Fresh Ideas For Your Home - Master Bathroom

Upgrade your master bathroom to a five-star retreat.

A spa oasis will help soak your stress away.

We all love a beautiful spa bathroom when we’re on a luxury vacation. Why not enjoy that luxury every day of the year while we’re at home too?

You can create a spa experience in any size bathroom although bigger is almost always better! Think neutral colors because they lend themselves to the calmness and serenity you’d like for a spa retreat. Also consider coordinating colors with your master bedroom for a seamless transition from sleep to serenity.

Here’s where you can start:

• A beautiful, elegant soaking tub

• New sinks, countertops and backsplashes

• Exquisite new hardware, including pulls, handles and faucets

• A soothing paint color that makes you feel calm

• Soft and luxurious bath textiles, including towels, washcloths, bath rugs and bathrobes

• An elegant vanity (preferably a double vanity if you have room)

• Stunning framed mirrors, instead of frameless wall-to-wall mirrors

• Layered lighting for both function and beauty, and maybe even a skylight to bring in natural light

Even more ideas to enhance your spa experience include:

• A steam shower

• Plenty of towel racks, and even heated towel warmers

• Soaps, scrubs, lotions and fragrances that please YOU

• Beautiful smelling candles and aromatherapy

• A built-in bench or movable chair or stool

• Built-in storage, to keep chaos to a minimum and maintain a zen calm feeling

Begin and end your days in luxury and comfort. Plan for a master bathroom redo this season. You can’t help but slow down and relax. 

Fresh Ideas For Your Home - Leather

Make a decorating statement with leather furnishings.

This bold design move shows you have skin in the game.

Consider a touch of leather in your next decorating project. It will be a moo-ving experience that’s sure to enhance your home environment! And most leather design elements are practical too!

Leather adds great texture, softness and color; however, beware that it can be a heavy look, especially in its most typical design colors – dark brown and black. That’s why it’s best to soften a big leather piece of furniture with other elements such as creamy paint colors, cushy throws and pillows, silky rugs and soft fabric furniture and window fashions.

Another way to lessen the heaviness of leather design elements is to select a lighter color of leather, such as beige, white, gray or sage green. Or you can add a tidbit of brightness with green, red or yellow leather!

Complementary materials and textures can also lighten up a heavy leather look. Think:

• Glass or Lucite tables

• Metal chairs and lamps

• Light filtering, soft-looking window fashions

• Bamboo flooring

• Natural grass wallcoverings

Leather is a versatile choice that adds beauty to most any decorating style from a traditional dining room to a classic living room to an ultra-contemporary great room. Think about leather for these design elements:

• Leather sofas and easy chairs, and even recliners!

• Leather dining chairs

• Leather headboard

• Leather-fronted sideboard in the dining room or dresser in the bedroom

• Leather-covered walls in a powder room or home office

Add leather to your next design project and you'll be ahead of the herd!

Fresh Ideas For Your Home - Pillows

A few small pillows can have a big impact on your decor

Fluff up your decorating plan with pillows.

Pillows seem like a small detail in a decorating scheme, yet they can add so much color, texture and personality to the look of your home.

With pillows, size matters! And so does shape. In addition to square or rectangular pillows, consider unusual shapes, such as round, triangular, oblong and oval. It’s almost always best to have more than one throw pillow on a sofa or bed. Two is most common, but you can also go with three or four.

Adding pillows is an easy way to add color and interest without adding stress or a large budget. For maximum impact and decorating harmony, consider these attributes when you select decorative pillows:

• Use complementary fabrics rather than the same material as your sofa.

• Use colors that are compatible with the rest of your interior elements in the room, such as rugs, carpeting, window coverings and upholstery.

• Mix patterns and solids if you’d like, but avoid more than two patterns because the look may become chaotic.

• Layer different textures with multiple pillows, including smooth silk, soft velvet, rough tapestry and even fuzzy faux fur.

• Think about embellishments on your pillows, such as embroidery, beading, tassels and fringe.

Think about comfort and your budget when you purchase pillows. Feathers and down stuffing feel soft and sensuous, but they tend to be more expensive and don’t hold a stiff shape. Synthetic fills and foam hold their shape better and are more reasonably priced.

​Selecting the perfect throw pillows for your rooms will puff up your home décor beautifully.