interior design

Falling For Fall

January 9, 2018

I’m certainly falling for fall – are you? This time a year I get absolutely giddy. Why? Because autumn is on its way. Fall is my favorite season and I think that’s the case for many interior designers. It’s a season where we can make the most of both the indoor and outdoor living spaces, and the colors are so rich and vibrant.

How Can I Transition my Summer Interiors to Fall Decor?

Transitioning your summer interiors to fall decor is easy with a few simple updates. Swap out lightweight fabrics and bright colors for cozy textiles in warm tones, like burnt orange and deep burgundy. Add touches of fall style with throw pillows, blankets, and seasonal accessories, such as pumpkins and foliage-inspired accents. Embrace the change of seasons by incorporating rich textures and earthy hues into your home.

Fall Decorations For Every Living Space in Your Home

When I work with clients, transitioning their homes from summer to fall, I like to make it a tangible experience from start to finish – or from the front door to the patio– to be precise. Here is a glimpse into how I tackle the transition of seasons in just about every living space in the house.

Transform your porch into an autumnal ambassador

Start sharing your warm autumn glow by decorating the porch and front walkway. At the very simplest, an autumn wreath on the door will due. If you want to get more involved with fall-inspired porch design, use colorful dried corn cobs to create a fall garland. While pumpkins are nice, I like connecting with local farmers at the season’s farmer’s markets to find out who has the most interesting gourds – and then striking up a deal. There are some seriously crazy-looking heirloom gourds at there and you can get them for a song. Best of all, gourds last all season and can be used indoors and out.

Welcome guests in from a chilly fall evening with a warm, inviting entryway

Your entryway is the gateway to your home, and yet it’s so often overlooked these days. I think the penchant for attached garages, which we use as our family’s day-to-day entrance and exit, is part of the reason we forget what in impact entryways have on our family and friends. Your entryway a great place to house a few pumpkin-spiced candles, to hang seasonal hats and scarfs, or to adorn a hall tree mirror with a garland of autumn leaves – real and pressed or silk and reusable.

Create your dining table centerpiece

Why wait for the week before Thanksgiving to plan your holiday centerpiece? I prefer to use these months prior to the Big Day to get that fun task out of the way. In fact, it will truly be fun if you do it now – rather than becoming a last-minute stress during the week of Thanksgiving. Plus, creating a beautiful centerpiece now means you will enjoy it for a full month or so, rather than for a few short days, after which it’s all disassembled to make way for the winter holidays.

Cultivate a cozy ambiance in your living and family rooms

The first thing I do in my own home is to air out our family’s favorite afghans, wraps and throws. You just never know what a fall day will bring. Warm sunny days often turn into chilly afternoons and evenings, and late-fall predictably brings brisk winds and the first real rainy days. Make sure your living room and family room spaces are prepared for cozy fires, warm movie nights and weekend afternoons spent lounging about with a book and a mug of tea or hot cider. Again, you can’t go wrong with candles in pumpkins, spice, fig or other fall-oriented scents. Additions of crimson, brown and gold accents will further lend the essence of fall to your living spaces.

Prepare your patio spaces for the ‘tween months

When it comes to outdoor living and patio spaces, we consider these the ‘tween months because they are nestled right between the hot summer and the cold winter. Some days feel as if summer will never end – so keep your grilling equipment at the ready; others are on the brisker side, so decorate your patio along the same vein as you decorate your porch. I like to add a couple of well-placed outdoor heaters, stacked firewood for the fire pit, flower pots laden with fall colored blooms, and plenty of blankets and throws for star gazing.

Natural Holiday Decor That Doesn’t Scream Christmas

January 7, 2018

Are you getting burned out on Santa Claus, Rudolph and little elves? It’s easy to accumulate a hodge-podge of holiday decorations, many of which may not suit your tastes or your home’s style anymore.

If this is the case for you, it may be time to donate the ones worth donating, trash the ones that have had it, and starting over from scratch using tasteful, mature and nature-inspired décor that doesn’t scream, “CHRISTMAS!”

Holiday Decorations for Everyone’s Taste and Traditions

Even if you are a believer in Jesus, Santa, Buddha, Judaism or another major religion, that doesn’t mean your partner is, or the rest of your family is. Neutralizing holiday decorations can be a nice way to strike the right balance, blending your individual traditions in here and there, as you see fit while still celebrating the magic we all share this time of year.

Here are some lovely ways to honor the change in seasons – as well as the holiday – by using nature-inspired holiday décor in your home.

Gild your fruit. Does your family keep a fruit bowl on the table? Fill it up with some of this season’s favorite fruits, including crisp apples, voluptuous pomegranates and different varieties of pears. Right away you have blend of rich reds, greens and golds. Up the gold ante by choosing a few apples and spray paint them gold – or silver if you prefer – to add a little festive flair to the arrangement.

Pinecone garlands. Take the family on a nature walk and collect pinecones. If you like things to match, select the cones from the same species of tree. If you like an eclectic look, you can purchase a variety. You can also buy pinecones – some of which are pre-glittered or gilded – at a local craft store. String them up using metallic ribbons or natural hemp twine – depending on your taste. You can use these “garlands” to adorn the mantel, a front door or walkway, along the front of your kitchen or dining room hutches or anywhere else you see fit.

Make banister bouquets. If you have a stairway with banisters, skip the traditional garland approach and make banister bouquets instead. To start, collect or purchase bare branches – birch or redtwig dogwood are ideal for this – and cut the branches so they span from the base of a stair to just above the banister. Then, cut evergreens from your own backyard – or a generous neighbor’s. Attach the branches and greens (branches in back, greens in front) to the banisters (every two or three banisters is an ideal ratio) using green florist wire.

You can attach bows, bells, clusters of berries and/or Christmas tree ornaments to jazz the bouquets up a bit. They look and smell delightful and can also be added to doors or used in vases for centerpieces.

Father Christmas and Real Reindeer. We all love Rudolph, Dasher, Dancer and the gang and the occasional cheery Santa is fine as well. However, there are so many variations that all those figurines can start to have a cartoony effect. Instead, look for images and figurines of Father Christmas and true reindeer, which look more realistic, tend to be more consistent in their aesthetic and have a more grown-up appearance – even though the kids in the family will be just as transfixed.

Go Cedar hunting. Cedar is one of my very favorite winter greens from which to make holiday decorations and arrangements. It lays flat but drapes well. It smells good but it’s relatively gentle on the hands, and you can find it in just about any neighborhood. Plus, you can hack quite a bit out of an established plant without it really showing.

Use freshly-cut cedar to make wreaths and garlands. It looks lovely circled around the base of pillar candles and can be arranged with dead wood, stones, and fairy houses or just-the-right ornaments to create magical, miniature worlds. Once you’ve arranged the cedar to your liking, add small twinkle lights (I highly recommend the tiny LED lights that are strung on thin metallic wire) and twine them into the arrangement. The effects are stunning.

Are you ready to overhaul your hodge-podge of holiday decorations? Schedule a consultation withan interior designer to help you go through your traditional boxes to cull the antique and sentimental pieces, and then work with you to create a whole new look.

Budget-Friendly Fireplace Mantel Upgrades

December 29, 2017

Here in the Bay Area, fireplaces serve as a cozy addition to weekends and evenings leading all the way up until spring. Even after chilly evenings turn warm, most living room seating arrangements position the fireplace front and center – so it’s worth creating a mantel worth gazing at.

Affordable Ways to Dress Up Your Fireplace Mantel

Long winter days provide the ideal setting to plan and execute a new version of your existing fireplace mantel – there’s nowhere to be but tucked up inside anyway, right?

Here are some affordable, budget-friendly ways to re-vamp a mantel so it delights the eye for months or years to come.

Rearrange your house

I recently posted a piece on rearranging your home furnishings with panache. While in the process, I recommend mixing and matching art pieces, collectibles, or miscellaneous tchotchkes on display elsewhere.

Use these extra or leftover pieces and arrange them on the mantel. Still, have leftovers? Maybe it’s time to update your entryway while you’re at it.

Prop – don’t hang – your art

If you have a rather large art installation, it’s best to mount it properly and securely to protect the art as well as unsuspecting family members or guests. Otherwise, propping your art, rather than hanging it, gives it a slightly more casual or even edgy look. I like the way paintings or photos look when propped by staggered degrees or in layers.

Forget about art, how about frames?

Rather than using framed art, you can use empty frames. The frames themselves can be gorgeous and then fresh flowers, plants, candles or other decorative display items can be set around them or playfully “framed” in front of them.

Paint and more paint

Sometimes, the best way to make something “pop” is to paint the space behind it. If you live in a more recently constructed home, odds are the fireplace is an insert, surrounded by a tile of some kind, with drywall comprising the rest of the wall and the chimney behind it. Why not choose an accent color you love and paint the wall behind the fireplace? Then, give the mantel a fresh coat of paint – one that contrasts with the accent color – and va-va-voom. All of a sudden, the mantel becomes the star of the show.

Hang a mirror over it

Mirrors pack a powerful design punch. The mirror frame itself can be used to add texture, color or an eye-catching focal point. The mirror will reflect light – both day and night – helping to illuminate the space. Because it’s a reflective surface, a mirror also makes the space feel bigger – especially helpful in a smaller living room or den space.

Change it out for something repurposed

Is your mantel boring or outdated? Consider swapping it out for something more creative and inventive. There are plenty of items that can be repurposed into a mantel. Reclaimed wood is all the rage these days. While it can be very costly to use reclaimed lumber for flooring or an expanse of kitchen cabinetry, a single slab of beautiful, rustic reclaimed wood is an affordable option for a mantel. Salvaged mantels from older homes abound in antique and curio stores so keep an eye out for something unique and then install it above or around your fireplace.

Have a fireplace that you never use? Why not build shelves over it and around it and then use it as a personal library. Similarly, you can use the fireplace, mantel and/or installed shelves to creatively display a prized collection.

These days, almost anything goes in the world of home design so don’t hesitate to go out on a limb and try something new.

Making Your Home Purrfectly Pet Friendly

December 29, 2017

Pets have always had a special place in the hearts of American families, but the last couple of decades have made life even cushier for our furry friends. From designer clothing lines and memory foam sleeping quarters to purified water dishes and jewelry, modern day pets are living the American dream.

All kidding aside, contemporary home designs often take pets into consideration in an effort to maintain a stylish household while still accommodating four-legged members of the family.

The Contemporary Home: Designing Your Interiors With Pets in Mind

Here are a few ideas for making your home purrfect for furry, feathered and potentially scaly family members.

Enjoy the benefits of indoor/outdoor upholstery. Honestly, if you have kids or pets, the main living areas in your home should always contain furniture with indoor/outdoor upholstery. Put the idea of rough canvas or green fabric with bright rainbow flowers right out of your head. Indoor/outdoor fabrics aren’t just for the patio anymore. The advancement of technology and synthetics has allowed furniture manufacturers to create patterns and prints that look and feel elegant enough to complement any design. They don’t tear as easy, they don’t stain as readily and any spills, accidents or fluid-involved pet shenanigans can be wiped up in a flash.

Built in sleeping and eating quarters. Built-in shelving and storage areas are the norm now in living rooms, kitchens and laundry rooms. These built-ins also make for ideal “pet centers”. If you have the luxury of a large laundry room or mud room, you can include a low, tiled area with a perimeter rim and a drain for dog washing (also handy for rinsing boots, shoes, hands and feet after gardening or wet season outdoor play). You can also build sleeping nooks built to fit a favorite pet bed, slide-out, metal-lined drawers that hold economy sized pet food and a cabinet or two for all the pet accessories. These are all attractive ways to incorporate pet gear into your home without all the clutter.

Kitty walkways and playgrounds. If you’re a cat lover, things can feel cluttered pretty quick. On one hand, your cats need something to keep them distracted from clawing up your favorite furnishings. On the other, those carpet covered cat poles and platforms don’t always mix with the rest of the home decor. Companies like Square Cat Habitat sell designer pet furniture that blends in to a well-designed home. You can also incorporate “barely there” cat walks, stairways, platforms, sleeping lofts and more by using the upper areas of your walls, soffits and ceilings. Check out the colorful cat playground that was blended into these children’s bedroom.

Hard surface flooring. When families are consummate pet owners, I always recommend working with hard surface flooring in all of the main living areas. There are many wonderful products out there for eliminating pet messes, odors and stains from fabric but – no matter what – there always seems like a little residual “memory” lingers. Plus, animals often have “favorite” places to express their accidents and upsets, which can lead to more wear-and-tear on those particular sections of carpet from all the repeat washings. Hard surface flooring is versatile and easy to clean. You can save cushy carpet for formal living rooms, dining rooms or any bedrooms that don’t have regular access. Area rugs can be used to soften things around the house and are more easily washed or traded in for new models when needed.

Simple Ways To Add Charm And Character

December 29, 2017

Even a serial modernist can’t help but acknowledge that older homes have charm and character. There’s something special about architecture from years gone by, not to mention the wood work and unique details that were more common in the everyday homes of the earlier 20^th century and further back along the architectural timeline.

You don’t have to buy a historical home to enjoy living spaces that have charm and character. All you have to do is personalize your own a bit, and throw in a few extra details that make guests take notice and feel more like they’re in a Home.

Here are 9 examples of what I’m talking about:

Re-vamp your foyer. When’s the last time you took a good hard look at your foyer or entryway? A welcome mat and a mirror are not enough to make guests feel welcome, nor will they tell us anything about who lives here. Eliminate clutter, clean things up and then re-vamp your entryway with a few extras that express a little bit about you, your tastes and your interests. Read, The Entryway, to learn more entryway design tips.
Dress up those windows. Sheer curtains are lovely, but they can also be bland. See if your windows couldn’t be framed a little better with curtain panels, or a valance, that highlights your color scheme or adds a bit of texture with its subtle or bold print. You’d be amazed at how different a room’s energy will feel with the right window dressings.
Show off those collections. Are your collections hidden away in boxes or a storage unit? Or are they cluttering up a few squashed shelves in your den? Get your collectibles out into the open using stylish display methods and your living space will be infused with personal charm.
Finish off those unfinished or unused spaces. Do you have a window seat that’s dying to be transformed into a reading nook? Is there are blank corner that could be put to work housing a gorgeous potted plant or tree? Look at those unused or unfinished nooks and niches in your home and get them settled into official “somethings” once and for all. They’ll add character, color and interest to the room.
Trim it up. Wood trim does wonders for living spaces. Take a peek at the trim that adorns your windows and doors, your baseboards or the top of your walls (if there is any). Then, begin perusing the array of moulding and trim out there. It might be time for some replacements or additions. Even the simple addition of a chair rail around your dining room wall, along with a new coat of paint (or a half-wall’s worth), will make it seem like you’ve had a total room remodel.
Change out your light fixtures. Did you move into an already-built home? Unless you’ve done a total remodel, odds are you have a light fixture or two that was chosen for you. If they are the standard versions that came with the home, I’ll bet they are they’re totally boring – and/or not your cup of tea. Get online or out there at flea markets and look for fun, unique or stunning light fixtures that will enhance your interior design and are worth taking the time to look up at.
Is that wood underneath that carpet? Many homeowners take their carpet for granted, and have no idea their older home may have stunning wooden floors underneath the carpet. If the wood underneath is a little beat up and you can’t afford to refinish or replace it, you might think about painting it. Let me begin to count the ways wood flooring trumps carpet: looks, character, resale value, less allergenic, more sanitary, etc. etc. If you are one of those older-home owners whose neglected to learn what lies beneath the carpet, do your homework and find out. You may be pleasantly surprised.
Decorate your ceilings. The ceilings are a much-overlooked piece of the interior design puzzle. In most cases, it’s like a big, blank wall staring at your from above. When clients decide to paint their ceiling, install coffered ceilings, or trim their ceilings with wood or woven fabrics, it adds a tremendous amount personality.
Look for that perfect vintage or antique piece. Find a piece in your home that is boring, out of place and/or made cheaply. Now, your mission is to scour flea markets, antique stores and craigslist for its vintage or antique counterpart. That one swap out will make a difference. Repaint or refinish your replacement if needed, but don’t forget that the right type of wear-and-tear can be quite charming on its own.

Stuck on how to incorporate a little more charm or character in your Bay Area home? Schedule an in-home consultation with what you have and then work from there.