Thinking about freshening up your home? Why not make it more energy-efficient while you’re at it? Discover how simple changes like better insulation, smarter windows, and eco-friendly lighting can boost comfort, cut down on bills, and even add value to your property. It’s all about making your space cozier and greener without compromising on style. Let’s get into these easy-to-follow tips and see how small updates can lead to big savings and a happier home!
Read MoreOne Trend, Many Rooms: How to Customize Marble Wallpaper for Different Spaces
In the world of interior design, trends come and go, but some things endure as timeless classics. Marble is one such treasure, celebrated for its natural beauty, elegance, and luxury. While authentic marble can be a costly endeavour, there's a budget-friendly alternative that's taking the design world by storm—marble wallpaper.
Read MoreRepurposing Furniture: How to Make it Work in Awkward Spaces
Transform Your Home with Repurposed Furniture: Tips, Ideas, and DIY Projects. Learn how to choose the right furniture, customize it to fit awkward spaces, and incorporate it into your home decor. Get creative and repurpose old furniture into something new and functional.
Read MoreCreating Contrast: The Key to Decorating Small, Tricky, or Awkward Spaces.
Discover how contrast in decor and finishes can transform small, tricky, or awkward spaces! From color schemes to furniture and accessories, find out how to create visual interest, depth, and a sense of scale. Plus, learn how to bring in the color black for added impact. Get design tips and inspiration now!
Read MoreFrom Awkward to Awesome: How to Choose Anchor Furniture That Maximizes Your Living Space
Discover how to choose anchor furniture that transcends different styles and maximizes your living space! From timeless designs to multifunctional pieces, our guide offers expert tips on selecting proportional, versatile, and high-quality furniture. Create a cohesive and stylish living space that lasts with our strategies for choosing classic, neutral, and functional pieces.
Read MoreMix It Up! Get The Skinny On Mixing Patterns, Texture and Scale For Your Living Room
Let me guess, HGTV did it to you again. You’ve just binge watched Flip or Flop and Fixer Upper and now you’ve decided to spruce up your living room. You think - a little change, like some new accent pillows. So off to the rabbit hole, A.K.A., Pinterest, you go! Seven hours and a bottle of Pinot later, you decide, “forget it!” It’s not that you didn’t see anything you liked, it’s that everything you saw, you liked.. right? After doing a little math in your head and thinking that heat and hot water is a more responsible investment, you arrive at: “Let’s just keep everything gray and call it a day.” Well my Dears, I’m gonna let you in on five decorator tricks to make your living room come to life without having to spend the kid’s inheritance to make it happen! Let’s Mix it up and get the skinny on mixing patterns, texture and scale for your living room.
Mix It Up! Get The Skinny On Mixing Patterns, Texture and Scale, Trick #1: Mix Small, Medium And Large Patterns.
Yes, decorating has small medium and large, just like Dairy Queen! But unlike an Oreo Blizzard with extra Oreos, you don’t have to rationalize the pattern on your sofa’s accent pillows as a “cheat day” pass… like last Friday after the kids’ swim class. Anyway, mixing the size of your accent patterns, like pillows, area rugs and accent seating can make a huge impact in your living room style. It doesn’t matter if you like traditional, eclectic, or contemporary, when you mix it up and add in a small, medium and large pattern, you create visual interest and that goes a long way! This trick works for those of us who like lot’s of color and for those who prefer more neutral color schemes as well.
Mix It Up! Get The Skinny On Mixing Patterns, Texture and Scale, Trick #2: The Pattern Combinations That Work Great Every Time.
Let’s stick to accent patterns for one more minute. Trick number two, understanding which patterns work together always, is really tried and true. Sometimes, after a lengthy project and having to really rack my brain to get a layout that is functional as well as pleasing to live in, a process that I LOVE, btw.. However, sometimes it can be a relief to get to pick out the soft finishes like pillows, area rugs and drapes. If that makes you want to burry your head under the covers and forget that you even have a living room to decorate, then I have a short list of my favorite patterns to mix for maximum impact. Here you go:
Mix It Up! Get The Skinny On Mixing Patterns, Texture and Scale, Trick #3: Vary The Line And Scale Of Pieces.
Trick # 3 is all about creating movement with the objects that you place around your room. Most of the time your décor won’t literally move but, you can create a sense of drama, movement and energy with the composition you choose to arrange. The most important thing from this trick to remember is that you don’t want a dull composition where everything is the same height, and your décor is all straight lines up with no variation. Instead you want to mix your décor items, vases, pottery, picture frames, sculptures, etc. , where some items are taller than the others. Think of arranging your composition like a vignette that tells an interesting story that highlights a color, texture or theme to bridge the pieces.
Mix It Up! Get The Skinny On Mixing Patterns, Texture and Scale, Trick #4: Layer Your Décor.
Trick #4 is also closely related to #3 in that along with varying the line of your décor pieces it’s also really interesting and appropriate to layer your items as well. Placing a small sculpture in front of a picture that’s in between a tall vase of flowers or decorative braches is a wonderful way to create a moment. By layering your items in a composition, you automatically create interest and drama. This simple layering can do wonders for an empty corner that feels out of balance with the rest of the room. Layering a live plant in front of some tall vertically hung art in an empty corner is a classic way to fill an otherwise less functional space.
Mix It Up! Get The Skinny On Mixing Patterns, Texture and Scale, Trick #5: Mix Up Your Textures.
Trick #5 is all about mixing up wood tones, metals, stones and glass or pottery. Gone are the days where you had to match all the pieces in your space for the room to be considered “finished”. I say, good riddance! These days, in order to make a truly “designer” room, you want to bring in touches of distressed wood in an otherwise traditional room. Introduce a silver metal along with your brass accents. If you have a few tables that have turned legs, go ahead and bring in a metal accent table with straight pin legs and a stone top. Mix until your heart’s content!
There you have it! My 5 favorite tricks for mixing patterns, texture and scale for your living room. To review:
Mix small, medium and large patterns.
A tired and true list of patterns that look great every time!
Vary the line and scale.
Layer your décor.
Mix up your textures.
Want to Know a secret? How about 11? That’s exactly what you’ll get when you read my Secrets only designers know to make your space rock! You;ll be the envy of the neighborhood by implementing these 11 carefully guarded secrets.
Michael is Principal designer and blogger at Michael Helwig Interiors in beautiful Buffalo, New York. Since 2011, he’s a space planning expert, offering online interior e-design services for folks living in small homes, or for those with awkward and tricky layouts. He’s a frequent expert contributor to many National media publications and news outlets on topics related to decorating, interior design, diy projects, and more. Michael happily shares his experience to help folks avoid expensive mistakes and decorating disappointments. You can follow him on Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook @interiorsmh.
Get The Most Purpose Out Of Multi-Purpose Furniture
Space saving, dual, triple, multi-function. That’s the key to making a small space work. I’m still on the small space kick that I was on last week. I just really like the challenge of designing small spaces. So if you need to have furniture function a few different ways or you’re afraid you’ll have to sacrifice style to get a functional space, then this post is for you my friend! Let’s explore a few ways to get the most purpose out of your multi-purpose furniture.
What Is The Golden Ratio, And Why It’s Important For Decorating Your Home
Artists, architects and a slew of interior designers have been using the golden ratio to create “pleasing” compositions for centuries. If you flip through any art or architecture history book the evidence almost jumps off the page. There is something about how the elements are arranged that just makes sense. Why should you care? Well, let’s say that you’ve spent the weekend rearranging your furniture and after moving it around 10 different ways, you still feel that something is not “right” but you can’t quite figure it out. Chances are your room’s golden ratio is out of whack! Darlin’, we’ve all been there! So before you chuck the furniture out the front door and go full on minimalist, let’s really get into what the Golden Ratio is and why it’s important for decorating your home.
5 Key Points For Picking The Perfect Size Area Rug
As Summer approaches, I’ve been concentrating a lot on my outside décor. Every year we put out a cabana tent with some patio furniture and a lovely geometric sisal rug that is perfect for the patio floor. We have a large concrete patio right off our family room and we spend most nights out there enjoying the Summer weather. As I was planning my editorial Calendar last Fall, I chose this week to focus on 5 Key points for picking the perfect size area rug and I almost scrapped it for something more “Spring” like. Then I thought, wait a minute… A lot of people place rugs outside on patios for function and color. Now is a great time to talk about area rugs and the size of the rug can translate to both an indoor and outdoor area. So let’s talk about it, shall we?
Read MoreHow To Not Screw Up Your Living Room Furniture Arrangement
It’s happened. After binge watching your favorite decorating shows, you caught the HGTV bug! Now all you can think about is re-doing the room you hang out in most so it looks like Joanna Gains just left! But before you dash off to the furniture store or click away at your computer, you should first consider how to place the furniture in your living room.
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