Interior Design Center

Would you like your home to look as beautiful and pulled-together as the ones you see in design magazines? Interior design is a process that takes some time to achieve the right look, but it's time well spent considering how much of your life is lived out in your home. Here are some tips from a model home designer/decorator and home stager to help your home make a great impression:

1. Make a floor plan -- either by drawing on graph paper or using a site like icovia.com to make sure you buy furniture and rugs that work with the size of your room. It's easy to mis-judge the actual size of furniture in a showroom, where the spaces are much larger than in your home -- ceiling height included! Measure all dimensions, including the height of windowsills to make sure furniture doesn't block windows and to ensure all furniture pieces work together in your space in terms of proportion and scale. Leave a minimum of 1' 6" knee space between coffee tables and chairs or sofas, and a minimum of 3' walking space elsewhere. Don't forget to leave room for doors to open without hitting into furniture and lamps. or impeding traffic flow through the room.


2. Decide on a color scheme by either choosing an inspiration piece -- art, a rug, or an accessory you love -- or, alternatively, start with a piece of furniture you really like in a store and fit everything else around that. A great tool for trying out color schemes and styles of furniture as well as flooring and paint colors is olioboard.com You can make "style boards" using items on the site, or import your own photos of items to put into the boards. You can also hire a designer or home stager to do a color consult for you. They will bring in various paint decks and can work with existing or new furniture, drapes, and carpets to coordinate the whole color scheme, taking into consideration both artificial and natural light in your home.

3. Choose fabric and quality level based on your budget, the wear/abuse expected, amount of sunlight that could potentially fade fabrics, the climate, how often you like to re-do your space when styles change or how quickly you get bored, and the type of household you have -- if you have children and pets, you should look for more durable fabrics that hide stains and repel pet fur. Also consider whether you live in a warm-weather or colder climate (cottons, silk, linens suit warmer climates, whereas velvets, suedes, heavy cottons tend to suit colder climates better).

4. Even if you prefer a monochromatic color scheme, be sure to create light and dark contrast between furniture and rugs/ floors/bookshelves/furniture and accessories and art in order to prevent monotony in the room. Also add a variety of textures. Consider fabrics, drapes, pillows and decorative accessories. Browse sites like Houzz.com for looks you like and ideas on pieces you would like to buy.

Most of all, have fun and enjoy the end result for years to come!

Amy Bly of Great Impressions Home Staging in Bergen County, NJ is a property stylist, interior decorator and home stager who can help you make your home achieve its true potential. Services offered by Great Impressions include: home staging for sellers to make sure their property presents competitively for their market, color consults, half-day or full-day room makeovers, interior decorating and shopping services, selecting window treatments, and providing design plans for rooms. She studied staging techniques through stagedhomes.com and holds an interior design certificate from Bergen Community College. For more info and photos, visit http://www.greatimpressionshomestaging.com, or call Amy at 201-390-4649 to discuss your needs.