Designing a Room from Scratch Doesn’t Have to Be Overwhelming

You signed the stacks of paperwork, picked up the keys and even begun unpacking a few boxes. A lot of “tough” work of moving is over.

Then it hits you: What’s left to do — decorating your new space — can turn out to be the hardest part! You’re facing a blank slate when you’re eager to see it transformed into an inviting living space you can enjoy and where you can organize your life. Read more

How to Paint a Wall of Faux Tile

Difficulty: Moderate

The taping requires a good eye, but the painting is quick

Gleaming, oversize subway tile set with thick ribbons of matte grout: It’s the last thing you expect to see in a foyer or a dining room. But when the work is done with paint, the result can be a perfect, playful visual effect.

Decorative painter Ingrid Leess “tiled” this foyer wall in two days, using 1-inch-wide delicate-adhesion painter’s tape and latex paint in two colors and finishes. “The exaggerated grid delivers a lot of punch, and it certainly goes up faster than the real thing,” she says.

For maximum effect, she used a base coat of flat gray to create the look of grout lines, and high-gloss gold to make her glazed-ceramic-like tiles. “Strong colors work well,” she notes, “but the impact comes from the contrasting finishes; you could also choose flat white and glossy ivory.”

Read on for the step-by-step process, from blank wall to trompe l’oeil.

Tip: Any color combination will do—even two shades of white. But contrasting sheens are key. Choose a flat finish for the base coat (the “grout”) and a high-gloss finish for the top coat (the “tile”). Draw a brush through the wet paint to give the tile subtle texture.

                     

1. Make a story stick                       2.  Mark the grout lines             3.  Remove portions of the  verticle grout lines

                 

4.  Seal the edges of the tape     5.  Roll on the 2nd color             6. Remove the tape

To read the original instructions and article, please click here.

 

Don’t Shudder! Wallpaper is Making a Comeback!

Wallpaper. Just the mention of it conjures agitation for millions of homeowners. For some, it’s the nightmare of trying to remove it. For others, it’s the daunting task of trying to apply it.

For years now, wallpaper has been living with its bad reputation. Even interior designers, who could appreciate the virtues of wallpaper’s textures and decorating qualities, declared wallpaper outdated.

But lately, with design trends changing, wallpaper is becoming less of a dirty word. In fact, it’s gaining new popularity. This isn’t your grandmother’s wallpaper, the kind with enormous cabbage roses and gingham checks. While you can still find rolls of ditzy florals, wallpaper today comes in a variety of modern prints and textures, giving the old-school material a modern freshness. Read more

From Unused Space to a Home Office Full of Smart Storage

Before and After: Bring On the Built-Ins

Sometimes one little request leads to a major transformation. Married neuroscientists Vivek Unni and Tamily Weissman-Unni, owners of an 1870s house in Cambridge, Massachusetts, started out with a new baby and a simple goal. Read more

What Will Be Hot in Home Interiors in 2012?

By Melissa Dittmann Tracey, REALTOR® Magazine

The design forecasts are rolling in for the new year and the predictions of what’s going to be popular in interior decorating in 2012.

According to Beasley & Henley Interior Design in Winter Park, Fla., here are some interior design trends to be on the lookout for in the upcoming year:

Homes go gray: All shades of gray will be making up more households, from warm grey to charcoal gray, through furnishings, window treatments, and artwork. Read more

New Staging Concept: Live-In Stagers

How’s this for a relatively newer concept: Live-in stagers? Instead of hiring a stager to come in and stage a home to prep it for a sale, an emerging trend in the real estate and staging world is taking hold in which stagers actually stage the home and then live in it.

Here’s how it works: “Resident managers” move into homes for sale, stage the homes with their own furniture and live there until the home is sold. They also act as security detail, and oversee regular home maintenance issues while the home is listed. Their presence — and furnishings — not only help market the home, but they keep maintenance, insurance and other costs down for the home seller, says Marci Robinson of Coastal Style, Inc. Read more

Wainscoting Designs, Layouts, and Materials

Wainscoting Styles

Raised panel

Raised panels, the most traditional wainscoting style, go back to colonial days. The decorative raise is created by beveling the edges of the panel. Common height is between 30 and 40 inches, but the design can be adapted for higher-ceilinged spaces by adding a center rail to create two rows of panels. The rails, stiles, and panels fit together the same way as in traditional flat-panel assemblies. The bottom rail can double as the baseboard, as it does here, or the baseboard can be built up from several pieces of molding.

To read this article in its entirity, click here.

 

How’s Your Sense of Design?

Design is all around us. In our homes, everything from structural elements like roofs and room layout to hardware for doors and sinks is designed.

Some argue that the best design is invisible. Bad design calls attention to itself and may frustrate or injure users. When you walk through your house, condominium, or cottage, can you tell the difference between good and bad design?

Read more

Easy Ways to Transform a Room

Updating a living room or family room doesn’t have to mean giving it a complete makeover. A few simple changes can transform a tired room into a fresh space in no time. Read more