Category Archives: Other Dilemmas

Melissa’s Dilemma

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Posted by Denise Smith on May 19, 2010 – 5:19 pm
Filed under Color, Design Principles, Individualized Advice, Other Dilemmas

This email has been sitting in my inbox for a while now.  Melissa sent me her dilemma  for me to answer here on my blog.  I asked her for a few more pictures and some additional information, but perhaps a cyber monster ate it up because I haven’t heard back.  I’m going to address this email anyway and use it as an illustration for what a decorating “typical” Decorate Your Space consultation looks like. (If there WERE such a thing as typical.)

 Here’s the email:

 ”Hi

I have a decorating issue. I’ve attached a photo. I am leasing this house, but I hate the color pallet. There is emerald green tile in front of the fireplace and in front of the door. What color paint should I use if I want to down play the green, and what kind and color of furniture would go as well. I currently have big red furniture, but I am afraid it will look like Christmas all year round, so I am willing to buy something new.

Thanks a bunch.

 Melissa”

Melissa,

 Thank you for reading Design Strategies.  I love it when someone tells me about their decorating dilemma and gives me the chance to solve it. 

If you had hired me to come into your home for a consultation, I would ask you a whole lot of questions.  (I do hope you read this, and answer!) 

1)   What changes are you actually allowed to make?

I am assuming from your email that the owner of the home you are leasing is ok with you painting.  You will be doing her a big favor by bringing this room out of the 80s, but sometimes owners intend to move back into their homes one day and they don’t want anything changed. This is especially true where I live and work, as we have a high number of military families who will one day return to the area.  

The wallpaper border really dates the house.  The first thing I would suggest is to remove it. Now we need to decide what color to repaint the walls.  The high contrast between the tones above and below the chair rail also screams “twenty years ago!”

2)   How old is the current big red furniture?  Does it fit well in the space?  Are you looking for an excuse to buy new?  Is red a color you would choose again? 

If you love your furniture, let’s make it work.  From the picture, the room looks large and will give you plenty of configuring options.

3)   How many people are living with you?  What will the room be used for?  How many of those people will actually be using this room? (I told you there would be a lot of questions!)

4)   What is your style?  Are there other pieces that you own that you want to highlight?  What are your favorite colors?  What colors do you hate?

A lot of these questions I never need to ask.  I can get plenty of information from the client by having them show me around their space and talking to me about the things they own and how they acquired them.  I try to always ask about what the client absolutely does not want as well, as that can be as revealing as it opposite question. 

Since I have none of the answers to the questions, I am just going to wing it.  I am going to give you a palette that suits a variety of tastes, can blend with most shades of red, and will downplay the green in the tile.  I hope your “hate” is not….Neutral.

Without further information, and taking into consideration that you are leasing this house, I will suggest a rich but safe neutral scheme.  Aura Paint in Affinity Colors by Benjamin Moore is my personal favorite right now.  The palette is limited, but gorgeous, and good for situations like this.  (Normally I need every single swatch from the three separate manufacturers’ cases that I would bring to your home to find exactly the right color.)

 Try Carob AF- 160 below the chair rail and Pensive AF-140 above.  These colors are pretty, and will prevent you from having to paint the cream trim.

…Oh but I can’t stop before you get your money’s worth. Funky slightly greenish golds instantly update dated tones of green.  A dark brown as a backdrop for reds?  Perfect.

 Try Wenge AF-180 below the chair rail and Anjou Pear AF-425 above.  If you dare.

Decorator’s Block

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Posted by Denise Smith on March 16, 2010 – 4:46 pm
Filed under Arlington Rooftop, Current Projects, Other Dilemmas

I am really struggling.  My client wants me to come up with some way to bring a decorative element over the long row of booths to make that area more intimate.  There are tall windows– 14 feet high—and columns of mosaic iridescent tiles between.   I have been searching in books and online for inspiration.   What little I see is too contemporary.   

The bar itself is being custom constructed, based on a design 100 years old.  I really don’t want to repeat the moldings and style of the bar in arches over the booths.  I need to think outside of the box.  Could I make something out of drywall?  Could I use fabric or metal or wallpaper or more tile?

Whatever it is, I imagine it will need to be suspended over the ceiling.  I mocked this up so I could print it and sketch right on it.   I’ve been thinking about this for two days.  So far I got nothin’.

(Wo)man vs Chair

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Posted by Denise Smith on February 15, 2010 – 3:00 pm
Filed under Creating a Sense of Place, Current Projects, Other Dilemmas

 

Yesterday was Valentine’s Day.  A lot of the bloggers I read recognized it by posting pictures of their honeys.  Food or Flowers shaped up into hearts were also popular this year– not sure why. 

Never one to succumb, I spent time thinking about an HGTV show I watched many years ago called Designing for the Sexes.  At that time, I would have never guessed that in a few short years I would be LIVING that show. 

Just an hour ago, I was on the phone with a client who is reluctantly going to purchase a double recliner.  Her husband really wants it.  It is, after all, a souped up Man Chair.  And I have had a few cases where the husband said some version of, “Dear, I don’t care what you do to the house, just give me my comfortable chair.”  My client feels she owes it to him, and who am I to judge?

When I’m conducting an initial phone interview with a new client, I ask about the living arrangements.  If a significant other lives in the home, I request he/she be present for my first visit.  I have learned long ago not to make the assumption that the wife makes the decorating decisions.  It’s just not true.  Nearly half the time, a male makes the call because he is the one that has more established opinions.  And not just about the chair he will crash in front of the TV in. 

Some couples have similar taste.  I am lucky in that regard.  You would think being married to a professional would be enough for my husband.  But no, he always has to argue with me about our decorating decisions, even if our preferences are the same.  Thankfully, I always win. But more times than not, we have a Plate Incident on our hands.  In these situations, Michael, from the aforementioned show, makes it look so hazardous.  But really, my job becomes maintaining the balance on the score card.

Where Even Professionals Can Fail

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Posted by Denise Smith on February 10, 2010 – 1:17 pm
Filed under Living Rooms, Other Dilemmas, Rooms

Nothing can strike fear in the hearts of homeowners like the need to purchase new furniture.  Analysis Paralysis often results, and so many of my clients live with furniture they HATE for years before venturing into the Land of Confusion.

 The easiest cure is to hire a decorator, of course. :)   And a good one at that—I personally know a decorator who purchased a sofa for her Living Room that was too big. Because it is impossible to judge the size and visual weight of an object in the showroom.  Furniture stores are huge. Your perspective is off as soon as you walk in the door.  My advice? Don’t even think about making a purchase before you take the dimensions back home. 

My recommendation is to get some painters tape and mark off on the floor the area of the item you are considering.

There is more to study than the footprint. Add items inside the marked area so that you can visualize the space in three dimensions. (If a sofa is in question, two Dining Chairs can be placed at either end of the tape marks.)  Is there enough room to pass by?  What about the height?  Will something be blocked by the piece visually, like a window or door?  Does the piece just feel too small or large for the scale of the room?

Drawing a floorplan is always a good idea, but if you are a woman, don’t rely on just that.  Was this the problem with my decorator friend?  It is no secret that I am less “traditionally feminine” in a lot of ways than my colleagues.  I’m not afraid to admit it.