Category Archives: Design Ideas

April Showers Bring Staging Flowers!

It’s almost May here in Minnesota, and that means we are crossing our fingers and toes hoping that spring, and the beauty it brings, will be arriving soon! There is nothing better than the blooms of a magnolia tree, the bright colors of tulips and daffodils emerging once again, or the sweet smell of lilacs in the breeze. Close your eyes: imagine the scent, the joy, the warmth a fresh bouquet of flowers brings!

When staging a home, or during a staging consult, we suggest using plants and flowers to bring additional color and life to a home. It is a simple, lower cost way to add color, texture and freshness to a home.  Consider these basic methods for sourcing and displaying greenery in your home.

Trader Joe’s is A Home Revival staff favorite for sourcing fresh flowers and house plants. They have a variety of sizes and styles of plants and flowers, and tend to have a reasonable price point! A few ideas for Trader Joe’s greens:

  • Grab some baby blue eucalyptus and baby’s breath, toss them in a simple, neutral vase, and you have yourself a centerpiece that will last for weeks! Center it on the dining table, an entryway credenza, or on the dresser of the primary bedroom.
  • Take home a few succulents to stage bathrooms. Set small succulents in the corner of the vanity along with a candle or soap pump for a fresh, spa-like effect!

Treat Yourself to Fresh Flowers - The Purple Hydrangea

The Purple Hydrangea

  • Toss a mixed bouquet of bright, fresh flowers in your cart and use as a focal point in the kitchen or dining room during your home photo session! A fresh bouquet is also a nice touch for showings, but should be replaced when blooms begin to wilt. Bonus? They smell great without the overpowering effects of fresheners and spray (which we do not recommend using for showings).
  • Use a variety of house plants on coffee tables, nightstands, sunrooms, etc. to add interest and livability to the home. Plants tend to reduce stress and increase creativity, just what a potential homebuyer needs to envision their new life in your property!

Maybe you’re not into live plants, I get it! For vacant staging, we use artificial plants and stems for the sake of maintenance and longevity. A few favorite spots for faux plants:

Ikea – low price point, good variety of plants and stems, and cute pots and baskets to boot!

FEJKA Artificial potted plant, indoor/outdoor/lavender lilac, 4 ¾ "

World Market – great for artificial trees and larger house plants.

Target – wide variety of styles and price points available.

Medium Ribbon Fern Leaf in Pot - Threshold™ designed with Studio McGee, image 2 of 10 slides

Nearly Natural – an online retailer that has mastered the art of the faux plant. At a higher price point, this is a great option for investing in faux greenery you can incorporate into the design of your new home.

spring captions when in doubt add flowers

Good Housekeeping

When deciding whether or not to incorporate greenery in your staging design, just remember, plants are lean, mean, selling machines! They are one of the simplest, low cost ways to freshen and brighten a space. Not up for the effort of purchasing and placing plants? No problem! You can always reach out to us to do the heavy lifting with an occupied or vacant stage of your home.

 

Guest Blogger: Katya Larsen, Stager, A Home Revival

 

Meaningful Design

This is the final post in our series on how to find inspiration for design. We are drawing inspiration from a design trend we are seeing more of in 2023 — designing with meaningful objects. There has been a slight shift away from minimalism towards a more balanced effort to include elements in our homes that bring us joy and meaning in everyday life.

When I think of meaningful objects, I think of pieces you may not typically include in a modern day redesign. Here are a few examples:

  • Milk glass from your grandmother
  • Doilies from your mother’s first trip to Europe
  • Your family’s wooden rocking chair
  • Artwork children have gifted you
  • A stamp and art collection from your father
  • A handmade quilt
  • Antique dishes from your great-grandmother
  • Military memorabilia from your father’s funeral service
  • Still life oil paintings from your great-uncle
  • Décor from your mother’s time abroad
  • Cross stitch you made with your aunt and cousins as a child

The question is, how can we incorporate these items in a way that doesn’t look disjointed or awkward with the rest of our home design? Let’s see!

Create a coordinated art wall to display children’s art.

display kids artwork

Organised Pretty Home

Use simple, clean magnetic strips to hang rotating art in your kitchen or a children’s bedroom.

Alt image 2 for Magnetic Art Gallery

Pottery Barn Kids

Display a stamp collection in a sleek, modern frame, to pair with office or living room décor.

How to Display Stamp Collections - Church Hill Classics

Church Hill Classics

Use a vintage still life as inspiration for a shabby chic bedroom, office or powder room. Pair it with rich, bold accent colors surrounded by light wood and creamy neutral walls.

Oil on Board Painting of Still Life with Flowers in Urn For Sale

Chairish

Incorporate milk glass in both functional and beautiful ways! Use it as vessel to hold personal items in the bathroom.

Use the milk glass to add greenery to your home, both as planters and vases.

Décor Book

What beloved items that you hold near and dear do you have tucked away in a closet or in the basement that you can bring into your home to make it a space filled with love, warmth and memories each and every day? Where will you break away from trends to create a space that is truly your own, a space that tells your story?

Guest Blogger: Katya Larsen, Stager, A Home Revival

 

DI”Y” Design

In our last post, we started a series on how to find inspiration for design. If you’re anything like me, there is one place I can always turn to, without fail, if I need design inspiration — Target! Walk into a Target store this week and you’ll see their new spring décor series with designs from Threshold Designed with Studio McGee, Hearth & Hand with Magnolia, Opalhouse with Jungalow and more. With the turn of a season (I know, wishful thinking, we’re definitely not to spring yet in Minnesota!), I am always antsy for a bit of a home refresh, and when I went to the store this week, I fell in love with this pillow and thought it was the perfect inspiration.

Floral Block Print Square Throw Pillow with Tassel Zipper Mauve - Threshold™ designed with Studio McGee, image 1 of 8 slides

Target

Maybe you see this pillow and think, ” So cute! I could never integrate pink in my home.” Or perhaps, “Great, I found a super cute pillow, and it is the opposite of everything neutral in my home, so now what?”. One of the many things I love about Target’s home goods is they set consumers up for success with accessible do it “yourself” design ideas. They provide an abundance of pieces that play happily together, so all you have to do is choose your favorites and bring them home!

With the help of Threshold Designed with Studio McGee, let’s design a spring, bedroom refresh. Look at the pillow and you’ll see a beautiful color palette for our room: shades of mauve, sage and tan.

Target has a wonderful eucalyptus plant, in multiple sizes, we can add to a dresser or night stand. This will highlight the sage in our pillow.

Medium Eucalyptus in Pot - Threshold™ designed with Studio McGee, image 1 of 5 slides

Target

Another piece I adore that accentuates the sage is this beautiful ceramic vase. Pair it with the eucalyptus or set in on a pair of hardcover books on your night stand. It’s also perfect fodder for a built-in bookshelf!

Round Ceramic Vase Green - Threshold™ designed with Studio McGee, image 2 of 7 slides

Target

Our last splash of green comes from this fabulous, velvet ottoman. Tuck this piece at the foot of your bed or under a large window.

Vernon Ottoman - Threshold™ designed with Studio McGee, image 2 of 10 slides

Target

To begin to pull our mauve and sage palette together, let’s add this incredible landscape study to the mix. If you look closely, you’ll notice it even has shades of mauve you also find in our pillow. This print remind us of the final color for our design — tan!

24" x 18" Landscape Study Framed Wall Canvas Antique Gold - Threshold™ designed with Studio McGee, image 1 of 10 slides

Target 

Surround bolder color choices with neutral items and it they quickly become more digestible; they bring small splashes of personality versus causing a room to feel bright and overwhelming. Choose a variety of neutrals, and with various textures. Not everything has to match perfectly, it’s okay, and even preferred, to integrate different shades of tan!

Heavyweight Linen Blend Collection - Casaluna™

Target

Made by Casaluna, grab linens from their Heavyweight Linen Blend Collection. I appreciate their ready-made variety of textured blankets.

Toss a few throw pillows into the mix. Grab what you like, as long as it’s nuetral!

Linen Square Throw Pillow - Threshold™ designed with Studio McGee, image 1 of 6 slides

Target

Oversized Oblong Boucle Woven Stripe Decorative Throw Pillow Khaki - Threshold™ designed with Studio McGee, image 1 of 12 slides

Target

Set a pair of white, ceramic, matching lamps on matching nightstands. Threshold’s Lomita Rattan accent tables would be a perfect addition.

Ceramic Assembled Table Lamp White - Threshold™ designed with Studio McGee, image 1 of 22 slides

Target

Lomita Rattan Accent Table Natural - Threshold™ designed with Studio McGee, image 2 of 11 slides

Target

To round out our bedroom design, we can add a few additional pieces of neutral décor. Toss this funky circle object on your dresser or bookshelf as a bookend.

Circle Object - Threshold™ designed with Studio McGee, image 1 of 10 slides

Target

Integrate one of Threshold’s many calming candles.

 Clear Glass Cypress & Juniper Candle White - Threshold™ designed with Studio McGee, image 2 of 6 slides

Target

Hang this beautifully curved mirror both for function and to help your new space seem even larger.

23" x 36" Metal Curved Top Mirror Gold - Threshold™ designed with Studio McGee, image 2 of 5 slides

Target

Voila! We have ourselves a revitalized room to welcome the spring season! It’s okay to feel like you don’t quite have an eye for design, or if you look at the items curated in the post and think, “I never could have pulled this together!”. The beauty of stores like Target, Pottery Barn, West Elm and others is they’ve done a lot of the design work for us. Experts have already professionally selected and organized the items that correspond well. Next time you see something colorful and bright that you absolutely must have, go for it! surround with some similarly colored pieces, wrap it in an abundance of neutrals, and consider your DI”Y” design a success!

Guest Blogger: Katya Larsen, Stager, A Home Revival