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May is Spring Decorating Month! May 2010
With all the options and advice for upgrading and updating you home this season, the task of tackling an interior decorating project can easily become overwhelming. To help alleviate some of the angst these projects can create, I share below my top ten decorating tips and tricks to make even the most novice homeowner start to think and decorate like a pro. |
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Denise's Top Ten Spring Decorating Tips!
 Tip #1: Start Small, Think Big: Too many people get bogged down in all the details of an interior decorating project and end up overwhelmed and unable to make decisions. Every design professional has his or her opinion as to how to get started. Some say to start with a rug, others say find a beautiful fabric, while others suggest you start with artwork and build your interior from there. Often homeowners who do not have an inspiration piece end up right back at "square one." Don't let the expert advice intimidate you. If you don't have an inspiration piece from which to build your color palette, simply create one. Start by selecting photos of rooms that inspire you from home decorating magazines, such as Elle Décor, House Beautiful or Architectural Digest. Using these rooms as guides, pick one room in your home to start with and focus on your wall color first. Once you have your wall color selected, decide on your accent colors to round out your palette (using your inspiration photo as your guide). You don't have to decide how to apply the accent colors at this point, you just need to determine which colors go well with the wall color. With a solid color palette identified, the next step is to create a layout for your room using graph paper and a 1 block = 1 foot scale. With your layout and color palette defined, you now have a design "roadmap" which will be your guide as you go forward in selecting furnishings and fabrics to complete your room. When the first room is near completion start planning the next one, carrying at least two of the colors in the palette into that room and repeating the roadmap building process. Tip #2: Decorate on the Diagonal: One way to add visual interest to a room and make it appear larger is to place your furniture at an angle. This arrangement works best for rectangular dining room tables, beds in square bedrooms, sofas and desks. Placing furniture at an angle works because the longest straight line in any given room is its diagonal. When you place your furniture at an angle, it leads the eye along the longer distance, rather than the shorter wall, making the room seem larger. As an added bonus, you often get some additional storage or display space behind the angled piece.
Tip #3: Use Contrast to Create Interest: Another inexpensive way to make your home's interior more appealing is by contrasting light and dark hues. In its simplest form, this can be achieved by using darker fabrics against lighter backgrounds and vice versa. On a larger scale, contrast light and dark wall colors throughout the home in rooms that are adjacent to each other. This same rule applies to sofa fabrics, window treatment fabrics, pillows on sofas and rugs under furniture. Using contrast in this way makes the colors throughout your home "pop" and come to life.
Tip #4: Create Visual Vignettes : Rather than distributing your artwork around your rooms, group your artwork with other pieces or with furniture to create vignettes of interest. Focus on the focal point first and build out the rest of the room from there, emphasizing areas you want to draw the eye to. A good rule of thumb when hanging artwork is to keep the piece 57" from the floor. This is the standard used by most galleries and museums as it represents the average human eye-height.
Tip #5: Use Color to "Raise the Roof": Choosing your wall and ceiling colors isn't just about personal expression and decorative style. Color can also be used to visually heighten low ceilings. If your home suffers from a low ceiling, try painting the ceiling the same color as the walls. This tactic makes the delineation between wall and ceiling less noticeable, thus visually "tricking" the eye into thinking the ceiling is higher. Likewise, choosing colors from the cool end of the spectrum like blues, grays, lavenders and greens gives the illusion of space.
Tip #6: Maximize your Design Dollars: One way to stretch your design budget is to select core room elements like wall colors, window treatments, upholstery and rugs in neutral fabrics and designs. Then add a little "icing" to your space by incorporating bolder elements in your decorative pillows, artwork and accessories. And, if you want be even more bold, use a decorative wall decal. They add color and interest, and can be removed without incident when you desire a change. If you adopt this design approach, when you want to try out a new color scheme or update your room, you just simply replace the "icing" to create a whole new look at very little cost.
Tip #7: Add a Dash of Black: Black has amazing power to solidify a color scheme, pull together disparate pieces of furniture, and give your home a touch of Hollywood glam. Black works with every design style, from traditional to contemporary. The color black is to your home's interior what a black coat or a stunning pair of black heels is to a woman's wardrobe. Each room in your home will achieve a greater sense of balance if you add a dash of black. A small vase, a side table or picture frame will add just the right amount of color to do the trick.
Tip #8: Create Asymmetric Groupings: Think out of the box when creating symmetry in a room. Instead of placing your artwork in the center of your fireplace mantel and flanking it with two candlesticks, try your hand at a little asymmetry. Lean your artwork against the wall and move it to one side of the mantel. Fill the other side with a grouping of three items spread out enough to mimic the relative width of the artwork. Make sure that one of the items is approximately the same height as the artwork and the other two items are shorter and vary in height and scale. Fill in the middle of the mantle with a round bulkier piece to ground the ensemble and you have achieved balance and harmony through an asymmetric grouping. Your eye delights in things unexpected, so your room will appear much more interesting if you adopt this design approach.
Tip #9: Keep Artwork Straight: Having a piece of artwork or photography uneven on a wall can throw off the entire look of the room. One trick to prevent this is to purchase clear mounting squares from your local craft store. Hang the piece of art on the wall and place a level on the top of the frame. Once the piece is level, place a mounting square on the bottom of the frame at the back and press it against the wall until it "sticks." Once the frame is secure, remove the level and move on to the next piece of art. The beauty of these squares is that they provide a great sticky medium without damaging walls or frames.
Tip #10: Create a Basic Budget: One of the keys to a successful interior transformation project is having an understanding up-front of what things cost and what you can afford to spend. One way to determine the cost of case goods, rugs, lamps and upholstery items is to peruse the various retail furniture store catalogs that are mailed to your home to get prices for sofas, lamps, side tables, etc. Using these prices as the low-end of the range, calculate the upper end by doubling the price for each item. This upper end represents entry to mid-level designer goods. Calculate this range for each item you need to purchase and add them together, giving you a lower and upper price range for each item. The next step is to determine where your budget falls within that range. If you find that your budget will not allow you to purchase all of the items on your "wish list" at once, then break down your purchases into three categories: must haves (3-6 months); like to haves (6 months to a year) and willing to wait (1 year+). When breaking down your purchases into these categories, remember that the core elements--main upholstery or case goods, a few lamps, basic light blocking/privacy window coverings and painting--should be purchased/completed first followed by the more decorative elements like rugs, artwork, accessories and decorative window treatments.
To gain more decorating inspiration, visit Denise's blog at www.DreamDesignLive.com. If you find you need help implementing the design tips discussed here, contact Denise and her team at Decor by Denise.
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Local Design Events & Announcements |
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Get Free Color Advice From Benjamin Moore Color Experts!
We  invite you to visit the Benjamin Moore kiosk location in White Flint Mall, Bethesda, MD. To kick-off the spring decorating season, the kiosk is hosting several local Benjamin Moore Color Consultants over the spring months who will be providing attendees individualized color guidance on a first-come, first served basis.
Denise Willard of Decor by Denise will be on-hand from 1-4pm, Wednesday, May 12th to help solve local homeowners' color dilemmas. To reserve your 30 minute session with Denise or another Benjamin Moore Color Specialist, either stop by the kiosk or call them at 301-230-0083.
We look forward to seeing you there! |
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Local Shelter Redesign is Almost Complete!
Over the past few months, Decor by Denise, along with several other local interior  design firms, has been working on the redesign of the Bethany House Women's Shelter. This shelter helps protect women and children who find themselves in violent circumstances. Many of us take for granted our peaceful home environments. But, these women and children don't have that "luxury." They must seek refuge in the doors of the shelter to not only protect them, but also, in some cases, to save their lives.
We have been honored to work with a team of talented and caring professionals in helping transform the shelter and in providing these women and children a safe haven that is also soothing to the soul.
Our work at the shelter will wrap up Friday, May 14, 2010. We want to take this opportunity to thank all our vendors and other donors who helped make our efforts possible, to include:
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Already Covered & Chris Rodriguez: Chris is providing all the labor to reupholster the 20+ sofa, loveseat and chair cushions.
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Martin Stupak General Contracting: Martin offered his general contracting expertise to encase a support beam to prevent injuries to the children.
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Coveys Carpets & Christine Harvey: Coveys is making a rug for the playroom that we are working on.
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Art and Frame & Bev Rocco: Art and Frame has made a custom mirror for us for the kids' dress-up area.
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The Closet Factory & Deb Broockerd: The Closet Factory built a custom TV cabinet for us to house the shelter's TV and all its components behind doors so as to ensure that the little ones aren't injured. Deb even made her own monetary donation and took her time out of her weekend to install the cabinet herself. Thank you Deb for not only being a great vendor to work with, but also a wonderful human being!
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Arlington Home Interiors & Suzanne Manlove: Suzanne donated dress-up items for the kids' dress-up area.
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State Farm Insurance Owner, Anh Nguyen: Anh made a monetary donation to help with purchases for our room.
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Arbonne International Owner & Regional Vice President, Laurie Schaefer-Boiardi: Laurie donated items for the kids' dress-up area.
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Individual Donors, Frank & Rindy O'Brien, Connie & Jeff Morgan and Donna & Bob Siegle: donated money to help with the many purchases we had to make to complete our room.
Thank you one and all for your heart-felt contributions! It really means a lot to be able to do what I love every day, but to also have the opportunity to work with such wonderful people, I feel truly blessed. We invite you to follow our progress on our blog, www.DreamDesignLive.com. I have posted before photos there and will be updating everyone on our progress leading up to our final day at the shelter. |
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 Denise Willard is a professional interior decorator with over a decade of experience working with clients in the DC metro area. Her work has been showcased in Home & Design Magazine, Washington Home & Garden, The Washingtonian, Elan and The Washington Post. Denise also writes a regular design column in Viva Tysons Magazine. Denise and her team specialize in creating simple, but elegant transitional and contemporary interiors that are reflective of their clients' personalities and lifestyles.
Learn more about Denise and check out her online portfolio at www.DecorbyDenise.com or contact her directly at 703-714-7343. Stay Connected With Us
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If you are a member of the trade and are interested in participating in our collaborative marketing efforts, please contact Denise at dwillard@decorbydenise.com.
We look forward to hearing from you! | |
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