Kristina Wolf's House of Design

Interior Design, Accessorizing, and DIY Tips

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The Key Elements of Easy Modern Farmhouse Décor

The charm and warmth of country décor have never been more popular. Blending vintage pieces with modern, and giving them a twist of farmhouse charm, is the key to putting this décor style to work for you.

Farmhouse décor can vary from region to region, but some key elements link them together. Let’s look at some of the most decorative and distinctive characteristics, the key elements of easy modern farmhouse décor.

Farmhouse Finishes

When you’re talking about farmhouse finishes, slick surfaces and clean lines will not spring to mind. Farmhouses are old, weathered, and lived-in, and the finishes of furniture and architectural elements going into farmhouse décor reflect that.

Farmhouse furniture pieces are designed to be used, and to last, so they are often large and bulky with durable surfaces. Wood is the choice for most farmhouse décor, with various finishes designed to create an aged and weathered effect.

Painted/Antiqued Finishes

White is one of the most common finishes in farmhouse décor and country furnishings, and that applies to paint finishes as well. Whether the paint is laid on solidly, used as an accent, or applied sparingly for an “antiqued” effect, the white color quickly adds a homey, vintage look to a room.

Another popular paint color is blue, especially a cornflower or sky blue. The natural shade lends itself well to country and farmhouse décor and is often seen in kitchen pieces, including table and chairs, sideboards, china cabinets, and cupboards.

Natural and Distressed Wood

Wood is a staple of farmhouse furnishings and architectural elements, whether it has a natural, rustic finish or is distressed to look older and more worn and weathered. Natural wood lends warmth to any room and is ideal for kitchen, family areas, and bedrooms embracing farmhouse décor.

Vintage Pieces

Farmhouse décor is all about looking old, lived-in, and functional, and vintage accents help bring the room together. Vintage signs and branding, including feed store signs, old tin and aluminum advertising signs, and flour and grain bags, are easy, inexpensive ways to add a vintage farmhouse and country feel to any room.

Aluminum and tin work tools and cooking utensils make beautiful accents, and some can even be useful. For example, an enameled coffee pot or teapot, milk pails, oil cans, and washboards can be repurposed in a room or used as is to give whimsy and warmth to a room.

Punched tin and aluminum designs are very popular as inserts in cabinetry. You can easily remove the wood or glass insert and add nail-punched designs. Steaming pies, roosters, tractors, and sun motifs are popular nail-punched designs for farmhouse décor.

Chicken Wire

Nothing says farmhouse living like chicken wire. This versatile metal fencing can be integrated into your farmhouse décor in a variety of ways.

One of the most common ways to add chicken wire to your farmhouse décor is by using it for front cabinetry. Removing the wood or glass inserts on a china cabinet or cupboard and replacing them with chicken wire instantly adds that rustic, farmhouse touch. Plus, the hexagonal design and metal feel of chicken wire are a great way to add texture to a room.

Quilt Patterns

Quilting has been intimately connected to farmhouse living since the days of pioneers and before. The many patterns and designs of old quilts inspire farmhouse décor, so it’s not surprising that adding these designs and pieces to your space help complete the look.

Well-known quilt patterns, such as the log cabin or flying geese, add color, texture, and geometric design to any space. Painted on a tabletop or added as a border along a chair rail or near the ceiling can bring a room’s color palette together.

Fabric quilts, vintage and modern, can be hung on walls as art, added to beds as a room focal point, or thrown over a sofa to add farmhouse charm to a living room. Incorporating gingham and calico fabrics increase the farmhouse and pioneer feel, and the addition of grosgrain ribbon edging or accents even more so.

Learn More About Easy Modern Farmhouse Décor

It’s easy to bring the vintage, rustic elements of farmhouse décor into your home. Textures, fabrics, and accents bring the feel of farmhouse living to a room instantly. With a bit of creativity and the addition of some of the key elements we talked about above, you can have easy, modern farmhouse décor in no time.

Kristina Wolf’s House of Design offers tips, ideas, and advice for creating your ideal interior design in your home. With 25 years of experience in the field, Kristina Wolf has the expertise and DIY know-how and is bringing it to you on her website and blog.

If you’re looking for more information about easy modern farmhouse décor, or have an idea for one of her future blogs, contact Kristina. And don’t forget to sign up for her newsletter, filled with tips and information.

Keeping Tropical Houseplants: 5 Top Tips

Are you interested in keeping tropical houseplants? These visually eye-catching plants provide bright pops of color if you decide to grow them in your home.

Tropical plants are easy to grow inside if you handle them properly. We’ll go over the top tips for successfully keeping tropical houseplants to boost your confidence in your green thumb.

Tip #1: Pick the Right Tropical Houseplant

As we mentioned, many tropical houseplants grow very well inside homes. However, not all tropical plants have the same needs. Read over the needs of a tropical plant before selecting one to grow in your home. Consider:

  • How much sun the plant needs
  • How much water the plant needs
  • Whether or not the plant is hazardous to animals

Some tropical plants are dangerous if consumed by cats or dogs. Additionally, some plants, like the dumb cane, contain a caustic sap that damages skin upon contact. Read up on every plant before making a purchase, so there are no unpleasant surprises.

Some examples of tropical plants that garden centers commonly sell include:

  • Amazon’s elephant ear
  • Anthurium
  • Bird of paradise
  • Ficus
  • Peace lily
  • Orchid

All of these plants have unique needs to consider before you make a purchase. Knowing what you’re getting will increase your odds of keeping a tropical houseplant alive.

Tip #2: Re-Pot Your Tropical Houseplant Immediately

Make sure that you re-pot your tropical houseplant after you bring it home from the nursery or store. Re-potting your plant comes with several benefits:

  • Allows you to check the health of your plant
  • Frees root-bound plants
  • Encourages the plant to absorb more nutrients
  • Gives the plant a chance to grow faster

It’s crucial to re-pot plants if their roots seem moldy, smelly, mushy, or dry. Make sure you re-pot your plant in a proper container. Select pots with drainage holes, as these reduce the chances of root rot or mold.

Re-pot using the correct soil type for your plant. Finally, make sure that you select a pot that is larger than the plant’s previous pot. This gives your new tropical houseplant the best chances to grow and thrive.

Tip #3: Care for Your Tropical Houseplant Consistently

Keeping a tropical houseplant requires you to provide consistent care to the plant. Plants grow better when they regularly receive the same style of care and steady amount of light.

However, plants do not all require the same kind of care. Some plants, like birds of paradise, require watering every day so that their soil always stays damp. Other plants, like the ficus, must allow the soil to dry before you water again.

Make sure you consider the needs of your plants and set up a schedule to ensure they get the water they need. Most tropical houseplants also require fertilizer of some kind. Apply this fertilizer regularly as recommended for the unique plant.

Tip #4: Consider the Humidity

Tropical houseplants are from, well, the tropics, a very humid and warm area. Many tropical houseplants adjust to the lower humidity of a house with little issue. However, exceptions occur.

Brown or yellow leaves can indicate insufficient humidity levels for your houseplant. Increase humidity while keeping tropical plants by:

  • Running a humidifier near your plants
  • Misting your plants regularly
  • Covering your plants with a cloche
  • Setting up a mini indoor greenhouse

Take these steps to boost humidity when caring for tropical houseplants. However, keep in mind that not all tropical houseplants require additional humidity.

Tip #5: Give Tropical Houseplants Enough Light

Tropical plants often grow well inside because many of them do not require high levels of light. Tropical plants grow naturally under a canopy in many cases, reducing their need for direct light. Plants like Amazon’s elephant leaf and the peace lily, for example, prefer indirect or dim light.

Putting a plant that wants very little light into a bright window can harm or even kill the plant.

However, do not automatically assume all tropical houseplants prefer indirect light. Bird of paradise plants require bright light and even a bit of direct sun to thrive. If your plants that look “leggy” and loses its color, it might want more sun.

Consider the unique needs of each plant you purchase and do your best to meet these needs. Read up on each plant you purchase to give yourself every advantage when keeping tropical houseplants.

 Decorate Your Home by Keeping Tropical Houseplants

Interested in keeping tropical houseplants? Follow the above tips to increase your odds of having a thriving green thumb. Reach out to our team at Kristina Wolf’s House of Design through the contact form on our website for more tips about using tropical plants for accessorizing and interior design in your home.

What Is Chinoiserie Wallpaper?

Vintage wallpapers have made a massive comeback in interior design, and the classic Eastern-influenced wallpaper called Chinoiserie is no exception. Filled with natural motifs, brilliant tropical colors, and romantic air, chinoiserie wallpaper is the kind of luxurious wall covering you need for a lounge, bedroom, or even a stylish bathroom.

Let’s explore the history of this fascinating and beautiful wall art, its key characteristics, and how you can incorporate it into your home.

History of Chinoiserie

Chinoiserie emerged in the mid-17th century in Europe, gracing the homes of nobles and royalty. The name comes from the French word “chinois,” which means Chinese, and the patterns seen in the wallpaper, fabrics, and porcelain of the time demonstrate why. The artistic and stylish designs are all hand-painted, and the images depicting beautiful flowers and exotic birds of the Far East form a pattern that never repeats.

Chinoiserie was heavily influenced by China, as well as Japan and the Far East in general. When chinoiserie designs gained popularity, Europe was very active in colonizing that part of the world, bringing back the imagery and artistic techniques of those far-off lands. Chinoiserie wallpapers were not a part of Chinese traditions but were inspired by them.

Chinoiserie designs waned in popularity by the mid 18th century but continued through to the 19th century, declining after the First Opium War (1839-1842), which was fought between China and Britain. Chinoiserie re-emerged in the 1920s when the Far East’s style and society gained popularity once again.

Today, chinoiserie wallpaper is once again surging in popularity. Though it is a vintage style of interior design, the look and feel of the wallcoverings lend themselves to both classic and modern interiors. They can complement the current interior design or contrast it successfully. If your interiors need an injection of romance, charm, and the exotic, chinoiserie wallpaper is an excellent choice.

Chinoiserie Wallpaper Characteristics

Chinoiserie wallpapers have many unique characteristics that set them apart from every other kind of wallpaper. First, they are not, in fact, paper but 100% silk material. The backing, made of rice paper, provides a solid foundation and helps stave off deterioration.

The designs of chinoiserie wallpaper are hand-painted using tempera or gouache paints. These silk paints give a luxurious watercolor look to the designs, which are all intricate and unique. Rich colors are used to paint the motifs, depicting the Far East’s flora and fauna.

When on the wall, Chinoiserie creates a mural effect and may encase an entire room in design, working around doors and windows effortless due to the non-repeating pattern.

Modern chinoiserie wallpaper uses adhesive and may even be removed, a great advantage when applying the exotic papers and you need to reposition a portion.

Using Chinoiserie Wallpaper

Chinoiserie wallpaper may be used in a variety of ways in your rooms. The lack of repeating patterns and the ease of removal and reapplication means you can experiment a bit. Here are some ideas for how you can use chinoiserie wallpaper to inject some bold and exotic beauty into your home.

Surrounded By Nature

Chinoiserie wallpapers are made to cover large expanses of walls, making them perfect for creating an exotic bedroom retreat. With a relaxing green or blue background and plenty of flowers, trees, and buds gracing the mural-like design, it’s a quick way to make a room spectacular.

Full wallpapering is also a good choice for a living room or sitting room, and areas of a whole wall in a library or lounge can be wallpapered, bringing the space and air of the outdoors.

Inserts and Accents

If full wall coverage isn’t the ideal choice for your space, you can use chinoiserie wallpaper on an accent wall. Choosing a wall in the room and using this beautiful wallpaper creates a thematic focal point, helping to bring the entire room together. You may also want to limit the wallpaper to a portion of the wall, such as space in a dining room above a chair rail.

Chinoiserie wallpaper may also be used in small pieces. With the addition of some crown molding and careful attention to the pattern, you can create a unique window to the outside world with your wallpaper. The effect is like a series of windows, with flora and fauna of the Far East visible.

Wallpaper designs may also be available in fabrics, allowing you to bring more attention to the design and unite the room as a whole with the addition of patterned accent pillows, table-toppers, or even painted rugs.

Learn More About Chinoiserie Wallpaper

In general, Chinoiserie wallpaper and chinoiserie design are all about adding a touch of the exotic to your interiors. Want to learn more about Chinoiserie and how you can incorporate it into your interior home design? Sign up for Kristina Wolf’s House of Design newsletter to stay in the know with all the latest interior design tips and ideas.

Wallpapering Tips for Beginners

No one starts off applying wallpaper perfectly. It involves a more complicated technique than painting with brushes and rollers, and any mistakes become permanent. If you paint a wall wrong, you can always paint over the problem. It’s harder to hide air bubbles in wallpaper.

While wallpapering is tricky at first, you can do it yourself. Following these wallpaper tips, you can get that professional look without hiring a professional.

Prepping the Room

Before you start applying the wallpaper, decide where each of your wallpaper strips will go. Using a measuring tape, work your way around the room and draw a line to mark where each strip ends.

Measuring and marking the wall will also help you determine how much wallpaper you need to buy. Multiplying how many strips you need by the height of your room will give you an approximate amount. It’s better have some left over than to not have enough, so buy around 15 to 20 percent more than your calculations say.

Finally, remove all fixtures like light switch covers and heating vents and fill any gaps you have with non-shrinking joint compound. You want the wall to have as few imperfections as possible when you start wallpapering.

Prime the Walls

Prime your walls using a wall sizing product. This product will make the walls smooth and slippery. This might sound like the opposite of what you need when sticking on wallpaper, but it helps you move the wallpaper around. You’ll rarely apply it straight the first time, so having the freedom to adjust means a lower chance of imperfection in the finished product.

This movability is particularly important when applying wallpaper to drywall. Without proper priming, you can’t get the wallpaper off if you decide to redecorate later.

Applying the Paste

Always apply the paste to the paper, not to the wall. Don’t be tempted to paint the walls with paste and stick on the wallpaper. It might seem more efficient at first, but you’ll create more work for yourself when it dries and ruins your priming.

Find a flat surface—preferably a worktable—and apply the paste using a paint roller. This technique gives you a more even spread than a paintbrush and speeds up the process. Check your wallpaper to find out which type of paste to buy.

You then want to book the paper. After you’ve applied the paste, fold the paper back on itself to soften it.

Where to Start

If you have chosen a wallpaper with a repeating pattern, it is likely that wherever it ends, the patterns won’t match. There is no perfect way to resolve this, so your best option is to start and end in the least conspicuous spot.

If you know that you plan to put a cupboard or another large piece of furniture in a particular spot, start there. Still, consider that you may want to rearrange your furniture at some point. To keep your options open, you may want to start around or above a door.

If wallpapering your home makes you nervous, don’t worry. With these wallpaper tips, you can avoid beginners’ mistakes and make anyone think you knew what you were doing from the start.

Tips for Decorating with Houseplants

If going outside doesn’t satisfy your nature craving, decorating with houseplants brings the outdoors into your home. Houseplants also give you the opportunity to garden if you have limited space in your yard.

The benefits of indoor plants aren’t limited to keeping your hands busy. They can be great for your mind, too. Studies have found that when people are surrounded by plants, they become more creative and productive. Plus, the oxygen plants provide can reduce anxiety.

Use these tips to build yourself an indoor garden by decorating with houseplants.

Coordinate Your Plants

You rarely find two different plants that are the exact same color, size, or shape. Therefore, when deciding on which houseplants to buy, you should try to coordinate rather than match them. You can still try to group plants by their coloring, but try to choose shades that complement each other.

Usually, a plant’s leaves stand out among all other parts of the plant. When you’re decorating with houseplants, consider the shapes and positioning of their leaves. Try grouping different kinds of plants to see what visual effect they have on the room. A lopsided plant may look strange by itself but could work well when placed next to something more balanced.

You can also group plants together by how many you have. If you want a symmetrical, formal look, group your plants in even numbers. On the other hand, grouping plants in odd numbers can give the room a more casual and relaxed feel.

Caring for Plants

When decorating with houseplants, remember that different plants have different needs. Some plants, like ferns, need a high level of humidity. Grouping these types of houseplants together will create a pocket of moisture and grow healthy plants.

Light also impacts your choice of plants. Some plants like full sunlight, while others prefer shade. When you choose plants, make sure you can give them the amount of natural light that helps them grow best.

If you have a lot of tall plants, make sure they aren’t obstructing other plants that might need light. Likewise, try not to group all your plants in one area if it doesn’t meet all their requirements for ideal growth.

Choosing the Right Pots

Your pots can be just as striking as the plants you put in them. Look for decorative pots that can brighten the room. If someone gives you a plant you don’t want, a beautiful pot can take your attention away from the plant.

However, not all pots work for all plants. Some will allow for too much drainage, which makes the plants dry out. Others won’t drain enough, leaving your plant sitting in excess water and putting it at risk for root rot.

If a pot is draining too much water, try placing a small stone over the hole before potting your plant. This won’t completely stop the water from getting out but should slow the drainage enough to keep your plant healthy.

If you want to brighten your home, decorating with houseplants can bring life and beauty to any room. Remember to choose plants you like and coordinate them with your space and each other. By caring for your plants properly, you’ll transform your home into an indoor oasis.