notice that the dog matches the chair

We had decided to create a family photo wall for her back stairwell – it’s in the entrance where most family and friends enter the house.  She pulled out tons of photos for me to arrange and hang.  Believe me, that can be a bit overwhelming!

 photos and more photos

We decided which photos were most important to include (mostly her decision) and which sizes, shapes, and orientations we needed (mostly my decision).   My client had done her homework and spray-painted most of her frames black to unite the grouping I intended to create.   Here is the stairwell – I typically start in the middle.

 the family photo wall to-be

The idea was to create a grouping that could grow over time.  She can add a photo here and there as time goes on.  A couple of hours later, the family photo grouping is complete (for now).

 Stairwell Family Photo Grouping

The trick is to create a grouping that appears random, but actually has some planned structure to it.   There’s definitely a balance between the art and science of hanging art or photos.

 Making Family the Focus

By the way, this stairwell was previously painted a darkish gray-brown that felt a bit depressing to my client.  I helped her choose the colors you see here on the walls and ceiling – these colors flow through into a large office area at the top of the stairs, as well.

 Finished Family Stairwell

This makes me happy just looking at it!  Family memories make a house a home, and family photo groupings can also make it truly beautiful.  Click here on The Decorologist FaceBook page for the paint colors for these walls and ceiling.

 Valentine’s Tree

My decorations include some glittery hearts, small pink and white Christmas balls, and some vintage Valentine’s cards tucked into the branches.

This year I added a few new decorations, including these precious little golden owls that my friend, Lezlie, gave me for Christmas!

 Glitter Owl

I found this cool old painting at an estate sale and tucked it in the background – I love the winter scene and the pinkish hues in the sky and tree buds.

 Vintage Winter Landscape

In the mirror behind, I tucked in a vintage wedding photo I found years ago – as well as one of the paint chip Valentine’s cards I made last year.

 Paint Chip Valentine

Sometimes it’s nice to devote a small space to decorating for the minor holidays.

Do you decorate (even just a little) for Valentine’s Day?

This particular family has been successfully educating their 5 children in their home for many years, but their surroundings had been less than inspiring.  This is the front room of their home as it was before The Decorologist stepped in:

 Before – Homeschool Room

It was lined with bookcases full of books and curricula, a few tables and chairs (most of which were too small for their growing children), and various toys and other items.

 Before – Homeschool Room

Such a big room with untapped potential.  It seemed that there might be a more effective way to use this space to better-suit this family’s needs.

 Before – Homeschool Room

This smaller room adjacent the homeschool room was their dining room – it was also where the older kids did their schoolwork.

 Before – Dining Room and Workspace

An important part of a decorator’s mission is to marry function with beauty.  Is that possible in these two rooms where so many needs must be met?  I certainly believe it is.  Before I reveal the transformation of these rooms, I must explain that a lot of discussion and planning went into making these rooms not only more visually-pleasing, but also more functional for this busy family.  This wasn’t just about creating pretty spaces – it was about creating pretty spaces that WORKED. Now, here again is the larger of the two rooms in its ”before” state:

Before – Homeschool Room

Ready for the “after”?  Now the larger of the two rooms is a roomy and inviting dining room with a table that easily seats 10.  The pair of overhead lantern lights adds warmth and character to this transformed space.

After – Warm and Welcoming Dining Room

The paint color is Benjamin Moore’s Boca Raton Blue – a perfect foil for the dark wood tones.

 New Dining Room/Workspace

We purchased the beautiful dark wood furniture from my friends over at Merridian Home Furnishings on 8th Avenue in Nashville.  This trestle table is gorgeous but doesn’t have to be handled with kid gloves.  The older children do most of their schoolwork here and have plenty of room to spread out.

Trestle or pedestal tables accomodate more chairs than tables with four legs at the corners.

This is a room the whole family truly uses now – both for homeschooling and for dining together as a family.  It also is a great place to entertain and display their beautiful family china, which was previously stored away behind cabinets.

Family China on Display

Here again is the adjoining former dining room/homeschool workspace before:

Dining Room Before

The wallpaper and border went bye-bye, and white beadboard wainscotting was installed below the chair rail.  We decided on a rich expresso color – Benjamin Moore’s Clinton Brown, as a backdrop to all the white bookcases that hold schoolbooks and supplies.

 After:  HomeSchool Room

All the furniture was existing – this smaller table and chairs were moved in from the kitchen.  Pairing down and relocating all the school supplies into this lesser-seen room made a lot more sense than continuing to squeeze this family of 7 into a dinner table for 6!  

New HomeSchool Room

The younger kids now do their school work in this happy, cozy area.  I love this candy bowl on their work table!

“The Best is Not Too Good for You”

There’s no reason why functional, multi-use spaces can’t be lovely and inspiring.  The children in this home even help keep these new rooms organized and clean, because they enjoy working in beautiful, peaceful spaces as much as their parents enjoy having such a lovely home to live in! 

Although I love to send vintage or vintage-inspired Valentine’s Day cards, I thought it might be fun to send out something like these instead:

 Handmade Valentines Using Paint Swatches

I picked up these paint chips at Lowe’s while I was shopping for lighting and plumbing fixtures for a client this week.  The paint swatches with the holes work great – just glue card stock to the back and stamp in the white spaces that show through.  You can get a million different decorative stamps and ink at Michael’s.  I got the idea from Vanessa over at Silly Eagle Books.

Paint Chip Valentines

Follow me on Pinterest and you’ll find my pinboard, Paint Swatch Crazy, for more ideas for crafts made with paint chips!

 Macbeth Self-Adhesive Shelf Liner from HomeGoods

Recently, I encouraged one of my clients to paper the back of a dark hutch in her dining room with some wallpaper or scrapbook paper to bring in more of the colors in the palette we had chosen for that room and the adjoining room (avocado green and blue).   I knew immediately that this color and pattern might be just what she needed, so I scooped it up.  And then I thought about my own dining room hutch:

Antique Hutch Before 

Hmmm.  I’ve always wanted to do something interesting to the interior of this hutch, but it’s a family heirloom and I was hesitant.  But the shelf liner is removable, so no big long-term commitment if I don’t like it!  Lucky for me, the liner came in a two-pack (one for me, one for my client)!  I emptied out the hutch and took a good look at it yesterday morning.

 Empty Hutch

I did most of this myself, but it helps to have another person pull the backing off as you smooth the sticky part down. My eleven-year-old helped me (and she took this photo).

 Adhering the Shelf Liner

It was looking kinda crazy at this point.  It’s quite a juxtaposition with the antique hutch.  But I have faith and will follow through with this project – I can always peel it back off, right?

 ZigZag A-Go-Go

It may seem a bit much, but it’s definitely better with some decorative items in front to tone it down a bit.

 Antique Hutch After Shelf Liner Applied to Back

Stepping back away from it, I’m really liking the way it looks!  It’s kinda bold, but I think it works to liven up this traditional piece of furniture.

 Flamestitch Shelf Liner 

I like how it picks up on the blues in some of my vintage art grouping and my portrait of the lady in the blue dress.

 Dining Room

I used one entire roll of shelf liner to completely cover the back of the hutch.  Thankfully, I didn’t have to break into the second roll and can give it to my client to try on her hutch!

Pretty!

From beginning to end, this project took a little more than an hour and cost me less than $10. Totally worth it, don’t you think?

 Cutest Doggie Ever

But I love a good stage – it’s definitely a wham-bam, thank-you-mam kind of deal.  Instant gratification for a design addict like me.  I’m sharing my latest home staging in this post, as well as the #1 secret to getting your house sold.  See if you can figure it out as we go along.  Let’s start with the “before” photographs of this house.  The homeowner has nice furnishings and accessories.  Don’t you just love that pair of lamps?

 Living Room Before Staging

The fireplace and bookcases are great architectural features, as are the huge windows.   But I’m not sure I’m in love with it yet, are you?

 Fireplace and Bookcases Before Staging

The kitchen is faux-painted and leans towards a Tuscan look.   Only a limited number of perspective buyers are going to love this style.  The cabinets are a pinky oak and the countertops are not granite – but they really kinda look like it, which is a good thing.  I really loved the corner hutch and the Frenchy table and chairs in the breakfast room.

The dining room is functional and a good size.  Again, nice furnishings and updated light fixture.

 Dining Room Before Staging

Here’s the master bedroom.  It’s definitely a little crowded and a little dated.  The windows/window treatment definitely need some help.  If you saw this photo on MLS or RealTracs, would you be dying to go view this home?

 Master Bedroom Before Staging

This is the master bathroom.  Large with separate shower and tub.

 Master Bathroom Before Staging

Here’s another bedroom.  No furnishings, really.  Just a place to iron, I guess!

 Guest Bedroom Before Staging

Now – if you were on RealTracs looking for a new homes to buy, what would have been your reaction to the house I just showed you?  It’s a perfectly nice house and well-maintained.  In fact, it’s a great house.  But would you be able to tell that from those photographs?  Would you be calling your Realtor immediately to schedule a showing?  Or would you keep right on clicking your mouse to find the next available house?   Now, what if you found a listing that featured photographs that looked like this:

Living Room After Staging

Fireplace and Bookcases After Staging

Kitchen After Painting and Staging

Dining Room After Staging

Master Bedroom After Staging

Bathroom After Staging

Guest Bedroom After Staging

Have you figured out the secret?  I bet you think I’m going to say “staging your house.”  Well, not exactly.  The #1 secret to selling your house is getting great photographs on MLS and RealTracs.  With so many tech-savy buyers, gone are the days when the Realtor picks out all the houses she/he thinks you’ll like and drives you around to view them without you even knowing where you’re going.

Staged Master Bedroom

Today’s buyers are checking out RealTracs long before they even contact a Realtor, and often don’t even call a Realtor until they’ve found something they fall in love with online.  So, the real secret to selling your house is getting great pictures that draw in potential buyers.  Without that, you have zero traffic through the house – no matter how great it may be.

Staged Living Room

 And yes, ultimately, a well-staged house photographs best and will bring in more potential buyers to view your home than anything else will.  When a professional photographer (which I am NOT) comes in this week and takes pro photographs of this house, it’s gonna show even better online.   If you’re in the Greater Nashville area and need a Home Stager that knows how to get your home camera-ready, contact me today at kristie@thedecorologist.com.

This fireplace mantel was painted out the same color as the wall behind it.  That’s a big no-no in my book.  A mantel is architecture, like trim moulding, and should never be treated like a wall!

Blah Fireplace

A few coats of almost-black paint and a new fireplace insert (no more brass!) changed the whole look and feel of this fireplace surround and mantel.

Tah-dah!

Now this fireplace has presence in this room – and shouldn’t the fireplace be the focal point anyway?  Above the mantel is always the perfect place for your favorite piece of artwork.

Fireplace After

It just goes to show you what a little paint can do.  This fireplace face-lift is just part of a larger project for a client that I will be sharing with you soon – and it involved LOTS of paint and color.

 Any paint projects going on at your house this weekend?

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Have you ever had a secret desire to paint stripes or some other cool pattern on your floors, but were too chicken to try?  Guess what?  That floor wasn’t painted at all – it was created with colorful vinyl tape!

Vinyl Tape

Imagine what you could do with a little of this inexpensive product.

 Jim Lambie Stair Design

Maybe you could stripe a wall like this:

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 Or create a unique design on a previously-uninteresting furniture piece.

 source

 Striped decor of all kinds –  the possibilities are endless.

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And waaaayyy less commitment than paint!  What do you think – gonna run out and buy some vinyl tape?

 Simple and Elegant Dining Room

This was not always the case!  This homeowner was looking for an interior decorator to give her a new perspective on this dining space, without breaking the bank.   Rather than a makeover, this room really needed a make-under.  This room was like a woman who wears make-up in such a way that all you notice is the make-up.   Below, a make-under  highlighted and enhanced this woman’s natural beauty:

Before and After “Make-Under”

The overdone make-up in this room includes  the high-contrast colors, the brassy light fixture, and the showy window treatment.

Dining Room Before Design Intervention

By choosing a fresh, light color for the wall (vs. the dated pinky-beige) and painting out the area below the chair rail in trim color (white), the room appears less choppy and more elegant.  By choosing simple panels that hang above and outside the windows, we revealed (rather than concealed) the beautiful view and natural light.  Both of these changes put the focus on the inherent beauty of the architecture of the room (moulding and windows).

Dining Room After The Decorologist

The brassy light fixture got a make-under, as well.  We didn’t replace it – it’s the same light fixture, only better.  Here is the rather dated brass light fixture before:

Brassy Light Fixture

I had my clients take down the brass fixture, remove the glass hurricanes, and simply spray paint it before rehanging it.  Just a can of metal primer and a can of metal finish spray paint in iron or oil-rubbed bronze – less than $10 for a whole new light fixture!

Updated Light Fixture

The showy window treatments, high-contrast color scheme, and brassy light fixture were distracting – now you notice the architecture of the room, the lovely view, and the special collection of dishes my client has collected.   Next time you think your room needs a make-over, perhaps you should consider a make-under instead!

Wouldn’t it be fun to decorate it out all retro-dreamy, like a giant dollhouse?

My girls could use it as a playhouse in the backyard.

Or I could use it as an office in the warmer months.

It’d be a perfect place to read . . . or just think really deep thoughts.

We could even go on a trip in it!  Maybe to the beach – I’d feel like Gidget.

If you need inspiration for your pipe dreams, you should really be on Pinterest.   You can check out my Airstream Dreams board to see more cool trailer interiors.  Or get ideas for exterior house paint colors from my Exterior Paint Colors board.  Maybe you want to hang some art but don’t know where to start – just browse through my Wall Art Groupings board.  Join me there and indulge in your own pipe dreams!