decorating your home | Lauras Choice

Hello Friends!

For those of you who are in the process of buying a new home, you may wonder how to put your personal stamp on its décor. How do you start? I always recommend, whether you’re decorating a living room, bedroom or bath, starting with a focal point – to enhance the room’s ambiance and underscore the room’s purpose.

Focal points can be easily be created by highlighting a room’s unique architecture, such as a magnificent fireplace or a sunny bay window with a garden, pastoral or water view. But what if some rooms don’t have an outstanding architectural feature to build upon? You may have to create one yourself. Here are some tricks of the trade you can use – size, color, light, and curiosity.

Size: Large items attract interest. Start by putting the largest piece of furniture against the largest wall to help traffic flow. This can be an entertainment center in a family room, the bed or recessed seating area in a bedroom, hutch in a dining room etc. Rugs also command attention and work to anchor your décor.

Color and Texture: Paint a contrasting wall color behind your sofa or bed, or add texture with fabric, colorful quilts, or wood such as shiplap. Pop the color on small items like pillows, table runners, and placemats. Vivid color helps direct the eye to seating areas and pairs well with neutrals.

Shiplap creates a dramatic, natural focal point for this fireplace.

Light: Your eye travels to where it can see the best. Put directional light on a piece of fine art. Dim or brighten lighting when you want to change the room’s atmosphere. Make sure you have plenty of lamp light vs. the harshness of bright overhead lighting. Cabinet lighting can create a beautiful glowing focal point in your kitchen!

Curiosity: A collection under glass, a great piece of art, interesting plants, flowers, or books, an unusual piece of furniture – all invite conversation and draw attention.

By establishing your focal point, I’m sure you’ll have an easier time putting the rest of the room together!

Thanks for reading and have fun decorating my friends! As always call/text/email/comment me if I can help your further!

Save

Hi Everyone! Thought you might like a decor tip or two! If you know me you know I use yellow as an accent color in my home. Are you looking to change it up in yours? Here’s an idea for you…

To paint and decorate your home without worrying whether you’re going overboard with color, try the classic interior design rule known as the 60/30/10 rule. It’s a foolproof way to divide your color scheme into primary, secondary and accent colors by assigning them percentage values.

The primary color is the largest block of color and will act as your neutral. You can use a true neutral like beige, grey, or white, or try a soft tint of your favorite color. The secondary color is the anchor and works well on upholstery and bedspreads. The accent color should have the most color intensity and is used sparingly in pillows, chair seats or oil paintings. Outside, the primary color is the brick, stucco or siding, the trim is the secondary color and the front door, porch chairs, or planter pots are the accent.

If you choose a deep shade for walls, give the paint a satin finish for sophistication. A dark color can easily look chalky. And the opposite is true—a light color can become blinding in a shiny finish. If you have lots of fine wood trim, paint baseboards, crown moldings and door and window trims in a complementary hue like white or cream.

To test a paint chip for accuracy, hold it parallel to the wall under natural light. Buy sample jars and test the colors on large poster boards you can tape to the walls. Watch how the colors change throughout the day and evening under artificial light.

Remember, interior colors always tend to go darker, while exterior colors appear lighter.

Hope this helps ya! And if you haven’t already – don’t forget to subscribe to lauraschoice.com! You can easily do this – just look to the handy side bar and click Subscribe to Laura’s Choice!

Happy summer!!!!

Decorating Advice: Creating Focal Points

Interior Decor Tip – Try the 60/30/10 rule!