Decorating tips for spring.

For as long as I can remember I have loved the beginning of spring. I lived in the east coast growing up and we really were ready for the little signs of warmer weather.

As an adult I lived for 16 years in charming Glendale, Ohio were the entire garden club community will get together and make the village a more beautiful place with fresh mulch surrounding their blooming bulbs and freshly planted pansies.

This spring my design firm celebrates 12 years in business and I am so excited to watch the new season start and share fun easy ideas to make memorable spring

12 spring decorating tips: • Purchase inexpensive round basket material chargers to place on your dining table under your dishes, use white plates and then add colorful different spring colored napkins on each plate. Tie the napkins with raffia or ribbon for finishing touch
• Create a centerpiece using green moss and colorful dishes. Place on long serving platter or tray add a ceramic bunny or spring blooms
• Remove heavy comforters and dress your beds with cream or white coverlets add fun colorful pillows the give a pop of color
• Consider reupholstering dining chairs with floral spring pattern, remove cushion from chair place on fabric (usually ½ yard to cover one dining chair) staple over old fabric, reattach to dining chair
• Look at your family photos throughout your home, do you have outdated photos or winter photos, change to spring and summer photos
• Give yourself the gift of fresh flowers, the aroma is as wonderful as the color
• Change out the throw pillows on your family room furniture, out with the dark in with lighter brighter fabrics
• Dress your front door with a new welcome mat, wash the light fixture, add a pot of pansies and a fresh coat of paint on the door
• De clutter your laundry area, purchase glass jars with lids for the necessities in the room, store away or throw away anything that you haven’t used or don’t need going into spring

I hope you are feeling inspired to do some lighting and brightening in your home for the spring, if you are like many you have a hard time getting started, the best advice I can give to you is to plan a date to have some friends or family over. Giving yourself a deadline is always the best motivator to get things organized, redesigned and freshened up. Happy Decorating

Five seasonalizing tips from Diane Agricola.

Five Seasonalizing Tips

A new season is an indicator to give your home and your decorating style a bit of TLC. Treat your eyes to some quick changes that give your home a “space-lift” without breaking the bank.

Here are five design ideas to inspire you

Branch Out
Nothing says spring more than budding branches and tiny flowers. Take a walk in your yard and cut branches12-36″ long from trees that are showing buds. Cut the bottom of the branch with a few upright slits to maximize their ability to take in water. Give the branches a good soak and then place in a vase and allow them to slowly unfurl their beautiful blossoms. Depending on the time of year, branches will take 1-3 weeks to completely open up but the entire process and sculptural beauty of the branches will be visually pleasing while you wait for the blooms.

Change your Area Rugs
Allow your home a chance to exchange a winter carpet for a lighter textural area rug. Whether it is sisal or a patterned textural carpet, add freshness with a new foundation for your space. Simply roll up the out of season carpet and store it, or take the opportunity to have it professionally cleaned. Sorry to tell you, but winter will be here again.

Drapery Panels
Fabric floating in the breeze is a sure sign spring has arrived. One of the first really nice days in spring will allow everyone to open up windows and air out their homes. One easy and eye pleasing idea to consider is changing out heavy winter panels to lightweight fabrics like sheers, linen or soft cotton. This is a look that certainly says “spring has sprung.”

Add Color in Unexpected Places
One area of our homes that gets neglected on space-lift is bookcases and shelves, consider covering your books with color coordinated papers for a fresh look. Place in color blocks which simply means grouping all the same colors together.

New Generation Wallpaper
Wallpaper can add instant pizzazz to a space or use it in small spaces, like the back of a book shelf for almost instant interest. Wall Decals are a great way to avoid pasting or mess. Decals stick on and off easily and are reusable, simply Google wall decals for a wealth of possibilities.

Decorate to beat the winter blues.

No, you’re not imagining it. Lots of people feel sad at this time of the year. For centuries, poets have described a sense of sadness, loss or lethargy with a direct link to the shortening of the days of fall and winter.

Some people even experience an exaggerated form of these symptoms; this is known as Seasonal Affective Disorder.

For those of us with milder “Winter Blues” some treatment options could be…
• Outdoor light even when the sky is overcast
• Taking a one-hour daily walk outside
• Diet and exercise

To “Beat the Winter Blues with Decorating,” I recommend looking around your favorite rooms in your home and think cozy.
• Pull furniture into groupings, one could be for conversation the other for playing board games or scrap booking or even needlework.
• Place the seating group to take full advantage of a fireplace if you have one
• To help warm up your new grouping consider bringing a rug into your arrangement. An area rug can go on top of wall to wall for the effect.
• Use family mementos around to give your room a warm feeling.

Think Texture when cozying up your home for the winter
• Add throws and pillows made from chenille, chunky yarns or velvet o sofas and chairs
• Add area rugs to the kitchen work area for warmer appearance
• Pull in darker colors or heavier texture in the window coverings

Warm up your scenes:
• Gather pinecones and add cinnamon sticks to a bowl and use on coffee tables or entry tables, looks great smells better
• Spicy smells will also warm up your space, so go for the ginger and clove scents when selecting candles for your home
• Bring candles into your bedroom and baths, the scents and arrangements will calm and relax you
• Place small mirrors or pieces of frosted glass under candles to increase the “Wattage” and to remind you of winter snow and how it sparkles

Embrace winter white:
• Bring the outdoors in by adding touches of white birch logs or branches
• Use the soft whites, pinks and grays of seashells. Mix them with white candles and greens
• Change colored lamp shades to white to allow more light into your spaces

The winter can seem so long to many of us, but when you start focusing attention to the details in your homes décor, time will fly by. Enjoy your home and create memorable moments with friends and family as they cozy up in your home.

Before and after of a living room space, designed by Agricola Redesign

Have you ever noticed when you walk into a room, it is the creative touches that it memorable? Your core pieces of furniture may establish the functionality of a space, but it is the creativity that makes each room a one of a kind space. In fact, one of my favorite phrases is, “I never would have thought of that.” Sometimes the most difficult aspect of creating a beautiful room is finding the inspiration for just those elements. Here are three creative ideas guaranteed to make your room a one of a kind space.

1. Incorporate your past – Accent your rooms with elements that have a story. A vase from Grandma, a table you bought when first married, or art created by your children you took the time to frame will all fit the bill.

2. Handmade anything – Even if you are missing the crafty or sewing gene, find inspiration at sites like Pinterest, Houzz, or Etsy. Make it yourself or have a talented artist create it for you.

3. Shake it up – Rearrange your furniture, accessories or event the purpose of the space to create a room composition that feels unique and interesting.

Looking for more ideas, give a professional designer a call to help you create the home you deserve. A beautiful home isn’t necessarily abut spending lots of money; it is about incorporating creativity, color, and personality into a home. Professional designers are masters at doing exactly that and would love to help you. In the interim, enjoy design magazines to give you a bit of inspiration.

Above is an example of a before and after done by me and my staff at Agricola Redesign.

Color selection for your home can be overwhelming, more people are afraid of picking an interior paint color than they are about any other design choice.

My best advice for choosing color in your home is to find and inspiration. Find something that you love and let that guide you to the color palette of your spaces. Inspiration for each person can come in different ways. I will list a few ideas on how to find your inspiration.

• Vacation destinations you love are wonderful inspiration when we are thinking color for our homes. Are you a beach bum, do you love the color of sand and the cool blue waters? Or do you love the Arizona sunsets and the warm colors of the landscape of the west?

• Look for inspiration by taking yourself on a field trip. Visit local restaurants, commercial sites and other places where the color palette makes you happy. Make note of these hues.

• Create a Style File, this is what I have a lot of my clients do to learn about what style and colors appeal to them. Clip photos from old magazines of not just rooms but nature or even a really great outfit. When you have collected several photos of things you love look at the similarities of the photos and colors you keep picking over and over.

• Do you have a beautiful area rug or a piece of art or pottery in your home that you love? These pieces are great inspiration.

• Fabric stores are wonderful, I can waist an entire afternoon just looking and feeling all the different fabrics, look for the colors used in the fabric and find coordinating fabrics and make note of the colors you keep picking.

Once you have chosen your inspiration piece find a background color to use on your walls from your inspiration piece, then choice another color to use from your inspiration as an accent color, and then one more color to use a touch of in your space. Choosing three colors might seem overwhelming but remember color does not always mean paint color can be found in fabrics, artwork, or flooring. Find your inspiration and create beautiful rooms in your home.

Winter is the perfect time to re-organize your home and re-design your spaces. While the winter weather is keeping us inside, I want to share some great tips on sorting through our homes and organizing for the New Year.

Top 10 Organizing Tips:
1. Determine how you wish to use your spaces. How the spaces function is key. Do you need craft area or bar area?
2. Sort, purge and donate piles should be made in each area you are organizing. If you have children’s items take them with you to donate unused items. This will help them learn to part with things.
3. When doing closets take out everything, you need a completely empty closet to start. Only bring back into the closet what has been worn in the last year.
4. Place all hangers the same direction then each time you wear something hang the hanger the other direction. In six months the hangers going the wrong way have not been worn and those items can be donated.
5. The closets in your home should be bright and inviting. You should be able to see what you have in your closet, consider installing good lighting.
6. Items that are only needed once a year, such as evening bags, and shoes should be stored on the highest shelves in the closet. Keep more frequently needed items at your fingertips.
7. In the kitchen keep things that work together stored together, such as baking pans, electrical appliances, plastic containers (with Lids), pots and pans, and large platters and bowls.
8. In the kitchen purchase some drawer dividers to keep utensils in order.
9. Think about how your kitchen flows, place glasses near the sink or the refrigerator. Put snacks in convenient drawers or cabinets. For young children place pre-portioned baggies of their favorite healthy snacks were they can get to them.
10. Rotate food items in your pantry; create menus to use up items that are getting close to expiration date.

Now that you have gone through all the closets, pantry, garage, and cabinets you can feel good about what you have in your home and how you have helped others with what you have donated.

When your home only has what you need and what you love in it you will be able to see where maybe something is missing. Do you need more lamps, or new comfortable throws and pillows in your home? Now you can really get ready to re-design your spaces in 2013.

As a design professional, I was thrilled to learn that the color of the year 2013 would be Emerald. It’s a beautiful, strong color that can be worked into our homes décor with bold splashes or with subtle touches.

Strength of the color Emerald is that greens tend to be calming and work really well in today’s open floor plans. Greens can range from tranquil to dramatic; the color Emerald depending on how you choose to use it, will give your home a new feeling. And when you add color to your home you are creating a feeling.

When we look at color theory it can help explain how to use Emerald green in a home décor:

Complementary- color scheme would be using colors opposite on the color wheel. An example would be using emerald green in one room and then using its complimentary color red in the room next to it. Try Sherwin Williams Artichoke 6179 and Antique Red 7587.

Monochromatic- color scheme using a single color and a neutral color with it, Emerald green with a soft white will make a clean crisp room you won’t want to leave. Try Sherwin Williams Dill 6438 with Westhighland White 7566.

Triadic – Color scheme is using three colors, each evenly spaced from the other on the color wheel. For example red, yellow and green, the mixing of the three colors through paint, fabric and rugs can make a very happy space. Try using Sherwin Williams Show Stopper 7588 with Bee’s Wax 7682 and Meadow Trail 7737 as your inspiration colors.

Color gives our home its identity. A million people own white or beige furniture, according to Better Homes, but with the addition of a colorful pillow, rug, throw or decorative accessory we can add personality to our homes.

I have given you some color combinations above to use as your inspiration shades, now look at your home and consider putting Emerald green throughout your spaces. It can be as simple as emerald green throw pillows and window panels with some of the emerald green with in the pattern to a bold accent wall of Emerald.

Have fun with the color of the year and don’t overlook its clean crisp appearance and how well it works with natural stone and wood floors. Be green in 2013 and experiment with your home, whether you choose to be dramatic or subtle, you will enjoy the change and the feeling change can give you in your home.