What's your style?

Arts and Crafts style. Clean lines, natural elements.

In order to be successful in selecting the materials and items to be used in your interior, you should know what your personal design style is. When you don't have an idea what you're looking for, frustration and confusion set in. For interiors that we don't change often, selecting the right products and styles, enriches your life, satisfies and grounds you, and reflects who you are. You will save time, save money, and have a home that provides rest, rejuvenation, and happiness. Use these tips to help define your style.

1) Look at professionally designed rooms:  Buy magazines and clip out rooms you like. Go the your local bookstore and browse the home and design section.  Look for things that please you; the color of the room, the feel of the design, a specific light fixture or piece of furniture, the way the room looks overall. Is there something that grabs your attention? The elements of styles that you like will become clear and help you add them to your design.

Cottage style. Casual and classic with, bead board, white hues, warm woods.

2) Visit furniture shops and walk through the room arrangements noting what you like.  Ask questions of the sales representative or take brochures about the arrangements to help identify specific items.

3) Take a design style quiz.  These are more superficial but do guide you in overall style.  Putting a name to a style can often help you during shopping trips when you are able to ask for "a Neoclassic style lamp." Do back-up research on-line through blogs, furniture and design web sites, and image searches. Identifying styles with names such as "Classic Bohemian" are of no use, however, because there aren't common elements associated with made-up names!

Traditional living room with antiques, rich hues, classic furnishings.

4) Attend local design shows, lectures, and events.  Your local chapter of ASID - The American Society of Interior Designers often schedules lectures on design for the public. Is there a show house nearby? Are there Home & Garden shows you can attend? Visit them and take notes. 

5) Call a local designer and schedule a consultation. To really hone in on your style and get immediate design advice, sit down for an hour or two with a design professional. It will set you on the right path and give you peace of mind when you start your project. At www.tot-home.com we provide in-home, in shop or on-line consultations for every client!

Cottage organizing idea.

For a cottage or casual style home, storing incoming and outgoing mail, magazines, photos, postcards and children's drawings is a snap with old or distressed shutters. For about $2 this wooden shutter was purchased at a tag sale, painted with indoor craft paint, slightly distressed, and hung in a kitchen to collect postcards.  Easy, inexpensive and an elegant solution!

Beautiful bedroom update ideas.

Need to refresh your bedroom? With so many products and options available which do you choose?  Here are three bedrooms with directions for making the changes.  

  

    

Some simple changes transform this casual bedroom into a sophisticated guest retreat. The walls, once a pastel green, were refreshed with a light blue hue, and the white ceiling became a soft blue. Crown, base and doors moldings remained white. Adding a transitionally styled iron bed frame was the most significant change.  Draping inexpensive sheer fabric (less than $15 per yard) over the frame creates a soft, inviting place to sleep. Instead of the two-drawer nightstand, an end table - the same height as the mattress - provides a landing space, shelving for books and a clock, and its new open style fills the void next to the bed with just the right element. Adding a deeper toned area rug beside the bed rather than in the center of the room makes the room seem more open, and is better underfoot for guests. White big box store bedding, a yellow throw and brightly colored pillows in blue and complementary orange, finish the bed. Lighter artwork, all in the same transitional versus cottage style, refreshes the space and provides the finishing touch.

While this room looks significantly different, there are some shortcuts to be considered.  Purchasing ready-made shelves from a discount store, and tying them together with molding, is the largest change. They create a headboard with storage, end table function and additional space for lighting. Warm tones of beige on the wall and an area rug in the same hue, provide a warm backdrop for the new white trim and doors.  The doors, while hinged French doors instead of sliding wooden doors, can be created without the expensive price tag. Using reclaimed doors from a salvage yard is one solution, sustainable and cost-effective.  Another is to apply molding over inexpensive mirror squares to a slab door. Hinges are required here since the added dimension would not allow the doors to slide. Bedding remains white, but as with the accessories, the addition of blue accents, is the ideal contrast to the beige and white. A simple wooden bench completes the transformation.

Re positioning the bed in this space was key to the change. In front of the window, the bed took up less space in the room and the open weave headboard does not restrict light from entering.  The walls went from pale yellow to a deep ivory. Blue was the accent color in the 'before' space and became the feature color in bedding, bed drapes and pillows. An inexpensive "found" headboard separates the window and bed and enables pillows to be propped up, adding dimension and texture to the bed.  A Roman Shade lets more light in than the prior sheers and is tailored and neat.  The bed drape was constructed by nailing MDF trim to the ceiling, and applying the fabric at all four corners.  The large scale damask fabric contains the ivory wall color and a soft blue that is used again in the tailored bed skirt. Ivory bedding is ideal for many spaces, and maintains the neutral backdrop to keep the small bedroom from looking crowded.  Adding a bolster pillow in a solid blue with ribbon trim, and a patterned blue lampshade, completes the transformation.