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    Home Decor: How to Make a Space Your Own

    Editor’s note by Anne: Welcome to the third edition of our design tips feature. Many of you have been desiring more lifestyle/decorating content and we hope this will offer inspiration for your decorating projects. We will be working with area designers to showcase some of their ideas. For this month, we asked Elisabeth Warner of Pluck to share with us how to make your home yours. She walks you through the process of editing your belongings, deciding the function of a room, noting what you love and accessorizing your space.

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    Upon hearing that I am an interiors stylist, people often say, “Oh, I could never afford to have a beautiful home.” Or- worse!- “I’m hopeless at that kind of stuff.” Not true! I am here to tell you that you need neither a Medici budget nor a byline at Martha Stewart to make your home lovely, and to create a space that reflects your personal style. You likely have a lot of the things you need already, just waiting to be rediscovered and put to use. Using what you have, identifying what you love, and putting it all together will give you a home that makes you happy when you walk in the door.

    As an interiors stylist, the first thing I do when beginning a project with clients is to work with them to identify the things they adore in their home. Editing your belongings is the most important way to both make room for a fresher look, and rid yourself of things that you just don’t need anymore (or maybe you never did…). I could go on about this, but really what’s required here is getting everything out, looking with a critical eye at every piece, and deciding if this thing- book, picture, pillow, tchotchke, lamp, or chair- is something valuable to you, either for its beauty, utility, or sentiment.

    It is enormously helpful to have another body with you while you do this, be it a professional or a friend, to stop you from spending 3 hours reading notes from your high school boyfriend, to tell you it’s ok to get rid of the Simpsons wall clock you thought was awesome 10 years ago (if, however, you still think it’s awesome, totally keep it), or just keep you from getting overwhelmed. Once you have taken a hard look at what you’ve got, you can start thinking about new ways to incorporate what’s left into your rooms.

    Shelves that have been edited down to show some of my favorite things.

    Before we go too far with what to do with your stuff, the next step is to have a vision about what you want, and what you need (sadly, not always the same thing). Think about what you do in the rooms you’re looking for change in- does it make sense to have a dining room if you always eat in the kitchen? When you come home, where do you shed your things from the day? Do you have a good place to read, use your laptop, or sit with a friend? Does your kitchen have the things you need at the ready? Do you have a place to put things away so you are not being mocked by that pile of something?

    Once you’ve figured out what you need, start thinking about what you love. Functionality is critical, of course, but having a home that reflects your sensibilities and tells the story of you, is what will make your home a pleasure for you. If you need a little inspiration, there is no shortage of blogs, tumblrs, magazines, and books to look through. When you are looking, don’t think too hard about what you respond to- just make a note of it in your mind, and keep going. Remember trips you’ve taken, homes you’ve been in, movies that you loved, and pretty soon you’ll start to notice some patterns emerge. It may be that you love red, or hydrangeas, or peacock feathers, or Paris- now you can use those insights to help your home be its best self.

    Find a color that brings you joy when every time you see it.

    Once you have purged the things that were weighing down your space, and you’ve decided what you really like, it’s time to put it all together. It’s best to start with the basics of the room- color and furniture. Color is the single biggest factor in creating the feel of the room, whether it’s on the walls, in your favorite painting, or on your favorite chair. If your love of watermelon green starts to wane, you can easily change it. Painting is the easiest way to transform a room, and it doesn’t cost very much or take a ton of time or expertise. An intentional absence of color, using all white, or black and white, can be quite beautiful, as well. Once you’ve chosen your palette, you can arrange your furniture in a way that pleases you, keeping in mind both aesthetics and practicality. This often takes a little experimenting, so don’t be afraid to push your couch to the other side of the room, or even into another room, to see what works.

    When you’ve got the color and the arrangement that you want, you get to do the fun part- accessorizing. Just as the right hat or pair of boots can make an ok outfit suddenly wonderful, so, too, can the right pillows, art, and tablescape. (Yes, tablescape is a real thing, though my spell-check doesn’t believe me. It just means an arrangement of objects on a flat surface).

    This is your chance to display all of the smaller things that make you smile. You don’t have to limit yourself to traditional art on the walls- ticket stubs, pictures from books, the map of your hometown, a note from your child, dried flowers, a poem, a beautiful piece of wrapping paper- all can be framed to a winning and personal effect.

    Tablescape- I did not make this word up, I swear!

    To display three-dimensional objects, find a devoted space to highlight them, such as a shelf or coffee table. If you find that you have a lot of this kind of object, it might be good to pick a few to show off, then pack the rest away, and rotate them so they have a greater visual impact. Conversely, collections grouped together can be charming, as long as they are well curated and look intentional.

    Fabric items, such as curtains, rugs, and pillows, are the final element in making a room complete, adding warmth and softness. I generally recommend a plain, classic curtain, which gives you the freedom to change things like paint colors or upholstery without having to buy new window coverings. Pillows are both functional and provide an opportunity to tie in the color and feel of a room, though I must caution that too many pillows are just too many. Rugs can be used in the same way, creating an added layer of depth in a room, and increasing the feel of coziness.

    Elisabeth at home.

    And you’re finished! After you’ve put everything together, buy yourself some flowers, pour yourself a glass of wine, and congratulate yourself on making your home yours. Cheers!

    Elisabeth is the President for Life at Pluck, doing interiors styling, home organization, and real estate staging, She lives in a tiny house in Clintonville that has been painted and rearranged more times than is probably sane, with her fabulous and tolerant daughter, Emma Nell. Elisabeth is generally regarded as having good taste in all things, with the inexplicable exception of her love of genuinely terrible music. You can reach her through her blog, pluckathome, find her on Facebook, or see what inspires her on her tumblr, pluckfordays.

    All photography by Jenna Wojdacz.

    Home Decor is a monthly column on Columbus Underground featuring Design Professionals’ design tips for your home. Have a suggestion? Please send an email to [email protected] or leave a comment below.

    [Home Decor is sponsored by K.A. Menendian Rug Gallery. At K.A. Menendian Oriental Rug Gallery you will find the widest selection of quality rugs in our remodeled showroom, with hundreds of designs, colors and sizes of hand-knotted, hand-tufted and machine-made rugs. Styles range from traditional to modern and formal to casual. Their Fall Sale is going on until November 26, 2011 with Storewide Savings of up to 50%. Find them at 1090 West 5th Ave. at Kenny Rd., Columbus, OH 43212. Reach them by phone at (614) 294-3345 or 1-888-526-7847. Their hours are: Monday – Saturday 10 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. Closed Sunday. On the web at www.karugs.com. Like them on Facebook.]

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    Elisabeth Warner
    Elisabeth Warnerhttp://www.pluckathome.com/
    Elisabeth is the President for Life at Pluck, doing interiors styling, home organization, and real estate staging, She lives in a tiny house in Clintonville that has been painted and rearranged more times than is probably sane, with her fabulous and tolerant daughter, Emma Nell. Elisabeth is generally regarded as having good taste in all things, with the inexplicable exception of her love of genuinely terrible music. You can reach her through her blog, pluckathome, find her on facebook, or see what inspires her on her tumblr, pluckfordays.
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