Magazine Decor Style
I know, I know – you’re at the check out counter at the grocery store and those beautiful rooms in those glossy pages are just CALLING out your name.
You’ve moved into your new home, unpacked the boxes, rearranged the furniture, and hung a few things on the walls. Hmmm. You’re just not feeling the love. Yes, by all means call a decorator. (Call me! 🙂 ) However you can also use these decor, or shelter magazines to help you create your next perfect room. Beyond the magazine decor, there are more options for you… Attend home shows, browse web sites (HOUZZ, Pinterest or Hometalk are great!), and read great books with very good instructions. Visiting model homes will help too. “Okay” you say, “I’ve seen them, I’ve bought them and I’ve visited them. I like what I’ve seen, but don’t know how to do it. Where do I start?”
Start here!
Pick out one room you love (LOVE) from a magazine or model home. Then take some time to study the photo to determine what it is you like.
1. 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?
2. 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?
3. 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.
4. 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 or make a note of this.
5. Are there blinds, shutters, a valance and/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?
Be sure to consider the exposure and privacy of your own windows when you make your final window treatment selection.
6. 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 this room that you love:
- 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? Great big scale or a gathering of small lovely things?
- 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?
YES, write it down!
7. 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 in figuring out what you like for your home. You can use your notes as a shopping guide OR you can share these notes with a trusted friend, design professional or even an in-house designer at your local furniture store. Armed with all these details, you’ve a great head start on your first design project – ALL from a decorating magazine!
