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Decorate Your Home Like a Pro with These Easy Steps
You’ve moved into your new home, unpacked
the boxes, arranged and rearranged the furniture, hung a few things
on the walls. Hmmm. You know, or think you know how you want your
rooms to feel but can’t get from the builder white walls and your
old stuff to that wonderful comfy inviting look you got when you
were in the model of the home you purchased?
Before you panic and true anxiety sets in know there are more easy
solutions at your fingertips than ever before. There are decorator
magazines, home decorating shows, web sites, retailers, great books
with very good instructions. Visiting model homes again will help.
“Okay, “ you say, “I see them, I buy them, I visit them, I like
them, but how do I do it? I don’t know where to begin.”
Start with one room you love in a magazine or model home. We’ll call
it your dream room. If you can go to the model home to feel and
study the space or the room you will get the best results. Ask if
you may take pictures in the models too. This will help when you get
home and when you shop. Take a tape measure and a spiral notebook
with you to make notes and draw sketches. I like the ones with
plastic tabs and pockets inside.
Let’s start decorating by seeing what we like.
Are all the walls the same color and the ceiling too? What color(s)
is the room? Write this down. Is there a chair rail or decorative
molding at the ceiling, wall covering or faux painting? What is on
the floor? Is there tile, wood, carpet, area rugs? What color and
texture and pattern? Is the area rug braided or a Persian rug or a
contemporary design diagonally placed partly under one of the chairs
and sofa?
What style is the furniture? Is it all a matching set? Do all the
woods match? Maybe the sofa and club chairs are the same style and
wood finish but the chairs have a patterned upholstery and the sofa
is a solid or striped fabric. Write this down.
How is the furniture arranged? Does the sofa sit in the middle of
the room separating the conversation area from the game table, or is
all the furniture pushed up against the walls? Draw a little floor
plan so you don’t forget when you get home.
The windows. Are there blinds, shutters, a valence or draperies? Are
the rods large or small, wood or metal with huge finials? Make a
note of it. If there are panels at each side of the window, do they
go all the way to the floor? What color are they? Do they match the
walls or are they the same fabric as the toss pillows on the sofa?
Is it the drapery hold back that catches your eye? You will have to
consider the exposure and privacy out your own windows when you make
your final window treatment selection.
The pizzazz is the accessories. This is often what many people love
most about the model homes or magazine pictures that inspire them.
The details, the little things we all love to collect and buy when
we shop. This is what pulls the room together and gives it your
personality. In the room you love, what kind of lamps are there? Is
there a place to store the things you will need to put away? Are
there several things grouped on the coffee table? What sizes are
they? Is there something pretty tall, a large round platter set on a
stand and a box all grouped together? If there are photographs on
the end tables, how big are they and how does the frame style work
with everything else in the room?
What is on the walls? Is there one large picture over the sofa or is
there an arrangement of black and white photos in different size
frames? What color is the matting and how much space from the photo
to the frame? Details, details, details. Draw a sketch of the
picture arrangement and the sizes in your notebook.
Congratulations. You have just completed the first step to
decorating your own home.
You know what you want, how it goes together and what it will look
like. You don’t have to break the bank now to create your room. You
probably already have the furniture pieces and accessories. You may
already have the lamps and area rug as well. You may just have to
recreate and rearrange.
Get started. Go to the paint store and select the paint chips you
think best match your dream room. Grab several samples, color can be
deceiving and they can look different depending on the light. Take
them back to the model home and see which ones match the best. Buy
the paint and paint the room.
Your window treatment. If you copy your dream room exactly make sure
you have the right privacy and exposure considerations covered. This
is where a lot of people go astray. They think they like shutters
and buy them. Then they don’t like them and also wonder how their
dream room went wrong. Your dream room may have been more airy with
a shade and drapery panels on large wood poles. The wrong blinds,
shutters or draperies and hardware can be a costly mistake that you
probably won’t change.
Arrange your furniture for conversation, TV watching, family fun,
reading, eating or homework keeping in mind your dream room. Was all
the furniture lined up on one side of the room? Your sofa may be the
wrong color and your chairs may need to be redone. That doesn’t mean
you have to buy all new; consider slipcovers. You can buy them or
make them. Be sure your accessories are things you want around you
and are of a grand enough scale for your space. Voila! You’re on
your way to decorating confidence and living in the home that makes
you and your family happy.
About the Author: D. Benjamin is the owner of
iapsales.com LLC - a family business specializing in HVAC products. We
are distributors of
Qmark Heaters,
electric tankless water heaters,
bathroom heaters,
patio heaters, electric heaters,
portable air
conditioners & electric towel warmers. Shop on line at
www.heateroutlet.com for these great home improvement products.
Iapsales.com LLC was established in 2003 and is the sister company to
Innovative Air Products located in historical Exeter, NH. We are a 2nd
generation manufacturers’ rep firm dedicated to providing residential &
commercial heating, ventilation and air-conditioning equipment. We offer
a great selection online at the lowest prices anywhere. We can also be
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