Feel like your home is ready for a makeover, but you aren’t ready for a renovation? No problem! There are many great ways to significantly improve and change the look of your home without even lifting a hammer! Here are some ways to do it:
1. Create Dual Purpose Spaces: Think your house is too small? Think again. There are probably rooms that you aren’t using to their full advantage, and can actually combine in order to free up space. Here are some common dual purpose rooms we see our clients creating in their homes everyday.
Kitchen/dining room: The modern dining room often sits inside the kitchen or beside it (in a more open concept space). Placing a dining table in the kitchen or in the area adjacent to it means you can a) free up your old dining room and b) interact with your guests more. Turn your kitchen island into a buffet or place for drinks, snacks and hors d’oeuvres. A piece like the Connection Dining Table is ideal for the kitchen turned dining room because it lends well to almost any decor, especially since it comes with the option of a glass or wooden tabletop.
Guest Bedroom/office: More people are working from home these days, and enjoying the benefits of a re-charging mid-day nap while doing so. As a result, it makes a lot of sense to combine the office and guest bedroom. American Leather’s Hailey Comfort Sleeper Sofa is a great piece for this purpose because it has a full-size (and very comfortable) bed inside it, perfect for guests, but is also a couch comfortable to sit and work on, or lie down on for a mid-day snooze.
2. Paint: Paint is truly powerful, it can make a room look a) no longer trapped in a time warp b) fresher and Brighter. Considering how much it does, you sure get a lot of bang for your buck when it comes to purchasing and applying paint to the walls in your home. White is always an interior design classic and right now you can’t really go wrong with dove greys, sands, soft blues, as well as dusty roses. For more insight into current color trends, check out our Color Forecast for Summer 2016.
3. Lighting: This is one of the most powerful tools you can utilize in your home, and can truly change the way you look at a space. Examine the lighting in a room. Do you have solid ambient, task and accent lighting? To truly optimize a room’s look some thought needs to be put into all three. Here’s how to think about them:
Ambient lighting: This is the room’s general lighting, it allows you to function safely in the space. It should be bright enough that you can perform all tasks with ease, but also low enough that you don’t have glare. Even highly decorative pieces like the Uccello di fuoco light can do the trick and provide solid central lighting for the room.
Task lighting: What you will be doing in the room? This will determine what task lighting you will I.e. if you are getting ready in the bathroom, you need lighting by your mirror to see your face.
Accent lighting: What items in the room deserve a little extra light on them to dazzle? e. artwork, houseplants, your favorite items – this will decide where accent lighting goes.
