Any flat surface is a great area to seasonally dress. Here are a few tips on making the vignette look fabulous:

• Room's purpose and style - Fancy in the fancy areas, casual in the casual areas.
• Room's function - A large arrangement on a family room cocktail table isn't going to work if you're room's function is TV viewing...
• Scale and Proportion - Whatever the area, make sure that the "stuff" is in scale to the surface or area your putting it.  For example, a large mantle needs large accessories.
• Create highs and lows - Use books, cake stands, easels, hurricanes, apothecary's to create highs and lows in your display.
• Group collections in odd numbers.
• Try to break your symmetry - Don't be matchy matchy. 
• Add something unexpected in the mix - Create a conversation.
• Don't get lazy - Hang what needs to be hung, use a measuring tape when needed, take the extra step...
• Bang for the Buck - One spectacular pieces, with knock-offs around it - makes the knockoffs spectacular too.
• Don't go over board - Too much of a good thing, isn't good...

7:00 am. Before

Sometimes it takes a fresh set of eyes, some creative juices and a bit of expertise to make things come together. My client on Saturday, moved in over a year ago - A sofa here, a tread mill there, a few thing hung, but she struggled with placement and making the home her own. Lovely pieces, family heirlooms (such as the Armoire right,) great accessories, treasured photos, just not in the right spots.

10am. After!

Although her room is long, the space is narrow.  We established three living areas in one space.

1. We swapped the large sofa for a love seat, allowing for a dining area to emerge and banished the treadmill as well.. The buffet was repositioned to it's rightful home from the entry area, creating not only a sense of a dining room - but a perfect platform for collections and a serving area.
2. The TV spot was recreated by a simple tweak in furniture positioning.

Since that room is long and narrow, keeping big pieces on the long plane makes for visual volume in the room. Too, take advantage of extra space such as the bay window to steal a bit of floor space, by sliding that over sized chair into the space.

                                                        Ingredients:


Understand your client’s needs, appreciate their lifestyle, value their taste – Core ingredients to having satisfied clients.


Directions:

• Help choose a color palette that enhances the home’s bones, embraces what they already have, and creates the style & mood they’ll love to come home to.
• Create a floor plan that honors the room’s function, carefully considering traffic patterns, activities and focal points.
• Offer creative and cost effective solutions to re-invent, re-purpose or relocate difficult, tired or hidden gems.
• Don’t conceal your favorite hidden shopping haunts; instead, invite them to take hand on a shopping expedition or explain a room-by-room shopping wish list to complete.
• Be full service and express your textile talents with a full understanding of how to dress a space with fabrics and window wardrobes.
• Complete the home with detailed accessorizing and styling expertise to help evoke conversation, celebrate the 5 senses, stir interest and celebrate the room’s personality.

Our style is your style, our talent is to make your home lovely for you! An Interior Stylist is an expert in fully understanding and defining what the homeowner wants. Although totally in-tune to the current color and trends - An Interior Stylist is there to meld your personal taste with her creativity and expertise into a home of your dreams.  http://www.interiorstylist.org/  http://www.interiorstylistprogram.com/