home decor

  There are so many decisions to make when you begin decorating a new home or renovating. Something as basic as what colour to paint the trim often causes homeowners hours of deliberation.  How about you?  What decision have you made about painting your trim work? 1.  White/off white This is  the most common solution to painting trim .  It works with every style and is fresh and crisp.    Norwich Architect Smith & Vansant Architects PC Nightingale Design Even if you have white walls your trim can also be white. Consider changing the paint sheen to semi gloss or gloss if you want to accentuate the trim in a white room.         2. Wood - natural  or stained  There was a period of time when many homes had natural or stained wood trim, but this trend has slipped a little in the last ten years.  When you have wood your decision is often to leave it natural or stain it.  When your floors are al...

New growth always brings with it hope and energy for life.  Once the snow goes I always get a hankering to make changes inside my home.  Now don't get me wrong, these aren't major changes.  I'm more into ten minute additions.  Sometimes I'm willing to commit an hour or two to a special project. If you get the spring  hankerings perhaps there's inspiration in these ideas. Use a tray to organize a vignette Perhaps you have a blaw wooden tray you could spray paint and then organize a colourful spring vignette in it.  Think about what you might already have to add and then buy several filler items.    A small tray on a bathroom counter adds a fresh look.  Placing a grouping of cut  flowers always adds to any vignette. I particularly love groupings of white and muted colours and then a big splash of colour with cut flowers.  Yes,  my biases are showing.  Fresh flowers rule in my life.   Plant spring bulbs Tall glass v...

 Traditionally many homeowners get the re-decorating bug in spring.  I'm no exception.  I am planning a major painting job for the downstairs of my home. As I age, I seem to want less and less colour on my walls.  My choice for living room, dining room and hallways is  Ben Moore Acadia White OC 35 (#5)  to  replace Elephant Tusk (#6). Acadia White is a warm white without being too yellow.  It is darker (not by much) than Cloud White which is the colour on my trim. If you love colour here are some crisp, fresh combinations for spring updates. 

Part 3  of composing inviting interiors ... Doesn't  implied lines sound very  technical? It refers to  lines from separate objects that run into each other and seem to form a single edge. This is sometimes called a hidden edge. Such visual anomalies cause confusion and/or boredom in our homes (and in artwork). I like this well put together vignette and what I'm going to point out is probably the result of  the angle from which the photo was taken, but it works well to illustrate this point.  You can see that the lamp looks like it shares the same edge as the art work. source This is another shot of the room and  indeed the lamp is placed away from the edge of the artwork.  If it wasn't that is all you would need to do to tweek the arrangement. A similar problem is created when you have implied lines set up when  several objects are the same height  in an arrangement.  A prime example of this implied line happens  w...

And now for Part 2 of my arranging objects series....  Scattering objects to the the edges of a table or mantle can  either create a visual mess or a striking composition using repetition.  Think about how you want to arrange a collection. What do you have in the collection that could be the star or the weightiest object?    Scattering objects to the edges of  can create a problem in two ways: When you arrange objects in a vignette  and you spread the object  along the length of the tabletop from side to side you are pulling  the focus to the edges and the cohesiveness  usually falls apart.    source Some effort was made in this vignette to have a centre of interest by placing the bell jar and the plant pick in the centre.  Unfortunately height and colour in the plants take command and your eye runs both up and off the edges.  When you want to anchor your eye the tallest objects  (several massed)  sh...

This is the first post of a series I have planned to focus on arranging objects in a pleasing way in your home.  The same principles of design that are the backbone of a good painting can be applied to designing a room or a vignette.  People often know when something doesn't look right , but they might not be able to articulate why they have that feeling. I thought I would focus on some of the finer points that can move a space from fine to fantastic. Do you have.... Kissing objects  That's the best way to describe objects that touch each other or look like they are touching  thus causing an odd tension/confusion.  Is it one object? Two objects? Why are they side by side? etc.  source These two nesting dolls tell the story.  Do you want to move them apart? Another thing that happens when object touch or are too close together is the creation of boring negative space especially when the objects have the same form. You can see that the shape between the ...