Style & Decor: Making Your House a Home with Dezign Diva and WIHCON!
By SUZZANNE COUSINS
Anyone can leave work and go to a house, but when you go to your home, there is no better feeling. Making any living space your home involves making your abode your sanctuary, by adding personal touches and making it your own. Karen Booker, the DeZign Diva, gives us some tips on how you can do just that:
Striking a balance
Cohesion and balance are crucial for making a house feel like a home. For example, for a master suite, consider finding the balance between yin and yang, making the room not too feminine but not too masculine.
How can you do this? Use neutral tones in paints, furnishings, window treatments, bedding and accessories, with pops of colour to strike the right balance and to make your master bedroom, your retreat.
Colour, Texture and Pattern
After buying a cookie-cutter style house, it is vital that you personalise the interior so that your home will be different from other homes on the block. When thinking of accessorising your home, consider these three factors, colour, texture and pattern.
Booker suggests having an accent wall in your living room, artwork on an empty wall, focal pieces on side tables and desks, plush rugs under your feet or even mixing patterns with solid colours when choosing cushions and window treatments, to give your space life and your personal touch.
Storage and Functionality
A space that has no storage lends itself to being cluttered and lacking character. The Dezign Diva says storage is essential as it makes your space more functional. Chic cupboards, stylish storage bins or carefully crafted baskets can be excellent vessels for holding items that would better be locked away or hidden.
Storage also makes it easier to keep your home tidy and clutter free, which will be even better for families with small children or house pets.
DIY on a dime
Of course, the do-it-yourself ship has most certainly docked on Jamaican soil, so back out your scissors, glue guns and high school home economics skills to make your house your home. Booker gives some inexpensive tips to add dimension and character to your home, like using wall stencils to add patterns on walls instead of buying mosaic or decorative tiles.
She also suggests using painters tape to make patterns, such as stripes and other styles on walls to give them a dramatic effect by adding another colour of paint. Other D-I-Y projects include making headboards for bedrooms, cushions from old clothes or even making a stylish herb garden in your kitchen, to make your space unique to you.
Here are three home decor hacks to consider as well:
• Paint smaller rooms in softer, lighter colours to help make the room feel larger.
• Use decorative mirrors to add instant light and dimension to your living space.
• Mix old and new, expensive and inexpensive items for diversity and charm in any room.
“Don’t lock yourself in…Don’t limit yourself…There are no rules…Go wild! It’s your space,” are only a few of the many tips that Booker, the DeZign Diva gives. So, listen to the master, follow her advice and make your house, your home.
