interior designer – Page 9

Interior Design: How to Remodel Your Bathroom to Look…

October 3, 2019February 25, 2021

Remodeling a Tiny Bathroom into a Visually Larger Space

Master bath before remodeling

As an interior designer I think you will find this master bath remodel quite amazing not only because of the transformation of this historic brick high rise built in the early 1900s, but also because of how it visually lives so much larger in the same size space.

When we entered the master bath shown here the space was chopped up by a walled in shower placed in the middle of the room making the space feel cramped, small, and unattractive.

Karen Mills' blog — Master bath remodel before

To the right of the shower was a dimly lit dressing area with a small amount of storage that didn’t function well.

To solve this interior design dilemma we ripped out everything but one small closet and started over. By pushing back the shower we gave the bathroom a bigger sense of volume and were able to expand the vanity to accommodate two people instead of one.

As you can see the transformation was amazing! By placing the same marble style tile from Italy on the floor and walls the room suddenly visually expanded into a beautiful timeless space with an over sized shower for two. To help the bathroom live even larger we also eliminated the shower curb and placed a solid glass panel along the front so the shower space virtually disappears.

For the former dressing area I designed a double vanity that also included usable top drawers that wrapped around the plumbing for more storage.

The result? A gorgeous bathroom that ended up in Kitchen Bath Design News – the national design magazine for kitchens and baths.

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Interior Design/Interior Decorating

Interior Design: 8 Steps to a Successful Design Project

September 26, 2019September 26, 2019

The Interior Designer’s Guideline to Walking Through a Residential Project

Like any project that involves money, you need a budget or range before you start.

1. Decide on an interior design style or mix of styles that will flow with your architecture and existing furnishings. . Start by selecting several photos of room designs you like and make sure any spouse or significant other involved agrees. In this room the clients requested that we incorporated their family heirlooms into this glamour meets rustic living room.

2. Determine your color scheme ensuring it coordinates with adjoining rooms and any existing furnishings to be used in the interior design. If you have no idea, take a look in your closet to see what colors you’re drawn too or pull colors out of an inspiration piece such as art, a rug, or fabric. For this entry we began with an existing piece of art, pulling out the colors in other decor items.

rug sizing example — Interior design by Karen Mills

3. Create a floor plan so you know what fits in your space and the sizes you need. To do that hire a trained interior designer or go online and use space planning software. In this great room we began by creating a floor plan with size ranges for each piece of furniture so we knew which furniture would work in this space.

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4. Set a timetable. At this point you might want to bring in an expert to review your design plan/timetable because investing a few dollars for a master plan and viable timetable can help avoid thousands of dollars in costly mistakes or huge delays.

Karen Mills' rug sizing example — Interior design by Karen Mills

5. Design and order custom furniture and any built in cabinetry after consulting with your interior designer or tradespeople if you’re managing the project yourself. At this point all custom interior design needs to be finalized and ordered like this Lee custom sofa shown here. In addition permits need to be pulled for construction.

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6. Select and order all plumbing, flooring, tile, and general lighting needed.

7.Design custom draperies, bedding, rugs, wall/floor/ceiling finishes or pillows needed along with choosing hard window coverings, light fixtures, and any ready made furnishings. Place orders.

8. Purchase artwork, hardware pulls, lamps, and all other furnishings needed. In this more traditional dining room with an existing table, chairs, and buffet we sourced an original abstract painting, a metal sculpture, a Schonbek crystal chandelier, modern flower vase, and more to give the room a more curated collected look.

Ready to get started? Give us a call at 913.764.5915 to request a Design Guide or to discuss your project now.

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Interior Design/Interior Decorating

Interior Design: Backsplash Trends 2019

September 19, 2019September 19, 2019

What’s New & Next for Kitchen & Bath Back splashes

Since I specialize as an interior designer with remodels, especially bathrooms, kitchens, and basements, I’m in tile showrooms constantly always looking for what’s new and next in tile. Of course personal style still dominates as a huge trend but read on for some of the other new trends I’ve been noticing for the past couple of years that are still trending into next year.

1. Go Bold or Go Home – The tiles shown may look small but they are actually closer to 10″ square. Big contrasts like the gold border on the black tile are another trend along with mixing up sizes.

3D Walker Zanger Tiles from Virginia Tile

2. 3D Designs including Graphic Patterns – Three dimensional designs may have been around for a few years but they’ve gotten bolder, especially with a solid tone on tone color. We’re also getting more options in shapes giving homeowners and interior designers an opportunity to play with the tiles like puzzle pieces to create one of a kind designs like this triangle shape shown here.

You may have noticed how much I love this graphic 3D design here and that’s because it adds so much style and interest without overpowering the room. Will be sharing a recent kitchen remodel project completed with this tile in the coming weeks so stay tuned!

3D Yosemite Tiles courtesy of M&S Distribution

Yosemite Glass Tile from M&S Distribution

3. Organic Tile Designs – Don’t know about you but I never tire of design that relates to what I see in nature, especially this fabulous large glass tile panel that reminds me of ocean waves rolling in.

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Interior Design/Interior Decorating

Interior Design: 3 Tips for Decorating Your Living Room…

August 29, 2019August 29, 2019

Do you ever feel like your room is blah or unfinished but don’t want to spend a fortune to finish it? Read on for my 3 tips as an interior designer to add a little life to your space.

Add Color Color can be painted on walls and ceilings or introduced with art, furniture or decor like this existing blue painting the client already had. A blue vase enhances the painting while providing an additional punch of color to our interior design client’s entry. Color may also be introduced with fabrics, draperies, rugs, or pillows.

Karen Mills' blog example of pattern — Interior decorating by Karen MIlls

2. Inject pattern – Introduce pattern with draperies or pillows like this photo of a living room. The artwork, drapes, pillows, and flowers also add a pop of color to this dramatic space.

Karen Mills' blog texture example — Interior decorating by Karen Mills

3. Layer in Texture – In this living room, albeit an outdoor one, texture was layered in with flowers, branches, wood trays, and cloth napkin decor. Additional texture in this space includes wicker chairs, a wrought iron table base, a wrought iron bench base, and a stone fireplace.

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Interior Design/Interior Decorating

Interior Decorating: How to Determine Correct Area Rug Size…

August 22, 2019August 21, 2019

Best Living Room Rug Size – When sizing or calculating the ideal size for an area rug for your living room, try to find a rug that lays underneath ALL of your furniture in the room. But if you want to show off more floor or save money, you can also buy an area rug where only the front feet of your upholstered furniture sits on top of the area rug like shown here.

The last option and definitely least preferred by the interior design and rug community is to place a smaller rug in front of your sofa but not under the feet. Please note however, that this example is a larger rug that would actually work under the feet of the sofa and chairs nearby (not shown).

Karen Mills' blog rug example — Interior design by Karen Mills

2. Best Bedroom Rug Size – Interior design clients often have a difficult time understanding this concept but a bedroom area rug should be large enough that it can be laid perpendicular under your bed just up to the edge of the nightstands without sliding under them and still have a few feet showing at the bottom of the bed like shown.

3. Best Dining Room Rug Size – As an interior designer I often see rugs that are just too small under the dining room table. Calculating this rug size can be tricky because you want two feet on each side of the table for room to slide back the chairs, but also need to ensure the final rug size fits into your space like the one shown here.

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Interior Design/Interior Decorating

Interior Design: How to Decorate a Smaller Living Room…

July 31, 2019July 31, 2019

Because I’ve personally had to deal with the challenges of downsizing from a house to a much smaller maintenance free space I wanted to share 3 ideas for visually enlarging your smaller living space.

1. Lighten up Your Color Palette In this living room we went from dark and heavy furniture and finishes to light and airy. Why? Because lighter colors reflect light instead of soaking it up, creating a lighter room that lives larger. Here we reupholstered the chairs in a light neutral color, installed lighter fireplace tile, painted the walls Shoji White by Sherwin Williams, introduced a lighter rug, and then darkened the floors so the furniture would appear to float in this lovely room just beyond the front door. But if you prefer a darker moody vibe, then as an interior designer I recommend you select wall colors and furniture in a similar darker color that will make the walls disappear.

2. Select Furnishings That Seem Visually Lighter. In this living space we reupholstered a dark heavy sofa that overpowered this room into a solid light gray color which makes the sofa here work. In addition we lightened up the fabrics on the dark chairs, and layered in a light color rug along with light walls, a lighter ceiling fixture, and fireplace tile. Then finally we purchased lightweight furniture – a coffee table, end table and mirrored cabinet that don’t take up any more space visually.

2. Add lighting – By placing the large taupe sofa in the sunlight against the taupe gray walls it visually begins to shrink in scale, while the white chairs against the window bounce light around the room. A mirrored cabinet in back and several lamps also add light and life to this space.

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Interior Design/Interior Decorating

Interior Design: 7 Steps For Creating a Room Design

July 11, 2019July 11, 2019

Like any project that involves money, you need a budget or at least a range before you start. Do some research and bring in the experts – an interior designer, contractor/builder, and architect to give an estimated investment. Then follow these 7 steps to create the room of your dreams!

Master bedroom retreat example — Interior design by Karen Mills

Decide on a design style or mix of styles that will flow with your architecture and existing furnishings you will be re purposing. As an interior designer in Kansas City, I always suggest clients select several photos of room designs they like and make sure any spouse or significant other involved agrees. Here in this bedroom we mixed a more contemporary transitional style with a rustic antique look.

2. Determine your color scheme ensuring it coordinates with adjoining rooms and any existing furnishings to be used in the interior design. If you have no idea, take a look in your closet to see what colors you’re drawn too or pull colors out of an inspiration piece such as art, a rug, or fabric. In this living room we selected a white, warm gray, and teal color scheme.

3. Create a floor plan so you know what fits in your space and the sizes you need. To do that go online and use space planning software or get an interior design expert to help.

4. Set a timetable. At this point you might want to bring in an expert – interior designer and contractor/builder to review your design plan/timetable because investing in a master plan can help avoid thousands of dollars in costly mistakes and a reasonable timetable helps reduce stress.

5. Design and order custom furniture and any built in cabinetry after consulting with your interior designer. At this point all custom designs need to be finalized and ordered . In addition permits need to be pulled for construction.

6. Select and order all plumbing, flooring, tile, and general lighting.

7. Design furnishings

Furnishings may include rugs, window treatments, pillows, bedding or other items. Also ensure you select art, finishes, and other decor needed. Here custom made pillow enhance the custom sofa and other decor.

For more great ideas and photos, sign up for our weekly interior design blog here

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Interior Design/Interior Decorating

Interior Decorating: 5 Tips for Creating an Outdoor Oasis

July 3, 2019July 3, 2019

Want to make your outdoor space more beautiful? Here are 5 ideas for enhancing your outdoor room!

photo to explain point — Photo courtesy of B&B Italia

1. Create a cozy outdoor area for lounging or entertaining by grouping seating in a cozy arrangement. Add end tables, coffee tables, outdoor lamps, and an area rug to make it live like indoors. Here in this outdoor area the seating area is centered around the coffee table to create an inviting place to have conversation.

to explain point — Design by Karen Mills

2. Bring in one of kind vintage items to show off your personality. In this outdoor porch area, my clients introduced a table base they found along with stone top for the coffee table to create a one of kind space.

3. Layer in different textures to keep the space interesting such as wood, metal, wicker, or plants. Here in this outdoor room a wood roof and decking provide texture along with wicker seating, fabric cushions/pillows, woven rugs and a metal table to create a visually compelling space.

4. Add a water feature to create ambiance and to reduce outside noise from neighbors or the street with a small bubbler, hanging fountain, or even tabletop fountain. Here in this outdoor a pool beyond provides the water feature that could also include a waterfall or fountains.

shows example — Photo courtesy of Schumacher

5. Add height to your outdoor space. One of my favorite ways as an interior designer to add height to my client’s outdoor spaces inexpensively starts with tall drapery panels on a pergola or porch or a potted tree that can be brought outside for the season.

For my own outdoor oasis, I designed a beautiful outdoor pergola with grand white Greek columns covered with climbing flowering vines and a curved header between snuggled inside a beautiful berm of trees with thick cushioned seating underneath.

Have a wonderful and safe Fourth of July holiday with your family and friends!

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Interior Design/Interior Decorating

Interior Design: 3 Tips for Creating a Relaxing Living…

June 26, 2019June 26, 2019

Nothing’s better than coming home to an inviting home where you can relax and unwind. That’s why my focus as an interior designer has always been function first, then beauty. Read on for my three tips on how to create a comfortable living room design of your own.

example of comfortable seating — Interior design by Karen MIlls

1. Comfortable seating. When selecting a sofa, opt for upholstery cushions that are comfortable for long periods of time. As an interior designer I always tell my clients to also make sure their feet can touch the floor – unless they’re planning to just curl up on the sofa instead, plus remember to ensure the seat depth is right.

Here in this living space, we utilized a custom designed chair to create a cozy nook where our client could entertain or just relax.

2. Create a Cozy Seating Area for Conversation After coming up with an overall design concept for style/color with your interior design, the next step is to create a floor plan. In the living room make sure you focus on creating intimate conversation areas that draw you into the space like shown here.

By creating an U shaped seating area you give everyone the chance to become part of the conversation. Texture was added with a hand knotted area rug, a stone fireplace, textural fabrics and rough hewn wood furniture while pops of color were introduced through blue vases, pillows, and other decorative items.

example of texture and color — Interior design by Karen Mills

3. Layer in texture and color As an interior designer I love adding texture to a boring room because suddenly the space comes to life by just layering in a few additions such as a rug, decor, and drapes like we did here in this great room.

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Interior Design/Interior Decorating

Interior Design: 3 Tips for Creating a Restful Retreat…

June 20, 2019June 20, 2019

A good night’s sleep can be difficult enough without adding a room design that’s not relaxing and calm. Read on for three ways to decorate a bedroom that’s a wonderful space for restful sleep.

master bedroom retreat — Interior design by Karen Mills

1. Starting with a soothing color scheme

When selecting a color palette that’s soothing opt for muted colors or neutrals when possible. Here in this nationally published master bedroom we decorated the soothing colors draw you in for a good night’s sleep.

2. Choose bedding in natural washable fabrics that are soothing. Here in this master bedroom we designed we used washable bedding from Europe that only looks great but can stand up to the wear and tear of children or pets. The soothing muted colors and seating enhance the retreat like feel of this space.

master retreat — Interior design by Karen Mills

3. Provide seating for getting dressed or just relaxing. In this gorgeous master bedroom we designed we added seating not only at the end of the bed and by the window but also in a nearby sitting area that’s set up just for relaxing. A muted color scheme on the leafy wallpaper, watery area rug, and seating for fabrics enhance the relaxing feel of the space.

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