I thought I would take a moment to discuss the way I approach creating a welcoming room. This approach works regardless of which room in your home you are working on. I believe that this information is the foundation of good interior design. Other designers may approach this process differently but this is what works for me and has made many pf my clients very happy.

1. Understand your goals and needs:
If you don’t understand how you will use the space then you can’t create a space that will support your needs. You may think you have ideas about what your space needs but it is imperative that you write it down! I always begin with the goals for the space. How will this room be used? What functions does it need to accommodate? How many people will usually occupy it?

For the project pictured here, the goal was to create a one-bedroom apartment for a single young professional. The functional goals were the ability to entertain and occasionally work from home.

Unable to update the cabinetry or paint the walls, I added colorful art and a new stainless steel work surface set up as a bar. The client loves to entertain so this functional addition was an important part of the design.

The open floor plan meant that the consistent use of color helped the spaces flow. Also, the neutral backdrop means that the accent color can easily be changed in the future.

2. Formulate a plan:
Begin at the beginning. Measure the room including where all windows, doors and architectural features are located (like odd bump-outs or bulk heads). Draw the room to scale on graph paper. If you want to go hi-tech, there are many pieces of software that will let you draw a room. I prefer to use paper and pencil. I’m a little old-fashioned. Next measure any furniture that is definitely staying in the room. If you already bought your new sofa (and jumped ahead of the process), measure it so you can work it into a cohesive plan. Create paper cut-outs of these pieces of furniture that you need to keep. I draw them to scale on the same kind of graph paper, cut them out and label them with a name and the dimensions.

This next part is where art and science meet. Look at your goals and needs for the room and look at your room. How do you cram all of your needs into the space you have? Most of us have multi-functional rooms. I find that in general, choosing furniture that can perform multiple tasks helps as does creating activity zones. Do you need to watch tv and have a work space? Perhaps you can put a sofa table behind your sofa, add a chair and a lamp and create a work space. Is your dining room also your kids’ craft area? Add a closed cabinet that can act as a serving piece but stores crayons and art supplies. I also like adding bookshelves in dining rooms to create a library or study zone so that the dining room doesn’t sit empty and unused. Your individual solution will depend upon your unique needs and constraints.

The apartment (a rental) has an open living/dining area, small kitchen and average sized bedroom. We wanted to maintain a feeling of openness and keep the space from feeling too formal or serious. We created functional zones. There is a distinct living room, dining room and work space.

By using a glass-topped table, we are able to maintain the open feeling in this relatively small space.

3. Create a shopping list:
You’ve created your plan and drawn have taken into account your goals and needs as well as traffic flow. Now you know what is missing. Create a shopping list of all of the large pieces of furniture that are required to complete your project. Include dimensions and approximate budget. Before you spend any money…shop your house. Look in your basement, attic, garage and other rooms to see if you already own something that is underused and could be re-purposed. Finally, shop! Start out on-line so you get a sense of what things are available and at what prices. You may find the perfect pieces and buy them right away or you may prefer to take this knowledge and go visit some of your local furniture stores. Either way, always have a tape measure and your list of needed pieces and their dimensions.

We were fortunate that we were able to start with a clean slate. This means that I was able to choose pieces that are the right scale for the space. Knowing that this is likely to be a relatively short-term arrangement (2-4 years) I chose pieces that are flexible and can work in future homes.

We continued the accent color from the living space but added blue in the bedding and curtains. This gives the room added interest. The bedding was found at a local discount store as a complete set. This follows my rule of “shop everywhere”. It was perfect and priced well.

4. Shop everywhere:
I look for items in the strangest places. You can get good deals on the internet just be sure you read the descriptions very carefully and understand the return policy. Some smaller furniture retailers will let you order from catalogs if they don’t stock exactly what you want. Just ask. I also shop all of the major chains.Even the ones that you don’t think of selling furniture. I have found accessories at the drug store, furniture in thrift stores, vintage stores, Target, Wal-Mart, Sears…my point is to go into every possible store and keep an open mind (and your shopping list).

I sourced most of the items locally and looked everywhere. The curtain rods came from Wal-Mart, the curtains from JC Penney, the bedding from Marshalls, etc. Some f the larger pieces came from a large furniture chain that was going out of business. Shop everywhere and keep an open mind.

5. Put it all together and re-assess:
Sometimes I assemble a room all at once and sometimes I add a few pieces and take stock before moving forward. Either way, once all of your pieces are in the room, step back and assess if you are happy with the outcome. You can always return or exchange things or you may discover that you overlooked a spot that needs “just a little something”. Personally, I like to leave space in a room for it to evolve over time.

Since the space was deigned for a young professional, we included a small desk and comfortable chair so that there is a dedicated space for a lap top. This allows for another important function into the living area but the space still feels open. The chair can also be used at the dining table or near the couch if needed. (back of chair is seen in the left edge of the picture)

Although the space looks completely furnished, I still left areas where the client can continue to add pieces of furniture, art or collections so that the space will evolve and continue to reflect the personality of the person (or people) who live there.

6. Enjoy the process:

Don’t think of it as work, think of it as doing something to improve the quality of your life. Creating spaces that welcome you and make you feel nurtured can be life-altering. Your newly decorated spaces will help you relax, improve your family life, expand your social life and generally improve the quality of your daily life. Enjoy the process and hold onto your receipts and don’t worry about making mistakes.

If you would like help creating a welcome home, contact me at 443-812-6339 or jill.valeri@verizon.net.

Maryland Life Magazine featured on of my projects in the February issue. The clients are a young family in Hanover, Maryland. They recently bought a newly built home and asked me to help them add some personality and character. We started by adding recessed halogen lights in the living room, wall sconces in the dining room and new chandeliers in the dining room and foyer.

Next we added generous amounts of custom woodwork. We added recessed panel wainscoting in the dining room at chair rail height and board and batten panelling at 3/4 height in the living room.

The furnishings are a combination of pieces they already owned with some new pieces for a fresh look. The color scheme was derived from their area rugs and we even painted the ceilings so the rooms are enveloped in soft earth tones.

The spaces are warm and inviting and even though they now contain traditional and formal elements, the overall feeling of the rooms is relaxed and young.

I mention this project in another post here and there are more pictures of the light fixtures in the dining room as well as some pictures from the middle of the project.

The article is not on their website yet and I will link to it as soon as it goes live. In the meantime, if you want to see the article in its entirety, you can find Maryland Life Magazine at Barnes and Noble, Costco, Walgreens and Giant Supermarket.

If you would like help adding personality to your home, contact me at 443-812-6339 or jill.valeri@verizon.net. I can help you make yours a Welcome Home.

The most common question I get asked is “How much will this room cost?”  Setting your decorating budget is always a challenge for homeowners. They may have a set amount of money put aside but they have no idea how much things cost or how to allocate the money so that everything gets done. I always tell them that we won’t know how much it will cost until we have created a decorating plan.

During my first meeting with any client we discuss the functional needs of the space. We talk about things like:

• how will you use the room
• what activities will happen there
• how many people will it need to accommodate
• are there pets or young children
• what’s working for you in the room
• what’s not working for you
• what pieces of furniture do you intend to keep in the room or re-purpose from another part of your home

Based on the answers, I will create a scale drawing of the room and place furniture in the plan to meet all of their needs. Once they approve the floor plan we have a shopping list of what pieces I need to find for them to complete the plan. Based on my experience and knowledge I am able to provide an average cost for each item. Once these are added up we know what the approximate cost of the room is.

Next we talk about budget and whether everything can be done at once or if we need to divide the project into phases to make it financially comfortable. I know it is more fun to do a room from start to finish but that is not always possible. People need to realize that their dream room can evolve over time as their budget allows.

The rooms above looked like this (below) for a while. It took some patience to get them to their completed state and the homeowners are now taking some time before we start on phase 2: their master bedroom and family room.

I hope this demystifies the budgeting process and explains why, if you ask me on the phone for a ballpark estimate for the cost of your new family room, I simply can’t give you a satisfactory answer.

How do you set a decorating budget? . . .First you need a decorating plan.

If you would like help creating a welcome home, contact me at 443-812-6339 or at jill.valeri@verizon.net. Don’t live in my area? Ask me about e-design.

Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Welcome Home: Interior Design Solutions Receives 2012 Best of Ellicott City Award

Ellicott City Award Program Honors the Achievement

LOS ANGELES, CA, May 3, 2012 — The Welcome Home: Interior Design Solutions has been selected for the 2012 Best of Ellicott City Award in the Interior Decorator & Designer Supplies category by the Ellicott City Award Program.

Each year, the Ellicott City Award Program identifies companies that we believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and our community. These exceptional companies help make the Ellicott City area a great place to live, work and play.

Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2012 Ellicott City Award Program focuses on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the USCA and data provided by third parties.

About Ellicott City Award Program

The Ellicott City Award Program is an annual awards program honoring the achievements and accomplishments of local businesses throughout the Ellicott City area. Recognition is given to those companies that have shown the ability to use their best practices and implemented programs to generate competitive advantages and long-term value.

The Ellicott City Award Program was established to recognize the best of local businesses in our community. Our organization works exclusively with local business owners, trade groups, professional associations and other business advertising and marketing groups. Our mission is to recognize the small business community’s contributions to the U.S. economy.

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I am working with a lovely couple on their new home. They have lived there for about a year. Since the house is new construction, it lacks some of the details and character of an older home. This is a very common problem. You build your dream home and even upgrade the trim package but the house still lacks personality.

For these clients we decided to start by adding layers of architectural detail. We added recessed paneling below the chair rail in the dining room and we added board and batten paneling in the living room as well as recessed halogen lights. Once the trim had been added, we painted it all white to match the rest of the house. We chose a color palette based on the dining room area rug. We painted the wall above the paneling in the living room sw Nuthatch and the ceiling sw Simplify Beige. We painted the dining room walls sw Attitude Gray and the ceiling sw Magnetic Gray. The foyer was painted a color slightly lighter than Nuthatch.

Murray Feiss lighting

We combined traditional trim work with modern colors and lighting

This piece coordinates with the dining room fixtures

You can see the impact the changes have made and the new lighting adds a younger, modern feeling to the traditional backdrop. The living room is now partially furnished and the dining room table, chairs and rug are returning next week.

Recessed halogen lights and board and batten paneling add character to new construction.

We still need to address the window treatments, art and accessories. The clients are very happy with the results so far and are looking forward to sharing their home with family and friends over the upcoming holiday. I promise to post more when the rooms are complete.

If you would like help making your house into a welcome home, please contact me at 443-812-6339 or jill.valeri@verizon.net

‘Til next time,
Make yours a
Welcome Home

I am so excited to be one of the decorators chosen to participate in this year’s BSO Decorators Show House. The house is unique in that it is located on farm land owned and maintained by Baltimore County. The house is interesting and quirky and hasn’t been updated in ages. This is especially true of the master bathroom.

This is giving me an opportunity to show people how they can create a fresh, updated look in an older bathroom without doing a full remodel.

I put together a mood board in Polyvore to illustrate to the BSO organizers my vision for the space.

BSO show house mood board

The bathroom has an enormous soaking tub that has seen better days, a painted vanity that is NOT glamorous, a lightbox that conceals a fluorescent light fixture and acres of beige tile. It does not feel soothing, serene and luxurious…yet.

We start the dirty work in mid-February and I will post updates as the metamorphosis progresses.

If you need help updating a dated space in your home, contact me at 443-812-6339 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            443-812-6339      end_of_the_skype_highlighting or jill.valeri@verizo.net.

‘Til next time, make yours a
Welcome Home.

Deborah Huso at The Washington Examiner wrote a great article about how to incorporate your television into your room design. She interviewed me as one of her expert sources. You can Read all about it here

In the article she mentions Avery Studios as one source for elegant wall-mounted cabinets to enclose your flat screen. They do a beautiful job and it’s all custom.

The article doesn’t include pictures so I wanted to show you the custom media storage cabinet I designed for one of my clients.

Custom cabinet built by Mark Pawlak

Some people are not interested in hiding their television. Depending on the architecture of your space, the style of your decor and your personal preference, leaving your television out in the open is also a great option.

We chose to not hide the television for this client.

We were able to create a peaceful, luxurious space while also leaving the television out in the open.

Enjoy the article in the Washington Examiner!

If you would like help creating a “Welcome Home”, contact me at 443-812-6339 or jill.valeri@verizon.net

I recently completed a guest bedroom project that I am excited to share. The project started when the room had some water damage and the carpet had to be replaced. As with many decorating projects, this had a domino effect. The conversation went something like this…”Since we are changing the flooring, wouldn’t it be nice to paint the walls and finish taping/sanding/painting that one wall we never really completed? And while we are at it, let’s change the colors. The yellow feels tired…which means we need new bedding and…” You get the idea.

So out with the old bedding. Out with the fabric that was hanging behind the bed (it concealed a small window), out with the dresser (it moved into the very large dressing area), out with all of the miscellaneous nic nacs and accessories that had ended up in the room (all extra decor ends up in the guest room).

The artwork inspired the color scheme

We chose a soothing aqua blue for the walls and brought in a slant top desk as one night stand and an old sewing table (with the sewing machine still inside) as the other night stand. Some new art came in and was the inspiration for the color scheme. The bedding and side chairs’ colors can be found in the art.

The old sewing table is topped with a painted lamp that used to be brass, a crystal clock and a silver bowl for loose change.

We added a floating mantel shelf above the fireplace which is accessorized with a framed painting that has sentimental value and we filled the fireplace with battery-operated candles.

The accessories are minimal to enhance the serene mood of the room

To deal with the awkward windows (this is in a basement with those awful little windows) I found some vintage wood exterior shutters and painted them white to match the baseboard trim. These are mounted in front of each window, including the one in the adjoining bathroom. They are far from perfect and add a lot of character to this room (which had no interesting architectural features.

Old exterior shutters get a new life indoors

The bathroom didn’t get much attention. Mostly a new set of towels, a closet stocked with extra blankets and a folding luggage rack to help guests unpack. I did add a large glass jar full of bars of soap (I chose Dove soap for the shape, color and scent), a soap dish and covered dish that holds cotton swabs.

The room was completed just in time for the arrival of pre-Thanksgiving guests who gave it their 5-star rating.

This room was completed in a short time on a short budget. If you would like help making your guests feel welcome, please contact me at 443-812-6339 or jill.valeri@verizon.net.

‘Til next time,

Make yours a

Welcome Home.

I opened up my copy of The Howard County Times this morning and right there on the front page…The 27th Annual Historic Ellicott City Decorator Show house! I am so excited. The article included several pictures with even more on-line. The reporter interviewed several of us and The Welcome Home was quoted extensively.

Unfortunately, one of my quotes was taken out of context. I was discussing how the homeowners made several important decisions regarding the trim color, vanity and sink and how my hands were tied in many ways. What they left out was how this more accurately represents what it’s like to work with clients and it is our job as the professional to see these constraints as opportunities to apply our creativity to a project. I hate that I sound a little negative in that quote in the paper. I really like the homeowners and the choices they made were really nice. They just aren’t choices made by me.

You can read the entire article here

Since my space was difficult to photograph you don;t get to see it in the paper. You just have to come out and see it for yourself!

‘Til next time, make yours a

Welcome Home

If you would like help creating spaces that are welcoming for you, your family and guests, contact me at 443-812-6339 or jill.valrei@verizon.net

I am working with a couple to complete their family room and adjoining kitchen. They already own a new couch, love seat and arm chair and have chosen to paint their focal wall a bold burgundy accent color. The focal wall has the fireplace as well as their wall-mounted flat panel television.

The upholstered pieces are a warm beige/camel color and it came with accent pillows that inspired the burgundy accent wall. They have asked me to help them devise a practicla furniture layout as well as to choose the remaining pieces of furniture. They have a collection of Asian art that they want me to incorporate and you will see that I have suggested a few Asian inspired pieces to help tie it all together.

You can see my table selections at my Polyvore idea board. I love using Polyvore. It is a way for me to show a client how different pieces of furniture will work together in their space. I can save my sets and each item has a link to the web site where it can be purchased.

This is a great tool whether I am working with local clients or clients in other states.

If you would like me to help you pull together your rooms so that they are functional, practical and stylish, contact me at 443-812-6339 or at jill.valeri@verizon.net.

‘Til next time,
Make yours a
Welcome Home