pilled
• Worn looking
• Ripped
• Or misshapen
Get rid of the wire hangers. Decide to store your clothes in one primary
way, meaning hanging or folding. When you have some things that are
folded, some in drawers, and some hung up in the closet, it is too hard to
remember what is where. Decide to hang everything up with the items that
really need to be folded put into a drawer or even folded over a hanger.
One really interesting idea is to remove unsightly or dysfunctional closet
doors and replace them with floor to ceiling Oriental Shoji screens and hide
everything! Your TV, shoes, clothes, seasonal items, clothing, luggage. Or,
simply remove doors that don’t work well for you with beautiful drapery
that is tied back or easier to access bifold doors.
Everything else that doesn’t belong
I like for people to also assess whether or not they have too many “zones of
activity” going on in their bedroom. Nowadays, too many activities are
“resting” in the bedroom that do not even belong there! Paperwork?
Computers? Treadmills? Dirty Laundry? None of these promote romantic
thoughts or action so get them out of the bedroom! Find somewhere else
to do your paper and computer work! Wouldn’t you rather have a nice cozy
chair with an ottoman where you could sit down and read or put your feet
up and pamper yourself? That fits into a bedroom much more so than
office work.
The following list are areas in the home that particularly need focus. If
you want to DECORganize, cut out a picture in a magazine that inspires
you.
No matter what your motivation is for organizing, a lot of your housework
can be put on autopilot, if you create a spot for each of these items.
1. Mail- Establish a place for incoming mail and outgoing mail. For
DECORganizers, I like to keep a designer picture box with my stamps,
envelopes, tape, scissors, a couple of pens, and whatever else I need to
send letters. For incoming mail, you can keep a tiered tray with different
categories to look at a later date-bills, medical reimbursements, to file.
Frequently check the tray to see when anything is due.
Keeping your mail in one location prevents paper pileup.
2. Receipts and coupons- establish a system for receipts. You can use an
expandable check file and label each section according to store, credit card,
or type of purchase. Think about where you would look to find it if you
needed it.
3. Library books/movies-keep anything you can incur a fine for in one
location. For DECORganizers (People that want to organize and decorate), I
like to use a wicker basket or planter near the front door.
4. Magazine basket-keep magazines in a basket and when it gets too full,
sort and purge. There are many aesthetically pleasing boxes or bins to hold
magazines. It doesn’t need to be from Office Depot.
5. Keys-keep your keys in one place! It may sound obvious to you but do
you waste time desperately searching for your keys? Put a nice bowl on a
console table near the front door and always keep your keys inside.
6. Gifts-I like keeping extra gifts on hand for those last minute necessities.
This may sound terrible- but I also keep gifts that I receive (that I don't
particularly like) in this location. I do not allow my home to become
cluttered with gifts I did not like and the guilt that goes along with not using
them. Devote a bookcase or a few closet shelves for this purpose.
7. CDs/DVDs-believe it or not, I have seen media take OVER much floor
space and counter space when no specific place is designated for it. Devote
one piece of furniture with drawers to contain all of your media. You can
use a storage ottoman or specialized media cabinets. You can even take an
old shutters, mount them on the wall, and use the slots for CD storage.
8. Notebook- get all of your thoughts down on paper. Seriously, if your
mind keeps racing with what you need to finish, then you have not fully
figured out what your next action steps need to be. For my creative people,
buy a beautiful journal. Get rid of the mental clutter that occupies your
head.
And, establish these routines.
9. Grocery shopping and cooking-Keep a running grocery list on the front
of your pantry or refrigeration (with a pen!) so you can write down items as
you need them.
Plan one day a week to plan all the meals for the week with the ingredients
that you need. Be sure to add those ingredients to your grocery list.
Designate the same day each week to go grocery shopping.
10. Laundry and Cleaning routines-One of the most important routines is
the laundry and cleaning routine. Part of it is just having the supplies on
hand and a comfortable spot to do the laundry.
Designate 2 days a week to do laundry or if it works better for you to throw
a load in each morning, that's fine. Make sure you have laundry baskets in
everyone's room and a large sorter basket in the laundry room. That way,
each person can bring their basket into the laundry room on laundry day
and sort it by color. Or, have a laundry sorter on the main floor and every
morning have everyone bring down their laundry.
In terms of a cleaning routine, you have a lot of flexibility. You can
designate one day a week for cleaning in addition to cleaning for a 1/2 hour
every morning and evening. Think like a restaurant server-pick up after
using, wash dishes, wipe down dirty surfaces often. That way you will not
need a heavy duty cleaning too often.
Your laundry room can also be a room to DECORganize. There are so many
lovely pictures of laundry rooms now in magazines. The key is comfort.
Good lighting, a rug for your feet, a bowl to collect trinkets in pockets,
artwork, and whatever else will make you feel better about doing the
laundry.
Bonus #1
The A to Z Quick DECORganize
Reference Pak
Plus
Over 77 Practical Ways to Decorate
and Organize your Home NOW
Attic
Turn your attic into a store. Create aisles out of shelves. Give your store a
name and limit what you “sell”. If your store “sells” Christmas decorations
and memorabilia, you know your extra fans and humidifiers don’t go up
here.
Bookcases
Move all of your bookcases together to create a library. To give yourself a
built-in look, butt two freestanding bookcases together in a corner. Treat
your bookcases as storage AND an opportunity to decorate. Your books
themselves can be decorative focal points. Arrange the books, containers,
and baskets by color.
Closets
If your whole house needs to be organized, I like to start with closets. Or
even a shelf in the closet. That’s because if your storage spaces are clutterfree, you’ll have some room to move things too when you are organizing
the rest of the house. If you want to inspire yourself with a “designer-look”
custom closet, Rubbermaid Configurations (as mentioned by my website) is
the only closet with adjustable shelving and closet rods. No cutting wire
shelves or measuring mistakes. So to start your closet organizing project,
empty everything out of the closet, sort through your clothes, purge the
ones that are out of style. And then put your newly selected wardrobe in
your designer closet. Trust me, you’ll be motivated to keep this closet
organized.
Double trouble
Have fun with spaces that can serve more than one purpose. Get a kitchen
table with a wine rack as a base. I love storage ottomans also. Anytime I
look for seating, say an entryway bench, I always look for one with storage
opportunities! Another idea is to use a armoire/cabinet or console for
storage as well as a room divider. If you put a console behind your sofa,
that can serve as a room divider between the living room and dining room.
Entryways
Give each member of your family his/her own hook, cubby, and/or drawer.
Keep only in-season coats, scarves, and hats. Include seating. Plan your
family entrance around your children’s interests. If they play many sports,
include seating to take off equipment, bins, hooks, and calendars. More
details on how to create an entryway in “How to Organize every room in
your home.” (coming soon!)
Freestanding storage
You may have things around the house that can serve serve your storage
and display needs. Put an old dresser in a corner and have it serve as a
“corner piece”. Display your collections and whatever else underneath. Use
an antique ladder for hanging quilts and blankets.
Garages
Organize your garage around your hobbies. Do you love to garden? Put a
little garden fence around one area in your garage and store all of your
gardening supplies in there. Do you go camping? Pitch a tent in the garage
and put all of your camping supplies in the tent. Fishing lovers can raise a
large net up high with all of their fishing supplies in the net.
Hide it
Use decorative screens to hide work spaces that do not need to be seenyour sewing table, your pantry, and toy areas.
Incoming
Whatever you bring in must have an equal amount going out. If you
recently bought 2 pairs of shoes, 2 pairs must go. Having an
incoming/outgoing balance is the only way to prevent clutter buildup.
Jars
Contain everything-put extra buttons, qtips, and cotton balls in glass jars.
You’d be surprised how something as simple as buttons or your collection
of colored golf balls could look attractive in a glass jar. Use larger decorative
(something like terracotta) jars for bulk foods.
Keepsakes and Kollections
Anything you have 3 or more of is a collection. Think beyond the obvious
for collection and keepsake display. Use a bakers rack to display your
collection of teapots. A crown molding ledge going up and down a wall or a
deep display ledge all the way across a room. Store collections where they
can be used.
Laundry
Laundry Room Favorites:
Overhead cabinets
Corner cabinets
Rolling hamper with sorter
• Flat surfaces to fold on
Full-size
appliances
Ironing center
Retracting poles or lines
Rolling cleaning supply caddy
Extra hangers
Measure, measure, measure.
Measure any storage piece you purchase or build as well as the container
you want to put on it. Even a basket on a bookshelf doesn’t always fit.
Measure height, width, length, and depth of each.
Nooks and Niches
Create a quiet retreat for yourself in a small area of your home. Keep all of
the supplies necessary for your favorite activity nearby in a space you love.
Take advantage of the natural lighting. I love this example for a makeup
nook, add a skirted vanity stool and hide unsightly bottles underneath.
Ideas for a Nook:
Photography
Reading
Offices
Typically I have been hesitant to having an office/bedroom combination. I
am finding however, that many people prefer this setup. As a result, my
strongest encouragement is to be cautious of potential overflow. Keep
papers in a filing system and other supplies contained. Use pieces that can
double for storage- a Murphy/table bed, a bookcase as a room divider, or
turn a closet into a small office.
Paper
Use an attractive, color-coded, easy filing system. Keep all papers in one
place. Learn how to create a mail center in “How to Organize every room in
your house.”
Quilts and Seasonal Storage
How many of you dread switching seasons? There are two ways to switch.
You can put clothing away elsewhere as you stop wearing them. So if one
day you find it is too hot for what you are wearing, clean it and put it away.
Or you can do it all at once with the help of a collapsible clothing rack. It
doesn’t matter what you chose as long as you purge before storing away.
Store things in antique trunks or stack suitcases as an end table with out-ofseason things inside.
Receipts
Whatever system you decide to use be consistent! There are many ways to
sort and store receipts. First, keep all tax related receipts 7 years. For big
appliances, keep then as long as you own them. Credit card receipts keep
until the statement arrives. I like to store my receipts in an alphabetical
clear check file. I sort mine according to the stores I most frequently visit.
You can sort yours according to purchase, credit card. I just like to know
where my Nordstrom’s receipts are.
Stairwells
Remember the nook I told you to create? Don’t forget about the space
under stairwells. You can stash file cabinets and other types of storage
pieces on wheels underneath the steps. Create a little TV watching area
underneath a stairwell. Put floor pillows down and put your TV in a corner
on a corner cart. Add some lighting and when you want to watch
something, go relax into your little nook. How cozy!
Towel Racks
Towel racks are excellent organizers and can be used virtually everywhere.
Install them in cabinets, on the backs of doors, on the inside of a linen
closet.
Under the bed
Remember you can use under-the-bed storage when space is tight. Storage
boxes and bins are ideal for out-of-season clothing. Tried this but it doesn’t
fit under your bed? Read “How to Organize every room in your home.”
Think Vertical.
I strongly encourage you to look up. Look how much wall space you have. I
once had someone call me for help with organizing. Every inch of her floor
was used up with large furniture. She had a TREMENDOUS amount of wall
space that went unused. Use Pegboards, Canopies and nets, Display
shelving, Utility Racks, Dish display racks, hanging pot racks, wine shelving,
and Hanging Shoe Bags. There are only 4 ways you can store items. If ever
you don’t know what to do with something, remind yourself of these 4
options: Hang it up, store it in a drawer, put it on the floor, or on a shelf.
Hanging is my favorite option because we all have much more vertical
space than floor space. Always ask yourself, “how can I mount this on the
wall?” I love this idea with regards to jewelry in a wall-mounted mirror.
Waste no window
Maximize the potential for storage beneath each window in your home
with a custom built-in or with a low, freestanding storage unit or organizing
bench. You can store books, linens, blankets, display plants, and hold CDs
and stereos.
XYZ-Examine your zones
If a room is very cluttered in your home, it is likely due to the fact that there
are too many “zones” or activities going on in that room. A room should not
have more than 5 activities happening in a room. Your bedroom may be
piled up with things that do not belong there. When you list the zones that
should be in a bedroom, you’ll find that there is no reason for the extra
piano keyboard to be in the room. Examine the zones for every room in the
house! (especially the garage and kids rooms)
Make a Mudroom
I finally got over my mudroom jealousy and created one.
You see, my home opens up to the living room, dining room, so you walk
right into the main areas.
I wanted a place for the family to put away backpacks, papers, shoes, coats,
etc.
So what did I do?
I have a large armoire (you can use a bookcase)
which was flat against the wall. I turned it
perpendicular to the door so you see the back of it.
I then attached sticky hooks to it and placed a
bench right in front of it. Under the bench I put baskets.
Now I have a place to dump stuff right near the front door! My very own
mudroom.
You can create a mudroom too, or section off areas of a room by doing just
what I did. Pulling a large bookcase or armoire into the middle of an area
divyies off that space.
Or, you can treat yourself to a hallway tree.
It will look better than the back
of a bookcase.
Room dividers and Furniture
Placement
Don’t be afraid to put sofas or
chairs in other groupings
besides flat against the wall.
Pull them out into the middle of
the room or in a creative
conversational arrangement.
Use bookcases as room dividers or to section off different purposes of the
room.
I pulled my own piano out perpendicular to my door to section off a little
play area for the kids.
Clean up your yard
and porch
I've been working a
lot outdoors to
spruce up my home. A clean front yard that is colorful and clutter-free is a
wonderful segway into a clean, clutter free inside.
If your front yard and porch are cluttered up, no wonder the inside is too!
Our external environment really impacts our internal environment. I'm
talking physically and spiritually.
You can do things to spruce up your lawn like planting, or edging, weeding,
and raking. Those bits make such a difference.
Yesterday I found underneath the deck, the previous owner to my home
had left large amounts of rocks. So I took them out and lined them up along
my flower beds making curves wherever I needed to! My own landscape
edging beat any other manufactured kind that doesn't allow zigzagging.
What can you do to spruce up your front yard? Put on a new pair of eyes so
you can see what you don't usually pay attention to.
If you don't have a green thumb, just buy a few hanging pots of flowers and
put them in flower pots or rest them on top of a stool.
Putting just one or two PRACTICAL garden accents in your garden give your
eye a place to rest and focus on, rather than on the parts of your garden
you have yet to clean up!
Minimizing ugly kitchen cabinets
I recently felt inspired to paint my
kitchen when I saw these dishes. My
walls were already blue and I wanted to
add brown. However, because I would
be doing it myself I didn't want to go
through the hassle of painting
everything.
So, I painted only the cabinets.
The top cabinets are the same color as the wall. I thought of this because in
a House Beautiful recent issue, there was a picture of a kitchen with NO
kitchen cabinets above the countertops. The decorator mentioned that he
did this to give a very clean, clutter-free feel. He placed decorative shelving
on the wall above the counters. And of course, there was a pantry to store
everything else in.
If you cannot knock out your upper cabinets (as most of us probably
cannot), do paint your upper cabinets to match the wall color. This will hide
them and hide the clutter. Or, you can unhinge the front of the cabinets
and paint the inner shelves different colors, displaying your dishes
attractively with no actual cabinet doors.
You can paint your bottom cabinets another color or the same wall color if
you want to hide them.
My kitchen walls happened to have already been blue. The cabinets were
not. The combination of blue and brown is so popular nowadays that I
thought, I know! I'll paint my lower cabinets brown, upper cabinets the
blue wall color.
I'll send you a picture when I'm done :)
Streamline the Pantry
I recently reorganized my pantry. It was a
mess! What I did was put all food items
into clear storage bins.
I love this new look of boxes on shelves
because it is so easy now to clean the pantry. I just pull a bin off of the shelf
and wipe it clean.
Plus, it looks so magazine-like! If it wasn't a pantry, I might have used
wicker baskets or something more decorative, but I really need to be able
to see through the boxes to the food inside.
Try it out in your own home anywhere you have shelving (insides of
cabinets too!) First figure out how many you think you'll need and then
order them. Always sort first and then containerize.
Display your Collections
Decide to arrange objects in
groupings. If you've got a
lone teapot over here and a
couple of spoon rests over
there, group them together
and make a display!
Objects look much better
when they are among
friends, not alone.
I've done this a lot in my house recently. My husband had flute from
Equador, a random trumpet, I had a windchime and a drum lying around in
storage. I decided to pull these objects that I could not figure out what in
the world to do with, and created a musical display hanging on our wall.
Because of its exotic nature I call it "windows to the world". Corny I know
but this way, anytime something comes into our home that is ethnic or
exotic, I know where it will look great!
Do a Walk Through
Have you ever come back from being away from home for a while and you
notice clutter you previously hadn't noticed?
It is good to reenter your home with a pair of fresh eyes. We get so used to
seeing our surroundings the way they usually are that we often may not
notice a pile of clutter here or there.
It just isn't bothersome.
Try this home organizing idea. Prepare yourself to reenter your home (if not
every room then just the entryway). Put a new pair of eyes on. Get a little
bit critical!
Notice clutter than you had not previously noticed. Or a decorative item
you thought worked and now you see that it does not.
One thing I noticed when I did this in my own
home was the bottles of hand lotion, dish
washing liquid, shampoo, etc. I had them at every sink in the house and
they looked so cruddy after a while.
I didn't notice this though until I came in with a sharper eye.
If you are also using the original store bought big shampoo or dish washing
liquid bottles, I recommend you get small sleeker bottles, perhaps with a
pump.
If you want to go really sleek, put your soap or shampoo in something like a
Chrome soap dispenser.
Your sinks won't get a gross ring around it and you'll be surprised what a
difference it will make!
Get rid of miscellaneous food containers
I challenge you to get rid of all of your old
food containers, you know those cruddy
plastic containers whose lid you cannot find
or melted when put accidentally in the
oven.
Get rid of them all. Throw them out!
Instead, you can use the Smart Spin Storage System. It comes with 24
containers, spins on a carousel, everything fits neatly, and it slides forward
for easy accessbility.
You can get it in the Kitchen Organizing section of Linens and Things.
Not only will you now have more room in your kitchen cabinets and you will
enjoy not having containers topple out at you every time you open up the
cabinet.
ps-if you already own it, good for you! You an experienced organizer :)
A Place for Mail
I have seen so many people without one place for their mail. The worst part
is the anxiety that goes along with not knowing where a bill or water shut
off notice is! It is just too nerve wracking!
Here is how to create a complete mail center.
Include the following (altogether in one spot):
1. large table for sorting
2. Trashcan
3. 3 sections or drawers like this picture- 1 for medical reimbursements,
one for to file, one for pending. I keep Bills and action items in another
spot.
4. Outgoing Mailbox
(Action items can go in a tickler file. Designate one
place for those little scraps of paper, such as
wedding invitations, appointments to schedule, and
information to enter into the computer. A tickler
file includes slots for each day of the month 1-31,
and each month of the year, Jan-Dec. That way, you can place each scrap of
paper on a specific day of the year. That gives a definitive time and date for
taking action on the "pending" items.)
If you choose to have a general pending file, look through the file every so
often (depending on how pressing the tasks are) and take action.
The thing that is wonderful about a tickler file, is that both "hot" and
"warm" tasks can go into it, and if you review your next day's tasks, you will
not forget to complete the tasks.
With a general "pending" or "now" folder, it is easier to forget to look
through the file and take action.
You can also paperclip these scraps into your calendar, just be wary of the
papers falling out or creating too much bulk.
To File- for mail coming in that doesn't require any action, just put it in the
"to file" basket or hanging wall pocket. When it gets full, take the time to
file the papers away. Another use for this category is to put the stubs after
you've paid your bills in the "to file" pile. Or you can file them straightaway
after bill paying. It depends on your energy levels!
You do need to have a file system intact. If you do not currently have a file
system, start separating your papers using manila folders. Label the folder
using a title you would think to look back on. So if you just got your lawn
cut, for example, don't label the folder by the lawn company. Not many
people even know the name of their lawn company! Just label the folder,
"lawn" or "home maintenance".
Medical reimbursements- I include this category as an optional one,
depending on your insurance company. Some people have the arduous task
of having to submit receipts to their medical insurance company. Believe
me, this can involve a lot of paper. If this speaks to you, keep another wall
hanging pocket for medical reimbursements in your mail center.
Outgoing Mailbox- one really wonderful item to include in your mail center
is an outgoing mail box. All this means is for you to pickup an attractive box
and put scissors, envelopes, scotch tape, stamps, return address labels, and
pens inside of it. Having an outgoing mailbox makes paying bills easier
because everything you need is onhand in one location!
Review-After the mailperson comes, pick up the mail onto your mailsorting
table. Throw out the junk mail immediately. Open the rest of the mail. Put
the items not requiring any action in the "to file" pocket. Put the bills in the
"bills" pocket. The medical
receipts in the "medical receipts"
pocket. Any other piece of paper
requiring action goes into your
tickler file or paperclipped in your
calendar to complete on a certain
date.
Proportions
When you decorate, make sure
your proportions and scale look right. For example, I was in a home recently
with a teeny tiny 3 light chandelier hanging over a huge 12 seater table. It
didn’t look right.
When you set your table, keep this in mind as well. A huge flower
decoration will look overpowering on a teeny tiny table.
Using Draperies
I really like the use of curtains and draperies for many things. You can cover
up an entire wall with curtains, a wonderful alternative to artwork.
You can also hide things behind the curtains, toys, shoes, etc. (I hide my
unsightly trampoline behind our curtains) No longer are draperies just for
windows!
Another way to use draperies is to section off large rooms, drawing
attention
to the different function of each room. For example, in my home, my living
room goes right into the dining room. I put up a soft
white sheer curtain and tied it back just as a way to
say, “This is the dining room now, there is a different
function.”
The eye is also drawn upward and has a place to rest.
Bring Outdoor Furniture Inside
I love this idea. It may not work for everyone so think about how you can
do your best to make it work. For a new fresh look in your home, switch
your outdoor furniture into your home or your indoor furniture
outdoors. Of course this requires good weather, but think
about it! An old garden bench in your hallway or your cozy couch on
your deck? Vintage and distressed looks are so in style now, I really think
you may see that you can really love this look. I actually thought of it after
looking at the beautiful pictures in a Spiegel catalog.
Beautiful wicker furniture that looked outdoorsy was placed in a
sunroom with a beautiful end table and a cozy rug underneath.
Behind the Sofa
I don’t notice too many people taking advantage of the spot behind their
sofas.
Look at the console table behind the sofa, it is a tall table that is functional
and decorative as well.
Find a high table that you can place behind your sofa and accessorize with a
tall vase, two matching lamps, or a collection of books.
This takes the pressure off having just one coffee table for everything!
One Common Denominator
When putting objects together, pick
one common denominator that they all
have. Perhaps they are all the same color, same size, same shape?
In this picture, all of the mirrors have the glass in common. They are
different colors but look right together because they are all clear glass. And
look below at the white grouping. They are all the same color so the
grouping looks well balanced.
You can clear up a lot of clutter this way by using it on the walls and in
attractive groupings!
Professional Matting
Don Aslett, professional cleaning
expert, mentions in his book Is There
Life After Housework that one of the
best ways to prevent dirt from
collecting in your home is to use
commercial quality door mats. Not the
pretty kinds you see in home
decorating stores, but the kind you
find in a janitorial store.
I compromised with this commercial grade one for my home, not to
shabby, don’t you think?
12 Quick Decorating Tips to Add Some Style to Your Home
If you don't have the time or the money for a full home renovation, here
are 10 quick decorating tips to add a little excitement and style to your
home:
1. Wallpaper borders: You don't have to paint or fully cover walls to add a
bit more interest. Try wallpaper borders. They come in a wide variety of
colors, patterns and shapes.
2. Add a Throw Rug: Even if you already have a carpeted room, you can add
a brightly colored or uniquely patterned rug for a different look. You can
place them at floor level, mid-level or up at the ceiling. Get creative!
3. Put Valances on the Window: A window valance is simply a small
decorative curtain. It's much shorter and it's only function is to look pretty
on a bare window or a window with blinds.
4. Keep Your Home Organized: Okay, that doesn't really sound like a
decorating tip, but the more organized and uncluttered your home is, the
better it will look and the more comfortable it will feel.
5. Try New Ceiling Lighting or a New Lamp: It's amazing what a difference
lighting can make in a home. Update your look with some new lighting.
6. Add Color: There are so many ways to add color to your home. You can
do it with towels, throw pillows, table skirts, folding screens, new
bedsheets and more.
7. Paint Your Cabinets: Not ready for new cabinets? If you have wooden
cabinets, you can easily paint them with acrylic paint made for wood.
8. Decorate Your Walls: Add paintings, framed photographs, art-work,
candle sconces or whatever suits your fancy.
9. Add New Decorative Light Switch Covers: Forget about plain and boring
white or beige light covers. Add some excitement to the room.
10. Add Cushions to Your Chair: Not only will it create a new look for your
chairs, but it might cover up some of those scratches that build over time.
11. Change Your Door Handles: Door handles aren't too complicated to
change and come in a variety of styles and color choices.
12. Add Candles, Vases or other Centerpieces to Your Tables: You can try
pillar candles in various sizes placed on a decorative plate, a brightly
colored vase with fresh flowers or another unique centerpiece to add
beauty to any room.
Not all home makeovers require a contractor and thousands of dollars. If
you have a bit of time this weekend, now's the perfect time to get started
with these great ideas.
Arranging Your Bedroom Furniture
The way you arrange your bedroom furniture can make all the difference in
the comfort, functionality and style of your room. Here are some tips for
arranging your bedroom furniture.
You'll want to start with finding just the right place for your bed as your bed
will be the focal point of the room. Here are some things to consider:
* Carefully choose a place that won't create any obstructions in the room.
* Don't block doors or make it hard to get into a closet, for example. If you
have plenty of space, you can angle the bed in the corner of the room,
giving your room a unique look.
* If your window will be open frequently, you may want to keep the bed
away from the window to avoid an uncomfortable draft.
* Make sure there is room for a nightstand on either side of the bed.
Having two nightstands gives more balance to your look, plus makes great
places for alarm clocks, the book your reading and even some decorative
elements.
For the remainder of your furniture, you'll have to decide what your
storage needs are and how much space you have. The more space you
have, obviously, the more creative you can get.
* Dressers & Chests of Drawers: Determine how much space you'll need for
storing your clothing. Take into account how much closet space you have
and how much more you'll need in draws. A traditional dresser will take up
more floor space, while a tall chest of drawers can offer the same storage
space without taking up so much space in your room.
* Chests: A chest placed at the foot of your bed can add a fresh look and
provides you with more storage area.
* Television: If you're going to place a television in your room, make plans
where to place it. It could be placed in an armoire with space specifically for
a television. This is a nice look because you can close up the armoire and
hide the television when you're not using it. If you are limited in space, you
can place your television on your dressing (but do consider the size and
weigh of the television) or invest in a television wall mount that will clear
up a lot of space in your room.
* Comfy Chair or Coach: If you have room for a comfy chair or coach,
consider adding one. It adds another comfortable place for TV-watching or
curling up with a good book.
Overall, make sure that you have enough space for the furniture you'd like,
with plenty of space to move about the room. Make sure you also have
enough storage space to eliminate the clutter in your room. The more
space you have, the more comfortable your bedroom environment will be.
Choosing the Right Lighting for Your Home
When deciding on lighting for your home, there are few things to consider.
Lighting can help bring atmosphere and create atmosphere in a room. Let's
talk about the intensity of light, types of lights and how they will suit your
home.
If you need lighting to study or view detail, that will first and foremost,
guide the lighting you will be purchasing. Or if you simply need to create a
relaxing mood, you might choose less intense lighting.
Your kitchen, bathroom, office or study area will generally need bright
lighting. Lighting in bedrooms, living room and dining room may be softer.
However, you may want brighter options in those same rooms when you
need more lighting for certain activities. For example, if you're doing
craftwork or other detail-oriented tasks at the dining room table, you'll
want the option of having brighter light.
If you're deciding on what type of bulbs you need, let's consider three
types: incandescent, fluorescent and halogen. Incandescent provide a much
softer light than flourescents, but they burn hotter, use more electricity and
need to be replaced more frequently. Fluorescent lighting is more costeffective, but produces a more harsh light. This type of light is typically used
in areas that require bright lighting - possibly in workshops, offices and
even the kitchen. Halogen lighting appears more natural and mimics
sunlight, which is a unique feature. It is more expensive, but uses less
energy and burns longer than incandescents. However, consider that
halogens burn very hot and may bring up some safety issues.
When deciding how much light your room will need, you can perform this
simple calculation:
Room Length X Room Width X 1.5 = Number of Watts Needed
In other words a 10 x 10 room should have 150 Watts of light. That means a
light fixture of 2 or 3 60-watt bulbs (with 2 being rather dim) would do the
job. If you need more light in a room, you'll want to increase that wattage.
Whether you choose ceiling lighting (track lighting or chandelier, for
example), wall lamps, floor lamps, table lamps or a combination of all those
things will depend on your personal style and the space in your home. As
mentioned earlier, overhead lighting can always provide more intense
lighting, when needed. It can be set on a dimmer or you can choose to have
the lamps in the room to provide more subtle lighting when you prefer.
If you have special decorative pieces or artwork you'd like to accent,
consider spotlights. You might try a halogen light that mimics sunlight to
provide a natural look or you may find an incandescent light works best.
Before shopping for lighting, determine your room's size, the function of
your room and the mood you want to set. That will help you choose just
the right lighting for you room.
Decorating with Bathroom Accessories
If you don't have the budget for a full bathroom renovation, there are still
plenty of things you can do with bathroom accessories to create a new look
and feel to your bathroom.
Start by removing the clutter from your bathroom. Go through the
countertops and medicine cabinets and get rid of everything you don't
need. Invest in organizational systems for your drawers and cupboards.
When you have more storage space, you're less likely to clutter
countertops with everything from your toothpaste to your curling iron to
your razor. Those should all be put away neatly, so the beauty of your
bathroom can shine through.
Here Are Some Accessories That Can Add Style and Remove Clutter:
* Towel racks and rings. Keep hand towels in a small rack or ring near the
sink. Have larger racks close to the shower or bath. There are many
decorative styles you can choose from.
* Add a throw rug to the floor. It adds a splash of color and some
personality. Match your rug colors with your towels.
* Add hooks to the back of the door. Have space for hanging robes or other
items behind the door.
* Add color with a new coat of paint, border paper or wallpaper. If you've
been living with the same color for a long time, now might be the time for a
change.
* Try new decorative handles on your cabinets. If you're really ambitious,
try a new coat of paint to your cabinets too.
* Replace your old faucet with a new modern one.
* Add some candles for warmth and calming scents.
* Add color with shower curtains, soap dishes and waste paper baskets.
You might also choose toothbrush holders, but if your decorating a
bathroom that your house guests will frequent, it's sometimes best to put
those things away. Who wants to see your used toothbrushes anyway?
There's no need to put them on display!
* Try a new mirror or mirrors in an oval or other shape. Most bathrooms
are equipped with a boring rectangular mirror. Try something different
instead.
When decorating your bathroom, there's one thing to keep in mind. Your
bathroom is subject to humidity from baths and showers. Make sure your
accessories and decorative items can withstand the extra moisture. You'll
also want to ensure any paint you use is suitable for bathrooms.
There you have it, plenty of inexpensive redecorating ideas for your
bathroom. Now there's no more excuse for having that same old boring,
cluttered bathroom.
Decorating Your Home Office
How you decorate your home office will certainly depend on the amount of
space you have and your budget. The most important thing is to keep
function and style in mind to make the most of your workspace.
Before you invest in any office furniture, measure your floor space and
make a solid plan. You want to make sure there is plenty of room to walk
around, pull out draws and push chairs back. There's nothing worse than
working in a cramped office. After all, you have to do WORK there. You
need to make sure you are as comfortable as possible, so that you'll be
motivated to stay and get your work done!
If you are on a budget, there is one thing you really shouldn't skimp on and
that's your desk chair. If you sit at your desk for any length of time, you
want to ensure your back is properly supported. A kitchen chair will just not
do if you're spending a couple hours at your desk each day. Visit your local
office supply shop and get the run-down on all the available chairs. You
don't have to choose the most expensive model with all the bells and
whistles, but you do want to make sure you have the proper support you
need.
You also want to make sure your desk is ergonomically suited to your
computer. You might need to get a monitor stand or adjust the keyboard
tray. The top of your monitor should be about 2"-3" above your eye-level.
You might need a monitor stand if you need to adjust the level.
Ensure you have proper space for your printer, fax machine, phone and
other equipment for your room. In fact, make a list of everything that must
be in your office, so you can plan your furniture around that. If you are
working with limited space, an upright shelf or cabinet might serve well to
store all your equipment in one place. Taller furniture can store just as
much as wider, shorter furniture, but it takes up less floor space.
You might also choose overhead cabinets above your desk. That way, things
are easy to reach and it will leave more floor space for added comfort in
your office.
Try to keep other unnecessary items out of your office. If you have children,
you might set them up with a little desk to work beside you, but other than
avoid, littering your office with toys and other distractions. In addition
forgo the television and other adult distractions. If you work well with
music, there's no harm including a CD player or radio or simply load all your
CDs onto your computer for easy listening while you work.
A home office can be a great thing, but try to keep it as uncluttered as
possible and keep your space dedicated to working only. That will help you
be most productive during your work time.
Decorating in a Small Home
Just because you live in a small house, doesn't mean you can't have a great
look, style and comfort in your home. The key is to plan carefully and make
the most of the space you have, without overpowering the room.
Here are some tips before you get started:
* Less is more. Avoid clutter in your home. This means you might have to
put away some of those cherished knick-knacks and pass on some of the
decorative pieces you'd love to purchase, but an uncluttered home will
always provide more comfort and style.
* If your lacking storage space, consider purchasing cabinets and
bookshelves that reach your ceiling. That will give you more storage space,
without using so much precious floor space.
* Make your rooms serve multi-purposes. For example, your child's room
can be a study and play room as well. Your dining room, may be a perfect
area for crafts, family game night and more.
* Choose furniture that gives you more space. You can choose dining room
tables with leaves, so you can keep it small when you don't need the extra
space. You might have stacking tables in the living room. Try using a chest
or trunk as the living room coffee table. It will serve as your table and a
great storage space as well.
* If you have an unfinished basement, be sure to use that space wisely.
Even you can't afford a huge remodel, you can use the space as a games or
play area. Throw an area rug on the floor and set up the play area.
* Light and mirrors can add the illusion of space. Keep your window
coverings open during the day and add wall mirrors to get a feeling of more
space in your home. Also, make sure lighting in the room goes all the way
to walls. Dark corners can make your home seem smaller.
* Keep your appliances and tech-gadgets small. Also, try appliances the
serve multi-purposes or you'll just find a lot of counter clutter and no room
in the cupboards for them all. Decide which items you really need and
which you can live without. Flat-screen TVs and small DVDs and CD players
can help in saving space.
* Add shelving and other organizational units to your closets. Use that
storage space wisely as you're going to need it. There are closet kits you
can purchase or you can make custom shelving and other organizational
items.
* Donate to charity frequently. It's amazing how many things we can
accumulate in a short period of time. Several times per year, go through
your home and find home décor items, clothing, appliances and other
gadgets that aren't being used and can be given to the goodwill.
If you keep it simple, living in a small home can be very comfortable and
you can still achieve the style in your home that you'd like.
Seasonal Décor Ideas - Redecorate Your Home Throughout the Year
It's fun to redecorate your home throughout the year and what better
excuse to make a change than the coming of a new season.
Spring: Spring is all about fresh flowers and pretty colors. Add a pink
gingham table cloth to your table and dress it with daises. Get rid of your
heavy winter duvet and replace it with a lighter throw in a pretty pattern.
Remove your heavy draperies, replace them with sheers and let the light in.
Summer: Now's the time to take it outside. Now's the time to make your
patio a great place for the family to gather for wonderful fresh-air meals.
Refinish your wooden patio furniture or get creative with colors and new
decorative elements. Stock up on stylish and colorful, yet break-resistant,
plastic tableware. Bring on the birds with nicely-designed birdfeeders and
houses.
Autumn: As the temperature turns a little colder and the leaves start
changing color, add some earth-tone throw pillows to the couch. Give your
home a harvest flavor with a squash centerpiece with a variety of shapes
and colors. Burn pumpkin or apple-scented candles in your home - there's
nothing like the smell of homemade pie. Or better yet, make some
pumpkin or apple pie!
Winter: As the days get shorter and we spend more time indoors, make
your home as comfortable as possible. Bring out a chenille throw and more
comfy cushions for cozy couch snuggling. Don't forget to light the fireplace
and prepare some hot apple cider. For bedtime, add a thick down duvet
with a warm color to your bed.
For winter entertaining, add red charger plates under your plain white
china for a more festive look. Place candles all over the home for a warmer
ambiance.
...and don't forget the major holidays throughout the year. They're always a
great excuse to add a little fun and something different to your home allyear-round. From Valentine's Day to Easter, Halloween and Christmas,
there's always an opportunity for something new.
One thing to keep in mind when changing your décor throughout the year
is storage space. Having too many seasonal items often ends up in clutter if
you don't have a very large home. Be sure to organize your seasonal items,
clearly label them and rotate them strategically throughout the year. For
blankets and other fabric items, you can vacuum seal them to minimize the
storage space they require. Above all, keep it simple and uncluttered. A
little décor goes a long way.
Finding the Right Window Coverings for Your Home
When deciding on window coverings for you home, you'll want to keep a
few things in mind. You'll want to consider your privacy, the amount of light
you want blocked the style of the window covering.
Some types of window covering you can consider are:
* Roller/Fabric Shades: These are shades that roll down close to your
window and generally provide complete coverage of your windows. They
can be vinyl or fabric and can custom-made to your precise window size.
This type of share is quite plain, but if you need coverage, you can add a bit
of style with some curtains.
* Venetian Blinds: Made from horizontal metal or wooden slats. They come
in a variety of colors and sizes. They provide quite a bit of privacy, while
allowing some view to the outside. If you have children or pets, these types
of blinds are easily damaged with physical handling.
* Vertical Blinds: These are typically made from cloth (or cheaper varieties
are made from plastic) and are vertical slats that can be closed with a
pulley-system to provide some privacy. Again, these types of blinds are
often easily damaged by little hands and paws, but the cloth varieties seem
to withstand more wear and tear than Venetian blinds.
* Curtains & Draperies: These are made from a variety of fabrics and can
provide full or partial window coverage, depending on the style you prefer.
If you are only using curtains for privacy, ensure there is enough fabric to
completely close off any openings.
* Sheer Curtains & Draperies: For minimal privacy, particularly in the
daytime, you might try sheer curtains. If you need nighttime privacy,
consider having opaque curtains or draperies on top.
Note: If you are using blinds or curtains with drawstrings, you'll need to
consider safety of any children that may be in your home. Children can and
have hung themselves to death on these items. If children are in your
home, always tie up the drawstrings to put them out of reach of little
hands. Some newer window covering options include a breakaway cord to
keep children safe.
So what about style? Here are some thoughts on the topic:
* Use colors or fabrics that appear elsewhere in your room on your window
coverings.
* Curtain rods can add plenty of style to a room. They come in a variety of
shapes and colors.
* Don't be afraid of a little color and texture in your blinds. There are so
many options these days. Check them all out and make the right decision
for you.
Many homes are sold with boring old Venetian and vertical blinds in neutral
colors. Don't limit yourself to the boredom. Even if you keep the existing
blinds, you can add curtains and other decorative window coverings to
brighten up your room.
Adding Color to Your Kitchen
The past few decades were dedicated to very neutral colors in the kitchen.
It seems every kitchen had neutral appliances, cabinets and wall coverings.
Today, people are being more expressive in the kitchen and that's great
news! The kitchen is where a lot of the daily activity takes place in the
home, so make the most of this space.
Here are some places to use color in your kitchen:
* Paint & Wall Coverings: There are a variety of paint colors to choose from,
so take your time making a decision. It will be the basis of making other
choices for your kitchen. Wallpapers and borders are being use more
frequently these days as well.
* Faucets: They're not just chrome anymore. They come in a wide variety of
solid colors and metallic options. It's amazing what style just a faucet can
add to your décor.
* Appliances: Thank goodness, the avocado green appliances of the 70s are
gone, but then we moved onto the blah whites. Today, you have more
choice, but before you go totally bold, realize that an investment into an
appliance is something you'll need to be happy with for many years to
come.
* Cabinets: You can paint over old cabinet colors or install completely new
ones. If you install new ones, really take some time with your decision. The
expense of totally new cabinetry is not something to be taken lightly.
* Tiling: Look for unique expressions for your floor, backsplash and even
your countertops. Tile is fairly easy to install and even easier to maintain.
If you're not up for a big remodeling, you can still add color easily and little
expense. In fact, if you're working in a generally neutral color-scheme
elsewhere in the kitchen, you can change your colors to suit your mood
year-round!:
* Table cloths or place mats: Create a whole new color scheme for your
kitchen with highly-decorative table cloths or mats.
* Window coverings: Forget bland Venetian blinds. Add some color with
colorful fabrics.
* Use flowers, candles and other decorative elements to add color.
* Small appliances: Even the coffee maker and mixer can come in some
great color choices. Pick the right one for you.
* Tableware: Dishes come in all kinds of colors and patterns. Choose some
that suit your style. If you have neutral colored plates, place colorful
charger plates beneath them to add some excitement.
Adding color to your kitchen can be as simple or as complicated as you'd
like to make it. For your more involved projects, be sure to plan everything
out, so it becomes the dream kitchen you hoped for.
Buying Dining Room Furniture
When deciding on your dining room furniture, there are so many directions
you can go. You can have a casual look, modern formal or just something
completely uniquely you.
To start with, look in magazines for the home, catalogs and flyers with
different furniture. A dining room set is generally a long-term investment,
so you want to be sure about your choice. Cut out the pieces that appeal to
you and keep in mind the style of the rest of your home. An ultra-modern
dining set in a country-style home might look a little out of place.
If your dining set will be made from wood, you might choose wood that
appears elsewhere in your home. You might prefer glass because it is less
susceptible to scratches and stains, but remember it shows fingerprints
more readily, so upkeep may be more work.
What size table you choose, will depend on the size of your room. Don't
overcrowd a small room with a large table. You'll want a few feet space
behind each chair. Also, if you want to add a hutch or a china cabinet, you'll
need to consider spacing for those items. If you have a smaller space, but
like to host plenty of people for dinner, you can choose a table with
expandable leaves.
If you're wondering if you should get a rectangular or round table, consider
this. A rectangular table can accommodate more people without taking up
so much floor space. Still, a round table offers a more intimate atmosphere
for a smaller group of people. If you plan to frequently have more than 10
diners, a rectangular table is probably the choice for you.
When you think you've found a table that you'd like, make sure there is
enough room for the suggested seating. You should have 2 - 2 1/2 feet of
space per person seated at the table.
Make sure the table is sturdy and don't be afraid to lean on it and ensure it
can withstand weight and pressure. Make sure the legs don't get in the way
of easily placing the chairs around the table.
The finish you choose for your table will depend on the wear and tear you
expect your table to endure. Enamel tables with a gloss or semi-gloss stain,
for example, hide the color of the paint, but makes the furniture easy-toclean and resist scratches.
After you've chosen your table and chairs, you can choose complementary
pieces. How large they'll be will be dictated by the size of the room and
your need for storage. Don't forget space to store all that great china!
Decorating a Rental Home
If you rent your home, you know it's tough to fully decorate it without
investing a bunch of money in something you can't take with you. It's kind
of disheartening to think a lot of the work that you'd do only increases the
property value for the property owner and won't have lasting value for
yourself.
But that doesn't mean that you can't create your own unique style in a
place that you'll love to live in, even if you're on a budget.
If you haven't chosen the rental yet, here's a few things to keep in mind
before you make your choice:
* Ensure paint colors are neutral of match your furniture. If you plan on
purchasing new furniture, ensure you can make the paint and furniture
work together.
* If the paint looks like it hasn't been updated in a while, colors are too
bright or don't suit your style, ask the landlord if he is willing to paint. If you
want to make it easier for him to say yes, simply tell him that you'd be
willing to do the painting if he provided the supplies and equipment.
* Make sure the flooring is clean, without damage and colors are suitable
for your decorating style and colors. If there are any flooring issues, be sure
to ask if they will be resolved before you move in or use area rugs that you
can take with you when you leave.
* Make sure all windows have appropriate covering, so that you have
privacy in your home. They should also be in a neutral color or at least
match your décor. Work out any issues with window coverings before-hand
or be prepared to invest in your own.
Even though many landlords will agree to fresh paint, you might be hardpressed for them to do major remodeling throughout the home, but there
are still plenty of things you can do to have your home suit your unique
style.
Here are some ideas to make an average rental living space more
spectacular:
* Add some life with brightly colored towels in the bathroom and kitchen.
* Add some throw pillows on your coach and bed for added color.
* Include some candles in your décor to add warmth and scents.
* Add some style to the walls with picture frames, mirrors.
* Find stylish and simple centerpieces or fresh flowers for your kitchen and
living room tables.
Things to keep in mind:
* Many rentals tend to be small spaces, so keep it simple. Minimize the
knick-knacks and clutter. Less is usually more, when it comes to decorating.
* Check with your local rental law to see what you can attach to the walls,
floors, etc. It's possible if you add permanent fixtures to the wall, that you
won't be able to take them with you.
Your living space need not be drab or boring. Just follow the steps above
for a great-looking place you'll love living in.
Decorating Your Dinner Table with Style
So, you're having a big dinner party or just a few of your friends are coming
over for a meal. We've got plenty of ideas to help you create a great table
setting for your guests.
Choosing Your Table Cloth
Your tablecloth choice will depend on your dinnerware. If you have
patterned dinnerware, choose a plain tablecloth. If you have plain, singlecolored dinnerware, you can choose a patterned tablecloth.
Be careful with choosing too much color. If you have brightly colored
dinnerware, whether it is patterned or not, choose a more subtle and
neutral color for your tablecloth.
You might also place a plastic pad under your table cloth. This will prevent
stains on your table and reduce clanging from dishes and cutlery.
Creating Your Place Settings
Try adding name cards to your settings. Not only does this take the
guesswork out of where to sit for your guests, it's add some more style and
personality. People appreciate this extra attention to detail.
Make sure that you have enough space for your guests to sit comfortably. If
not, it might make sense to add another table or rent a table from your
local party store so that everyone can sit comfortably. It doesn't have to be
a fancy table either...just cover it with a nice tablecloth and you'll be all set.
If your dishes are plain white, you might consider charger plates to add a
splash of color. But again, if your tablecloth is adding plenty of color, you
might forgo the extra busyness.
Assuming your not going completely formal, here are some general
guidelines for placing cutlery. Forks to the left, knives to the right and
dessert flatware above the plate. Salad and appetizer forks and knives
should go on the outside. The cutlery for the main meal is placed closest to
the plate.
Glassware goes in the top right of your setting and how complicated you
make this up to you. Traditionally, you'll start with the water glass, wine
glass and finish with a dessert glass. Unless you have a lot of space at your
table, that can create a lot of clutter and most guests will probably not use
all those glasses. I prefer to know my guests preferences in advance and
place the appropriate glassware at their place setting.
Other Details
Make sure there are enough salt and pepper shakers and butter trays for
your guests to reach or pass easily. If you have a large table, you don't want
your guests to have to shout across the table to get what they need.
Don't forget the centerpiece. Try a floral arrangement, tapered candles or
something to suit your unique taste.
Decorating with Candles
Candles can add great warmth and lovely scents to your home. Today's
candles come in so many colors, shapes and scents that there are endless
possibilities with decorating your home with candles.
Try These Ideas In Your Home:
* Try tea lights lined up on a shelf to illuminate your prized décor items.
* If space is limited or you have small children in the home, try sconces that
hang on the wall. This will keep your shelf and table space open for other
items and keep little fingers from getting in the candles.
* When your sconces are empty, you can simply add tea lights, pillars or
votives for a new look.
* Votives should always be placed in appropriate votive holders. Most
votives will melt completely as they are burning and you don't want wax
running all over the place.
* Candles in the bathroom are great for when you have company coming
over or you want to relax in a nice warm bath.
* Place pillars on a heat-resistant and decorative plate or bowl for a new
look.
* Add flowers or other decorative elements around your candles. Just
ensure that they won't be touched by flame.
* Get creative with floating candles. Fill a decorative bowl with water and
create your centerpiece.
* Place colored glass beads in a bowl and add tea lights on top.
* Not all candles are created equal, but most candle holders are. For best
burning, it's often a good idea to spend a bit of extra money on qualitymade candles. Candles from the dollar store may be cheaper, but may cost
you more in the long run when wicks disappear in the wax or candles don't
burn evenly. However, dollar stores are a great resource for unique candle
holders or you can even make your own.
* At your next dinner party, decorate each place setting with a tea light and
a festive holder. Then let your guests take one home as a little party favor.
* Try your hand at creating your own candles with unique patterns and
colors. Visit your local craft store for pre-made kits or choose your own
supplies.
* If you don't use your fireplace for burning wood, don't let that real estate
go to waste. Add some candles for a beautiful hearth.
Whatever you décor or budget, candles can add plenty of color, warmth
and wonderful scents to your home. Create a cozier and more beautiful
home with candles to suit your personal tastes.
Avoid Mistakes - Learn How to Re-Paint a Room
Painting can produce a dramatic change to the look and feel of a room.
Many homes are given boring white or natural tones with the hopes of
increasing the resale value, but seriously, who likes plain old white walls?
Add some color and personality to your room, but before you jump, you
have to learn how to paint a room.
Here is a list of some of the supplies you'll need:
* Flat brush
* Small angled Brush
* Roller & rolling Tray
* Painter's tape to prevent mistakes
* Extensions for your roller to reach high places
* Drop cloths or tarps to cover floor and furniture
* Spackle to fill cracks and wall damage
* Putty knife
* Sandpaper
Consult your local paint store for the type of paint that will be right for your
job. Be sure to take the room measurements before you go, so you'll know
how much paint you'll need. Once you've picked your color and purchased
your paint, you're ready to get started.
Here's what to do next:
* Remove the furniture from the room or at least move it to the middle of
the room and cover it completely to protect it from paint splatter.
* Remove all objects, include outlet and switch covers, from the wall.
* Cover the floor with the drop cloths or tarps.
* Wash the walls thoroughly and make sure to remove all soap.
* Use the sandpaper to remove lose paint.
* Patch holes, cracks and other damage with the spackle using the putty
knife.
* Once putty is dried, sand again to smooth out completely.
* Use painter's tape at the ceiling, around windows, etc. to ensure paint
only goes where you want it.
* Apply paint with flat brush in the corners and close to the ceiling.
* Very quickly after, add paint to the roller pan and start painting the rest
of the wall.
* Repeat the process for another coat or two.
Tips to keep in mind:
* Make sure you have proper ventilation in the room
* Don't put too much paint in the rolling pan or it will dry out.
* Try to get as close to the corners as you can with your roller to make a
smooth finish.
* Spend extra time filling holes and sanding. The end result will be worth it.
* Keep a rag handy for spills.
Painting is fairly simple process, but it does take some time and patience.
Follow the steps above to successful repainting of your room.
Having a Stylish Home, Even When You Have Small Children
It's no secret, babies and little ones like to get their hands on everything.
Sometimes it seems like decorating your home and keeping your little ones
and your belonging safe, are in constant conflict.
There's good news.
You can still keep your home stylish, while keeping your little ones from
causing harm.
Start with These Ideas:
* Banish the ugly, plastic cabinet locks. There are locks that are hidden
away and you simply push down the plastic to fully open your cabinet. You
can even find magnetic locks that are hidden on the inside of your cabinet.
You simply use a magnetic piece, stored high on your refrigerator to open
the cabinet when needed.
* When you want to keep children out of certain rooms, invest in a stylish
locking doorknobs know to keep the littlest ones out.
* To keep kids from pulling down shelves or playing with your favorite
pieces, buy shelves that hang directly on your wall. Place the shelves where
they cannot be touched by little hands. You can place decorative pieces,
DVDs and even books out of their reach.
* If you want candles, but worry that your children will burn themselves, try
sconces that hang on your wall.
* Purchase a stylish high-chair that matches your dining décor. There are
many wood and other finishes to choose from.
* Add color to your bathroom with towels and other non-harmful
decorative elements.
* If you're worried about breaking dishes, Corel carries plenty of shatterresistant sets in lovely patterns and styles.
* You can choose colorful tea towels, oven mitts and trivets for the kitchen.
* Add throw pillows to your couch to add some style. Choose durable
materials because little ones can't resist throwing the pillows around and
playing with them.
* Wall decorating is fairly safe with kids around. Use mirrors, art pieces and
picture frames to add style to your home that is well out of your little one's
reach.
* Minimize the toys in the living room. Just keep one small basket of toys in
the living room and keep the rest in their play room or bedroom. Boxes and
boxes of toys in the living room only encourage more toys scattered about
the house and take away from the décor you've carefully selected.
Now there's no more excuse for not having the décor you want. You can
have style and a safe and fun home for your kids.
Bonus #2
DECORATE LIKE A
CELEBRITY
Table of Contents
Introduction
Do’s and Don’ts
Getting Ideas
Elements of Design
Organizing Your Ideas
Decorating on a Budget
Minimalist Style
Casual Style
Formal Style
Shabby Chic Style
Paris Apartment Style
French Country Style
Tuscan Style
Traditional Style
Tropical Chic Style
Lodge Style
Using What You’ve Got
Decorating in a Day
Choosing Art
Conclusion
INTRODUCTION
3
4
9
10
12
17
26
29
31
35
38
40
43
46
48
50
52
54
57
61
Courtney Cox loves to buy homes, refurbish and redecorate
them and then re-sell. Countless other celebrities do the same thing.
In fact, celebrities spend thousands of dollars just to have professional
decorators come into their homes and re-decorate them.
Still other famous people choose to get dirty themselves so they
can realize their dreams of a home that is decorated the way they
envisioned it to be. In fact, the television show “Trading Spaces” has
actually taken interior decorating to a whole other level.
People have visions of how they want their lives to be and how
they want their living space to be. Celebrities and regular Joes alike
possess these thoughts and dreams and want to see them come to
reality.
What’s the difference? Obviously, it’s because most celebrities
have an unlimited budget when it comes to their interior decorating
views. We “regular people” generally don’t have that same luxury.
If ‘Trading Spaces’ and segments about celebrity-inspired home
decorating appeal to your creative senses, take a stand and create the
home of your dreams! Interior decorating has taken new heights with
the cost-effective styles and today’s trends available at most local
chains and department stores.
Luxury living is a combination of eclectic, traditional, and unique
styles with a contemporary but inspirational look. Even antiques can
be transformed into vital accessories for today’s modern home, and
add an air of distinction and originality to any corner.
Who needs a Hollywood designer when you can create great
spaces on your own? Construct and build some versatile and chic
domains on a variety of budgets and themes. Whether it’s the
bedroom, living room, or elegant dining area that needs some
updating, think like a celebrity to create some dynamic and unique
living spaces!
Now, I should take a moment to let you know that interior
decorating is definitely a matter of personal preference and style.
What appeals to one person may be disgusting to another. But there
are many, many decorating styles out there, and what we’re going to
do in this book is present a lot of those styles and ways to recreate
them affordably.
Let’s start with some basic premises about interior design and
what it takes to make a great space.
DO’S AND DON’TS OF
DECORATING
The rules of interior decorating can be as solid as a rock or as
open to interpretation as the sky. But many experts agree that
learning the rules can be the first step toward freely breaking those
rules when necessary. Here are some of the decorating dos.
•
Do sketch your floor plan and record the room dimensions,
window sizes and placement, and the location of special
features, electrical outlets, and so on.
Take your floor plan with you when you shop.
•
Do take the time to discover your personal style by reading
shelter magazines, attending show houses, and browsing online
and in stores to learn what styles and colors really appeal to
you.
•
Do identify the focal point of the room (a fireplace, a view, a
bed, an armoire).
•
Do define a room's style in writing , being specific. (Not just
"country French", but "French Country with a rooster motif,
chicken wire cupboard fronts, and a color scheme that includes
black and gold.")
•
Do pick a signature piece to focus your decorating decisions.
It could be a beautiful fabric, an area rug, a picture, a piece of
pottery, dishes, or a postcard. The item should embody both the
color scheme of the room as well as the style and mood you
hope to create.
•
Do coordinate fabric and flooring choices before making any
major purchases, and before choosing exact paint colors.
•
Do purchase large elements first (rugs, draperies,
upholstered furniture) whenever possible, and use the exact
colors and style of those major pieces to coordinate all other
choices.
•
Do use a mix of patterns -- large-scale, small-scale, checks,
stripes, geometrics, plain -- when coordinating a room.
•
Do allow for natural pathways in a room (such as from the
door to the closet) and try to arrange furniture with those
walkways in mind.
•
Do consider the uses and function of a room before deciding
on furnishings and arrangements. For example, if your dining
room will also be your study, then you'll need room for a desk,
books, lighting, and files as well as the dining room table and
chairs.
•
Do consider using unifying elements such as trim color,
wood tone, flooring, motifs, fabrics, or materials.
•
Do use the principle of repetition when planning shapes,
colors, fabrics, and patterns. One red accent in a room may look
like an afterthought whereas several red accents here and there
will contribute to the color scheme.
•
Do plan ahead for appropriate task, general, and dramatic
lighting by using a mix of light fixtures on dimmers for
maximum control.
•
Do purchase the best quality furniture you can afford.
Learn more about quality construction and materials that can
prolong the life of furniture and make it a better buy in the long
run.
•
Do use contrast to add interest to a space. Placing furniture
and accessories against a contrasting background will highlight
each piece.
•
Do crosslink your rooms by repeating colors, fabrics, and
themes in varying combinations. |
•
Do balance a room's furnishings by paying attention to scale
and visual weight.
Balance a large stone fireplace with a large sofa or armoire
placed opposite.
•
Do arrange conversational areas to be within an 8 to 14 feet
square area.
•
Do anchor spaces in open floor plans with area rugs and
furniture groupings to define each space.
•
Do pair seating in conversation areas with side tables and
lamps so that there is a place to set drinks, books, etc. as well
as adequate light for reading.
•
Do choose accessories that reinforce the color and style
theme of a room.
•
Do use scale and pattern to create interesting focal points.
•
Do use pairs of items to underscore symmetry and balance
.
Do use odd numbers of items (3, 5, 7) when grouping
accents for table-scapes. Do place items (high, medium, and
low) within an imaginary triangle to add interest.
•
•
Do use symmetrical arrangements in formal rooms. In more
casual rooms go for asymmetrical arrangements of furniture
and accessories.
•
Do emphasize the important elements of the room and play
down the unattractive or unimportant elements.
•
Do use a variety of textures (smooth, rough, shiny, dull)
when you want to add interest to a room.
•
Do use line to underscore a room's style. Horizontal lines
emphasize length and underscore a calm mood. Vertical lines will
emphasize height, and diagonal lines emphasize space and
provide a dynamic and exciting feel.
•
Do reinforce the style and theme of a room with appropriate
details and accessories.
•
Do install more details in a plain boxy room. Consider crown
molding, wainscoting, and other applications to add interest and
character.
•
Do consider the location of your home and the architectural
style when planning interiors.
Decorating "rules" are made to be broken. Not every project will
lend itself to every so-called rule.
However, following the rules can help give your project a focus
that a more haphazard approach may not. Here are some of the
decorating "don'ts".
•
Don't paint your walls then go out looking for fabrics to
match.
Paint can be mixed in any of a thousand colors, so select the
final shades after upholstery, carpeting, and curtain fabrics are
chosen.
•
Don't paint a room without trying a sample of the color in
the room. Tiny paint chips can be deceiving as to tone and
depth of color, so always paint a test board to confirm your
choices.
•
Don't line up the furniture around the walls except in the
smallest of rooms. Pulling furniture into attractive groupings in
the center of the room will add warmth and be inviting to guests
as well.
•
Don't turn your back on the focal point of the room by
arranging furniture away from this important feature.
•
Don't place furniture where it will interfere with
doorways, cabinet doors, natural traffic patterns, or other
everyday activities.
•
Don't clutter up a room with a million little collectibles
unless you're in love with that look. Most of us will feel it is too
crowded.
•
Don't try to construct a color scheme from wildly
disparate objects. First find a print fabric or rug with all of the
colors you want to use, then edit out, repaint, or recover items
that don't fit with the plan.
•
Don't keep something you hate. Do you have a hideous
orange sofa from Aunt Zelda? Either slipcover it, recover, or
remove it. You'll be happier.
•
Don't decorate around an item that just isn't "you". If your
new home came with gold shag carpeting when you love roses
and lace, believe me, you'll never love that carpet. Get rid of it.
•
Don't forget the details. If your theme is Mediterranean, look
for iron lamp bases, weathered iron drawer pulls, and tile tables.
If you love Cottage then use painted white accessories, floral
accents, and lace.
•
Don't fall in love with cheap furniture just because it has an
appealing color or exciting fabric. Look for good lines, quality
construction, and elegant details first. Then have those pieces
covered in a fabric or finish that you love.
•
Don't choose colors standing in a store.
Try to take samples (of paint, fabrics, and floor coverings) back
to your home and look at them in daylight and at night.
•
Don't spend a lot of money on expensive items that are
"trendy". Try out trends that truly appeal to you by
experimenting first with inexpensive accessories.
•
Don't live with a lot of mismatched furniture orphans.
Unite pieces with color -- either by painting everything one color
(white, pale gold, or black for example) or by recovering
everything using identical or a mix of coordinating fabrics.
•
Don't always choose backgrounds in your favorite color.
Sometimes providing a softer background will make your favorite
color stand out as the brightest accent color in the room.
•
Don't choose everything beige if you really love color.
Remember, color doesn't cost more than white. Wouldn't a
pretty mango, soft coral, or lovely green wall make a terrific
backdrop for your white sofa?
•
Don't ignore the mood effects of color -- red is exciting, pale
blue soothing, green calming, and yellow is happy -- so choose
color schemes that underscore the feeling you want to create in
your home.
•
Don't disregard the undertones of a color. Every color can
be either light or dark, cool or warm, clear or muddy. Look for
these color cues when choosing color.
•
Don't blow your entire budget on something that isn't
functional, classic, or long-lasting, unless you're completely
smitten and can't live without it. In general it's best to start with
the basics and build from there.
Some people feel clueless when they begin a decorating project.
They know they want to re-design a room, but they have no clue
where to start.
GETTING IDEAS
The easiest way to find your style is to start collecting ideas. Flip
through decorating magazines or home improvement websites and
collect pictures of things that catch your eye like a particular sofa
style, a really cool lamp, a wall color, window treatments, a fabric, or
maybe just the feeling that the whole room gives you. Make notes
right on the pages so you remember why you saved it.
Also, start collecting samples of existing fabrics or colors that
are going to stay in the room. For instance, say you’re not changing
the carpeting and you want to keep your grandmother’s side chair.
See if you can clip a little bit of extra fabric off the chair where you
won’t see it. Clip a small square of the carpeting out of a closet. If it’s
a painted piece, you can use paint chips from your local paint store to
match it as closely as possible and have those with you.
You will also want to take measurements of the room and any
furniture that is staying. If you can, make a simple floor plan to scale
for reference. And finally, take photos of the room and any of the
pieces you will be keeping.
Now as you collect all these samples and notes you will need to
organize them in a way that makes sense for you; either by room, or
by idea such as furniture ideas, lighting, colors, fabrics, or window
treatments. Then keep them in your car so when you are out shopping
you won’t have to make another trip back home to see if it's the right
color, size, or if it will "go". Decorators always have samples with them
when they shop.
As you start to collect a fair amount of items you will start to
see a pattern or similarity in what you like. And a style, that you didn’t
think you had, will soon emerge.
Maybe you want to look through a magazine and find a style
that appeals to you. That’s fine if you want to copy that style, just be
sure that it will work in your house.
There are some elements of design that should be taken into
consideration.
ELEMENTS OF DESIGN
There are 6 basic elements used in all aspects of interior design
and decorating. If you correctly incorporate all or most of these
elements you will have created a beautiful and functional room.
Balance
There are two types of balance – symmetrical and
asymmetrical. Perfect symmetry is like the human body – two eyes,
two arms etc. Symmetrical balance is typically very formal.
Asymmetry, on the other hand, refers to an imbalance, perhaps two
candlesticks of slightly different sizes placed next to each other.
Asymmetry is used to add visual motion and excitement to a space,
and therefore it is considered a more informal way of decorating.
Balance also refers to the weight of different objects in a room.
This can be the actual weight and size of furniture – such as a large
entertainment centre; or it can be visual weight – a patterned or very
bold color upholstered piece appears to take up more space than a
solid or neutral colored one. If there is too much weight on one side of
a room, the arrangement will feel awkward and uninviting.
Color
The human eye can see more than 16 million colors. To simplify
your paint choices look at your favorite piece of art, a rug or the
upholstery fabric. Choose your colors based on that item using the
“60-30-10 rule”.
For example – your favorite painting contains blue, yellow and
cream. You might then choose yellow walls (60%), a blue sofa (30%)
and a cream accent cushion (10%).
Focal Point
A focal point is the centre of interest – usually the part of the
room that our eye is naturally drawn to when we first enter. If you
don’t have an existing architectural detail – such as a fireplace or large
bay window – you can create a focal point by strategically hanging
your art or by creatively displaying some accessories on a bookshelf.
Once you have determined or created a focal point in your room,
simply arrange your conversation area around it.
Harmony
This does NOT mean that everything should match. It simply
means that the furniture, art and accessories compliment each other in
some way.
Scale and Proportion
The size of pieces relative to one another and the size of the
space is their SCALE. Large, ornate pieces will not look right in a very
small room, just as small contemporary pieces will be lost in an
oversized space with vaulted ceilings. And more importantly, the size
variance of different pieces within a room should be somewhat
related.
Texture
Texture is the one element that can instantly add interest to a
monochromatic color scheme. Should you choose to decorate an
entire room in one color – mocha perhaps – it will be easy to add some
visually interesting texture. Linen window shades and leather pillows
can be found in the same color range but each has a very different
look and feel.
You may have never put a lot of thought into these elements,
but when they are put together in a room, they will enhance the room
ad make it beautiful!
Taking on an interior design project can be a huge undertaking.
Don’t let your vision become compromised. Start by getting
organized.
ORGANIZE YOUR IDEAS
When you're getting ready to begin a decorating or remodeling
project it's a great idea to get everything together. And keep it
together! Any building, remodeling, or decorating project will be easier
if you get organized before you start with a decorating file.
Your decorating file will hold everything you'll need to coordinate
the project. Include carpet samples, fabric cuttings, paint samples,
floor plans, wallpaper cuttings, photos, and pictures of inspiration
rooms. Having everything in one place will help the job go more
smoothly from conception to completion.
You can choose any style of file you want. The choice is yours. A
small canvas tote bag, briefcase, notebook with file pockets,
expanding envelope, or file box works well. Be sure you select a
container that will be easy to carry from store to home and large
enough for all your items.
Probably the most convenient way to keep everything together,
and your hands free, is in a tote bag with shoulder handles. Interior
pockets are helpful, too. Be sure to have a container for pens, your cell
phone, tape measure, scissors, and tape.
Place an expanding folder with pockets and divider tabs into the
tote. These pockets will keep projects and items separated and
organized. You can keep several projects separate by labeling the
folders for each.
You'll save time by having everything together wherever you go.
Instead of wondering whether a paint chip coordinates with a fabric
swatch, you'll know right away. If you're shopping for a lamp, you'll
know if the lamp shade is the right color. If you happen on a wonderful
flea market, you won't have to pass up a great bargain on an antique
bureau because you don't know if it will fit in your space. With
everything together: colors, fabrics, measurements, and ideas,-you'll always be ready!
As you work on a project, you'll think of things that would be
helpful to have in your own decorating file. The things on the following
list are just a start. The most important thing to remember about a
decorating file is that you should have it with you at all times.
•
Pens and Paper
There's nothing more frustrating than finding a perfect paint or
carpet and not being able to write down the particulars for
ordering them. Have several pens and pencils tucked in your file
and a pad of paper or spiral notebook for taking notes. You may
want to make notes of a furniture arrangement, trim detail, or
window treatment that you see.
•
Tape Measure
Try to find a lightweight measuring tape if you can, as a builder's
tape measure can get heavy if you're carrying it around all day.
A 10-foot tape is usually fine for shopping trips, but you'll want a
25-foot measuring tape to measure rooms, windows, and ceiling
heights.
•
Floor Plan
If you're doing a room decorating project or a whole-house
remodel, you'll need a drawing of the rooms with measurements.
A scaled drawing on graph paper is most useful, but you can
have a simple sketch for a smaller project.
Be sure that you take accurate measurements of walls, window
dimensions, and distances between doors and windows. You'll
find that the more information you put down on this floor plan,
the more helpful it will be as you're working.
A drawing of each wall will come in handy as you select fabrics
for windows and wallpaper. This sketch should show the
placement of windows, doors, and architectural details with
accurate measurements. To get the proper drawing, look at the
wall from across the room and draw in the details.
If you're not up to drawing your floor plan by hand, you might
want to check out some online help from Smart Draw or
Arrange-A-Room from Better Homes and Gardens.
Once you get a decorating file organized, you'll wonder how you
ever got along without it. This file will hold all the information you
collect to get a decorating project put together.
•
Photos of Your Room
Even if you can't stand how your room looks now, take some
"before" pictures. Get all the angles and details. These will be
helpful when you're working on your plan or when you need to
talk to a salesperson about your project. They'll help remind you
of details as you're working.
•
Calendar
As you proceed with your project, you'll undoubtedly have
schedules to keep. Note when the floors will be measured for
carpet, when the plumber is coming, or when you have a date
with the painter. You can use your personal daily planner if you
have one or keep one separate just for your decorating projects.
Just be sure to have it with you!
•
Magazine Photos
Magazines are a great source of decorating inspiration. If you
see a color you like, a fabric print that is just what you love, or
an arrangement of accessories that would work in your space,
tear the page out and keep it in your decorating file.
Find pictures with ideas you can incorporate into your own
decorating project. You can also get great ideas from decorating
books, but don't tear the pages out!
•
Samples of Fabrics, Colors, and Flooring
As you shop; you'll want to collect samples of carpet, tiles,
flooring, fabrics, and paint chips. The more you have in your
Decorating File, the easier it will be to put your project together
when you get home. Add more samples with every shopping trip.
You may not be replacing everything in the room you're
decorating. Be sure to take a sample of anything that is staying
in your room, including carpeting, upholstery fabric, paint
samples, tile, or wood.
For an upholstered piece, it's ideal if you have a piece of the
fabric. If not, take an arm cover or cover of a pillow. If you just
don't have a suitable piece of fabric to include in your Decorating
File, try to get a good color picture of the pieces you'll be saving.
An 8" square of carpet will fit in your tote. If there's just no extra
carpet, trim off some tufts of carpet fiber from an inconspicuous
place and tape it to a piece of cardboard for your decorating file.
As you decide on your decorating scheme, you'll put together all
the elements, first in your mind, then in your Decorating File.
Coordinate fabrics with paint and paint with flooring by testing
combinations of samples you've collected. Or use the resources
of professionals who have put together collections of fabrics,
colors, and wall coverings for companies such as Waverly.
Whether your "decorating file" is a notebook, a canvas tote,
briefcase, or large purse, be sure it is comfortable enough to carry
with you. Here are several additional items that are useful to include in
your decorating file.
Add these final items to your decorating file and you'll be ready
to go at a moment's notice.
•
Phone List
Have a handy list of phone numbers for your carpet man,
plumber, painter, upholsterer, or contractor. Keep the list in your
Decorating File for easy reference.
•
Scissors and Tape
When you find the perfect paint chips, you might want to tape
them together with fabrics you've chosen. Also put together
fabric samples and carpet tufts.
•
Envelopes or Zip-Lock Bags
You never know when you might find some small piece of
information, color, or pattern that could get lost if put in the
bottom of a tote.
Have a few plain #10 envelopes or zip-lock plastic bags in your
Decorating File.
•
Post-It Notes
Simple post-it notes are great for marking pages that you don't
want to lose in a book or magazine. Or use them to mark
possible choices in a wallpaper book. If you're looking at paint
chips, block off shades that you don't want, using a post-it note.
•
Color Board
Once you've made all your choices, put together a color board.
Use a piece of mat board, foam core, or cardboard, cut to fit into
your decorating file. Paint the board in the color of your chosen
wall paint or just leave it white.
Attach all fabrics, trims, inspiration photos, and drawings to the
board. You can have the mat board cut to fit into a standard or
legal size file folder. When you've completed your project, put
the color board away in a filing cabinet for reference.
You'll find that it's fun to put together a Decorating File for your
decorating projects. It's a useful tool to keep you organized.
Now that you at least have some idea of where you want to be
with your new decorating project, you may be worried about how you
will afford what you need. Don’t worry! You can still have a celebrity
room with an everyday budget.
DECORATING ON A BUDGET
Just because you don’t have a celebrity checkbook doesn’t mean
that you can’t have celebrity style! Anyone can re-decorate their
home or apartment – even with limited funds! Consider the following:
1. Decide ahead of time on a budget or payment plan, pace your
decorating. Include money for accessories.
2. Decide on one room at a time and designate a priority within
your room. That's where you should begin.
3. Have a plan, color scheme, style, & atmosphere. Have a target
date for completion.
4. Your confidence level in tackling your decorating project makes a
big difference. If you are the least bit unsure, contact a
professional designer. He or she will save you time, energy,
money, and frustration. Select a designer that you are
comfortable with and trust. He/she should know your likes and
dislikes. Whatever is done needs to suit you and your family.
5. Measure your room to scale. Show windows and doors. Decide
on a focal point. Measure furniture, rugs, etc. before purchase.
Draw your furniture to scale and cut out the drawings. Place
these on your floor plan, moving them around until you get an
arrangement that you like. This is very easy on your back. This
procedure will also help you decide if the items are
proportionately correct for your room. Think too about ceiling
height and traffic flow.
6. Repeat each color in your scheme at eye level, mid level, and
floor level to achieve good visual balance. Repeat any pattern
and/or textures at least twice in the room.
7. Paint and wallpaper/borders go a long way in updating and
freshening a room and usually cost very little.
8. View colors and patterns in your home during daylight hours
before making a purchase.
9. If you do not plan to be in your home for a long time, invest in
accessories (artwork, area rugs, decorator pillows) that could
easily be used in another home.
What about furniture when you’re on a budget? No problem!
Furniture
Most of us have lived in a time when we needed to decorate an
apartment or home on a budget. We probably "borrowed" items from
our parents, inherited castoffs from friends, and purchased cheap
furnishings that we eventually threw away.
Sooner or later, however, our taste began to mature and the
eclectic uncoordinated furniture we once thought was "cool" might now
look like just a mish-mash of old stuff.
Let's face it, we'd probably be happy to get rid of all of it and
start over.
Unfortunately, few of us have the budget or the opportunity to
begin furnishing a home from scratch whenever we want.
Nevertheless, there are ways to stretch your decorating budget
and find bargains on quality furnishings that will bring years of beauty
and style to your home.
Where are these great deals on furniture?
Try some of these resources the next time you need furniture
but want to save money too.
•
Consignment Stores
These are popping up everywhere and are a great place to sell
your old things and find new ones. Items are one-of-a-kind so
shop often and be ready to buy when you see just the right
piece. Get to know the owner or manager and explain what you
need and they might just call when an appropriate piece comes
in.
•
Model Home Sales
Builder model homes are another source of beautiful furnishings.
Keep an eye out by visiting models in your area. If you see
something you like, ask the sales office how and when the
furniture might be available for sale. This is a terrific way to get
coordinated and custom items at a fraction of the cost of new.
Beware that some pieces may have fading, spots, or dents due
to the heavy traffic and cleaning schedules at the models.
•
Clearance Outlets and Sales
Many major department and furniture stores have outlet center
with ongoing or periodic furniture sales. Often the tags are
marked with dates and prices are reduced every 30 or 60 days.
Furniture in these outlets may be either scratched, a second, and
overrun, repossessed, or otherwise imperfect. However, prices
will generally reflect any imperfections and may also be
negotiable.
•
Trades
You might have a sofa that's just too big for your new living
room. Your best friend might have a loveseat that's too small for
her family room. Why not negotiate a trade? It can be on a
permanent or a temporary basis, as you choose.
•
Scratch and Dent Rooms
Furniture stores may have a corner or back room where they
keep scratched and dented items available for sale at big
discounts. Inquire at your favorite stores and visit often to watch
for furnishing that might fit into your home.
Here are more bargain shopping resources.
•
Showroom Samples
Design Centers (in most large cities) often have periodic "sample
sales" for discontinued furnishings that have been used as
showroom samples.
Call a design center near you, or watch your local newspaper for
ads.
•
Trash to Treasure
Some people call it "dumpster diving" and others call it "found
items" but this can become almost a hobby with some people.
Discarded furnishings found in trash bins, on the street, or
marked "free" at a garage sale, can be rehabbed into something
beautiful if you have the time and creativity.
•
Junk and Thrift Stores
Yes, you probably do have to visit 15 junk and thrift stores to
find even one great item. But if you have the time and the
patience, this can be an inexpensive source of some wonderful
one-of-a-kind pieces. And if you have a friend who frequents
these kinds of stores, let her know what you're looking for so she
can call you with possibilities.
•
Garage Sales and Flea Markets
This is an obviously cheap source for lots of furniture and
accessories. Items will generally be inexpensive and may exhibit
a great deal of wear. Negotiation is practically expected, so bring
cash and bargain away for the best prices.
•
Auctions
Auction houses are another source of quality one-of-a-kind
furnishings. Read up on auctions before you go and be sure to
take advantage of the preview days to examine any pieces you
might bid on. Better to find out about that wobbly leg or the
cracked drawer before the auction begins. Many pieces that are
not classified as "antiques" are extremely reasonable at auction.
•
Buy with an Eye to Refinish
Sometimes you won't be able to find just what you want and
you'll need to get creative. Begin to look at furniture with an eye
for its line, scale, and details. Perhaps a dark wood desk can be
repainted and updated with new hardware. Maybe a beat up
coffee table can be sanded and stained, or an old chair seat
recovered with pretty fabric. The only caution -- be realistic as to
what you can actually accomplish. A chest with a missing drawer
and a cracked top may be too much to fix if you don't have the
time, tools, or space to repair it.
For those of us with more taste than money, attempts to
decorate our homes on a budget can often be a frustrating exercise in
making-do and doing without. We flip through the glossy pages of
home decorating magazines and despair of ever living in anything with
more charm than a shoe box.
But the truth is, the principles of home decorating have always
had more to do with expressing your personality through your own
sense of style than with spending large amounts of money to make
your home look like a picture in a magazine.
Yet paradoxically, these very same magazines, featuring "little"
3000 square foot homes and "mere" $20,000 renovation budgets are
the ideal place to start. As you study the photographs look, not at the
big picture, but at the details.
First, study how the owners have used color. Whether strong or
muted, a well thought- out color scheme lends a touch of
sophistication to the plainest walls, carpet and furniture. Not to
mention saving you a bundle on trial and error paint! Note that a color
scheme does not mean using only one or two colors that "match". It
means using often up to five different colours in various intensities and
proportions from room to room. Paint experts can usually tell you how
to use a color wheel to determine which colors work successfully
together.
Look next for decorating themes. A theme will again unify the
look of your home and prevent you making expensive mistakes. An
item will either fit or it won't and you'll know which before you bring it
home.
Popular themes include the South Western look; the spare,
clean, Ultra Modern look; or even the tried and true Eclectic look,
which basically means a little bit of everything, on purpose! You could
even use color itself as your theme.
Continue browsing through your magazine and you'll soon see
that the best looking homes are those that are filled, not with
expensive art and antiques, (though if you've got 'em, by all means
flaunt 'em!) but with frequent touches of the owners' personalities.
You can also frame postcards, greeting cards and calendar
pictures. Look in museum and gallery gift shops for the more "arty"
ones. Look also in craft-supply stores. These can be a treasure trove of
inexpensive, fashionable accessories. Birdhouses and miniature chairs
are currently very popular and can be bought for only a few dollars
each.
Never be afraid to express your personality and don't be shy
about looking in unusual places for decorating ideas. One of my
favorite items is a repainted wooden sleigh, bought at a garage sale
and now a container, in my den, for many of my paperbacks: less
predictable than a bookcase but just as efficient.
And why spend a small fortune on a silk plant for your coffee
table when a bowl of bright green apples can be just as decorative?
Edible and replaceable too!
One final, but important guideline for the frugal decorator:
unless you have the money to follow along as they change, avoid
expensive trends. Purchasing a few four dollar birdhouses is one thing.
Painting your entire house in various shades of purple because the
magazines are filled with pictures of purple houses is quite another.
What happens next year when everyone moves to yellow? Or limegreen?
Instead, try and identify your personal style. What colors soothe
you? What colors invigorate you? In general, would you rather be
soothed or invigorated? Do you prefer formal, informal or positively
laid-back? What type of furnishings invites you to sit on them? Is your
eye drawn to wood, vibrant color, or chrome? Once you've made these
decisions you can decorate with the sense of security that comes from
knowing your choices will be comfortable, stylish and long-lasting!
Genuine satisfaction in decorating comes not from writing checks
but from devising affordable solutions to vexing problems. Resolve
from the outset to be resourceful and you can achieve high style on a
shoestring budget.
Let's face it; few of us have the luxury of a sky's-the-limit
budget for home decorating. As appealing as it sounds, "money is no
object" is just a phrase we fantasize about using right after the lottery
pays off or the Prize Patrol comes calling.
Even for top interior designers, an unlimited budget is a rarity.
Many confess they actually do their best work when they have to rely
on creativity instead of cash. So whether you're frugal by nature or
necessity, consider these four guiding principles for getting the most
out of your decorating dollars
•
Use inexpensive materials lavishly and expensive
materials judiciously. Rely on cotton sailcloth for slipcovers,
table skirts, and draperies, and save the pricey textiles for throw
pillows and trims.
•
If you have to decide between costly materials and costly
labor, choose the labor. An artisan can make your dollar-ayard fabric look like a million bucks. Elegance is found in details,
whether it's sewing trims, borders, and appliqués or painting
color washes and stripes (thin lines or bands) -- touches of
finery many of us can't craft for ourselves.
•
Remember that the objective is not just to see how
inexpensively you can get by but to make every moneysaving method count. If you do your own painting and
paperhanging, you'll have more funds left for furnishings, frills,
and labor.
Make the most of what you have, and then fill in the
blanks. Some of the best design ideas are free. Simply rearranging
the furniture -- floating it away from the walls, or turning it on the
diagonal -- can transform a tired room. Moving a piece of furniture
from one room to another can improve the look of both. Experiment
with what's on hand before you go shopping for replacements.
In a featureless room, architectural details can make a big
difference for a little price. Wood moldings from the lumberyard or
home center are the equivalents of architectural appliqué. They come
in a wide range of sizes and styles, and they can be painted or stained.
Use them to frame windows, doors, or panels of wallpaper, or to
create a chair or plate rail.
Similarly, a wallpaper border is architecture by the roll. It can
add ornamental detail to plain rooms and alter the perceived shape
and dimension of spaces.
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Even if you can't afford a masterpiece, you don't have to settle
for bare walls. Cut out, mat, and frame 20 pages of a book
featuring botanical illustrations or architectural sketches. Mount
them on a single wall to achieve the collective impact of one
large work of art.
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Turn an ordinary print or poster into an extraordinary piece of
art by splurging on professional matting and framing. Elaborate
mats and frames can make an inexpensive print look far more
sophisticated.
With just a hammer and nail, you're on your way to turning
framed treasures into dramatic groupings. But before getting too
hammer-happy, make templates of your artwork by tracing the
perimeters on Kraft paper. Cut out the shapes and tape them to your
wall, rearranging until you're happy with the look. Nail through the
paper, adjusting nail position according to the frame hangers. Remove
paper and hang artwork.
Because they come in coordinated solids and patterns, sheets
take the guesswork out of mixing and matching. Plus, they tend to be
less expensive than the same yardage of fabric. Use them to make
curtains, craft table skirts, or upholster a salvaged headboard. Turn
sheets into a shower curtain or a skirt for a wall-mount sink. Or
appliqué strips of sheet fabric to inexpensive towels for a high-end
coordinated look.
Fabric, like paint, covers a multitude of sins and can make a
dramatic difference in an entire room. It also allows you to change the
character of your decor seasonally. Use a floral-chintz print for wickerchair cushions in the summer, and switch to a red-and-black tartan
plaid in the winter. Because cushions take so little fabric, you may find
what you need on sale in remnant quantities. If you don't sew, have
an upholsterer make the covers for you at a reasonable cost.
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For old chairs, consider new slipcovers: they can give a
brand-new look at a fraction of the price.
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You don't need expensive fabrics to create a luxe look. The
trick to using inexpensive fabric effectively is using lots of it.
Instead of just one skirt on a round table, use three: a maxi, a
mid, and a mini. Layering conveys luxury.
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For a monochromatic look, use a solid-color fabric that
matches the walls -- perhaps sea-foam green, dove gray,
ivory, camel, or creamy yellow -- for slipcovers, table skirts, and
window treatments. In lieu of pattern, choose fabrics with
texture to increase visual appeal and tactile qualities.
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Mixing fabric patterns and colors is trickier, of course, but
you can improve the odds of doing it successfully by starting
with a paisley or floral, adding a stripe or plaid, then introducing
a solid color.
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Study rooms in decorating magazines and books, and
you'll find most have three fabric colors in diminishing
proportions -- for example, lots of blue, a little less white, and
just a smidgen of yellow as an accent. It's a reliable formula that
works for any color scheme.
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Repetition creates continuity. Sew pillows from the curtain
fabric; trim curtains and pillows with the same fringe.
Looking for abundance? You can stuff a room with furniture and
accessories -- an expensive proposition -- or you can buy fewer but
bigger items.
Splurge on one worthy focal-point element and you won't have
to spend so much on the elements around it. Try an oversize mirror
instead of several small ones, for instance. Consider a large armoire
you can appreciate every day instead of four tiny tables that never get
noticed. Six small throw pillows won't do as much for an ordinary sofa
as two 24 x 24-inch ones, which can change the sofa's profile and
personality dramatically.
Often, the smartest buy is knowledge. Buying a few hours of an
interior designer's time could help you decide where best to spend
your limited resources and might keep you from making costly
mistakes you'll have to live with for a long time.
Look for ideas that are low-cost or even no-cost. Study furniture
vignettes in furniture stores and design centers. Go on house tours,
and visit model homes and designer show houses. Pay attention to the
colors and materials you encounter in restaurants, banks, and clothing
stores.
In the end, it's not how much money you spend on decorating
that matters but how wisely you spend it. Imagination is your most
potent ally. To make the most of finite resources, be willing to take an
unconventional -- even eccentric -- approach. Make the process of
feathering your nest affordably an exercise in creativity, not an
exercise in making do. Explore, experiment, and dare to be different,
and your home will almost automatically reflect the good sense, good
taste, good humor, and good will you put into it.
For as little as $25, you can create a brand-new complexion with
paint.
But don't automatically resort to play-it-safe white, even if
you're hesitant about stronger hues. White walls produce a gallery
effect that almost demands beautiful objects and furnishings. And
white intensifies the perception that something is missing if a room is
sparsely furnished. Pastels and darker hues have a way of filling up a
room's blank spaces.
You don't have to stick with solid colors, either. Bookstores offer
volumes on decorative-painting techniques: combing, glazing, ragging,
and stenciling. With a little patience and practice, anyone who can hold
a brush can turn an ordinary wall into a work of art for pennies a
square foot.
Paint has just as much potential on floors and furnishings as it
does on walls. Two coats of deck or latex paint topped with three coats
of polyurethane will produce a beautiful finish on tile, linoleum, or even
old wood floors that are beyond salvage.
There are many different “styles” that can be incorporated in
different rooms of your house. We’ll try to touch on the most popular
ones and help you give your home a new look.
MINIMALIST STYLE
This style is best suited for small spaces because when you
decorate with the minimalist look in mind, the focus is on less rather
than more. It is a very simplistic style that offers just a few pieces of
accents and not a lot of color.
Minimalist decorating is often confused to be an approach
adequately dealt with within the concepts of modern decorating and
design. It is much more. Minimalism can be quite modern or it can be
retro. What it is is one manifestation of a total way of thinking. It is a
way of viewing our world in general and then, our inner space in
particular.
If you are like most people, you probably find yourself puzzling
for a way to understand the values of Minimalist decorating. To acquire
an appreciation of it’s point. Without living the lifestyle or possessing a
pre-disposition for prescribing to the theories, it is a difficult thing to
do. Where other decorating forms work to create a state of mind,
Minimalism is a state of mind.
Born out of a post World War II Minimalist movement in other
art forms where a distillation to the essentials resulted in a “worksthat-were because they existed” philosophy. The new approach to
Minimalism maintains order but, is more relaxed. This has resulted in a
broadening of the appeal. This decorating form will always have a
place among those who view their home as an oasis of order in a world
of chaos and clutter.
Minimalist decorating doesn’t necessarily mean everything is
stripped down. It means everything serves a specific function.
Aesthetically, you will notice emphasis placed on a building’s envelope
by reducing dividing walls to create open floor plans. Not always are
structural changes your option or desire but, if you have a space
whose openness lends itself to Minimalist decorating you have a head
start. If not, you will want to work toward creating a Minimalist illusion
and feel by applying the main elements to what you have – an open
feel, clean lines, order and wasting not on needless adornments.
Minimalist detractors might like to say you are creating a
decorating wasteland but your goal is to create a space appropriate to
the way you want to live. The result can be very rewarding personally
and widely appealing; even to those detractors. It is a long known fact
simple living leads to a more relaxed and tranquil life. After all, isn’t
that a worthwhile accomplishment?
Get rid of some of the standard notions usually applied to the
use of color in decorating. In Minimalist decorating, there isn’t an
attempt to create drama through the power of color. Wall colors are
white based cool teals, greens and coral for example and a
predominance of use of the purist of white. This highly reflective,
neutral palette allows light to do it’s work. There is a space making
effect when light plays upon smooth white walls. Architectural features
are more visible and center stage is given over to better emphasize
objects you’ll use in decoration.
Consider this. One survey of condo buyers shows that those
persons who chose texture to be their favorite decorating element,
The absence of textured relief was their favorite aspect of
Minimalist decorating.
Texture is something that can block the way of Minimalist
sophistication. Most fabrics are sleek and smooth yet soft to the touch.
Fabric window treatments are non-existent, neither are windows
trimmed out; favored are 90 degree plastered corner beads. Wood
flooring is butt joined plank, flawlessly smooth and shiny. Base
moldings are linear, used for the function of covering the wall to floor
gap, not for the purpose of being noticed for it’s profile design. Kitchen
cabinetry is lacquered to a super high shine and topped with polished
granite.
Where texture does appear it is because function requires.
Rectangular patterned area rugs and grainy leather upholstery come to
mind.
Let the flow of space and light create much of your decoration
without the confusion of ornamentation.
Pure simplicity is your conscience keeping the focus on an
absence of clutter. Collections of hung artwork are not needed where
one or two impressively perfect pieces will help not detract from the
architecture of a particular room. Look for strong geometric shapes
and asymmetry. Chrome used in furniture construction can be
enhanced by the addition of a single, heavy, chrome ball form.
Electronic equipment components selected for their quality and leading
edge design can be set up to be artistic accessory pieces which
exemplify the dual use or functional criteria.
Be selective and show a respect of space. The lines of your
favorite piece of furniture when given enough space in which to value
it, will multiply in decorating worth. Stay disciplined and those things
you value won’t be lost in an over crowded home.
You see! The space doesn’t have to be architect designed to
achieve the desirable minimalist look.
I’m a big fan of the casual look because the casual decorating
style focuses on comfort and being an inviting environment.
CASUAL STYLE
Do you long for a casual style room that is homey, warm,
comfortable, and inviting? Who doesn't want to be comfortable in their
own home? If you want to put together a casual style room, learn the
basic elements that combine to create a truly casual room.
For starters, casual rooms have simple details, textured
elements in fabrics and accessories, restful horizontal lines, soft
upholstery, low-luster surfaces, and arrangements that avoid perfect
symmetry.
Details are simple, and elements are rectangular or softly
curved.
A room decorated in a casual style is the perfect place to have a
touch of whimsy. Use an old or reconstructed birdhouse or wooden
candlestick for a lamp base. Stack pieces of old luggage for a side
table, or use a low vintage ironing board for a coffee table.
Casual decorating is easily incorporated into rustic, French
Country, cottage, Shabby Chic, or American Country decorating styles.
With people enjoying more relaxed lifestyles, many homes today
are totally decorated using the elements of casual decorating. But any
home can incorporate the elements into a guest room, country
kitchen, guest room, or bath. The elements of a casual style of
decorating can sneak into most any room and make it feel
comfortable.
The elements of a casual style of decorating are discussed
below. Use any or all of these tips to bring the casual decorating style
to your rooms.
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Furniture in a casual interior is soft and comfortable. Upholstered
pieces are usually oversized and slip covered.
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Many pieces of upholstered furniture are covered in neutral
colors, such as tan, gray, beige, or off-white. But other colors
are used, too. Soft pastels give a peaceful feeling. Or try darker
tones such as navy, rust, olive or forest green, wine, and
cranberry for punch.
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Fabrics on furniture and pillows are usually textured, rather than
shiny. Interesting weaves of natural fibers like cotton, linen, and
wool are typical. New synthetic weaves give a natural look and
add durability.
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For special accents on upholstered pieces, add ruffles, pleats,
buttons, ribbon, or cording. Contrasting colored details
incorporate the full range of colors in the room.
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To achieve a casual look, pieces are often long, large, and
horizontal, rather than vertical and tall and petite. Tables are
chunky and of a large scale, which gives a comfortable feeling,
while providing space for storage and spreading out. This helps
to create a restful look.
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A room decorated in a casual style is the perfect place for found
items of wicker, iron, and rattan, or flea market finds. Old
antiques fit in well.
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A room decorated in a causal style often has furniture arranged
on the diagonal, cutting off sharp corners. Matched pieces are
not required, as the focus is on easy.
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An ottoman is essential for comfort. Add a large wooden or
rattan tray to convert it to a coffee table.
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Light woods are often used for furniture pieces and wood
flooring. Oak and pine are the most popular, either painted or
finished with a flat, low luster varnish to protect the grain.
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Hammered iron, antiqued brass, wrought iron, porcelain, or
carved wood are used for the hardware on doors and drawers.
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Collections of treasured or found items are often arranged to add
the casual look. The shelf of a bookcase or corner tabletop is the
perfect place for an arrangement of treasures.
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Bedrooms in a casual home would not be without a mountain of
pillows and a comfortable quilt.
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Window coverings in a casual room usually start with shutters,
blinds or shades for privacy and light control.
Keep in mind that a room decorated in a causal style should be:
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Comfortable, homey, welcoming, and sturdy.
Fabrics should be soft and textured.
Furniture is long, overstuffed, and low.
Surfaces worn and rugged.
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Accessories are old and rustic.
A touch of whimsy is in order.
Use a casual style wherever you want to create a warm, inviting
atmosphere.
Some people are just drawn towards the formal, elegant look
when it comes to decorating. Yes, it’s true that some rooms that are
designed with elegant elements are striking to look at. Here’s some
good ways to achieve that formal look.
FORMAL STYLE
If you love the look of elegant Ritz-Carlton hotels or public
buildings such as the White House, you're probably drawn to their
formal style of decorating.
While homes today are not usually constructed with 18" deep
baseboard moldings, hand-laid herringbone-patterned hardwood
floors, or elaborate carved plaster ceiling and wall decorations, there
are elements of the formal style of decorating that can be added to
more modern homes.
One of the most distinguishing features of interior spaces and homes
decorated in a formal style is the symmetry of windows, furniture,
artwork, and flooring. These elements are most often arranged in
exact pairs on a straight axis around the room.
In a formal style interior, a central focal point draws the eye.
It might be a beautiful picture window looking out to a perfectly
manicured lawn. The focal point might be a fireplace in the center of
the longest wall. Or the focal point might be an exquisite piece of
furniture.
A formal style of decorating fits best in a home with high
ceilings, large and tall windows, and architectural features such as a
large fireplace mantle or beautifully paneled walls.
Since formal style interiors are decorated to attract the attention
and possible envy of others, highly polished woods, glistening mirrors,
luxurious and sensual fabrics, sparkling crystal chandeliers and wall
sconces, highly polished brass window and door hardware, and unique
and interesting pieces of furniture are important.
Furniture and accessories in formal interiors are often antique or
fine reproductions. Woods used are generally dark and rich looking,
but lighter woods are often used for decoration.
Imported Oriental rugs cover polished hardwood floors. The
original artwork is often elaborately framed in hand-carved gilt frames.
Crystal light fixtures sparkle on the walls and hang from the center of
the ceiling.
The details of formal style decorating are:
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Pairs of furniture and accessories
Shiny wood, fabric, and metals
Tall windows with elaborate coverings
Antique furniture and accessories
Original oil paintings and lithographs
Persian carpets and Oriental rugs
Chandeliers and light fixtures of crystal or brass
Decorative trims of tassels and fringe
Carved details on wood furniture
Of course, just because you love the look of a formal interior
doesn't mean that it will suit your home or lifestyle. But you can use
some of the elements to create a formal home for today's living.
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Soften tightly upholstered furniture pieces with decorative,
comfortable pillows.
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Choose lush-looking durable fabrics in place of silks and velvets.
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Feature one or two uncomfortable formal pieces, but place more
practical pieces of furniture around the room for everyday use.
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Incorporate formal trim and fringe on sensible upholstered
furniture, comfortable pillows, draperies, and valances.
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Add ruffles and tassels on accessories such as tablecloths and
table runners, but make them out of easily-cleaned fabrics.
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Instead of searching for perfectly matched pieces to create a
perfectly symmetrical room, find pieces that are similar in size,
density, and style.
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Or arrange the furniture for a formal look by having pairs of
chairs, pairs of tables, and pairs of lamps. Arrange them on
either side of a sofa, picture window, armoire, or dominant work
of art.
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Decorative painting techniques can imitate the look of
upholstered silk walls and are much more practical.
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Wooden furniture (case goods) is usually of a dark tone.
Mahogany, walnut, and oak, as well as exotic hardwoods are
used for their fine grain and elegant look. Wooden furniture
pieces are polished to a high shine. For an active home, use
several layers of lacquer or polyurethane to create a durable
finish.
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Wooden inlay and parquetry, gold-leafed ornamentation, and
polished brass hardware are hallmarks of formal pieces. Achieve
the look of hand-carving by applying die-cut decorative pieces on
furniture. Period or reproduction pieces might have leather trim
or a marble top.
When you're ready to add formal decorating to your home, don't
forget the accessories and special touches.
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Many formal interiors have carved mirrors hanging in matched
pairs. They help to define a space and enlarge the visual feeling
of the space. Instead of gold-leafing, highlight details with shiny
gold paint.
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Furniture and accessories should look as though they're adorned
with hand-carved accents and gold- or silver-leafing.
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Soft goods such as upholstery, pillows, and window treatments
made of sensible fabrics can be adorned with trims. Tassels
accent pillow corners and drapery swags, fringe is often used on
the bottoms of upholstered pieces, and many patterned fabrics
of different textures and weaves are used together. By simply
adding a row of 6" fringe to the bottom of a plain colored sofa,
you'll have a more formal look. |
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In place of silk, velvet, or satin, choose synthetic, washable
fabrics for window treatments.
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Formally dressed windows usually have draperies to the floor
with contrasting trim topped by a valance or cornice box of
perfect proportions.
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Lighting fixtures of crystal or brass with delicate silk shades
create a formal look. An inexpensive chandelier can be spraypainted to get the metallic look that's desired. Chandeliers look
elegant and formal in a large living room, formal dining room,
bedroom, or small powder room.
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Decorative accessories are used to add a formal look to a room.
Choose shiny metals, plates and vases of china or porcelain, or
leather-bound books. Pairs of accessories carry through the
symmetry of the decor.
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Real or artificial plants and flowers, placed in interesting and
elegant containers, add texture and color to a formal interior.
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A dining room is the perfect place to introduce a formal look.
Choose from a wide range of elegant and beautiful china, crystal,
and silver. A simple gold-banded dinner plate set atop elegant
linens with sparkling silver flatware and beautiful cut crystal
stemware creates a perfect formal setting for dining.
If you like the precise, ordered formal style, find ways to
incorporate some of it into your home. However, if you're less fond of
the formal look, you may prefer a casual style.
Shabby Chic is another beautiful way to enhance your home
décor. It brings in elements of old style antiques and design to make
the environment both comfortable and familiar
SHABBY CHIC STYLE
Shabby Chic is a comfortable, casual look using vintage
accessories, pastels, and comfortable furniture. While people have
been living with old lace tablecloths, dreamy soft floral fabrics, light
painted furniture, wrought iron curtain rods with filmy sheer curtains,
and colorful fresh flowers for a long time, Shabby Chic decorating style
was brought to popularity by Rachel Ashwell.
Think of visiting with your grandmother, snuggled in comfortable
soft furniture. Fresh flowers look beautiful and the soft scent of
candles fills the room. A home decorated in the Shabby Chic style can
provide the same sensation for your own home.
Shabby Chic is no particular style, but rather balances elegant
things with old and worn, shiny silver accessories with painted wooden
tables, soft throw rugs with rough old lace.
Here are some of the ways you can use a Shabby Chic decorating
style in your home:
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Soft Delicate Colors
If you love bold primary colors, Shabby Chic is not for you. Soft
white, muted grey, pale pink, and faded green all have a place in
a Shabby Chic interior.
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Tea Stained Fabrics
Collect fabrics from around the house or buy vintage-looking
fabrics even if they're new. To give the illusion of age, fabric can
be made to look old, worn, faded, and soft by staining them with
a brew of tea. Be sure to test a piece of fabric first to get just
the right shade. You can change something that's stark white to
a soft creamy white-- just right for the look.
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Combine Patterns and Colors
Combine stripes, checks, and floral fabrics to achieve a warm
and inviting look. Gather yardage or fabrics from yard sales and
flea markets. You don't have to follow traditional rules of
combining prints, but for easiest mixing keep the background
color the same (white or ivory, etc.). Then choose one color to
repeat in almost every fabric, such as a soft green or pale pink.
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White painted furniture
Almost any piece of wooden furniture will fit into a Shabby Chic
interior if it's painted white. Collect pieces from flea markets,
garage sales, and the attic. Spray with white paint, sand off the
corners and rough it up a little, and voila - you have Shabby Chic
furniture. You'd be surprised how a coat of paint transforms a
dark dingy chair or table.
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Think Outside the Box
Not every chair has to be sat on. How about using a sturdy,
painted straight chair as a table at the side of a bed or sofa or in
a corner to hold a vase of flowers? An old picnic bench or trunk
can serve as a coffee table. Stack wooden boxes at the side of a
chair for books and flowers. Be creative and use what you have.
Here are some other ways to bring the wonderful, warm look of
Shabby Chic into your home.
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Slipcovers
You can camouflage old, drab furniture and cover up
mismatched pieces with soft slipcovers. Whether you have a
slipcover custom made, make your own, or buy a throw at a
store, you can get just the look you want without investing in a
new piece of furniture. Most pieces are covered in white, but soft
faded prints will work too. Since you'll probably want to wash the
slipcovers occasionally, be sure the fabric is easy care! How
about a cool white look for summer and a warm stripe or floral
for cooler seasons?
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Overstuffed Upholstery
For a welcoming and inviting look, upholstered furniture in a
Shabby Chic interior is comfortable, oversized, wrinkled, with a
slipcover.
Sofas are long and chairs are almost big enough to seat two.
Delicate prints cover soft throw pillows.
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No Iron Needed
A rumpled, wrinkled, but neat look is perfect for the Shabby Chic
style. Upholstered or slip-covered furniture should look well-used
and very loved!
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Architectural Details
Anything old and beautiful will have a place in this style of
decorating. Glass door knobs, pillars, an old mantle, and rusted
old iron shelf brackets or hooks can add texture to any room.
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The More Rust, the Better
Decorative accessories and wrought iron furniture are perfect
compliments to a Shabby Chic interior. If the rust is peeling or
flaking off, sand it lightly and seal with two coats of a flat, clear
spray varnish.
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Delight All the Senses With Flowers and Candles
Add a wonderful glow and delicious fragrance with scented
candles. Be sure to have bunches of fresh flowers scattered
around, whether in a glass jar or beautiful painted vase. Include
pretty books on flowers to add color. Floral prints look
comfortable and add texture on soft throw pillows.
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Everything Old is New Again
Even the most broken-down or dingy of elegant formal furniture
pieces can be adapted to a Shabby Chic decor. If it's broken, fix
it, clean it up, and paint it white. If it's rusted, clean it up (but
only a little) and find it a new home. If the paint is chipped,
you're lucky. If it's broken, find a new use for it. If the mirror is
scratched, scratch it some more.
Because Shabby Chic style is so adaptable, it's a perfect way to
decorate a guest room or family room. With the focus on warmth and
comfort, everyone will be comfortable. Have fun putting together your
Shabby Chic room.
Paris is the epitome of fashion and design. It seems that the French
have the most envied sense of style in the world. You can make your
living space into a Parisian paradise too.
PARIS APARTMENT STYLE
The image of a Paris apartment brings the thought of intrigue,
romance, and European beauty to mind. Rooms have high ceilings with
grand architectural details. A small balcony with a wrought iron railing
overlooks a quaint street or the River Seine. Windows are tall.
Pedestrians bustle on the streets below.
Paris apartment decorating style ranges through many
decorating periods, including baroque, rococo, and neoclassical.
Contemporary Parisian apartments incorporate art deco,
Mediterranean, old world, and cabaret influences.
Rich jewel colors like emerald green, crimson, and royal blues
are accented with black, white, and gold. Burnished gilt touches
accent architectural details and carving on furniture. Furniture and
accessories have time-worn elegance and a vintage look.
Chairs, tables, and armoires painted in black or cream bear
golden accents. They blend beautifully with dark, carved wood. Rich,
shimmering silks and luxurious brocades and velvets enhance upscale
interiors.
To finish out a Paris style interior, accessories and motifs include
vintage posters of French nightspots, French signs, large train station
clocks, black wrought iron tables and shelving, and any scenes of
France, Paris, or the Eiffel Tower.
If you're trying to bring the Paris apartment decorating style to
your home, try to incorporate some of these elements in your space:
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Black is the accent color and a unifying element in Paris rooms.
Bring black into your home without making things look dark.
Find painted wood furniture, picture frames, fabrics, lampshades
and accessories in black or with black trim.
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To really bring Paris to your room, use large posters of French
landmarks, nightspots, and Parisian buildings. If you can find
paintings, etchings, old black and white postcards, or sepiatoned photos of anything French, all the better.
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Large clocks are often a focal point in a Paris room. Find a
reproduction clock with lettering in French or that shows a
French scene. The older it looks the better! It doesn't have to
work. It just has to look great!
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Toile, roosters, fleur de lis, chateaux, pastoral scenes, views of
the Eiffel Tower, Monet impressionist paintings, and pictures of
riverboats on the Seine are popular decorating motifs that are
easy to find.
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Don't try to match the elements in your room. Furniture and
accessories should look old and used, but not shabby.
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For light fixtures, select wall sconces with black silk shades,
crystal chandeliers, and fringed lampshades on table lamps. A
gold foil lining on a black lampshade will help to reflect a
romantic glow. Add your own beads, fringe, and cording to
simple lampshades if you can't find any already embellished.
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Round tables should have layers of skirts. Add a plush cushion to
an intricately twisted iron bench. Nothing says Paris more than a
little bistro table and chairs. Use a large ottoman covered in rich
fabric in place of a coffee table.
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Velvet, damask, brocade, lustrous silks, and traditional toiles are
found in Paris style rooms. Toile is often paired with coordinating
color checked fabrics in both large and small scales. Add a
luxurious old-world look with tassels, cording, fringes, and other
details. Textured linen, weathered leather, paisley designs, and
bold stripes can be used.
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Furniture should be upholstered with beautiful fabrics,
dressmaker details, and have carved legs. Cushions of down
provide the slightly rumpled look of comfort and elegance.
•
Wood furniture pieces of carved, dark tones or stains are often
tinged with touches of gilt. Black and ivory paint, distressed and
crackled, give wood pieces an aged look. There's no such thing
as matching furniture. Pieces should look as though they were
found through a lifetime.
•
Every Paris style bedroom has a decadent vanity table. Add a
luxurious look to a simple table by dressing it with silk, mirrors,
and voluminous ruffles. Dress it with vintage accessories,
frames, and perfume bottles.
•
Use large vintage mirrors, architectural elements (columns,
corbels), garden statuary, black wire ware, clocks, hat boxes,
luxurious silk pillows, soft throws, vintage candelabra, flowers,
plants, china, and delicate porcelain figurines to accessorize a
Paris style room. Find dramatic hats or vintage linens at swap
meets and antique shops.
•
Depending on the style of the room and its use, windows can
have elaborate, flowing drapery panels topped with swagged
valances, ruffles, tassels, silk cording, or bouillon fringes. A
simpler room could use linen or toile panels over shutters or
wooden blinds.
•
Hardwood flooring is stained dark and covered with old Oriental
carpets. They add a grounding pattern, color, and age.
Paris apartment interiors appeal to our sense of glamour and
European style. By using some of the elements here, you can bring the
look to your own home.
Let’s move from the city of Paris to the countryside of France
and see how you can decorate in French Country Style.
FRENCH COUNTRY STYLE
When you think of Provence and the French countryside, you're
sure to see lavender fields and bright sunshine. While there are many
elements that contribute to the French Country style of decorating, the
resulting look is always rustic, old-world, and welcoming. The look fits
well into both country houses and elegant, old chateaux. The French
Country style of decorating, with its warm and casual feel will fit
beautifully into your home as well.
Colors used to decorate in the French Country style come from
the full spectrum of the color wheel. Sunny yellow and soft gold, firey
red and burnt rust, bright grass green and dark hunter green, cobalt
blue and soft ocean tones -- all these are found in this wonderful
decorating style.
Bright black and dull grays punctuate the bright colors and
define accessory pieces.
Rusted metal furniture, lighting fixtures, and furniture give warm
color and wonderful lines.
An important element in pieces used in French Country style
decorating is the use of natural materials. Rough stained or painted
plaster walls, hefty beamed ceilings and walls, delicate carved wood
details, and chair seats woven of rush give texture and simplicity to
the look. Natural stone floors are covered with wool or cotton rugs.
No real French Country home is complete without a stone
fireplace. A heavy beam at the top of the opening serves as a mantle.
Tiles, either stone or ceramic, form the border. The hearth is clay or
brick, and herbs, copper pots, and iron accessory pieces hang on the
side walls.
Read on for more ideas on how to create the look of the French
Country style of decorating in your home. Use some or all of the
elements to feel comfortable with this style.
Architectural features like stone walls and floors, raw wood
distressed ceiling beams and timbers and irregular plaster walls form
the frame of a home decorated in the French Country style.
New or reproduction rustic furniture has the ambiance of curved
panels, hand-carved decorations, and raw wood. No room decorated in
the French Country style would be without an armoire to store pots
and pans, clothing, bed or bath linens, or tableware.
A large dining table, rectangle or round, must have a dull waxed
or low-sheen finish. Curved and carved details grace dining and
occasional chairs. Chairs are either ladder-back style or have vertical
slats, often with rush seating.
Rustic flooring is of stone, clay, or brick.
Old wooden boards work well, too. The focus here is on old and
charming.
Typical of French Country interiors are pieces with contrasting
texture and color. Pale plaster walls and ceilings are punctuated with
dark rough wood beams. Colorful Provencal printed fabrics are set off
against light-toned natural seating.
Deeply cut window sills hold tall, narrow windows. Shutters close
to keep the hot sun out in the summer. Windows and doorways are
encircled with wildly growing vines.
The beautiful colors of the French countryside decorate fabrics
used in French Country decorating. The traditional fabrics combine well
with basic plaids, checks, and stripes in modern homes. Provencal
prints combine shades of primary colors with greens, lavenders, and
bright orange.
Traditional French country products and motifs include roosters,
olives, sunflowers, grapes, lavender, and beetles. The designs are
often arranged in regular intervals, bordered by a wide panel of the
motifs in different scale. This is typical for textile products such as
tablecloths and curtain panels.
Toile is a traditional design for French Country fabrics. A white,
cream, or yellow ground has large motifs in a single contrasting color,
such as black, blue, red, or green. Toile themes include farm animals,
monkeys and Chinese patterns, bucolic country scenes, or courting
scenes of the 18th century. Most toile patterns are printed on linen or
cotton.
Generous baskets woven or wire baskets, colorful ceramics and
tiles, carved wood pieces, and Chinoiserie pottery, and natural grasses
are used for accessories in a room decorated in the French Country
style. Old, dark or colorful paintings adorn the walls.
Lush natural flowers are everywhere! Baskets, an old pitcher or
copper pot, or clear glass vases hold flowers inside and out. The aim is
to bring the wonderful colors and textures of nature into the home.
Window boxes outside shout with the colors of whatever will grow.
Geraniums and lavender are especially popular.
Both colorful and muted pottery adorns a French Country table.
(No fine china here!) The same themes of roosters, olives, and vivid
flowers are found on tableware. Don't forget iron candle holders, wire
baskets, heavy pottery water pitchers, and colorful tablecloths.
By incorporating some or all of the elements mentioned here,
you're bound to have a wonderful French Country interior in your
home. C'est bon!
Just as Paris is an amazing city and France is beautiful country,
the country of Italy brings to mind certain images when it comes to
style and decorating.
TUSCAN STYLE
Homes decorated in the Tuscan style are inspired by the
elements of nature. Crumbling stone walls, intricate wrought iron
accessories, sun-washed hillsides, rustic stone farmhouses, marble
flooring and sturdy hardwood furniture are just some of the wonderful
elements of this decorating style.
Because almost anyone can visualize himself in such a peaceful
setting, it's no wonder that Tuscan style decorating is so popular for
today's homes.
The appeal lies in its simplicity. By combining comfortable, worn,
loved pieces, a room becomes warm and inviting. There's no attempt
at pretense here.
From ancient Roman times, people moved to the beautiful hills
of central Italy to remove themselves from city life, escape the intrigue
of politics, and embrace the idealized culture of the country.
They enjoyed the beauty of nature and incorporated the
elements into their villas. These same elements are what make Tuscan
style decorating so appealing for our homes today.
Using sturdy materials that stand the test of time, the look of
Tuscan style decorating is rustic, warm, and inviting. Nothing should
look shiny and new.
Using the natural materials found in this area of Italy, the
Tuscan home is built of sandstone or limestone, available in a wide
range of hues. Marble is found in abundance and is used for decorative
details, flooring, arches, and pillars.
Homes have an enduring quality about them and look solid and
substantial. Terracotta roof tiles can be seen everywhere in Tuscany,
and should be incorporated into any home being designed in the
Tuscan style.
Deep-set windows framed by sandstone are often protected with
rustic wooden shutters.
Outdoor spaces are critically important, and a home
incorporating Tuscan style decorating must include a patio, loggia, or
portico. Walls built of sandstone bricks frame today's home, where in
ancient times they served as a defense.
Water is a critical element in Tuscan style decorating, and many
homes have a water fountain in the central courtyard surrounded by
beautiful, wildly growing greenery. Marble statues grace outdoor
spaces. Tall, graceful cypress trees sway in the breeze.
Walkways, driveways, and garden paths are set with stone or
brick. Nature takes its course and grass grows up between the stones.
How charming!
The outdoors is brought into a home decorated in the Tuscan
style. Woods, stone, and color are important elements.
Natural stone walls are left natural. Stuccoed walls are colored
with Venetian plaster, color washing or faux painting techniques to
give a worn, well-loved look.
True old Tuscan style rooms can have low ceilings and can be
small and dark. But today's Tuscan rooms use wooden beams,
plastered ceilings, and can have an open, airy feeling. Windows are left
uncovered to take advantage of natural light.
Wooden surfaces such as cupboards, door and window frames,
shutters or ceiling beams are often left with a natural patina.
Colors in Tuscan style decorating come from the earth.
Terracotta, brick, ochre, greens, and golden yellow are seen
everywhere. Blue and green are added to contribute a visual cooling
effect in areas with hot weather.
Surfaces that have been painted add a dash of color even when
the finish wears off.
Often walls are painted with a soft white or gray, while accent
colors and natural woods and stone provide the interest. Ceilings have
dark open timbers. Venetian plaster is a technique for adding texture
and color to new walls.
Homes incorporating a Tuscan style decor often use flooring of
wide wood planks, timber boards, rough stone, unevenly-colored
terracotta bricks, or clay tiles. Antique rugs add warmth and color.
The furniture in a Tuscan style home is usually of straight,
simple lines made from rough-sawn local woods. Accents of tile,
wrought iron, and marble are common. To achieve the worn look, new
pieces of dark woods or pine are often "distressed" at the factory.
Open cupboards and armoires are found in almost any room and
are used for dishes, linens, and clothes. Door fronts are often left open
with chicken wire.
No Tuscan style kitchen is complete without a long, family-style
wooden table.
Open shelves and free-standing cupboards provide storage in a
Tuscan style kitchen and a place to display ceramics and pottery. A
kitchen sink is made of natural stone or porcelain. Cabinet and sink
hardware are often of dark wrought iron. Install a copper range hood
surrounded by tumbled marble tiles at the stove area.
Display copper pots from a wrought iron rack, use terracotta
containers as accents and storage, and add color with majolica
dinnerware.
Incorporate Tuscan themes in accent touches in your kitchen
with displays of pasta in glass jars, a braid of onions or garlic, jars of
olives, and flowers.
The natural elements of stone, wood, water and color are
essential in any Tuscan style home. By using all of the elements,
you're sure to achieve this look that feels warm and welcoming.
Think about the home you grew up in, or maybe the home of a
friend or other family member. You’re likely to have several different
thoughts about how that home was decorated. That is the traditional
style.
TRADITIONAL STYLE
Traditional style interiors are comforting and classic. You may
have grown up in a home that was decorated with traditional style
furnishings.
There is nothing wild or chaotic in a traditional room. It is calm,
orderly, and can be somewhat predictable.
Furnishings might look a bit outdated to some, while others will
enjoy an interior that embraces the benefits of classic styling.
Traditional and formal styles can be similar in some respects. In
both, symmetry is extremely important. Furniture in both formal and
traditional interiors is often arranged on a straight axis and centered
within the room. In addition, furnishings and accessories are often
seen in pairs and straight lines are contrasted with curved details.
The point where formal and traditional part ways is in the degree
of interpretation. Formal can be somewhat rigid, symmetrical, and
almost too shiny and perfect, often using expensive period furnishings
and fine antiques. Traditional rooms are less grand and a bit more
casual, often using less expensive reproductions and accessories and
fewer fussy details.
This homey style is easy to spot in magazines and furniture
stores. While often eclipsed by popular casual and flashier
contemporary styles, it is still a well-loved and enduring look for a
home.
Here are some of the elements of a traditional room:
•
Upholstered furniture in a traditional room exhibits classic lines
and understated details. It is functional, unfussy, and restful
looking. Edges are soft, smooth, and blend into the whole.
•
In general a traditional room will use a mix of vertical lines with
more restful, horizontal lines. Gentle curves are seen in
furniture, pillows, and accessories.
•
Fabrics in a traditional room are generally neither too shiny nor
too textured. Florals, plain colors, muted plaids, understated
stripes, geometrics, tone-on-tone and small all-over patterns are
common.
•
Color in a traditional room is often in a mid-range of tones,
though very dark and very light colors can also be used. Pretty
multi-color florals are often the basis of a traditional color
scheme that uses the lightest color on the walls and deeper hues
for upholstery and flooring. Avoid neon brights and jarring
combinations.
•
The overall ambience of traditional decor is homey, understated,
and non-jarring.
•
As in formal settings, furniture in a traditional room is often
arranged on straight axis within the room. The sofa will directly
face or sit perpendicular to the fireplace and a bed will back up
to the center of the longest bedroom wall.
•
Wood furniture will usually have a mix of straight and curved
lines. There may be light carving details as well. While wood
pieces will often be finished with darker stains, a traditional
room might also use lighter woods as long as the lines of each
piece are classic.
•
Interiors in a traditional home will often feature trim and molding
that is painted glossy white. Crown molding is common and adds
to the formal look. Walls might have a chair rail and simple
molding details, with wall surfaces done in a flat painted finish or
wallpaper. Ceilings are often white and may have simple beams.
•
The dining room in a traditional home is generally a separate
room, often with some built-in corner cabinets for china storage.
A large area rug sits on top of a hardwood floor. The table is
rectangular with a set of matched chairs placed evenly around
the perimeter. A matching sideboard, buffet, or china cabinet is
centered on one wall.
•
Dressmaker details are not particularly important in a traditional
room. Trims, tassels, and fringes are used sparingly if at all, in
favor of a simpler, calmer look.
•
Window coverings in traditional rooms show traditional style.
Look for narrow shutters, traverse draperies, and under
treatments of pinch pleated sheers. Cornices and valances may
also be featured.
•
Accessories include pairs of lamps, urns, plants, mirrors, framed
prints, china, vases, and collections of books. Pairs of objects are
usually arranged in balanced symmetry.
•
Light fixtures exhibit classic styling. Lamps with silk shades, wall
sconces, and floor lamps might all be used. Shades should be
fairly plain and in ivory or white.
•
Traditional dining rooms can show off a variety of china,
glassware, and silver. Plates might be a classic gold-rimmed
style or a simple floral design. Use either beautiful tablecloths or
pretty fabric placemats and napkins.
Who doesn’t love the tropics – the thought of laying on a sandy
beach and then retiring into a cabana decorated with the sense of
palm trees and warm sun? Try doing a tropical chic theme.
TROPICAL CHIC STYLE
Tropical chic is one of the most popular looks today. It includes
comfort, warmth, and a touch of the exotic, using jungle themes,
restful colors, and natural textural elements.
It's a style that has fresh appeal with touches of traditional.
This is not the multi-colored jungle look you might choose for a
child's room. Instead, it might be defined as "lush minimalism" since it
mixes lots of texture and intricate pattern with simple details and a
few large accessories.
Common motifs include stylized palm trees, large leafed banana
plants, monkeys, animal prints, rattan, leather, and grass cloth.
This look is most often used in living rooms and family rooms,
but can be adapted for master suites and bathrooms as well. Here are
some of the underlying elements and themes of a tropical look room.
•
Comfortable upholstered furniture is a must in a tropical room.
•
Long horizontal lines underscore a casual look and add to a
restful mood, while taller elements such as plants, screens, or
artwork add a grand scale.
•
Neutral tones including ivory, beige, camel, tan, deep brown,
soft gold and pale yellows are the foundation of a tropical
themed room. Greens are also a major element in shades that
range from light sage to avocado and from yellow-greens to a
green that is nearly black. Accents might be in dark brown,
black, or even muted reds.
•
Furniture in a tropical room is often large in scale and selected
for comfort and utility. Accent pieces in wicker, bamboo, iron,
and rattan will also fit well with the look.
•
Fabrics should be soft and lush. Neutral solid chenille is perfect
for the major upholstered pieces. Pillows, ottomans, and chairs
might be done in jungle prints and leaf designs.
•
Wood furniture pieces and wood flooring fit well into this look.
Light woods can be used but add more weight to the room by
mixing in some dark tables, lamps, or furniture feet.
•
The main motifs used would be the tropical jungle look and
animal designs (monkeys, elephants, etc.) used in fabrics,
accent items, and accessories.
•
Animal designs figure prominently in a tropical room. Consider
using both animal hide designs such as leopard spots and zebra
stripes as well as animal images such as monkeys, lions, and
elephants.
•
Large plants, especially palm trees, are a perfect addition to a
tropical themed room. Add them in corners and up light from
underneath using inexpensive can lights.
•
Because island prints, leaves, and animal prints are a feast for
the eye, avoid overdoing the room's accessories.
A few large plants, lamps, books, and some carefully selected
large-scale accessories will usually be enough. Avoid lots of tiny
little things and keep it simple and spare.
•
Window coverings should exhibit a natural quality. Bamboo or
matchstick blinds, breezy linen panels, or plantation shutters are
all choices that will fit into this look.
•
Grass cloth, baskets, rattan, and wicker in natural tones add
another layer of texture to the room. Consider these materials
for wall coverings, cornice boards, folding screens, ottomans,
and more.
•
Flooring might be hardwood, though tile or stone is another
possibility. Accent the hard floor with area rugs of natural sisal.
•
Artwork will look best if it sticks to the color palette of the room
-- pale gold, ivory, browns, and greens. Hang prints with stylized
leaf designs, exotic looking palm trees, and jungle animals.
•
Light fixtures can add some whimsy with decorations in monkey,
leaf, or jungle accents. Dark lamp shades will add more weight
to the room.
•
Tableware looks might include natural colored stoneware,
textured placemats, loosely woven fabric napkins, and sturdy
glassware. Accessorize with wooden bowls, baskets, and
bamboo.
Another great popular style of decorating is the “lodge” look.
This style brings the outdoors in and evokes the thought of a country
mountain lodge.
LODGE STYLE
There is a good deal of emphasis today on an outdoors, rustic
approach to decorating, commonly referred to as "the lodge look" or
"Adirondack style." The feel of these styles recalls summer camps
spent by a lake or a winter mountain retreat; there are memories of
waking to the songs of chirping birds and falling asleep with only the
light of the campfire.
Few of us have the luxury of time or money to retreat to the
piney mountain or lakeside lodges whenever the mood strikes.
However the thoughts of furnishing a room in this style are intriguing.
Regardless of your decorating skills you can get a lodge home
décor theme by adding the right accessories and wall art. Changing
out your window treatments, flooring, wall coverings and furniture can
transform your home into a rustic lodge no matter where you live.
Window treatments are important to your lodge home décor
style. For a great look try using plain cotton or canvas with tabbed
tops or a lodge print fabric curtain or just plain wood blinds. There are
many treatments that go with this style, especially if you use
coordinating fabrics, but you probably want to avoid frilly curtains or
valances.
Decorative items are key to bringing your lodge home décor
style all together. Concentrate on choosing wall art, pillows and knick
knacks, in colors and patterns that match your lodge design. It's
amazing the impact a few simple changes can make!
Be sure to include lots of wooden bowls and old baskets as well
as antique snowshoes and other camp gear and you can even try a
few vintage lodge style blankets in traditional black and red plaid or
stripes to really add a warm campy feel. Incorporating additional
touches such as taxidermy mounts can give your home a nice final
touch.
A critical thing to consider when decorating your home with a
lodge home décor look is what you put on the walls. For this look the
colors can really enhance the feel - you should consider having earth
tones either as wallpaper or paint. Try using a split logs and chinking
for a real log cabin look on the walls, or go with paint.
It's not crucial that you match the furnishings and lighting but
you should include a variety of campy and rustic furniture. Try using
antler chandeliers or deer hoof table lamps. You have a wide choice in
furniture - leather always goes well with this look and you can even
accent it with twig or antler chairs. Be sure to include some campy
Native American style rugs or perhaps a sheepskin or bearskin rug in
front of the fireplace.
A critical aspect that we sometimes forget when decorating your
house is the wall space. Even the ugliest walls can be made to look
good with decorative wall art and accessories. Try adding hunting
prints and old advertising signs to your walls to really show off the
campy feeling of your lodge design.
Adding a fantastic lodge look to your home doesn’t have to be
difficult or take a huge amount of money. Shop for bargains at your
local thrift store and attend antique auctions for those campy items
that will make your home unique.
You can re-do a room and make it sensational without having to
buy a thing. Just work with what you have!
USING WHAT YOU’VE GOT
Are you confused as to how to ‘pull a room together’? Do you
want your home to feel more spacious, warm and inviting? You might
be tempted to add another chair, piece of artwork or accessory hoping
it will magically transform the room---instead the space feels more
disjointed and cluttered. The thought of buying all new furnishings is
not only daunting from a time perspective, but a very costly
endeavor.
The solution is literally surrounding you! By creatively using the
possessions you’ve accumulated over the years, you can make your
home more visually appealing and comfortable---a place where your
family will want to spend more time.
By showcasing your home’s best features and maximizing the
furnishings, artwork and accessories you already own, your home will
reflect who you are and provide an inviting and interesting
environment for your guests.
First things first: Dealing with your ‘stuff’:
To give a room a fresh, new look and feel, clear all surfaces AND
clear your mind as well…completely forgetting the way the space
looked before. Use an adjacent room’s floor or a large counter or table
top to sort the items you remove from the room. Sort ‘like’ items
according to function, theme, color, or substance. For example, put all
candles together in one area, all greenery in another and follow the
same guidelines for glassware, pottery, books, collections, lamps, etc.
Next, evaluate and remember… less is more! Use what you like and
what you have, but take a hard look at what you’ve got. Be critical.
Ask yourself which pieces you still really need and love---the
remainder can be donated, taken to a consignment store or sold at a
yard sale.
•
Group like items. Cluster like objects -- they’ll stand out more
and make a more dramatic impression. Group them according to
color, finish, or theme, instead of having items spread
throughout the room.
•
“Tack” your lighting. Much like a sailboat needs its sails tacked in
a triangle in order to achieve balance and flow, your rooms will
benefit from a triangular placement of lamps in order to equally
distribute light throughout the room.
•
Free Zones. No matter how much stuff you have, you need to
have some surfaces free of objects---especially windowsills. To
fully appreciate your collections and treasures, there needs to be
alternating, empty areas to balance the accessorized areas.
Create important ‘pauses’ by utilizing negative space when
hanging artwork and arranging accessories. Place artwork or
photos on every other wall, and notice the increased focus on
the objects.
•
Cluster plants and pillows. Instead of spreading plants
individually throughout the room, group them together for a
more dramatic effect. Gathering pillows together on sofas, beds
and chairs adds more color and interest to the room.
•
Furniture finesse. To maximize flow, resist the urge to push all
your furnishings against the wall. Pull the big pieces away from
the walls, you’ll be surprised how much more spacious it makes
the room feel.
Cross-utilize and rotate items. Just because something has
always been in a particular room, doesn’t mean it can’t be ‘reinvented’
and revitalized in a new setting. Think outside the decorating box! A
bench found in the basement becomes a side table to accent the
couch. Bookshelves, once cluttered haphazardly with an assortment of
knickknacks, become a display area for a collection of teapots and
jars.
Believe it or not, you can actually re-do a room in a day! Yep,
it’s true. Check out the next section.
DECORATING IN A DAY
Great decorating does not necessarily mean it has to cost a lot of
money or take a great deal of time. The things that make a home
fabulous are using elements in unexpected ways. Just because they
call it a china closet...doesn't mean you have to store china in it.
Don't get hung up on what the original purpose of the room was
- use it how it works best for your lifestyle. Just because they called it
a dining room doesn't mean it can't be a sitting room. Think outside
the box and have fun with your home!
Here are some inexpensive ideas to help you to give your home a
decorator's flair, many of them in just one day!! Your goal is to have
people walk into your room and say, “I never would have thought of
that!”
Change your window treatments for the season by sewing two
fabrics together and use a simple rod pocket. I just did this for a client
and we used a soft yellow and blue floral for the summer months…flip
the rod around and the back side is a rich colored fabric in greens and
deep reds that will give the room visual warmth. .
Bring your china cabinet into the living room. Remove the doors
and merchandise it with books, accessories, and family
photos....mixed in with some of your china. This creates a great focal
point in a room that is missing architectural focal points.
Hang a picture low between the bottom of the lampshade and
the lamp table to create an element of surprise for the person seated
in the chair.
Don't neglect the ceilings in your home. Paint it (any color but
white) or wallpaper it. Add some interesting wood moldings to create a
faux tray ceiling look.
Float your furniture in a V-shaped arrangement instead of the
predictable L.
Add elements of comfort to your room. It is equally important
that a room “feels” good as well as “looks” good. For example, add an
ottoman for your feet instead of a conventional coffee table. Padma
Plantations make a great one with a reversible top that is ottoman and
one side and a serving table with trays on the other side.
Here are some other great tips for redecorating in a day:
•
Bring down the antique dresser or chest from your guest room.
Give it a place of honor in the living room or foyer.
•
Other interesting curtain rod ideas for your room can be using
old golf clubs, tennis racquets, copper plumbing, or PVC pipe,
painted with a faux finish.
•
Use a horizontal plate rack to create an instant cornice at your
window. Add a scarf to it and then change the plates with the
season.
•
Add a glass round to a bird bath to create an interesting side
table.
•
Stack old suitcases to create an instant lamp table.
•
Hot glue or sew bullion fringe to the bottom of your ready made
draperies to create an instant custom look.
•
Frame the unusual, how about a collection of antique door knobs
or old silverware.
Creating a space that is multi-functional as well as interesting
can be easily achieved by dividing the space into several smaller
vignettes. The living or family rooms are usually the rooms where
maximum usage is most desirable.
With an abundance of larger homes on the market, creating a
space that feels warm and inviting can pose a challenge. As in the case
of many urban dwellers space can be a costly luxury. Both of these
dilemmas can be easily resolved by utilizing the space to create
smaller rooms within a room.
If you have more furniture than you know what to do with, the
good news is that your furnishings become more purposeful when used
in a specific location. This can also elevate visual clutter which is often
the result when pieces are loosely placed in a room.
Create a place for conversation or entertaining. A place where
you would entertain or family gatherings would take place. By
arranging the seating in a way that induce conversation you are also
eliminating the need to shout. When your guest are at the edge of
their seat and it’s not because someone’s telling a great story, its time
to tighten up the seating arrangement.
How do you do that? Here are a few examples:
1. A nice comfy chair next to an occasional table with a reading
lamp makes a nice place to read a book or have a cup of tea.
2. A writing desk and chair for letter writing or paying bills.
3. An accent table flanked by two chairs for more intimate
conversations.
4. Chaise lounges are ideal for an afternoon napping.
5. For entertainment game tables are always a great addition.
Another way to define specific areas of the room is to use the
furnishings themselves: Such as the backs of sofas or sofa tables
define spaces.
•
Arrange groups of seating away from each other to create
separate spaces.
•
The use of rugs is one of the best ways to create a wall less
room.
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Screens or draperies act as a more dramatic partition.
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Free standing open shelving can give the space a very
contemporary stylized look.
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And of course space itself can help to define two separate areas.
•
Creating a path or flow of traffic will create an invisible barrier.
Empty out a room and think of it as a blank canvas. See what
interesting rooms within a room you can come up with. Just keep in
mind it may take several tries before you achieve what you want.
Have fun with it – it’s only decorating!
Finally, you may want to use a few pieces of artwork to help
enhance your new look!
CHOOSING ART
Selecting art for your home can be an exciting adventure and a
source of enjoyment for years to come. Keys to success are figuring
out what kind of art you like, how it will fit in with the rest of your
interior design plans, and how to exhibit the art to the best effect in
your home.
If you regularly visit galleries and museums, you probably
already have a good sense of what kind of art appeals to you. If not,
there are many opportunities to browse art within your community at
local exhibitions and art fairs.
Even small towns usually have a non-profit gallery space, and
your local café or restaurant may exhibit the works of local artists. In
larger cities, galleries often get together for monthly or periodic
“gallery nights” where all the galleries hold open house receptions on
the same evening. It’s a great way to see a lot of art in a short time.
Today the internet provides the largest variety and depth of fine
art available worldwide. You can visit museum websites and see
master works from ages past, check out online galleries for group
shows, and visit hundreds of individual artists’ websites.
One advantage of using the internet is that you can search for
the specific kind of art you are interested in, whether it’s photography,
impressionism, bronze sculpture, or abstract painting. And when you
find one art site, you’ll usually find links to many, many more.
If you feel strongly about a particular work of art, you should
buy what you like and then find a place to display it prominently. But
you may find that when you get the art home and place it on a wall or
pedestal, it doesn’t work with its surroundings. By not “working,” I
mean the art looks out of place in the room. Placing art in the wrong
surroundings takes away from its beauty and impact.
What should you do if you bring a painting home and it clashes
with its environment?
First, hang the painting in various places in your home, trying it
out on different walls. It may look great in a place you hadn’t planned
on hanging it. If you can’t find a place where the art looks its best,
you may need to make some changes in the room, such as moving
furniture or taking down patterned wallpaper and repainting in a
neutral color. The changes will be worth making in order to enjoy the
art you love.
Sometimes the right lighting is the key to showing art at its
best. You may find that placing a picture light above a painting or
directing track lighting on it is all the art needs to exhibit its brilliance.
If you place a work of art in direct sunlight, however, be sure it won’t
be affected by the ultraviolet light. Pigments such as watercolor,
pencil and pastel may fade, whereas acrylics will not. (Be sure to
frame delicate art in UV protected glass or acrylic.)
If you prefer to do the room first and then find the art, size and
color are the two major criteria for selecting art to fit its surroundings.
For any particular space, art that is too large will overwhelm and art
that is too small will be lost and look out of proportion. The bolder the
art, the more room it needs to breathe.
As a rule, paintings should be hung so that the center of the
painting is at eye level. Sculpture may sit on the floor, a table, or
pedestal, depending on the design. Rules should be considered
guidelines only, however, so feel free to experiment. One collector, for
example, hung an acrylic painting on their bedroom ceiling so they
could better view it while lying down.
When selecting a painting to match color, select one or two of
the boldest colors in your room and look for art that has those colors
in it. You’re not looking for an exact match here. Picking up one or
two of the same colors will send a message that the painting belongs
in this environment.
Another possibility for dealing with color is to choose art with
muted colors, black-and-white art, or art that is framed in a way that
mutes its color impact in the room. A wide light-colored mat and
neutral frame create a protected environment for the art within.
Style is another consideration when selecting art to fit a room.
If your house is filled with antiques, for example, you’ll want to use
antique-style frames on the paintings you hang there. If you have
contemporary furniture in large rooms with high ceilings, you’ll want to
hang large contemporary paintings.
Think about it. When you walk into a gallery or museum, what
do they all have in common? That would be white walls and lots of
light. If a wall is wall-papered or painted a color other than white, it
limits the choices for hanging art that will look good on it. If a room is
dark, the art will not show to its best advantage.
If you want to make art the center of attraction, play down the
other elements of the room like window coverings, carpeting, wall
coverings, and even furniture. A room crowded with other colors,
textures and objects will take the spotlight away from the art.
You may want to select one room in your house to focus on art.
Paint the walls white or off-white. Lay hardwood floors or a neutral
carpet. Install window coverings with clean simple lines and neutral
colors (or no window coverings at all).
Put up ceiling spot lights that can be adjusted to focus on the
art, or use individual lighting for each piece. For the furniture, follow
the principle that less is more. Keep it spare. This is not the room to
display your collectibles. Let the art star. Then relax and enjoy it.
Selecting and displaying art is an art in itself. Experiment to
learn what pleases you and what doesn’t. You’ll be well-rewarded for
the time you invest by finding more satisfaction both in the art and in
your home.
Here are some things to consider when grouping and hanging
your art:
Contrary to popular belief, your sole task isn't to pound a nail in
the wall and hang the picture level. Pleasing wall arrangements follow
the same interior design rules used for placing furniture in a room.
Do you want a serene room or a stimulating one? Well, rhythm - the movement from one object to the next -- contributes to a room's
tone. Creating a certain rhythm depends on the size, shape, and
spacing of objects.
When all of the objects are the same size and equally spaced,
the rhythm is more placid. If the larger objects were replaced by tall,
vertical rectangles, the rhythm would be staccato, setting an emphatic
tone.
Balance refers to the even distribution of visual weight within a
display. Maintaining balance is important because an unbalanced
arrangement may look top-heavy, bottom-heavy, or as if a side is
falling off.
A symmetrical arrangement (where each half of an arrangement
is the mirror image of the other) is the most straightforward
illustration of balance, but you can use the technique to create
asymmetrical arrangements too.
Sometimes an object's visual weight demands that it be
displayed alone. Anything that is large, dark, bright, boldly patterned,
or oddly shaped will look heavier and bigger than an item that is small,
pale, solid, and predictably shaped.
The sheer size of a huge rectangular wall hanging makes it best
displayed alone, but a smaller, bright red item would have the same
visual weight. When using this technique, it's best to display your
weighty object near similarly weighty furniture or architecture, such as
a sofa or fireplace.
Hierarchy, or the use of one dominant object mixed with subordinate objects, allows you to display a group of things while drawing
attention to the focal point.
Sometimes the wall area between items, called negative space,
is as interesting as the items themselves. Try placing a square and
four identical rectangles so the negative space creates a pinwheel
effect.
It's easiest to draw attention to the negative space when your
objects are in a color that contrasts with your wall, such as white
against red.
You can create a dramatic and dynamic pattern with repetition of
a simple object.
Repetition is a favorite trick of interior designers because the
objects used can be as humble and inexpensive as garden seed
packets or the same photocopy of your dog just thumb tacked to the
wall.
This technique is equally as effective for three-dimensional
objects, such as wall vases or display boxes.
Proportion is the size relationship between items, and analyzing
proportion helps us make visual sense of our environment. Take a
grouping at the top and make it large. However, divide a rectangular
piece and divide it into familiar proportions. That way the top is
divided in half and the bottom uses thirds.
Dividing up a panoramic photograph in this way, for example,
would make it more interesting and approachable. You could also use
rectangles painted in three intensities of the same color.
CONCLUSION
There are millions and millions of ways that you can redecorate a
space. On the same tack, there’s no one wrong or right way. What
you need to do is have a certain vision in your head and then act on
that vision.
The beauty of decorating on your own is that you can always redo it if you want to. When you do-it-yourself, you (hopefully) haven’t
spent a lot of money and can scrap anything that doesn’t work and
start over.
As we said in the beginning of the article, celebrities spend
hundreds of dollars on interior decorating advice and handiwork. Still
others prefer to do it themselves. Some of the most prevalent styles
that celebrities prefer are the traditional, French country, and Shabby
Chic look.
Now you know how to emulate them and make your home the
home of your dreams!
Decorate like a celebrity? Yes you can! Now enjoy your new
surroundings!