home design

Creating A Warm And Inviting Dining Room

August 28, 2019

It’s time to do a bit of fall cleaning, change the linens on the guest room bed, and get your house in company order.

Holiday season is entertaining season, and that means your dining room will be seeing a lot more action over the course of the next few months. Let’s look at ways to create a warm and inviting dining room – or dining room area – to welcome your family and friends.

Tips for making your dining room more warm and inviting

Some of the following tips are larger projects (in which case you’ll want to take action sooner rather than later), others can be done within a matter of hours or minutes.

Open it up. Do you live in a smaller or older bay area home? Open floor plans have only become popular in the last couple of decades. Older homes are often much more compartmentalized, and this can make it harder to entertain the way you’d like. If you have a formal dining room that is rarely used, consider opening it up to the larger living space. In some cases, this may kick-start you into a full remodel, in order to transform your layout into an open floor plan. In others, you may simply decide to expand the dining room entrance so it’s larger and provides better flow for sight lines and available light. If you have a galley or small kitchen, expanding the entrance to the adjacent dining room might improve the feel of your kitchen design as well.

Get rid of the clutter. If you don’t use your formal dining room all that often, there’s a good chance that the area has become cluttered with art projects, scrapbooking materials, this year’s pertinent financial and tax documents, upcoming holiday gifts, and so on. If there’s one thing that doesn’t make a guest feel warm and welcome it’s a big pile of clutter. Get the whole household on board and start tackling the clutter ASAP so your dining room will be ready to welcome guests with feelings of calm, comforting joy. Feeling stuck in your de-cluttering process? Read, my Guide to What Stays and What Goes.

Re-think your area rug. If you have hard surface flooring, consider adding an area rug that warms up the space a bit more. Look for a rug that will enhance the room’s textural appeal – perhaps a little shaggier or a natural, woven rug would balance things better. Or, look at the colors present in your current design and choose a rug that reflects and echoes the warmer hues.

Re-paint with a darker shade. Yes! That darker brown you’ve coveted, that rich just-right scarlet you’ve always wondered about, that delightfully autumnal apricot that makes an appearance in the art hung over the sideboard – now is the time to embrace those hues and paint your dining room walls. The dining room is one space where a cozier, closer atmosphere is welcome – so you don’t have to worry so much about creating that “open and spacious” feeling we prefer in kitchens or living rooms.

Be thoughtful about accommodations. I’m a big fan of designing a home for multiple generations. This benefits all age groups, and all levels of physical ability. There’s nothing that makes a wheelchair- or walker-bound guest feel less warm and welcome than not being able to maneuver to their seat, or feeling bumpy and clunky as they move through the space. Think about your dining room from the perspective of guests that span a range of ages, sizes, shapes and abilities – and see where changes might be in order.

Getting Creative With Holiday Lights

August 22, 2019

Watching the light shows pop up one by one throughout the neighborhood is a highlight of the holiday season. It’s pretty amazing how people can use the same basic equipment – strings of white or colored lights – and come up with such varied results. There are no two houses alike.

That being said, there are certainly differences in how the holiday landscape lighting presents itself to the world. If you’re going to invest the time and energy it takes to string all those holiday lights, you want passersby reactions to be a bit more enthusiastic than “Good effort!”

Tips for Creating a Holiday Lights Display That Wins Best In Show

Here are some tips for creating a holiday lights display that makes your house an annual “favorite” for people of all ages.

Have a Plan. The difference between a family that has a plan and one that just strings lights up willy-nilly is pretty obvious. The interesting thing, however, is that both households are doing almost the same amount of work – but with very different results. Instead of just throwing strands of lights up here and there – come up with a plan.

Light shortages: If you don’t have enough to run a consistent set of lights all the way around the perimeter of your roof trim, fully-illuminate a tree instead and then add a couple more strands to complete the front perimeter next year.
Color variations: Think about the best use of color. Perhaps the white lights will look best on the house while the colored lights will look festive outlining your trees or a couple of lampposts. Don’t buy too many strands of different colored lights, instead – concentrate on a few complementary colors that you use in balance with one another.
Play with shapes. Analyze the outline of your landscape – including both the hardscape and plants – and note the variations in shapes. Sometimes it’s fun to tally what you have the most of – triangles, rounds or squares – and then only accent those with the lights so there’s a bit of continuity in the overall appearance.

Create a Theme. Having a theme doesn’t mean you have to set up Santa’s Workshop (although that’s fine too) but it is beneficial to come up with cohesive idea of sorts. Do you want to go all white? How about trees only? How many figurines do you want, and how many is too much? Do you want the overall effect to be traditional, entertaining or modern? It can be disconcerting when a stately home has illuminated garlands wrapped around porch railings and columns (traditional) with a few cheesy blow up toys like Santa and his Reindeer (entertaining).

Think in Layers. Sometimes, a good way to divide your landscape is by thinking in terms of layers, then you can alternate the light colors accordingly. Maybe the bottom half of trees are white while the tops are colored. Maybe the house is white, the shrubs in the front are multi-colored and then individual bushes or hardscape features are each a separate color. This is an organized way to go about it and it will always yield positive results.

Don’t Underestimate the Power of Simplicity. There is a man on my street who does the same thing every year. He uses all white lights and strings them around the base and throughout the bare branches – including the individual branches – of three trees in his yard. That’s it – no lights on the house, none on the shrubs and not a single red bow or candy cane to be seen. And yet, the effect is completely stunning – especially in the years when we have a freak snow storm. Moral of the story – simplicity can be a wondrous thing.

Making A Statement With Oversized Art

August 18, 2019

Are you done with organizing all your smaller prints and family photos on gallery walls and shelves? Perhaps it’s time to think bigger – like, a LOT bigger – and go oversized. Contrary to what you might think – it can be easier to deal with oversized art because unlike its smaller, normal-sized counterparts, there are only so many places you can install it.

Decorating With Oversized Art

The fun thing about oversized paintings, photos and murals is that they are unable to be ignored. They say, “Look at me and pay homage…” the way an average still-life or a lovely, autographed photo might not.

That being said, large paintings and art pieces become a part of your interior design rather than being an accent, and for that reason – it can take a little bit of planning, rearranging or even redecorating in order to make the statement you want to make with oversized pieces.

Clear a wall and make space. It goes without saying that an impressive work of art will requires an equally impressive display space. And, in the name of balance, it will also need an appropriate amount of white space (or whatever color wall you have) around it. Thus, you’re usually looking at the sacrifice of an entire wall, the whole section of wall on a stair landing, a half-wall dividing two open spaces, or an something like that.
Use a simple frame. In most cases, a large canvas will not require much in the way of framework. Depending on the size of the wall in question, you may not need a frame at all. Like I mentioned above, the wall space around the work of art can serve as a frame on its own. Otherwise, it may only require the simplest of frames so nothing detracts from the focus of the artwork.
Echo the art in your interior design. Of course, one of the most striking ways to make a large piece of art a part of your living space, and vice versa, is to echo elements of the work in other design accents and features. This can be done via color, shapes, pattern or theme. It can also include the echoing of texture.
Enhance your minimalist motif. Are you a modern minimalist? If so, it can be difficult to strike the balance between a room that is stylishly minimal and one that just looks empty and boring. Counterintuitively, more can be less when it comes to oversized artworks. A large canvas or a detailed wall mural will fill up the space, making your solo chair and end table, or a couple of comfortable poufs, look completely natural and not at all overshadowed by the otherwise empty floor space.
Do consider proportions. While the above is true in minimal designs, more typical home designs will need to take proportion into consideration. Large art can dwarf standard size furnishings so be aware. You may need to purchase new furniture, or do a little furniture arranging, so the furnishings “fit” the artwork.
Think about using panels. If you live in a small space, are intimidated by the scope and breadth of a single-large panel, or have windows that ruin your grand oversized art plan – not to worry. Take a different approach and look for a large piece that is intentionally divided into panels. The panels can have just a few inches or a couple of feet in between them. They can be offset at angles, which can trick the eye in a room with low ceilings – making it appear taller than it is. Or, you can place it along the wall without a care for the windows that interrupt it.
Take a softer approach. Similarly, if you like the idea of a single, large canvas but don’t want it to take over the whole room – look for abstracts or landscapes in soft, pale tones. The piece will still make a statement without overwhelming your current design.

Finding Inspiration

August 3, 2019

The desire to redesign or redecorate often precedes the actual vision of what it is you want to see and experience when the project is complete. Once you get the remodeling itch, it’s a good idea to spend a month or two (or more) finding inspiration for your interior design project.

Ideas to Inspire Your Upcoming Interior Design Project

There may be some “absolutes” you already know you want. That’s great; write them down. In the meantime, the world is your oyster when it comes to learning about colors, shapes, pattern, texture, lighting and balance.

The following are ideas for finding inspiration in the world around you, with the goal of creating an attractive interior design that resonates with your lifestyle, energy and the overarching personality of your household and its members.

Create Your Own Interior Design Ideabook (or Pinterest Page)

If you haven’t done so already, start your own Interior Design Ideabook (IDI). Most people do this digitally these days, and websites such as Houzz are great for this sort of thing. However, I still have a fair share of clients who like to create scrapbook-style ideabooks, culling images from magazines, printed photos online, and photos they have taken on their own.

This is a wonderful tool for honing in on your favorite things, and also to bring with you as you begin to consult with interior designers. When they look into your IDI, they’ll gain an immediate sense of your overall taste and style.

Start Perusing Interior Design Websites & Magazines

The internet has truly revolutionized the world of design. Between the infinite supply of images and ideas you can find on your own, combined with the conversations you have with your designer about the type of space(s) you want to create, there’s no reason not to have an interior design you absolutely adore.

One of the things that makes interior design websites so nice is that you can easily copy photos you love or design concepts you want to implement into your own digital version. Also, they’re very easy to search via design style (traditional, transitional, modern), as well as room or living-area specific ideas. Of course, if you’re keeping a “hard copy” version of an IDI, you can print what you want and glue it into the book.

Start Taking Walks in Various Nature Settings

One of the most important lessons you can learn when designing interior and exterior living spaces is that there is no need to be “matchy-matchy.” In fact, perfectly-matching interiors end up looking fake, forced, and they lack the personality required for you and future guests feel at Home, with a capital “H”.

Start taking walks in different neighborhoods, parks and nature preserves and pay attention to how Mother Nature always looks her best, without any forethought or penchant for matching the redwoods to the lupines, or the ensuring the hue of the seafoam compliments the cliff sides beyond it. You’ll discover attractive color combinations you may never have thought of on your own, or by looking at color wheels and paint swatches.

Take note of the color schemes, patterns, proportions and natural landscapes that make you say “Aaaah…”. Then snap a picture and save it in your IDI.

Take a Deeper Interest in Friends’ Interiors

Remembering that the goal is to create a personalized design, pay closer attention when you’re inside the homes of friends and family members. Note the things you like, the things you could envision in your own home. Also consider design motifs that you appreciate, but would want to implement differently in your own living spaces.

While it’s always nice to emphasize the positive, jot down a list of the “absolutely nots!” as they strike you. These are worth capturing in a “No Way, José” section of the book, which will also be of interest for your interior designer. We certainly don’t want to spend a single moment designing features or sample designs with ideas you’ll automatically reject.

Creating A Pet Friendly Home

August 1, 2019

Now that pets are more a part of the American family than ever, home designs need to catch up. The large majority of magazine-worthy interior designs aren’t all that realistic if you’re the proud owner of a couch-happy dog or occasionally chair-clawing cat.

The sheer fact that most pets shed is enough to dictate some pet-oriented features that make cleaning and maintenance a little easier.

5 Pet Friendly Design Tips You’ll Never Regret

So, if you’re ready to remodel or renovate your house – and you’re a family that allows your pets to be more “inside” than “out” – the following tips will help you to complete your upscale remodel with materials and features that accommodate pets in a no-fuss manner.

Hard surface or low-profile flooring. If you own pets, and you’ve only ever had carpet – you’ll be in for a big surprise when you switch to hardwood flooring. Holy moly, you won’t believe all of the pet-stuff (hair, fur, dust, feathers, dander and other unmentionables) that are camouflaged and hiding out in your carpet pile and pad. “Yuck!” is an understatement…Do yourself a favor and switch to hard-surface flooring. You’ll be amazed at how easy it is to clean and maintain – and how free your home is of all that nasty stuff that causes allergies and respiratory issues. If you want to have carpet in a few rooms, consider making the rooms pet-free or using very low-profile options, like Berber, so pet byproducts have nowhere to run or hide.
Consider using indoor/outdoor fabric. The trend towards an indoor/outdoor lifestyle has major advantages for pet owners. Namely, fabric manufacturers responded by expanding their colors and pattern options exponentially so clients’ outdoor spaces could mimic upscale interior designs. As a result, I highly recommend checking out the array of indoor/outdoor fabrics for your most-used couches and chairs, especially the ones your pets have singled out as favorites. These ultra-stain resistant fabrics are so easy to keep clean, can take more than their fare share of wear-and-tear (even from paws and claws), and you’ll also appreciate it when you encounter the occasional red wine spill or sick child scenario.
Consider your laundry room the “animal room”. The same can be true for a section of your garage or a recess near the entryway. Laundry rooms are the ideal because they are plumbed, have tile flooring and are a perfect place to set up pet crates, bedding, paw washing stations and even feeding stations when you want to keep pets out of the main living areas.
Take advantage of nooks and crannies. We typically recommend using nooks and crannies for more storage, but these funky spaces can also make the best places for pets. Have a corner of hard to access kitchen cabinet space? Consider using a slide-out or tilt-bin that can house pet food. Add a window seat in the living room and then put pet beds underneath – sectioned by finished pieces of wood if necessary. Both cats and dogs often enjoy having a “hideaway” to retreat to. If you always have a cat or two in the home, consider adding cat wall climbing systems to the upper areas of your walls, eliminating the need for cat posts and climbing trees that take up valuable human square footage. Your cats will love the elevated vantage points and indoor cats get more exercise that way.
Use slip-proof area rugs. This should be done in any home design that includes area rugs, really, as moving area rugs are dangerous and are a nuisance to continually put back in place. However, pets make the no-slip feature a must-have. One exuberant dash down the hall will have your favorite runner all rumpled up against the wall at the end of the hallway. Non-slip rugs and/or backings put an end to that.