Adding This Can Change Your World

Photo courtesy of Leonie Freeman / Hardie Grant Books

One of the most talked about words I can think of is - color. Maybe it's because I'm a designer and I select colors almost every day for my clients. Yet, I notice at parties, events and chats with friends, that color almost always comes up in the discussion. 

We could be discussing colors for the upcoming wedding, the color of a sunset or the color of a new puppy. We select fruit, vegetables and even meat, fish or poultry based on how the 'color' looks. 

However, one color I never seem to wear is the color 'green'. I think it goes back to years wearing a green school uniform. It's not that I don't like green (our bedroom is a forest green), it's just one of those things with my wardrobe. 

In our home though you can find lots of green as an accent color. Mostly it's the green of the hydrangea leaves or the green of a large fern in a basket. I can't imagine not having plants in our home. The most beautiful homes I've visited have plants like orchids with their wide leaves, or ficus trees with shiny leaves, or beautiful rooms with leafy design wallpapers. Plants 'complete' a room just like jewelry completes an outfit.

Photo courtesy of Thibaut 

Beyond the beauty of the plant is what it does for your emotions. According to NBC News the article states that "Studies have also proven that indoor plants improve concentration and productivity (by up to 15 percent!), reduce stress levels and boost your mood — making them perfect for not just your home but your work space, too." 

Imagine that! You can bring some beauty into your home, reduce your stress level and boost your mood at the same time with the addition of plants. 

Today add a plant to your desk or cut some stems from your garden. Visit garden centers like Terrain to get inspiration you've never experienced before. 

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 

Website:  http://masmithinteriordesign.com

Blog:  The Coastal Confidante Blog 

Serving Coastal New Jersey homeowners and businesses for 20 years

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? 

Valentine's Day - A few different ideas for Gifts

With only days away, do you have to come up with a great Valentine, Birthday or Anniversary gift idea?

 If you're 5 years old, you can get away with a handmade card from school, but not now. So now what to do, what is a different kind of gift, what would they love to receive?

Here are a few ideas to get you going in the right direction fast. (You only have a week or so!) The first ones are for men, and the last are for the love or loves of your life.

For the men in your life:

• A monthly gym membership - for a "core strength and conditioning program."
• Dinner at Charlie's in Bay Head, NJ  - fabulous atmosphere and great food. 

For wife, mother, grandmother, sister or girlfriend:

• A two hour interior designer consultation at $150.
• A four hour interior designer consultation at $295.

Now is the perfect time to help her get her home ready for spring, for renovation or for staging a house for sale. A two hour Gift Card towards a consult on a room of your choice includes:

1. Paint color ideas to make a room come to life (finally the right color!)
2. A better floorplan concept - great for Living Room and Family Rooms
3. Arranging accessory ideas for tabletop, bookcases or a mantel 
4. Window treatment or lighting suggestions to bring a room to life
5. Lighting suggestions to give a room the atmosphere to feel and look great in

Mary Alice Smith of M. A. Smith Interior Design - an interior designer serving New Jersey, Ocean and Monmouth County, the Jersey Shore and metropolitan New York, CT 

To schedule an appointment call: 732 690-2030

M. A. Smith Interior Design 

masmith@masmithinteriordesign.com

Allied Member ASID

Member of Greater Toms River Chamber of Commerce

Member of Kiwanis Daybreak of Toms River

http://masmithinteriordesign.com

Blogs: HouseZenGarden and Best Design Coach

Five of my Favorite Myths or Secrets about Decorating your Home with Paint

Photo courtesy of Country Living 

1. Dark paint colors make a room look smaller - wrong! Dark paint colors give a small space the oomph it needs to look important. There is a warm and enveloping feeling that you can't always get from a pale shade of paint. 
2. Trim has to be either stained or painted white. Please give this one myth up ASAP! In our own home we used a medium shade of gray on our formerly lackluster white interior doors. 
3. Gray paint is not a warm color. Wrong again! Yes, some grays are cooler grays, but there's a warm gray for everybody. We used Benjamin Moore's Edgecomb Gray on our hallways and Foyer. It's a beigy/soft/greige that changes throughout the day. It's perfect if you want to be 'engaged' but not commit to gray. 
4. Everyone in the house has to love the color I choose. Trust me, not everyone has the faintest idea of what paint can do for a house. For instance, if your toddler craves purple, would you respect her choice and paint your home purple? If you're unsure on what color to select, look into hiring an interior designer to help make the best choice of color. 
5. All paints are the same, so buy less expensive paint. After twenty years in the business of interior design, I can speak as an expert. Do buy good paint, it will look and last better than cheaper paints. 

Lastly, (as much as I love my painters) let them do their work but save the color selection to you or your designer. Not every color looks the same in every house. I've seen paint colors in my clients homes that I would have loved in my home. But, we have different light, floor color, furnishings and all that can change how a color looks. 

Mary Alice Smith of M. A. Smith Interior Design - an interior designer serving New Jersey, Ocean and Monmouth County, the Jersey Shore and metropolitan New York, CT 

To schedule an appointment call: 732 690-2030

M. A. Smith Interior Design 

masmith@masmithinteriordesign.com

Allied Member ASID

Member of Greater Toms River Chamber of Commerce

Member of Kiwanis Daybreak of Toms River

http://masmithinteriordesign.com

Blog: HouseZenGarden and Best Design Coach

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

How to Pick a Paint Color for Your Home

Photo courtesy of Benjamin Moore

Try this Technique to change your ‘Fear of Color’

You probably have a favorite color, one of those colors that you are drawn to for your clothes or your home. You use it often because it makes you feel good and look good.

But there’s a world of color out there and maybe it’s time to try or add a new hue to your repertoire.

For instance, never in my wildest dreams, would I have thought of using gray in my home. I’m a lover of warm colors and even my home office/studio has red walls. Our Foyer and halls had a shade of beige that works well and is timeless.

So, when shades of gray became popular for paint and furnishings, it first seemed to go against my love of warm colors. But since I’ve used gray for a number of my clients, I was open to the idea of using gray tiles in our Master Bath renovation.

It’s been months now since our former tub area became one of my favorite places to start the day. The gray tiles and mosaics in our new shower have that ‘spa’ look that suggests a feeling of tranquility.

Besides tranquility, I’ve found I love gray because it has that fresh, clean and updated look.

Afraid of color? Try a touch of gray or a touch of another color that attracts, yet scares you. Add a touch of color with accessories, lamps, bedding, etc. It doesn't always mean painting walls a new color. Try a new color idea on for size first.

By the way, what paint color have you been thinking of forever for your home?

Photo courtesy of Country Living Magazine 

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
Serving New Jersey, Connecticut and Metropolitan New York City

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

Great DecoratingTrends to Change the way You Feel in a Room

The best Trends for a New Look in Your Home this Spring
 
Yes, the wind may be howling outside, the temperature's not a perfect 70 degrees but it's for sure that Spring is heading your way. You may be like my clients who suddenly have the desire to change things up a bit at home. Let me open the door to a new look with a few ideas to get you going today.

Photo courtesy of Benjamin Moore

Change can be big or little. It can be a change in color for a space, or texture for a sofa, or new window treatments that are on your to-do list. Whatever the case, think about what you can do this month, to add that pizazz you've been needing and wanting for awhile.

Photo courtesy of Benjamin Moore

 Color can be a simple quick change that you can do with flowers. Or maybe it's change in wall color like the one above from Benjamin Moore. Doesn't it look like a soft blue? Well, it's actually Wickham Gray HC171. Look again at this photo. See the chandelier, maybe all you need is a new chandelier to add a sparkle to your room. Or...
 

 Texture! Yes, texture can add so much to a room. Truly wallcovering is totally in style for today's homes. With all the interest in more linear sofas, wood and iron cocktail tables and more, you want to keep your home from looking sterile and blah.
 
The way to do that, to make your rooms stand out can be adding textural wallcovering like the one shown in the photo.
 
In other words, if the walls were only painted it would look 'nice'. Who wants just 'nice'?
 
And by the way, you may have noticed that the vase contrasts so well with the wallcovering.
 
(Don't tell anyone, but that's a designer's best kept secret - using contrast, as shown in this photos by Hartmann & Forbes Inc. )
 
But wait, there's more...

Photo courtesy of Garnet Hill

 

 

 

Pattern. Yes, adding pattern to a room of solids will most definitely change the look of a room.

Now don't get too crazy with this, just a little goes a long way.

 

 





 Photo courtesy of Pottery Barn

 

 









 Ok, so you have my best advice for today, for this season. Mix things up a bit. Try color, texture or pattern and put that pizazz back into your life!