Category Archives: Redesign

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

 

 

 

Find Your Inspiration

We are starting a series on how to find inspiration for design. We can often feel beholden to current trends on social media or what’s available in the Target home goods section (don’t get me wrong, I’d happily use everything in that section, all of the time, everywhere, in my home!), but what if we learned to take something we truly love – a painting, our favorite blouse, a photo from our most memorable vacation – and bring it to life in our home? That’s our goal – functional design we love, that breeds life and love and warmth in our everyday.

With each post in the series, we will break down our inspiration into color palettes, materials, décor, and other elements of design and apply how they could be used in your home. We’d love to hear from you! Send us your inspiration – we’d love to use what you love to teach this series! Send pictures to katya@ahomerevival.com.

Let’s start with my favorite painting by Salvador Dali, “Girl at the Window.”

Source: Salvador-dali.org

What colors do you notice? What patterns do you see? How is light used in this photo? What elements catch your eye or hold your attention? How does the print make you feel?

For me, this painting is a reminder of the years I lived in Spain. It evokes a sense of slowness in me; calmness, the opportunity to rest and reflect. Iberian culture is built around gatherings and coffee and community – Spaniards are skilled at enjoying the moment and feeling accomplished if they succeed at completing even one to-do in a day. These are sentiments I’d love to cultivate in a kitchen – a calm, relaxing, beautiful place to gather with friends. So, let’s design a kitchen!

The Tile Shop

The cream colors and ocean waves inspire this Retro Lino Ceramic Subway Wall Tile by The Tile Shop.

Lowes

The blue hues of the girl’s skirt, as well as the ocean, provide inspiration for aqua, diamond cabinets on the lower half of the kitchen walls.

Lowes

To balance the blue cabinets, we’ll add matching cabinets, in Agreeable Gray, to the top half of the kitchen wall, and a brushed oak center island.

Décor Pad

For the walls and countertops, we’ll add bright, white elements. Its easy to miss, but there is the slightest sunray illuminating the left side of the window, adding movement and brightness to the painting. I want to replicate the same lightness in our kitchen.

I’ve selected Snowbound by Sherwin Williams for our wall color, and we’ll use a beautiful, warm, quartz for the countertops.

Sherwin Williams

Great Lakes Granite & Marble

The piece de resistance of the kitchen will be the Balboa Counter Stools with Surg Stripe Coastal Blue covers by Serena & Lily. The blue stripes, introduced by the girl’s skirt and the lines of the curtains, complete our design.

Serena & Lily

Other design elements taken by “Girl at a Window” can be added throughout the kitchen with coastal elements such as:

  • Rattan lighting
  • Sandy textured ceramics
  • Plants
  • A white, stucco stove hood
  • Iberian inspired dishware

Add a fancy, Illy, espresso machine, and perfect your array of tapas, and you have yourself your very own Spanish, communal, oasis!

Guest Blogger: Katya Larsen, Stager, A Home Revival