Trendy Tricks & Tips

It's an ideal time to freshen up your home and try 9 Hot Decorating Trends...

1. PRINTS ON STEROIDS

This season look for textiles with large repeat patterns. Embrace the motifs of nature in a big way. Graphic prints are the rage, from big bold flowers to stylized branches. The scale is so big it can appear sculptural.





2. VINTAGE LUXURY

Old made new again! Unique vintage articles add a touch whimsy and style to any decor. Great for the budget conscious and even better for the environment.















3. WALLPAPER is back...it adds depth, color and pattern to a space. Available in so many new styles you have to see them to believe them!





4. METALLIC on vanity cabinets, walls and ceilings. Accents and accessories in silver, mercury glass, mirrors, and crystals.

5. THINK PINK!

Raspberry tones, pinky reds and coral shades are the in colors for home fashion and look fabulous married with chocolate brown.



6. GREY IS THE NEW BLACK

Clean tones of cobalt, slate, charcoal and gray flannel will dominate. Pair it with orange or fuchia!
















7. AVIAN CHIC...all things bird related.

You will find bird motifs in fabrics, accent pieces and wall art everywhere you look this year.












8. WOOD

Tree trunk tables, carved decorative bowls, wood motifs called faux bois.









9. HOME MADE APPEAL

With a focus on earth friendly living, anything hand made, environmentally friendly or made with natural organic materials. The texture of knitted and stitched handiwork is cropping up in ceramics, on furniture and wall decor.













Look around your home today and see what new trend you can incorporate into your existing spaces...you may surprise yourself!

Ask Stacie...

Q: Hi Stacie, Is there a guide or formula to how much space you should leave between your furniture? -D

A: You should always treat the wall around a piece of furniture like you would the matting around a picture. Do not try to fill up all the space around it. Leave enough space around your furniture so that a person can move about it freely. Also be sure there is enough space to pull out a chair in the dining room without hitting the walls. Here are a few guidelines:

COFFEE TABLE: Allow18 to 24 inches between the sofa and coffee table

TV VIEWING: Comfortable TV viewing- is three times the size of the screen. (i.e: to comfortably watch a 30" TV screen you would need to be seated 90 inches a way).

DINING ROOM CHAIR: Allow 24" to 30" between the back of a dining room chair and the wall.-

BED: The clearance between the bed and wall should be at least 24 inches

For the LOVE of Wallpaper!

Ok, first of all, note that the top picture is BEFORE any work was done in this remarkable home. The owner, at one point, was in LOVE with florals...and, well, Waverly Wallpaper filled that love-need with their vast array of wonderful floral motif selections.

I have to admit, I too, went through a "florally phase" of decor...but never quite this far! AND, I am not proud of all my floral choices that found their way onto EVERYTHING I owned..., BUT it does make me able to "relate" better to my clients. I can sympathize with their need and love for all things floral. I also help them OUT of "floralholic denial" and lead them into more suitable ways of using florals, vines, and small garden animals. In the end, they are "healed" from their overzealous, ill-used and overpowering choices of floral (hopefully, if I have done a good job!).

It is a tragedy that florals have gotten a "bad reputation" in general. We have used them on so many "matching accessories"...window treatments, seat cushions, rugs, towels, lamps, wall art, arrangements, furniture, faux painting, etc...that we just make ourselves and the people that come in our homes SICK of floral!

Good news is here for the homeowners that want to change their ways! You don't have to move just because you hate your floral wallpaper. In the instance of this home featured, the wallpaper was put on SOOOO perfectly, we opted to seal it, texture over it & paint the walls; instead of taking it all down. (Cost and time saver!) I advise you use a professional to evaluate IF you need to take it down or IF you can leave it up and texture over it, etc...

This home was an "Update/Stage" so we didn't add a lot of personal touches to the end results, but we KNEW we had to get rid of the floral wallpaper in order for the home to have the BEST chance of selling. It screamed at every person entering the room- "DATED, LOTS OF POTENTIAL WORK TO TAKE ME DOWN, DON'T BUY ME!" I don't have pictures posted of every room in the house, but I assure you, there was no room left untouched by Waverly! I have links to see more of the "before" picts of this particular house if you want to check them out.

The really bad thing about most "old" wallpapers is that they don't give NEW wallpaper trends a chance! There are MANY amazing choices of wallpaper nowadays! Just looking through a few choices makes me want to wallpaper every room in my own home...but I digress. Wallpaper is still a great solution to problem walls- covering up flaws, adding texture & color. It is also great to use to get that mood or feel you want that you may not be able to reach with a faux or decorative paint treatment. There are literally thousands of choices when it comes to NEW wallpaper. You can even customize it! You can use photos you have taken and make a wall/ceiling mural or a series of murals. You can make custom "wallies" with text & shapes, the possibilities are really endless. They have improved how it's applied & removed.

Check out http://www.swdecorating.com/ to see what Sherwin Williams offers in the way of wallpaper- it's awesome! They are just one company offering a "new" take on an "old" trend.