home interior

Where does your staircase fit into your interior design plans? Have you thought about it at all? Sometimes, the stairs are like a dead zone in the house. Sure, you may have created a gallery wall of some kind to break up the monotony of an interior wall, but it’s amazing what a little bit of attention can do for a staircase the blends into the background.

Consider One Of These Ideas to Make Your Staircase More Interesting

Maybe it’s time to spruce your staircase up a bit, in which case I have 5 ideas for you to consider:

1. Bust out some walls. Often interior staircases are enclosed by interior walls. The goal was to sort of insulate the staircase and “mask off” what is considered a utilitarian space. In today’s open floor plan designs, this can backfire, putting up a big block in a space where openness is the key. Contact an architect or contractor and talk about the potential. You may find you can remove an entire wall, or a section of the wall, which will open things up and expose the staircase to the rest of the home. Then, you can work with an interior designer to figure out what style of staircase or railings will work to your home’s best advantage.
2. Change the stair railing. Your staircases railing was (hopefully) originally selected to suit the interior design. If you weren’t the original homeowners, or if you haven’t updated your interior design in a while, there’s a good chance the stair rails aren’t contributing anything anymore. Or, they may even be detracting from your design style. In either case, redesigning your interior should include an analysis of whether your current stair railing works aesthetically. For example, take a look at this Suburban Entryway I redesigned a couple of years ago. Those sleek black railings are a far cry from the wooden, traditional versions they might have been.
3. Decorate the risers. This isn’t done very often, and I wonder why? Decorated risers make as much or as little of a visual statement as you want – but they’re guaranteed to add visual interest. In this Portland, Oregon home, the risers are such a beautiful statement with the simple addition of wallpaper. You can paint wallpapered risers with a durable clear, sealant to protect them from scuffs and dings. On the opposite side of the impact spectrum are these ornate, risers with beautiful wood inlay –each one unique. This is a literal example of pattern layering at its best. The good news is that while you are welcome to paint your own risers or commission an artist, tile layer or woodworker to do it for you, Etsy has a wide range of pre-made riser decals that make it easy and more affordable to efficiently do the job yourself.
4. Just add a rug. Do you have a beautifully finished wood staircase? While wood is gorgeous, a large expanse of it can wind up being a visual blank spot in a design. Look into beautiful, high quality runners – the area rugs for stairs – and choose one that works with your home décor. In addition to sprucing up your staircase, the rug can add a little color or pattern and will also help to save the wear-and-tear on your finished wooden stairs. The rug can also add a softer texture to interior designs with an abundance of hard, cold or sleek surfaces.
5. Supersize an artwork. If your staircase has a landing, odds are there is a large expanse of wall that runs up the side and/or faces the downstairs area at the top of the first landing. These walls are the ideal spot to install a large, oversized work of art. It sure beats trying to keep all those frames on your gallery wall straight…

There are so many reasons why it makes sense to include open shelving in your kitchen. The good news is that they work well in large and small kitchens, as well as both modern and traditional designs. The bad news is that careless attention to design will see you with plenty of open shelving, a clutter or mismatch of stuff stored on it, and way too much cleaning and dusting on your hands.

No-Fail Methods for Adding Open Shelving to Your Kitchen Design

Before we go into the best methods for integrating open shelving into your kitchen, it’s important for you to decide why you want them in the first place.

• You like the way they look. Open shelving adds an ‘open’ feel to the kitchen, and they look great when adorned with the right shelf inhabitants. Are you planning to fill them with the right items? Do you have a sense of what will look organized and what would wind up looking cluttered? Make sure you’re clear on exactly what the shelves will contain so you can choose shelving materials appropriately.
• Your kitchen is small. Open shelving is a smart move in small kitchens because you reclaim the visual space that is typically lost by a standard 12-inch deep cabinet box. If this is the case for you, be thoughtful about where you place the cabinets to maximize that sense of spaciousness. For example, a row of shelves above your sink wall or in blind corners will help to keep things more open.
• You don’t like cabinet walls. We live in an era of fully-integrated cabinetry, where you often can’t tell the difference between a refrigerator door and a cabinet panel. At the same time, this can make for a fairly boring, wall-to-wall cabinet look – and that has its own inherent downfalls. Many of my clients like to use open shelving to break up the monotony. If this is the case for you, place them in locations where you feel a visual break is needed.

There are a few examples of why open shelving may be on your kitchen remodeling wish list. Now, let’s look at the ways you can ensure they don’t add unexpected chores to your already full schedule.

Balance materials with cleaning realities. Cabinet boxes with doors protect your dishware from dust. You’ll never know how much dust and grime is moving through your kitchen atmosphere until you add open shelving…unless you’re smart about it. If you are okay with a more contemporary look, consider using stainless steel shelving with wire rack-style shelves if you plan to add more than a few open shelves to the mix. This will make your life much simpler.

If you have a traditional or farmhouse-style kitchen, you might want to consider decorative cabinet boxes sans doors rather than fully open shelves. That way, you get the openness and exposure you’re looking for (and you can choose complimentary or contrasting paint colors for the box interiors) but the dishes and shelves are slightly more dust-proof.

Plan the contents and location accordingly. Keep in mind that any open shelves near a hood will be prone to grease and moisture – as well as splatter and debris. This may alter whether you choose that for an open shelving location or what you choose to store there. The best items to store in open shelves are cookbooks, dishes you use on a regular basis, or dishes and dishware collectibles that you’re intentionally putting on display. When you stray too far from these items, you can wind up with shelves that look cluttered or that need to be cleaned way more often than you’re in the mood for.

If you’re planning an upcoming kitchen renovation, odds are your “Wish List” is filling up fast. If I may interrupt for a minute, however, I’d like to talk about one of my favorite features in a well-designed kitchen: the breakfast nook.

Breakfast Nooks: The Kitchen Design Feature That Keeps on Giving

Whether you’re designing a traditional farmhouse kitchen or are a modernist to the extreme, a breakfast nook will enhance your kitchen experience in multiple ways. In addition to being a cozy place to hang out, breakfast nooks provide added seating for social functions, extra ambient and task lighting and a great place for kids to do their homework while you prepare dinner.

Use an available corner. Typically, breakfast nooks encompass a corner space if you have one. The 90° angle of the walls makes it easy to design comfortable seating, and the open space on the other side can use a space-saving bench (in smaller kitchens) or attractive chairs for additional seating. If possible, I also recommend adding a window if you don’t have one already. It’s a great way to gain extra natural light in your kitchen – always a bonus – and will provide a view outdoors, providing hours of contemplation as you watch the seasons and the world go by.

Avoid the permanent seating option. Typically, breakfast nooks are built into the corner, as I mentioned above, or can be added to the backside of a kitchen island or peninsula. In these cases, at least one of the sides includes bench seating that is permanently attached to the floors below. I recommend avoiding that option and using temporary bench seating options instead. Your interior designer can help you look for portable bench seating that fits your space or can design custom seating to fit. Either way, you have something you can take with you when you leave and more flexibility during social functions.

Make those benches a storage space. As long as you opt for bench seating in one or two sides of your nook, I recommend making them storage space. You can either use hinged seats that open up, or create cabinet spaces on the front side of the lower bench. Either way, extra storage is always appreciated, keeping serving platters, seasonal dishware or specialty cookbooks out of the way when not in use.

Match the table with the space. If your nook will be rectangular, use a rectangular shaped table, or go oval if you prefer curves. If the nook’s a square, make the table a square as well. This makes for a cleaner and more congruent look. Your nook can take an arched shape, which will lend itself to an oval or circular table. The only exception to the matching shape rule would be in smaller kitchens or nooks, where a round table will keep exterior corners from bumping thighs or little heads as they pass by.

Splurge on cushions and accent pillows. Another reason to design custom furniture for your nook bench seating is that you should have full control over the plushness of the cushions. The more comfortable your cushions and accent pillows, the more you and your guests will enjoy the space.

Adorn it with a stunning fixture. Make your nook a showpiece and then top it off, literally, with a stunning light fixture. Pick something that draws the eye – like a chandelier or an eclectic sculpture-esque light and then add a dimmer switch so it can serve as both task and ambient lighting.

There is a wide gap between having a design style and realizing it. The having and knowing are the first steps. However, I’ve worked with plenty of clients over the years that had oodles of scrapbooks or online ideabooks with very specific examples of what they wanted, yet their current design reflected little – if any – of it.

This is a common occurrence for younger homeowners or homeowners that have done such a good job of being frugal and non-wasteful that their house becomes a hodge-podge of free hand-me-downs, thrift store finds and items that are in “decent enough” shape to keep around.

5 Tips For Making Your Design Style a Reality

Does that sound familiar? Then perhaps it’s time to turn over a new leaf so you can bring your coveted design style into fruition.

1. Know what your design style is. Do you even know what your design style is? Sometimes, I peek into an ideabook only to view a mish-mash of “tastes”, rather than a consistent or cohesive theme. This could be a sign that you’re eclectic or a transitionalist OR it could mean that while you appreciate great design, you haven’t really found your own, personal design yet. If you suspect you suffer from the latter, read, What’s Your Interior Design Style, and begin honing in on the colors, styles, textures, shapes and finishes that inspire you at the core level.
2. Consult with an interior designer. Consulting with a professional interior designer does not mean you have to hire one. You can pay a professional designer as a consultant while you narrow your style preferences down to one that exemplifies your taste and lifestyle. If you’re new to this process, an interior designer will also help you come up with a realistic budget, i.e. XX-dollars for new furniture, XX-dollars for new textiles, XX-dollars for new furnishings and accents, etc. If you choose to work with the designer now or down the road, great. If not, your money will have been well-spent helping you to solidify your tastes- and creating proportioned budget – so you can implement a new design on your own.
3. Out with the old. If you suffer from minor-hoarding tendencies, an inability to get rid of anything with sentimental value (even if you don’t like it), or an aversion to discarding items that are functional (but not stylish) – it’s time to buck up and purge your home of anything that doesn’t serve you. Typically, de-cluttering involves making three separate piles: trash, donate, sell. In this case, you are going to start by making ONE pile – the discard pile – and you can sort that out later. Move through your home and put anything you don’t LOVE in the discard pile. FYI: I’m not joking when I say this step may require sleeping on a mattress on a floor and sitting in a virtually empty living room furnished by camping chairs and a card table for a month or more. The point is, you now have a clear, free and unencumbered space in which to begin realizing an interior design style that truly represents who you are.
4. Start exploring. Now it’s time to begin exploring stores and online sources to find the big-item furniture pieces that will comprise the “bones” of the design. If you’re re-doing your kitchen, you’ll be looking at cabinetry options as well. Now that you know your design style, it will be easy to speak with customer service reps, who can steer you towards options that fit your niche. Just make sure you stick to your budget. Take digital picture of everything you genuinely adore. After a while of doing this, you’ll have a stock pile of photos you can review to whittle down to your favorites. These will be your future furnishings and accents.
5. Have fun with paints. Don’t rush into paint colors. Yes, it’s true; walls can be repainted. But who wants to go through the trouble if you don’t have to more than every handful of years or more? Better to take your time, paint huge swatches of cheap plywood or wall patches and live with them for a while. This will let you know how they your color options hold up to different lighting, or on this wall/room versus that wall/room. It will also help you to learn how very different a wall of paint looks than a small sample of paint appears. Not rushing into paint colors will be the best gift you ever give your newly designed homeself, because the reward will be a new paint palette that you love, one you won’t regret in a day, a week, a month or a year.

Once you’ve moved through these five steps, you’re ready to start taking your new interior design process in earnest. Again, never hesitate to enlist the help of a professional interior designer along the way to lend an opinion, to provide recommendations or to orchestrate your remodel for you so you can enjoy a stress-free process.