decorating

Nashville Interior Decorator Weighs In: What’s “Out” in Design Trends

January 6, 2012 By Kristie Barnett 28 Comments

In my last post, I wrote about a recent Elle Decor article where high-end designers were deeming certain decor trends to be “so out.” I obviously disagreed with them and (judging from the unprecedented amount of responses from you guys) so did you! Several of you wanted to know what’s on the The Decorologist’s list of trends that should be thrown out the window.

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In working with real clients in real homes, I don’t get bogged down in what design trend is hot or not. However, I am going to tell my clients if they have something going on in their home that makes it look “dated” and is holding them back from having a beautiful space. So here’s my top 5:

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Christmas with The Decorologist

December 12, 2011 By Kristie Barnett 45 Comments

Today I’m opening my door to give you a tour of my home at Christmas. I’m not big on traditional Christmas color schemes, so get ready a heavy dose of pink and gold!

Child’s Play – A Virtual Design for Boy’s Room

November 21, 2011 By Kristie Barnett 4 Comments

As an interior decorator based in Nashville, you may think I only design for local clients. Over the weekend, I worked on a Virtual Design for a 9-year-old boy living in Pennsylvania. This is the current state of his room, and it is definitely time for a change!

Boy’s Room Before

How to Hang Plates & Art Groupings

November 16, 2011 By Kristie Barnett 13 Comments

As an interior decorator in the Nashville area, one of my favorite things that I get to do for clients is to create art groupings on their walls. They are usually amazed at how quickly I can come up with an arrangement and get them up on the wall. Here’s how I do it: first, I gather up like items with the colors I’m looking for to tie in with the room and start playing around with different arrangements.

I layed out these gorgeous plates on my client’s bed this week, working until we got an arrangement we both liked. This is what I came up with – it’s kind of like an inverted Christmas tree shape over her dresser: [Read more...]

Filed Under: Decor Addiction, Design Intervention Tagged With: art grouping, decorating, decorator, decorologist, grouping, hanging, hanging art, hanging dishes, how to hang art, how to hang family photos, interior decorator, nashville, plate, plate grouping

My 3 Secrets to Living with Antiques Without Getting Bogged Down in the Granny

November 11, 2011 By Kristie Barnett 13 Comments

Do you love antiques? I certainly do – surrounding yourself with things that have history and meaning is a wonderful way to live. Unfortunately, it’s easy to unintentionally overdo it. So here’s 3 of my secrets to keep you from getting bogged down in “the granny”.

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Galloping into a Home Near You – The Horse Trend

November 4, 2011 By Kristie Barnett 16 Comments

I’m sure many of you have noticed the pletherication of horse-themed art. Don’t google it – I totally just made up that word. I think I meant proliferation. Anyway, the horse trend is in full trot.

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Nashville Interior Decorator Shares 6 Top Tips For Redesigning a Room

November 2, 2011 By Kristie Barnett 14 Comments

Here are a few great ideas to keep in mind if you are ready to redesign a room in your home, which are illustrated in this recent before-and-after of a client’s den.

1. Stay true to who you are. With children no longer in her home, this client was ready to redesign her den and make it a warm and welcoming place to hang out with her husband and enjoy informal gatherings with their friends. This is where we started:

How to Terrify Children with Cheesecloth

October 21, 2011 By Kristie Barnett 11 Comments

One of the easiest and least expensive ways to decorate your home for Halloween is by draping a little cheesecloth in all the right places.

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A snip-snip here and a little rip there transforms this seemingly-harmless material into something spook-tacular!

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What a cool way to tablescape for a Halloween party!

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I like to drape cheesecloth over sconces and light fixtures, like this one in the entry of my home. It creates a spooky glow among the black crows, spiders, and glitter skulls under glass.

What simple materials do you use to make your home spooky at Halloween?

Filed Under: Seasonal Meditations Tagged With: cheesecloth, decor, decorating, halloween, halloween ideas, spider webs, spooky, the decorologist

IKEA Has Gone Gray – And That’s a Good Thing

October 12, 2011 By Kristie Barnett 14 Comments

I’ve been ordering furniture for a client over the last week from IKEA, so I was really excited to see that they have added another option to their black, white, or birch furniture finishes. IKEA’s finally gone gray! Actually, gray-brown. I hope this is the final evidence if you need confirmation that gray-brown is the new expresso brown.

Hemnes Dresser from IKEA

The gray-brown finish is available only on selected IKEA furniture, and they can barely keep them in stock right now. I found gray options in the Hemnes, Isala, and Lack series. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Color Consultation, Retail Therapy Tagged With: coffee table, decor, decorating, furniture, gislev, gray, gray is the new brown, gray-brown, hemnes, ikea, isala, lack, table, trend, wood finish

The Art of Towel Folding & the Karate-Chopped Pillow

September 12, 2011 By Kristie Barnett 14 Comments

For our anniversary, Mr. Man and I stayed at the Hermitage Hotel in Nashville. It’s where we stayed on our wedding night fifteen years ago. The Hermitage Hotel is the only 5-star hotel in Nashville and was built over one hundred years ago in the Beaux Arts style.