Designer Secrets For A Room That Stays In Style

Designers have secrets for creating rooms that defy the test of time and stay in style year after year. I’m sharing these tips so you can use them in your home too.

Designers have trade secrets. They know decorating is a process that is never really done. But they also know lots of tips and sage advice for creating beautiful rooms. So today I’m sharing designer secrets for rooms that stay in style and look great for a long time!

Today let’s chat about keeping our homes in style and beautiful using designer secrets! And here are my favorite designer tips to use in your home!

Designers LOVE style and decor magazines are filled with gorgeous rooms done in breathtaking colors with plush furniture adorned with high-end and expensive fabrics. Everything in those magazine worthy rooms ooze expensive style.

But let’s be honest most of us can’t afford many of the things in those gorgeous rooms. If you are like me you love almost every single designer room you see. But the tough reality is many just aren’t that practical! There has to be a way to decorate a room so it can look beautiful, stay within budget, be updated and welcoming, and look fresh and relevant for years. Or is this just wishing on a star?

Actually, there are smart ways to do just that! It’s not rocket science. But it is a lot of common sense, compromise, and a reality check!

We can’t be pie-in-the-sky when it comes to decorating. Decorating is work! We must, more often than not, compromise on the things we wish we could have in our homes. The hard reality is many of us settle for what we can afford! Of course, we do!

But that does not mean we can’t live beautifully and be surrounded by lovely things in our homes.

Our goal as home designers is to create a warm, clean, welcoming sanctuary for our families and have a place we can share fellowship with others too! And most of us like to do it in style! Our style!

Here are some savvy tips to keep your home looking and feeling its decorated best straight from the pros!

Use Neutral Paints

There is so much decor power in paint!

Painting the walls, ceilings, woodwork, floors, and just about everything in my home. The right paint is so important for keeping your home looking fresh. A paintbrush is your magic wand and paint the magic pixie dust!

But have you thought about painting your home with neutrals? Soft whites, just-a-hint-of-color beige, a warm-tone gray, or even a soft and earthy camel? These colors are classics. They may not be trending right now but they will never go out of style. And they will always look beautiful!

Paint, especially neutral paint colors, and there are a plethora to choose from, will update your home like nothing else! Decide on a color palette for the walls and woodwork in your home and get busy. You might like to see how to How To Choose A Color Palette For Your Home and How To Make The Move To A Neutral Color Palette.

Designers know how light neutral walls are the perfect foil for all your furnishings and accents. Even if you love color, neutral walls will enhance the colorful decor you have.

Our Tanglewood House is painted Simply White by Benjamin Moore. Both walls and woodwork. And oh how I want to paint the floors white too!

But if white is not your thing, then choose another neutral. There are literally thousands of neutral colors to pick from. Beige is one of the most becoming colors for walls and trim. You might like to read, Why Beige Is Not Boring.

Right now trends are moving to more moody colors and blue is a big color choice for homes! Those moody blues are so pretty. However, they will look “so 2020” in a few years. Since we are talking about rooms that stay in style for a long time, whites and neutrals will be in style and fresh long after the blue trend has disappeared.

Keep High Ticket Decor Neutral

You will want to keep the furniture that costs the most in your home looking classic and guarded against looking dated. The design professionals know traditional and classic furniture lines are the way to go! They stay in style longer!

I love Transitional styling because it is traditional furniture slimmed down, updated a bit, and neutral. The spindle chairs above are a slimmed down classic. I’ve had these chairs for about a decade and they still look as fresh in my living room as the day they came to live with me!

Neutral furniture is timeless and works with almost anything you put with it!

Neutral means wood tones too! Keep wood tones in the lighter to the middle range for a timeless look!

And here is my best advice…

Let me say this again…

Only spend as much as the years you are willing to live with something.

You should memorize this and make it a decorating mantra.

What I mean by this is…

If you only want to live with a chair for five years spend only enough for it so at the end of five years you are willing to let it go if you want and get something new.

The coffee table in the living room is really a bench. I’ve had it for decades! It has served as a bench and even had a pretty upholstered cushion on it. I’ve used this bench in so many rooms of our home. Its classic styling keeps it looking fresh even though it is not a new piece. The bench was a mid-priced bench so I have certainly gotten my money’s worth from it!

Everything Has An Expiration Date

Everything has an expiration date. Everything!

This is another good thing to remember. Even classic furnishings will wear out. Or you will someday want to change them. Nothing lasts forever!

Spend money on decor that has a longer expiration date because it is classic! And be thrifty on decor that has a short expiration date!

I’ve talked to too many friends, clients, and readers who have beautiful yet dated expensive furniture.

They are very hesitant to replace it even though they don’t like it anymore. The problem? They paid a lot for it!

This makes me heartsick! I know, how they feel. I’ve made that same decorating mistake and I vowed when I let go of my old furniture I would never pay too much for furniture and other home furnishings again!

Let’s face it, styles change and so do we. You don’t have the same hairstyle and clothes you did in high school, right? Right? Or the same car? Things wear out and let’s be perfectly honest here, we get tired of the same old same old!

Times have changed and we should not keep the same furnishings for our adult lives unless we really, really want to.

Keep Your Home On Trend With Accessories

Designers have lots of secrets for keeping a home looking up to date. And we need to use those secrets in our homes.

One thing I picked up from the decorating pros is to change up the accessories and accent pieces in my home.

I have a different philosophy about accent items.

I don’t spend a lot on things like paintings and pricy pottery. It’s okay by me to use baskets on my walls instead of art and fool-the-eye downright cheap pottery or bargain store picture frames and other less expensive trendy accent pieces in my home.

When I’m tired of them or feel like my style might be changing I can remove what I have and add a few new things! And have no guilt at all!

The High-Low Mix

I’ve saved the best for last, here’s my favorite designer secret. This is my trademark move!

Invest in large ticket items and fake the rest!

I call this the High/Low mix and it works wonders!

Think about finding reasonably priced items that look expensive! Look for home decor items that mimic their more expensive cousins!

When something is well made and has a more expensive look I tend to scoop it up!

If you gravitate towards more refined looking items for your home but also want it to look warm, welcoming, and inviting then you might want to try mixing both higher-end items with slightly worn and textural objects. It’s such a pretty look! My home’s decor is all about juxtaposition.

Here are a few other designer secrets for your home

• Don’t neglect to replace furnishings and accents as they get worn out, look tired, or out of date. It’s easier to be doing a little bit continually than having to makeover an entire room all at once. And a lot less money in the long run!
• Don’t fill your rooms with lots of furniture and collectibles. A well curate room looks fresher and more up-to-date. Remember less is more.
• If you have wall to wall carpeting layer an updated rug over it.
• Paint dated wood furniture and other things like trays, mirrors, and even lamps.
• So many people hold onto furniture they don’t really love because decades ago they paid a lot of $$$ for it. Make a plan to let go of those furnishings.
• Use lots of texture instead of color. This looks updated and will stay in style longer.
• No matter what decorators say, YOU have the final say! Live with what you love and the things that work for you and your family!

Get started! Work towards creating rooms in your home that look beautiful and up-to-date for years to come!

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Would you like the rooms in your home to stay in style? Use these tips and create a curated room that will look fresh and updated for years to come.