Create a Stylish Home that Reflects Your Serene Wisdom

Heidi E. Keyes
Sep 8, 2018 · 6 min read

Beautiful Music For A Crazy World”….. Classical FM

Whether it’s Hygge, cocooning, or nesting, give us a home with comfort and style. TRUE — styles will mix, recycle, blip, and speed by like a Lamborghini. Hey, it’s hard to keep up let alone take the bumps. The world is constantly being disrupted. Compound that in unaffordable Toronto where we homeshare with in-laws, millennial children, Gen-Zs, and even friends. How do we express our own style? Condos and single family homes are not exempt. Somebody has to step up!

Oscar de la Renta dresses

“Fashion is about dressing according to what is fashionable. Style is more about being yourself.” ~ Oscar de la Renta.

You are unique.

Modality

Every human is modal. Our moods or states of being morph by the minute, by the hour, from morning to evening, from week to week, and from lunar cycle to lunar cycle. It’s good to have a few different sets of decorative accessories so one can express oneself as the need arises. At a minimum, one might want their home to be relaxed in summer, crisp in the autumn, and festive over the holiday season. But with the right mix of accessories (chandelier earrings!)…. The idea is to be versatile and ready to go.

If you are in a larger shared home, keep the walls and moldings painted neutral or light. However, the 2019 ideas include darker accent walls and entire rooms in darker hues. It may just be a trend….. If your home is a single family residence or condo, be creative and original. Generally, here are some specific ways to accessorize your home.

Yabu Pushelberg

Beautiful Coffee Tables Choose the larger pieces on your coffee table by form, function, colour, texture, line, finish, (meaning), you can then pick some smaller pieces from your personal collection. Other pieces can reflect your heritage or your hobbies. Use beautiful trays for groups of items. If you love books, align neatly around the tabletop. Quote a colour or idea from your artwork. Items should create a multilevel tableau. Group things in twos, threes, fours, or fives. Show your love of fashion, art, photography, business, sailing, architecture, philately. Be creative. Go to an estate sale if you want unique artifacts. Go mid-century if you prefer. Go minimal, although the minimalist period is exhausted according to some design authorities. Fresh flowers, either one large bouquet or several smaller ones. Express your individuality.

Lighting

Let your inner dog lover choose if you like. If you have a mid-century look, use that style of lighting or you can opt for elaborate classical crystal or a baroque chandelier as contrast to spice it up. No need to buy new furniture. Don’t be afraid to mix and match periods and do buy lamps with huge personalities. Your lighting will by far make the biggest impression on guests. Install a dimmer switch on your lamp to control the mood. Lighting as you know is the jewellery of your decor. Your interior decorator or designer can source some excellent lighting to suit your style.

Artwork Choose artwork that you love. Spend the money! Be glad about the depth of the narrative, or the beauty of the piece. Colour, composition, impact, energy, mood, medium, they all contribute to the experience. Most art galleries and artists will take monthly payments.

“Apple”, by Bobby Mathieson, 5" X 7", oil on wood, 2018

If you don’t know where to begin when setting out to buy art, speak to an art consultant. They are not expensive (the galleries pay the commission, and sometimes the consultant charges a reasonable time-based fee). They can help you with your selection, negotiation, payment options, and certifying its authenticity. Try to have your works professionally hung.

Accent Walls Go ahead and paint a wall with an accent colour for drama. Example: grey or black shades seem to be a trend. The above black wall depicts some historic art paired with a mid-century dining room and more elaborate lighting, updating the look. Decorators can help you with the right paint colour. Greys can be tricky if either too blue or green. Decorators are know colour theory and can co-ordinate artwork and your colour scheme (although it is more complex than that). Grey is a wonderful colour that sets off silvers and golds, whites, pinks, reds, blacks and other accent colours very well. Feel the elegance.

Pillows …. Feel like a fight? Pillows are the most comforting and luxurious elements in the room, so never mind. Whether they are silk, (animal print), satin, linen, or velvet. So much to choose from. Splurge on beautiful pillows. A decorator can have pillows made from custom fabrics made to suit your style to perfection and add a sense of luxury and elegance. Cushions come in so many sizes and fullnesses. They can have piping, flanging, or other edge treatment. Nothing to argue about there!

Ancient Stones Whether as a chandelier over the toilette, a countertop, a wall panel, and much more… use different types of crystals, rose quartz, citrine, amethyst, carnelian, any of the myriad of these ancient, mysterious and gorgeous sacred stones in the home. I plan to be working with these with my clients to create an ongoing incredible energetic experience. Here is a room with rose quartz with the 528hz love frequency.

Enjoy the process, as this is a highly personal journey. Great rooms evolve. Uniformity is the enemy of style. Serenity is you at your best, at home.

Decorators and designers love to take care of and co-ordinate things for you a reasonable cost. They are specialists with many resources. And don’t forget to look in your stash of family heirlooms or African, Scandindavian, Asian, etc. etc. or mid-century furniture for a few special artifacts for the coffee table.

“Know thyself”, for as Aristotle has said, “knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom”.

Heidi E. Keyes
The Red Key Group (Toronto)
Interiors and Art Consulting
RKGToronto@gmail.com
239–564–6788 (Toronto, Naples Fl, Vienna)


Originally published at medium.com on September 8, 2018.

Heidi E. Keyes

Written by

Guiding my clients towards their style. Interiors, Art Consulting and Florals.

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