Home Tree Atlas: Home Decor Ideas and Mood Boards

Color Design Guide: Purple Kitchen Decor Ideas

Here are the questions you need to ask yourself when designing a purple kitchen.

How Much Purple?

You could go all out, and paint all of the walls and even the ceiling purple. Or you could create a more toned down purple kitchen by painting all of the walls white, and then decorate the space with purple feature pieces.

What Shade of Purple?

The shade of purple you choose for your kitchen will really make a difference on how the space will look and feel. A light purple paint color will make the kitchen feel bright, spacious, and airy. While a dark purple will make the kitchen feel cozy and luxurious.

Which Pieces Should Be Purple?

If you are going with a white base for your kitchen, here are some ideas for what decor pieces in the space could be purple to create the overall purple color scheme for the kitchen:

A purple tile backsplash
Purple cabinet doors – check out my post on DIY closet doors to find ideas on how to give your kitchen cabinet doors a make over.
A purple area rug can be placed under a kitchen table if you have one
If you have any curtains these could be purple
Even purple hand towels help style a kitchen purple
If you have any pendant lights or table lamps, these could have purple lamp shades

Here are some other posts to get ideas from:

image credits 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8

April 25, 2016 in Color Palettes, Kitchen

Color Guide: Blue Basement Ideas

There are two ways you can go about styling a basement blue. 1) Paint the walls blue and decorate the space blue, or 2) paint the walls a neutral color, and add pops of blue into the space. The option you go with will depend on how much blue you want in your space. This post goes over the different blue basement ideas to help you design and style your space the way you want it.

1. A Basement of Blue Walls

The biggest question to ask yourself when painting all of your basement walls blue, is what shade of blue? A light blue basement will feel more spacious, bright, and airy. But if you want a more romantic, secluded, relaxing space, then look to go with dark blue basement walls.

Here are some ways you can spice up a flat blue wall:

Add wainscoting (this can be white, or painted the same blue as the walls to add some depth)
Add crown molding
Hang up framed pictures or paintings

2. The Neutral Blue Basement

White walls will create a very bright and spacious feeling basement space. It also creates a blank canvas of a room, where you can infuse pops of blue using the decor and feature pieces. I’ve listed out ideas on how to do this below.

Styling the Basement Blue

Whether you go for the blue walls or the neutral colored walls, here are some ways to infuse blue pieces into your basement space:

Go with a blue coffee table, or a normal wooden or metal coffee table but have a blue tray to group clutter items together
Blue couch cushions
Blue area rugs
Blue paintings or photographs / or black and white art work in a blue frame
A blue lamp or lampshade
Repaint any cabinet or closet doors blue (DIY Challenge: Give Your Closet Doors A Makeover – Ideas and Design Tips)
If you have white walls then you could get an LED mood lamp, like this one, and point it up against the wall for some nice mood lighting.

Here are some other basement posts to get ideas from:

image credits: 1/2/3/4/5

April 25, 2016 in Basement, Color Palettes

PASSPORT: Artistic Modern Home In Connecticut

This is the Connecticut home of designer Mar Silver. What makes the rooms so special is that they are clutter free spaces, almost minimalist in design. But it is the very large art pieces dotted around each room that brings character and life to each space.

Here are some other PASSPORT posts:

PASSPORT: Luxury Black Paris Loft Tour
PASSPORT: Book Lovers Loft in Japan. Home Tour.
To see more PASSPORT posts, visit my page here.

April 23, 2016 in Passport

Design Tips: Small Living Room Ideas

Having a small living room space means you need to get creative in how you use the space. This will make you a better home designer, and is a fun challenge to have. Everything from the color you choose to decorate the space, to the curtains you use can change how spacious the living room feels. The small living room ideas in this post will help you make the most of your space.

5 Small Space Design Tips

1. Color Choice: When it comes to the color for the overall palette for the living room, go with a light color such as white, cream, mint or light grey – as a lighter color will make the space feel larger. Unless you want to create a really cozy space, in which case opt for a dark color.

Ideas for Living Room Colors: Paint Palettes and Color Schemes

For a small living room space you want to have everything blend together, that way it will feel larger – just like the living room in picture (4). This means no bold pops of color. Say you have white walls, then you’ll want white curtains (or slightly off white). The same goes for the decor and furniture pieces – try and blend everything together.

2. Curtain Design: Go for a curtain color that blends well with the walls.

Hanging up the curtains closer to the ceiling, and having the curtains go all the way down to the floor gives the illusion that the space is larger – just like in picture (3). Also get a wide curtain rod, since you don’t want any of the window blocked off bringing in as much natural light into the room as possible.

3. Mirrors: See if you can hang up a large mirror on the wall, just like in the living room in picture (1). This will add the illusion of depth, and will bounce the light around the room. Also try and get a frame for the mirror that blends well with the walls.

4. Glossy and Glass: Glossy surfaces, whether it’s for cabinet doors or the coffee table top, are ideal for small spaces since they reflect light around the room making it feel bigger. A better option is to use glass – glass side table, glass top for the coffee table. Since it is transparent, it makes the space feel larger.

5. Decor Pieces: Go with one large piece when decorating a tight living room. Instead of hanging up a gallery wall of 5-6 framed items, go with 1 large framed piece – just like the living room in picture (5). Having a number of different items makes the space feel cluttered, especially in a small space. Go with one large potted plant, if you have the space.

An Alternative To a TV

Instead of having a flat screen TV sitting on a media console, or hanging up on the wall, why not go for a projector instead. This can sit on a floating shelf above the couch and point to a clean white wall. This is ideal for a small living room design because a flat screen TV hanging on the wall kind of breaks the clean look of the flat wall.

Making The Best Use of a Small Living Room Through Furniture

When it comes to small living room furniture, try and get pieces that will blend in with the overall color scheme of the room. Also, look for furniture pieces that can double up as storage pieces. A coffee table that has a shelf under it. An ottoman that opens up. Or a couch and chair that has enough clearance to store things under.

Storage Ideas

As mentioned above, look for furniture pieces that can double as storage pieces.

Built in storage is the best way to go. Not only is it built customized to your living room, making the most effective use of the space, but it will be designed to blend in with the rest of the room making it feel larger.

See if you can get floor to ceiling height built in shelving so you don’t waste any space. Make the most of your walls – hang up floating shelves (3).

And try to use the corners of your room effectively. Use a sectional corner couch, or hang up corner shelving.

Making it a Bright Room and Spacious Room

If you are going for a cozy and intimate feeling living room, then avoid using ceiling lights and instead use a floor lamp or a table lamp to light the space.

How To Make A Small Room Look Bigger: Creative Design Ideas and Tips

If you want to make your living room feel large and spacious, then you’ll want to have it brightly lit. Recessed lights are the way to go (6). These are lights that are fitted inside your ceiling. Since the light fixtures are hidden and are out of sight, you are left with a modern and sleek look in the living room. You’ll want to make sure the entire space, including all of the corners, are lit up to make the living room feel spacious.

Hooking up your ceiling lights to a dimmer switch allows you to easily switch from bright spacious lighting, to more cozy and relaxing lighting.