Our 5 Essential Elements for Designing Laidback Luxury Interiors
At Design to Elevate, we believe your home should be comfortable, inviting and timeless, as well as a place that reflects your personal style. And most importantly, your home should function for how you and your family live your everyday lives!
We approach each project with these 5 Essential Design Elements...
Comfort
Quality
Function
Simplicity
Timeless Style
1. Design for Comfort
Your home should bring you comfort, both mentally and physically. Comfort is essential to feeling calm and relaxed. Creating spaces that support relaxation and rejuvenation can actually improve your health and reduce stress levels!
Selecting furniture pieces that are both comfortable and stylish will encourage you to spend more time in that space. When choosing furnishings for your home, you must first consider who will be using the space, how you want to feel in the space, and which activities will be taking place. Think about which types of seating will work best for those activities and don't forget the practical pieces, such as an accent table to place a drink or an ottoman to rest your feet.
Creating a balance of both comfort and style is the key to designing Laidback Luxury Interiors.
Studio McGee
2. Invest in Quality
Investing in quality materials that withstand the test of time, will absolutely save you money in the long run. Durable materials such as: wood, stone, quartz, porcelain and metal will add lasting value to your home. And the best part is, you won't have to remodel every few years!
Well-made, durable furniture with stain resistant fabrics will hold up to the wear and tear of our busy lives...(i.e., kids and pets). This means you don't have to wait until your kids are grown to enjoy your home! Purchase pieces that are durable, as well as chic. Don’t waste your money on throw away pieces, that will only look good for a short time before wearing out.
However, high quality does not always have to mean high-end. Take inventory of which items will get the most use and invest in those pieces. At Design to Elevate we specialize in mixing high and low, to achieve a high-quality design, within a reasonable budget. We believe that everyone deserves to have their version of luxury living!
3. Focus on Function
Even more important than selecting quality pieces and beautiful materials, your space must function! It doesn’t matter how beautiful your home looks if it doesn’t support the way you and your family live.
Most importantly, every room in your home should have a purpose. Consider who will be using the space, and what daily routines will take place. Arrange the furniture to support the functions of each room. Think about how you enter, exit and move through the space. Allow clear pathways so you can easily flow from room to room. Choose furniture that fits the scale of the room and doesn't overcrowd it.
For a well-functioning home, it is essential to have adequate storage, open floor space and table surfaces to support the activities and daily routines that take place in each room. Incorporating elements such as built-in storage to keep things organized, and to contain the clutter behind closed doors is important to help calm the chaos in our busy lives.
4. There is Beauty in Simplicity
Making educated, intentional choices about what we purchase for our homes, can reduce clutter, and the need for excess. Keeping simplicity in mind, means less to clean and put away. (I don’t know about you, but I am not a fan of cleaning!) The key to this rule is finding a balance between too much and not enough. Decorating your home with too little can feel cold and uninviting. Having too much furniture or decor can feel cluttered and chaotic. The right amount of 'stuff' can be different for everyone.
I suggest looking around your space and thinking about which pieces have purpose or meaning. Which pieces can you not live without, and which items are unnecessary. How often are they being used? Does everything have a purpose and a place? Does the room make you feel calm or agitated? Think about giving your eye a break so you can enjoy the things you love the most in the space.
5. Create Timeless Style
By selecting pieces that are timeless, not trendy, we eliminate the need to constantly replace furnishings and re-decorate every few years. Start with a neutral base palette: whites, creams, beiges, browns and add accents of caramel or black to create contrast. If you want a pop of color, choose one accent color and use it in very small amounts throughout your home, for a cohesive look. Think about the pieces you don't mind replacing or repurposing over the next few years and make those your colorful choices.
Be sure to include plants, branches and flowers, which are essential elements to creating a timeless look - and can even be used in place of an accent color. Think of your home as a natural landscape!
Add interest without using color, by adding texture. Try combining a variety of natural materials, such as: wood, stone, clay, ceramic, sea grass, jute, wool, linen. Natural materials are not only timeless, but they also connect us with the outdoors. And nature never goes out of style!
Each of these 5 elements plays a vital role in creating a home that will serve you and your lifestyle! By living with less and making fewer, finer choices, we create spaces that are sustainable, not disposable – for a result that is purposeful and lasting!
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To Your Dreams,
Reanna
