We’re assuming you’ve decided to take a run at this yourself without
the aid and expense of a professional. It sure looks easy on
TV. We’ll here’s a few things they know that you should know so
that you end up with neither décor disaster nor Bland-o’-Rama.
Thing No. 1 Steal this look.
Sounds easy enough but you
can’t imagine how many people have not a single idea of what they like
(especially those X chromosome challenged among us). Is there a
room you like anywhere in this world? A picture? A hotel you once
stayed in? Grandma’s house? The easiest thing in the world is to
identify that room and knock it off. If you’re doing a whole
house, please do embrace the idea of some consistency. We’d
really rather you didn’t have a Moroccan living room and an American
Colonial kitchen – that is not “eclectic” that’s just ugly.
Thing No. 2 Color Me Mine.
Once you have some idea of a style
that you’re going for, you need a color palette. The style, to a
certain degree, might inform your palette. Your palette is not
just paint but the palette for the entire room (or house as the case
may be.) Accent colors may boil down to a few pillows or a vase.
Go to the paint store and get yourself a fan deck and a pile of paint
chips that you like. Paint chips are free and we’ve been
known to take 50 of them (trust us, nobody cares.) Don’t forget the
paint strips with multiple shades. And, invest in a fan deck – should
set you back about 25 bones. www.sherwin-williams.com Spread the paint
chips out and start shuffling them around in combinations that you
like. If you have one color that you really like, find it in the
fan deck and look for related hues. If you go up the fan deck (away
from your hand) these will be lighter “tones” of that color. If
you go forward or backward and remain in the same position on the card,
these colors have the same “value.” Nowadays, everybody has these fancy
interactive palette tools. We gotta’ admit these things are fun,
but beware, we’ve been known to lose hours playing with them. Try
Color Smart @ www.behr.com Better yet, if you’d rather not have
your soul sucked out into the computer monitor, let Martha do it for
you. She has assembled coordinating colors on single chips.
The lady may not be so slick when it comes to insider trading, but boy,
she sure knows what she’s doing in the decorating department.
www.marthastewart.com. If you like having your soul sucked out,
still more fun to be had with interactive room visualization tools @ lowes.com and homedepot.com
A. You need a background color – if you’re into blue,
go for the one right in the center of the strip. This is the most
neutral.
B. The shades around this color (both up and down and
across) are a nice way to start building your palette.
C. The key to working with neutrals is to add
contrast. We like one neutral, one light shade, one dark shade,
one white for trim and two complimentary
accent colors per room – these
are the punch. If you look at a color wheel, the colors opposite
each other (diagonally, horizontally and
vertically) are complimentary
colors.
Thing No. 3 God is in the masking.
Yeah, we know, you’re
a great painter right? Everyone thinks they are and very few of
you really are. There’s a lot more to painting than painting.
Like sanding, patching, masking and priming, not to mention super
crisp, clean lines, types of paint and number of coats. If you
insist, at least get yourself one of these Pro-Trim gizmos
www.asontv.com BTW Leonardo, walls are flat, trim is semi-gloss
or eggshell. Finally, most paint stores sell sample size
jars. Do get some up on the wall before you commit.
Thing No. 4 Approach the project in layers.
Christopher
Lowell (christopherlowell.com ) wrote a book about all this stuff and
we thinks it ain’t too shabby of an approach.
Two other important
elements to manage are:
• Space planning: It’s important that everything fits
in the room comfortably and allows for good traffic flow. If you
don’t posses an intuitive sense of these things then might we suggest
investing in a little board game? spaceplanning.com. If you’re
pressed for cash, you can always mask off furniture pieces on the floor
of an empty room.
• Scale: You’re going to have to balance the
scale of things. A huge, overstuffed sofa paired with a dainty
little coffee table is going to look, well… stupid.
Thing No. 5 Don’t decorate.
Curate. Nobody ever
listens to us when we say this because everybody’s always in such a
damn hurry but…take your time. Find pieces that you love.
It’s bad cosmic energy to grab a bunch of furniture and jam it
in. Larger pieces should be more plain – insert your favorite
word – classic, simple, timeless. You can set these pieces off
with smaller, more distinctive, pieces. Besides, the really good
stuff is going to take at least 12 weeks and if it’s coming from Europe
and the month of August is involved; you’re talking 16-18 weeks.
Thing No. 6 Color, Texture, Pattern.
Successfully
designed rooms have some of each. Go easy on the pattern (limit
to accents) and medium on the texture (smaller upholstered furniture or
a slight texture in carpeting).
Thing No. 7 Hang artwork lower than your mother did.
This is one of our personal pet peeves. 80 percent of the world’s
population hangs artwork too high. This is the sign of a rank
amateur. We don’t care if you are 6’4”. There is something
in architecture and design called “human scale.” Observe how it is done
in galleries and museums and follow suit.
Thing No. 8 Don’t skate furniture around the perimeter.
Another pet peeve, another sign of an amateur. Consider
“floating” furniture away from the wall and create “zones” with
furniture placement and rugs. This will make the room much more
intimate and inviting. Employ the use of “vignettes.” These
are little areas that conjure up a story or a moment. An
upholstered chair, ottoman, throw, reading lamp and a bookshelf creates
a cozy corner and is an example of a vignette. All the while,
each room should have a “focal point.” This is where the drama is
– where the room is defined. Don’t be afraid to use the “volume”
of the room by going all the way to the ceiling with shelving.
This can be very inviting in a small space and create warmth in a
cavernous one.
Thing No. 9 Save the earth and yourself.
Because we’re
good, tree-hugging San Franciscans, it’s worth mentioning that
Environmentally Safe paints have come a long way and all our groovy
designer friends in Los Angeles are using them. If you don’t want
to end up like Julianne Moore in “Safe” www.netflix.com or especially,
if you’re doing a baby’s room, check out www.ecospaints.com or
www.safepaint.net. Some of them claim they are “safe enough to
eat!” That’s great because there’s nothing worse than waiting for
the pizza delivery guy when you’re standing on a ladder, dizzy from
paint fumes.