by lauraadmin | Jan 23, 2016 | NOC
You have slaved over putting together a room in your house. You are almost done. You find the PERFECT piece that will be the finishing touch to your room. However, that perfect piece is a lot more than you wanted to spend, and will put you over your budget! You have been patiently waiting for it to go on sale. What to do? Find the PERFECT replica, for MUCH less!
I’m not going to lie, it takes a lot of time and effort to search for replicas. However, it is all worth it when you find that perfect piece! Here are some amazing designer knock offs that give you that high end designer look, for a fraction of the price.
I have always loved the Parson Table. This design was designed by Jean-Michel Frank in the 1930’s. It is as relevant today as it was then. This is truly a modern classic! In my original post, Pier 1 had a great table for under $500! Sadly, this is no longer available. Here is another great alternative from Zinc Door.
This gold and marble cocktail table is of perfect size and proportion. The geometric detail adds a lot of visual interest. The table from Overstock is a great find!
I LOVE mirrored furniture. It reflects light beautifully, and adds just the right amount of sparkle to a room. This piece would look great in a dining room or bedroom.
Below are nickel plated console tables. Glass tables are a great way to add furniture without taking up a lot of visual space. Great for smaller spaces.
There is something very chic about Zinc. It has a great looking patina that looks rustic, yet refined. This could serve as a console or desk. Add a lamp with a shiny finish, and your are good to go!
Unless a throw is made of cashmere or fur, it should not cost $300. I’m sorry, but that is absurd! This cotton throw from target is a great find and comes in many other colors. Since a lot of designers farm out their production to factories overseas, there is a good chance this was even made in the same factory.
This is a really stylish headboard. The nail head detail adds a lot of interest and gives it a special look. With the $1200 you save, you could buy some high thread count sheets and a nice duvet 🙂
I am a sucker for interesting looking accessories. These metal spheres add so much interest and style. Add them to a bookcase, inside your kitchen glass cabinets or on top of a stack of books on your cocktail table.
I could spend all day posting these design hacks! There are so many great deals to be found. There are some things I feel are worth the price and are truly an investment (a great sofa is one of these things), and somethings that are worth taking the time to find a cheaper alternative. We no longer buy heirloom furniture. Most of us do not want to have our furniture for 40 years, to later pass on to our children. Therefore, we are not looking to spend a small fortune on each piece.
My philosophy always (whether it is furniture, clothes, shoes or purses) is to buy the best you can afford. But, be selective. In my opinion, I would rather invest in great kitchen cabinetry that is crafted of superior material and will withstand the wear and tear of many years of use, than on a $15,000 dining room set that I will be sick of in 5 years. The best rooms are the rooms with a few high end pieces and a few design hacks. I’m warning you though, the hunt becomes just as fun and addictive as the savings!!
Hope you enjoyed this post on designer replicas. Let me know if you have found any great knockoffs that you want to share.
xo Laurie
by lauraadmin | Jan 20, 2016 | NOC
While temperatures dip below freezing in the Northeast, writing a post on warm paint color palettes could not have come at a better time! Dreaming of sun, sand and all things warm is a nice respite from this frigid weather. This might be my longest post yet; so, buckle up, Babydolls!
I find that warm colors are more tricky to work with and harder to pair with other warm colors. The undertones of warm colors vary so greatly making it difficult to find other colors that marry well with them. That being said, there are a few tips I like to use when pairing these colors together. But first, let’s start with some color palettes and pictures that illustrate these palettes before I launch into my tips. As a caveat, most computer screens and the screens of hand-held devices are all calibrated very differently. This great effects the way these colors are viewed. Please take paint chips home or buy paint samples to try out in the space you are looking to use them (viewing them during both the day and night) to ensure the color is right for you.
The colors below are colors we all know and love with a few updates. Those who follow fashion know that when trends emerge from past trends, they are always tweaked to make them more current; paint colors are no different.
As I stated in my last post on this topic, try to use a dark, medium and light colors in each room adding a pop of color for interest and depth. The palette I highlighted below features Springfield Tan, Yosemite Sand, Rustic Taupe, Nightfall and Cork. A nice combination to use might be to have Springfield Tan on the walls, Yosemite Sand on the ceiling (this would look amazing), Rustic Taupe and Nightfall as your accent color and Cork as your pop.
The room below features sand colored walls with white trimmed box molding and pops of yellow and black. Unless you have a high threshold for color and contrast, it is a good idea to limit your pop of yellow to accent and accessories that can easily be swapped out. Yellow is one of the hardest colors to work with; therefore, when it comes to yellow, muted is best. In my opinion, pastel yellow only belongs in a nursery.
Image via Houzz
Here is a palette using a medium tone beige, a deep brown, cream and cherry red as an accent color. I love this bright, almost pink pop of red. This is a beautiful and more current red than was used 10 years ago. It is bright and saturated, yet still refined. In designing a room using these colors, I would use the medium color, Baja Dunes on the walls; the dark and light color, Fallen timber and muslin, as accents and Rose Parade as the pop of color. The dining room below is a very dramatic use of these colors. This designer chose to paint the walls a very deep shade of brown, with white moldings, trim and mirror. The pop of cherry red is used only on the upholstery, area rug and wall decor.
Image via Houzz – Tobi Fairley Interior Design
The deep brown (almost black) walls looks so rich with this shade of cherry red!
My last palette using warm colors features a color that a lot of people are afraid of: Orange. I can understand one’s hesitation to use this color. When searching through Designer portfolios for images using orange, I found more badly designed rooms using this color, than I did of rooms that used orange successfully. I have a few tips just for this color alone. When using the right shade of orange, in the right places, this color can add a fun pop or add a warm, comforting vibe to your space. The palette below features a crisp white, White Dove; a light beige, Manchester Tan; a rich brown, Brown Horse and a saturated orange, Pumpkin Spice.
Tips for using orange: Use orange in a space that gets a lot of natural light. I would also suggest limiting this color to one wall. Orange is a secondary color, it is a blend of red and yellow. Choose an orange that has more red than yellow in it. Therefore, I would opt for a medium to deep shade of orange over a lighter shade of this color. In addition, when incorporating metals with orange, I would suggest using gold over silver.
The rooms below use this color as an accent color to add depth to the space. They both limit this color to strategically placed pops of orange. The first room uses a deep dramatic brown for the wall color, adding a deep orange throw at the bottom of the bed and orange Hermes boxes on the nightstands. The second room uses a lighter wall color with orange as the accent on the rug and upholstery. Most importantly, the designers of both rooms kept the intensity of the orange (deep and rich for the first, rich and bright for the second), consistent with the other colors in the room.
Image via Houzz-Gary McBournie Inc.
Image via Houzz
Below are my pairings for those of you who like things a little bolder 🙂 These palettes are deep and dramatic. There is much less variation in the intensity of the colors used in these spaces. This palette features Sherwin Williams paints.
Bold Color Pairing-Sherwin Williams
Image via Houzz- Salins Group
Image via Houzz – Leigh Olive Mowry-Olive Interiors
Image via Pinterest – Blogspot
In the image below, I love how this designer created drama using the same color intensity for all colors. Although this room is too dramatic for most people, it is really well done! Green is a versatile color in that it plays well with both silver and gold.
Image via Pinterest – Studio M Interiors
This last room illustrates a classic black, white and red palette. This palette will never go out of style. However, this is a fresh interpretation that I love. Most elements in this room are kept light and bright. The use of black on the window grills adds a dramatic and upscale element. It is as though this designer used kohl eyeliner to line the “eyes” of this room. The designer showed restraint in leaving the window treatments simple to highlight this feature. The red chairs are a perfect use of dramatic symmetry. I am loving this dining room right down to the blown glass orb chandelier!
Image via Houzz-Spinnaker Development
Ok, here are a few tips on warm paint pairings:
- According to House Beautiful, warm colors are best used in south and east facing rooms. South and east facing light is warm and will enhance warm paint colors. To determine what direction your room faces, you can download a compass app on your phone. Be sure to keep your phone (or compass) flat for most accurate results.
- As a general rule of thumb, gold is the best metals to use when accessorizing rooms using warm colors.
- Be cognizant of the type of light you are using in a room with warm paint. Florescent light bulbs (never recommended) emit a very blue green light and will completely change the way your paint looks at night. Incandescent light (most light bulbs) If you have nothing better to do, you can click here for more info on this topic 🙂
I will wrap this post up by expressing my deep appreciation for all of your kind, enthusiastic and supportive feedback. I appreciate each and every comment and private message I have received. This blog is a labor of love, and it is my hope that I am able to lessen the frustration and challenges that arise in home design. Your feedback is immensely helpful and lets me know what you are interested in reading about. Keep the suggestions coming 🙂
xo Laurie
by lauraadmin | Jan 16, 2016 | NOC
It is no secret that one’s home is a symbol of status. Whether it is accurate or not, we assume one’s bank account is in direct relation to one’s home. Who of us has not walked into someone’s grand or super stylish home and wondered “what do they do for a living?”. Or conversely, assumed that one was of modest means after visiting that person’s home.
For most, one’s home is one’s biggest financial investment. We are all hoping for a large payout when the time comes that we are ready to sell. Therefore, we look to do things to increase the value of our home. Whether you are looking to sell in the near future, or just want to elevate the look of your home, here are 5 things you can do to make your home look more expensive. (As a side note, I will almost never post “20 things” for anything. I am not a big fan of laundry lists. Personally, I do not want to do 20 things, no matter what the topic is. I favor tasks that feel achievable; hence, my list of 5 🙂
- Add Art to every room on your first floor (powder room included). Showcasing a gallery or a single piece of art gives the impression of a cultured and refined owner. You need not spend a fortune; Minted is one of my favorite sites that carries reasonably priced framed art. Keep the style of the art consistent throughout the house. Although it is possible to successfully mix things like photography and abstract art, it is not for the novice. For a really high end look, choose ONE piece to showcase in each room. I like to make this piece LARGE, as shown below. There can be other art in the room, but one piece should hold the spotlight.
This room is one of my favorites that illustrates this tip:
2. Add molding! This is a tip we’ve all heard. However, most times it is crown molding that is the focus. I completely agree with this; however, the base molding seems to be the ugly step sister of molding and therefore, is rarely mentioned. A truly high end home usually showcases 4″-6″ base moldings. If you want your home to look more expensive, beef up those base moldings! I also like adding an extra piece of molding at the top to create an even more custom look.
I love the way the picture below uses the extra piece of molding at the top of the base molding; it is the details that gives this a truly special appearance.
Image via Houzz – Bruce Johnson & Associates
3. Use inside mount window treatments. Inside mount window treatments are usually associated with custom treatments……cha-ching!!!!! Those of us who have installed custom window treatments know that it is easy to spend $2000 per window. (In another post, I will give you my tips for major window treatment design hacks to save you big $). Using inside mount treatments will undoubtedly give your home a more high end appearance.
The pictures below are from The Shade Store and start at $345. The Shade Store is a great resource. Their designer collaborations with Dwell, DVF, Robert Allen and Jeffery Alan Marks make it so you can get designer fabrics at a steeply discounted price. The fabric alone would cost this amount at designer showrooms.
4. Pull some furniture away from the walls. In addition to this, remove a couple pieces of furniture from each room. Floating the furniture gives the illusion that the room is larger than it is. High end homes do not have furniture crammed into a room. Quite the opposite; they usually have much less furniture than the space can hold. This also gives a more open and stylish appearance.
I love the way this room feels like there is room to breathe. The room is a good size, but looks even larger because all of the furniture is floating and not anchored to any wall.
Interior via Martha O’Hara Interior Design
5. Update your light fixtures (especially your ceiling mount fixtures, change them out to semi-flush mounts). The parallels in fashion and interior design are endless. You can elevate a dress from Banana Republic with a few nice pieces of jewelry. The same principle holds true for your home. Choose lighting that is interesting. Make a statement with crystals or laser cut metals.
Here are a few that I like from Shades of Light and Lamps Plus:
We will return to our normal programming, and continue with our paint pairings using warm colors for our next post! Hope you enjoyed this interruption! Let me know what you think, or if you can add to this topic in any way.
xo Laurie
by lauraadmin | Dec 23, 2015 | NOC
Tween boys (and Men) are pretty superficial in the sense that there is not a lot of depth in their hobbies and interests. Their needs are fairly easy to meet. Most conversations vacillate between sports, food & the ability to burp the alphabet. One usually does not need to wonder what subtext lies beneath their words. My husband insists that all of these reason are exactly why Men are happier than Women. I disagree (this is for another post 🙂
When boys are young, the colors used are mostly pastel blue, yellow and green. The palette I use for tween boys is muted and warm with lots of gray and black undertones. Also, the hues are richer in color than the ones I use for tween girls. Tween boys rooms can be just as much fun to create as girls rooms; however, the SAME themes keep emerging; sports, superheros (I amazed by this theme’s longevity) & sports again!! I love the rock & roll theme, the surfer theme and the campy man cave theme (what guy doesn’t love a gilded deer head hanging on his wall?)
Since sports themes are by far the most requested, I created a baseball theme for this post. Ok, I would like to first state: For the love of all that is holy, PLEASE DO NOT PAINT YOUR SON’S WALLS IN HIS FAVORITE TEAM’S COLORS!!!! I know it sounds like a good idea, but it is not. These colors might look good on a uniform, but they do not look good on walls. It is very easy to incorporate team colors in a variety of ways that will let all those who enter know what team your son is a fan of. The key is to use paint to establish the base, and then add colors and accessories to establish the theme. Below, I listed my favorite color schemes for tween boys rooms. I listed the main paint color, a coordinating accent wall color, ceiling and trim color and any other applicable accent colors (either used through paint or accessories).
Below, I created a baseball themed room. The palette is gray, navy & white with brown and red accents. Since the colors are muted in the room I added a lot of texture to add depth. I added a chenille rug, faux fur throw pillow, distressed leather desk and accent chair knit pouf and galvanized metal on the locker style desk and night table. The brown is repeated on the vintage bats hung over the bed, the distressed leather chairs & the hardwood floors. The red accents are picked up in the locker, pouf, pendant lights, throw pillow, art, and bedding. The striped euro shams (I repeat stripes on the throw pillow) and zig-zag drapes added a much-needed pattern. I framed the Yankees and MLB logos to add some “art”, and I added the decal between the vintage bats. I am a huge fan of decals (any more than two is serious overkill). This is such a fun and easy way to add team spirit without commitment. When you are done with it, just peel it off.
A REALLY, REALLY important element that I add to ALL sports themed room are vintage accessories. This is the element that keeps this room looking stylish and well done!!! I can not stress this enough. It is the juxtaposition of the new and old that makes this look successful. The internet has a vast selection of vintage accessories. Although I couldn’t fit it in this frame, I added gray wire cubby type shelving on the left for storage (they are from Land of Nod) to add to the vintage vibe. As I stated in my last post, I really like to add visual tension in the rooms I design. I did this here by adding the single red locker and the zigzag drapes (which is an unexpected pattern to use in this themed room).
Tween Boy’s Room
So here are a few tips on successfully creating a themed tween boys room:
- Keep colors muted. You can create interest by painting accent walls or painting the ceiling (which looks amazing in boy’s rooms)
- Try not to match every piece of furniture. I used the galvanized locker style on the desk and night table. I would NOT also use a locker style dresser. I would have used a painted gray dresser that coordinated with the bed.
- Play with texture. The texture is more interesting to the eye than color.
- Add an unexpected pattern as I did with the zigzag drapes.
- Add cubby type storage. Boys will shove things on or under anything they can. Cubbies (hopefully) keep things off the floor.
The nice thing about this design is that should he decide he doesn’t want a sports theme anymore, you take the wall decor down and the bedding and this can easily be a skater, ski, or man cave theme. Also, your son can take the desk, night table & locker to college, and only the bedding and wall decor need to be swapped out to make this a great guest room.
Kid’s rooms are so fun to create!! Let me know what themes you would like me to create, and I will post on it. Message me if you would like to know where I got these pieces.
XO Laurie
by lauraadmin | Dec 15, 2015 | NOC
Creating a unique and visually appealing gallery to display one’s art and photos can be a challenge. The options are almost unlimited. One can mix art with photos (this is a stunning look, although tough for a novice to pull off). One can also mix frames to lend an eclectic, carefree vibe. Another option is adding decorative elements to your gallery to add an interesting and layered look.
Here are a few guidelines I use when hanging art and photos:
- I use repetition and symmetry A LOT when creating galleries. One’s eye searches for patterns, as well as matching elements. If you look closely at the galleries I created below, I repeat images multiple times in most displays.
- Lay out your art on the floor and play with the arrangement. Finalize the arrangement before you put even one nail in the wall.
- Art hung in odd numbers usually looks more appealing (there are a few galleries I created below that use even numbers of hangings. However, when you are just starting out arranging and hanging art, I would stick with odd numbers.)
- Stay within the borders of the sofa or table which you are hanging the art over. Although it is not wrong per say, to expand beyond the borders, it will look more refined and deliberate if you use the length of your sofa or table as your guide.
- While designing, I create horizontal and vertical grids in my head to ensure spaces are balanced. I do the same while hanging photos and art. Make sure that the space above, below and between each picture is the same distance apart (I use 4″ as a rule of thumb). A lot of times I line up the top edges, bottom edges or both of the frames’ edges to create an border.
- USE THE LINES OF THE SOFA TO CREATE A GRID IN WHICH TO HANG YOUR ART!!! The picture that lies in the center of the arrangement should either be centered over the center cushion of the sofa, or the center line of the sofa should bisect the photo that lies over it.
- I LOVE to layer and stack frames on top of each other. This is the ultimate way to add dimension, interest and a truly custom look to your gallery. This layout requires A LOT of patience and meticulous measuring……..basically, don’t drink and hang!
- Hang art lower than you think it should be hung! If you have to tilt your head up to look at the picture, it is hung too high! A good rule of thumb is to have the center of the photo at about 58-60″ above the floor.
Below, I showcase a few variations to give some inspiration on hanging your gallery. As a tip, West Elm has great frames. They are super stylish and are easy to work with. The frames come with a paper template that you can tape to the wall to adjust and play around with.
Building a gallery around a beautiful mirror is an easy and classic way to display art. Adding mirrored stars between art and photos adds a lot of visual interest to the second and fourth gallery.
The use of a grid in all three layouts makes these displays stand out. In the first and third displays,I lined up the edges of the tops and bottoms of each frame. In the second display, I lined up the top of the frames to create structure. Because this layout is the most “organic” of the groupings, I relied heavily on repetition of both the size of the frames, and the images displayed.
Let me know what you think. I would love to hear what tips you have for displaying your photos.
xo Laurie
