30 Under 30--Top Young Professionals in Loudoun County

This past friday I was chosen to be one of Loudoun County's top 30 under 30 young business professionals.  What an honor!  Jeff, from the Leesburg Today stopped in my office to snap a few photos and ask me a few questions for his write up.  The publication will be on newsstands this wednesday!

The Results Are In!

Decorating Den Interiors hosted its 27th annual "Dream Room Design Contest" in Phoenix, Arizona on May 24, 2011. Editors from Better Homes and Gardens, Traditional Home, and Cottage Living were among the industry leaders making up the panel of judges. The contest showcases real client homes across the nation which have undergone complete transformations through the inspiration and design of Decorating Den Interior's decorators.
Two of my rooms were awarded first place titles: one for the Family Room category and the other for a Children's Room!

I also received a 2nd place award in the Miscellaneous Category for a stylish teen study!

If you would like to start creating the room of your dreams contact us today!

First Place-Family Room

First Place-Children's Room

Second Place-Miscellaneous Category

A LIVING ROOM ARRANGED AROUND MUSIC
 

Decorating a room is a bit like scoring music for a movie. An appealing design plan considers the room's purpose and the people who will inhabit it, in the same way an engaging music composition underscores the film's script and the actors portraying their roles. The "before" picture of the poorly arranged room, absent of window treatments and a rug, is as sterile as a movie without a soundtrack. Homeowner Carol Cave was determined to change that image.

Carol came from a family of musically talented people where she was used to the background of a piano or violin being played. She envisioned creating a comfortable setting in the living room of her charming new home where family and friends could gather to play music and listen to her son Billy playing the guitar and piano. Under the able direction of two talented Decorating Den interior decorators, Adrian Halperin and Toni Hall, the barren space was transformed into a living room with an award-living vibe.

The decorators' first move was to position the piano between the two windows facing the entranceway, providing the room with a strong focal point. A pillow covered bench and two chairs define a pleasing lounge atmosphere, while the hefty ottoman can be used as extra seating, or a place to set down a tray for serving wine. Anchoring the conversational grouping is an oriental style area rug that also helps to soften the hardwood floor.

What truly made the room come alive is the choice of the mellow color tones of gold and cream, accented with vibrant crimson and stunning black. Lush drapery panels with contrasting loose swags trimmed in red and gold ball trim, hung on bronze rods, added drama to the existing practical window shades.



No room would be complete without those final professional decorator touches. Note the gorgeous pillows and table lamps, and the oversized black and gold mirror flanked by a pair of torchiere-styled wall sconces.

Carol Cave said, "This Christmas my family gathered to play music and just celebrate the joy in the room that Adrian and Toni designed. The room has brought so much warmth to our home and family. We now have the next generation of musicians joining in the festivities...luckily there is plenty of seating for all."

One of my greatest pleasures is seeing homes decorated by Decorating Den's interior decorators. Recently I visited with Carol in her gracious home where I was given the special treat of listening to an eager Billy playing a Dave Matthews composition on the guitar. What makes this living room exceptional is that it is not just for looking, it is a place for a family to watch a rising star who no doubt one day will be composing the musical score to his own story.

Readers, why not give your living room a purpose, one that will encourage you and your family to take advantage of this often neglected space.

Here are a few of my latest rooms!

This hip and trendy bathroom allows for this 14 year old the coolest place in the house to get ready each morning.

This happens to be my daughter, Finley's nursery.  She has the most beautiful room in the house!  I love just sitting with her in her rocker and taking it all in.

This masculine bathroom serves as the home office bathroom for this homeowner.  The rich wallpaper was the starting point for this fabulous space.

Dress Yourself, Dress Your Home: How Fashion and Decorating Work Together

Every morning, we walk into our closets and peruse the shelves for the outfit that will give us the strength to conquer the day.  If you think about it, our clothing truly does make us feel strong, empowered, flirty, sexy, professional or carefree.  We dress ourselves for a particular feeling that we are trying to evoke.  Decorating your home is very much the same way.  We want to surround ourselves with colors, patterns, textures and lines that make us feel good.  For example, in our family rooms we tend to decorate for comfort.  In a living room, a feeling of formality is typically preferred.  In a master bedroom I usually get asked to create a place of serenity and restfulness.  I then create a design plan full of colors, textures, fabrics and styles that when all used together evoke a certain feeling for that particular room.  You can think of it this way, the stilettos that you stepped into this morning are analogous to the accent pillows placed on your living room sofa.  They are the finishing touch!

Since the relationship between decorating yourself and your home are so close, you might expect the trends in each field to also be closely linked.  Well, you would be correct!  In fact, most interior decorating trends follow the fashion trends set by designers all over the world.  For example, large scale prints are going to be everywhere in 2011. In the past, large prints were understated and small geometric prints took center stage.  We have come full circle and are back to highlighting the bold prints.  Large scale florals, natural scenes featuring birds, bugs and branches, for example, are hot trends to see not only on pillows but on accent chairs, draperies and even bedding. If you flip through any women’s fashion catalog, you will see many blouses, dresses and skirts all featuring these same print styles.  It is time to have fun with pattern and let your imagination flow!  One pattern in particular that is making a huge comeback is paisley.  You will be seeing a lot of this traditional print but look for it in modern, bold colors.

Another design trend that will be important this year is color.  The Pantone color of 2011 is…..Honeysuckle!  This bright color will be seen throughout the design and fashion industry.  You may see a great pair of capri pants or a flirty skirt in this fun color.  Honeysuckle adds color to any outfit and looks great on just about every skin tone.  It is also a great color to use when decorating your home.  Honeysuckle will add life and the element of cheerfulness to any room in your home.  For example, this color could be great as a pillow against a white sofa for a fresh, modern look.  It could be paired with a chocolate fabric on a pair of draperies or on a chair.  Honeysuckle accessories could be brought in to transform a room for the Spring and Summer seasons.  The key to using this color is to balance it with other more subdued colors so that it stands out without competing.

Don’t these trends sound great?!  Bold patterns, bright colors, now what else is there to consider?  Textures and styles.  Linen is going to be huge in 2011.  Going along with the overall feel of natural fibers and patterns, the use of linen fits right in.  Draperies, chairs, accent pillows and bedding are all great places to use linen or even a burlap texture.  The look of linen can be very casual and relaxing or it can be dressed up by adding trim or banding to draperies or a great silk throw pillow on a chair.  It is a timeless fiber that will be long lasting and will go in a variety of color schemes.  A Honeysuckle accent paired with a linen look would be fabulous!  As for the style and lines of the pieces in a room, we are seeing more of a sleek, straight lined look.  While the transitional style still remains the popular, the trend is more towards the modern and going away from the traditional.  The furniture styles are leaning towards more straight and simplistic with the focus being on the color, texture and patterns of the fabric in the room.  Again, by looking through most any fashion magazine you will also see these same trends reflected in the designer’s collections.  Lots of linen pants, skirts, dresses will be found on the runway for all of the same reasons.  This fabric is comfortable, allows you to move in it and can be dressed up or down depending on it’s purpose.  As for the lines and style of an ensemble, most pieces are made with clean lines and the accessories dress them up. 

As you can see, the design and fashion worlds tend to align in more ways than one.  Just as you like to feel complete by the clothes that you wear, the décor of your home is just as important.  At the end of the day, you should come home to a space that does exactly what you need it to do.  Maybe your sofa needs to act just like your favorite pair of pajamas or your living room needs to function for you on the weekends like your favorite little black dress does for you on a Friday night.  Does your home reflect your personal style?  I am excited to help you answer this question.  Schedule your complimentary consultation today.

It's the Little Things: How to Finish a Room with Accessories

All women love jewelry, right?  Well, accessories are just like jewelry for our homes!  Often times, clients call me and say, “Lauren, help!  I have my big pieces…sofa, chairs, occasional tables but the room just does not feel finished.”  In other words, it is my job to pull the room together; find the earrings, necklace and scarf that will complete the ensemble.  Sometimes the accessories can be the most difficult part of the design process for my clients to visualize.  Some general rules of thumb are: think in odd numbers, scale, scale, scale, and color and texture--think pop! 

            First, our brains want us to decorate very symmetrically.  Sometimes symmetrical is okay but often times not in accessorizing.  For example, when placing candlesticks, think about using three instead of two.  Using odd numbers, 1, 3 or 5, provides visual interest for our eyes to be drawn from one object to the next as opposed to boring our minds with matching sets of objects. 

Another example of smart styling uses scale to create a unique display. When accessorizing a bookshelf or entertainment center, try to place objects of different shapes and sizes together to create an interesting arrangement.  You may want to combine picture frames of different sizes or stack one frame on top of a book to give it more height than its companion frame.  Just like placing objects in odd numbers creates visual interest, so does arranging items of different heights, widths, and diameters together.  A large beautiful mirror could be framed by two sconces on either side.  The smaller scale of the sconces will allow the gorgeous mirror to pop in the room and be automatically noticed.  Think about your sofa, ideally, your pillows are arranged so that you have a couple of varying sizes and shapes.   A unique pillow arrangement can also make a bed look full and luxurious and styled just right.

The last element to accessorizing is color and texture.  Remember those pillows we just placed?  Well the fabrics that they are in are just as important as their size and shape.  Varying the textures of the fabrics as well as the prints and colors will provide the wow factor in a room and can serve as the thread that ties everything together.   If you have a neutral palette in a room but want to warm up the space a bit, bring in a bold color in items such as pillows, a snazzy ceramic jar or a large bowl on the coffee table.  Repeating the pop of color in a few elements helps the plan to make sense.  If you have a room with bold colors, try using accessories with more neutral tones.  For example, an ivory throw on a chocolate sofa would lighten up an otherwise heavy piece. 

            When planning a whole room design, I always make sure to leave room in the budget for accessories.  Once the large pieces of a room are in place, the necessary accessories become more visible.  Therefore, they are the last pieces to go in a room to add the finishing touches and to give the room a cohesive and finished look.  Although small, accessories can be difficult to place yet crucial to the design plan.  Remember to consider your color scheme, size and scale, and truly force yourself to push the envelope and bring in pieces in odd numbers.  Allow yourself to have statement pieces such as a wow mirror or a large ceramic artichoke or lamp that screams unique find!  Play around with your existing pieces and let your creativity flow!  And don’t forget, accessories are like jewelry, sometimes you just have to splurge on that perfect piece.     

A Divine Dining Room

A formal dining room is often a room that gets pushed to the bottom of the priority list as it may only be used a few times throughout the year.  When you are ready to turn your focus onto this room of your home, look what can happen! In this fabulous dining room there are several statement pieces that all come together to create a modern yet warm and inviting place to entertain family and friends.

Not only is this room stunning to look at but it is also functional!  The sleek chairs are upholstered in a faux leather, making them very easy to clean and stain resistant.

It is always a good idea to anticipate what your mirror will reflect.  In this case we see the gorgeous chandelier in the reflection.  Also, notice the large hurricane as a table top accessory.  It is the perfect finishing touch! And yes, that is wallpaper!  It was the jumping off point and is still my favorite design element of this room.

The entire family enjoys gathering in this room for speciall occasions.  Abbey the cat particularly enjoys the view and the sunlight streaming in and onto the leopard bench!