Creating Your Best Home: Tips From Design Pros

The secrets of staging, creating warmth, utilizing your space, and generally creating your best home aren’t secrets anymore. Here are some tips to making your house feel like home.

Tread Lightly

Nothing pulls together the look of a room quite as easily or as well as an area rug. With hardwood floors currently trending, area rugs can provide much-needed warmth and softness underfoot as well as bring color to a generally neutral area.

Choose a large area rug for spaces with bare floors and lots of living space, or throw rugs for smaller areas. Check out our rug buying guide for tips.

Know Your Dealbreakers

Have you been wanting a refrigerator that accommodates your family’s needs while still looking fabulous? Been eyeing that deluxe washer and dryer set? Don’t settle! Chances are, you’ll regret settling for anything less than you’ve been dreaming about. If you you do, you’ll miss the features it doesn’t have every time you use it. So get the large-capacity dishwasher or the gorgeous double oven...in the long run, you’ll be glad you did.

Double Your Fun

Speaking of things that look good and perform well, always be on the lookout for products that serve a dual purpose. A ceiling fan for example, provides overhead light as well as air circulation. Explore other lighting options such as a lighted pot rack over a kitchen island, chandeliers which provide a focal point in addition to light, and designer lighting, which illuminates your space while upgrading your style.

Dress It Up

When it comes to light switches, dimmers and wall plates, and door knobs, door levers, and cabinet hardware, people often go basic and inexpensive. This is a mistake, says designer, Courtney Hill, “Elegant controls add a spectacular element to an older home or character to a new one.”

Choose switch plates that add to your decor instead of just serving a function. Consider cabinet hardware in metal tones that complement your kitchen or bathroom decor or add a little pizazz. Make your door hardware the star of the entryway!

Class Up The Joint

Every house needs a home bar. Whether it’s for coffee, beer, wine or something...stronger. You'll be ready to host guests at any moment when you’ve got a fully-stocked home bar. This can be accomplished easily with a bar cart, a freestanding bar, or a built-in bar in your kitchen or entertainment area. 

There are just a few necessities for a home bar, depending on your preferences. A beverage center, a wine cooler, a Kegerator, and a bar or prep sink. Our home bar buying guide is a good jumping off point for you to personalize your home bar. 

Treat Yourself to an Oasis

Splurging on your master bathroom is something you will never regret. Begin with a deep soaking tub and consider air therapy or water therapy. Luxuriate in a shower with steam, a rain shower, multiple showerheads, and body sprays. Your vanity can be a focal point of the space. Choose one that will provide enough storage as well as a perfect sink area. For your faucet, consider brushed gold or matte black in an interesting design to complement the other bathroom hardware.

Make the bathroom design your own with mosaic tile, interesting sconces, a chandelier, or pendant lighting.

Surround Yourself with Color

Add color and texture to any space with paint or wallcoverings on the walls and ceiling. The ceiling in particular is an oft-forgotten space which can add a high-fashion design element to your home. 

Ever thought about botanical print wallpaper? Wallpaper and paint can both be used to create an accent wall. Imagine textured whirls in bold colors for your ceiling. Or dreamy golds or blues to create the illusion of sky.

Consider adding creatively-designed wall coverings in hallways, stairways, and other transitional areas that might not contain furniture but would benefit from a pop of color.  

To Your Tones Be True

You probably have at least a vague color scheme in your home. It might be something as basic as “don’t clash.” But having an established color palette can go a long way toward helping you establish continuity in your space. When colors don’t flow well in a room or from one room to the next, it can give your home an overall chaotic feel. Using colors that complement each other, are your favorites, and are pleasing to the eye will give you an overall sense of peace in the space where you spend much of your time and where you should feel cohesion. 

There are many ways to begin, but the easiest way is to choose a basic color scheme like the ones discussed here. Start with one room if it feels overwhelming. You won’t be sorry for the effort you put in when you’re surrounded with shades that you love.

Deceive The Eyes With Size

Fake the square footage. Any professional interior designer will tell you that bigger is better. Higher ceilings, more floor space….everyone wants more. There are a few ways to make it look like you’ve got more space than you do without tearing down walls.

• Paint the ceiling. The eye will be drawn up to a high focal point, creating the illusion of a taller room.
• Add Mirrors. We’ve all been duped into thinking a restaurant or casino is bigger than it really is by a wall of mirrors. You can duplicate this trick in your home by placing mirrors across from or next to a window or even behind a lamp, where they will reflect light.
• Choose one large piece of furniture. One piece (and only one) will make it appear as though you’ve got room for large furniture in the space. Try an oversized couch or armoire. 
• Consider an oversized printed rug. So simple. An oversized rug gives the illusion of more walking space in a room where the rug is shown off and not covered by furniture. Try some of these striped rugs, known to lengthen the appearance of a room. 
• Install glass shower doors. Glass shower doors give you instant extra square footage! Especially when you’ve opted for a curbless shower pan. Using the same floor tiles and tiling them straight into the shower stall will make the room feel longer as well. 

Never Miss An Accent Opportunity

Eye-catching backsplash tile will always make a statement. Your kitchen and bath both give you ample opportunity to express yourself with tile. Designers advise homeowners to cover as much of the wall as the budget will allow. The change in texture from a smooth counter or wall provides focal interest, and choosing a different shade will really make it fun. 

Feel At Home

Consider any of these tips to help your space feel like it’s unique to you and your family. Because for your space to be your sanctuary, it’s got to feel like yours.