Working with Scale

We are back at Joyce's house this morning for a lesson in Scale. Scale is one of the most important aspects of designing a room! When I first saw this pretty mantle, the antique mirror was hanging about 6" higher and a pair of massive sconces hung on either side. In the dining room hangs a massive 3"x4" print with these little vases beside it. We simply switched the sconces and vases and dropped the mirror 6" for a pretty new mantle that really calls attention to the pretty iron clock!!

Scale is the relationship between items based on their mass. You will hear it referred to in relationship to furniture, wall art, accessories and windows. In my above sample, the antique mirror, vases and iron clock all have dainty lines, so they work well together. Where we placed the mirror coming across the middle of the iron clock draws your eye immediately to the face of it.

I'll be checking back in a few days for a super neat idea for a headboard! Have a wonderful day! 

Warm Spiced Cider for a cold Day

I met Joyce in front of the paint stand at Hoover Paint while she was trying to decide on an orange for her dining room. She'll be the 1st to admit, she doesn't have a good sense of color and I tried to hide my shock at the Tigger orange she held in her hand. After talking for a few minutes she asked me to come to her house and help her choose a color to go with her new rug.

A few nights later I met her at her house. I walked into a nice, serene sage green living room only to look into a fire engine red dining room, I mean dynamite red!!  Somehow it seemed a little off with the other elements of  the room. I don't like to choose colors too much at night because there isn't any natural light to take into consideration but I settled on a color called Warm Cider.

A few weeks have passed and I just saw our new color on the wall, and let me say, it's spectacular!! I will post more photos later as we are still working on staging and window treatments but I was completely amazed at how much larger, even with the darker color the room seemed. I had not even noticed the beautiful chandelier hanging in that room because the red was so overwhelming.  Joyce loves the new color and friends and family have been commenting on the new look of the dining room. Stay tuned for more photos of her house very soon!

Repurposing

One of my favorite decorating tips is re-purposing what you already own. My mother is the Queen of Yardsales and regularly picks me up lamps for little to nothing. This little guy started out with a yellow base and no shade. I picked up the fabric shade at Target for about $12.00, spray painted the base dark brown and decorated the shade with stencils, a spray dye, and some ribbon. He went from a cast off to the star of a nighstand!

I have added beads, bangles, ribbon, stamped, sprayed and dyed lamps to make one of a kind objects. There are a multitude of special paints, stencils and stamps to alter pieces you already own, lamps, mirrors, frames and etc.. It's decorating on a budget of the best kind!