Trends are really set by big retailers such as Ethan Allen, Pottery Barn, IKEA and many others.
Each retailer has its own set consumer category and each of those have a different style they lean towards. The top three I see are traditional, rustic/farmhouse and modern. Let’s look deeper into what these retailers see to be their favorite pieces.
At Ethan Allen we see a lot of high end, traditional pieces of furniture may it be in your bedroom, living room to office.
Depending on personal style you have a range of retailers to choose from. Besides the ones listed above others include Gabberts, Restoration Hardware, Crate & Barrel, Williams Sonoma and more.
Some people want help from an interior designer but don’t have the time to schedule them in normal hours or they live far away. Remote or off-site interior design comes in handy then! All you need is a tape measure, some scratch paper and an idea of what you desire.
My mother-in-law for example needed to change her guest cabin layout but lives 21+ hours away. She sent me room and furniture dimensions and I sent her a new floor plan!
We worked with existing furniture but that is not always the case. Others are ready for new items and need help finding the right ones for their space. It is quite simple to find inspiration from a person’s Pinterest or Instagram and then match with items available at local stores or delivered from online! Local stores usually list what brands of furniture they sell then it is just some searching from there.
If you are in need of design assistance but want to stay in your sweatpants sitting on the couch while folding laundry please reach out to me, your interior design friend or source a designer on a site such as Havenly.
Every person is different so of course their home will be different too. Here are some examples of functional and beautiful entryways for different types of people:
Young professional: You don’t need much as a young professional and you probably don’t have much space. The simplest thing is to have a bench where you can sit to tie your shoes, store them underneath and a hook for your coat and purse. You can dress it up or dress it down but the simpler the better!
Working family: The easiest way to stay organized as a working family is to keep things separated by person! Cubbies work well, to have them include a few hooks, a basket for small things and a space for shoes helps immensely. The space also needs to be easily accessible so right next to the front (or back) door works well or to have a separate room to hide the clutter. Lastly, the space needs to be durable. Tough flooring such as ceramic tile, luxury vinyl or old fashioned hardwood work well. If you have a rug look for indoor/outdoor rugs that stand up to the elements better, they are typically made from sisal, jute or synthetic materials such as polypropylene. When it comes to the cabinetry make sure the wood wont dent, chip or crack easily. Hickory, oak or hard maple are much better to use than pine, cherry or walnut.
Farm/Outdoor Laborer: With messy jobs comes a messy house, the best way to combat that taking over is to use a laundry room / entry way combo, a mudroom! This way you can throw those manure covered pants into the washer right away or keep your concrete covered boots away from the rest of the house. Combine this with any of the other entry ideas to fit your lifestyle!
Retiree: It’s funny about getting older, you start to need similar things like you did when you were young. Going back to simplicity here but with some gained knowledge. You know that you need more support to get up after tying those shoes so having a bench with arms is nice, you also know that a durable floor is needed so it will last and you also know that a first impression is important so you show off what is important to you may it be family photos, a gorgeous painting your husband made or a simple bouquet of flowers.
This is a question a lot of people blow over and in the end it can get you into trouble. Here are 7 reasons I learned why you SHOULD hire an interior designer.
1. They act as an advocate for all parties involved in the decision making. (Husband, wife, kids and builders) This will save you lots of headaches and fights.
2. They will have more ideas than what you’ve collected on Pinterest, or they will actually know how to pursue those Pinterest ideas!
3. They make sure your project is being built safely and will meet the codes and laws for your area. Those books of codes are very large and can be confusing to someone who isn’t trained on what to look for.
4. They know where to go to find the supplies, furniture, decor and other supplies you need so you don’t have to search the 1,500 stores for that correct piece!
5. To have a personal negotiator. They might just be able to talk your builder into those stain glass windows you want even though he hates installing them.
6. They can make your kitchen (or bath or pantry or whatever) both functional and beautiful.
7. They make sure that you are happy when the project is done and that you don’t have anything that you’ll regret 5-20 years later.
I attended Alexandria Technical and Community College for a degree in Interior Design. This was a two year program that honestly was so much harder than I anticipated! We started the year off with 20 students and only graduated with 11. This really was because a lot of people enter the degree thinking it’ll be all about making rooms pretty by adding decorations and moving some furniture but in all reality Interior Design you need to know building code, construction methods, extremely specific product information and a lot more. However I do still enjoy making things pretty as you can see in a few of my projects below!
I choose to write my first post about my love for Interior Design. I found the love for it at a very young age when my mom gave me the opportunity to be creative in decorating my bedroom. Now at a young age my choices were exactly that, young. Rainbow covered curtains, hand print covered furniture and a wonderful mess of toys as you can see below.
Featuring the adorable dachshund Oscar Meyer Wiener, my childhood pet.
Notice the string lights in the reflection of the window.
Luckily as I grew older my understanding of style did grow, somewhat slowly, but it did grow! I didn’t however know I wanted to pursue a career in Interior Design until freshman year of high school when I took what I thought was a silly test to see what career I’d do best in. Can you guess the results? Yes, it said Interior Designer and as it turned out my best friends aunt was a local designer. I watched how she worked and became so interested, with Pinterest as a huge platform for design inspiration coming out all I could think about was Interior Design for the following years of high school.
Now as an educated designer, yet young adult, I spend my days arranging and re-arranging our rental house and planning all my ideas for our future home (which hopefully is soon to come!). This really didn’t all come to my understanding though for a while, that’s why I find it important for children to take focus on the things that actually interest them because most likely that little thing will become their whole adult lives.
emmamaxine.home.blog 