Sometimes all you need to make a kitchen feel decluttered and a bit more open is a simple tray. Gathering items like a knife rack, a spoon bin, a mortar and pestle and a kitchen timer all on a tray or cutting board visually tricks our brain into seeing them as organized. It’s a quick trick that can make a big difference to your sense of visual organization.
11. Don’t take it too seriously. A living room is a great space to embrace thoughtful disorder, such as through an artistic gallery wall, mix-and-match throw pillows, open storage baskets and fun furniture like this tepee-inspired tent. Trying for perfect order will mean that anything out of place will stick out like a sore thumb, whereas accepting a bit of controlled chaos will mean the occasional dropped toy or draped blanket will look right at home.
8. Add a patterned rug. Pattern is a powerful design tool, infusing a living room with energy and minimizing the appearance of stains or wear. A patterned rug brings these benefits to the “fifth wall” — the floor — simultaneously anchoring a seating area and giving the whole room a sense of life. Even if you already have carpeting, consider adding a rug to your seating area. The first time you roll it up to go to the cleaners after a big spill, you’ll be glad you had it there.
5. Mix up your upholstery. Sure, most furniture stores give you the option of purchasing an entire living room set in matching upholstery, but that doesn’t mean you should do it. In a formal seating area, matching upholstery can give a sense of maturity and order, but if you want a living room to feel cozy and welcoming, mix and match your upholstered pieces to give the design a bit more personality.
3. Play with texture. Texture is easy to overlook when decorating a living room, especially since we don’t see it so much as touch it. But it’s important for making a living room feel cozy, and that goes for plush textures that appeal to the touch and harder textures that add contrast. Include leather, cotton, wool, metal, stone, glass, plant life and as many other textures as you can.
2. Contrast your neutrals. Beyond including some white and some black, decorating a living room with a variety of contrasting neutrals goes a long way toward making it feel rich and welcoming. In this example, the white walls, caramel leather, brass hardware, gray sofa and blue-gray cabinets all contrast with one another, which highlights their different finishes and undertones. This makes the palette feel rich even before other key elements, such as color, pattern and texture, are added.
1. Mix light and dark. When a living room is all white and bright, it can feel too “clean” and unapproachable. When it’s all dark, it can feel like a cave. But mixing dark and light colors creates a dynamic look that has depth and balance. The design of any space benefits from the inclusion of at least a little w
Filing Cabinets In this room the two desks accommodate plenty of file storage. Filing cabinets are another item that can take up considerable space in a home office. A standard two-drawer letter-size file cabinet is at least 15 in. (38 cm) in width, 30 in. (76 cm) in height and 29 in. (74 cm) in depth. For two-drawer legal-size file cabinets, bump up the width to 18 in. (46 cm). Lateral file cabinets begin at 30 in. (76 cm) in width, 18 in. (46 cm) in depth and 32 in. (81 cm) in height. Investigate which type you will need while planning your home office, since these cabinets can be large relative to the space you have. A quick way to find out more is to visit the website of an office supply chain and look up the dimensions of the file cabinets sold.
Computer dimensions vary greatly and are constantly changing. Keep the area where you will place your computer as flexible as possible. If you wish to place it in a built-in, as has been done here, keep in mind that any new equipment will need to fit in that space too. The other important consideration is the position of the keyboard. You can get away with placing a keyboard on the desk surface, but keyboard trays set at 24 to 26 in. (61 to 66 cm) high are more ergonomic. Many people use only a laptop and don’t need room for a keyboard tray; they simply need a clear area in which the electrical supply can be easily accessed.
I’ve found that people often use existing furniture to create a home office, and there’s nothing wrong with this as long as it supports a safe and productive work environment — especially if you work from home for more than a few hours per week. However, I have seen too many dining room setups with files and supplies located inconveniently throughout the home, not to mention inadequate seating. Set up your physical workspace with ergonomics in mind, being mindful of table, seating and keyboard heights and the reach distance for frequently used supplies like your mouse or a reference binder. Set up a mail-sorting system that works for you to keep papers from piling up. Free up space by switching from paper bills and statements to online ones. \
. Add Lights Under Cabinets No matter how well you place downlights, upper cabinets will always block some of the light and make the space below them dark. To fight this, consider adding undercabinet lighting, as the team at John Kraemer & Sons did here. As with recessed downlights, undercabinet lighting should be placed above the center of cabinets, rather than too far forward or back. Installing LED tape lighting that faces the backsplash will reduce reflections on glossy stone counters, but it puts the brightest light in the wrong place and leaves counters too dark. Placing LED tape lighting too far forward can also create harsh shadows on the counter. Try testing a strip of light before installing it to make sure it pushes light onto the counter evenly.
8. Coffee table art book. When there is truly no more space for any more art, creating a coffee table book is a beautiful way to present your children’s creations when you’re ready to make room on the wall for new pieces. Scan the images into digital files and create a book on a site like Shutterfly. A book that is 12 by 12 inches or larger will feel like a true art book. Be sure to include dates and the age of your child on the cover, so when you look at the book years from now, you’ll know immediately what stage of life your little artist was in.
6. An element in a gallery wall. A gallery wall is an opportunity to show the depths of your style palette and a bit of your story. A curated art wall is personal, because it can contain anything from a piece discovered at the flea market to a photo of your great-grandma on her wedding day, to the splurge you made to remember that first trip abroad. Art from your little one is a precious addition in the mix of all these memories and treasures. How to incorporate your child’s artwork into a gallery wall depends on your style. Selecting art in a similar color palette will create a cohesive and pulled-together look. For a gallery wall like the one shown, you’ll want varying sizes and orientations. Make a big statement about your kid’s creativity by making his or her work the larger, commanding piece that anchors the collection. Use one or multiple smaller pieces for variation on the wall. This personal touch will mean so much to you and your family.
1. Use door restrictors. Due to the projection of the hood, the doors on any directly adjacent wall cabinets will hit the hood when opened. To avoid dinging your beautiful cabinet doors, you have two options. You can add a restrictor to the door closest to the hood, keeping the door from opening past 90 degrees. Or you can use a door that opens away from the hood, as shown here.
In a living room, there are multiple distances to consider relative to your sofa, so it easily can become a tricky web of math. Here are a few sofa distance essentials to keep in mind. Distance from sofa to coffee table: 16 to 18 inches Distance from sofa to opposite sofa or chairs: 7 to 9 feet max (to allow for ease of conversation) Width of pathway through room: 36 inches Distance from TV to sofa: width of TV times 2.75
Entry: Big Round Mirror It’s common for entryways to be a bit dark. A big mirror will amplify what light you do have and can make a narrow space feel roomier. Why round? While other shapes can certainly work in the entry, a round mirror is a sure bet. Its curves are a welcome counterpoint to the straight lines and sharp angles of the doorway, and it works equally well above a console table or on its own.
Mirrors are a decorator’s magic weapon: They can make a room feel bigger, brighter and more stylish, not to mention help you get ready in the morning. Whether you’re on the hunt for a mirror to hang in the dining room, entry, bedroom, bath or over the mantel, this guide will help you navigate the (seemingly endless) possibilities and zero in on one or two smart options for each room.
Most of us have bedside tables that stop at mattress height, right? But what about all that wall space above (remember the tip about vertical storage)? Instead, maximize your storage opportunities with bedside tables and wall-hung cabinets above them. These cabinets are big enough to hold a ton of clothes. If you choose a storage bed too, you’ll effortlessly keep your bedroom neat.
o create a headboard in a favorite fabric, either re-cover an existing frame or make one from scratch. You’ll need a piece of medium density fiberboard, some foam cut to size, some batting over the foam for extra softness, and your chosen fabric on top. Use a staple gun to secure the edges of the fabric to the back of the MDF and then screw the headboard to the wall with a mirror plate.
Prevent a petite powder room from feeling too pint-sized by installing mirrors on one wall. The antiqued glass used here turns the mirrors into a decorative feature rather than a purely practical one, but they still perform the same proportion-boosting service as a standard mirror.
Try a strip or two. The problem with using mirrors across a whole wall is that it can feel confusing. Where does the real room stop and the reflected one start? While such optical illusion may work in some rooms, if it feels like too much for your space, consider this alternative. These mirror strips do the work of expanding the room without reflecting every last detail or baffling the eye.
Boost a hallway. Add depth and brightness to a hallway by attaching a made-to-measure mirror on one wall. Halls often feel gloomy or cramped, but a simple floor-to-ceiling mirror will bounce the light around and brighten the space.
Expand your closet. In a compact bedroom, mirrored closet doors are incredibly useful. They make the space feel generous and are, of course, handy for checking how you look. Mirrors have been used to great effect in this bedroom, which is decorated in a simple white scheme, helping it to feel as big and light as possible.
Fill the alcoves. Mirror tiles fitted into the alcoves on either side of this fireplace give a compact living space a gloss of elegance and a roomier feel. A further genius touch is the symmetrical arrangement of the seating, so that it’s perfectly aligned to create long reflections in each alcove. These mirror tiles have a soft, antiqued finish, providing a gentler, warmer feel than a single piece of super-shiny mirrored glass.
Water-resistant wallpaper that can cover walls inside shower enclosures and around bathtubs
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