New Year's Resolution: Less Clutter, More Relaxation

In with the New Year, in with the resolutions.  As in year's past, I have a short list of things I vow to make a priority in the New Year.  Losing some pounds is at the top of my list because like so many people, improving my health is paramount in 2010.  But you may be surprised to learn that a huge part of taking better care of our health can actually be a function of how well we care for our living spaces.  Ask yourself, "Can I truly relax in my home?"   If  your answer is "no",  and the first thing you can think of when enter your home is, "when's my next outing away from this place?",  it's a sure bet that your home has become a bit of a mess.
Bottom line, get rid of the mess, get rid of the stress!

I think the best method to tackle a messy space  is to use a 4-step program in which you complete just one step per weekend:

• Weekend 1:  Pare down any excessive furniture and accessories; donate and/or sell
• Weekend 2:  Eliminate any extra stuff on all vertical and horizontal surfaces; dispose and/or donate
• Weekend 3:  Eliminate all unnecessary paper; dispose
• Weekend 4:  Clean and organize

Perhaps you have a family member or friend who can use that sofa that doesn't quite work in your space because the room is truly too small for the sofa.  If you know of a local shelter that helps the formerly homeless to set-up new homes,  they could certainly make good use of your sofa and you likely would not mind the tax write-off.  No time--or access to a truck--to cart an  unwanted sofa?   In the Washington, D.C. area, call one of the three charitable organization listed below; they collect across the Washington area. This can be helpful for all of your larger items, such as furniture, appliances, computers, and building materials.


              Time to let something go?  Too much, too big, too unsettling!

My favorite metro D.C. area charitable organizations for donating my home furnishings include:

1. Hope's Treasures thrift store, owned and operated by The Good Shepherd Alliance (GSA), Ashburn, VA
2. Christian Fellowship thrift store, owned and operated by Christian Fellowship Church, Ashburn, VA
3. National Children's Center/Value Village, 301-422-1212, 301-422-1313

If you feel that you would rather sell your furnishings than donate them, try advertising them for sale online via Craigslist or eBay; or, try placing an ad in your local newspaper or neighborhood website.  But be aware that in our current economic environment, potential buyers are looking for near give-away prices.  Consider whether or not your precious time is worth haggling with buyers who are unwilling or unable to pay your desired price.  You may decide that giving your furnishings to your local charitable organization will offer the greatest dividends -- to your heart, if not your wallet.

After you've weeded out the unnecessary, energy draining large items, buy lots of garbage bags--the big black ones for stuff that's destined for the dump and the blue see-through ones for items good enough to donate.  A shredder is helpful during the phase, but not absolutely necessary.  With trash bags at the ready,  take the next step and eliminate the smaller clutter:  old magazines, books, business cards, notes, junk mail.

Throw it out!  If you haven't looked at those sale flyers, catalogs, and newspapers, you don't need to

Then  tackle that smaller clutter that you think you need to keep:   wrinkled wrapping paper you thought you would re-use; business cards of people you know you will never contact; a stack of construction paper that's slightly tattered around the edges so that it's really not usable for any projects; the canceled checks from 1998, etc., etc.  During this step, you may need the help of a brutally honest spouse, sister, or friend to help you to stay focused on your goal of organizing your space and freeing yourself from the stress of a messy home.

Remember, your ultimate goal is to revitalize your space so that it can revitalize you.  It should be a haven of peaceful, predictable relaxation.  By decreasing your clutter you can decrease your stress and move closer to a positive place of being energized by your home instead of being dragged down by the stress of  mess.

--Carla

What Get's Me Into the Mood for Christmas Decorating?

...A good snow storm.

I'm usually gaga about all things Christmas.  Each year, I can't wait to start decorating my home, both inside and out.  But with all the depressing economic news creating and overall atmosphere of gloom and doom, this year I hadn't quite had the pep in my holiday step that I usually have.  Well, I guess I'm now officially wrapped up in all the beauty and joy of the Christmas season.  I dare say that the wintry scene in my front yard today could not only melt my heart, but that of even the most hardened Scrooge.


Custom square wreaths and door swag designed and fabricated by Carla, www.carladavisdesigns.com

Our Designer Christmas Tree Skirts are in November's Southern Living Magazine!

There's still plenty of time to give your tree a couture treatment.  Many of our semi-customer tree skirts are in-stock and ready to ship within 48 hours or less:

Designer Tree Skirts

Happy Thanksgiving!
--Carla and the Gang

What's New in the Bedroom

Experts claim that we all spend over 24 years of our lives in bed.  Women spend 136 days "getting ready" to go...to work, out on a date, to school, etc. (Only 136 days?)  But despite all of the time we spend in our bedroom spaces, these are the rooms that many of us put at the bottom of our decorating lists.

Amanda Wasylik, of the Home Decorating Company,  is a blog partner who is very knowledgeable about the latest trends in designer bed linens and bedroom decor.  From time-to-time, she will share some of the fabulous bedding products her company offers, as well as her insight into how you can change your ho-hum bedroom into a spectacular space for slumber and relaxation.

Trends in the fall season are leaving doors open fordesigners and do-it-yourself-ers alike. This season is all about combiningluxury with looks that reflect your own personal style. Everyone needs agetaway from the chaos of day-to-day life, and what better way to take a breakfrom it all than to drift away in your own bedroom.

Although many people are leaning toward morecontemporary designs within their bedroom to update their décor, there are manyfashionable designs to complement a more traditional design as well. Whetheryou are looking for traditional or contemporary, Croscill bedding has a designto fit every décor. Some other great designers include Waverly, Nautica, Courtof Versailles, and Laura Ashley to name a few.

Comforter sets are becoming more popular this season as ameans to a less expensive, designer bedroom. Buying a set, as opposed to eachpiece separately, provides for a more wallet-friendly purchase withoutcompromising your designer tastes. A great comforter set to peek at would bethe Fiji Bedding Collection by Croscill. This bedding set provides a luxuriousfocal point for a variety of personal tastes.

-- Amanda Wasylik, The Home Decorating Company

Does Home Staging Sell a Home?

Does Home Staging Sell a Home?

Kate Case is a talented suburban NYC home stager and redesigner with whom I have had the pleasure of working.  She has a proven track record of helping clients prepare their homes for successful, top dollar sales, and will share some of her tips for home selling success here from time-to-time.

In this do it yourself Home Depot time, some homeowners believe they can sell their homes on their own.  How hard can it be, all you need to do is mop the floor and put out some fresh flowers - right?

Actually, the odds of a potential home buyer just showing up at a "Open House" are less than they used to be.  Most buyers are searching the Internet first before they are taking the time to drive by your home and take a look. In fact, statistics show over 85% of potential home buyers are using the Internet to look for a new home.  This is why it is so important that your home has beautiful online photos to attract these potential home buyers.

Where does the staging fit in?  A professional home stager will come to your home and re-arrange your furniture, declutter your main rooms, create focal points and accent colors, and create an atmosphere to attract a larger buyer audience.  Once your main rooms are re-arranged, your stager will take digital photos to be placed online to attract these buyers you are after.

Which of these rooms do you think would attract more buyers?

Room Before Staging.

There is not much color and all the wires are distracting.

Same room after 20 minutes of Staging.

• We used a table from another area of the client's home.
• We brought in some much needed color.
• The area was also de-cluttered and cleaned.

This room now has a simple ready nook for potential buyers to connect to.

Staging Works!

Staging helps home sellers bring out the best in their most expensive asset - their homes.  By simply re-arranging furniture and bringing in some color a room can be transformed.  Also, fresh flowers and plants are always a nice touch.  Bringing the outside in, especially in your entry way is also very important.  This is why I always suggest that a home seller have a beautiful plant in their entry way.

Which of these rooms do you think a potential home buyer would connect to?
--Kate Case
www.kateshomestaging.com

Basement Project Featured in Washington Post Home Section

Each week, The Washington Post asks a Washington, D.C. area interior designer to accept the challenge of redesigning a homeowner's problem space.  In exchange for exposing their troubled rooms, these homeowners are given a detailed redesign plan for their specified budget.  This week that lucky designer was me.

For the October 8th edition of this feature, I was assigned the misunderstood, forgotten basement rec room of a Fairfax, Virginia couple.  Their recreation area is very long and relatively narrow, and offered a less than inviting space for them to enjoy as they desired.  As the homeowners stated, "One-third of the room is taken up by the couch, end tables and recliner, and the other two-thirds has a huge treadmill."  They added, "...and we don't want the basement to look like a basement"!  This couple expressed a desire to redesign the room into a welcoming space for friends and family since they frequently have out-of-town guests, and they love to entertain.

Their basement wish list included:

1. An eating area for at least 6 people
2. A dartboard
3. Hide the treadmill behind a screen, etc.
4. Keep as much of the existing furniture as possible
5. More lighting
6. Use of warm colors with ginger and red being cited as particular favorites
7. Maintain a large, spacious look
8. Keep the design style contemporary to transitional

Before:


I provided this couple with a complete plan which included:

1. Creation of a dining/game area for family and friends
2. Creation of an inviting seating area to view TV and converse
3. Additional lighting in the form of two floor lamps and a 3-light pendant over the dining/game table
4. A 6 foot pool table
5. A dart board with a 36 inch protective backboard in color coordinating with wall paint
6. Artwork that reflects their background and interests
7. Warm, comforting wall and ceiling colors

Rationale:

• Keep the room  open.  The farther we can see into the space, the larger it will appear.  Use of corner bench seating and armless chairs/stools around the game/dining table and the low profile of the pool table all help to minimize visual obstructions.
• Set the sofa on an angle.  The longest straight line in any room is its diagonal so placing furniture diagonally leads the eye along the angle instead of the straight wall.  It confuses the eye a bit  so that the exact length of the room is not easily determined.  This approach helps to de-emphasize the room's length while visually widening the room.
• No clutter!  Decluttering always adds to any room's sense of spaciousness and lends an overall calmness to the space.
• Use paint to widen the room by using similar paint colors on walls and ceilings and painting the shorter window wall a darker shade.  To maintain this effect, the window's Roman shade is nearly the same darker color as the surrounding wall.
• Give the clients the space they want.  One of the  most  important factors in determining any room's design plan is the consideration of the clients' intended use and purpose for the room.  This couple described casual dining, games and movies as their desired activities in the space -- not working out.  Therefore, I recommended that the treadmill be relocated to an entirely different room and I replaced it with a corner dining/game table, pool table, and portable bar behind the sofa.

After, designed by Carla Davis:

Washington Post House Calls

  

                          

Black Power!

Paneled Den, Antoine Proulx (Contact us for purchasing information, info@carladavisdesigns.com)

Black is a color that instantly evokes intensely prejudiced emotions.  Either you like it, or there is no way that you will ever accept it.  What other color in the spectrum denotes submissiveness to authority (clerics' and judges' black robes), as well as strength and protection as it signifies in Feng Shui?   What other color is associated with despair and even death while it is considered to have the power to instantly bestow any room an instant  fresh, elegant aura?  Despite its many contradictions, black continues to be a perennial classic in interior design.

Circa Lighting Windsor Black Iron Chandelier
   Butler Specialty Co. Connoisseurs Curio Cabinet

Black is a neutral color, and like the other neutrals -- beige, champagne, ash, stone, etc. -- black offers longevity to your decor.  Make no mistake, black is not a trend.  It's here to stay and so is its dramatic partnership with white.  Black and white has always been a fixture in design, and it has experienced a resurgence in popularity over the last few years.

 

My favorite high-style-for-less fabric company, Kast Fabrics (Top L to R):  Deco Zebra, Linette Ebony, Lamesa Ivory, Dawson Black/White, , Bayview Black/White, Baycliff Black

Tips for adding the glamorous drama of black to your space:

• Black absorbs light and will make a room appear to be smaller than it is.  This is fine if you are going for a cozy elegant vibe in a dining room, living, room or library, but I would not recommend it for a bedroom or kitchen.  It's far too austere for those areas.
• It's difficult of the do-it-yourself painter to achieve a good wall finish using black or other dark colored paints.  This is a color that I feel is best left to be applied by professional painters, and generally with 2 or more coats!
• If the idea of black walls is not your thing, try black picture frames, black pottery, black crystal, a black accent chair, or black lighting fixtures to infuse some black drama into your space.

For me, there is nothing more striking than black dining or living room walls above a  glossy white chair rail and wainscoting/shadow boxing.