Tag Archives: Interior Decorating Minneapolis

To match, or not to match, that is the question!

Maybe you’re ready for a living room refresh, or you’re moving into a new home and wanting to redesign your spaces; in either scenario, you’ll have to make a lot of decisions around matching and clashing items. Will you have one color stain throughout the room, or can you mix and match woods? Will all finishes be the same, or will you include a variety of metals? Can you mix in rattan, wicker, or other vintage pieces, or will that look funny with modern lighting? Here are just a few tips and tricks around when to match (or not!) while designing.

FURNITURE SETS

Ten years ago, the average person owned a matching furniture set: a three person couch, two person loveseat, and a single chair or two. Each piece had the same fabric and pattern, and sometimes even came with similarly style end tables and coffee table. These days, matching furniture sets are still available, but we are fans of mixing and matching furniture. Choose a comfy sofa in a neutral color and add two colorful or patterned accent chairs to add some flare to a room. Another big trend right now is pairing a colorful sofa, often velvet fabric, with matching vintage accent chairs. What joy and life color can bring to a room! Here are a few examples of mismatched furniture sets.

sofa and mismatched chairs

Ballard Designs

Mismatched Sofas - Good Idea, Or A Colossal Mistake? - Laurel Home

Studio McGee

Living room curtains in a blue floral pattern in comfortable living room

Ballard Designs

METAL FINISHES

Clients often ask, or even question, this next piece of advice: it’s okay to mix metals and finishes! We don’t want you to go too wild with variety, but it is okay to have two or three different finishes in a room. Try to mix warm finishes with cool finishes and avoid putting two similar tones together such as chrome and brushed nickel. The great news is you can pair black with any finish! Here are a few examples of mixed metals in kitchens and bathrooms.

Love this beautiful timeless kitchen design with white cabinets, a coffered ceiling treatment, and a mix of brass and polished nickel metal finishes - kitchen ideas - kitchen island ideas - kitchen lighting ideas - gorgeous kitchens - kitchen trends - mixed metals - brandon architects

Jane at Home

Bria Hammel Interiors

Leclair Decor powder bath

Maison de Pax

WOOD TONES

You’re probably starting to notice a theme to this post – it’s okay to mix and match when designing your home! The same goes for wood tones, it’s okay to have a little variety in your design! With wood, it can be helpful to have one main wood tone, perhaps the hardwood flooring or color of trim, and add an additional accent or two with a different tone. When matching wood tones, try to have grain patterns look similar, or match the finishes – glossy with glossy, rustic with rustic, matte with matte, etc. With wood, you also want to match warm and cool tones if the colors are very similar, or go for a large contrast in tone, almost opposites in color. Here are a few examples to bring these ideas to life:

how to mix wood tones - california cool living room with sofa and wood accent chairs

My Domaine

Chris Loves Julia

Curated image with Ansel Rug, Royce Side Table, Arlo Chair, Gulf Shores, Lebon Floor Lamp, Eileen...

Studio McGee

Mixing and matching in design provides interest and warmth when done well. If the process of choosing feels overwhelming, we’re always here to help with our interior and re-design services!

 

Guest Blogger: Katya Larsen, Stager, A Home Revival

Light Up Your World!

I was working with a client a few days ago who had just purchased a new home. The home was built in 2000 and she wanted help in making decisions for updates. When buying a new home that is older, you may want to update a lot of things but financially you cannot do them all at once.

I was asked, ” what are the 2-3 things I can do to make the biggest impact for the money.” The answer was easy, especially in this home. Paint and lighting.

 

The home was built in 2000 and many of the features showed exactly what decade it was built. Burgundy and yellow paint colors, lighting with amber frosted globes.

 

Keep this in mind when buying a home as well as taking a hard look at your current home.

When purchasing a home, are the bones of the home great and you just need to make some cosmetic changes over time? Are there big updates needed to flooring, trim, or even opening walls that can be done later? Or maybe you just don’t want to tackle them at all and you want a pure move in ready home.

In your current, home has it been a while since you have updated things? Do you need to start considering making some changes that will make  your home more marketable when you are ready to sell, plus you can enjoy them now?

 

 

Even in homes I am working on to get ready to sell, paint and lighting bring the largest Return on Investment, the biggest bang for your buck. Use paint colors that are fresh and modern which right now is light paint colors. Make sure your light fixtures are current, making your home light and bright with updated light bulbs. These two things will bring an instant change!!

 

 

 

So light up your world by bringing in light and on trend paint colors and new light fixtures with bright bulbs and clear globes. Light up your world literally!!

 

 

 

Continuity and Flow in your Home

Just the words “continuity and flow” makes you want to take a deep breath doesn’t it? To just be calm. And that is what your home should be, a calming place that your shoulders drop down a couple inches when you walk in the door. This calming factor is important to keep in mind when selling your home as well. You want the potential buyer feeling a sense of calm as they walk through your home. Not chaos or a sense of being unsettled.

There are many ways to create that feeling of calm, one way is with a “less is more” approach with your decor and large furniture pieces.

But the single easiest way to create continuity and flow in a home is with color.

To do that, have a touch of the same color running throughout the home, especially in the main living areas. You can have a different accent color mixed with this main color in a small amount, but that main color appears in all the rooms as you walk through them.

The best way to explain this is with pictures. For the home in the photos below, the main color I chose was navy blue and I used it to create a flow throughout the home. This does not mean it has to be strictly navy, it can be different shades such as smokey blue or even a more vibrant shade.

In the living room I used navy blue pillows and accent pieces of blue on the coffee table.

 

I added a touch of blue on the dining room table:

 

 

The mudroom has blue accessories:

 

 

In the primary bedroom I have blue on the bed as well as a blue velvet chair in the corner:

 

 

In the lower level family room I brought in a bold statement of blue to create a focal point with the color.

 

 

Continuity and Flow is about connecting your rooms, that they seem to work together not against each other. There are some exceptions. Kids rooms can be different, fun and full of color. Laundry rooms can also be a bit fun. The goal is for things not to seem random but rather well put together, every piece has a purpose.

P.S. Did you notice in the first photo I used the gal is sitting in a blue chair? Creating continuity and flow can work in many places!