Today, I wanted to quickly share with you some of my favorite decorating tips from Real Simple and House Beautiful... If you're feeling the itch to do some "reorganizing" or give a room in your house a quick "face lift" (this weekend, maybe?), here is a little bit of advice from a few great interior designers from our time and generations before us; who knew how to design a house in a way that you can call it "home" for the rest of your life. Enjoy! -Brittany
1. "Every room has a mood or personality…and it is this that one desires to develop." —Eleanor Brown
2. "Make the husband happy, and the job is done." —Frances Elkins
3. "Believe in optimism and plenty of white paint." —Elsie de Wolfe
4. "If you make a compromise — selecting something cheaper than what you really like — it compromises you, because you are never really happy with the result." —Rose Cumming
5. "There is one fundamental fact about lighting: Where there is no light, there is no beauty." —Ruby Ross Wood
6. "You can never achieve anything in a house unless you have things that have been passed down and you find a place for them for yourself." —Sister Parish
7. "Crossing too many t's and dotting too many i's make a room look overdone and tiresome. One should create something that fires the imagination without overemphasis." —Nancy Lancaster
8. "Love is essential to the decoration of a house....A room must say, 'My love is here,' or 'My love has just left,' or 'I'm waiting for my love to arrive.'" —Madeleine Castaing
9. "Too often when we're buying or building a house, we do not consider each room. We are carried away by one charming feature and are blind to details that will give us trouble later on." —Dorothy Draper
Here are some wonderful tips on decorating with a "Timeless Style".....adapted from Real Simple!
- Stick to a Muted Palette Why it works: With a restricted palette, colors recede into the background, allowing the furnishings and the accessories to take center stage. Here, the limited color scheme lets the curves of the table and the chairs stand out. The walls are painted in a tone similar to that of the area rug, and the moldings are painted a bright white to echo the curtains and the upholstery.
- Arrange Small Pictures on a Dresser Why it works: "Small pictures look like visual noise on a wall," says Andrew Flesher, an interior designer in Minneapolis. But they can pump up the personality of an otherwise ho-hum table. To unify a collection of photographs, use frames of the same material and make sure all the pictures are approximately the same size, so that none will stand out over the others
- Top Carpeting With an Area Rug Why it works: Layering rugs, like layering clothes, adds texture, color, and dimension. The effect is "calm and warm," says interior designer Suzanne Rheinstein, owner of Hollyhock, a Los Angeles home store. For the best results, start with a tightly woven, low-pile carpet or sisal in a solid tone. Complement it with almost any area rug―flat cotton, zebra-print cowhide, or fluffy flokati.
- Keep the Mantel Spare Why it works: A well-dressed mantel makes an impact from a distance. You shouldn't have to walk up to it to view the objects on it. Opt for large, tall vessels to complement the height of the chimney, but make sure they don't impede the view of a painting or a mirror. Pick curvy vases to soften a hard-edged mantel and squarish ones to contrast a fireplace with a rounded opening.
- Cluster Similar Colors Together Why it works: Colors from a single family blend effortlessly without being matchy-matchy. Pick a color you love and stick with its variations. If you like green, for example, paint walls and choose curtains in a rich khaki. Punch up the palette with a brighter sofa. Accessorize with a lime green patterned rug, botanical prints featuring different shades of green and brown, and a yellow green throw.
-Real Simple
"My belief is, when it comes to decorating, it's more than just "decorating"; it's a process of collecting, researching, defining your style, and investing." -Brittany
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