Favorite design tips/rules

[peach]

Share your favorite decorating/design tips or rules. Ones that you always follow and get great results.

For me,

-I saw on a tv show once that "every room needs a touch of black". Pretty sure it was the great Brian Gluckstein that said it. He is so right! A black curtain rod, some black photo frames, even just little accents of black just "Do" something for a room that I like. My daughter's room is all pale pink and whites, and I hung her white drapes from a chunky black rod. It looks so sharp! Normally I would just gravitate to a silver rod but I tried black and I love the look in there.

-Hanging drapes high and wide. Some people take this too extreme, but it does look so good. My mom recently did this in her house, took the drapes up about another 18 inches and their house looks bigger! It made a dramatic difference, so cool to see.

-The 80/20 rule of mixing two different decor styles. Almost any two styles can be mixed together, as long as you do 80 percent of one style and mix in no more than about 20 percent of the other.

[tarheels]

Lighting at 3 heights in every room: table, floor, ceiling.

Group accessories in 3s.

[simpsongal]

Good ones, peach and tarheels. I particularly like the one about black.

I'm just now learning that layering different versions of the same color can look very styilsh, especially in different textures.

I am also of the opinion that nothing transforms a space like molding. Paint is dramatic, yes. Curtains can feel luxurious. But molding lends a sense of architecture and permanance that makes a room feel mature, expensive, and complete.

[mrs.jacinthe]

It's ok to break "the rules" sometimes. It's not ok to break all the rules at once.

A chair that is beautiful but not comfortable might as well be a vase.

Things don't have to match to look good together.

Ducks are not acceptable wall decor.

[Deleted]

Pattern Mixing: Same color scheme different pattern or same pattern different colors. It's not a hard and fast rule but it works quick and stops the circus WTH did you do look. Also always mix a large pattern with a smaller or at least same size one. Two large or two small patterns rarely look right.

When decorating shelves do it how you want then take one item off. Really stops the color.

It's only paint. Live a little!

Keep only stuff you love or is truly useful. Random clutter is hard to clean and detracts from the stuff you really want to showcase.

[sunshineandwine]

Nov 30, 2012 16:02:27 GMT -5 mrs.jacinthe said:

Ducks are not acceptable wall decor.

This made me laugh (and is true!).

Agree with all 'rules' listed above.

Don't be afraid to mix patterns...in small doses.
Hang art at eye level. So many people hang things much too high!
Lighting can make all of the difference.
Molding is your friend.
Let a room develop overtime and buy pieces that you truly love. It's easy to order a matching coffee table and end table set with the coordinating lamps and sofa, but it doesn't create an inviting or unique space.
Don't be afraid to re-purpose a room. If your family never utilizes a formal dining room than turn the room into an office/study/playroom/whatever.
Do not be afraid of color. The world is not meant to be beige.

[sierramist03]

When mixing patterns use a small print and a large print

[McGavin]

Nov 30, 2012 15:48:47 GMT -5 peach said:

Share your favorite decorating/design tips or rules. Ones that you always follow and get great results.

For me,

-I saw on a tv show once that "every room needs a touch of black". Pretty sure it was the great Brian Gluckstein that said it. He is so right! A black curtain rod, some black photo frames, even just little accents of black just "Do" something for a room that I like.

Tommy Smythe was just on Marilyn Denis a couple weeks ago and he was talking about this too. He called them "blaccents", lol.

Definitely hanging art at eye level. At my parent's house everything is hung up to the ceiling and it looks terrible.

[Deleted]

-Decorate from the ground up. Pick a rug you like, then pick paint, textiles, etc. When I haven't followed this I've struggled mightily to find a rug in the right colors/size. When I've started with the floor, it's seemed so easy.
-Picture mats often look better when they are slightly larger on the bottom side than on the top side
-Natural materials whenever possible. Wood/linen/cotton/metal/wool/leather/glass hold up so much better long term than polyester/vinyl/pastic

[maddysmum]

Nov 30, 2012 16:25:25 GMT -5 sunshineandwine said:

Nov 30, 2012 16:02:27 GMT -5 mrs.jacinthe said:

Let a room develop overtime and buy pieces that you truly love. It's easy to order a matching coffee table and end table set with the coordinating lamps and sofa, but it doesn't create an inviting or unique space.

This is my biggest failure.

I get too fixated on having a finished space and rush it. It's not so much buying matching sets for me, but going out with the express purpose of finding "just the right piece" (whether that's a piece of decor or furniture or art) and not coming home until I find it because I want the room to be "done" ASAP. The result is always pieces that aren't quite right, and the room looks meh instead of truly done.

I've promised myself that I will quit doing that and instead focus on finding pieces I love over time, or being impulsive and buying something not because it's right but because I love it - way better results!

[Deleted]

I haven't heard a lot of these but they make sense now that I use them in the context of my favorite rooms. In fact I am trying to add more modern (my 20%) .

[heygrey]

Less is more. Not everything you love has to be on display at once. Store some and rotate things in and out.