Simple Decorating Tips and Advice

Architectural Style: Begin with the architectural style, or the natural surroundings of your home and go with the flow. Cottages look great decorated in a more casual country decor with floral, checks, linen, cotton and cheery colors. Victorian homes are best decorated in a more formal atmosphere, with lots of lace, antiques, ferns, flowered wallpaper and pastel colors. Cape Cod homes look great with nautical themes, the colors found on the seaside and definitely white trim. Homes in the woods should have lots of wood, plants, and natural materials and fabrics that bring the outdoors inside, painted with more earthy colors. City lofts would look great decorated with more modern materials such as glass and chrome with perhaps a black and white theme. Just don't fight against your home's architectural style. Flow with your home's design and surroundings and you'll be well on your way to creating a natural, well balanced, inviting atmosphere throughout.

Color: If your not sure where to begin with your homes color scheme, get inspiration from a rug, a pillow, a painting, a towel, a tapestry or any one of your favorite things and look at the colors in it. If you like the way the colors look together in the object, then you will be pleased with the way the colors look together throughout your home. Choose perhaps three to five colors to spread throughout your rooms. Make sure that each room has at least one of the three to five colors you have chosen in it. This will give your home a comfortable, harmonious, and balanced appearance. After you have chosen your colors make sure to contrast the wall and trim paint. If your trim is dark, keep the walls light. If your trim is light keep the trim darker. My preference is for the walls to be darker than the trim, unless the trim is a dark natural high quality wood. If your trim is outdated low quality wood, or in poor shape, it would be best to paint it. This will give your home a fresh new, updated look. Be sure to use a high quality, gloss or semi-gloss paint to make cleaning your trim a breeze.

Furniture: For furniture keep the big tickets items such as couches, love seats, or recliners neutral and accessorize with color. As far as furniture goes, don't think that all the furniture should be shoved against a wall. Try to create groups of furniture into sitting areas, conversation areas, or reading areas. If you have a large room try to create at least two groups of furniture in the room. Two chairs in front of a large window with an end table in between is a classic seating arrangement. Keep the chairs about 18" away from the window in order for the drapes to hang easily and to be able to walk behind the chairs to open and close the windows. Instead of putting your sofa against a wall, try putting it more in the center of a room, or at an angle if your room is odd shaped. By bringing sofas, coffee tables, and chairs closer to each other it creates a more intimate area, that is easier for conversation, and much more inviting then having the furniture spread out. Try putting just one or two chairs separate from the main grouping for quiet reading or intimate conversations.

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