Ramping Up Your Home Design

I recently opened my calendar for quick consult sessions with our design-ready homeowner audience looking to ramp up their home design. These sessions are something I love making time for, as I am always inspired and energized by anyone who is ready to really love their surroundings. There is a passion in some of us to be surrounded by great design, and I absolutely can’t get enough of guiding homeowners on how to get there.

Last week, I had a consult call with a homeowner who happened to be a collector of colorful goodness in the form of antique furniture and textiles. It isn’t a matter of getting the personality in for her, it’s a matter of streamlining the best of it and making it feel cohesive and purposeful. This is a challenge for so many homeowners, collectors or not.

There are a few key design tips that will not only help you create a cohesive and purposeful home, but they will also organically ramp up your home in ways you may not even feel possible… let’s review.

The Quickest (& Easiest!) Ways to Ramp Up Your Home Design:

1. Buy Versatile Pieces:

Part of creating cohesion throughout your home is buying furnishings, artwork, and accessories that you could actually see working in multiple areas of your home. I absolutely love coordinating different spaces, in the sense that nothing needs to match, but it all needs to play together.

I shift things around my house nearly weekly. Our home office has been rearranged four times over the past two months, just to function best for our MMDH team AND my family. Each layout works for different reasons, but they mostly work because nearly all of our furnishings in this house can intermix between different rooms. That doesn’t make them bland or boring, that just makes them cohesive.

 2. Collect Coffee Table Books: 

This may feel like a no-brainer [or maybe this actually feels like a lot of brain power is required!]. I suggest buying coffee table books that you know will inspire your home design efforts. Don’t overthink the size, thickness, color, etc.

Simply buy what you gravitate towards, and use them for inspiration! Mark their pages, get to know their content, and THEN style them! Coffee table books are thee number one most versatile styling tool for designers. I talk about this more HERE.

3. Scale Up Your Rugs:

The first thing I notice when I walk into a room that does not feel purposeful or cohesive is an under-scaled rug. Yep, you heard it here first. It is not the paint color, it is not the beloved recliner in the corner, it is an undersized rug. ALWAYS measure your space and max out what grounds it best… the rug! If you love a rug that isn’t available in a large enough size to fully ground the furniture sitting on top of it, buy an inexpensive sisal rug one size up that will fill in the gaps and voids.

Make sure when you size your rug, you don’t end up covering the entire thing with furniture. If you need to make a smaller rug work, shift it out into the room, so only the front legs of your furniture pieces are on it. Your room can immediately feel larger when you shift your rug to cover the space more purposefully…. even if only a few inches. It’s actually wild how much this will ramp up your home design!

4. Add Layers:

I talk about this a lot, and I will continue to forever, or until I start walking into houses that feel lived in and “complete”. If your home is lacking in warmth, coziness, life, or just doesn’t feel like you live there, start adding those layers. One or ten items at a time!

If you have blank walls, hang something up… today! If you don’t feel like your home is cozy, warm up the corner of your space with a basket full of cozy rolled-up blankets and use them… tonight! If you feel like you need to bring more life into your home, add a cool box or bowl full of card games to your coffee table and play them… next time your family or friends are sitting around together!

5. Collect Artwork:

This tip feels like a major investment. Maybe that’s because one-of-a-kind artwork was once out of reach for most; only found in galleries that felt unapproachable; premium access to a specific type of person that was not us. Well, it turns out, times have changed. No matter what your budget is, there is always a place to start collecting one-of-a-kind or unique to you artwork.

6. Swap Out Your Pillows:

When I specify throw pillows for a client or for myself, I rarely overthink them. I either love their vibe or can do without them. They are my go-to color and pattern add. They are the lowest investment you can make in textiles for your home, with the biggest potential for impact! Don’t settle for solid-on-solid poly-fill stuffed (ie: cotton balls inside) when you can pay a bit more (or even the same price sometimes) for down-filled bolder statement zipped covered pillows with endless flexibility!

Are you ready for a home design overhaul, but you’re unsure of where to start?

Let’s game plan your next home project together. Ask me anything and get my 1:1 guidance! Sign up for a time slot that works for you, and I’ll be there for it!

xo,

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