Are you stuck with your renovation project's to-do list? 

It's true - somethings never seem to change - like your to do list. But if you're like many of my clients, there comes a time when you just have to go ahead and get your project going.

But where to start? You can start here by reading a few posts written for people just like you.

A little confirmation helps you to know you are not alone. So here are some ideas for you to read to get you started. The link below is a short piece about the need to block out time and make a commitment to get started. It might start with contacting a contractor, builder or architect or you might start by visiting home centers and kitchen and bath stores. 

Start here first

Great, now you're warming up to moving ahead. But you still have questions or concerns about building or renovating. The more you understand the building process, the better you will be when the time comes to find your kitchen and bath cabinets, plumbing, appliances, tubs, etc.

If you're in a coastal area, you want to make sure that your home will be built for longevity.

Now read this

It's really that simple. Once you understand what's needed in the construction process, you can jump to the fun part - design and decorating. However, before you head back to Pinterest to get ideas, let's take time to discuss how you plan to use the room you are building or renovating.

This part will make you relieved and ready for a great change

In the end, your project is about creating your vision of the best home. Home should be a place to be comfortable in with everything that pulls at your heart strings. And by the way, I value this quote from The One Thing book that says "Perfection gets in the way of what is possible". In other words, it's okay to want something wonderful, but don't let the fact that it isn't "perfect" (nothing is here on earth you know) keep you from enjoying all the wonderful things about your home. 

If you're still frozen, consider calling an expert to help you make decisions and who values the things that you love. 

Mary Alice Smith - 732 608-7583

M. A. Smith Interior Design 

Residential and Commercial Interior Design

E-mail: masmith@masmithinteriordesign.com 

Allied Member ASID

Member of Kiwanis Club of Greater Toms River 

Greater Toms River Chamber of Commerce

Website:  http://masmithinteriordesign.com

Serving Coastal New Jersey homeowners and businesses for twenty years

The Most Important Advice For Decorating Your Home

Keep it Clear and Simple

I captured this image on one of my morning walks. What I like about it is its clarity and its simplicity. It's the same thing when you hire people to help you decorate or renovate your home. To have a successful design project, you must have clarity about how everyone in the project will work together and who, when, where and how things will be accomplished. 

It’s as simple as that!

Here are some of the ways to make your renovation successful: 

Collaborate: Getting along with everyone is a win-win attitude. (Being pushy or demanding will only render a lot of push-back = slow progress)
    

Communicate: Roadblocks to communication stifle creativity and progress. There are so many ways to communicate today - text, email, phone or in person. Do whatever works for all involved in your renovation to keep the momentum going.

Finally and really important: Be ready to go to Plan B, or C, etc. Sometimes the best ideas need some time to appear. Your redesign will get done. So having an 'open attitude' is the key to success. 

It's simple!

After years of working on interior design projects, I've noticed that having a ‘yes’ attitude makes all the difference. It's okay to communicate your needs and wants, but keep your mind open for new ways of solving a problem.

For professional help, for a nudge to get started, for the best year ever,

 call Mary Alice at:

                            732 690-2030

M. A. Smith Interior Design

1288 Beauchamps Place, Toms River, NJ 08753

E-mail: masmith@masmithinteriordesign.com

Allied Member ASID

Member of Kiwanis of Greater Toms River 

BIO

http://masmithinteriordesign.com

Blog: Coastal Confidante Blog 

Blog: BestDesignCoach.com

Serving New Jersey and Metropolitan New York City

3 Ways to Add Style to your Dining Table

Just about now you're trying to decide on a new look for your dining table area.

With all the Spring festivities like holidays, barbecues and also birthdays, your table will be the center of attention. 

Maybe your table needs a little accessorizing. Like jewelry, it's the little things that pull an 'outfit' together. 

Where do you start? What can you add that doesn't 'break the bank' or require major overhaul?

Here's what interior designers do that you can do today to change out and create a beautiful dining area:

• First - take a photo of the dining area. It's a great way to see how the space looks so you can focus on the area in question. Is the table bare? Could you add some perky candlesticks and/or a centerpiece to add interest?

• Look at the area in the photo. Do you need a more interesting chandelier? Would a touch of glamour, a touch of sparkle or a hint of industrial chic create focus with a new chandelier?

• Add color! Use a bright color for placemats or a runner. Or add a pale shade for placemats in a color to contrast with the table top. It's contrast that makes a table interesting. 

It's all about layering, adding contrasts, color and sometimes some whimsy. I know you can do it!

For professional interior design for your home, office or commercial project call:

Call Mary Alice Smith of M. A. Smith Interior Design - serving New Jersey, including Ocean and Monmouth County, the Jersey Shore.

To schedule an appointment call: 732 608-7583 or email me at masmith@masmithinteriordesign.com 

M. A. Smith Interior Design
Allied Member ASID

Feeling Discombobulated Lately? Join our De-Cluttering Challenge Today

Photo courtesy of House Beautiful and Ikea

More Clothes and Less Space?

After the holidays were you given wonderful new outfits, purses, scarves, etc.? All is well and good till you try to add them to our already cramped closet. 

Or, maybe you threw yourself into cooking over the holidays and have added spices, new pots and pans to your cramped pantry. 

While Architectural Digest is not coming to inspect your home, you know you'd feel better, more in control and even lighter if you could organize your spaces. 

 Enter this year's challenge. Pick one space you would be so happy to see organized.

Schedule it in your calendar to tackle. 

Tell us your plan or challenge. 

Send us photos when you are done and you will have more praise than you've received in a long time.

What's your organizing challenge? 

Part I - Designer's Best Kept Secret to a Successful Project

Photo courtesy of Urban Electric Company 

Did you look at the photo above and immediately start to think about your own living room or family room? Maybe the paneled wall attracted you or the amazing wall sconce. Perhaps the throw pillows are something you've been meaning to add to your sofa. All those thoughts are so important. You see, you need to have a vision first, if you want to achieve anything in life or in designing your home. 

As I mentioned in the last blog post : I always ask my clients - "How do you want to use the room or space (indoors or outside)? Do you need more seating, less seating, more space for entertaining perhaps?"

Simply put - it's function first. Yes, I know you have numerous Pinterest Boards (as I do). 

But, before we get excited about that sofa or dining room table, let me hear from you how you use the room now and/or how you'd really like to use the room. 

The view from my office to the Dining Room (formerly the  Living Room)

In our home over the last ten years, I've asked myself that same question - How do we want to use the room now? 

We had a Living Room and a Family Room. But since the family is all grown up, did we really need two rooms for seating? 

Perhaps the former Dining Room would serve better as my home office and perhaps the former Living Room would allow more seating for our Dining Room table. 

Let's start the design journey with questions. Let's be open to ideas that you would never imagine before. 



What area of your home could be reimagined into the most wonderful space you never imagined before?

The 5 Most Important Questions I ask my Clients

The 5 Most Important Questions I ask my Clients 

Photo courtesy of Copeland Furniture - made in Vermont

Now that summer is behind us, we look to the next few months as a new start. If you're like me, you feel like hitting "refresh" as soon as September rolls around. 

I definitely need a new look and a new perspective in autumn. And, just like my clients who hire me to give their homes a new look, I also need to change up things inside and outside our home. 

But in order to change, you first need to know what needs changing. It's hard to prioritize and decide what should stay, what should go or what look in your home needs a re-boot. 

So I have to pretend I'm my own client in a way. I have to ask myself the same things I ask my clients. For instance:

1. How do you want to use the room or space (indoors or outside)? Do you need more seating, less seating, more space for entertaining perhaps?
2. What are the things you love about this room? Is it the light, the fireplace, the colors used on walls and furnishings?
3. What are you most dissatisfied with the room? Is it too small, too large, too plain? 
4. What rooms in Pinterest, House Beautiful or Architectural Digest have you consistently loved? Are you a fan of Ralph Lauren, Miles Redd, Restoration Hardware?
5. What is your budget? Are you ready to renovate to the extent of changing floors, opening up a room, or is it more cosmetic with new furniture and new paint colors on the walls? 

To help you make a change, I'll share with you my journey in my own 'Autumn Refresh'. I'll start with the first question on the next post. See you then!

5 Tips to the Best Decorated Room in Town

Benjamin Moore colors with an accent color for the chairs 

How To Have The Home You Love

If you're like me, you are often (or always) thinking about updating your home.
Whether planning on a change in a room or an entire home, follow these important concepts, so your end result looks like your home and is reflective of your lifestyle:

1. Have a clear idea of how the space will be used.

For instance, if you plan on entertaining more than before in a dining room, decide on the total number of dining chairs and table length you need. 

2. Create a budget for the new furnishings.

Dining tables can be anywhere from 'free' (used) to thousands of dollars. What your budget allows will be the starting point for where to source your new table.

3. Understand the elements of great design.

When you see beautiful rooms in Pinterest or Houzz, they were created with the concepts of balance, proportion and scale. They were most likely created through a well-trained eye and/or a professional interior designer. 

4. Know what decorating style suits your lifestyle best. 

Are you a traditionalist, a minimalist or a lover of mid-century design. There is much to choose from today in the furniture world. In the 'before' it was expected that if you were into a more traditional look, you would avoid contemporary furnishings. However, today it's acceptable to have a mix of traditional with contemporary furnishings.

5. Plan a color scheme for your home. 

Try the idea of connecting rooms with one color that is repeated in the other rooms of your home. For instance, one room could have a blue-green color on the walls and the adjacent room could have a blue-green rug with soft white walls. 

For professional help, for a nudge to get started, for the best year ever,

 call Mary Alice at:

                            732 690-2030

M. A. Smith Interior Design

1288 Beauchamps Place, Toms River, NJ 08753

E-mail: masmith@masmithinteriordesign.com

Allied Member ASID

Member of Kiwanis of Greater Toms River 

BIO

http://masmithinteriordesign.com

Blog: Coastal Confidante Blog 

Blog: BestDesignCoach.com

Three ways to Get Inspired for your Home

Where do designers go to get inspired for their interior design projects?

Even the most acclaimed designers have days when they feel uninspired or can't find the answer to a design problem. Sometimes it seems that there is no answer. You mull over ideas, talk to friends and still you're not sure what to do.

Today I'll offer one of the easiest ways I unlock my creative juices to get back on track. It's so easy, you'll wonder why you didn't do it yourself!

Grab a shelter magazine such as House Beautiful or Coastal Living. Or, go to your favorite website such as One Kings Lane, for ideas. (Today they have Bunny Williams Home as a feature design resource.) Also revisit your file of magazine tearsheets that you've been accumulating for your home design project. Chances are you already earmarked a page or photo of a room, or a garden project that called to you and will unlock the idea to solve your design challenge.

Look for my next tip to get you inspired. What's your design challenge today?

Call for professional help, for a nudge to get started, for the best year ever:
732 690-2030

M. A. Smith LLC. Interior Design
1288 Beauchamps Place, Toms River, NJ 08753
E-mail: masmith@masmithinteriordesign.com
Allied Member ASID

http://masmithinteriordesign.com
Blog: HouseZenGarden
Blog: BestDesignCoach.com

From Rubble to Raves - Restoring Homes Devastated By Hurricane Sandy

Photo taken at Shutters, Little Silver, NJ

From Rubble to Raves -  Restoring the Home Will Bring Back the Feeling that "Life is Better at the Beach" 

 

If you look closely at the photo above, there is a backward reflection of a sign that reads "Life is Better at the Beach." Well, while that may often be true, right now beach homes here in New Jersey are grasping to regain a shore footing.

 

Walls are gone or bare of sheetrock and insulation.  Floors are ripped of plank flooring and rooms are void of the history of decades of summer. The homes of the Jersey Shore are waiting to be reborn.

 

The process of remodeling is not pretty. It's grunt work - work for the trades and the contractors. But at some point, the view will change and the emphasis will be on how the home will look once its finished. Once finished, friends will rave at the beauty of the remodeled home along the Jersey Shore or the banks of Long Island.

 

The excitement will start when finally the sheetrock is installed. Suddenly, the homeowner will feel a need to make decisions on wall color, furnishings, window treatments and lighting. A feeling of excitement and a crave to decorate will take over their lives. Instead of looking back, Jersey Shore and Long Island homeowners will be looking forward to their homes at the shore.

 

A week after the hurricane, like many homeowners, I also thought I was finished. My clients for the most part have lovely homes along the Jersey Shore and Long Island Sound. Projects stopped in mid-stream. Prospects for future work dried up, their homes were severely damaged or gone.

 

The rebirth of the New Jersey and New York beaches will take time, but with each day another house is close to becoming a home again. Every week will bring us all closer to that place and time where we know that life is better at the beach.