Georgia Interior Design

Design Sleuth-Downsizing with style

For many, downsizing a home can be an exhilarating experience.  It often means lowered expenses, reduced maintenance, more discretionary income and more free time.  It also means smaller living spaces.  Instead of searching for large furniture to fill and decorate large rooms, you find yourself trying to figure out creative ways to maximize small areas without sacrificing style.

To use your reduced space most efficiently, designer Nathan suggests purchasing sofas and chairs that are armless.   According to Nathan, “Armless furnishings create a more streamlined look in small spaces.  They also weigh less than more traditional furnishings and make it easier to redecorate and change the look of your rooms when you want to try something different.  Slipper chairs, for example, can easily be moved from room-to- room adding extra seating where and when you need it.”

Nathan also recommends buying furniture that can serve a dual purpose, such as ottomans that double as footrests, chairs, TV trays, or a flat surface area for a game of cards.  The Hekman plasma lift mentioned in an earlier blog is another piece of furniture that serves two functions.  When the television set is not in use it disappears, and the room instantly becomes more spacious and less cluttered. 

“Instead of end tables,” Nathan says, “consider buying nesting tables or lamps with built-in tables.  And, in order to make your furnishings most portable, use a matching color palette from room-to- room.  This way everything matches no matter where it’s placed.”

Talk with you next week! 

Deborah
A.k.a. Design Sleuth

Design Sleuth-Family Rooms

Family rooms are usually one of the more popular rooms in most people’s homes.  For those without separate home theatre or game rooms, it is often where you’d put the television set, the gaming equipment, and in some cases, the family computer or home office.  In many families, both kids and adults entertain their friends in the family room.  I know at our house, we’ve always tried to make the family room appealing to our kids (often to the detriment of its style!) because we wanted it to be a comfortable place for them to hang out with their friends—and it sure beats having them spend all of their free time in their bedrooms.

According to designer Nathan, there is no reason for families to sacrifice style in their family rooms, even when they have kids and/or pets.  The key, he says, is to focus first on where the kids and the pets are going to be in the room, and then buy comfortable, dual-purpose furniture.  According to Nathan, family rooms are often one of the rooms that can really benefit from de-cluttering.  “Because the room serves so many different purposes for different family members, it’s easy for this room in particular to end up with too many furnishings.”  For that reason, he believes that it is important to keep the family room furniture classic, durable, and simple.  He suggests buying furniture with tough fabrics, such as polyester and blends, and keeping the colors neutral.  Instead of using occasional tables consider using cocktail ottomans that will double as extra seating for parties, a place for snacks, or an additional work surface when needed.

Nathan recommends replacing any loveseats with two or three chairs.  “In a casual setting, love seats are often only used by one person at a time, so it’s more practical to replace them with separate chairs.  And when you have chairs, it also makes it much easier to re-decorate and move them around when you’re ready for a new look.”  Sofa and chair pillows should also be purchased with a dual-purpose in mind. “If you know your kids will be spending a lot of time on the floor,” Nathan says, “it’s a good idea to buy sofa and chair pillows that can be tossed on the floor and sat upon or used as armrests.”

Next Tuesday I’ll be sharing some tips with you on how to furnish a smaller home.  Nathan has some great ideas.  Talk with you then!

Deborah
A.k.a. Design Sleuth

Design Sleuth-Whimsy

Adding whimsy to your home decor can be as simple and inexpensive as sticking planets and stars on the ceiling in your child’s room or buying a cool accessory, to something more expensive such as purchasing a funky piece of furniture or hiring an artist to paint wall art.  If you’re in the mood for fun, DOTI at John’s Creek is a great place to go.  Besides having lots of fun pillows—mentioned in a previous blog—they also have some wonderful fun furniture and neat accessories. Lucky for you, there is often at least one designer or more in the store, so if you see something you like but you’re not sure how to use it or where to put it in your own home, there’s usually someone around who would be happy to provide creative assistance and help you think outside the box.

For example when I was in the store recently, Alan, the owner, pointed out some beautiful hand-painted chairs. They were gorgeous with bright colors and strong designs.  Looking at them, I was able to imagine a couple of ways to use them to liven up a home interior, but thought I would still ask Alan for his input.  Immediately, he began to rattle off at least ten design possibilities, and probably would’ve listed another ten if I had given him a few minutes to think about it!   So, if you see something in the store you really love but you’re not sure what you’d do with it or where to put it, don’t hesitate to ask Alan or one of the designers for suggestions.  I’m sure they’ll be able to give you lots of great ideas.

Designer Nathan enjoys using animal prints and patterns to add fun and drama to a home interior.  “I’m working with a client now who has modern tastes in decor and furnishings but just moved into a more traditionally styled home.   Rather than replacing all of their existing furniture, we’re working together to find ways to blend the two styles together.”  One way he is doing that is through the use of rugs.  “One of the suggestions I have for a rug under the dining room table is a bold zebra print,” he said.  “It’s fun and contemporary, but can also work well for a more traditional home.”

In later blogs we’ll talk more about adding whimsy to your home.  I’m planning to interview some of the local artists that DOTI at John’s Creek works with to create fun and magical environments for its clients. This Thursday, Nathan shares some of the things you need to think about when you’re designing a family room around kids and pets.  See you then!

Deborah
A.k.a. Design Sleuth

Design Sleuth-freshen your home on a budget

With spring right around the corner—in Georgia the spring daffodils are blooming!—it seemed like a wonderful time to talk with the designers at DOTI John’s Creek about easy ways to update or freshen your home interior for $1000 or less.

Alan, the owner, said that de-cluttering is a simple way to freshen a space.  “In many homes we find that most of the rooms contain way too much stuff.”  Once a room has been de-cluttered, re-arranging the existing furniture often results in a whole new look.  He also suggested adding greenery.  “High quality greenery used effectively makes a big difference.  Many people put greenery and florals in the wrong places, or consider price before design.  When you look at professionally decorated rooms in homes or magazines, more often than not they contain more greenery than what is used by the average homeowner.”  Because of their collective purchasing power, DOTI at John’s Creek is able to offer a variety of high quality greenery and florals at competitive prices.  When I was there, they had some beautiful silk orchids as well as some big dramatic floral arrangements that would make a grand statement in large rooms.

“Replacing pillows is another easy way to update or change the look of a room,” Alan said.  He suggested using “fun” pillows with polka dots, stripes, or with a bold color or pattern to punch up the “wow” factor in living spaces.  Pillows with textured fabrics, such as furred animal prints or smooth satins and silks, can also be used to update a room.

DOTI at Johns Creek has “fun” pillows displayed throughout their store.  Be careful though, because the pillows look great with their sofas, you might be tempted to take the sofa too and exceed your $1000-or-less budget!

Next week, designer Nathan shares his ideas for updating your kitchen for $1000 or less.  I’ll talk with you then.

Deborah
A.k.a. Design Sleuth

Design Sleuth

Design Sleuth
Deborah Pelham
guest blogger

How it all began …
Over the past couple of months, Alan Wyatt the owner of Designs of the Interior (DOTI) in Johns Creek, Georgia, and I had talked about adding a guest blogger to his interior design blog.  We both thought it would be a great idea and a lot of fun – and so the idea of the Design Sleuth blog was born.   I’m not an interior designer – in fact e-commerce, marketing, writing, and public relations are really my areas of familiarity – but perhaps like many of you, I have spent countless hours and days sleuthing around on the web gathering information on beautiful furniture and home furnishings, dreaming of room makeovers that “wow”, checking out remodeling and home forum tips for do-it-yourselfers, and uncovering all of the other good stuff that would make my home – and your home – that special place you really enjoy coming “home” to.

02-03-09 

Right now is a great time to start the Design Sleuth blog because Alan has just added a new interior designer to his staff.  His name is Nathan Williams and he’s been an interior designer for over 20 years.  Last week, I had the wonderful opportunity to talk with Nathan about some of the design issues me, my friends, and the other average ‘non-designer man and woman on-the street’ are grappling with right now, and I look forward to sharing his answers and design solutions with you over the next many weeks. 

We talked about things like furniture for “downsizers” and those living in smaller homes who love to entertain, how to update your “look” using some of this year’s new interior colors, home office spaces that really work, and great ways to add excitement to your rooms for $1000 or less, along with an assortment of other great topics.  Later, I also plan to write an e-zine article about rugs, since Nathan is a rug expert and so many people are using rugs now for beauty as well as function.  Nathan mentioned that one of the things he enjoys most about working as an interior designer is really getting to know the people he works with and helping them make their design dreams come true.  That sounds good to me.

On that note, we’ll end today’s Design Sleuth blog.  On Thursday, I’ll share with you one of Nathan’s favorite pieces of furniture sitting on the store floor right now.  It’s one of those wonderful dual-function problem-solvers everybody wants.  Talk with you then.

Deborah
A.k.a. Design Sleuth