5 tools to freshen up your home
When you walk into a beautiful home or flip through pages of gorgeous shelter magazines you known when an interior designer has gotten it all right. Every inch is picture perfect.
But can you dissect those rooms down to the essential elements to upgrade your own home? Probably not.
Award-winning interior designer Marie Flanigan of Marie Flanigan Interiors spoke recently at the Houston Design Center/Houston Chronicle-sponsored Access Design event and offered up five design tools that anyone can use to refresh or enhance your home.
Flanigan urges people to use shelter magazines, Pinterest and other media for inspiration but to make their homes personal. In other words, don’t let someone else tell you what to like — know what suits you and your family best.
1. Architectural details
Her training is in architecture, so details that help define spaces also make them feel cozy and welcoming.
One example is a home with a busy wall full of built-in shelving and art
niches. For a more visually restful space, consider going with one larger wall of shelves rather than one broken down into sections.
Wooden ceiling beams are another example of a small detail that can help define a room as well as add some Old World charm. Another option for your ceiling is to open it up. If there’s a potential for a vaulted ceiling, it will instantly make your room feel larger.
And in a study or library, trim can be used to create a paneled effect on a single accent wall. It’s an inexpensive option and, if you’re handy, you can even do it yourself.
2 Color
Color will deter mine
the mood of a room faster than anything. White brings a sense of calm and is a great canvas to let everything else in the room shine. You can even use white paint to freshen up an old piece of furniture that may not feel like it fits in a more contemporary setting.
But you can also use saturated hues of bold colors to express yourself. Find a palette and carry it throughout a home in varying percentages. For example, full color for one room but maybe 50 percent saturation in another or on cabinets.
Flanigan said that one easy rule of thumb is to think of color as 60-30-10. Sixty percent of the color in the room should be your dominant hue; 30 percent is a secondary color and then 10 percent is your accent color.
Colorful accents can include fresh flowers, accessories and books.
3 Light
.way Light affects the you see everything — colors, textures and finishes, Flanigan says. Natural light is what you get through windows and doors, and you’re lucky if you’ve got plenty of them in your home.
Even then, you need a variety of artificial light: general light that helps us see, task light that helps us get things done and accent light, the kind that’s both functional and beautiful.
Window treatments help you manage natural light, and task light — such as lamps or strategically placed recessed light — helps us read, cook and live. You can also harness light with mirrors, which bounce light around your room and make it feel larger.
4. Scale
matter. Size really does
We generally think of scale as being about using smaller furnishings in smaller rooms and larger pieces in bigger spaces. That’s true, but scale is about so much more.
Swap out an average-size chandelier for a larger one and you’ll get a dramatic difference. Sometimes, too, an oversized piece of furniture in a smallish space can be a pleasant surprise.
Make lower ceilings look taller by extending kitchen cabinets all the way to the ceiling or by placing drapery hardware just below the crown. These are tricks every designer knows.
Weight factors into this category, too. Sofas and chairs with legs instead of skirts help lighten things up, and tables of glass or acrylic take up less visual space.
5. Texture
things Here’s where
get interesting. Flanigan uses unexpected juxtapositions in design such as contrasting textures and finishes. She uses the analogy of great dance partners, each makes the other dance better.
Combining textures can mean shiny against organic, high-gloss paint or grasscloth wall coverings, leather tiles or Venetian plaster. Plants can add texture, too; consider fresh flowers, a fern or even a potted olive tree.