Accessories

Tips for Decorating with Houseplants

January 11, 2021

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.

How to Choose Different Room Flooring

November 2, 2020

It’s easy to spend more time choosing the color of your walls than different room flooring. But don’t ignore the importance of the right type of flooring.

Style, color, and material matter on your walls, but your floor is much more likely to be the victim of spills and stains. You want to choose flooring that works for your lifestyle and holds up in high traffic areas.

Choosing Colors

A room’s flooring can bring a room to life. When choosing different room flooring, the colors can trick your mind into thinking the space is larger or smaller than it is. It can also affect the room’s mood and how you feel when you spend time in it.

If you have a room that feels too large, try using darker colors and warmer tones. These colors can make the room seem smaller and cozier. Conversely, lighter tones can make a smaller space feel more open.

If you’re looking to impact a room’s mood rather than its size, start with colors here, too. Different colors make people feel different things.

Whites and beiges feel open and clean, while yellow feels bright and optimistic. Browns create a rustic atmosphere. Blues make people feel calm, and red brings energy into the room.

Matching and Coordinating

If you don’t know the difference between matching and coordinating, you may want to when considering your room’s flooring.

Matching your flooring means keeping the same type throughout your home. However, coordinating means using complimenting colours and styles that work with the aesthetic of each room. Don’t be afraid to experiment.

The Right Flooring for the Right Room

Choosing your flooring shouldn’t only be about color and style. You also need to think about the practicalities. Consider how you’ll use the room, and even who will use it.

Your children might love the idea of carpet in their bedrooms, but a hard surface that’s easy to clean may work better. The same goes for the kitchen where you have a high chance of spillage. A floor that you can easily mop rather than scrub functions better in these spaces.

If you’re stuck on whether to go for style or practicality, think about how much traffic each room sees. Rooms everyone in your home uses daily would benefit from harder surfaces like tile cork or slate. Consider carpet for rooms you use less often, so you don’t have to worry about cleaning them.

Transitioning Between Floors

When deciding on different room flooring, consider when and how to transition between the different types from room to room. You can ruin your home’s aesthetic with an awkward change in flooring.

You usually see floor transitions between different rooms. But you can get more creative than that. You can have one kind of floor surrounding another, like tiles surrounded by hardwood. Try switching your flooring around a corner, too.

If you’re choosing different room flooring for each room of your home, remember that the rooms may not be level with each other. In these cases, use a transition strip to even them out. This will make the transition look better, but also makes you less likely to trip.

Expert Interior Design Secrets to Styling Shelves

September 14, 2020

Styling shelves is a great way to give your unique items the attention they deserve. Framed photos, books, and decorative pieces that you might otherwise keep stored away find a place at the forefront of the room, where they catch the eye.

Decorating marries style with substance. You can take something that seems purely practical and make it a stylish part of your room’s design. Shelving makes it easy to create a striking atmosphere in a room.

However, shoving everything you own onto some shelves doesn’t always work. You have think about what you want to see when you look at your shelves—and the answer isn’t a wall full of junk. Follow these simple rules to create stunning shelves.

Clear Everything Out

Shelving units are the perfect way to show off your favorite items, but you still have limited space. Choose carefully what you want on display. That doesn’t mean you need to throw everything else out, but tidying the space goes a long way.

After spending so much time curating your shelving, you don’t want to ruin the effect with unnecessary clutter.

Start with Empty Space

Before you start filling your shelves, look ahead and imagine how it might look when you’ve finished.

There will almost always be some empty space exposing the back of the shelves. Consider painting this space or filling it with a fabric or wallpaper. These finishing touches can add new layers of depth and contrast to the shelving unit.

Choosing Books

Start with the books when you’re styling shelves. If you’re a collector, try grouping them by color. If you have a limited book selection, add bits of color throughout the shelf. Using colors sparingly will make the books you have stand out.

You can stack the books or line them up on the shelf, but never have less than three together or they’ll look sparse. At the other end of the spectrum, avoid putting more than twelve or fifteen books together, or you risk making your shelves look too crowded.

Don’t be ashamed of buying a book for looks alone. Sometimes beautiful book covers can really make your shelving unit pop, and that’s what you want.

Add Sculptures and Vignettes

Sculptures and vignettes can add a lot of character to shelving units, but only if you use them correctly. While pairing smaller sculptures with books will draw the eye, larger sculptures should stand on their own. Putting large pieces in with books or other items can make the space look cramped.

It’s easy to fine unique bits and pieces to add to your shelves. They add personality to your shelves and function as conversation pieces when you have guests.

Balance is key when you’re choosing what to put on a new shelving unit. It’s tempting to fill them with everything you own, but attractive shelves take some thought. Make sure that everything on them has a purpose. By styling shelves with carefully selected items, your room can become its own piece of art.

Choosing the Right Appliances for Your Kitchen

August 17, 2020

Kitchen appliances can make or break a kitchen remodel. There are so many styles, features, and technology options available it’s easy to become overwhelmed. Then, there are always budgetary concerns—picking the right appliances would be easy if money were no object. Even so, it is possible to design the perfect kitchen with a little forethought and your priorities firm in mind.

choosing the right appliances for your kitchen

Here are some things to consider when choosing kitchen appliances to ensure you fall in love with the heart of your home.

Ovens & Cooktops

A high-performing, quality oven is crucial. Because ovens can have many features, it is best to focus on those you’ll actually use and the food you want to cook. A good oven will have a fan to cook food faster and more evenly. You’ll also want an oven with bake, roast, and broil features for all your baking needs.

Picking a suitable cooktop is important for both the practical purposes of remodeling your kitchen as well as aesthetic purposes. Just like your oven, you need a cooktop that gets the job done, but it certainly doesn’t hurt if it looks good, too. Try to pick a cooktop that takes up appropriate space and fits your overall color scheme.

Most cooktops have four burners, which is pretty standard for home cooking. However, if you like to entertain guests and large crowds, you may want to pick a cooktop with more burners. Then, you have to consider how easy it is to maintain. Whether you’re a clean-as-you-cook or cook-at-the-end type, you’ll most likely want clean-up to be easy.

Refrigerators

There are three fridge installation types:

Built-in
Freestanding
Fully integrated

These three options all come in a range of sizes and styles to suit your needs. You will also want to consider performance and configuration. Performance-wise, you need to choose between a single-compressor or a double-compressor unit. A single-compressor unit works twice as hard to maintain both the fridge and freezer. While double-compressor refrigerators cost more, they allow you to keep food fresher for longer.

One of the most popular refrigerator configurations is the French-door style with a side-by-side fridge and freezer. Make sure you don’t go too small when you’re choosing kitchen appliances. When you buy your fridge, you want to have enough room for your typical food storage. For two people, consider a fridge size of 12 cubic feet.

Sinks & Dishwashers

Your sink tends to be the focal point of your kitchen. Some popular sink configurations include:

Single, rectangular basin
50/50 double-bowl
60/40 double-bowl
Three-bowl

Once you know your ideal configuration, the next step is to compare materials. The material you choose affects whether your sink is resistant to scratches and stains, how you’ll clean the sink, and your kitchen’s overall look.

As for your dishwasher, you want to choose something that is efficient and fits into your kitchen seamlessly. If you use a dishwasher often, choose one that has deep-cleaning features and a variety of options. Running volume is one of the most important factors. Find a dishwasher with a low decibel rating so it won’t keep you and your family up all night.

General Tips for Choosing Kitchen Appliances

No matter what appliance you’re shopping for, there are a few general tried-and-tested tips that can help:

Don’t be afraid to mix-and-match. You don’t have to buy all your appliances from the same collection or brand.
Tailor your budget allocation to your lifestyle. It doesn’t make sense to spend a big chunk of your budget on a double oven, for example, if you rarely bake. Forget what a traditional kitchen “should” have and get what you’ll use.
Time your remodel. Many appliance retailers hold annual sales around the same time every year, such as Memorial Day or Black Friday. Time your remodel to line up with these sales to save more. Buying your appliances as a package from a single retailer also often comes with a discount.
Know your space. As appliances of all types come in standard sizes, measure your space, and note any size restrictions. It can help to draft your kitchen on graph paper. Also, note any ventilation or power requirements and where they are in your kitchen.
Stay neutral. That bright blue retro fridge may look amazing right now, but will you still love it in 10 years? With big-ticket items like appliances keep to neutral colors—silver, black, or white—so that if you choose to redecorate in the future, you’re not choosing kitchen appliances all over again. Paint colors and cabinet handles are much easier to change!

Let There Be Lighting!

November 24, 2019

Lighting designs are such an important part of how your final interior design comes together – and floor, wall-mounted and table lamps are all an integral part of that plan. Unfortunately, for DIY designers, lighting and lamps are often completely overlooked in lieu of paint color choices, new furnishings, window coverings and all the fun things that are Front-and-Center of your design. However, your lighting design determines how all those gorgeous new furnishings and accents appear upon completion – especially when the available natural light begins to fade.

The following tips will help you choose the right style lamps for your living spaces so you can show them all off to your best advantage.

Bring on the Lamps! Light Your Living Space in Style.

First a little Lamp 101 to review the various options available to you:

Chandeliers. The right chandelier(s) can be a focal point in any room in your house, from the traditional dining room to a luxurious bathroom. They can be incredibly formal, like their antique crystal ancestors, or fun, funky and modern.
Pendants. Another ceiling mounted lamp, these come in an infinite array of styles and are usually hung with two or more in an arrangement over a table, bar or countertop.
Floor Lamps. These are most often seen in living and family rooms. They cast a nice ambient glow and can also be used next to a chair as a more direct reading light. If the lamps are anywhere away from a wall, invest in floor sockets to keep the cord out of your traffic and visual flow.
Table Lamps. The bases are your accessory (the shades can be as well) and the lamp is your light source. The lampshade you select will determine how direct or diffused the light will be so choose wisely. Table lamps are used most often in living and family rooms, dining room sideboards and perhaps on an entryway table.
Sconces. Don’t forget about sconces. They are an elegant way to highlight a particular work of art, a mirror, your fireplace mantel or a favorite reading nook. They are often used in the bedroom in lieu of bedside table lamps.

So those are your basic lamp options. Now it’s time to figure out what goes where.

Living room. Usually, living rooms will have at least one ceiling mounted light fixture (this can be a great place for a chandelier) and an assortment of floor and table lamps. Pay careful attention to room proportions so the lamps suit the dimensions and room height – and that tip goes for all the rooms. Be thoughtful about how each light will affect both standing and seated parties – try to avoid a glare. Typically, a formal living room will have more formal fixtures, but not always. Find lamps with bases that complement your decor. A great lamp base can be a focal point in and of itself.

Dining room. Depending on the size of your dining room, one chandelier or a series of pendant lights may suffice. If you have a larger space, consider smaller table lamps on your sideboard and/or recessed cans on the ceiling. Dimmers are particularly important here although, in truth, dimmers belong just about everywhere.

Bedroom. The bedroom usually has one standout ceiling mounted fixture and a mix of lamps. Perhaps a floor lamp or two in your seating area and sconces or nightstand lamps for the bedside. Larger bedrooms should also include recessed cans on dimmers.