Kates Home Staging Interior Design Blog for Rockland County NY & Bergen County NJ

Well, according to www.decoratorsecrets.com, the color for 2010 is YELLOW.  Yellow is the color that makes us think of warm sunshine and bright happy spring days.  Yellow is a primary color, one of three primary colors and when mixed the primary colors will make up the basis for the other colors in the spectrum.

Light lavender is another color being recommended for bedrooms.  Since purple is often associated with royalty this may be a "trick" to try and help all of us in this slow economy feel better when we go to sleep in our purple bedroom.

Gray has made it on the list again. I am pretty sure, I saw this mentioned last year somewhere also as a new neutral color to try and replace the beige color that has been around forever.  Most people still prefer beige, it tends to blend better with wood furniture and greenery.

Another one of my favorite sites for color advice is MyPerfectColor.com and this site reports Benjamin Moore HC-35 Powell Buff as the top selling paint.

  This color certainly looks like a beige to me!

Going with the latest color trend is never really the best advice when you are staging a home.  Since most home owners paint their walls every five to ten years (my opinion), you need to make sure when you suggest a wall paint color that your client can live with this color for the next 5 years.

Before you pick a wall paint color, there are a few thing to consider:

1.)  The size of the room.  In a smaller room, you will want to go with a lighter wall color to make the wall appear to recede. 

2.)  The amount of natural light in the room.  Sunlight is reflective, so a room with six very large windows may need a paint color that is a little darker.

3.)  The ceiling.  I like to paint ceilings a lighter shade of paint as the walls as long as the room is large enough to support an added design element such as this.

4.)  The style of the furniture in the room you are painting.  The wall paint color needs to complement your decor.

5.)  The adjoining rooms.  The wall paint color needs to also complement the paint in the adjoining room, this is how you create a well put together home.

6.)  The taste of your home owner - if this is an interior design job.  If your home owner is planning on living in this home for the next 10 years, she/he can basically paint the walls any color they want to.  Remember, an interior design job is completely different that a staging job and should be based on the home owner's unique taste's.

When in doubt of the color you want to select, you should paint color boards and look at them during different times of the day and in different lights.  I recommend NEVER to paint directly on a client's wall, why leave a mess on a client's wall when you can use a paint board.  You can order small boards on the MyPerfectColor website, and use blue painters tape to secure it to the wall or ceiling.

I do not see beige going anywhere in the home staging world, it is such a nice neutral that is a better option than a stark white wall. 

What are your thoughts?

-Kate

Kate's Home Staging and Redesign now sells semi-custom window coverings at discount prices. Our window coverings include roman shades, Levolor and Dynasty blinds, faux wood blinds, bamboo blinds, woven wood blinds, cornices, valances, sheers, and drapes. Our roman shades can be ordered in 100% pure silk, linen, cotton, or designer fabric. We also offer Benjamin Moore color consultations and test color boards, interior decorating, home staging, and redesign. Please visit http://www.kateshomestaging.com for more info or call 845-538-3623. All window covering appointments include a free 30 minute design consultation for the same room.  We serve Passaic County and Bergen County of New Jersey.  We are an affiliate member of the Passaic County of Realtors.

The Orange County Chamber of Commerce is hosting a Casino Royale Night on Friday, September 25th from 6 - 10 pm.  There will be a dinner buffet, gambling, networking, and prize raffles at 9:30 PM. 

This is a local event you do not want to miss.

The Casino Night is going to be heald at Homewood Suites by Hilton at 180 Brewing Road in New Windsor.

Kate's Home Staging and Redesign will be raffling off a Free Home Redesign as the Third Place Prize.  This lucky winner will get a full home interior redesign consultation evaluation which includes a color consultation, furniture re-arrangement, room function assessment, lighting assessment, and any other needs the client requires.  Kate's Home Staging and Redesign also provides organizational services and storage solutions. We offer substantial vendor discounts (over 40% off of retail) on flooring, carpet, lighting, mirrors, and home accessories.

I look forward to meeting this lucky winner and I hope to help them fall back in love with their home.

The first thing you will notice as you turn down my suburban street is my family's 15 foot flagpole mounted in our front yard with the American flag flowing in the wind.  Black mulch is piled around the bottom of the pole in a three foot diameter with several solar lights shining up on the flag's fabric.  Some Sunday afternoons, not being able to help ourselves we'll sit on our covered front porch and watch the cars drive by and see almost every person look at least twice at those stars and stripes.

Having a mostly white house with blue trim around each window, I thought the flag was going to be a great addition to an area of the yard that was pretty much neglected. Since my husband offered to put it up a few weekends ago, who am I to argue?  I was not really prepared for the reaction we have received from the majority of our neighbors.  Our flagpole has seemed to bring about a spirit of unity among us on the block, and we all seem a bit friendlier to one another over the past two weeks.

A second reason we considered installing the flagpole, was all my recent reading about Feng Shui and the placement of object on your property.  Apparently, according to one of the my Feng Shui books a flagpole with the light pointed up can result in a feeling of completeness and fullness. I have to admit; at this point I really am convinced that our flagpole has made a positive change to our property and to how our neighbors interact with us.

My living room is decorated with mirrors outlined with metal accents, hard wood floors, suede couches, marble tables, paintings, wood blinds, palm trees, floor lamp, table tamps, and some family pictures.  I made the addition of adding an accent color in this room by adding red accent pillows and red chenille throws for the chairs and couches. I also added a red vase on one of the marble tables to help balance out this new accent color.  After I added this new red color, we all find the living room more enjoyable and condusive to entertaining.  My Feng Shui books pointed out that I was missing the Fire element in my living room, so by adding the color red through the use of my accent color all 5 Feng Shui elements (Fire, Metal, Wood, Earth, Water) are now represented.  When we look out my living room window, we see the 15 foot  flagpole that started it all.

We also have a missing corner on our home, so I am planning on trying some Feng Shui remedies for this corner too.  I discovered this missing corner of my home by using a Feng Shui Bagua Map and simply placing it over my home's floor plans (aligning the map with my front door). According to Feng Shui, energy or chi flows more smoothly and effectively when everything is in balance and alignment.  I figure if I take my time and keep reading, things will only get better.

And if I get stuck, I will email Carole Provenzale (ActiveRain's Feng Shui Expert) for more advice!