Decorating Tips for Your Home

30 Friday Mar 2012

Posted by melissaoconnor in Art & Design, The Home

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bookshelves, colors, decorating, flowers, home, interior design, patterns, plants, shelves, textures

Everyone has a room in their home that needs a little love. Why not jazz it up and add a sense of style that won’t only look great, but completes the entire room? Here’s some easy tips to create a more comfy space and well-designed atmosphere. With a little guidance, anyone can do this. The main thing to remember is balance. You want to think of the bigger picture, so that the final result looks complete and well put together.

General Decorating
A great tip for placing items is grouping them in threes. Sometimes when you put two things together, it feels like something is missing. Three is the perfect number! Keep this in mind when you’re decorating any space in your home. It’s OK to mix patterns, but make sure they relate to one another. Whether by color or theme, they shouldn’t contrast with each other.

Play with textures! No one wants to be in a flat room. Choose your textures wisely but get creative. Having a high-textured rug in the room brings warmth and depth to any space, especially when your furniture may be a little cold (metals and glass). Add some patterned curtains and fun pillows, and the whole room will feel lifted.

Wall Space
Remember, when hanging photos and framed pieces the middle should always be at eye level. If you’re shorter than most people, just raise it an inch or two. I go nuts when I visit people’s homes and they have pictures hanging almost from the ceiling. Whoa! If you have frames that run along the lines of your doorways, that’s a no no. Who lives with you? The Jolly Green Giant!

Also, try not to make your home look like a gallery or museum. Not everything has to be placed in a row. Sometimes, depending on the piece, you can raise one of them so they’re not so streamlined. You want your house to look lived in, not like a museum.

Bookshelves & Shelving
Organize your books into categories. Either group them by color, by size or both. It’s also good to keep certain subjects together so you can find what you’re looking for in a pinch. Sometimes it’s cool to have a section of old vintage books to add a sense of history to a room.

If you’re a collector, this is a great opportunity to let your collectibles shine. You don’t want too many, so make sure you pick your favorites. Always keep some space around the items and don’t crowd the shelves. You want your book shelf to stand out, not just one particular item, so keep with general themes.

Bringing the Outside In
It’s good to keep the outside of your home in mind when designing a space. What do you see when you look out the window? Is there a lot of green from leaves on a tree? Try to bring the outside in and highlight how beautiful it is. Decorate with some neutral colors like greens, browns and blues, and that tree will feel like a part of your home.

Think about light when choosing your curtains or shades. Is there a lot of light coming in a window or not enough? If it’s not enough, then I suggest you get blinds that open easily or a sheer curtain. That way you can block the light when you need to and let the sunshine through the sheers beautifully.

An easy way to brighten up any room is to bring in flowers and plants. Not only will it make you smile, but it’ll smell good and the air will be cleaner. Gotta love natural air fresheners!

The whole point of design is to attract and submerge. You want people interested in what you created and then happily drown in the sweetness of your work. I’m telling you, a few simple makeovers like this will add a modern and clever touch to any space.

If you’re like me, you’ll want to rearrange every room in the house! I absolutely love doing things like this. Not only because I’m a designer, but it really relaxes me. Good Luck!

The Natural Palette

18 Thursday Aug 2011

Posted by melissaoconnor in Color Inspiration

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color theory, colors, comfort, design, interior design, nature, relaxation

Recently I have been working with color expert Kate Smith which has inspired me to think more about color. Since nature is where I get most of my inspiration from I wanted to share some tips on how to use the natural palette in your home.

Analyzing a space is a smart thing to do once in awhile. I recommend you do it every six months or so. Tastes change and so does your life. Adjusting your space to your everyday is how you will get the most out of it. If you aren’t benefiting from your home than something is wrong.

A place to chill out should be reminiscent of what you love. What makes you truly relax? You should be able to clear your mind and be totally comfortable. For me, nature is my true love. So I take colors from Mother Earth and bring them inside my home. This means using neutrals such as blues, grays, browns, greens and colors from fruits and veggies. Natural tones in nature is what helps me sit back and relax. I find that most people feel the same.

{Seeing nature as a whole is truly breathtaking. From the sky to the water, you will find inspiration from every angle}

Now, this natural palette isn’t just an inspiration for color but also how to use it. If you look outside the Earth seems so perfect. Trees have brown bark to ground the green and many other lighter colors in their leaves. The sky is all sorts of gorgeous blues, whites and grays while the ground presents more greens and browns. This is a free lesson in how to coordinate and arrange the colors in your home. So, mirroring nature in your space is a great way for successful design to shine. Put the sky on your walls so the room feels airy. Depending on the tone of the color, the trim can be crisp or slightly blend in for a softer look. Antique whites, creams and light grays work well.

{Look closer to find various tones and hues of color on trees during different seasons as well as notice all the different colors in the leaves}

{The colors of autumn are a true inspiration for spaces to feel warm but relaxing}

Flooring should ground the room and provide the necessary weight for all other elements to feel natural. You don’t have to necessarily have really dark floors, but they should be a darker color that the walls so their is some type of contrast. The more texture there is, the more warm the space will feel. Eco-friendly options such as bamboo, cork, cement, brick and stone play very well in a space like this. Adding a rug will bring even more comfort and warmth.

Your furniture should also help weigh down the space. Having pieces appear as they are floating can somewhat look out of place. You want a consistent feel to the room. For a more spacious design stick with darker toned pieces that aren’t heavy. Maybe they have open shelving or thin legs, either way it will work. If you want or need more heavier furniture that is fine too. Just take note of size and the proportion to the other pieces in the room.

{A great example of how texture in natural elements can bring so much to a space. See all the various gray tones from the Earth}

Your accessories are the details that bring the whole room together. From the window treatments and lighting to smaller decorative items such as vases, trinkets and books. Pops of color bring a whimsy and fun feel to the room so look to the seasons for inspiration. The details on your furniture play a big part as well. Handles, knobs and special engraving can sometimes make or break a space. If you are incorporating grays in the room I suggest colder metals like silver. Warmer highlights such as golds and brass, go well with autumn colors like red and orange.

{Light wood tones and soft colors make this bathroom calm and soothing. Silver blends nicely with the colors of the room}

Color is so important when creating a space. Especially, one that is meant for relaxation and comfort. Feeling like you are at a park when in fact you are sitting on your couch reading a book, is a successful result to great design. Everything should accent each other and blend in a natural way, as if the room was meant to look the way it does. So sit back, take a look around and discover the power of color in your home. Creating a space that empowers, inspires and keeps you calm when the day is rough truly makes all the difference. I can guarantee you will be smiling more often.

Negative Space

10 Sunday Jul 2011

Posted by melissaoconnor in The Home

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design, diy, furniture, interior design, negative space

When designing your home, there are a lot of factors you must take into consideration. One of them is negative space. This is one of most important elements and yet most don’t understand it. All of the free open areas that lie around tables and rugs and in between furniture and accessories can make or break a room. There is one thing to remember: your decor needs to breathe and so do you!

If you feel suffocated in a room, there are a few things that are going on. One, the furniture is too big for the space. Two, everything is too close to each other or three, there are too many things in the room. All of these are easy to fix. Make sure when you’re buying furniture you take measurements, not just of the furniture itself, but of the room too. Don’t forget the floor to ceiling height as well. Also, take into consideration the other pieces you plan on including in the space.

{Tip: When hanging artwork or framed photos on the wall make sure there is a good amount of space in between them. Here I hung up a number of small pieces together but because they are set up in a structured way and have at least 1.5 to 2 inches in between them, they don’t look like a mess}

Always leave a good amount of space around furniture and large accessories such as lamps, stools, vases, etc. This includes the coffee table from the couch! Ten to twelve inches should be enough. People should be able to get up and walk around with ease but be close enough to reach cups and other things on the table.

Don’t clutter a room with lots of stuff. This never looks good! You could have a lot of beautiful things in a space, but if there are too many it will all look like junk. Who wants that! Start with the necessities and then slowly add finishing touches and pops of style.

{Tip: When you want to create an area that shows off a collection or a number of plants like this, group items and furniture that resemble each other. Whether in color, texture or material, doing this will give a well thought out cohesive look instead of stuff you just piled together}

Also, try not to go to have too much space or your home will look bare. Fill it with beautiful things that make you happy but don’t take over the space. Everything in the room should look like it belongs together with a couple of pops of sparkle. You want to live in a well rounded designed space that reflects who you are with effortless style.

Follow these tips and keep them in mind when redesigning or planning on designing a new space. Remember, the negative space is just as important as the space you’re filling. It’s where you’re most of the time and being able to live and breathe effortlessly will make all the difference.