#designerhints

We’ve rounded up 4 hints from Carly Ahlman that will help you decorate your home!

Hint #1: Your absolute favorite product of all time? Paint - it's a relatively easy and inexpensive way to completely change the look and feel of a space or even a piece of furniture. Hint #2: What is your designer pet peeve? You just hate when people do this... Over-doing it - too many accessories, too much furniture, etc. Less is always more.

Home Decor Hints with Rachel Blindauer

San Francisco interior designer Rachel Blindauer is known for crafting funky, contemporary spaces that appeal to anyone looking for a bit of color and pattern to spice up their life.

We’ve rounded up 3 roomhints that will help you decide on the right color combinations to transform your home!

Lesson #1: Pick A Season, Any Season. Decide whether you are a winter, fall, summer, or spring person, and then design following that color palette. For instance bright, sunny shades of watermelon, turquoise or salmon speak to a warm, spring-like look; while a gray color can give off an impression of a cool "winter" tone.  

Lesson #2: For The Kitchen, Go Bold. 

Photo Credit: BHG.com

It's hard to pick one because it depends on the house/lighting/etc., but I love a rich Hollandlac color on traditional cabinets with mirror backslashes. I also like navy walls in a brown tortoise shell kitchen, and white modern kitchens with painted graphics.

Lesson #3: Seek Comfort Always

The image above is of a classic home that was designed for comfortable, casual living in a multicolor palate with a focus on navy and grey. To best accentuate the color scheme, we incorporated fiber cement objects, and used natural wood bookcases to create further texture. The blank canvas in the kitchen became the perfect backdrop for family activities and social events with visitors.

Bonus Comfort Hint: When it comes to selecting anything from a desk chair to a sofa, ideally they should not only look good, they should be comfortable too.

Designer Hints with Arianne Bellizaire

1. How to add color to a design?  

I love adding color to my design projects through the use of fabrics and textiles. It is a great way to build upon neutral foundational pieces, while bringing in color and pattern in ways that are relatively easy and inexpensive to change out when the mood arises.

2. Best colors for a kitchen?

I love light, bright kitchens, so I lean toward cream or ivory colored walls. "Grays" are a hot trend, and with the right shade paired with white cabinets and granite you've got a knock-out space!

3. Your absolute favorite product of all time?    

It's tough to say what my favorite product of all time is, but because I'm a mother of young children and many of my clients are in the same life stage. I am a HUGE fan of highly durable, high quality upholstery pieces, made with easy-to-maintain fabrics in the event of red wine spills or sticky fingers!. Companies like Sunbrella and JF Fabrics with Crypton have great, family-friendly lines that all my clients to enjoy. 4. Designer pet peeve?

I really hate to judge other designer's work because each designer brings his or her heart and soul to each space. I also know that designers ride a fine line between their aesthetics, their clients lifestyle needs, various preferences, as well as budgetary and time constraints. That being said, I guess one pet peeve would be spaces that are absolutely gorgeous to look at, but in no way "livable."

5. Without fail design hint that you have learned over your career?    

This one is simple but often overlooked by my clients: Choose your color palette first by selecting your fabrics, materials and other design elements. Choose your paint color LAST after all of the other elements have been decided on.

Bonus: Lighting is everything! Make sure your space has enough light AND that the lighting elements don't project a color cast that affects or changes the colors of the other elements in your room.

1. Favorite places to find great art?    

I prefer to pair art with frames of the same circa. Lost Art Saloon in San Francisco, California is a gallery that has a wonderful selection of original, beautiful, and affordable art. 2. What is the first thing you do to design a room? First, I mentally remove the existing furniture from the room. Then, one-by-one, I carefully place the most appropriate pieces back into the space. I believe a well-appointed room should have a mixture of antiques, sentimental, and new pieces. Assuming construction/demolition is not part of the scope of the project, I then draw up a simple furniture floor plan which will help me determine the pieces I will need to design and shop for. 3. The secret to styling a mantel?    

Balance and light are the key to a well-styled mantle. I tend to use mirrors when styling mantles as the light bouncing off of it will make any room brighter and is one of the oldest design tricks in the book. (thank you, Dorothy Draper!) I then layer in found objects in varying shapes and scales. I like to keep mantle decorations simple and clean. Nothing too cluttered. On occasion, I will add a small pair of lamps to flank the fireplace.

4. Designer pet peeve? Bedroom suites. A full bedroom suite with matching bed, bedside tables, dressers, and mirrors is my biggest pet peeve of all times. Although it may seem like an easy solution when you have a large bedroom to design and decorate, it is not the best choice if you are trying to design a stylish room. Instead, select a beautifully upholstered headboard in a timeless material, bedside tables that are in proportion to your room, and dressers that meet your storage needs. If you love to buy in pairs, light the space with matching lamps to add balance. 5. Without fail design hint that you have learned over your career?     This one is as old as time... "Measure twice, cut once"

Did you know that best way to attract love is to adjust your environment? Create the atmosphere that supports life you want with these Feng Shui tips from specialist Ann B. Gallops. Get ready to embrace love and romance on this once-a-year day with these essential hints.

Lesson #1. Looking to Attract Romance? Then Make Room for It!    

How do you make room for romance? Clear away the clutter. There’s nothing less romantic than a bedroom full of stuff you don’t care about. Begin by focusing on creating a space that reflects sanctuary, peace, romance and intimacy.

Lesson #2. Looking to Improve your Love Life? Then remove things that don’t support it!  like your bedroom TV, book

So, what does not support romance?

1. You may not like this answer, but your bedroom TV. This is the biggest distraction from romance that's ever been invented ☺.

2. Books: have an energy all their own. Remove any and all book shelves from your bedrooms.

3. Plants: divert your attention with their own need for nourishment.

4. Mirrors: They create hard, cold energy in a room that needs to be as soft and warm as possible.

5. Pillows: Too many pillows & stuffed animals taking up space on the bed.

6. Lastly, anything with negative energy that you're storing underneath your bed

Lesson #3. Make Sure You Have the Right Bed for Romance The ideal bed size for romance is a Queen-sized bed. Once you have the right bed, make sure you have a headboard that is attached to the bed and update your sheets with soft, warm textures and colors.

Lesson #4. Symbolize the Importance of Love in Your Life by setting up your bedroom for two. To do this make sure you have; 1. Two nightstands & lamps. 2. Space and an extra hanger or two in your closet. 3. Two cozy rugs. 4. Space on both sides of the bed for each person to move around.

Lesson #5. Focus on Having "Pairs" with Objects and Artwork in Your Room to Send the Universe a Message of Relationship    

How do you incorporate "pairs" into your bedroom design scheme? Try having two people as the subject in pictures, two flowers, two animals, two candlesticks etc. etc.

1. What is the best accessory to complete a room?    

Plants or flowers. 2. How do you decide on the color scheme for the room? The mood and tone that the client hopes to realize in the setting guide the basic elements of my color selection. [At the same time,] the source and color of natural lighting, as well as where and how artificial lighting can be accommodated, refine the ultimate choice of a color scheme. 3. The secret to styling a mantel?     Balance and proportion are key. If the fireplace is a focal point, avoid objects that are too small to be appreciated from the entrance to the room. A mantle is the perfect spot to integrate things that are personally meaningful to the homeowner and showcase the personality of the room.  4. Designer pet peeve? Mixing yellow and pink-based beiges. I find the effect very jarring.  5. Without fail design hint that you have learned over your career?     Let the architectural structure of the walls guide the furniture layout. Imagine "virtual walls" extending out from corners, and where hallways intersect a room and furnish each area of the room within those virtual boundaries. The room will always feel balanced with the appropriate amount of furniture in each area.