Interior Decorator vs Interior Designer

Today I'm speaking about a topic very close to my heart. A sort of public service announcement that many need to hear. All too often, I have to explain my choice of major to someone. Why, you ask? Well, I'll tell you.

I'm an interior design major. And people confuse designer with decorator everyday, thanks to the publicity of home decorating on tv, the mass amounts of home decor stores open to the public, and a history of people assuming decorating and designing are the same thing. I understand, it can be a little confusing if you don't really think about it. So today, I'm going to explain what the difference is!

An Interior Decorator...

-- Has an eye for color & style.

-- Expertly can put together a room scheme.

-- Doesn't require any formal training, relies mainly on innate skill.

-- Cannot move walls or pull building plans.

-- Only does residential projects.

An Interior Designer...

-- Is also referred to as an "interior architect".

-- Starts every project with detailed research: who is the client? what makes them tick? how do they go about their daily life? what spaces are working, what aren't and why?

-- Works closely with architects, engineers, etc on both commercial and residential projects (and needs knowledge of these systems in order to communicate accurately & intelligently).

-- Has knowledge of local & national building codes. This includes ADA standards and codes related to flammability/fire resistance. (On commercial projects, a designer could be held liable by law if a code is in violation.)

-- Does space planning to determine what kind of flow works with the space layout and the client's needs.

-- Has at least 4 years of education & can become licensed by the NCIDQ (National Council for Interior Design Qualification). Graduate degrees are an option for further career advancement.

-- Also does the "decoration" part of a project.

So essentially, they are really not that similar at all! I hope this clears some things up for you, and hopefully you'll share this with others. Interior designers are responsible for far more than people assume. We plan interior environment so that you feel comfortable, we look out for the safety and well being of those in the space, and then after all of that is taken care of, we make it aesthetically pleasing. An interior designer can be a decorator too, but a decorator is not a designer. 

Hopefully this cleared up some confusion for you. I know I've used both terms on this blog; decorating when referring to my Apartment Tour last week, and design when I talk about past projects, for example.

Do you have a major or a field of work that is highly mis-understood? What do you wish people knew about what you do?

--Caroline

This Styled Life Apartment Tour: Bedroom

It's bedroom day of the This Styled Life Apartment Tour Week! In case you missed the prior posts, check out Monday's Decorating 101 post, and Tuesday's Living Room tour post. One of my favorite parts about this apartment's bedroom are the two large windows; The morning light that comes in is just beautiful! Berlioz loves them too, as you can see from one of the pictures. From a decor standpoint, not much in my bedroom has changed since last year, though I think the few small additions I've made have a bigger impact than you might think. I really only changed my curtains, acquired a new desk chair from my parent's house, and got a new desk lamp. (Finally! The architect's style lamp I've been wanting for forever!) 

 

The bedroom square footage is just a little less than last years' apartment, which is no problem. I do miss the large "master" bath I had; this one is tinier, and so Berlioz's litter box is therefor next to my desk. Not the ideal place, but better than awkwardly out in the living room! The walk-in closet is also a bit smaller, but that's fine because I have way too many clothes anyway, so it's an excuse to be more thoughtful about what I keep and what I buy. 

As far as where I got everything, most of the accessories & pillows are from Marshalls/Home Goods/TJMaxx because I just love those stores! The quilt and small throw pillows were handmade by my mom, and the sheets are from Stein Mart a while back. The desk and nightstand are Target (see my nightstand DIY here), and the dresser was a thrift find that I updated the hardware on. 

I hope you enjoyed this glimpse into my bedroom! Tomorrow, check back in for details & tips on how I created my living room gallery wall.

--Caroline

This Styled Life Apartment Tour: Living Area

Yesterday I kicked off Apartment Tour Week with a Decorating 101 post on Starting From Existing Pieces, where I explained how I went about decorating my new living area. And today, you get to see the full deal! 

In this apartment, the living room, dining room, and kitchen are all one room. Which is fine for a little one-bedroom apartment but from a space planning aspect it was a little challenging. But thankfully space planning is one of my strong suites, and it took just a couple different tries before I found the right fit. 

When my couch first got delivered I thought, oh my, this is going to be interesting. It's a little oversized for a space like this, but I think I made it work! I love how the colors I picked all work well togather, and the gallery wall connects the space quite well; everyday I'm reminded of my adventures in Europe this past summer!

A tip I have for working with an all-in-one space like mine: make sure you define the separate spaces within the larger room. Here, the rug, angled chair, and end of the couch define my living room, even though the dining room table is only a yard away!

As you can see here, I pulled all the colors together with these patterned throw pillows. The burnt orange comes into play in the kitchen, with towels and a rug. 

A note about this kitchen: my apartment complex obviously did not hire an interior designer to come up with these kitchen plans. Because no trained designer I know would EVER place the dishwasher where they did! It violates the kitchen triangle, and putting dishes away is a multi-step process where I have to first empty everything out onto the counter, then into the cabinets. The door coming down prevents me from standing in a convenient spot to put the dishes away immediately out of the washer.   I would have done such a better job! :)

On the right of the sink is the refrigerator (you can see a hint of it) and to the right of that is a small laundry closet. And that's about it! It's the perfect size for someone on their own, and I love that it feels like home because of the personal touches I've made.

Where I shopped: The couch came from Haverty's, the dining set from Turner's Budget Furniture several years ago, the yellow rug from my parent's garage (lol!), and the bookcase from Wayfair.com. The trunk was a vintage find that I re-painted this year (it was black before). I found all of the frames from Marshalls/Home Goods/TJMaxx and a few from Michaels or Hobby Lobby. The rest of the accessories I either can't remember, don't know (some came from my mom's spare decor storage in the basement), or were also from the stores mentioned above. 

Check back tomorrow for a tour of my bedroom, and Thursday I'll be sharing my how-to for my gallery wall.

Have a great Tuesday!

--Caroline

Decorating 101: Starting from Existing Pieces

It's Apartment Tour Week on This Styled Life! Are you excited?! Because I am!

Bouncing off of my previous post Decorating 101: Starting from Scratch with Invaluable, today I'm sharing how I went about decorating my living room in my new apartment. Going from living with roommates to living on my own meant I could make it 100% mine, which I looked forward to. Being in college, obviously I was limited by budget and needed to use a lot of existing pieces. But being an interior design major, I had the perfect look I wanted in my head and knew that if I didn't come close it would drive me crazy. In the words of Barney Stinson, challenge accepted!

So I started by assessing what I already owned: yellow rug, vintage trunk as a coffee table, dark walnut dining set (the dining room, living room, and kitchen are all one room in the new apartment so this was important), and a tan side chair with travel-inspired lettering on it. I knew these pieces would have to be the basis for my design, so I developed a color palette off of that. 

After yellow, tan, and brown, I decided to add navy blue, a bridge between the lighter and darker colors that would add some sophistication to the yellow. I kept this all in the back of my mind, and then went to Italy on study abroad for the summer. There, I collected art piece after art piece after art piece, eventually deciding that I would want to put all of these pieces up on a gallery wall display. 

Upon my return, I was inside Home Goods and was drawn to a pillows set that had navy, mustard yellow, burnt orange, and teal colors against a tan background. They were the perfect piece to bring the colors I was envisioning together. From there, I purchased navy curtains, and frames for all of my art. (I'll be posting on Thursday about my gallery wall and my tips & tricks with that!) This all happened before I even had the keys to the new place, but I was just so excited to start the decorating process!

 

(The cool architect's lamp was actually for my desk in my bedroom, and you can see some of the first frames I bought and already put art in!)

Once I had keys in hand, I started piecing the rest together! The bookshelf that was in my bedroom became my entertainment center. Kyle and I picked out a couch that would work for this apartment of mine but that would also move with us to our next place together. One weekend I re-painted my trunk to make it work better in the space.

The end result is pretty darn close to what I was envisioning, and I'm really happy with how my first (and only) solo apartment looks! Check back tomorrow for the full living room review. You know I just had to keep up the suspense. :)

--Caroline

Apartment Tour Preview

Get ready y'all, because next week I'm devoting the whole week of blogging to a visual tour of my new apartment! {large crowd applause} Now, I've been giving little snippets on Instagram over the past several weeks, so I thought I'd share them all with you today. Making this final college apartment of mine home is very important to me, because it'll be my only 100% solo bachelorette apartment ever. After I graduate and we get married, Kyle & I will be making our home together, so this is my chance to decorate it just how I want to. 

I'm so in love with how it's turning out...

And then, a never-before seen teaser of my dining "room"... {ooohh, ahhhh}

Make sure you check back next week for the full tour! I'm starting off Monday with a "Decorating From Existing Pieces" version of my "Decorating 101: Starting From Scratch With Invaluable" post. I'll also be sharing some of my tips for downsizing & living in smaller spaces, and, of course, how I decorated my apartment! 

I hope you have a fabulous Monday!

--Caroline

Decorating 101: Starting From Scratch with Invaluable

Today's post was prompted by the premier online marketplace for all things art & decor, Invaluable. Through their extensive site, you can purchase furniture, decorative, fine art and more from some of the most famous names in home decor & interior architecture. If you're looking to add a great vintage or antique piece to your home, or just something you can't find at a mass-retailer, than Invaluable is the site for you!

For those without a lot of experience in decorating, it can be overwhelming to figure out where to start when approaching a space from scratch, or what to put together to make a cohesive scheme. As an interior design and architecture student, I am no stranger to pulling inspiration out of anything for project after project. I wish I could tell you there was an exact formula for becoming inspired for a new space, but there isn't. Each time I start a new project, I am inspired by something different! That's what makes it exciting. But today I'm going to give a few tips that will help you decorate any room in your house from scratch, so let's begin!

I find it's very hard to start with just a "style" when decorating a space. "Contemporary," "Traditional" or "Eclectic" are all very broad ideas, and can lead into a ton of different design schemes. AKA more overwhelming for you! My first tip when beginning to decorate a space from scratch is to make a trip to your favorite home store. For me, that's Home Goods or Marshall's, but you might find it to be a furniture store like Ethan Allen. Here, you'll get to see lots of different colors, styles, and start to think about the direction you want to go. Pinterest is another great source, as well as antique stores or sites like Invaluable. You'll know you've found a direction when you find an item that really speaks to you, and you can picture it in your space.

Once you have in hand (or plans to purchase) your starter item, then you can go forward with your design. There are a couple things to consider when taking the next step in the design:

1. Is there anything staying in your space that you need to factor in, such as existing flooring? These things can help start identifying a color scheme. For example, if you have dark wood floors that aren't changing, and your starter item has grey in it, then you can start to pick other colors around those. Tan would be a no, but a cornflower blue would be dazzling. 

2. What matters most to you in your space? This can help identify where to go next: if it's comfort, perhaps pillows and a lush couch are next. If your doing an office, maybe it's a nice desk and chair. The first things you pick for a space should be the things that matter most to you.

From there, it's all about piecing the parts together! The fun part is seeing your space come together, piece by piece. A key factor in good design is balance, so that is something that will guide your decor choices. If you've got an amazing patterned chair that you are obsessed with, coordinating patterned pillows on the adjacent couch, and an eclectic piece of art, you should probably stick with solid curtains and low-key accents. Otherwise, you'd be looking at an explosion of pattern and color and that's probably not the look you want for your space! 

I did my own version of this for fun, to give y'all an example. I started by finding an amazing bed from Invaluable's extensive site, an American Eastlake Carved Mahogany Bed circa 1900. I was immediately drawn to the beautiful variation in the wood headboard and footboard, and the solid structured nature of it. You can just feel the history exuding from it! So that was my starter item. From there, I knew the next mission would be to find side tables or nightstands. I wanted something that would reflect the same design principles (hard, linear lines) but that would be more lightweight to add contrast to the bulky bed. Enter these gold nesting tables! They mimic the rectilinear structure of the bed but the negative space adds a lightness this bedroom will need.  Up next was lighting, and these gilded lamps bring some curves into the mix, while keeping up with the gold and semi-traditional look that's going on in the space so far. After that, I went to the bedding and art. I picked this canvas because in it I saw the various tones of the aged wood, and I knew it would bring the bed, tables, lamp, and bedding all together. 

{Side note & tip here: Art is a great way to make it all go together. Whether you've got a couple different colors that you need to all look cohesive, or you're trying to match styles like I was here, art is the way to do that! One piece can usually solve all problems... A picture really does say a thousand words!}

So there you go; hopefully I made starting to decorate a place from scratch seem less intimidating. 

It really is a fun process!

Shop This Post: Bed via Invaluable / Pottery Barn Side Tables / Pier 1 Lamp / Kirkland's Art / Pottery Barn Bedding / Kirkland's "Relax" Pillow / Kirkland's Aqua Pillow

--Caroline

Big Girl Apartment

Next fall, I will be moving yet again (seriously, it's not like I enjoy moving!) so naturally I'm already thinking about decor. This next place will be all by myself, so I have full design control and I'm so excited! Today, I'm sharing some ideas that I'm already thinking of...

I love this fun and easy way to add color in the kitchen. Definitely will have to do this! (Source)

There is something very sophisticated about the look of a bar cart as a shelf, especially here as a desk addition. I'm also picturing it being a cute entry way table? We will have to see! I'm hoping I could find one at a thrift store for cheap... (Source)

The complex I'm moving to comes with all white walls (blah!) but they do allow you to paint as long as you cover it before you leave. I love this one bright accent wall here, and I will have a similar sized wall I might could recreate this with! (Source)

I already have a vintage trunk, but it's black and I'm feeling like it might be time for an upgrade, so I have plans to paint it a different color! (Source)

Speaking of color, I am of course also thinking about the color palette. I already have a yellow rug , a light tan side chair, and dark brown wood dining set. I love the idea of navy, but I also like the idea of more of a cornflower blue, cobalt, or even a periwinkle tone. But then I saw these pretty pastel colors, and I realized that I always gravitate towards the more bright, bold colors, and maybe I want to challenge myself! I'm not 100% sure yet, and I know that lot of it will be driven by what accessories speak to me when it's finally time to shop! (Source)

I'm excited for this next adventure in my personal design. Growing up I have always been excited to have a "big girl" place of my own and now it's happening for my last year of college! I will of course keep you all updated as things progress, but thinking about next years apartment has definitely been a nice creative break as the semester comes to a close. Just a few more projects and tests to complete this week, and then I will be done with my third year at FSU!

Happy Monday!

--Caroline

Inspired Style: Copper

Photo Inspiration

Dress / Necklace / Sandals / Bag

Inspired Style: This series focuses on outfits inspired by the designed world. Whether it's an interior, an exterior, art, or a color scheme, I am easily inspired to turn beautiful things or ideas into beautiful outfits.  

This would probably be my dream kitchen! Back in my first semester at FSU, when I had to re-take similar classes because my credits from SCAD weren't accepted, one of my projects featured this amazing copper bathtub that I fell in love with. That project started my love affair with copper, so you can see why this kitchen is on my love list--that pendent!!! :) 

The outfit I pictured this kitchen turning into was one that exuded dressy casual, and I think this look is perfect for a trip out to brunch with the girls, running errands, etc. The necklace picks up all the colors in the outfit, creating a cohesive combo that's sure to please.

Where would you wear this look?

Happy Wednesday! 

--Caroline

Fresh Updates

I think it's nice to add a couple new things to your living spaces every so often, just to keep things fresh and fun. Recently, I've made a couple small updates to my bedroom, just enough to give me the feel of a change but without going overboard (because that could totally happen). I added some new light-blocking drapes (my thinner brown ones were not so effective, and had some kitty claw marks in them!), a new accessory to my bookshelf, and some new art above my desk. See the before here. 

With today being the start of Lent, I thought I'd share what I'm giving up and taking on! I have a small list, and I actually have started giving these things up already (rather, attempting to):

-- I would like to give up coffee for Lent, an amazing feat which will be difficult considering the long days I've been having with my major. 

-- I'm trying to go back to being gluten-free, so I've started to limit that in my diet and will keep going with Lent. I feel much better when I go gluten free, but it's a challenge when you just received your Girl Scout cookie order... eep!

-- In an effort to help relieve stress, I'd like to commit to yoga in the morning, meditation at night, and a relaxing bath once a week. Last night I took a nice relaxing bath and it put me to sleep so fast I forgot to meditate, but I think that's a happy mistake. 

What are you giving up or taking on for Lent? And do you switch things up in your home decor often?

--Caroline

Lighting, Atlanta Style

Over the weekend, I had the amazing opportunity to join my fellow FSU Interior Design students in a once-in-a-lifetime field trip to Atlanta to study and learn about lighting! It was a great experience, I learned a lot, and I will certainly be noticing lighting much more in the spaces I enter.  We started off with a trip to the Georgia Aquarium (I highly suggest you go if you are ever in the area!), which I had been to back when I first started at FSU with my sorority. After we stared at the fish (oh, and the lighting too!) we had the chance to get an tour of the W Hotel in downtown Atlanta, which has some amazing light installations. Not to mention, the whole hotel is spectacular in all aspects of design. We concluded our field trip with a long day at Cooper Lighting, an innovative lighting manufacturer. They pulled out all the stops, with lessons all day, free catalogs & brochures of all their products, and a tour of their facilities. 

It was truly an amazing experience, and I know that it's impact will be seen in my projects to come. Here are just a few snapshots from the trip, primarily from the first day (cell signal was shotty in Cooper because of all their technology, so it was easier to just turn my phone off!). 

Every so often the colored lights in the Georgia Aquarium atrium change, lighting up the whole space!

Loved these colorful fish in the tropical area.

The way they are able to mimic natural ocean lighting conditions makes these anemones look like springtime under water. 

Cool entrance light installation at the W Hotel.

Rooftop infinity pool. 

The lighting was integrated into the bathroom mirror, and reflects the same shapes cut out in the opposite wall. Like what?!

"The Living Room" at the W Hotel.

Happily posing around great design!

Awesome lights in the restaurant we stumbled upon! If you're ever in Atlanta, check out White Oaks's Southern-French cuisine fusion of yumminess. 

That's all for today! I hope you all have a great Wednesday!

--Caroline

Marsala: Home Decor Edition

Chair / Coffee Mug / Pendant Light / Pillow / Coffee Maker / Bowls / Lamp / Votive Holder

Last week, I shared my tips, tricks, and shopping picks for adding Pantone's 2015 Color of the Year, Marsala, into your closet. Today, I'm sharing how you can add accents of this rich, burnt wine tone into your home! A great classic color, Marsala on it's own exudes elegance, but can be made playful in a heartbeat. If you are timid about spending money on new home accents, try adding a Marsala pillow or votive holder. Ready to commit to this classic color? Try a side chair or accent lighting! And for coffee lovers, Marsala can greet you every morning with a tasty brew in your coordinating mug. 

Would you add Marsala to your home? How often do you switch up your home decor?

--Caroline

Five Friday Favorites

Classes started this week, 2015 is in full swing, and I'm already a little overwhelmed! But that's life when you are in school I suppose. Anyway, this is what's been happening this week in my world...

1. I put together this cute outfit for running errands. I'm loving sage green paired with cobalt-- a combo I might just have to play more with!

2. When I got a new calendar, I needed to do a little rearranging of the art over my desks. I love the way it turned out! Sometimes it's nice to mix things up with your decor here and there.

3. I caught Berlioz sleeping like this... I suppose it's comfortable? 

4. Three words: NEW SCHOOL SUPPLIES. Pens, sketchbooks, a new pencil case... I had fun getting some new things for the semester! Does anyone else love shopping for office and school supplies?!

5. I came across this picture by way of Pinterest (shocker) and it just might be one of the many things I'm inspired by for my first Studio 3 project. Any guesses? :)

I hope everyone has a great weekend! See you back here on Monday!

--Caroline