Humans are such adaptable creatures. It’s our super-power. However, this adaptability often causes us to adapt our ways of doing and being in our homes, to the short-comings of our homes. We change ourselves rather than shape our homes to work for us.
This was the case for Janice and Jeff. We met to talk about new flooring and maybe a bigger kitchen island. Ten minutes in and their list of what wasn’t working for them was growing by leaps and bounds. (If I had a nickel for every client who told me they run down to the basement for food and kitchen gear…)
So their wish list grew and it was clear that if Janice and Jeff weren’t going to sell up and move, this home needed to work for them. So, I used colour to play up the positives and play down the negatives. I recommended furniture and layout updates to serve the needs of family and guests, including relocating the laundry to the bedroom level to add kitchen pantrys. And, added oodles of creative storage and task solutions to ensure easy and pleasurable living.
Read on for tips and inspirations that can help you shape your home so it works for you and your loved ones.
dining room after – Switch a chandelier for a drum shade. It’ll give more light than individual candle bulbs. Use dimmers practically everywhere so you can set the mood. Make a large cold north-facing room feel sunny and intimate with warm paint colours.
before – Green. Good for a bedroom, an office, spa, or den. A dining room? Not so much.
after living room – Choose furniture for the people who’ll use it. A long sofa for tall folk who like a nap on Saturday afternoon. Firm chairs for those who can’t get up gracefully from sinky-inny chairs. Ottomans for the won’t “get your feet off the coffee table” crowd. Laid back chairs for laid-back people. Arrange furniture for what you want the room to be – entertaining? face seating so people can face one another and in pairs for break-out conversations and close enough to chat with the people opposite.
before living room – The layout made it, unintentionally, all about the television. In a large room, a big contrast difference (between light and dark) from ceiling to walls makes the ceiling look low. Very low. You don’t need to raise your ceiling. Reduce the colour contrast and save yourself a ton of money.
after kitchen – Get clever about adding work surface, sometimes an island can run in the opposite direction. And in a tight space, consider placing island seating where the space opens up. Stone is cold. Consider a wooden section if you like to rest your arms as you drink your morning coffee – much warmer!
before kitchen – Often, a dated kitchen only needs a bit of love… and paint… and new countertops… and new hardware…. and raising the uppers to the standard height so there isn’t a dust bunny cave up there… and, so there’s room to push the small appliances back and out the way. OK… Sometimes a kitchen need a bit more than love.
after stair case – use colour to show off the details you want to show off. Us humans love repeated element. One dolphin is amazing. A whole bunch of dolphins is mesmerizing. Colour contrast stair treads and spindles – repeat, repeat, repeat.
before staircase – apply colour to play up the strong line of a hand rail and play down a chopped off section of stringer.
Enough of the before photos. Let’s see some more design solutions and pretty pictures.
Consider site lines. What do you see when you look through that doorway or down that hall? Use shapes, colour and light to make compositions that catch your eye and draw you through.
Almost every kitchen needs more light than it started out with. Counter task lighting is a must. This is a bummer: the older we get, the more light we need. Add more and then control it with dimmers.
When J saw this Midnight Crystal granite at Living Stone, her joy-o-meter when through the roof. When something makes you that happy, why would you not want to love it in your very own home, every day? Make that gorgeous something the jumping off point for everything else. See how the blue of the cabinets is that iridescent blue in the dark areas of the stone? See the honey bronze of the handles is kinda smudged into the light parts? The floor picks up on that colour too. In the next photo, can you see the light tones in the floor? They’re the same colour as the light areas of the counter top!
Pullouts cost extra, but what they give back is priceless. Imagine bending over trying to find stuff on a regular shelf? Ugggh. Imagine how easy it is to slide one of these out? Voila! Everything is there in front of you. Get pull-outs.
Remember repetition? It doesn’t have to be obvious like spindles and stair treads. It can be more subtle. Look around this kitchen. There are little curves everywhere! The cabinets doors.. The backsplash tile. The backs of the counter stools. The handles. The toaster. OK, I’ll stop. Repeated shapes make us happy. Have fun with this in your home.
Make your kitchen sink work harder. I highly recommend work station sinks. They come with cutting boards, drain boards, colanders and more!
If I had a nickel for every kitchen I’ve seen that doesn’t have a place for compost, recycling and garbage…. Seriously. Under the sink is an ideal place but so hard to reach into. Pullouts like these make it easy.
It’s so stressful rummaging around for shoes and scarf when you’re heading out the door. I custom designed this cabinet for footwear, jackets and every possible item one could imagine wanting in an entry closet. Invest in structured or built-in storage for your outerwear.
Lazy-Susans are not for the lazy. It’s hard reaching past the corner doors and when something falls off the back, it’s gone for good. Drawers to the rescue! These are deep and long. Perfect for oils and sauces or baking ingredients.. Or how about pans and cookie sheets? These corner drawers end up being one of the features my clients love most about their new kitchens.
Choose foyer light fixtures that fill the space nicely with their volume and their light. Choose a cheery colour to paint your door. And while you’re sprucing up your foyer, choose a welcoming indoor-outdoor area rug. It’s as functional as one of those commercial looking rugs, but oh so much nicer. 🙂
Update
Essentially, home owners come to me because there’s a disconnect between what’s featured on HGTV and how they live in their home and what they love to have around them. My client’s faces light up like the 1st of July when they discover I’m not going to make them replace their two comfy readying chairs (true story) just because a new style ‘works better for the design’. The biggest thrill for me is receiving photos from past clients, sharing their first design steps with my coaching behind them, but without my guidance. That’s when I know I’ve done a good job. Fly! Be free!
When J and J saw this post, they asked me to include this photo of their newest additions to their living room – a television console and a houseplant. Great choices, J and J! Now, let’s talk about adding some visual height and weight to that wall to balance out the room. A plant stand and some artwork or family photos around the television and, perhaps a colourful accessory on the console will do just nicely. 🙂
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If you’re enjoying what you see and thinking, “Gosh, these are some great ideas and I like what Deborah’s done with this home… but where do I start? How can I be sure what I want makes sense for my home?” If you find yourself thinking along those lines, we should talk. Click here to schedule a complimentary Discovery Call.
