Professionally Done

All great rooms, ( this is any room ), need a mixture of finishes.  First there are the woods; they can be painted, antiqued, light woods, dark woods, with glass or marble tops, including faux tops and leather.  I am sure there are many more to choose from as there are many types of wood and shades of stain.  Rooms need wood, and then something metallic, such as: silver or silver leaf, gold or gold leaf, brass, or copper.  There are many shades of all these also.  One more thing to add is ceramic, that can be lamps, vases, pottery pieces or accessories.  These are all secrets of interior designers throughout the world.  It is using these elements that make a room look professionally done.

You may decide this year to unclutter your rooms.  I have heard this lately a lot from my clients.  Perhaps things change with age.  I have always said that you spend the better half of your life collecting things you love and the last part of your life getting rid of all these things.  I find that I am doing that myself.  I like things to be practical, easily accessible, easy to clean and look neat.  That may be a minimal look.

Simple, for the working parent or parents.  This is really to unclutter.  Nothing on  the countertops, hardly anything on table tops, one or two if any, throw pillows.  More straight lines, possibly overstuffed furniture and minimal lighting.

Multifunctional design is what we have been talking about.  A bedroom and office combined, or an office and playroom combined.  An art room and a game room, of which my next focus is going to be.

Renewable design, my favorite.  This is shopping for items at resale shops, garage and estate sales, or on Craig's List.

A Mantra that has been around a long time, "Less is More".  Focus on quality, not quantity when it comes to art, furnishings and rugs or carpeting, tile, or wood flooring.

Again, depending on where you live, sometimes it is better to buy an old piece of furniture and have it reupholstered.  Dollar or dollar, you will have a good piece of furniture.  I wish I still owned pieces from the seventies or before.

Tomorrow, dual purpose rooms again.

Color - favortes - warm and cool

The most important aspect of changing your rooms, again, is color.  Today, I suggest you look in every room of your house and see if you see a pattern.  For instance: many items are the same color., design, and texture.  Pottery, porcelain or glass, all have a like composition.  If you display a lot of brass, silver, pewter or any metals, again a likeness.  Usually a person has a reason they have this particular collection, (1) they bought it because they liked it, (2) it was a gift that must be on display, (3) a friend or family member made it for them, and (4) it was handed down in the family.  There really are no other reasons to have an item.  Now, lets's look at the predominant colors.  If you have metals such as bronze or brass, these are considered warm colors.  Silver or chrome are considered cool colors.  We must look at the previous article on the color wheel, and look at our warm and cool colors, do they match your scheme?  Dark wood is warm, while light wood and white are considered cool.  Darks and lights are considered neutrals.

Now you should have a conception of your favorite home colors and what you like.  Warm vs. cool and your predominant color.  We can warm up cool, and cool down warm.  Here is a painting, that shows cool, silver with warm colors.

Original watercolor by: Nancy Sadowski

www.riverviewartstudios.com

 

Here yellow and orange in the pears was added for warmth to the silver.  You can choose any warm color to a cool color and make it warmer.