Designer embrace

You are: Bold, flamboyant and not afraid of risks. A natural entertainer with the highest standards of order that mere mortals aspire to maintain.

Create the look:

• Be daring. Contrast graphic patterns in black and white for a bold look
• Choose a pair of occasional chairs that are stately and luxurious
• Add luster to glass tables with chrome metal frames. After all, why shy away from drama?
• Consider decor that is over sized, polished and eye-catching

Style tip: Balance strong angles and cooler metals by using a shag pile rug or textured wool rug for warmth.

Beach side elegance

Your personality: Relaxed, calming, a nurturer with classic charm. A gentle spirit.

Create the look:

• Choose weathered or light timbers for an airy look
• Use a linen throw over a neutral couch to soften the look
• Pattern play. At first, it may seem contrary yet patterns need to be paired with more patterns to create a unified scheme. The trick is to choose a similar colour palette to achieve a cohesiveness look
• Tactile and natural decor such as driftwood or shells brings the outdoors in

Style tip: Select thinner stripes and diamond patterns for a more contemporary take on the classic Hampton look.

Vibrant modernity

Your philosophy: Life is about making your own fun, taking the lead and enjoying the moment.

Create the look:

• Use bright colours to enliven your mood. Tangerines and yellow scream fun
• Show off all aspects of your personality and mix eclectic items with modern, clean lines
• Brighten up your walls with the photographic art of a sun-drenched beach or a stunning femme fatale. Hip holiday and cocktails, anyone?
• Mix different coloured crockery for an all year round celebratory feel to your dining table

Style tip: Balance a youthful vibe with a few classic designer pieces, such as a mid-century butterfly chair.

Tactile sophisticate

Your personality: Thoughtful and considered, with attention to detail and a love of quality and craftsmanship.

Create the look:

• Think textures! Mix sumptuous velvets, timber, marble and metal for textural contrasts
• Curated items. Acquire the right pieces over time and don’t buy it if you don’t love it
• Use a sophisticated colour palette that’s subdued yet appealing

Style tip: While a paired back is key to this aesthetic, you need to take care to avoid a room looking stiff. So inject some fun with a sequined cushion, a wistful artwork or quirky decor item that has meaning to you.

What’s Next?

As your living room will reveal a lot about your personality it’s helpful to understand what you want it to say. Finally, if you’d like help to uncover more about your personal style, you try this fun quiz! Enjoy!

The post Living Room Style – What Does Yours Say About You? appeared first on Designs to Inspire.

New Looks – Colour uplifts

Colour continues to uplift, inspire and set the mood in a space. Pantone’s Colour of the Year for 2017 is Greenery. It reflects the re connection we seek with nature. A vibrant and cheery green, use it sparingly to add an element of surprise with a pop of colour in cushions, stools and artwork. And the more adventurous, choose green for your lounge.

If this zesty shade of green is not to your liking, there’s many shades to choose from this year. Here are some winning colour combinations for you to create these new looks;

• Team mint green with grey for a sophisticated and relaxed look

• Marry emerald with navy for a lux look. Add accents of gold to make it a standout

• Powder blue and tangerine. Offset the coolness of powder blue with a feisty tangerine for a fresh take on a summer vibe

• And to our delight, purple makes a comeback. Let it rain. It’s opulent, intriguing and the colour of creativity. Out tip; be bold and team purple with blues to enrich its seductiveness.

Feature chairs

It’s even more important to make time for oneself away from our busy lifestyles. To encourage escape, retreat to a cosy chair. Make a statement with the butterfly chair known for its designer look and versatility with removable covers. Our favourites are all black leather with a leather binding which can be softened with a faux fur throw or the classic tan cowhide.

Tactile and raw materials

Raw materials such as linen provide a relaxed elegance and are cooler and lighter for the summer months.

Burnished metals remind us that imperfections can make an item more beautiful as they help tell a story. Say goodbye to rose gold and embrace aged, weathered and beaten surfaces in gold and bronze tones for a timeless allure.

The artisan touch

Fringing and fraying all take us back to a time where homemade crafts were revered and a time of social gathering.

Nature in art

We are enthused to see the range available in artwork from photographic art, abstract prints and hand painted canvases. 2017 will continue to feature water laden abstract colourful artwork in harmonious tones with contrasting accents for a bolder effect.  The equestrian look gets a modern makeover featuring a moodier palette.

2017 – A time for reinvention

We hope to have inspired you with a few new looks you can try in 2017. Our team at Designs to Inspire wish you all the best for the most creative and joyful year.

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Bring nature in
Breathe life into your home with plants in your living room, kitchen, bedroom or even bathroom and transport yourself to the tropics. To add additional flair, choose a pot with personality. There are many stylish designs, shapes and sizes available with geometric patterns, in a concrete planter or a solid color for a classic look.

Looking for a DIY project? Freshen up a pot with spray paint in your choice of color or create your own fairy or rock garden in a glass terrarium.

Botanical motifs are always in vogue and this year inspired by the Rio Olympics are more widely available. With cushions, artwork and even bedding inspired by nature, there are even more ways you can add a lush look to your home!

Woven baskets are on trend and can be used to store cushions or magazines or act as a plant holder.

Brighten the indoors
Change your winter soft furnishings to brighter colours to instantly lift your mood. Try one of these schemes:

• Greens provide a luscious feel
• Blues are soothing and cooling
• Fresh neutrals are breezy and calming

Remember to continue the colour scheme outdoors to connect the spaces visually:

Enjoy alfresco living
Want to enjoy the outdoors all year around? An Alfresco expands your living space and encourages outdoor entertaining:

Choose versatile furniture that looks equally good inside and out, such as rattan or wicker chairs for a relaxed elegance. Look for Sunbrella fabrics as they are durable and UV, water, and mildew resistant, making them suitable for indoor and outdoor use.

If you want to take your outdoor even further, there are stylish blinds available that allow you to enclose your outdoors.

Set your table with natural style
Summer settings can look great with natives combined with twigs and branches from your garden. Layer with natural textured table runners, placemats, napery, and plates in contrasting textures for interest.

Limited space?
With smaller outdoor spaces such as courtyards or balconies, dwarf potted plants, such as Citrus Meyer ‘Lemonicious’ or cumquats in a topiary offer an ambulance of fruit as well as greenery. Channel your inner Martha Stewart and create your own lovely marmalades and preserves.

Vertical gardens allow you to reach new heights to maximise precious floor space for your outdoors.

Choose water wise plants
Choose water wise plants such as cacti, succulents, Australian natives or Yuccas. In addition to being hardier, they look sculptural and modern. For more information on water-wise plants for your area see ABC Gardening.

Image by Designs to Inspire

Let the summer entertaining begin!

The post How To Style Your Home For Summer appeared first on Designs to Inspire.

Positioning furniture 

Arrange furniture to allow for people to walk comfortably through a home. There’s nothing worse than knocking into an arm of a couch as soon as you enter a room.

Oversized furniture, such as sofas, can make the room feel smaller. Take care not to fill every corner of the room and get the proportions right for the space.

Staging a spare room as a study

Many buyers have difficulties visualising the actual space so help them out! Bedrooms add greater resale value than studies and styling a room as a bedroom widens the appeal.

A bedroom better showcases the full proportions of the room. A prospective buyer can easily picture the bed removed and imagine a study but will question if a study can accommodate a bed!

Styling a study as a bedroom – Images by Designs to Inspire

Sparse bedrooms

Pillows without puff can cheapen the feel of a room. Layer multiple cushions and use throws to create a luxurious hotel feel.

Pulling this look together can be one of the most difficult things for novices to get right. Get inspiration with our bedroom styling tips.

Lacklustre walls

People undertaking DIY styling can take depersonalising too far and remove all artwork. Yet this can leave professional photos looking bland.

Carefully selected artwork throughout a home creates rhythm, provides interest, warmth, and the wow factor.

Styling for your personal taste

It’s not about you. It’s about appealing to the right buyers.

Keeping the home neutral is the safest way to go. Avoid bright colored feature walls and sticking too closely to one specific style. Add a touch of today, through color or scatter cushions, or an occasional piece.

Underestimating the cost of DIY styling

How often are budgets blown out when it comes to homes? While small touches, such as cushions and accessories can be affordable, people often underestimate the total cost of styling a home.

Bigger items such as sofas and chairs add up quickly and can significantly outweigh the investment in a professional stylist. And that’s before factoring in the time to source, purchase, deliver, and as often required, assemble the furniture.

Once your home is sold, will these new items suit your next property? These are questions you should ask yourself.

With these handy tips, you can now avoid common mistakes we see from many DIYers. If it all seems too much and you prefer to let the experts transform your property, then the team at Designs to Inspire is happy to help.

The post Common Mistakes To Avoid When DIY Styling Your Home appeared first on Designs to Inspire.

Home Stagers, Stylists, Interior Designers and the like flock to this annual event that showcases the latest in interior furnishings and products from leading brands nationwide.

Highlights of the show

The show’s exhibitors outdid themselves this year – from huge contemporary art pieces to lush botanical displays – I was feeling completely heady and spoilt for choice.

It was evident that the top trends of 2016/ 2017 forecasted by Victoria Redshaw of leading UK trend forecasting agency Scarlet Opus were featured throughout the show.

As Victoria terms ‘Organic Matter’, wild natural elements are incorporated into the designs.

Indoor plants/foliage and lush green botanical influences on soft furnishing create a nature-inspired space.

Another key trend that stood out was the Tribe. This trend is urbanised by bold images of women and tribes. I would personally not have considered this trend in my designs. However, a few small touches in this style can add warmth and interest to a room. It can also work well with the enduring Scandinavian trend.

Seduction of the Senses

Emerald green and sapphire blue were standout colours of the show and were splashed across the displays in inspiring fashion. I am quite excited about incorporating these rich colours in my designs, and I envisage them in stunning velvets either on the occasional chairs or soft furnishings.

Soft furnishings like cushions and throws are not as embellished nor as bright and bold. Instead, they are neutral and have intricate designs that make these pieces versatile and complimentary of their surroundings. As a nod to the 1970s, macramé wall hangings and fringing on cushions also featured in the designs lending an organic feel to the rooms.

On the other end of the spectrum, the artworks were spectacular – contemporary pieces made of interesting materials like glass, 3D foil, and huge portraits, tribal photographic art and abstract landscapes adorned the rooms. Interesting to note that equestrian artwork still features prominently as it did last year. A unique sculptural piece was actually at the Australian International Furniture Fair (AIFF) held in conjunction with the D+D show. The OFYR, a contemporary outdoor piece, makes a grand statement in a garden as both a sculptural feature and functional barbeque.

Go Forth & Decorate

As a home stager and interior designer, I have seen my fair share of homes that take a key trend and get too carried away. For me, it’s not so much the trend that you should completely replicate, but it is taking the bits and pieces that complement your lifestyle and expresses your personality.

A simple and affordable way to update a room is to replace cushions or soft furnishings with pieces in the current colour trend. A small investment in a decorative piece, wall art or an occasional chair, ottoman or rug can give your home an ‘a la mode’ look without having to break the bank completely. Perchance you have a bigger budget and are able to purchase larger items like sofas, I would recommend investing in versatile pieces in neutral tones versus items that are on trend. This will allow you to evolve continuously with the trends against a neutral backdrop.

I hope you have enjoyed this review of the Décor + Design show and key trends as much as I have enjoyed writing about it.

Until next time,

x Georgia K.

The post Latest Design Trends – An Insider’s View from Décor + Design 2016 (Melbourne) appeared first on Designs to Inspire.

Have you ever wondered just how much return on investment home staging has when you place your property on the market? The NAR (National Association of Realtors) released results to their survey on home staging, and there were some significant findings. Statistics show:

• Professionally styled homes spend an average of 50% less time on the market compared to non-staged homes
• Styled homes sell on average for between 10% and 20% more than self-presented homes
• 81% of buyers find it easier to visualise the property as their future home when it is staged.

I was recently asked by one of my regular and well-respected agents to view and quote a 5-bedroom property in Kew, Victoria.  This property had been for sale for almost 2 months with another agent with no offers coming close to the reserve price.

Meeting with the lovely vendor, I empathised with her situation – the presentation wasn’t bad, but I felt it lacked style and required some edge. I studied the floor plan; working out the best solution for furniture placement – as admittedly the orientation of living zones was tricky. Finding the balance between functionality and sophisticated style was a challenging experience, and I knew the pressure was on to transform this home to reap the maximum desired return for the vendor.

My first aim was to visually expand the living zones by creating a sense of depth and space. Secondly, it was imperative the style of furniture and colour of furnishings appeal to the right target market, in this case, young professional families. As this was a fairly new home with modern features, I designed an aesthetically pleasing interior that offered a mix of classic yet contemporary sophistication that young families could aspire.

The new sales campaign together with Designs to Inspire was off to a great start gaining lots of interest in the first weeks, so much so that 2 weeks before auction day there was an offer for $50,000 above the reserve price and the property was sold.

This gave me a satisfaction beyond belief and was far more rewarding than any monetary amount.  This is the driving force behind every project and illustrates the power of home staging.

Until next time, G x

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