This section of the blog will be devoted to the subject of designing and decorating. I will be adding new material from time to time, so be sure to check back.
Every decorator has their own theories, their own style, or signature. I have read countless books, more magazine articles than I could have ever imagined, and researched for hours and hours, on the topic of interior decorating. Sometimes I learn important pieces of information from exploring these avenues, and sometimes I get wonderful inspirations. And there are other times, when I am fortunate enough to come up with some of my very own ideas. I don't profess to be an expert in any way, but I have a wide-ranging knowledge base, with respect to design and decorating.
The first topic I want to approach is the issue of where to begin when decorating an entire house or apartment. There are so many factors to consider, when taking on a job like that, at times it can be overwhelming. It will be advantageous if time is taken, and if every decision is thought out clearly. So where to begin, that is the question? To make it easier, there are a couple of tools needed that will help get the process underway. The first one is to have a journal, where you can keep notes of any thoughts, ideas, and plans you make. The second and most important, is your imagination. Utilizing your imagination in ways you may not have previously thought of, will be your most valuable tool of all. When we built our house, there was so much to think about from wall colours, to the issue of whether or not wallpaper would be used, to the idea of having some type of connecting theme. I literally spent days just trying to figure out where to begin. Then I decided to try to visualize the house with different colours, and tried to imagine what colours would look best. I knew I didn't want to paint every room a different colour, that would be too much. I wanted something that would be cheerful, even on a gloomy day, I wanted something that would be tranquil, after a long day at work. I didn't want everything to match, but I definitely was interested in having a smooth flow from room to room. Thinking about all those details obviously was important, but nevertheless, I still couldn't figure out how to get started. I thought about what I wanted to accomplish, as far as decorating our home. I wanted to be able to have a neutral background, so that when we travelled and I found interesting pieces, I would be able to buy anything, knowing it would work in our house. I tried to think of colours that I would want to surround myself in, day in and day out. It is so important you choose colours for your background that you are very fond of, after all you are going to be looking at those colours for a very long time. I looked at a lot of photographs, and I kept going back to neutral colours, and I was really drawn to rooms that were painted white. I also wanted to have some contrast, so I decided to have light coloured wallpaper in a few rooms. I wrote down in my journal what the advantages of having white walls would be, and surprisingly enough, there were many pros to having white. I made a note to make sure any wallpaper I choose had a background of white, with a contrasting colour that I would be comfortable with, that way white would be the connecting colour in each room. One of my main concerns was I wanted the rooms to look like they were all part of the over all big picture. I was very fortunate that I learned an important, and helpful lesson, when I initially started to think of what I wanted to accomplish, as far as decorating our house.
And that lesson was, I tried to imagine what the house would look like if all the walls between each room were non existent. If all the walls were gone, and the entire open space in the colours I was thinking about, still looked good, then I knew I was on the right track. You can see from this photograph that I found on a site called Decodir, that even though there are two distinct spaces, without and wall separations the look works nicely. Picturing your own space, using this picture as your guide, will give you an idea of how to use your imagination, to allow this concept to work for you. Not every room has to be the same colour, but if there is at least a continuing thread, and if each room can nicely flow into the other, then it is a great starting point. The most common mistake made when decorating a home, is when each room is decorating as an individual space, instead of treating each room as part of an overall design plan. This is not to say you have to paint every room the same colour. If you have decided on paint for each room, you can choose an overall colour that you love, and then choose two lighter shades of the same paint colour, and work within those shades. Even if your space happens to be an open concept plan, you can still use variations of the same colour pallet. This will add definition, and will allow the different features of the space to stand out more.
In conclusion, pick colours you like enough to want to look at every day. If you like to add colourful furniture and accessories to your space, then using a neutral colour like beige, light grey, white, or cream would be a great starting point. Not only are these colours easy to work with, they are very relaxing to the space, and you will not easily tire of them. If you can use your imagination to picture the end result before you even start, it will be a great help to you.
