4 Tips for Using Area Rugs in Home Design

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Since writing about chevron floors earlier this week, we’ve had flooring on the mind. Now we want to look at how best to use area rugs. While perusing HGTV.com, we came across an excellent slideshow offering area rug-related advice. Here are some of the suggestions we especially agree with:

  1. Always consider your lifestyle before selecting a rug. A delicate area rug isn’t the best option for a family with children and pets.
  2. Area rugs can be used to define different spaces within an open, larger space, like a dining area and a living area.
  3. They’re also great for tying together a color palette. In fact, many designers will purchase the area rug before selecting furniture and accessories because it’s such a defining part of a space.
  4. The rug shouldn’t take up the entire floor. It’s always nice to see gorgeous hardwoods peeking through.

If you’d like an area rug expertly selected and incorporated into your space, contact The Decorative Touch in Lenexa, KS.

Photo: Interior design by The Decorative Touch

How to Let Patterns Intermingle in Design

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Incorporating multiple patterns into a single room can go really well or really badly, depending on the colors, size and location of the patterns. But as long as you understand the “rules,” you can let patterns easily intermingle in design for a visually pleasing result. We love Elle Décor, and the magazine offers a wonderful how-to piece on “mixing patterns stylishly.” Here are a few of their suggestions we’re right on board with:

  • You don’t have to use patten in only the accessories. Why not incorporate a patterned chair or ottoman, like we did in the space above?
  • Use patterns of different scales. One big pattern can be complemented with other subtle patterns.
  • Make sure the intensity, or brightness, of colors in the patterns is similar.

If you’re looking for a designer in Johnson County, KS who can bring many patterns into your space with a beautiful, layered effect, contact The Decorative Touch. We’d love to help!

Photo: Interior design by The Decorative Touch

Fall in Love with Pinterest

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If you haven’t heard of Pinterest, you need to. It’s perfect for home decorating enthusiasts searching for inspiration and a place to keep all those photos of things you love. As it describes itself, “Pinterest is a virtual pinboard.”

Think of a pinboard as just that—a digital bulletin board you can pin images to. Beneath each image, you can write little notes to yourself to remind you what you love about the picture—maybe it’s just the lamp in the background, or maybe it’s the entire space! Regardless of which, your explanation is sure to ring a bell. Here’s a look at the Home + Furniture section of Pinterest:

Of course, you can also use Pinterest for other hobbies as well—make additional pinboards for cooking, baking, reading and so on. Head over to pinterest.com to check it out, and let us know what you think! We’re sure you’ll love it as much as we do.

Image: Screen shot of pinterest.com

Pillow Arrangements for a Picture-Perfect Sofa

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Have you ever wondered about the secret to achieving picture-perfect sofas worthy of appearing on the glossy pages of a gorgeous magazine spread? Oftentimes it’s less about the sofa itself and more about its main accessory: toss pillows. We loved how House Beautiful featured one sofa with a variety of looks, showing how different pillows can change—and make—the look of a sofa in a second. Here are a couple of our favorite pillow arrangements from the magazine’s slideshow:

This arrangement includes toss pillows featuring a variety of textures. It’s a great idea for a monochromatic color scheme.

But bringing in color can work just as well. If you have a neutral sofa, pillows are a great way to bring in your favorite colors.

Visit House Beautiful to see all of their simple sofa’s various looks. Then let us know: Which is your favorite, and how are the pillows arranged on your own sofa?

Images by Lara Robby/Studio D via House Beautiful

Decorative Touches that Gwyneth Paltrow Can’t Live Without

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Gwyneth Paltrow

Elle Decor featured an article spotlighting a few of Gwyneth Paltrow’s favorite things that she just cannot live without, including decorative touches found inside her beautiful home in London, where she resides with her husband Chris Martin of the band Coldplay and their two children. Check out these photos of just a few of her favorite things for design inspiration inside your home.

A well decorated with gorgeous hand-painted wallpaper. This wallapaper by De Gournay is featured on one wall inside Gwyneth Paltrow’s living room.

Seasonal flowers in single-variety arrangements. Gwyneth Paltrow likes to casually arrange flowers like white lilies, peonies, and hydrangeas and place them around her home.

Beautiful, majestic photography featured as artwork inside the home. Gwyneth Paltrow has photography by Darren Almond (like the photo above) featured inside her home.

Whimsical star lanterns hung from the ceiling. Star lanterns by Charles Edwards, like the one seen here, hang at different levels in Gwyneth Paltrow’s stair hallway, so that Gwyneth and her family can gaze at them on their way up to bed at night.

Great Tips for Decorating and Decluttering Your Kitchen

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Are you redecorating your kitchen inside your home? Do you want to add style to your kitchen but also keep it organized and maintain its functionality? This was the charge given to us for the kitchen shown here.

This customer wanted a taste of french country, and yet a classic kitchen.  She and I were delighted with the finished product!  She doubled the size of her kitchen and was able to enjoy the use of this wonderful new island!
When you do a room addition or renovation, you are so happy to complete the project, that clutter and “things” left sitting around will be a thing of the past!
Here are a few tips on helping you stay tidy…

Courtesy of iVillage, check out these excellent tips that are perfect for decorating and decluttering your kitchen.

  • Keep the top of your refrigerator clear of clutter, unless you’d like to feature a modest display of your favorite (and most beautiful) cookbooks. Make sure you add bookends to offset your display.
  • Set up a creative display of your glassware in your kitchen. Feature your pretty glasses on the second shelf in your cabinet, while keeping the glasses you use every day on the bottom shelf, if your cabinets have glass panes.
  • Install a rack underneath your cabinet, and use it to hang and display your beautiful wineglasses.
  • Change up the decorative items (aprons, tea towels, potholders, picture frames, knick knacks, etc) you have inside your kitchen each season. Reflecting the time of year with your decor is a great way to decorate.

Let Janine Terstriep and the staff at The Decorative Touch help you create a kitchen that meets your needs for both style and function.

How to Add Style to Your Laundry Room

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Are you thinking about sprucing up the decor in your home? Perhaps the rest of your house is beautifully decorated, but your laundry room, as so many laundry rooms often are, has been neglected and left undecorated. Did you know that you can add a little style and beauty to your laundry room, while still maintaining its functionality? Check out these great tips, courtesy of Apartment Therapy, on how to spruce up your plain old laundry room.

  • Decorate the wall of your laundry room with wallpaper. Here’s your chance to put up that funky wallpaper you love and didn’t want to use in the rest of your house!
  • Jazz up your laundry room with a cute light fixture, like a chandelier or some other fixture you wouldn’t normally find in a laundry room.
  • Hanging artwork, like vintage laundry signs, make for a great way to spruce up your laundry room’s walls.
  • Swap out your plain laundry baskets for cute and colorful laundry baskets!

Image courtesy of Apartment Therapy

How to Make Your New Home Look Vintage

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Designers like me spend lots of time looking through magazines to get inspired and make sure we are staying up to date!  This particular photo caught my eye, not because it was so trendy, but because it was so vintage and it just gave me a sense of comfort of days gone by.  No matter what your style, there is always a piece of the past that feels good to us.  I like to incorporate a special something of my clients “past” in their decorating whenever possible, even if subtly…photos of grandparents, treasures of old books…it says vintage in your own small way.

Photo credit Southern Living Magazine

5 Tips for Making a Lasting Impression with your Foyer

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It has been said that upon meeting someone that the first impression is a lasting impression and the same follows for your home. The first thing someone will notice when walking into your home is your foyer. Being that they are in a new and unfamiliar place they will surely look around and take in everything, and attempt to develop a feel for your personality and the rest of your home. And because your home is a reflection of yourself you want it look its best and represent you well.

Consider these five tips on making a lasting impression with your foyer:

  1. Take into account what is surrounding your front door on the outside.
  2. Incorporate a mixture of light fixtures to create the right layer of lighting.
  3. Add visual interest to the floor with a mosaic flooring design or an intricate rug.
  4. Use pieces of furniture, or accessories that are both functional and decorative.
  5. Personalize, personalize, personalize.

entrywayImage by Stacy Zarin-Goldberg

entrywayImage by Angus McRitchie

entrywayImage by Michael Graydon

entrywayImage from House Beautiful

If you are in the Kansas City area and  would like to redesign your foyer with the help of an experienced interior designer call Janine Terstriep of The Decorative Touch at 913-219-7333.

The Classic Characteristics of Traditional Kitchens

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Have you always favored the look and feel of traditional styles when it comes to the interiors of your home? Traditional designs are often a popular choice because of their ability to withstand the test of time, and their versatility. A traditional kitchen can be rustic, country, eclectic, old world, and even contemporary with the use of high tech appliances.

The Decorative Touch

If you are considering redesigning your kitchen to feature a traditional look consider adding these classic characteristics compiled by Apartment Therapy:

  • Recessed panel cabinets or raised panel cabinet doors
  • More texture and variation, less sleek uniformity
  • Handles and knobs (as opposed to handle-free doors in modern kitchens)
  • Use of freestanding furniture
  • Country or rustic elements, such as farmhouse sinks or weathered woods
  • Natural materials, especially hard wood and stone like marble
  • Upper cabinets and storage
  • Glass or open cabinet
  • Skirting boards
  • Crown molding
  • Neutral tones and white
  • Antique or vintage elements
  • Natural or oriental rugs

The Decorative Touch

If you are in the Lenexa, KS area and would like to discuss the interior design of your kitchen call The Decorative Touch at 913-888-1388.