professional interior designer

Whether you’re choosing carpet, hardwood or laminate flooring, there are color choices to contend with. In the case of hardwood and laminate options, colors will be lighter or darker wood stain options. In the case of carpet, the color world is you oyster.

The following guide will help you select the color that will look best now, and that will also blend with future design changes or potential remodels.

Choosing the Right Color For Hardwood or Laminate Flooring

For the purposes of this post, we are going to treat wood and laminate flooring the same. As a general rule, darker wood finishes show dirt, pet hair and other debris quicker than lighter floors. If you have a busy household, filled with kid or pet activity, you may want to keep your flooring options on the lighter side.

With that in mind, here are the steps I recommend for selecting hardwood flooring:

• Visit the showroom with a few samples. When you head to flooring showrooms, bring a few samples of textiles and paint chips that are exemplary of your home’s design and color scheme. This will help you and the sales rep settle on a better selection of flooring samples. Choose your three favorites and stick with them. More than that and it becomes harder to make a choice.
• Take the samples home. Once you get the samples, take them home and begin shuffling them around the perimeter walls, cabinetry or key furniture pieces they’ll be making contact with. See how different finishes and tones bring out different colors or aspects of your existing furnishings. Just like paint samples, you want to look at them in daylight, dim light and artificial light. Discard your least favorite right away.
• Live with two. Unless one jumps out as your obvious favorite, live with the other two samples for a couple of days until you’re able to decide on one of them.

Choosing the Right Color For Carpet

In some ways, choosing your carpet color isn’t all that different from choosing hardwood or laminate flooring. The most dramatic difference is that your options are seemingly endless. Here are some steps for helping you choose the best one.

• Permanent or temporary? How permanent do you want this decision to be? If you choose a carpet in a rich burgundy or forest green, that’s great. But it’s also important to remember that as your furnishings or fixtures change through the upcoming years, those colors may not work anymore. Also, if you think your home will be on the market anytime in the next 5 to 10 years, boldly colored carpet might turn off potential buyers, so do keep that in mind. The longer you plan to have the carpet in place – especially if it will be laid throughout the entire home – the more neutral you’ll want to go.
• Choose samples and take them home. Choose carpet samples in your preferred colors and then take them home. View them under different light qualities. Wood varies a little bit under different lighting sources, but carpet colors can vary quite a bit due to the different fibers and dyes involved in their production. Start moving samples around against walls and furniture throughout the day and evening to see what you think and remove your least favorite options right away.
• Consider flooring transitions. If you are selecting different carpets for different rooms of the house, rather than the same one throughout, consider the transitions from room-to-room. A color wheel can be helpful for this.

The internet is an amazing tool. Technically, you can learn how to build your own house watching YouTube videos and reading blogs. However, the reality is that most people really can’t build their own home regardless of how much they research. Interior design is similar. You either have a knack for it, or you don’t.

Even if you have the knack, you may lack the valuable industry connections that lead to a more cost-effective project or you might not have the energy to complete your vision in a reasonable time frame.

8 Reasons To Hire a Professional Interior Designer

1. Your colors just don’t work. You studied those House Beautiful spreads diligently, copied the exact same color scheme and…it just doesn’t work. This is the result of not knowing how to integrate the combination of space, lighting and design elements present in a room. Those colors worked in that space, but that doesn’t mean they’ll work in yours. A professional will help you select a color palette that works in your specific living space.
2. Budget is an issue. What?!? This may seem counterintuitive but people on budgets are the best candidates for a professional designer. Left to their own devices, the budget gets blown long before the design is complete and they’re stuck with an unfinished product. A designer knows exactly how to structure an interior design budget with the monies available and has professional relationships with subcontractors and vendors, yielding much lower prices than if you hire them on your own.
3. You value your time. Do you feel like spending after-work hours and weekends for the next XX months on your interior design project? A professional designer will work on it while you’re at work, on vacation and doing the things you love so your design comes together in the meantime.
4. We speak Construction. The construction world is its own culture and there can be a disconnect when homeowners opt to be their own general contractor. Professional designers speak the language, which goes a long way when your remodeling and/or adding on.
5. You want more than the basics. Sure, you can study the color wheel and learn how to work with texture, shape, proportions, etc. But, if you want to get to the more complex aspects of design, like pattern layering or making a modern design work in a traditionally designed existing home, it often requires the assistance of a professional.
6. A little validation is always nice. Hiring a professional interior designer doesn’t mean a permanent working relationship. In fact, some of the most fun work we do comes in the form of a single consultation or two that are set up to guide, facilitate and nurture our clients’ ideas. Bring your ideas to us and we can give you the thumbs up, a little professional critique and/or offer you solutions or ideas you may not have thought of to help round out your existing ideas.
7. To avoid the design rut. Often, clients want a whole new look only to find their “new design” is just a different version of the old one. An interior designer can help you break out of those ruts and embrace different or more daring sides of your aesthetic tastes.
8. To design your “forever” home. The Great Recession caused many homeowners to go back to “forever-home mode” rather than investment mode. If this is the case, your designer will help you balance timeless interior design aspects with more transient and trend-oriented features so your home can evolve without the need for major remodels in the future.

While modern interiors are certainly trending right now, the adjectives that describe them aren’t always very attractive: sleek, streamlined, lines, cold, hard, glossy. They don’t necessarily make you feel warm and fuzzy inside, and modern interiors are often criticized for not being comfortable or inviting.

I have found, however, that the key to designing a comfortable, inviting and soothing modern interior design is to keep neutrality at the core of it all.

Use a neutral mantra when creating a modern design

Here is how to keep a neutral mantra running through the core of your modern design, so it’s pleasing to the eye and welcoming to the heart.

Opt for a monochromatic look with warmer tones

There is a huge difference between an all-white or an all-cream interior, and the same holds true between a chocolate brown and a black interior. All of the above are considered “neutral” and yet the cream or chocolate brown versions are almost always going to have a more warm and welcoming energy – especially when paired with other modern design elements. Grays also work as a neutral, monochromatic theme that can create an intimate and cozy atmosphere.

And, did you know that almost all color hues can become “neutral” in their expression when they’re pared down to their softest and most subtle shades? If you like color but are looking for more graceful and discreet ways to express them in your home design, consider exploring the use of soft, pale shades as your monochromatic backdrop or as your secondary color theme.

The low profile mid-century modern couch

The look of a low profile, mid-century modern couch works in just about any home – including traditional ones, believe it or not. Sure, you can go with some of the bolder and swankier colors that the 1950s and early-60s were known for, like burnt orange, marigold, greens and reds – but you can just as easily choose your couch in a paler color that blends in – or stands out slightly – from the rest of your neutral décor.

Add a bit of shimmer, shine, and reflection

Look for textiles, fixtures, and finishes that have a little shimmer, shine, and reflection. Those who are interested in a neutral décor won’t be attracted to standard, reflective metallic finishes. However, you can find brushed or satin versions in golds, bronzes, and silvers that have a much softer approach and land more like a soft bell than a piercing chime.

Do use mirrors to capitalize on this effect, and mirrored furniture offers another way to magnify existing décor or to enhance light play in a modern and neutral design.

Think about elemental variation

Enhance your neutral and modern design motif by varying the elements used in each room. Consider the basic elements – stone, wood, metal – and then see if all three are represented in each space. Hardwood floors or beautiful wood trim may be all you need in the wood department, an exposed brick wall or naturally finished pottery or ceramics can cover the stone department – as does a stone hearth or stone tiles on the floor or around the perimeter of the floor. Metal is easy to incorporate via drawer and door pulls, mirrors, and the metallic accents we discussed above.

Use area rugs

Don’t forget to use area rugs to anchor your spaces, add color or pattern where needed or to provide a richer, textural component. Since modern designs tend to lean towards harder and glossier, softer or woven textiles – including throw rugs – can be a great way to soften things up. Plus, they’re easy to move or replace as tastes or styles evolve over time.

One of my favorite things about neutral and modern decors is that they are timeless. I have clients who’ve inherited their modern couches and furniture from grandparents or great grandparents and -when well-made, or reupholstered – these pieces look right at home in their contemporary homes.