Design Insights : Country Willow

Here are some great ideas for you
to consider when planning your space.

Take a very traditional piece of furniture, like a wing chair, and pair it with an unexpected color like carnation pink or with an unexpected edge, like nickel nailheads.

Your dining table should provide your guests with 20-24 inches of elbow room. The center of the dining table should have a strip about 12 inches wide for serving dishes, centerpieces and candles.

Glass dining, coffee and end tables are ideal choices to make a small room appear larger.

To make a small room appear larger, allow furniture to reveal as much floor space as possible.

Accessories don't have to stay in the same place in your home forever. Move a few to different locations in the room or from one room to another for an instant makeover.

Find a key/inspiration item — a print fabric, artwork, area rug, bedspread, etc. — that has a color palette you are attracted to, and then build the room around that.

If you keep your theme fairly neutral then you can create a series of different looks with throws, pillows, curtains, lamps and accessories.

Chandeliers are set to be huge, in the bedroom sitting or dining room. They add a kind of glamour and create a blissful mood in a room.

There's a move towards more tactile fabrics, such as velvet, silk and chenille.

Vary the wood finishes and you relax your room. A pine rocker next to a mahogany buffet or a cherry-framed mirror over the mantelpiece. Throw in a painted, or distressed chair for an informal look.

If you have one dynamite piece of art, give it plenty of space on the wall, don't clutter it among many other distractions. Space in your home is like rhythm in music, it's most interesting when you vary the tempo.

Casual or contemporary living rooms look good with off-center, asymmetrical furniture arrangements.

You can never have too much storage space, especially in your bedroom. Look at all your options, from dressers to highboys to armoires.

ROOM COLORS
Make it work for your lifestyle!

Understand that colors behave in three basic ways : active, passive, and neutral , and you can easily match every room's colors to your personal desires and taste and to the room's purpose. Light colors are expansive and airy, they make rooms seem larger and brighter. Dark colors are sophisticated and warm; they give large rooms a more intimate appearance.

RED raises a room's energy level. It's a good choice when you want to stir up excitement, particularly at night. In the living room or dining room, red draws people together and stimulates conversation. In an entryway, it creates a strong first impression. Red has been shown to raise blood pressure, speed respiration and heart rate. It is usually considered too stimulating for bedrooms, but if you're only in the room after dark, you'll be seeing it mostly by lamplight, when the color will appear muted, rich, and elegant. Red, the most intense, pumps the adrenaline like no other hue.

CRIMSON can make some people feel irritable. With red invoking feels of rage and hostility is a color that should be avoided as the main color of a room. Sitting for long periods of time in a room this color will likely breakdown any peace and harmony you are striving to create in your home. Ancient cultures used the color red to stimulate the body and mind and to increase circulation.

YELLOW captures the joy of sunshine and communicates happiness. It's perfect for kitchens, dining rooms, and bathrooms, where happy color is energizing and uplifting. In halls, entries, and small spaces, yellow can feel expansive and welcoming.Yellow although is a cheery color is not a good choice in main color schemes of a room. People are more likely to lose their tempers in a yellow room. Babies also seem to cry more in a yellow room. This color tends to create feeling of frustration and anger in people. This color is the most fatiguing on the eyes.In chromotherapy yellow was believed to stimulate the nerves and purify the body.

BLUE brings down blood pressure and slows respiration and heart rate. That's why it's considered calming, relaxing, and serene, and is often recommended for bedrooms and bathrooms. Be careful, however: A pastel blue that looks pretty on the paint chip can come across as unpleasantly chilly when it's on the walls and furnishings, especially in a room that receives little natural light. If you opt for a light blue as the primary color in a room, balance it with warm hues in the furnishingsand fabrics. To encourage relaxation in the rooms where people gather family rooms, living rooms, large kitchens consider warmer blues, such as periwinkle, or bright blues, such as cerulean or turquoise. Blue is known to have a calming effect when used as the main color of a room. When going with blue go for softer shades of blue. Dark blue has the opposite effect. Dark blue evokes feels of sadness. So refrain from using darker blues in your main color scheme. Stay with the lighter shades of blue to give you and your loved ones a calm effect.

GREEN is considered the most restful color for the eye. Combining the refreshing quality of blue and the cheerfulness of yellow, green is suited to almost any room in the house. In a kitchen, a sage or medium green cools things down; in a family room or living room, it encourages unwinding but has enough warmth to promote comfort and togetherness. In a bedroom, it's relaxing and pleasant.Green also has a calming effect when used as a main color for decorating. It is believed to relieve stress by helping people relax. Also believed to help with fertility this is a great choice for the bedroom.

PURPLE in its darkest values (eggplant, for example) is rich, dramatic, and sophisticated. It's associated with luxury as well as creativity, and as an accent or secondary color, it gives a scheme depth. Lighter versions of purple, such as lavender and lilac, bring the same restful quality to bedrooms as blue does, but without the risk of feeling chilly.

ORANGE evokes excitement, enthusiasm and is an energetic color. While not a good idea for a living room or for bedrooms this color is great for an exercise room. It will bring all the emotions out that you need when jumping into your fitness routine.In ancient cultures orange was used to heal the lungs and increase energy levels.

NEUTRALS (black, gray, white, and brown) are basics. All-neutral schemes fall in and out of fashion, but their virtue lies in their flexibility: Add color to liven things up; subtract it to calm things down. To make the job easier, you can rely on the interior designer's most important color tool: the color wheel.

Something about Ceiling and Walls.
The ceiling represents one-sixth of the space in a room, but too often it gets nothing more than a coat of white paint. In fact, for decades, white has been considered not only the safest but also the best choice for ceilings. As a general rule, ceilings that are lighter than the walls feel higher, while those that are darker feel lower. "Lower" need not mean claustrophobic: Visually lowered ceilings can evoke cozy intimacy.