So, you’ve decided it’s time to add a new splash of paint to your walls? If only the task was as easy as choosing your colors, picking-up your pots, and bringing out the brushes! Any good interior designer in Seattle, Miami, or New York knows that as well as planning things carefully and taking time over your choices, there are a few rules to revamping your walls that can make all the difference.

1. One wall doesn’t have to equal one color! Get clued up about painting techniques that can add subtle or dramatic differences to your room. Use stencils or stamping kits to add details like your favorite flowers or classy borders. Or you might choose a mural - perhaps of a fireplace you wished you had or a fun collage for the children’s nursery. If you’re no Picasso, mural kits are inexpensive and easy to use. Techniques like sponging and ragging (using a sea sponge or household rag rubber-banded to a paint-roller) produce beautiful depth and texture when added onto a base of paint. And some paint brands are already textured to give you special finishing, e.g. suede-look or wood-finish.

2. Don’t just think color, think light! Consider the balance of light in your room, not just the balance of colors. Think of the way an outside landscape is typically lighted - the earth is dark and as you look up to the sky, you see more light. Copy Mother Nature’s example, and surely you won’t go wrong. Paint your room by choosing darker colors for the floor, medium shades for the walls, and lighter shades for the ceiling.

3. Spend a day with your paint swatches. Colors painted onto walls can vary in appearance in different rooms and under different light. Apply test squares of your chosen paints on your walls. Observe how the colors look throughout the day, especially during times when you use the room the most. If you use a room mainly at night, you’ll want your paint to go well with your lighting.

4. Don’t just compliment your furnishings, enhance them! You’re sure to choose color schemes that compliment your furniture, but you might want to choose ones that really highlight your room’s best assets. Paint your walls in colors that are already found in a favorite rug or wall hanging and you’ll really highlight their attractiveness.

5. Colors have feelings too! Think about how certain colors make you feel before you make your final choices. Soft colors like violet, blue, and green don’t demand your attention and are soothing to the senses, creating feelings of calm and peace. Hard or warm colors like red, orange, and yellow, are bright and draw the eye. They convey energy and encourage cheerfulness. Finally, earth tones like brown, beige, gray, and taupe are muted colors and create elegant and sophisticated looks. But be careful - if not well balanced with enlivening colors to compliment them, these colors may prove too dull or quiet. Happy painting!

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Check out this interesting Smart Money article about the quality of mass made and marketed furniture: “Pottery Barn - UNSTUFFED”

You love your house or your apartment, the way it has been designed, its functionality, the location, the neighborhood, the whole package. Besides, it is really luminous, and there is lot of wood and other noble materials that make it very special, to you, and to the local house market. The only down side of the property is the rather limited space, and the fact that the rooms do not lend themselves to big or showy furniture. But, as interior designers in Seattle advise, there is always a way to disguise the not so positive features of a property, and enhance others, so that, in the total balance, there will be more pros than cons for the potential buyer. And even if you are planning to keep the house, learn how to make the most of it, accentuate the functional and positive aspects and produce a positive impact in your life, just by considering these few tricks provided here.

Definitely, drop strong color combination and shocking wallpaper patterns. No matter how big of a fan you are of strong carrot orange, for instance, leave it for small details, or other objects, not for the walls. White walls are always a classic. But, as any parent with small kids, or pet owner, knows, it is very hard to keep them spotless. And even so, plain white can sometimes get dreary. Light colors are to be preferred, and among these, cool colors over warm colors. A light blue, or a light green is to be preferred over pink or light orange.

As for wallpaper, it is to be avoided in small rooms. But if you insist and you definitely dig it, or because the walls are too damaged to just paint, and you need a thicker coating, choose a textured, light colored wallpaper, instead of one with strong patterns, such as flowers, arabesque designs, lines, or geometric figures.

Lose a few objects. There isn’t a more certain way to make a room look small than to have a huge collection of small items clutter shelves, chests, or mantelpieces. For instance, If you are a sucker for family photos, instead of keeping a multitude of small photo frames, try to make a digital collage of several, so as to keep them all in one frame, or put together a family album. Just face it; it is time to let go. Some of the ornaments must definitely go. But, don’t get rid of them, just save them for the time you get to move to a bigger house.

Choose your furniture wisely. Without necessarily having to resort to a minimalist style, choose light, modern, functional furniture. Leave the Louis XV style for another occasion, and prefer an aluminum and glass organizer, for instance, to keep your TV, sound system, and your DVD’s in one place. They are easier to clean, and they will not take up so much precious space, your most scarce asset. Also, arrange the furniture trying to propitiate easy circulation in the house. Try not to block areas close to doors and think about the way you usually walk around the house. Leave these areas free to facilitate fluid circulation.

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We do grow plants at home to have attractive flowers or foliages, fruits, vegetables. In gardening, we can either grow a large number of single variety of plant or a group of different varieties of plants for their beautifying value, for consumption, for medicinal value etc., Gardens are not formed by themselves; they are made by a human being, with his/her taste and selection of plants, and the willingness to grow them.

Gardening has a lot more benefits than we expect:

Nowadays, almost in all countries, mental tension and stress are very common in most people. Gardening plays a vital role in curing these.  When you are much tensed or if you feel that your office atmosphere is making you undergo lot of stress, you might be asked by the doctor to immediately adopt a pet or do gardening. When doing this work, your concentration is first diverted from your routine tension and stress, and you become more invested in it. It’s a really stress buster, and it’s a kind of meditation, as well, as you might have to concentrate on this work for hours at a time .

It is proven that gardening helps you stay fit. Yes! When you take up this work, your body will do all the physical work involved in gardening like digging, planting, cleaning the garden by weeding, and also harvesting. This gives flexibility and strength to the muscles, as well as endurance. You can also lose weight and get into shape. Gardening is found to be a very good exercise which reduces the risk of heart attacks, osteoporosis, diabetics, obesity, high blood pressure, strokes, etc.

Gardens generally enhance the look of a house. However, you may earn some name and fame in the community, too, since the local environment is beautified by the garden you maintain.

Sometimes gardening not only regards the exterior of the house, but can also be part of the house’s inner look, as recently, some Seattle interior design firms are adopting this trend in their outstanding work. It doesn’t matter if it the area used is small; sometimes it’s just enough to renovate that particular space and give your house a much needed face-lift.

Whether you wish to incorporate plants into your interior design plans or simply want to enjoy an activity that can be immensely pleasurable, gardening is a good choice, the benefits of which are more than pure embellishment.

If you just moved to a house that is nothing like you, or if you are just bored of the decoration and furniture you’ve had for years, maybe it’s time to change a few things (or maybe a lot!). Here are some suggestions and ideas for you to start renovating your residence.

- Add one fine art piece to decorate

You cannot imagine how much one single piece can do for a room. Think about your personal taste, your favorite artists and the style of the room in question. Choose the perfect art piece, and it will change its look completely. It could be a sculpture, a painting, or a vase. It is better if the piece has a special meaning for you. Go to your attic and dig into all those piles of things. You will certainly find some hidden treasures that will look great in your house.

- Renovate an old piece of furniture

Do you have a desk that belonged to your grandfather, and you love it, but it looks too old and worn out? Don’t you think about giving it away! There are many ways in which you can recycle a piece of furniture and take it from ‘old’ to ‘antique’, which not only sounds more glamorous but also looks very refined. Find out about the different products that will help you to preserve the piece’s wood. A good option is to do a patina on the piece; it is modern and looks great.

- Change the lights

Changing the color of the light (for example, from white to amber) provides a new face to the room and changes the colors of the curtains, floors, and walls. Amber lights are better for the eyesight, and give spaces a warm look. Add a big  floor lamp in a corner, or reading lamp on your nightstand. You can even put spotlights in a modern room, or you can also make a hand-made shade and add it to a lamp that you already have.

- Display your collection

Have you been keeping beautiful souvenirs inside a box in your attic for years? Maybe it is time to go up there and take a look at them. Pick a few and put them on a table in your living room or kitchen. Needless to say, it all depends on the style of the room, but it is worth placing them and seeing what happens. It will give the room a new touch and you will have more space in your attic to keep other things.

- Redecorate the whole interior design

Hire an interior designer and the work will be done for you. Any interior design firm in Seattle, New York, or LA will be able to capture the client’s needs and preferences. They manage to turn simple rooms into dynamic and fulfilling spaces.

Amely Wurmbrand is renowned nationally for Seattle interior design work. Design is about innovation, perspective, quality, and functionality. Interior design is meant to be both attractive and comfortable, since it is intended to be present in your everyday life. Good designers are empathetic and will work with you to decorate your interiors in such a way that they will add personality and functionality to your house.

Interior designs, therefore, reflect the customers’ personalities and taste, with the additional touch of a professional that can guide them towards what is best and more practical when it comes to organization and decoration. If you are planning to decorate your house you might want to investigate more on interior design, what works better on different environments and what makes good design. Let’s take a look at some basic principles of interior design:

1. Balance. This is true for many aspects of life. Equilibrium, equality, balance, are fundamental for attractive design. It is created not only through shape, but also through textures, colors, space, and pattern. Balance, however, does not always mean symmetry; this is just the traditional way, also called formal, of achieving equilibrium. If everything is balanced this way, it can have boring results. There are also other forms of balance, like asymmetrical or radial balance. This latter involves an object that is surrounded by others, like a round table.
2. Rhythm. Just like in a musical composition, rhythm is essential to design. The use of patterns and repetitions creates attractive visual environments and generates interest. The viewer will recognize these patterns without thinking about them, and will seem familiar and enjoyable, non intrusive. He/she will feel compelled to look around the room, attracted by a flowing continuum of objects.
3. Points of Interest. Also called anchors, these are spots within a room or environment that you want special attention to be paid. This emphasis on certain items and areas is intended to avoid the dullness and boredom a homogeneous scenery can create. Spots such as fireplaces, windows or places with big objects can be perfect anchors.
4. Harmony. Also comparable to a musical piece, harmony represents cohesion, elements put together to signify, transmit something: a message, an emotion, a statement. Harmony works hand in hand with rhythm. While the latter conveys excitement, the former transmits serenity and composure. Harmony can be achieved by the use of a single color or its chromatic scale, even when using different forms or shapes.
5. Proportion. The Golden Section, created by the ancient Greek, is one great example of how important proportion is to design in general. Actually, the golden section or ratio, also denoted by the letter phi, is present in nature, human beings, and many artistic creations.
6. Scale. In addition to proportion, scale needs to be thoroughly considered. It represents the size of an object in relation to another or to the space in which it is located. A large piano on a small living room, for instance, will be out of scale. It is important to consider scale as a whole, and plan the position and size of objects taking into account the space they will be placed into.

The continuing changes in the way people decide to decorate their homes are, naturally, the passion of any interior designer. It is also a very interesting subject in general. Not that there is an interior designer in every one of us, but most of us do take notice of the way a room is set up, the objects or items that stand out, the prevailing color pattern. One interesting trend all over the United States and relevant to interior design in Seattle, as well, is the comeback of the personal memorabilia style.

Remember your grandma’s house with all the doilies she made displayed on the armchairs and thousands of picture frames all over the room?

Let’s say you’re a fisherman, and you’ve traveled the world to find interesting fishing experiences. You would probably have memorabilia such as “ obviously and a bit boringly “ photographs. However, there are other interesting things you might have. Let’s say you picked up a fishing rod made by a native in the Amazon: let’s say it’s a wooden rod with fishing line made from palm strings:  interesting? Well, what if we were to clean it up, perhaps put a coat of varnish on it, find a nice base or pedestal and make it a part of your living room decor? This would be an interesting-looking conversation piece that would be related to a part of your life. Now imagine filling the room with such items.

This personal memorabilia would speak of the homeowner’s trip through life; his or her passions, hobbies, discoveries, successes, adventures. The intention is to bring the visitor into the life of the homeowner in a beautiful and interesting way and, at the same time, give the room a unique and appealing ambiance.

Many people display personal memorabilia, but few know how to make it interesting to outsiders and fewer still know when to stop with the picture frames. In truth, we all have many things that would make interesting decor items- but it takes an interior designer to pick the right stuff!

Coming Soon!