Category: Design Tips

4 Interior Design Tips to Bring the Outdoors Inside

Bring the outdoors in!

More and more, homeowners are seeking ways to incorporate the great outdoors into their home design process. There are several reasons why. For one thing, if you have a yard, why not make the most of it? There is more to owning a home than sitting inside all of the time. For another matter, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced a lot of us to spend more time at home than we normally would. If you can’t go out in public as much as you would like to, a good compromise is at least spending time in your own yard. After all, evidence from studies has shown us that the popular definitions of a happy home are a space where you feel secure, relaxed, and free to be yourself. Being able to incorporate the outdoors into your home’s design can make those good feelings even more amplified, so that’s enough of a reason to discuss your options with interior designers. But before you do so, you may want to have a few interior design ideas in mind. Some are bigger projects, while others are fairly simple. Let’s look into them below. 1. Open the Windows If you can do anything to open up your windows more and let in more natural light, then you should do it. There are so many benefits to having more natural light in your home. For one thing, it opens up the space and actually makes it feel larger (even if it isn’t). For another, opening up space in your home and creating more natural light is good for your psyche, especially as we head into the winter months. Many people find themselves sadder during the winter months, but having more natural light in your home helps combat these problems. 2. Connect Your Home To A Patio Space If you have room for a patio, why not consider adding one to your backyard? This not only connects you to your outdoor space, but it also makes your house feel larger — especially when you can simply walk out from one larger room to the patio, perhaps through French or sliding glass doors. A lot of people, for this reason, like to connect their kitchens to their patios during the design process. If you can walk out from the kitchen or dining room to a patio, your home’s space will feel amplified and it will be all the easier for you and your loved ones to enjoy a meal or a drink outside together. 3. Incorporate Nature-Based Art If it’s harder for you to make big design changes to your home right now, the design process can also be incremental. Decorating is key to designing your home’s interior and you can make your home feel more natural by incorporating nature-based artwork. Think about ordering high-saturation nature photography prints or paintings to adorn your walls. Being able to look at these design elements can make your home feel more expansive and more at-one with Mother Nature. 4. Bringing the Garden Indoors Finally, there really is something to be said for bringing the natural world into your home through gardening. Keeping plants in your kitchen or living room is not only aesthetically appealing but it can also improve your mental health. It’s even a good way to prioritize healthy indoor air quality! Think about scaling back on furniture or knick-knacks that you don’t need in favor of flowers, succulents, and other plants. We’re all a little tired of being cooped up right now. So why not consider making your house a bit more open to the outside world, even if you have to stay in? To learn more about how we can help you with the interior design process and make your home somewhere you want to be, please contact us today.

Interior Design Ideas to Consider

Interior design look

Your home should be an expression of who you are, but you may want to entertain some interior design elements that speak from today’s style and design concepts.  Professional and qualified  Interior designers work with you to make your home feel comfortable and relaxed, as well as letting you be and an individual. A sound interior designer will help you to consider your situation and think about the interior design trends that make sense for your home. whether the considerations include lighting, flooring, a new color palette, or new furniture, a professional interior designer will lead you all the way to a style all your own. Below, please find some ideas to help you get started. New Yet Classic Lighting Retro lighting and classic lines in lighting are a thing in modern homes, such as using chandeliers in the kitchen or main dining room. If you are curious about updating your lighting in the home, then starting with this type of style might be best. Interior design trends are ever-changing, so combining classic with trendy may create a look your are seeking. New Takes on Brass While brass has taken a backseat to other types of decorative metals, such as classic silver and more tarnished bronze or copper, brass has a new light of its own that makes it shine. Blended with other metals, brass is making a comeback and is used in vases, framework, railings, mirrors, and more. Interior designers will help you incorporate this metal into your home. Engineered Hardwood for Modern Floors One thing interior designers love to work with is engineered hardwood. More durable and appealing than traditional hardwood, you can get engineered hardwood in a variety of appealing styles and designs to meet your needs best. Call the team at Janet Brook’s Design today for an in home cult. You will not be sorry you did.

Why You Should Avoid Following The Latest Trends in Interior Design

interior design trends

Sometimes it feels like new trends are surfacing every day. Trying to keep up on the latest trends can feel overwhelming, but we are often drawn to do it. This might include completely reworking our indoor spaces to feature a different design style. While it can be exciting following the latest interior design trend it can actually become outdated quicker than you think. This guide will help you to learn why following trends may not be in your best interest and what you can do instead. Trends Expire When we are in the moment, researching the latest design style that has suddenly surfaced, we often overlook the fact that this trend will not be around to stay. Shops suddenly are grasping for inventory that fits in line with this particular trend and home décor stores are advertising their stock on social media. Everywhere you look, the décor and design are in your face. It is important to remember that the more suddenly it appears, often the more suddenly it will disappear. People will soon get their fix of that design style and need something else to jump on board with. This is when a new trend will emerge. So, always keep in mind that trends tend to expire. Trends are Cookie Cutter For the sake of uniqueness, trends will not bring you satisfaction. You can walk around your home, walk around your friend’s home, and walk around your neighbor’s home. If they are all designed the same, it is bound to get a little stagnant and boring when it comes to design. You may notice that you lack motivation and may wish that you had more unique pieces in your home that help you to stand out. This is because trends are often limiting, specific, and can leave you looking exactly the same as your neighbor. Your unique personality in creative interior design is what is important to shine. Keeping Up is Hard If you jump on the trend wagon, you can expect to be riding it for quite some time. This is because once the first trend you follow expires, you then may be looking to the next trend. This could happen within only a few years, which means everything you’ve incorporated into your home is now out of style. This can be frustrating, time consuming, and costly. Instead, you will want to focus on other ways that you can properly decorate your home. Find Your Signature Style Finding a style that you enjoy can be difficult work and it may take some trial and error. While a trend might be immediately appealing, that feeling can soon wear off. It is important to find design aspects that you are happy with and that you feel can last for the long term. Speaking with a professional may be able to help you hone in on your unique style. Incorporate Timeless Pieces Timeless pieces are generally not trendy or tacky pieces. These pieces can stay with you throughout the years and will become classic in their old age, holding their value. You do not have to make everything in your home a timeless piece, but it helps to incorporate them into your home. They may be focal points or usable items that help to make your home more functional. Hire a Professional Residential Home Designer The interior design industry brings in around $10 billion annually. If you want to find your unique design style and learn how to incorporate it into your home, hiring a professional home designer is a great option. Your home designer can help walk with you through every process and help you choose pieces that you can have in your home for years to come.

The Psychology Behind Interior Design

interior design

There are many different definitions of what makes a happy home. In a recent study, 69% of respondents stated that a happy home is a place where you feel secure, 64% stated it was a place for relaxation, and another 57% stated it was a place where you could feel free to be yourself. Regardless of your personal interpretation of what makes a home happy, interior design plays a large part in how your home feels both to you and to guests. Home decor and design decisions have the ability to impact your mood for better or for worse, and it’s important to take this into consideration when decorating your living spaces. Your Personality On Display Imagine in your mind two kitchens. One is very minimalist and sleek, with minimal clutter and a cool color scheme, while the other features warm colors, sentimental clutter on the refrigerator, and a well-worn sense of functionality. Most people will subconsciously associate the latter with more welcoming and sentimental feelings than the former minimalist design. While this doesn’t necessarily mean that the owner is less sentimental, subliminally these messages are conveyed by the home decor and general design scheme. The possessions you put on display in your home serve as a representation of your personal tastes and personality. Even if we don’t consciously think of this while decorating, guests will instinctively draw conclusions based on a few criteria. Functionality: Is there enough room for seamless function? This can include seating space for guests and family members at dining tables and in living spaces. It can also include the general layout of items. Are essentials easy to access in the open or does everything have its own storage space? Symbolism: Is your home full of sentimental pieces such as family photos, or do you prefer paintings and prints? As with the kitchen example, this isn’t necessarily indicative of personal sentimentality; however, family pictures inherently convey a more sentimental tone in comparison to other home decor pieces. Status Symbols Is your home full of name brand furniture and decor pieces or more generic items? A home designed entirely with IKEA, for example, will have a different feeling than one with mixed and matched brands. The Illusion of Space Even the smallest homes can be made to seem larger if the interior is designed correctly. The perception of space, a concept used by professional designers, aims to make a home seem more spacious and functional. To utilize these clever tricks, slimmer, scaled furniture should be chosen in place of bulkier pieces. Large wall mirrors can also be used to create depth, while ambient lighting and warm colors can accentuate this effect to further increase the illusion. If relaxation is the goal of your happy home, increasing the perception of space can help it feel more open and inviting, while also providing a functional space that won’t feel too claustrophobic or enclosed. Colors and Mood Cool and warm colors can convey different feelings and completely transform a room. Blues, greens, and grays are considered cool colors, while reds, oranges, yellows, and cream colors are warm. Depending on the color, however, some colors can cross over. For instance, lime green is considered warm due to the high amounts of yellow. Cool colors can help promote relaxation and are perfect for bedrooms and other rooms where concentration and calmness need to be promoted. Similarly, warm colors are perfect for social rooms, where warmness and socialization are promoted. When using a cool or warm color scheme, you should keep in mind to follow through with everything going into the room. For instance, if your living room is designed with warm colors, adding a cool colored floor is counter-intuitive. While this rule can be broken, unless you know the style you’re going for, it’s best to stick with one color scheme throughout. Your home decor and design contributes greatly to how your home is perceived. Likewise, the design of your home can impact how you feel while inside. Keeping this in mind, you can get started creating the living space that you’ve always wanted and space that you will truly love to be in.

3 Common Home Interior Decor Mistakes to Avoid At All Costs

Point of View interior home decor

For most people, their home is their sanctuary. Even if they don’t think they’re particularly skilled in interior design, it’s easy for them to become attached to their interior home decor. While it’s perfectly fine to infuse your home with your personal style and preferences, there may come a point where your decor is actually doing a disservice to your home. And if you plan to entertain guests or even sell your house down the line, your home decor could end up being off-putting. Whether you’ve just moved in and are looking for decorating guidance or you’re eager to know the secrets that the top interior designers in Phoenix use, we’re here to help. We’re sharing just a few common decor mistakes to avoid in your home in order to make your house that much more universally welcoming and stylish. MISTAKE: Blank and Boring Walls One of the biggest interior design trends of the past few years has involved a clean and white motif. While this can be effective in kitchens and bathrooms, it isn’t a theme that should be continued throughout the entire house. Doing so can make the home feel boring at best and sterile at worst. If your walls feel unimaginative and uninspiring, one of the best things you can do is to carefully select some beautiful wall art to adorn them. By doing so, you’ll add some much-needed color and a bit of personality to any space. When hanging art, you should keep its center at eye level (around 56 to 60 inches from the floor). This can keep your art from being hung too high or too low. If you’re not into wall art, you can opt for floating shelves, a wood accent wall, or some decorative plates to accomplish those same goals. MISTAKE: Going Overboard With a Theme On the opposite end of the spectrum, there is such a thing as too much design. That doesn’t mean you have to be a die-hard minimalist — but sometimes, less really is more. That may be the case if you’ve become a little too invested in a particular theme or style of design. To keep your home from looking like a kitschy hotel or restaurant, you might need to reel things in. If you don’t think beyond that theme, a room can quickly become overwhelmed with design or may even verge on tacky. Break things up with some neutral elements and use those thematic components as accents to the design. Just because you’ve traveled internationally or you live in a Spanish-style home doesn’t mean you have to make your house look like a museum. Mix things up to obtain a better balance. MISTAKE: Choosing the Wrong Sized Furniture When it comes to home decor, size does matter. Furniture can easily be too big or too small for a given space. Even if you love these pieces, they might not be the right fit for the family room or your bedroom. They can end up making the room feel cramped or make someone uneasy and not realize why. The goal here is to make the room feel spacious and open. If your furniture is oversized, you’ll end up doing the opposite. You need to have furniture of the appropriate scale in order to showcase a room at its best. Your family may love those oversized lounge chairs, but they probably aren’t doing any favors for the look of your home. You may need to rearrange furniture within your house to obtain the right scale or even switch out pieces entirely for ones that are a better match. Home decor isn’t an exact science, as everyone has a different preference. But there are some principles of interior design that tend to be universal. Fortunately, you don’t have to figure this out on your own. Our team is here to help. For more information, please contact us today.

6 Interior Design Trends for the Daring, Style-Savvy Homeowner

Interior Design Trends

Decorating your home can be an incredibly fulfilling and fun-filled process. Rule one is when you are looking for new interior design trends, make sure to go for designs that work best for you and fit your space. Your home’s decor can also play a great role in your mood and general well-being. For example, bright rooms with colorful walls and wide windows can to help alleviate depression and create a more conducive environment for work and study. Here are 9 simple interior design tips you can consider when you’re redecorating your home. 1. Make Ordinary Spaces More Lively You know what’s better than a generic, white-painted hallway? A warm, lively hallway. One of the simplest yet most effective interior design trends is using wallpaper and colorful paint to brighten up mundane spaces. Corridors, pantries, closets, and wardrobes- using wallpaper and suitable lighting can help you transform these spaces, adding color and unique style to your home. 2. Old and New Belong Together It’s generally considered taboo to mix vintage and contemporary elements of style while decorating your home. However, for the bold and daring home designer, the greatest joy comes in making the unprecedented work. Blending the old and the new is one of the most popular interior design trends right now. Don’t be afraid to match the sleek, straight lines of your ultra-modern dining table with hardwood, classic, deep-buttoned dining chairs. 3. Don’t Forget Your Lighting The way your bulbs look is just as important as the quality of light they produce and their implication on your energy consumption. You should always consider all these factors when looking for new light bulbs for your home. Since lighting plays such a monumental role in home decor, ornate LED bulbs are fast becoming rather popular interior design trends. Such bulbs not only look great but they are incredibly energy efficient as well: what’s not to like? 4. Have You Tried Wicker Storage? Wicker is fast becoming a new favorite among homeowners and interior designers. Many furniture manufacturers are even incorporating it into their sideboards and cupboards. Wicker storage is very convenient and practical. It also has an incredible texture to it that will add to the mood and feel of the room when you redecorate. 5. Antiques and Antiquities There’s something about an old table lamp, a carved, hardwood stool, a classic, Persian rug, or a great vintage piece of art. Such pieces elevate your decor and transform your home into a stylish and artistic time capsule. Vintage, traditional furniture is typically built from solid grainy wood, and has a radiant, glossy finish that adds to the texture in the room. Having many such elements of art sprinkled around your home helps create a warm, vintage mood. Remember- antiques only get better with time. 6. How Often Do You Find Yourself Staring at the Ceiling? One of the greatest tricks of interior design is taking advantage of all the real estate you have available. It’s ironic how noticeable ceilings are, even when they are bland and boring. This is why professional interior designers use it to redefine the room they’re decorating. When using wallpaper in your room, install it on the ceiling as well. It’s advisable to use the same wallpaper on the walls as well as this helps create a seamless and continuous design. However, you could go with something different, as long as it has a similar texture and shade. Final Words Some people have a natural eye for home decor and design, and therefore approach renovation projects with excitement and anticipation. Unfortunately, others aren’t as gifted and even have trouble figuring out the difference between a carpet and a rug. If this sounds like you, it’s important to have an interior designer on speed dial to guide you through the numerous decisions you’re bound to encounter. Working with a professional will help ensure you don’t make any mistakes that will be costly to remedy. They also have a keen eye for the interior design trends that will work in your home and those that don’t. This indispensable advice will help you get closer to the home you’ve always dreamed about.

Here are 7 Incredible Interior Design Trends You Should Keep In Mind This Year

Spring is a great time to achieve new goals and write down resolutions for a new you. As you focus on making changes to your personal life, don’t leave your home behind! If one of your goals for this year was to do more renovation and improve the decor of your residence, here are 7 interior design trends that will help to implement change. 1. Bold Monochromatic Color Schemes Most people mistake monochromatic for pale and boring. This doesn’t have to be the case. Many homeowners are falling in love with this trend, which entails bathing entire rooms in one color. Using colors such as yellow, orange, cobalt blue, aubergine, and Kelly green will help you achieve the monochromatic design in a flamboyant way. Pale monochromatic schemes can make a room seem too sterile. 2. Merging the Old and the New For quite a while now, many homeowners have adopted a perfectionist style when decorating their homes. This meant not mixing different designs and textures, and although it makes for a uniform design scheme, it may get boring. As you decorate your apartment or home for spring consider layering old and new together. Set that wooden antiquity you bought on vacation on your ultra-modern coffee table. This makes your decor more playful and daring and allows you to comfortably display elements of your personality through the items you collect. 3. Installing Centerpiece Doors Standard white doors with generic trims can’t get the job done anymore. Gone are the days when doors were basic fixtures to your home. Many homeowners are now gravitating towards using bold, dark painted doors of superior make and design. Such doors add character to your room. These dark, earthy tones, when paired with other furnishings, will make your house look classy yet contemporary. 4. Fun Bathroom Designs Your bathroom can arguably be one of the most important room in your space. For quite a while now, bathroom designs have been tame and safe, with modest floors and countertops. This is changing. Because of their size and design, bathrooms are fun to experiment with and have fun. Don’t shy away from using colorful materials and wallpaper as this will help you achieve the playful aura you’re looking for. 5. Using Real Plants For a while now, synthetic indoor plants have found themselves in almost every apartment hallway. Such plants are quite sustainable since they don’t require any nurturing and care. However, the time has come to replace them with real plants. Real indoor plants help with a room’s aeration while giving it personality and character. Since succulent plants do well with little water, they wouldn’t be too much of an inconvenience to take care of. However, you must make sure your room has enough light to prevent the plants from curving as they grow. 6. Investing In Quality Bedspreads When redecorating your bedroom, make sure to splurge on your mattress and a high-quality set of sheets. It’s worth it- we spend so much time in bed. You can also go for colorful materials and one-themed bedspreads to give your room a continuous, playful look. 7. Tucking Away Your Appliances Installing your microwave and other appliances on your countertop is getting old. It wastes a lot of valuable space and also might not be very aesthetically appealing. Many designers are now tucking these appliances away on shelves. Make sure your microwave is still as accessible in its new position. Your home is an apt representation of who you are and what you stand for. If you’re thinking of decorating your home, make sure to integrate elements of your personality into the overall design. These trends will help you create a comfortable and functional space without having to compromise on aesthetics.