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Freshen Your Home for Spring With These Designer Tips /  by Margaret Chambers

This bedroom in a Turtle Creek home feels like spring all-year-round with its pink check lampshade, pink wallpaper, and beautiful linens.

Spring is the perfect time to declutter, tackle home improvement projects, and breathe new life into your rooms with seasonal colors and accessories. By starting the process now, you have the whole rest of the year to enjoy the fruits of your hard work. As a Dallas interior designer, I have many years of experience helping my clients renovate or refresh their homes. These are my tips for getting your home ready for spring.

Decluttering is a no-cost way to give your home a fresh start. Take a look at your belongings to see if there’s anything you haven’t used in a long time. Now is also the time to rotate your heavy linens and winter clothing into storage. When it comes to clutter, the entryway is a common hotspot. If you’re the type to drop off keys, mail, and sunglasses as soon as you get home, pick a place where they can go, such as a pretty decorative bowl.

Have your rugs and carpets professionally cleaned (or rent a steam cleaner). Wash your windows too so you can take full advantage of the spring sunshine.

You can filter in even more spring sunshine by replacing dark drapes and shades with light and sheer curtains, like the ones in this Dallas home.

Many Texas homeowners worry about leaks this time of year. If you’re one of them, consider getting leak detectors; they’re a quick way to solve a problem before it ever happens. Detectors can be placed underneath sinks, behind toilets, underneath hot water heaters, and behind washing machines. You can also help prevent leaks by making sure that your roof stays in good condition.

If you don’t want to renovate but still think your home could use a facelift, consider repainting your front door or your interior walls. A new paint color will instantly change the energy of a space. Don’t forget about your fifth wall—your ceiling. Painting the ceiling a different color or adding wallpaper has become a trend in recent years.

You can get your bedroom ready for the season by swapping out your comforter with a thinner coverlet. Replace dark sheets with ones in lighter colors (like crisp white) with bordering or monogramming, depending on the style of the room. Bedding with botanical prints will really complete the theme.

Crisp white bedding with bordering and monogramming is a popular look.

Small design elements, such as hand towels, lampshades, accent pillows, and blankets can be easily switched out for items in seasonally-appropriate colors, like pastel yellow, pink, orange, or green. And nothing says “spring” like fresh flowers or Easter-themed accessories. Flowers associated with the spring season include daffodils, tulips, and hyacinths. Adding more potted plants to your home can improve air quality while introducing an organic element to your interior design.

Instead of buying all-new furniture, try rearranging the furniture you already have. You might be able to find a new layout that has more breathing room or is easier to navigate. Rehanging or rearranging your art is another way to shake things up.

The garden theme for this table setting is perfect for spring. The china has hand-painted botanical and butterfly motifs.

Freshening your home for spring can be as simple as swapping out decorative pillows or cleaning your closet. But if you’ve got bigger plans—like renovating your house, or changing the entire color scheme—consider tapping into an interior designer’s expertise. In my own design projects, I love to work with soft, spring-like colors. I’m passionate about helping my clients transform dark or dated spaces into classically beautiful homes that will look gorgeous in any season.

Interested in working with Chambers Interiors & Associates? You can reach us by sending an email to info@chambersinteriors.com or calling our Dallas office at 214-651-7665.

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Add Serious Style to Your Bookshelves With These Five Steps /  by Margaret Chambers

It’s important to leave some negative space on each shelf so that the items have “breathing room.”

It’s important to leave some negative space on each shelf so that the items have “breathing room.”

Although shelves are rarely the focal point in interior design, it can’t be denied that cluttered, carelessly decorated shelves will distract from an otherwise immaculate space. If you’re redecorating your Dallas home and could use some help making your shelves look both clean and stylish, try following these five steps.

1: Edit Your Collections

We used a grasscloth wallpaper in the back of this bookcase for added depth, texture, and color.

We used a grasscloth wallpaper in the back of this bookcase for added depth, texture, and color.

To start with, remove all of the items on your shelves and go through them. Edit out anything that you either don’t love anymore or that clashes with the rest of your decorating scheme. This is also a great time to look at your bare shelves and decide if those could use an update, too. I like to add fabric or wallpaper to the backs of bookshelves to give them more depth and flair.

For a professionally designed look, keep in mind that interior designers usually decorate shelves with fewer items than the average homeowner. Cutting down on clutter gives each object more impact.

If you’re starting with a clean slate and could use some shopping tips, look for trays, small bronzes, boxes, antique tea caddies, vases, picture frames, and small art prints in addition to your books. Leaning a framed art print or photo against the back draws the viewer’s eye deeper into the shelf.

Organic accessories, such as petrified wood, geodes, coral, shells, and rattan baskets help give your shelves a variety of textures. Small potted plants (whether faux or live) add some refreshing greenery to your shelves too.

2: Pick Your Main Colors

Bookshelves should have a unified color scheme whenever possible. I recommend picking two complementary colors, adding in one type of metal, and using any number of neutral colors in-between.

3: Place Your Largest Items First

After you’ve narrowed down your selections, place your largest items on the shelves first. These can include stacks of coffee table books, baskets, vases, sculptures and trays. Some of these pieces may be large enough that you can put them on a shelf standalone.

The shelves in this Preston Hollow library are stained black, creating a dramatic backdrop for the clients’ books and objet d’art.

The shelves in this Preston Hollow library are stained black, creating a dramatic backdrop for the clients’ books and objet d’art.

4: Organize Your Books

Next, gather together all the books you’re using. If you have lots of books, you can group them by color.

Experiment with arranging books vertically, leaning them, or stacking them horizontally. A horizontal stack should have at least three books. If any of your books have unattractive spines or do not match your color scheme, turn them around so that the pages are facing out instead.

The blue-and-white china and the books on these shelves are all color-coordinated with the rest of the room.

The blue-and-white china and the books on these shelves are all color-coordinated with the rest of the room.

Some formulas for combining books and accessories include:

·        Putting books, a bookend, and a decorative bowl or basket together on a shelf

·        Setting a ball-shaped accessory against leaning books and adding a vase

·        Holding a set of books upright with a horizontal book stack that has a decorative object on top

5: Add the Finishing Touches

Once you’ve found a place for your large and medium items, use your small items to fill in any awkward gaps. That said, don’t fill out every shelf completely. A little negative space helps give your collections some “breathing room.”

As you arrange your shelves, make sure to vary the heights, pairing tall and short items together. Don’t be afraid to show your personality: shelves are the perfect place for travel mementos, family photos, and collectibles.

Before you finish decorating, take a step back to see how all the shelves in a room work together. It’s important to have some repeating colors or objects evenly distributed throughout the shelves, but it can be tricky to achieve the right balance. For example, if you have two gold objects on two adjoining shelves, you may want to move one of them to a further away shelf to balance things out.

A mixture of potted plants, porcelain jars, books, and picture frames fill these shelves we designed for a Plano home.

A mixture of potted plants, porcelain jars, books, and picture frames fill these shelves we designed for a Plano home.

One way to balance a tall shelving unit is to fill the four corner shelves with similar objects. These corners create a visual “frame” that bring everything together in the center shelves. To style a long shelf, create distinct vignettes that gently touch each other around the edges.

None of these design rules are set in stone, so don’t be afraid to experiment until your shelves feel right to you. And most of all, don’t forget to have some fun too. Shelves are a great opportunity to express a story about yourself. The end result shouldn’t look too staged, but rather, tell the world about who you are.

Having trouble editing down your collections? Getting a professional second opinion from an interior designer is invaluable. To contact us, send an email to info@chambersinteriors.com or call our Dallas office at 214-651-7665.

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