8 tips to decorate like a pro
Want your home to look professionally decorated? You’re not alone. At our latest Design Session, local interior designers shared their insider style tips at Urban Barn stores across the country. If you missed out on the session, keep reading for a recap of some of our favourite designer secrets for turning every room into an inspiring, well-styled space.
If you missed out on the session, keep reading for a recap of some of our favourite designer secrets for turning every room into an inspiring, well-styled space.
1. Display Mementos Together
Souvenirs and photos bring your personality into the room, and while it’s tempting to spread those personal touches around, designers like to take the opposite approach. Group all knick-knacks and small personal accents together on one piece of display furniture. Instead of looking scattered, this technique makes them a focal point of the room. To keep your assortment looking intentionally styled, try organizing items by colour or size.
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2. Ready For Your Close-Up?
Feel like something’s missing in your room? Pretend you’re doing a magazine shoot and photograph the room in sections. Include different angles from both standing and sitting positions. This helps make the missing elements seem more obvious, like adding art to a bare wall or putting down a runner to add warmth and colour.
3. Design by Surface Area
To make the most impact in any space, update something that takes up a large amount of surface area like paint colour, drapery, area rugs or the artwork in a gallery wall.
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4. Dining Proportions
Starting from the bottom! Area rugs and runners work in pretty much any room, providing warmth, pattern and a visual anchor for furniture. If your living, dining or bedroom furniture is sitting on bare floors, this single accent will make the biggest impact on the space. Made with warm, woven wool in a soft cream colour, our Townsend rug works with almost any furniture style. Wall-to-wall carpeting doesn’t mean you can’t make use of area rugs. If you’re layering over carpet, choose an area rug with contrasting texture and colour that stands out against the rest of the flooring. For more help picking the perfect piece, read our blog on Choosing the right area rug.
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5. Mixing Wood Tones
Instead of everything being an exact match, mixed wood tones create a space that’s interesting and sophisticated. To keep a sense of cohesion, mix wood pieces that have similar warm or cool undertones. For depth and drama, black pieces work in rooms with either warm or cool woods.
6. Best Dressed Tables
Style your dining table for maximum impact, even when it’s not in use. Choose multiples of one type of item in varying sizes or shapes, like vases, candle holders or décor balls. You can get this look with a matching set or mismatched pieces with a common thread like colour or material.
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7. Nightstand Style
The nightstand is a functional must-have in your bedroom, and it’s also the perfect place to feature a contrasting material, texture or colour. For a look that’s more designer and less matchy, choose a nightstand that’s visually distinct from your bed. Thick, upholstered bed frame? Try a more delicate nightstand. If your bed has an airy metal frame, pair it with a solid nightstand in contrasting wood. For a well-styled nightstand that’s still functional, choose two or three pieces of décor in varying sizes and heights. Because you also use it to store essentials like your glasses and phone, keep this area free of bold patterns or loud statement pieces.
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8. Dreaming of Wood & White
The key to an elegant bedroom can be as simple as featuring woods and whites. Design a space with at least 60% whites or wood tones, including the floor, walls, bedding, and furniture. Feature one or two accent colours sparingly in pieces like an area rug, pillows and smaller accents like lamps and vases. This technique makes the most of rooms with lots of natural light and keeps things bright in rooms with smaller or north-facing windows.