By rebranding my blog I want to share more of who I am not just as an interior designer but as a woman with all the different roles I have, as a wife, mom, daughter, entrepreneur, etc. I'll combine what I love the most, my so loved interior design career and everything I love in life.
My style has always had a strong French influence. I admire the simplicity, and the flawless taste from the natural, most essential materials to the exuberant gilded periods of Louis XV, and my very favorite of all time, the Louis XVI period, and all the Neoclassical movement.
There's beauty everywhere and I cannot get enough of it. I cannot wait for this coming market in Atlanta to see all that's coming in this new year 2024! Furniture, art, apparel, botanicals, you mention it. I'll be happy to share here my discoveries, new crushes, and whatever can guide my readers to experience the art of living through design in all that this entails.
Let me begin this time with the color of the year. Every year Pantone announces a color that will be a trend in many aspects of design, from especially made nail polish to complete rooms filled with this color or just accents evoking it. Now who is Pantone? If you're not a designer you don't have to know, but here I'll explain. Pantone is like the color institute, they create the colors used in graphic design, fashion, etc. They create each color identification and their exact values for everything to be standardized. If I decide to design mats with matching glasses both need to be made with the exact code so they are the same.
If you are interested in adding a little Peach Fuzz to your life, click on the button to find the products I selected for you on my Tap To Shop Or click on the images to take you to that particular item.
Here are some collaborations that created products with the new color. Click on the images to learn more about them. Click on them.
There are of course many other companies that have their color of the year like Benjamin Moore, and Sherwin Williams the most popular paint companies, and those more exclusive ones.
Here you'll see them below, but before I move forward I want to say that in the end, the best color you can have at home is the one that makes you happy, your favorite color, the one that provides the ambiance you are satisfied with.
Click on the image to shop for any of these paint colors.
Sherwin Williams "Upward" Pantone "Peach Fuzz" Benjamin Moore "Blue Nova"
It's okay to have a whole house with purple all around like one of my best friends who has included her favorite color in such a tasteful way around her house. Don't be afraid to use your very own palette just maybe follow some design rules to make it look great and not just a space with no interest and no character.
There's so much information to follow guidelines or if you want a more personalized experience remember that we, designers are here to help. My best advice as a designer is to never follow trends. Sounds contradictory? It is not because the way that a trend can be useful to you in your home, in particular, is to be inspired by it and incorporate it subtly.
What is not nice is to find a house full of the very latest trends put together with nothing that tells your name, your taste, and your lifestyle. In this case, it is not like a pair of stilettos that you can wear during a dinner party though they can be uncomfortable for a few hours for the sake of fashion we all love.
Your home is mostly a permanent display of who you are and, a collection you created through the years with what you like best, so don't transform it into something that is not you. Believe me, that is against good taste's best interest. It's not for 2 hours like shoes, it is for a much longer commitment.
By all means, refresh things at home to keep it updated. This can be accomplished with paint. The immediate reward when you want a quick makeover. That is a trend to incorporate, but following the hues you already have and want to keep. Now there are times when you don't just want a refresh or an update you want a full makeover, you changed your style and are looking for new air in your surroundings, so call a designer and plan it.
And if I can help book a consultation with me!
Start from scratch a plan. Frustration comes around because what you thought would work won't work and you are now stuck with an expensive piece that you loved but doesn't do much to your space, and like this many more examples. Don't make expensive mistakes.
Color is powerful and just as you can create wonders with it you can create a hot mess with different tonalities that have different tints or shades. People tend to think investing in a designer costs a lot of money, but this is far from the truth because designers save money and are money well invested that is the value.
Why my house doesn't look like a magazine?
I bought all the catalog accents! It's a common question and reaction. Guess what? That looked great in the catalog because someone (a designer) chose every detail including paint colors based on that particular room and layout not always what you need as your home is unique even on how the light comes through the window.
It is also okay to want to change everything, you are not renouncing your essence in style, you just evolve as everything does and to keep things current is good to add some elements. I know I definitely don't like what I loved in 1997! Also, I was young and was finding my own style.
Many of my clients were done with traditional style and went opposite directions and they are happy with their results. Others cannot let go of the traditional lines and that is also okay. Who lives in your house? Who will enjoy it every day at every step you take in your home? You.
An example of a 90's decorated room. No-no.
So if your neighbor, best friend, relative, coworker, etc tells you they don't like it. Good for them! They can design their not-like-yours home but don't ever give in to critiques. I had a friend who came to my recently decorated house after I got married and she only pointed out all that she disliked. It was not her style for sure but it was mine and she should have been happy for me and how excited I was to show her my house.
So to sum up, see new colors and trends to learn what's new out there that can function in your home, and don't ever give up on your style whichever this is, even if you're the only creature in this world who likes it, just plan it.
If you're interested, please answer the poll below and tell me what would you like to learn about interior design. I'll be happy to share my knowledge about any topic. Thanks!
Happy New 2024!
Love,
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