Interior Decorating - Home Staging

Archive for July, 2008

Decorating “rules” are made to be broken. Not every project will lend itself to every so-called rule.  However, following the rules can help give your project a focus that a more haphazard approach may not. Here are some of the decorating “don’ts”.

• Don’t paint your walls then go out looking for fabrics to match. Paint can be mixed in any of a thousand colors, so select the final shades after upholstery, carpeting, and curtain fabrics are chosen.
• Don’t paint a room without trying a sample of the color in the room. Tiny paint chips can be deceiving as to tone and depth of color, so always paint a test board to confirm your choices.
• Don’t line up the furniture around the walls except in the smallest of rooms. Pulling furniture into attractive groupings in the center of the room will add warmth and be inviting to guests as well.
• Don’t turn your back on the focal point of the room by arranging furniture away from this important feature.
• Don’t place furniture where it will interfere with doorways, cabinet doors, natural traffic patterns, or other everyday activities.
• Don’t clutter up a room with a million little collectibles unless you’re in love with that look. Most of us will feel it is too crowded.
• Don’t try to construct a color scheme from wildly disparate objects. First find a print fabric or rug with all of the colors you want to use, then edit out, repaint, or recover items that don’t fit with the plan.
• Don’t keep something you hate. Do you have a hideous orange sofa from Aunt Zelda? Either slipcover it, recover, or remove it. You’ll be happier.
• Don’t decorate around an item that just isn’t “you”. If your new home came with gold shag carpeting when you love roses and lace, believe me, you’ll never love that carpet. Get rid of it.
• Don’t forget the details. If your theme is Mediterranean, look for iron lamp bases, weathered iron drawer pulls, and tile tables. If you love Cottage then use painted white accessories, floral accents, and lace.
• Don’t fall in love with cheap furniture just because it has an appealing color or exciting fabric. Look for good lines, quality construction, and elegant details first. Then have those pieces covered in a fabric or finish that you love.
• Don’t choose colors standing in a store. Try to take samples (of paint, fabrics, and floor coverings) back to your home and look at them in daylight and at night.
• Don’t spend a lot of money on expensive items that are “trendy”. Try out trends that truly appeal to you by experimenting first with inexpensive accessories.
• Don’t live with a lot of mismatched furniture orphans. Unite pieces with color — either by painting everything one color (white, pale gold, or black for example) or by recovering everything using identical or a mix of coordinating fabrics.
• Don’t always choose backgrounds in your favorite color. Sometimes providing a softer background will make your favorite color stand out as the brightest accent color in the room.
• Don’t choose everything beige if you really love color. Remember, color doesn’t cost more than white. Wouldn’t a pretty mango, soft coral, or lovely green wall make a terrific backdrop for your white sofa?
• Don’t ignore the mood effects of color — red is exciting, pale blue soothing, green calming, and yellow is happy — so choose color schemes that underscore the feeling you want to create in your home.
• Don’t disregard the undertones of a color. Every color can be either light or dark, cool or warm, clear or muddy. Look for these color cues when choosing color.
• Don’t blow your entire budget on something that isn’t functional, classic, or long-lasting, unless you’re completely smitten and can’t live without it. In general it’s best to start with the basics and build from there.

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The rules of interior decorating can be as solid as a rock or as open to interpretation as the sky. But many experts agree that learning the rules can be the first step toward freely breaking those rules when necessary. Here are some of the decorating dos.

• Do sketch your floor plan and record the room dimensions, window sizes and placement, and the location of special features, electrical outlets, and so on. Take your floor plan with you when you shop.
• Do take the time to discover your personal style by reading interior design magazines, attending show houses, and browsing online and in stores to learn what styles and colors really appeal to you.
• Do identify the focal point of the room (a fireplace, a view, a bed, an armoire).
• Do define a room’s style in writing , being specific. (Not just “country French”, but “French Country with a rooster motif, chicken wire cupboard fronts, and a color scheme that includes black and gold.”)
• Do pick a signature piece to focus your decorating decisions. It could be a beautiful fabric, an area rug, a picture, a piece of pottery, dishes, or a postcard. The item should embody both the color scheme of the room as well as the style and mood you hope to create.
• Do coordinate fabric and flooring choices before making any major purchases, and before choosing exact paint colors.
• Do purchase large elements first (rugs, draperies, upholstered furniture) whenever possible, and use the exact colors and style of those major pieces to coordinate all other choices.
• Do use a mix of patterns — large-scale, small-scale, checks, stripes, geometrics, plain — when coordinating a room.
• Do allow for natural pathways in a room (such as from the door to the closet) and try to arrange furniture with those walkways in mind.
• Do consider the uses and function of a room before deciding on furnishings and arrangements. For example, if your dining room will also be your study, then you’ll need room for a desk, books, lighting, and files as well as the dining room table and chairs.
• Do consider using unifying elements such as trim color, wood tone, flooring, motifs, fabrics, or materials.
• Do use the principle of repetition when planning shapes, colors, fabrics, and patterns. One red accent in a room may look like an afterthought whereas several red accents here and there will contribute to the color scheme.
• Do plan ahead for appropriate task, general, and dramatic lighting by using a mix of light fixtures on dimmers for maximum control.
• Do purchase the best quality furniture you can afford. Learn more about quality construction and materials that can prolong the life of furniture and make it a better buy in the long run.
• Do use contrast to add interest to a space. Placing furniture and accessories against a contrasting background will highlight each piece.
• Do crosslink your rooms by repeating colors, fabrics, and themes in varying combinations.
• Do balance a room’s furnishings by paying attention to scale and visual weight. Balance a large stone fireplace with a large sofa or armoire placed opposite.
• Do arrange conversational areas to be within an 8 to 14 feet square area.
• Do anchor spaces in open floor plans with area rugs and furniture groupings to define each space.
• Do pair seating in conversation areas with side tables and lamps so that there is a place to set drinks, books, etc. as well as adequate light for reading.
• Do choose accessories that reinforce the color and style theme of a room.
• Do use scale and pattern to create interesting focal points.
• Do use pairs of items to underscore symmetry and balance.
• Do use odd numbers of items (3, 5, 7) when grouping accents for table-scapes. Do place items (high, medium, and low) within an imaginary triangle to add interest.
• Do use symmetrical arrangements in formal rooms. In more casual rooms go for asymmetrical arrangements of furniture and accessories.
• Do emphasize the important elements of the room and play down the unattractive or unimportant elements.
• Do use a variety of textures (smooth, rough, shiny, dull) when you want to add interest to a room.
• Do use line to underscore a room’s style. Horizontal lines emphasize length and underscore a calm mood. Vertical lines will emphasize height, and diagonal lines emphasize space and provide a dynamic and exciting feel.
• Do reinforce the style and theme of a room with appropriate details and accessories.
• Do install more details in a plain boxy room. Consider crown molding, wainscoting, and other applications to add interest and character.
• Do consider the location of your home and the architectural style when planning interiors.

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