Dressing Up Your Floors

October 11th, 2011

 

Area Rug by Dash and Albert

Your hardwood floors look gorgeous!  Whether they came with your new home or you have pulled up all the old carpeting in your present home, they are warm and beautiful.  Area rugs are the finishing touches to your floors and jewellery for your home as mentioned in the first blog.  Each home needs the finishing touches to complete and make your house a home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you are starting from scratch and are planning on placing a area rug in your room, it may be the starting point for the colours and fabrics you select. Each style or colour selection of a rug will give a room a different feel. You can take a very monochromatic room and place a rug with the same feel in the room.  Giving it a very serene ambiance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The addition of a rug with colour will give a room a different feel. You do not necessarily have to pick up on the colour for the wall either.  The rug can stand on its own as a piece of art, with hints of the colour throughout.

Photo from Canadian House and Home Gallery

http://www.dashandalbert.com/

http://www.juditgueth.com/hand_knotted_rugs.html

 

Isabel

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Great Fabric From Schumacher By Martyn Lawrence Bullard

September 27th, 2011

Anyone who watches Millionaire Decorators will know who Martyn Lawrence Bullard is. Everything with Martyn is deeliish-us dah-ling. Check out this beautiful fabric from Schumacher designed by decorating dah-ling Martyn, it truly is deeliish-us!

http://whatsnew.fschumacher.com/index.php/in-the-press/3158/best-of-the-best/

 

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It’s Baaack!

August 30th, 2011
Amy Butler Designs Through Graham and Brown 

As mentioned in our Jewellery For Your Home blog wallpaper is back with a  vengeance! It is beautiful. Don’t cringe, it really is fabulous. Sometimes all you need is a little bit of wallpaper in a room and you get a tremendous return. It is the type of installation in a room that transforms the space.

If you are feeling gun shy, a heavily patterned graphic paper with a lot of contrast may be better suited to either one wall, to create a focal point or done with wainscoting. You can paper the top portion of the wall, while keeping the lower portion simple with wainscoting. Have you come across a paper that you adore but cannot imagine hanging it on your walls as it’s just too busy? Consider papering your powder room. You won’t grow tired of it very quickly as it’s in a room that you don’t spend a lot of time in. Wallpaper can be pricey so a powder room really is a great place to start.

On the other hand if you are putting up a paper with a tone on tone pattern, in order to really appreciate the warmth that wallpaper provides, paper the entire room. Remember to layer. Add draperies, area rugs, throws, cushions. Fall is coming, we’ll be craving the warmth in no time!

Check out these links for fabulous wallpaper inspiration;

http://www.amybutlerdesign.com/products/wallpaper.php

http://www.harlequin.uk.com/harlequin-wallpaper.aspx

 

 

 

 

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Decorating Kids Rooms

August 19th, 2011
What A Hoot by Harlequin Fabrics U.K

As a parent of two young girls, I understand the need to create a space that your kids love but doesn’t make you cringe every time you walk past their bedroom door. Let me assure you that it is possible to create a room that reflects your kids individual tastes but will also grow with them – so you don’t have to do it all over again in two years.

Here’s a few tips to achieve that balance: Try to buy furniture that will grow with them. It’s true that the race car bed will thrill your child and that princess castle bed will light up her eyes, however, you will only get about a year out of these dinky toddler beds. Making the transition to big kid bed is a big deal! Buy a bed that will take them to college. If you have the space in their bedroom, use a double or queen sized bed. Not only will they grow to fill the bed (believe it or not), it comes in really handy for sleep overs and the inevitable nights when they need their mommy beside them. If you don’t have the space for a bigger bed consider a trundle. However, I highly recommend only buying a trundle that stores the mattress inside the trundle drawer and not separately.

When it comes to dressers and end tables you don’t need to buy new. You may have some pieces that you have inherited through the years and think they are for the trash heap.  Try to see past the dated hardware and unsightly finish. If the piece has interesting lines and the drawers function well (or can be repaired) it may be worth keeping. Consider painting the pieces out and adding new hardware. You don’t have to stick to basic white or black..it’s for the kids room! Not only do all the pieces not have to match, you can paint them in fun colours that co-ordinate with the bedding or rug.

Custom decal by www.vinylvixendesign.com

Your child may feel his room must be an homage to all things Transformers, however in two years he’s likely to have moved onto another trend. Choose quality bedding that is soft to the touch and more importantly washable (think sick child and accidents). Finding draperies that work best with your bedding can be a challenge. Your best bet is to have draperies made. And consider going with either room darkening blinds or draperies lined with black-out lining. To appease the love of princesses or Woody, add pillows or a throw that can easily be swapped out for something else a year or two down the line. Wall decals are hot right now. Again I wouldn’t go with a Cinderella, but there are some wonderful trees, animals and flowers that will grow with your child. Decals are also a great way to personalize your child’s room with their name.

Have you noticed that if you let your child pick their paint colour its about 10 times brighter then you would have picked? I suggest you either don’t let them pick the colour or paint only one wall in their chosen colour. (Though I have found if you let them pick the colour, then actually paint the room several shades lighter, they’ll never know it’s not the colour they picked. (Yep, nothing like parenting by deceit.) Often by the time a child reaches closer to the teen years the colour they want is black. Introducing black is not as painful as you may think. Often painting only one wall or just the bottom 36″ will suffice. It gives them a bit of the edge they are looking for without creating an “emo” cave.

Far Far Away by Harlequin Fabrics U.K.

Don’t forget about the floor and the ceiling. An area rug is great way to add colour and comfort to a kids room. Pick a brightly colored rug that invites the kids to sprawl out on the floor to play. If the rug is your inspiration for the room select the bedding and other fabrics based on the rug colours – lastly pick the wall colour. You may not be brave enough to paint the ceiling a contrasting colour in your living room, but a kids room is the perfect space to let those reservations go! Paint the ceiling darker then walls to add a completely different dimension to the room.

Bottom line here is abandon the taupes and beiges you have through out your home and go wild! Okay not really, but you can let loose a little here can’t you? For the kids?

 

Jennifer

 

 

 

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Jewlery for Your Home

August 8th, 2011
Wallpaper by Amy Butler designed exclusively for Graham and Brown
One of the biggest mistakes home owners make when renovating or giving a space a face lift is skipping out on the finishing touches. Most people simply don’t know what they need to pull the room together. “Why doesn’t my room look like one on T.V. or the magazine?” Quite frankly by the time the project has reached the finishing touch phase most people are either overwhelmed, burnt out or simply have no idea what look it is they are trying to achieve. Some are trying to keep their marriages together…

Here are a few do’s and don’ts for selecting finishing touches:

DO: ALWAYS (and we cannot emphasize this enough) put in a kitchen back splash. Whether it be tile or stainless or mirror, your kitchen will look unfinished without a back splash.

DON’T: Leave purchasing your light fixtures to the end of your budget. When you have installed fabulous lighting people notice! Would you not prefer to walk into a room everyday and covet your lighting choice? When selecting light fixtures go for over scaled. They will have a much greater impact.

DO: Dress your windows. If you really want that custom designed magazine look hang draperies. Select an up to date fabric that works with other upholstery pieces in the room. Hang them close to the ceiling and let them puddle…unless you have cats…(wink)

DON’T: Use too many toss cushions. We love love love toss cushions. Especially the large 24″x24″ ones that are hot right now. However if you are constantly throwing them on the floor every time you sit down, you may have too many. They may look great, but end up being a pain in the butt. No pun intended.

DO: Wallpaper. Yep. Sorry folks, but it’s back and it’s fabulous! Totally overscaled patterns, subtle colours, wild colours, modern, traditional, for kids rooms, you name it! You don’t have to wallpaper every wall. If you are still removing that country blue wallpaper with the geese wearing hats then you may want to start with just one wall.

DON’T: Buy the paint first. Paint comes in virtually millions of colours. Purchase your big budget items first or something that inspires you to decorate the room around like an area rug or even a fabulous toss cushion. The paint colour should be selected last.

DO: Build in a decorating allowance as part of your budget. As an example let’s say you are renovating your kitchen. It’s relatively simple to work out how much your cabinetry and counter top will be as the kitchen cabinet company is happy to provide you with this information. Your contractor will also provide you a number for the very basic in finishes and the labour. Are you going to be happy with a $4 a SF tile budget?

Astoria Velvets by Clarke and Clarke

What about funds for lighting, window coverings, back splash, pulls and knobs, faucet, wall coverings, stools, table and chairs and so on… This is where the average homeowner feels overwhelmed and ends up with a renovation that is a great improvement over what was there before, but are still left feeling like it’s missing something…on top of your renovation cost add about 30% for finishing touches. Remember this when setting your budget from the beginning.

 

Jennifer Teeple

 

 

 

 

 

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Welcome to the Decorating Resource Studio Blog

July 13th, 2011

Welcome to London’s newest home decor and interior design blog!

We are two design industry experts who together opened the Decorating Resource Studio (DRS) in London, Ontario.  As London’s ‘decor destination,’ DRS offers all the items designers and members of the public need to finish their projects – including wallpaper, lighting, fabrics, custom furniture, marble and glass tile, drapery rods, area rugs and more.  DRS eliminates the need to drive to Toronto for designer finishes. If you are perhaps a more design savvy type, DRS is the place to be! Our blog will keep you informed on the latest design trends, tips and ways to pull your rooms together. If you are perhaps what would be considered the opposite of design savvy, we can help you out too! Stay tuned and become a design guru.

Please stay tuned to our weekly blog as London’s best design resource!

Isabel Gomes and Jennifer Teeple


 

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