Sofas 101 ... Made Real Simple

As we move indoors from our summer outdoor living...we may decide that some key foundational pieces need to be replaced! A new sofa could be  just what your room needs. Its best to understand the styles and shapes of sofas and the message they send. Then you can choose the right sofa for the feeling you want to convey.

Below is an excerpt from one of my favorite magazines Real Simple. They make sofas 101 easy to grasp.

When I was hired to create a living room for a couple in their early 40's ... Their first words were "We don't want Biege! And we want to be wowed!" So using high contrast colors and designing high backed sofas I was able to create HIGH impact... Just what my clients wanted. Sofas can be a real statement piece in your home. 

Photo: www.kimberleejaynes.com

More inspiration from leading designers!

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I like to keep on eye on what Bridget Otto from the Home & Garden section of the Oregonian is up to...she is constantly scanning the world of design news! Her blog announced the release of this book "Designers Here and There." The book celebrates designers that are out of the normal geographically dynamic regions...designers from places other than New York , Chicago and LA.

about this book

During the week, interior designers select fabulous fabrics, furniture, paint, lighting, and accessories for clients’ homes. On the weekends, they can devote themselves to beautifying their own. Materials and finishes that later appear in commissioned work often appear here first, as designers use the rooms and walls of their primary and secondary residences like a blank canvas for perfecting details and techniques central to their trade. Thirty-eight private primary and vacation residences belonging to today’s most renowned decorators from around the country inspire with full-color images of exquisitely appointed chic city apartments, elegant townhouses, minimalist midcentury gems, quaint cottages, historic mansions and farmhouses, cozy log cabins, and beachside retreats in locations ranging from Palm Desert to Palm Beach, Austin, Chicago, East Hampton, and Boston. Michele Keith’s lively, accessible text brings each distinct personality to life, revealing how and why the designers gravitate to styles ranging from firmly traditional to coolly contemporary to Hollywood Regency, how the attributes of each location—setting, proportions, and character—influence design direction, and how designers including Martha Angus, Barclay Butera, Eric Cohler, Andrew Fisher and Jeffry Weisman, Benjamin Noriega-Ortiz, Eve Robinson, and Vicente Wolf choose to spend time in the intensely personal spaces they have created. Each designer’s top five favorite decorating tips encourage all eager to perfect their own homes to begin.

Decorating Taste Test...What's your Style?

Style Discovery Buy lots of interior design magazines that are in keeping with the architecture of your home. Clip out styles you like and start a file. You will see a style immerging. From the magazine clippings list three to five words that really describe your style and life interests.
1._________________________
2._________________________
3._________________________
4._________________________
5._________________________
Your style discovery words may be earthy, artsy with lots of texture. Or perhaps you are colorful, spare with hints of metallic. The more time you spend in this step of style discovery, the easier it will be when you go shopping for furniture and art work. You will be able, in two or three words, to ask with each purchase, is this my style?
A helpful tool to use in this step is to take the time to create an inspiration board. As an interior designer I have skipped this step with clients in the past, thinking I knew exactly what they wanted and found out later that I was wrong. The inspiration board will give you a clear view, through images, of exactly what you are striving for. Make it a family affair; give family members an opportunity to offer their input.
To create an inspiration board, go to an art supply store and ask for foam core, it comes in black and white. I like black. Buy some spray glue too. From the clippings of looks that you have gathered, cut out images that best describe the look and, more important, the feel or mood of the room you wish to create. Make a collage with the images you have pulled together. Once you have a pleasing arrangement glue the images on the foam core. With this inspiration board you can have a dialogue with the whole family about what the direction of your rooms will be. Now is the time to find out what the likes and dislikes are before money is spent on furniture that cannot be taken back.

Designer Secret: When shopping for just the right pieces ask yourself, “Does this lamp, chair or art piece fit within my three to five words?” If not, then you are off track. You have not found the right piece yet. I believe that people are drawn to the same colors that they like to wear. You want to look good IN your house! So take a look at your wardrobe, are there dominant colors that you could draw from?

Dare to be different!

Christmas is almost here and people are frantically decorating their homes. I hope I can help to make your home beautiful with some easy design tips.

1. Use what you already have.

I had a silver sea shell in the powder room that holds guest soaps. I used it on my dining table at Christmas filled with orchids.
Fill your grandma's glass punch bowl with greens.
Use a white quilt as a table cloth.
Fill a pedestal cake plate with votive candles.
Lay down a bed of fresh greens, then fill a large glass bowl with water and float Chinese glass floats and floating candles as a centerpiece.

2. Decorate with colors that coordinate with your decor.
This is probably the biggest mistake that I see people make each year...they decorate with colors that do not work with their existing decor and it is not enhancing to their home.

I used silver and blue to coordinate with my floating home decor.

3. Add a touch of whimsy.
Bring out a ceramic white bunny, wooden horse, iron dragonfly. Look around your garden for decorative element that might be a nice touch inside for the holidays.

And don't forget to have fun with your decor...incorporate things that you might not normally see on a tree...like nestling brightly colored patterned porcelain plates towards the trunk of the tree where they would be secure but add much needed punch!

www.kimberleejaynes.com