Oman Modern Contemporary villa 3D Front Elevation 2015

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Beautiful Modern Contemporary House Elevation 2015

1 Kanal 50' X 90' Beautiful Modern Contemporary House Elevation 2015

Homestaging Wall Art: It's Day 31!

A month doesn’t seem like a long time. But it is when you commit to doing something every one of those days, whether you want to or not.

I never ran a marathon, I’ve never been called an overachieving type A, and I’m about as competitive as a jellyfish, so pushing myself to create a new blog post for 31 consecutive days didn’t come naturally.

In one way I enjoyed the test to come up with fresh content under pressure. I was almost glad that the self-imposed deadlines came at me fast and furious.

  

But I missed the satisfaction that I was posting the best tutorials, photos and writing that I could – if only I had more time.

I’m Hanging It Up

I learned a lot by researching, dreaming, experimenting and writing about wall art for homestaging in the past month.

I hope you’ve learned along with me. I hope you’ve picked up some tips about decorating your walls.

Whether you are staging your own home, staging other people’s homes, or just having fun with art, I like to think I helped.  

Everyone needs a creative outlet. Blogging is mine. Maybe you’ll find a new creative outlet or art form in the tutorials I’ve posted.

Here’s my summary of what an effective home stager should know when choosing wall art.

• Art for staging should never be offensive or controversial
• Big is best.
• There are economical and easy ways to create your own art.
• A variety of media are suitable for staging art -- paintings, textiles, collages, photos and combinations of these forms.
• Framing and matting can make all the difference.

As your high school teacher might have said, “If you forget everything else I’ve said this semester, remember those points.”

Be sure to download my $5 eBooks for home staging. You’ll find more ways to increase the value of your home.

Photography Series | Part 2, DIY Custom backdrops for under $10

This is my go-to trick for 99% of my styling - I buy wood boards from Home Depot and buy sample pots of paint. Easy, inexpensive, and the results are crazy good.

The sample pots at Home Depot are $5.00 and a board is also $5.00 - so for $10, I'm looking at a great backdrop for whatever I'm shooting. While waiting for the paint, I also tend to stock up on great colour chips, for you never know when you need that perfect shade for a project. And I hate picking colours in a store, so if you have a great collection of paint chips at home, you're saving yourself a step.

When you have your paint colour picked, just paint a board and, you're good to go.

Results in...

 Here are some more examples of boards that I've painted in custom colours....

The photo below is shot in the kitchen, and that is indeed my wall colour, however instead of my wood kitchen table, I placed a white board on the bottom.

Although all of the above look different they were all shot in the same spot.  Crazy right? Work space is small, but man oh man, you can get great shots with the right light and, the right backdrop.

The other thing you can do is paint things like kraft paper. It gives you a little more texture.... like one of my favourite shots below from this post and this post.  A little paint goes a long way.

Rugs, Wreaths, and Quilts

I've posted plenty about paintings, but often a home stager's best friend isn't what you see framed on the walls of a traditional museum or gallery.

It's the quirky "finds" that get pressed into service as wall art.

Need examples?

How about an area rug like the one on the right?

Can you believe that all it took to fasten it to the wall were three dressmakers pins along the top edge, pins that are all but invisible. And they leave almost invisible pin holes in the wall.

The floppy fringe on the top of this rug doesn't bother me, but you could tuck it behind a rug as an alternative. 

Another common textile used for wall decor is the quilt.

I've written in my home staging eBook that the wrong kind of quilts, and you know the grandma kind I mean -- as beautiful as they might be -- can age a home.

But today's artsy quilts are a different story. They can make your home stand out in buyers' minds. Confused about how to hang them? Don't be. Just don't hang them from rings or tabs, but from a rod that distributes the weight of all that fabric. This is the way to go with rugs, tapestries, weavings and other textiles.

You can easily hand stitch (or glue if the piece is not precious) a casing, a simple strip of strong fabric, to the top back of your hanging, and insert a rod that fastens to the wall.

Another method is to attach a strip of hook and loop tape to the top edge, and the other strip to a wood strip firmly mounted on the wall.

Or Command strips from 3-M might be your choice for getting textiles on your walls. They come in all shapes and strengths, so I know you'll find one kind that's right for what you're hanging. 

For more delicate textiles like scarves, lace and antique fabrics, you can attach these to a base fabric like linen or upholstery weight fabric to stabilize them. Mount this backer fabric on a stretched canvas, foamcore board, or even under framed glass.

Third Dimension

Wall hangings that have more body to them than flat art will add an interesting layer to your staged spaces.

The most common of these is The Wreath. Pinterest overflows with ideas for wreaths!

My favorites are the seasonal ones.

Just make sure that your Halloween wreath gets replaced before Christmas. There's no reason your potential  home buyers need to know how long your unoccupied home has been on the market and an updated seasonal wreath tells people that you still love your home.

Check that your wreath is an asset to the room, something that adds texture and quality, and that it ties into the colors you've chosen for staging.

Most of the wreaths on my Pinterest board for Wreaths are more suitable for exterior decor, but not all. My square wreath of pine cones looks super indoors.

If you need ideas for current fabric wall hangings, use search terms like "Quilts as Wall Art" on Pinterest, and get ready for some treats.

More Options

Here are other possibilities for filling up blank walls with art other than traditional paintings, whether your home is for sale or forever.

• Clothing, like saris and silk robes
• Hand dyed masterpieces of your own like tie-dyed work
• Batiks and ikat patterns from fabric samples
• Machine-stitched free-form embroidery
• Flags (as long as they do not announce a preference for a certain sports teams or impassioned nationalism for a foreign nation)
• New upholstery or drapery fabric  

Have fun with all the possibilities to fill your walls with subtle pattern, color and texture. With the right wall decor, buyers are bound to be impressed with the specialness of your home. Yours be the one house on the tour they remember. 

police officer no. 4

Blue Cardigan / Police Hat / Tickets (Free Download)  / Ticket Alternative / Police Badge /
  Police Whistle / Aviators (dollar store) / Play Handcuffs 

Oscar has never really been one to dress up for Halloween so I've always resisted investing too much time and money in a particular costume, for fear that (a) come Halloween he won't wear it and (b) he'll decide last minute on something else. This year, as an example - he's told his class he is going to be A Ghost, The Easter Bunny, A Marshmallow, and well, I'm sure a ton of other things. I took him to Party City and they had a wall of pictures of costumes, which I think helped him visualize what he wanted and he picked out the Police Office costume. 

Obviously, as luck would have it - when you're picking a costume the week before Halloween, the police officer costume was sold out. So we did a little improvising and in the end I'm happier with our makeshift costume because it's less stress on him to "dress up". I picked up individual pieces to put together his costume, but the part that makes it ridiculously fun for him - is the act of handing out tickets to people. (He told me he's giving me a ticket because I was brushing my teeth while driving. I have never, ever brushed my teeth while driving so I'm not sure where that came from, but he deemed it unsafe, and, I tend to agree)

I made him up his own note pad of tickets to rip off tickets to hand out to people - which for him, is what he's most excited about. You can either buy a roll of tickets from the dollar store or, print off some of the ones I designed. 

He already has a blue cardigan but you can find one at Old Navy / The Gap and use it after Halloween too. The only thing I'm debating are the handcuffs I bought. I have images of me being handcuffed to the couch and my child running free. So, yeah, those may go back.

Anyhow, so simple, but I thought as other Moms and Dads may be freaking out the days leading up to Halloween, this costume may be easy to put together by finding each item at your local party store.

xo Linds

Madame Figaro's top 4 design shops online - including mine!

Last week my shop appeared in the top 4 design shops online in French magazine Madame Figaro. I'm extremely honored and very happy, thank you so much!

La semaine dernière, ma boutique figurait dans le top 4 des boutiques déco en ligne chez Madame Figaro. Je suis extrêmement honorée et absolument ravie, un très grand merci!

Copie écran Madame Figaro

When to Go Frameless

The edge of the art canvas is usually framed.

At least, it used to be. But now, I'm seeing more and more unframed art. 

And I'm not talking about art students who don't have the cash to frame what they've painted.

I'm taking about giant canvases hung over drop-dead-gorgeous stone fireplaces in second homes featured in Traditional Home Magazine. So it's not about frugality or speed. 

It's about style. And I rather fancy it. It's a contemporary look that fits into almost any decor style.

The frameless look certainly makes DIY decorating a bit easier. Happily, it updates a home that looks stuck in an earlier era.

Imagine the room on the left, and how old school and it would look with a old fashioned frame surrounding that painting of loopy circles.

But the edge of an unframed painting still has to look finished. It should be clean and free of paint drips and stains.

If you stretch a piece of decorative fabric that you've purchased around wooden stretchers, then the design will wrap around the stretchers. But generally, a painting ends at the edge of the front surface. A painting that wraps around the stretchers is often a painting was printed in a factory and then stapled onto stretchers. Not exactly one-of-a kind art.
    

Buying your canvas stretched and ready to go is the simple solution if you want to do your own artwork for staging, but you can't prop up or hang a piece of unframed thin-style canvas board. Your canvas has to have that boxed edge that stretchers provide.

There is an answer to the question, when is it a good idea to skip the frame? The answer is, "Almost anytime!" Most house styles can support this kind of look. It's casual and creates an approachable atmosphere.

Are you working on a redesign of your rooms? Don't leave here without downloading my furniture arranging eBook!

Blog tour Amsterdam - Great sound from Libratone

I listen to music all the time, especially when working. The problem is to find a sound system that provides you with perfect sound AND great design AND total freedom to listen to music anywhere you want. When we held our blog tour dinner party in Amsterdam lately, I discovered the brand Libratone and their range of speakers which happen to correspond to all this criteria. Their 360 Scandinavian™ range uses the latest wireless technology for a greater listening experience, combined with a pure Scandinavian design.

Moi j'écoute de la musique tout le temps, surtout en travaillant. Le problème est de trouver un système audio qui fournit un son parfait ET un joli design ET la liberté d'écouter de la musique partout. Quand on a organisé notre soirée à Amsterdam dernièrement, j'ai découvert la marque Libratone et leur gamme de haut-parleurs qui s'est avéré correspondre à tous ces critères. Leur gamme 360 Scandinavian™ utilise la dernière technologie sans fil  pour une meilleure expérience audio, associé à un design scandinave épuré.

I also like that the speakers come in a variety of shapes and colours, and that the wool covers are replaceable so you can easily match the cover with your interior. New colours for the season include Moss Green, Apricot Red and Sandstone Yellow.

J'aime aussi le fait que les enceintes soient disponibles dans différentes formes et couleurs, et que les housses en laine soient interchangeables pour pouvoir assortir la housse à votre déco. Les nouvelles couleurs cette saison sont Moss Green, Apricot Red et Sandstone Yellow.

 

Photos Linda Elmin and Libratone

Website: http://www.libratone.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/libratone

Twitter: @libratone

Instagram: @libratone

Photography Series | Part 1, Learning from Successful Retailers

It isn't uncommon that you find me, at least once a day, doing a photoshoot in my house. Not the elaborate kind, with editors and stylists. But instead - me in the kitchen mid afternoon, my hair in top knot bun, coffee on the kitchen table, when the sun is at its best - standing on a chair, cranking my neck over a board, or holding a reflector with my chin as I try to get close to a product. Over the last ten years of business I've explored photography .... what makes a great shot, how to achieve that great shot and how to do it without a lot of money.



I've decided to write a series of posts sharing some photography tips, in what is simply going to be called my "Photography Series". I've broken the tips into a series of posts that I'll roll out over the upcoming weeks,. months or, perhaps year - as new ideas or, tricks come up. It's a little series that I hope inspires you, either for your own blog, or, business.

Because my journey at perfecting my photography was (and is) rooted in product photography, it's fitting and, perhaps necessary to start the series talking about photography for business owners - e-commerce ventures. That being said, I think as a blogger looking to improve your own art / styling, this post may still prove to be interesting.



Before I can dive into the tricks, I think it's important to talk about the inspiration process. Because one must be inspired, and have a feeling of what one wants a photo to look like, before one can actually take a photo. This particular post has a main focus on the business / entrepreneurial reader because for me, the process of photography and, taking better photos, was as a result of taking product shots for my store, and my art. But I think should you have a blog, or, want to try "styling" photos for fun, this post will be perhaps of interest.

With it being easier than ever to actually open an online store, setting yourself apart from the rest is really, really important. Success lies in many factors, but how you present yourself to the world - just like how you would style a bricks and mortar store, is something you should focus on. And that's where photography comes in.

But before I can even touch on how to style a great photo (that is in an upcoming post), it's really important to familiarize yourself with what makes a great photo. This process is really quite similar to interior decorating. Before you can decorate your home, you have to get a feeling for what YOUR style is, and, how you want to put your stamp on the process. The same is true for photography styling in my opinion.

The first thing I tend to do, and, do often, is study other people's photography. What do I like? What makes it a great photo? How did they achieve that look?  Some examples are found on sites like Etsy, where sellers have seen the value in finding a "look" for their store. Great examples are found at LoveLane (photo above)- you'll see that red stool repeated throughout the photos.

If you look at Anthropologie's website (fig. 1), everything is shot on the same coloured background, same lighting - it looks like it could have all been shot on the same day, but likely were shot over the the course of a few months as new products were added to the lineup.

Hop over to Bhldn (fig. 2) and although their product photography look is TOTALLY different - they also have a consistent look. You know which site your on, without having to look at the logo. Branding is in the photography. Although these are owned by the same Mother company, they have different looks to their photos, reflective of the brand.For an e-commerce shop, consistency is the key.

Blogger Tip - we can also gain amazing insight from studying the photographs and taking inspiration on how to style things when say, we want to show a tutorial on a craft project, or, say, show a "reveal" of something we made. We can learn a lot from studying retailers, as much as we can gain insight from fellow bloggers.

So we've narrowed down why we want to take great photos for our shops (or, our blogs) and, given some references to the shops that are really the pros at how to style. But then you and I, what can we take away? I love studying how people take photos.

What I love is the soft pale pink background of the shots. It adds warmth and, is definitely applicable to telling a story of a wedding. It looks like a pale pink linen. This shot inspires some photos, which I'll go into later on in the series.

To kick off this series I wanted to really emphasize that it's ok to learn by studying other people's work. Head over to Pinterest and look at photos that are styled really nicely. I have a board on Pinterest of photographs that are styled really well. Although at first glance they may not look like product photography ideas, you can apply a look to your own brand.

Blogger tip: As a blogger, you're less likely to stick with one look for your photos as you're touching on a variety of topics (most likely) so, styling in different ways will be part of the fun. The same tricks apply - to browse Pinterest and emmerse yourself in admmiring other peoples great photos and see if you can deconstruct how they may have done it, and, how you can achieve the look. 


Next up: Part II, Creating interesting looks with inexpensive props