Make your space ‘home sweet home’
Most are familiar with the saying “home, sweet home,” but what does it mean? This varies greatly from person to person. What is comfortable and stylish for one person is not for another. It is fascinating to find out how people truly live, and hard to find out.
Once hired, this is what I sometimes resort to ... an unannounced visit. Perhaps some consider it rude, but it is effective for me, and you’ll see why.
There is nothing I love more than to pay unannounced visits to my clients and friends, and no, not because I am doing a “mother-in-law’s housekeeping visit.” Lord knows the only housekeeping that I know how to do is the one that I hire.
I love these visits because they are spontaneous, or at least I make it seem that way, and you can actually see how people live and use their spaces, without them taking time to show you the way they’d like to live. This always reveals the unedited version. I always take away something from these visits. As a designer, I never try to impose a lifestyle on clients, but define and refine their own style. I actually learn something about my clients to better assist them.
Your lifestyle is what should define your decoration. Working with a designer, a client enters into a relationship, where it is expected that you divest information that is somewhat private and can be considered intimate territory. So what if your teenage daughter loves to plaster the walls of her bedroom with adhesive tape, your live-in motherin law is determined to move all your accessories around the house, or your husband sleep in another room.
When you are working with an interior designer, it is time to be bitterly honest about your household. Your designer can often find solutions by design that can make your interventions seem like a great idea to your nemesis. This is not the time for keeping up appearances.
Creating your “home, sweet home” is not unlike buying a couture gown, or having a custom suit made — it requires a little patience and some time for fittings so it can fit you like a glove. Whatever your design style is, the design has to function for you particular needs or your family. This might mean letting go of conventional concepts of a household; for example, forgoing a formal dining room if you eat out all the time, or if your kitchen works best with a dining area.
There shouldn’t be any obstacles when making your space work for you, but it needs to make sense. Your designer should always be your sounding board for ideas, good and bad, and steer you in the right direction. Somewhere between their advice and your needs lies the best answer for your design.
My favorite quote about being sincere about your design needs is from Dr. Seuss:
“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.”
Light is an interesting and important element when it comes to designing a room in any home. It can change the way a color is taken in, it can change the way you perceive a pattern and it can also change the amount of space you perceive. Here are some tips:
• When designing and building a new home, lineup windows and glazed doors to allow for light to stream through and an additional bonus of ventilation.
• Most homes can be retrofitted with overhead lighting for even balanced lighting.
• Wall colors affect the brightness of a room. Rooms that are painted in light colors tend to bounce the light and make the light appear to glow. Darker colors tend to absorb the light and make the rooms seem dim even though they may have a strong source of light.
• Designing rooms so they are bright and light requires some planning. If possible it is recommended that windows are kept bare, so as to invite the light to come in and shine.
• Selecting reflective surfaces such as shiny or glossy floors help the light bounce off the floor and back onto walls.
• White or other similar light color such as an oyster gray, very light beige or pale ivory will help brighten your interior space.
• Accessorizing with glass or crystal accessories always helps capture light. Glazed ceramics also catch light and help bounce the light. Silver accessories act like mirrors.
• A well-placed chandelier will capture secondary sources of light and add sparkle to the room.
• Use mirrors in your decor. Strategically place them opposite windows or doorways where they can catch the light.
• Distribute table lamps at strategic places in your room to highlight an area. Make sure there are some overlaps in lighting, both overhead and task lighting so the room has balance.
• The sheen on leather or vinyl furniture help make a room seem brighter.
• Decorate using candles or votive candles on tabletop. Your tabletop accessories will shine.