Have you ever wondered how the world’s top designers consistently create stunning spaces that leave us in awe? In this blog post, we are excited to reveal the secret design tips that our top designers follow religiously. These design gurus, including the likes of Joanna Gaines, Ken Fauk, Amber Lewis, Colin King, Jesse Carrier, and Mara Miller, have generously shared their insider knowledge and expertise. Get ready to be inspired and learn the secrets that make their designs truly extraordinary.
Amber Lewis
Design Aesthetics should be Traditional, Classic & Beautiful
A Mixture of Gorgeous Fixtures and Different Types of Lighting
Amber Lewis, a leading US designer, and author of New York Times Best Seller, Made for Style, loves gorgeous light fixtures along with different types of lighting. She mixes things up with table lamps, so the light isn’t always coming from a fixed source overhead. When it’s time for a change, swapping out lighting is an easy switch that can have a massive impact on how a space feels.
Ken Fulk
Start with Modern Furniture & Fixtures
Ken Fulk, designer extraordinaire, is the author of “Live Beautifully“. Fulk’s expertise lies in seamlessly blending modern and vintage elements, making him highly sought-after as an interior designer. . However, when it comes to creating a curated space, it is advisable to start with modern pieces. By carefully selecting the chairs, sofas, or tables that suit your living room or master suite, you can establish a perfect foundation to build upon. Introducing contemporary elements becomes more challenging if you begin with vintage furnishings.
Bring in Whimsical, Rustic, & Vintage Artifacts
After successfully selecting your modern furniture, the next crucial step is to infuse the space with a much-needed sense of character. By incorporating whimsical pieces, rustic wooden cabinets, or vintage artifacts, you can effortlessly harmonize and enhance the contemporary atmosphere of any room.
Joanna Gaines:
Commence the Design Process with Pristine White Walls
Joanna Gaines is the author of Homebody: A Guide to Creating Spaces You Never Want to Leave. Gaines advises commencing the design process with pristine white walls and staying with the basics. According to Gaines, white walls serve as a neutral and immaculate base that allows for greater flexibility in decorating, unlike other colors. This grants individuals the freedom to unleash their creativity when it comes to choosing decor. With a plethora of white, cream, and gray shades available, the only task left is to determine the perfect one for your space.
Houseplants are a Must
Houseplants are essential if you aspire to decorate your home in the style of Joanna Gaines. In every renovation, she undertakes on “Fixer Upper,” greenery is abundant, with no room left untouched. Gaines goes as far as incorporating plants into her bathroom decor. She showcases her potted plants on mantels, tables, benches, and even on the floor near windows or in corners.
Colin King
Bestselling Author of “Arranging Things“, New York-based design stylist Colin King shares his wisdom and insights for cultivating beauty in our everyday surroundings—composing objects into simple, sophisticated vignettes that enrich our homes and our lives.
Layer a Room
Colin King appreciates the use of negative space as it enhances the impact of selected objects. This allows the eye to rest and navigate through the space, avoiding overwhelm and confusion. He values the art of editing objects, not necessarily eliminating them. By storing items away and reintroducing them later, he discovers new connections between objects and periodically refreshes his room with simplicity. He understands that it is unnecessary to fill every corner and display all possessions simultaneously.
Anchor Objects will Ground any Surface
A bowl, a branch, and a book can make any surface look beautiful. Those are Colin King’s three B’s. Books are the easiest way to make the room feel lived in. They add that human element that can be reflective of the occupant, but they’re also great risers or pedestals. It’s nice to be able to create beautiful topography on a table with books.
Jesse Carrier and Mara Miller
Jesse Carrier and Mara Miller have written Carrier and Company – Positively Chic Interiors. As the principals of Carrier and Company Interiors, they create rooms that are a confident mix of timeless and contemporary design—familiar and fresh at once. The Carriers connect people with place and combine their tailored, carefully edited approach with the clients’ collections, tastes, and personalities, creating exquisitely detailed yet comfortable and personalized spaces.
Connect People with Their Space
Carrier and Company make it their mission to connect people with place by developing interiors as personal reflections of their occupants. One way to describe their process is like method acting. They try to truly understand them, decipher what’s important to them, and learn what makes them feel good. Sometimes it’s about blending the disparate agendas of a couple. If, say, one is a modernist and the other is a clutter bug, they aim at making a hybrid space.
Have a Space for Everything
A home should be both a source of pride and a haven of comfort. It should provide designated spaces for essential activities such as storing keys, relaxing after a long day by taking off boots and entertaining guests with refreshments. The aesthetic appeal of the items within the home is secondary to their practicality and ease of use. Jesse and Mara’s spaces aren’t cluttered; they have clarity and a livable quality about them.
I hope you enjoyed this posting, Secret Design Tips that 6 of our Top Designers Follow Religiously. We’d love to hear your comments so if you have suggestions, like the post, or just want to say hi, the comment box is on the bottom of this page. Also, I’ve placed a few Pinterest Pins below. Please feel free to share them with your Pinterest Friends.
Ashley Montgomery
Ashley’s spaces have an old-world feel in an entirely reimagined way, with a careful focus on the textural, tonal, and timeworn. What’s unique about them, we think, is that despite the grandeur of some of these spaces, there is something about them that makes them feel like home.
Lighten up a Room with Woven Cane
The caned cabinet fronts in this mudroom design by Ashley Montgomery serve both functional and decorative purposes. The caning “gives airflow” to cabinets holding farm clothes, farm boots, hats, gloves, and more. Their natural color complements the green woodwork in this room. High-traffic areas can feel chaotic, but consider the thoughtful details of caning.
Kelly Wearstler
Play with balance and symmetry
Kelly Wearstler, author of Evocative Style, likes to play with balance and symmetry. If it’s your first time furnishing a new space or new apartment, a great way to start is by planning out the room’s balance and symmetry—how well the visual weight of the elements of the room is distributed and repeated. For instance, Kelly’s living room is balanced with a symmetrical pair of fourteen-foot couches. “But the balance and symmetry doesn’t have to mean that all the pieces have to be the exact same weight,” Kelly explains. She also added asymmetry into the living room to introduce visual interest and tension: for example, one coffee table in the room is square, while the other is rectangular. “They have a different voice,” Kelly explains. “Opposites attract.”
Beata Heuman
Embrace the Sentimental and Add Variation to your Home
Speaking on a Homes & Gardens podcast, Beata Heuman speaks of the joy she feels in her carefully crafted yet intimately charismatic home. The designer offered three key tips for creating a dreamlike haven where reality becomes somewhat surreal and undeniably fantastical, and young and old can exhibit remnants of their past.
‘We spend a lot of time in our home, so it’s important to create a variation around us,’ Beata shares. The designer then offered ways to accentuate our interiors through little luxuries such as candles, floral arrangements, and art that speaks to us.
Beata concluded her rules by encouraging us to elevate our decor by emphasizing our home’s assets and showcasing the best of our decor by adding variation in every room.
I hope you enjoyed this posting, 12 Secret Design Tips that Our Top Designers Follow Religiously. We’d love to hear your comments so if you have suggestions, like the post, or just want to say hi, the comment box is on the bottom of this page. Also, I’ve placed a few Pinterest Pins below. Please feel free to share them with your Pinterest Friends.
“Till next time …. Joy
Resources:
Homes & Gardens / House Beautiful / Coveteur / Pinterest
