Subtle Change big Difference

My husband just loves it when I buy new home décor, and I decided last Sunday to surprise him with new lamps in the bedroom. I thought he had settled into a post golf nap, so it was just the right time to make the surprise switch of lamps. I quietly moved the lamps from the garage to the bedroom where I began taking everything on the night stands apart so that I could clean before I replaced the lamps. No sooner had I started the cleaning process than my husband walked into the bedroom, around the new lamps sitting in the middle of the floor, grabbed his pillow from the bed, and walked out again without saying a word. Later that night, when he had to reach a bit higher to turn his lamp off, he asked me, “when did you get these new lamps?” I told him that he literally walked around the new lamp that afternoon before his nap. As I lay there trying to get to sleep my mind wondered to the world of decorating and the power of subtle change. Let’s peek into the master bedroom of a super stretched Gardenia model to see how subtle changes made a big visual difference toward making the space look pulled together and finished somewhere in the heart of The Villages.

  •  Flooring
The first thing the homeowners replaced was the flooring. The main body of the home has tile and the bedrooms had wall to wall carpet. The carpet was getting a bit worn and it was time to replace it. The homeowners chose engineered hardwood throughout the master bedroom and the other two bedrooms in the home. Engineered hardwood is made of thin layers of wood glued together with the wood grains running in the opposite direction to minimize expansion. The top layer is a thick veneer of hard wood like oak, maple or hickory. This floor is glued to a cement slab and is easy to maintain. The engineered hardwood can be installed next to the tile so that it is flush to the tile and smooth. There is no need for a threshold which minimizes a tripping hazard. The homeowners had a light tile, so we chose a lightish hardwood to blend with the tile. Blending the flooring creates a space that looks organic as if you chose it from the beginning of the home. Finally, I would not install tile in the bedroom because it can be echoey and cold. The wood makes a bedroom feel warm and it is much softer on the feet. Super-Hot Tip: Since luxury vinyl became a big thing and so many people are buying it there have been great discounts on engineered hardwood. This engineered wood was installed for less than luxury vinyl! As always, engineered hardwood is considered a much higher finish in a space. Always compare and get a quote on engineered hardwood too!

  •  Area Rugs
Now that the floor was installed the homeowners needed to add the softness back to the space. They chose a 9×12 area rug that had touches of all the colors in the space. This rug gives their feet a soft landing before bed but does not get in the way of the walk path to the bathroom and closets. The rug is one of the subtle changes that pulls the space together visually because it does have touches of all the colors in the space.

  •  Room Addition
This house came with a room addition off the master bedroom and an elongated closet that seems to go on for a mile! This addition makes the master bedroom amazing! The additional room in the before picture can be seen through two open barn doors. The largest wall in the space that can be seen through the doors was painted a bright coral. The TV and a very dark buffet could be seen against the largest wall as you enter the bedroom making a jarring dark statement. The homeowner was seeking to have things blend so we had board and batten applied to the large focal wall and then the entire thing was painted white. We moved the buffet to the wall opposite the window and moved the beautiful, printed sofa against the white wall so that the sofa could provide the pop of color rather than the wall paint. The sofa with artwork above it and side tables with beautiful lamps provided an inviting focal point that creates a desire to see more. The room becomes revealed as you move into the space and beyond the doors is a great relaxing room or computer station tucked away at the back of the house. We added a natural seagrass rug with touches of blue to soften the space and visually connect it to the bedroom rug. A tall permanent palm tree softens that back corner of the room creating interest and a touch of nature.

  •  Larger nightstands
The bedroom is larger than normal since it is so stretched and the small nightstands in the before picture did not look to scale in the space. The homeowner purchased two large Suzzane Kassler nightstands made of rattan and bamboo and they look amazing on each side of the bed. I love the honey color of the nightstands because it blends with the other furniture, but it is different. These nightstands add the same natural texture to the bedroom area that the seagrass rug added to the room addition.

  •  Bedding
The homeowner kept all the original bedding, but we added a white linen bedspread as the bottom bedspread. This white bedspread allowed the blue bedding to pop so much more! The original blue bedspread was folded up at the end of the bed to act as a bed scarf of color. The bed was finished with a few pops of coral orange pillows.

  •  Rhythm
Rhythm in design is the note of coral orange(the accent color) being dispersed throughout the space to move the eye. As we enter the space we see a throw on the back of the chair in orange. The eye then moves beyond the doors to see the pop of orange in the sofa. Finally, the eye moves to the bed where again we see a pop of orange pillows and bits of orange in the rug.
Call Ruth your full service decorator at: 352-804-2056
or Contact Us

Before and After Pics Below