How to Increase Your Storage Capacity

If you are an interior decorating aficionado, you understand the importance of creative storage. We decorators need room to store all of our seasonal decor, textiles, and favorite items when they are relaxing in the off-season. Plus, I don’t know a serial designer out there who doesn’t also love to entertain, which means even more storage for platters, dishware, and glasses. Sometimes, interior design is just as much about what you can’t see as what you can.

Here are some room by room ideas for how to increase your storage capacity in some of the most unlikely spaces. This can help you to store all of the extras that tend to become cluttered if you aren’t too careful.

The Kitchen. If you are planning a remodel, forget about the color wheels and cabinet door styles for just a moment (I know, it’s hard to do!). Instead, focus on how your cabinet and wall spaces can be functionally upgraded to the limit. Smart and organized kitchen storage is a reverent sight to behold, and we all shake our heads in wonder when we see it in person. The time you spend to be thoughtful now, will pay off for years to come.

Your Staircase. What? The staircase? Yes! The staircase is one of the most overlooked storage opportunities in the home. It’s vast, and it has lots of empty spaces that could be full of specialty cocktail glasses, seasonal cook books, and interior decorating accessories. If you happen to be in the process of designing your home, bully for you because you can begin working with your architect or contractor to modify the planned staircase. Otherwise, you can hire a contractor to take a look at your staircase and some of these pictures, to determine how your staircase(s) can be amended.

The Laundry Room. Don’t let a single wall or nook in your laundry room or mudroom go un-purposed. If you see a blank space, think shelves. If you see a drawer space, think pull-out organizers. If there is a wide open closet, determine how the space can best be used. It’s amazing what well-planned storage (even in a small space) can do to reduce clutter in your interior decorating plan.

The Bathroom. If there is one room that is the most prone to clutter, it is probably the bathroom. We are usually in there in a flurry, and there are often deep-set cabinets that quickly become a mish-mash of stuff if you aren’t careful. However, just like the kitchen, you can create pull-out drawers and organized shelving and cabinetry that will help you keep things neat, stored, and clutter-free. Also, in an open floor plan, walls are usually a part of the building’s structure. However, bathrooms are the one spot where interior walls may only be functional, in which place they can be used for more hidden storage opportunities.

Closets. It can’t be emphasized enough what a difference an efficiently organized closet is. You will gain loads of usable space by making the investment in a professional closet design. Or, you can spend time at a local home improvement store and buy pre-made closet organizers that will also do the trick. Either way, the more space you have to store things, the less visible they will be in your actual living space.

Taking the time to redesign functional storage spaces will pay off in the form of an organized, clutter-free, and spacious interior design.

Whether you need help with interior decorating, or are looking to redesign your storage spaces, we can help. Contact Kristina Wolf Design, Inc. for modern interior design expertise.

5 Simple Ways to Breathe New Life Into Your Living Room

Sometimes, we need a major interior design overhaul. Other times, some simple fixes are all that are needed to breathe new life and energy into a living space. If you are looking for room decor ideas that will give your living space a face-lift without breaking the bank – or your back – here are some ideas for you.

5 (Relatively) Simple Room Decor Ideas for a Whole New Look:

1. Add Wall Art. Painting a room is a tried and true way to change it up. However, wall art adds a completely different dynamic. It can even be 3-D. Whether you choose to draw a design freehand, use pre-made wall art decals, or trace stencils or pre-made forms, wall art can add a conversation-worthy element to your room decor. Here are some examples:
   • Whimsical. These lavender walls, adorned with a hand-painted, gold, bare-branched silhouette of a cherry tree add a magical feel to this small dining room.
   • Creative. This urban apartment mimicked the skyscape outside, adding a creative element to the living room. Best of all, the wall art is a decal, ideal for the non-artist decorators out there.
   • Patterns. Add an ornate pattern to a wall by using large stencils. They are easy to do on your own, using a level to ensure the lines are straight.
2. Never Fear Stripes. Stripes are definitely in right now but they can be a little daunting for the first-time DIY striper! If you would like to add stripes to a room, take it easy. Tackle a striped accent wall, rather than the whole room, so you aren’t overwhelmed. If you feel confident, go ahead and use bold colors. If you feel more conservative, stripes in muted shades can create the texture and visual interest you want without the risk of creating visual chaos.
3. Reupholster Your Furniture. Reupholstering is one of the most savvy things a homeowner can learn to do in order to get a whole new look from a solid piece of furniture. Plus, repurposing household linens or fabrics into new chair covers or slipcovers is good for the planet too! Look at what a little paint and new upholstering did for this chair – it went from Granny’s House to Swank Central.
4. Go Shopping at Home. One of the best room decor ideas for a new look is to simply go shopping at home. Go through boxes of trinkets and textiles you tucked away in the garage or a storage unit. Walk through your rooms and consider how different pieces of furniture, accent pieces, and artwork might look better somewhere else. With a little rearranging and switching around, you can have a whole new look without ever leaving your house or spending a single penny.
5. Invest in High-Quality Pillows and Shams. Accent pillows can completely transform the way a living room looks without changing much else. Make an investment in high-quality accent pillows and changeable pillow shams, and you will be able to make a change from conservative, to eclectic, to contemporary in a matter of minutes. Another quick change? Look for window curtain panels when they go on sale. Purchase a few sets in various styles and colors, and that blend with your pillow shams. In less than a half an hour, your room can have a whole new feel.

If you are interested in professional assistance for room decor ideas that will change your living spaces, contact Kristina Wolf Design, Inc.  We can give you the complete interior design overhaul you have always wanted, or can suggest and implement simple changes that will transform your home.

The Don’ts of Living Room Design

Your living room urgently needs a revamp, but you’re not sure of the best way to decorate it. Once you know the living room design mistakes to avoid, it should be plain sailing.

The first big mistake you can make is to rush out and impulse buy. Make sure that you have a plan (measure the room!) and some ideas about what you want your living room design to look like when you’re finished.

Other areas where the most common blunders are made include:

Paint

• Painting walls white. Go for gentle neutral shades or mid-tones on your walls, rather than pure white. A white background can be harsh, and it tends to make the furniture in front of it “float” rather than integrate into a cohesive whole.
• Painting first. If you to introduce a particular color, buy your soft furnishings first. Matching paint to sofa fabric, pillows, and throws is easy; finding the correct color materials to go with your paint is tricky. Get full-size paint swatches from your supplier, and attach them to your walls to see how they look at different times of the day and night.
• Placement of dark and light hues. You may know the color that you want, but you can’t decide which hue (brightness or darkness). Dark colors are positioned low; baseboards should be dark, walls lighter, and ceilings the lightest hue.
• Unintended stripes. Narrow baseboards and trim look better when painted the same color as the walls or you’ll end up with an unattractive stripy effect. One color for walls, crown moldings, and baseboards will also visually raise the height of your ceilings.

Furniture

• Furniture placed around the walls is boring and unfriendly. Place your furniture in natural conversation clusters, and don’t worry if you have a sofa in the middle of the room as it can form a convenient dividing line.
• Underwhelming can be as bad as overwhelming. Keep the size of your furniture in proportion to the square-footage of your living room. If you have a large room, don’t be afraid to furnish it with big, comfy chairs, but don’t squash an enormous sofa into a tiny room.

Soft Furnishings and Accessories

• Nothing looks worse than a rug that is too small for the space it occupies. There should be a 12- to 16-inch border of floor around a living room rug, and the front legs of your chairs and sofa need to be resting on the rug.
• Beautiful, elegant fabric made into skimpy curtains. Window dressings are an important part of your living room design, so choose materials with care, and be generous.
• Artwork that is hung too high. The bottom line of your artwork should sit between 8 and 10 inches above furniture. Anything higher than that tends to make eyes drift away from the visually pleasing groupings that that you want to create in your living room.

An additional mistake you may make when creating your living room design is not checking the green antecedents of the products that you are going to purchase. The American Society of American Designers (ASID) and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) have drawn up a green product checklist so you know what to look for and what questions to ask before you buy.

Finally, don’t be scared to ask for professional advice. Most interior designers charge on an hourly basis, and if you know you’ve got expert backup it’ll make your living room design project fun!