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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.

Creative New Uses for Wallpaper in your Home

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When you hear the word wallpaper do you instantly conjure up images of country themes and floral? Granted there are some wallpaper designs that should be left in the past, there are even more that should be celebrated throughout interiors. For example, the collections from the likes of York Wallcoverings and Thibaut Wallpaper & Fabric are a few of our favorites. They are modern luxurious and full of glamour.

If you just aren’t one to use decorative coverings on your walls have you ever thought about using them in other ways? Given the high design of many of today’s wallpapers there are and endless amount of options of how they can be used in your home. Consider these creative new uses for wallpaper…

To add style to a display case

To accent a fireplace

As wall art

To highlight panels

To add visual interest to the ceilingImages from Better Homes and Gardens

Now do you think differently about using wallpaper in your home? If you would like to discuss any of these options or more ways to use wallpaper throughout the interior design of your home call The Decorative Touch at 913-888-1388

Eye Catching Interior Design of Missoni

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Are you familiar with the popular Italian fashion designer Missoni? You may have more recently heard the name due to an upcoming collaboration with Target which will bring the high-end, bold prints to the masses in the form of clothing and decor. In other news the luxury goods powerhouse recently unveiled Missoni Kuwait the brand’s luxury hotel. And of course a hotel created by one of the greatest fashion designers isn’t just a plain old hotel. Missoni Kuwait features the most eye catching interior design not for those of us who crave vivid colors and bold patterns.

Each and every one of the 18 floors in the hotel is decorated to the nines in brightly colored prints made famous by Missoni. Bold stripes make their home in the lobby highlighted by dramatic lighting, the in-house Italian restaurant features an explosion of floral and the bathroom accessories exude their very own personality. Take a peek at the eye catching interior design of Missoni Kuwait…

Images from ShelterPop

Would you love to stay  in a hotel that features the interior design of Missoni?

Color Palette Influences from San Francisco Showhouse

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Are you currently considering a new color palette for a room in your home?  Well recently came across some images from the San Francisco Decorator Showcase which opened a few weeks ago and we must say it is a very good influence. One of the main things that can be used as an influence are the color palettes featured in the various rooms. Each room includes a mixture of colors ranging from neutral, bright, dark, and earthy. And just as any good design follows they each have their own distinctive style, yet they work together as a whole.

If you are looking for a new color palette for your interiors allow yourself to be influenced by those from the San Francisco Decorator Showcase…

Hayes Valley

Philpotts Interiors

Josephine Fisher

Kathleen Navarra

Matt Murphy

Images from casasugar

If you would like help incorporating any of these color palette ideas into your home call Janine of The Decorative Touch if you are in the Kansas City area.

What Inspires Martyn Lawrence-Bullard?

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We’re sure you’ve heard the name Martyn Lawrence-Bullard before? After all we’ve featured a few of the designs created by the interior designer to the stars. One of the reasons we’ve chosen to highlight Lawrence-Bullard is because of his uncanny ability to effectively convey his clients’ personalities through his designs. I too strive to infuse the interior design of my clients’ homes with their personality, considering that their home is ultimately a reflection of them.

Today we are going to share a few of the spaces Lawrence-Bullard finds the most inspiring. The designs he finds inspiring serve up a wide range of styles from disco glamour, Mediterranean architecture, and dramatic luxury in addition to many others. Take a look at what inspires Martyn Lawrence-Bullard?

Elton John’s Master Bedroom

Kid Rock’s Kitchen

Cheryl Tieg’s Bedroom

Ellen Pompeo’s Living Room

Tamara Mellon’s Media RoomImages from CasaSugar

Which design do you find to be the most inspiring?

Entra: the New, High-End Online Shelter Magazine

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It seems as though every other month there is news of a new online shelter magazine debuting, and once again there is a new kid on the block. However, it is different from the latest crop interior design magazines. Entra, the design + architecture magazine was not created by bloggers as were the most recent others. The staff at Entra is comprised of former print magazine editors and art directors, as well as design history experts from one of our favorite publications Architectural Digest.

It has a much more serious take on design and architecture than its counterparts, focusing on fine photography and high-end spaces that are ahead of the curve. And unlike the many other online magazines Entra will only be available to paid subscribers. To give you a preview of what’s in store the inaugural issue of Entra is free. Visit Entra Magazine to read the issue then come back and let us know what you think!

Images from Entra Magazine

Amazing Outdoor Room Inspiration

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Since our post a few weeks ago on the new Robert Allen outdoor fabric collection, paired with the hope of upcoming days filled with the sun’s rays we’ve been completely enamored with the design of outdoor rooms. We love everything about them from the fact that you can comfortably relax in nature, extend the interior design of your home and use all the bright colors you’ve been too modest to try indoors.

Have you been thinking switching up the design in your outdoor room? If so we have some amazing designs that are sure to be a healthy dose of inspiration. So sit back, relax and take a look at these gorgeous spaces…

Images from House Beautiful and HGTV

Are you suddenly itching to redecorate your outdoor from bottom to top? If so we would be glad to help. Give Janine of The Decorative Touch a call at 000-000-0000 to begin discussing design ideas.

Glamorous Design Ideas for your Home Office

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Given your busy lifestyle and the latest innovations in technology are you able to work from home a few days a week? As more people begin to take on work duties from their house home offices are on the rise. And we don’t just mean a room with a desk and a computer, but a completely functional and well designed office. You may not realize how important the design of your home office is until you try to working in one with completely bare walls, or better yet from the kitchen table. To keep you motivated and excited about working from home consider these glamorous home office design ideas…

  • Create an accent wall with the help of a decorative wallcovering, or bold paint color.
  • Include an equally stylish and comfortable office chair.
  • Use creative home accessories to store office supplies.
  • Use a chic desk lamp to provide task lighting.

FEMTALKS

Material Girls

creamylife

The Design Fairy

After working for two different design centers for about 10 years, my small design business started right in my old dining room. I know first hand how important it is to stay focused on work even when “at home”. Creating your working world is incredibly important, and having everything at your fingertips is critical. It didn’t take long before my business expanded right into my living room as well, and then into my entire lower level…and then….into our current design studio.
The bottom line is surround yourself with what makes you happy, inspired, and organized. You really don’t know where you might go. Maybe you will find yourself expanding right out of your home as well! Give us a call at 913-888-1388 and let us create a chic home office space for you to work in.