Here is some more information you should know about setting up your room and your space so you have confidence that it looks professionally done. What design elements have you overlooked? What extras could you add to make sure the look is complete? Let us help you at Tri City Furniture make your space exactly what you want!
Last week, we talked about the space we were going to redo, understanding the feel, focal points and the scaled drawing. These are the first steps that are very important!
Yes, remember that furniture pieces have a vast amount of variables in length, depth as well as firmnesses….so to make sure things will fit, if we know the scale, it makes the process much easier. Even sofa or chair arm styles can add 10 to 20 inches more to a piece. You do not get more sitting space with these larger arms, just larger arms. Be careful how you use your space.
We have done floor plans to see the different options that will work best! We want them to work for….
Number of people using the room
Consider durability with kids and pets
Visual look or easy Maintenance
There are several things to determine before we actually look at pieces!
Clients picked the first layout shown with the sectional on the wall. They know they could move the sectional if needed to placed by the door, but they liked that there was a lot of open space by the doorway for movement, toys and the pets and the Christmas tree during that season.
They like that when you walked into the home, you saw a sitting area for "family time" vs seeing the back of the furniture. The sofa bar console idea works great for this home, because that brings 3 more seats into the room. The family is also talking about adding a small bar area to the kitchen for more seating or study space. The idea of being more inline with the living room during food prep time entices them to do this small remolding job.
Now that we know our layout and our scale of furniture. It is time to actually pick the pieces. Think again about who is using the home. Does Grandma live with you? Does she need the chair to be a recliner? If it was a swivel, could someone possibly fall? Are the kids 18year old football players? What quality do you need?
Quality for a hardly used room would be much different from a room where everyone hangs out, watches tv, eats and the furry pets, big and small are right there with you on the FURniture. We work with you to help you understand the inside of the furniture. What your family will need for structure. Do not assume that all furniture is made the same or that it is made how your parent's or your grandparen't furniture was made. Also think how your grandparent's used there sofa and how you use yours. Probably the two lifestyles look very different!
Once we know the ‘choice ‘ pieces, we finally get to look at fabrics. Again, who and how they are used is so important here! ( I want to mention we still have not looked at flooring or paint!)
Solid style fabrics are used mostly today with import companies, because they are cheaper to produce. Sometimes choosing a specific plain fabric can be difficult…maybe starting with a print for a pillow, or an accent chair fabric will help us to see a color palette which meets our needs and vision! Then, pull your plain colors out of that print! This shouldn't be too hard. It should actually be fun! You already have a vision of what you like- an image of something you have seen before that you love. We can help show you how to layer prints on the chair, the pillows, the artwork and the rugs. Complementing fabrics, colors, shapes, designs and textures within the space is what builds your design. Again, we will help! Find the one piece you love and we will show you different looks to build on top of that first idea.
Once fabrics are determined, the process is pretty easy to complete!
But what about the flooring, paint, tables, lamps, art and accessories?
Yes, you need all of this to complete the look. You do. Do not skip the lamps or the artwork over the sofa or everyone will know that it was not professionally done.
Let's start with the paint....So many people love to select paint before they have done anything else. I get it. It is instant change. Same goes for flooring. Maybe you saw it on HGTV and now you want it done.
BUT doing it in the correct design order allows us to make these choices easier, because we know we need what it is matching! If you do it first, you can get into colors that are not found in furniture….plus knowing which color is hard to determine! Try picking a perfect beige or grey from 100,000 tones!
Once, the large pieces are done, don’t forget the smaller pieces, such as wall art, tables, lamps, and accessories! These are the things that bring it all together! Again, allow a professional help you hang your art and pick the lamps and pieces you need within the space to make the statement you actually want!