Giving Your Home Your Personality
Top interior designers aren’t shy with their advice for the best decorating secrets.
Oscar de la Renta says perfect lighting is the most important thing. Ross Cassidy says have fun. Mark Hampton claims that comfort is vital. Use these elements to make your house into a home and create comfortable and beautiful surroundings. Add pillows, use window treatments that let in natural light, choose colors you love, and add lots of personal touches.
Let Your Personality Show
Your house is just a house until you add personal touches that reflect your likes, your experiences, and your personality. Figure out if you want to go casual and eclectic, traditional and classic, clean and contemporary, country charm or some other favorite interior design style.
If you love antiques, use them to create a vintage look for your home. If you’ve always been drawn to pastel colors, use pastel shades on your walls and floors.
Use accessories that reflect your interests, such as gilded picture frames if you’re a romantic.
If you are a collector, display your collections on walls and shelves. The things that you love are what brings your personality to your living space.
Homey Touches
Add homey, comfortable touches to your decor to make it feel more like home than the house you just bought. Plants lighten up a room and add serenity and nature to your space and fresh flowers add a touch of color and beauty that can be switched out and refreshed at different times throughout the seasons. Colorful mixed bouquets can compliment any kitchen or dining room and long stem blooms look great in grand entryways.
Family photos or travel photos and photos with friends can remind you of good times and people you love. Stairwells are a wonderful place to showcase a number of photos in both large and small frames.
Lamps add light, warmth, nurturing and a feeling of security to a home.
A wreath on the front door is cheerful, welcoming, and caring. And wreaths can be customized throughout the seasons, just like fresh flowers, for a homey-feel.
Choose comfortable furniture rather than the latest style and mix different pieces for a less put-together look.
Find furniture and accessories with texture to add visual and physical interest, such as a thick rug, a chunky leather chair, or a big, thick afghan. Instead of harsh, bright lights, use warm lighting and natural light for a cozier look and feel.
Color Your World
Color determines how a room in your home will feel. Designer Susan Sargent advises people not to be afraid to use vibrant color to define a space and create focal points. Paint one wall in a room with an accent color different than the other walls for dramatic effect. Architectural color consultant Bonnie Krims likes to choose colors from a central object in a room and use varying shades of it for wall and accent colors.
Color marketing consultant Ken Charbonneau recommends starting with a color you love and testing on the wall before committing to it and lightening or darkening it if it’s not right when tested.
