Five Designer Tips

I sat down with Suzanne this past week and asked her to share some of her favorite design secrets.  I wanted to know what are some of the most common mistakes she sees, and more importantly, how can we fix them.  Here are a few tips:

1. Bring color in with accessories or things can easily change.  It's great to follow the trends, and a lot of people love to use color and pattern to do just that.  But you have to ask yourself if the color will be relevant next season or if it will quickly date the room.  It's much easier to switch out drapes, a painting, or some throw pillows than risk purchasing a sofa in a color that may go out of style in a few seasons.

2. Keep expensive pieces neutral.  At The Lucketts Store, we tend to keep our furniture and big items neutral.  Most pieces are in shades of white, black, grey, or natural wood tones.  This creates a nice backdrop for accessories which can be toned up and down according to the season and switched out according to trends.

3. Don't do dinky!  If you have a small room, it is okay (repeat after me ---- it is okay) to have a big piece of furniture.  There is nothing worse than walking into a room with ten pieces of furniture that are on the wrong scale and serve no real purpose.  Suzanne mentioned a client's office that had a little desk that could barely fit a laptop, next to an itty bitty bookcase which held only a fraction of owner's books, next to a tiny side table.  None of the pieces were functional, but the homeowner felt because she had a small space, everything should be on a small scale.  Remember that large pieces provide a lot of storage and make a statement.

4. Remember to maintain balance.  A lot of clients have huge flat screen televisions hung on the wall surrounded by furniture.  While grouping furniture around the t.v. seems natural and functional, Suzanne said it often looks like everyone is staring at a black hole.  Suzanne likes to balance the "black hole" with another large piece or dark item on the other side of the room.  This way, one side of the room isn't heavy and concentrated while the other side of the room seems like it's floating away.

5. Yes, anything CAN go together.  Suzanne mentioned the importance of buying pieces you love and colors that you're attracted to.  Everything doesn't need to be matchy-matchy.  You also don't need to limit yourself to a strict number of colors in a room.   The trick is to find a piece of art (the larger, the better) or fabric you love that ties everything together and has all of the colors you are using in the room.  You can easily pull together a room full of seemingly mismatched accessories and make it look like everything was meant to go together in the first place.

Throughout the store and in the April Design House, you'll see these principles put into practice.  We're using a lot of blue accessories to provide fresh pop for spring, and as a bonus, these colors will nicely carry through the summer too.  We hope to see you this weekend!