| Here's some decorating tips to provide fresh ideas |
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By: Ann Hoke, Keller Williams Realty
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Posted: Monday, March 1, 2010 1:43 pm
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Over the past three years our team has fined tuned the art of staging a listed home to reduce the selling time….and realize more money for our clients.
Although many differences separate staging from merchandising, and merchandising from decorating, they do share some common principles.
This week we want to share some decorating tips, and a few designer trends should interest you. Our abbreviated list of do’s and don’ts may provide a few fresh ideas to warm up your home until the summer sun returns.
For starters, don’t match everything; do mix a style or two together. A room that has matching textures, materials and colors errs on the side of boring. Mixing cottons with polyesters or something similar will keep your living space more appealing and exciting. Feel free to mix patterned accessories with solid ones.
Don’t hang small things on big walls; do design with scale in mind. Choose your wall art according to the size of your walls. Metal wall art is trendy and great for filling up space on large walls ... and affordable, too.
Don’t display everything; do edit and rotate your stuff. That includes all kinds of “stuff,” not just accessories. Displaying family photos is a wonderful way to personalize a room, but you can overdo it if you’re not careful.
Try to create a decorative and tasteful design with your favorite things. You don’t need to display all your items at once or always in the same way. Rotate things around and try new arrangements or designs. You might even consider rearranging items in your china cabinet, curio or favorite bookshelves.
Don’t create precious spaces; do make rooms livable. Your rooms, especially bedrooms, should be cozy and inviting. Avoid making them stiff and unwelcoming. If the room looks picture perfect, chances are your family and guests won’t fully enjoy it.
Don’t make it all about the TV; do create seating areas. Arranging furniture so that it all faces one wall or the TV creates a smaller living area. By creating zones in a room it generates a larger living room and encourages conversation and interaction. Consider how you live and create your own interior focal points. Be sure to take advantage of long lines of sight to make a room feel open and spacious.
Don’t work in a sterile home office; do design a cozy workplace that meets your needs. Add some spice to your home office with vibrant accent colors and wall décor. A cozy workplace should be inviting to everyone and help inspire your work. Take advantage of natural light, yet position your monitors or other displays to avoid reflections from direct light.
Finally, if you want to be on the cutting edge, decorator trends are always heading our way from the more urban markets. Brown is still on the rise, but the previously popular chocolate brown is giving way to a lighter shade.
Grey is beginning to surpass brown as the preferred neutral. There is a large spectrum of grey shades, from pewter to ash, that will make your home “in style.”
Green continues to grow in popularity among upscale homeowners. No longer is green only a popular environmental word, it’s a color trend for this year.
But, remember that what’s hot in 2010 may be “completely out” when 2011 rolls around.
Ann Hoke leads the award-winning team at Ann Hoke and Associates (affiliated with Keller Williams Realty). For more information or comments, contact her at ann@annhoke.com. |
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