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Feature Articles - Basic Decorating

Basic Decorating

From do-it-yourself to hiring a designer

Where do I begin with decorating my home? It’s a question often asked by those starting a new project or moving into a new house. This article was commissioned by Moving House & Home in December 1979 to answer that question, simply. The information is valid for today, and when I have taught decorating classes in small communities over the years (another hat I sometimes wear), this kind of information is the back-bone of the course, along with knowledge gleaned from my years at Ryerson Interior Design and experience. Not outlined in the article are the critical words that help pull a scheme together: balance, rhythm, harmony, repetition, scale.

Today, 2003, there are so many decorating magazines and television shows to help with your decision-making. “Painted House” is an excellent source of information showing how to use colour and paint for all kinds of moods, themes, textures - and all great fun! In addition there are the Home & Garden channels on TV.

Moving? Then without a doubt you will be decorating, or at least considering it. After all, that gaudy wallpaper in the new living room just doesn’t match the delicate design of your sofa. Besides which, the colors clash. What to do? What is to go? Where to begin?

You can begin be deciding which one of the three basic decorating methods would best suit you. If you have plenty of time and energy to spare you can 1) Do It Yourself. If you have the time and energy but would like to know if your plans will really work, and take advantage of some short cuts, you can 2) Get A Little Help. If you would rather have someone else do all the work then 3) Hire A Designer.

There’s usually a reason for something being on sale. A good friend’s chair was in need of repair and acted as an excellent prop for this shot. Photo by Fraser Day.

Do It Yourself

Time and energy are necessary for the long hours of searching in wallpaper and paint stores, furniture showrooms and floorcovering outlets - hours which you can reduce simply by being organized and knowing exactly what you want. And knowing what you want requires deep questioning of preferences and lifestyle. (This does not include the many hours of actually physically preparing the house for decorating, the painting, wallpapering and so on.)

Each situation is unique; every home different in setting and every person varying in manners, habits, likes and dislikes. Therefore to set rules for decorating would be to strip you of your own creative individuality. So instead, here are some basic points to consider while you begin the fun adventure of decorating:

Space

The day your own house is listed for sale and the search for a new one begins, the questions of space arise. Do you need less or more? What kind of spaces are needed to accommodate your changing lifestyle? Are you planning a family? Have the children all left home? Will you be entertaining or keeping to yourselves? Should there be formal or informal rooms? Will you be keeping your existing furniture or getting rid of most of it? Will the furniture fit?

These questions should be considered while viewing houses to determine the number of rooms you require, their location in the house and the amount of space in each room needed for the furniture. Nothing could be worse than to move into a new house and find that the sofa doesn’t fit into the living room.

Nothing could be worse than to move into a new house and find that the sofa doesn’t fit into the living room. That’s me (Rosemary) on the left. The shot was set up in the photographer’s home to show exactly what happens when you don’t measure the space and your furniture before putting the two together. I know, I’ve done it. Photo by Fraser Day.

Theme

Your decorating theme depends upon what you may already have in the way of furnishings; or, if starting from scratch, what you would feel most comfortable with. Are you traditional or are you willing to try something new? Pictures from decorating magazines can often help in this search for mood, overall décor and arrangements. But then maybe you would like to try something that has never been done before. Originality can be great fun. In choosing a theme, you decide if you would like a bright room, dark, romantic, modern, exotic, country, traditional or whatever.

Color

Today there are no particular rules - color usage depends strictly upon the existing furnishings and the tastes and personalities of the individual. Trends come and go in cycles like a pendulum swinging back and forth. In fact these cycles are getting shorter, so it is wiser to have your home attuned to your emotional feeling towards color rather than towards a fad which is here today and gone tomorrow.

The last few years (1970s) have seen abundant use of greys and muted colors as we returned to the fashions of the thirties. Now, as the pendulum starts to swing back, bright jewel colors of the sixties are reappearing - pinks, red, and deep blues. Always secure are the neutrals of brown, beige and off-white for the look of simplicity, highlighted by dabs of bright color in accessories.

Color does affect space visually, and our reactions to that space. Light colors often make a room seem larger; dark colors smaller. Blue, a contemplative color is cool and good to work under; reds are warm and emotional so they should be handled with great care. Green is fresh and cool, good for a room that gets too much sunlight, and yellow can be cheerful and warm. Really, anything goes. But, there is one important point to remember - a color slightly off from the theme can completely ruin the entire room.

Wallcoverings

Many wallcovering manufacturers are now producing books based on color co-ordination and matching patterns. These mix-and-match books, with color illustrations, give the shopper an easier tool for decorating the whole house. The papers complement each other and can be used in different rooms accompanied by trim painted in co-ordinating colors. Take for example, a series of prints based on reds, whites and blues. One room may have a large print with blue trim and the adjoining room could have a small print from the same series with red trim. Foils are always great fun for bathrooms and other dramatic areas. Grass cloths provide a warm textured background for art. Another use of textures comes with paper-backed moires and silks, which give walls a soft pastel sheen. With texture walls can be felt as well as seen.

Besides creating an exciting and beautiful environment, wallcoverings are great for concealing architectural flaws and cracks in the plaster - even on the ceiling. Ceilings do not have to be white, they can be as interesting as the walls by being painted in a complementary color of by being covered in the same of matching paper.

It is always wise to borrow wallcovering books to examine the papers in the home under natural light and to put them against the existing furnishings to be sure that the patters will go together.

Some wallcoverings come with matching fabrics which can be used for new drapes and cushions or to recover the odd chair or sofa.

Flooring

Once again, anything goes. Wood floors can be painted (even parquet) or sanded and adorned with rugs. If the carpet in the new home just won’t work with your scheme, see what is underneath it. If there is good wood, work with that. If not, invest in a durable carpet that will match. Tile is another good solution. The shopper has access to tiles of all kinds from plain sun-baked tiles of Mexico to patterned glazed tiles from Italy. Throw rugs can also be very attractive, on top of tile or carpet.

Furnishings

Flooring, drapery, color and wallcoverings now set the theme for the furnishings and accessories. But before going to look around the stores, some homework has to be done. The most important chore is the measuring of all rooms and existing furnishings and the drawing of a floor plan. After measuring each wall and noting the exact location of windows and doors, protrusions, indentations and outlets, take graph paper and draw out the room to scale (e.g. 4 squares = 1 foot). Also using the graph paper cut out pieces to scale representing the existing furnishings. Move them about on the plan to determine their best locations; from this decide what other items are needed.

Furniture can be a major investment so it is imperative that mistakes be avoided. Before you buy make sure that the item being discussed, if a sofa or chair, can be recovered. If it is too difficult and costly to recover then it is a bad buy. Don’t be fooled by fast talking salesmen who could get you to buy an item simply because it’s on sale. There is usually a reason for an item being on sale. There could be something wrong with it. Find out what that reason is.

Stick to simplicity. The further you roam from simplicity and practicality, the greater the mistakes can be. It is better to invest a few extra dollars on quality than to buy cheap and faddish, only to find that the item will have to be replaced in a short length of time. Know what the item is made of, how to care for it, and how long it will last.

When Doing It Yourself, in-store designers can be of great assistance. Most of the major department stores and furniture stores have trained designers on staff to help the customer. So wherever you shop be sure to ask if they can provide that help.

Not mentioned in this original article is the importance of accessories. They are the personal touch to your home, those things you love to have around you for comfort, for memory, for fun. It is in fact the accessories which pull everything together, like the final strokes of a paintbrush on a painting. For example, a few items in red will really pick up a space, placed rhythmically around the room to lead the eye.

However, just one item that is of a different colour from everything else will become the only focal point. Repetition is critical to keep the balance.

Get A Little Help

Designers are not necessarily meant for just the elite. That’s a myth. They can provide a most invaluable service even for the do-it-yourself person.

When all the color schemes, wallcoverings, floorcoverings etc. have been roughly put together with samples, have a designer look at your plans. A designer, with his/her experience training and knowledge, can help determine whether the scheme will work. If not, what will. He/she can also tell you where the best places to buy particular items. This service can prevent the homeowner from making mistakes.
A designer can be hired on an hourly basis and that money spent on a designer could in the long run save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars. It could also be the deciding factor in whether or not the decorating can be a complete botch-up or a smashing success.

Hire A Designer

For those who would rather have someone else do all the work, a full-time designer can provide not only organization, mechanical know-how, and access to all major showrooms and distributors, but give a very personal service. Therefore, looking for a designer requires the same amount of care as looking for a family doctor. Most designers, if finding that a client relationship will be somewhat tense and strained, will recommend other designers whom the client will get along with.

A designer requires the client’s full trust, faith, approval and honesty - honesty with likes, dislikes and budget. If there is lots of money to spend, tell the designer. If there is a limitation, let the designer know. Some designers work to a low budget where one, possibly two rooms can be completed one at a time. Others will prefer not to get involved with a client unless the job calls for doing the whole house on an outlandish budget. Some designers provide a certain look, others design specifically for you.

Whatever the need, designers are available and can be found through friends, the yellow pages of the phone book, the internet, and through your provincial (or state) registered interior designers’ association.

A designer will request an interview in the home to meet the clients, and to go through the house or apartment. If the client has not yet moved the designer will request to see both the old and the future home. It is most important that all people concerned be at the meeting to prevent any misunderstandings.

It is ideal to prepare beforehand a list of likes and dislikes. The designer will also make notes on existing décor, any comments on lifestyle and will watch for the in-between-the-lines clues to the actual needs. The designer is trained to spot contradictions in taste and may end up giving the client what she wants instead of what she thinks she wants. A client may say to the designer that the new home is to be neutral and elegant, but through everything that client radiates in manner and dress, the designer finds that the client really wants the exact opposite - flare and brilliance.

The designer’s trained and gifted eye will have already seen the room redecorated. Once the schemes are worked out - colors, materials and furnishings approved - it becomes the responsibility of the designer to hire the contractors and keep the job well organized.

If the house is empty the job will be much easier - painters would not have to spend so much time cleaning up at the end of each day. If it is possible, everything from re-plastering to painting should be completed before moving in. If time does not allow this because of ownership dates and people moving into your present home, then try to arrange to stay elsewhere or go on a holiday. If none of this is possible, then be prepared for a little discomfort. But then, what is a little discomfort when you know that the end product will be your super new home.

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