home interior

Making That College Dorm Stylish

August 3, 2018

College dorms are the ultimate “shared design experience,” especially freshman year when you don’t know much about your dorm mates. In many cases, college dorm rooms end up looking like two halves of completely different wholes – with a nearly visible line down the middle. The ultimate goal is to find ways to design your section of the room so that it is comfortable and expresses your own, personal style.

7 Tips for Making that College Dorm Stylish

The following tips will help you make your dorm space your own.

Create a color scheme. If you are in contact with your future roommate(s) and are in conversation with them, ask them what they plan to do. While designing a room together is probably a bit of a stretch, knowing what colors(s) they plan to use can help you choose yours. Are you familiar with a Color Wheel? They are fantastic for determining which colors go the best together.

Using complementary colors (colors directly opposite one another on the wheel) is one approach. Using analogous colors (colors that are side-by-side on the wheel) is another. This Houzz.com article is a good introduction to the process. If you and your dorm roommates can coordinate the colors in your individual spaces using the tenets of the color wheel, your room will look amazing, even if your styles are completely different.

Use impermanent color. While the typical nail holes and scuff marks are expected in a dorm room, most colleges forbid more permanent changes – like repainting the walls. Therefore, you will have to find ways to use impermanent color to keep your space from resembling a sterile, white hospital room.

Easy ways to do this include:

Creating a large wall board with favorite pictures, posters and memorabilia from back home.
Using colorful, decorative throw pillows on your bed – which also serves as a chair, couch and hang-out space when more than one friend stops by.
Hang tapestries or wall hangings that add both color and texture to your room.
Choosing an attractive bedding set since your bed will always be in the spotlight when your dorm room door is open.

Read, Adding Color Without Adding Paint for more fun ideas for how to add style and color in your dorm space.

Upgrade your “home office.” Your desk is going to be your home within a home over the next several years so you might as well make it as stylish and comfortable as possible. First, make sure you set your desk up in a way that supports ergonomics so you aren’t compromising your physical health by typing in crazy positions. Then, add a little color via desktop organizers, pen/pencil holders and don’t forget an indoor plant or two to add a little life.

Keep that closet organized. Part of keeping any space stylish includes keeping it free of unnecessary clutter. That’s no easy feat in a dorm room, so an efficiently organized closet is key. Dorm closets are notoriously small but you’d be amazed what a difference an efficient closet design will make. The more organized your closet is, the less of its contents will spill into the rest of the room.

Bring the bare minimum with you to start since you’ll only be adding to it as the year progresses. If you live there for a few weeks/months and decide your missing some essentials, you can always have them shipped out. Visit a home furnishings store to find closet organizers that work in both your dorm room and future closets.

Your Guest Room: Designing A Home Away From Home

July 31, 2018

Here’s a little confession: I know exactly which family and out-of-town friends have the most comfortable guest bedrooms to stay in, and I often base my length of “available visit time” accordingly.

Do you blame me? While I can roll with the punches to a point, there is a big difference between sleeping on a blow up mattress on a child’s bedroom floor or having a room to myself, just as there’s a difference between sleeping on somebody’s old, worn-out mattress rather than enjoying a comfortable bed that feels (almost) like home.

Get Your Extra Bedroom Into Shape Before the Holidays

With the holiday season right around the corner, this is a perfect time to prioritize a guest room makeover. Here are a few tips to get you started:

Choose relaxing colors. Regardless of your owner personal taste or penchant for bright colors, I feel guest rooms are best left to the relaxing and neutral areas of the color palette. Guests are often jet lagged or tired from the very nature of what it took to get them to you in the first place. Just being away from home and the normal routine is enough to create an energy drain – consciously or not. Therefore, chose wall and trim colors that are restful and relaxing – whites, grays, greens and blues are all good options. Feel free to add fun, peppy and more energetic splashes of color via accents and display items. If your guest room is on the smaller side, you can use color tricks to make the room seem larger.

Make them feel like royalty. If at all possible, try to provide a queen-size bed at the very minimum. While a double bed works for a singleton, couples are going to struggle sleeping well on anything less than a queen. Then, do invest in a fantastic mattress. Today’s mattress – especially memory foam options – will last a lifetime. If budget is an issue, look for the prolific 0% financing options, which provide you with a new, high-quality mattress for double-digits per month. Alternatively, go directly through the manufacturer for better deals.

Indulge in comfortable linens and bed sets. Cheap sheets feel terrible. While most hotel mattresses are all right these days, it’s the sheets themselves that can really drive you nuts. They are more irritating than they are comforting. Look for sheets with a thread count that is 300 or higher to give your guests a soft place to rest. Think along those same lines when it comes to providing soft bath towels. Then, think in terms of layers. I like to top my guest bed sheets with a thin, soft blanket so those that sleep hot can still enjoy that cozy feeling. Then a down or wool comforter can top that for those who need a little more warmth. I also like to provide four pillows (don’t go too crazy on the pillow front or guests don’t know what to do with them all each morning/night) – two for the head and an extra for those who prefer them or who enjoy reading in bed before going to sleep.

Give guests a place to keep their clothes. Living out a suitcase can be discombobulating at best and completely disastrous at worst, with favorite shirts, suits and dresses having to live in a perpetual state of wrinkled. If you use your guest room closet for storage, try to leave a dozen empty hangers and a small section of closet rod available when guests come to stay. Along those lines, an empty dresser drawer or three is always a nice bonus as well. If there is no closet space available, read, Creating a Closet in a Closet-Less Space, for ideas – most of which can be set up temporarily.

The little extras. Here are some of the little extras I like to provide for guests – arranged artfully in a basket – so they don’t have to ask:

Shampoo, conditioner and bath gel or soap
Unscented or gender-neutral lotion/moisturizer
Shaving cream and decent razor
Toothbrush, toothpaste and floss
A tastefully hidden array of feminine hygiene products
Q-tips and cotton balls
Tissues
Brush/comb

By having these items at the ready, your guests don’t have to feel embarrassed or burdensome if they forget an essential item or two at home. This “guest survival” kit is also handy for guests whose luggage gets lost along the way.

I choose to have beautiful houseplants rather than fresh flowers in my guest room as I have found that flowers in small places are more conducive to guests with allergy attacks.

Finally, leave a guest book on the nightstand. Our household has gone through several guest books over the course of the last few decades and it is such a delight to peruse them from time to time, remembering past holidays, gatherings, visits and special events.

Choosing Tile for Your Bathroom

July 16, 2018

Depending on the surface area you want to cover, choosing tile for a bathroom is no easy feat. There are so many options available, it can make your head spin. Before you get dizzy, take a deep breath and let’s go through some of your tile options to help you decide which one is right for your bathroom’s style and function.

Choosing Tile for a Bathroom Remodel: A Few Tips to Get You Started

Which bathroom is it? If you’re remodeling a powder room, you won’t be as worried about the slip factor and may have the luxury of using higher-end tiles that you might not have been able to accommodate in the budget elsewhere. A kid’s bathroom, or a universal bathroom design focusing on accessibility, will require non-slip tile options for showers and floor. The level of maintenance you’re interested in putting into the tiles is also a consideration. Large tiles mean less grout – while smaller tiles mean more grout – and grout means more complex cleaning and long-term maintenance.

Where will the tiles go? I generally recommend using non-slip tiles on the shower floor, and they’re also a good idea on the floor of bathrooms frequently used for bathing and showering. However, gorgeous 18×18 marble tiles look amazing on bathroom floors and a well-placed area rug can always substitute as a non-slip surface directly adjacent to bath and shower areas. If you love the look of a slippery tile, simply choose it in a mosaic pattern, where extra grout will serve the non-slip role, or intersperse a mosaic pattern around larger tiles to serve the same purpose.

What type of tiles are you interested in? There are so many different types of tiles to choose from, ranging from ceramic and porcelain tiles to glass and quarried rock. Here is a brief rundown:

Ceramic and porcelain tiles. According to the National Kitchen and Bath Association, ceramic/porcelain tiles continue to be the most popular bathroom tile choice due to their ultra-durable surfaces and availability. With so many tiles to choose from, start by limiting your viewing selections to the styles recommended for bathroom applications, including non-slip options for safety. I assure you there are more than enough different styles to choose from.
Quarried tiles. Natural stone tiles are right behind ceramic tiles in terms of popularity. Again, your choices are seemingly endless. Keep in mind that quarried stones are porous, which means they are susceptible to stains, etching and/or chips or cracks depending on the type of stone you select. Marble is softer, granite and slate are harder. Marble is smooth on the feet but can be slippery. Slate can be rough for tender feet but is non-slip. Each has its advantages and your bathroom designer will help you select the best choice for your needs.
Glass Tiles. These are becoming increasingly popular, especially for those who prefer a more modern look. They come in all kinds of funky colors and their translucent nature adds its own level of interest as well as light play. Typically, glass tiles are used on the walls, to increase visual interest around sinks, baths and showers. They can be used on the floor but are less typical there because they are expensive and the contractor has to be meticulous to keep the adhesive from being visible. Glass tiles are relatively chip- and break-resistant but they’re susceptible to scratches.

Making A Student-Centric Study Area In Your Home

July 9, 2018

Time flies doesn’t it? One minute you’re helping your baby learn how to walk, the next minute she’s in Kindergarten and before you know it – homework becomes an everyday event. One of the best things you can do to foster a reverence for learning is to create a customized study area for your children.

Not only does this begin to build an academic culture in your home, when done right, it also creates a soothing and distraction-free area where children can focus on their studies.

Your study area can arise just about anywhere, as long as there’s enough room for an uncluttered working space. Perhaps you’ve decided to add a message center or small home office space in the kitchen, or maybe you have a corner of a living room or the child’s bedroom that you can carve out.

I’ve found that creating a small work or study space in a guest room space can be a good idea. Getting the child out of their room and into a quieter, “special” space can help them focus on their work. In any case, here are the basics for making a study area where your child can get to work.

Study your child. We are all very different when it comes to how we work and study best. Make sure you create a study space that is tailored to your child’s needs, and not your own. For example, some people work best in absolute quiet and silence, while others actually do best with a little background music or hubbub around them. Some need to sit still while others (kinesthetic learners and higher-energy children) need to wiggle a bit. Your child’s learning style and studying preferences should lead the way.
Choose the space. Obviously your home will be a great predictor of where this space will be. If you have a small townhome or apartment, using a spare room is probably out of the question. But your goal should be to find a space that can accommodate a small desk or work surface, an appropriate chair or yoga ball (more on that later) and the essential work tools. You also want to take things like sound and lighting into the equation.
Choose the furniture. Make sure the workspace is ergonomically comfortable for your child. Typically, the work surface should be about waist-height and the chair should be one that fits your child well (no dangling feet!). If your child likes to wiggle, consider using a yoga ball or swivel chair, so they can move a bit as they work. Motion anchors thought for kinesthetic learners and many younger, active children – so if they can’t more or wiggle a bit while they work, they’ll have a difficult time concentrating and staying on task.
Eliminate clutter. Clutter is the enemy in any home design. It’s distracting and confusing. It tires the eyes and the mind. Your child will be particularly susceptible to clutter so a designated homework station should house only the necessary items – paper, pencils, pens, dictionary, and the homework at hand. Even markers, staplers, tape, glue, etc. should be stored in an accessible drawer or cupboard until they are needed.
Keep supplies stored close. If you use a table, rather than a desk, make sure the cursory homework supplies are stored within arm’s reach, if possible. Every time your child has to leave the area to get something, or get up to ask you where something is located, takes his/her mind off the task at hand.
Create space for organization. For the most part, organization is a learned skill. You can facilitate that skill in your children by teaching and implementing organizational tricks. Use a large wall-calendar to track and organize homework assignments and test days. If the homework area is in a family room or living room, you can use a desktop calendar instead so it doesn’t take up wall space. Make sure there’s a large, easy-to-read clock somewhere close so they can keep themselves on schedule. In and out boxes can help both of you keep on track of what needs to be looked at and/or signed and what is ready to be returned to the teacher.
Sanctify Homework Time. Finally, you lead the way and set the tone, so do your part by making homework time a sacred time in the household. The TV should be off, cell phones should be placed on silent (the child should not have access to their cell phone until homework is complete), social media interactions are put on hold, older or younger children should be equally beholden to respecting the homework space and quiet time, etc. The less distractions the better so you child can really sink into the work and do their very best.

The Perfect Chandelier

June 13, 2018

The dining room chandelier is like icing on the dining room design cake. In addition to providing lighting and ambiance, it also adds visual focus and a stylized design element. So, selecting the dining room chandelier is an important step. The wrong chandelier can make the room fall flat, while the right one will be noted and serve as a conversation piece for all who sit at your table.

Tips for Choosing a Dining Room Chandelier

The following tips will help you select – and then hang – your chandelier so it makes for a picture-perfect dining room.

The empty room. If you are just moving into a home, having a room built, and/or haven’t yet purchased a dining room table, you will want to size the chandelier in proportion with the dining room’s dimensions. In this case, the designer’s “rule of thumb” is to add the length plus the width of the room. The resulting figure would be the rough size of the chandelier’s diameter. So, if your dining room is a 10 x 12 space, you would keep your eye out for chandeliers that are roughly 22 inches in diameter.

The furnished room. If your dining room is already furnished, you should size the chandelier according to the table’s dimensions. In this case, designers typically choose a fixture (or two fixtures!) that is about one-half (no less than one-third) of the table’s width. By taking these dimensions into consideration, the chandelier will be in proportion to the space.

The table shape. The shape of the chandelier is also of importance. In most cases, you’ll see that a well-chosen chandelier mimics the shape of the table below. So a round table will have a round fixture while a square or rectangular table will have a similarly shaped chandelier. Of course, this is only a guideline. If you find a chandelier you love and it doesn’t fit this rule, go ahead and install it to see what you think. You can always return it if it doesn’t work out.

Complement your existing design. Your chandelier should complement the existing interior design. In a separate, formal dining room, this means keeping in line with the existing style. If you have an open floor plan, it can be fun to use the dining room chandelier as a way to tie in color, pattern, shape or other visual elements that may be visible elsewhere in the living space, while still holding true to the dining room design elements.

If you are someone who likes to change things up more frequently than most, consider purchasing a chandelier that uses a shade – or shades – as part of its aesthetic. This gives you a little flexibility because you can change the shades over time rather than having to change out the whole fixture.

How to Hang the Chandelier

If you are the first homeowner to install a chandelier in that space, or if you have chosen a particularly heavy chandelier, I highly recommend you hire an electrician who can make sure your ceiling is reinforced properly so it can withstand the weight of the fixture.

Typically, the chandelier should hang about 30-inches from the table top for an 8-foot ceiling. If the ceiling is higher, add 3-inches to that distance for every additional foot of ceiling height. So a 9-foot ceiling would leave 33-inches between the bottom of the chandelier.

If your chandelier doesn’t come with a dimmer option, I recommend installing a dimmer switch so you can control light quality and ambiance.