Spice Up Your Space

Hellooooooooo everyone. Today is a bittersweet day. This is the last He's That Guy blog for a while :'). I have loved doing all the research and writing these blogs so much and I am so grateful that you've loved them too!

Today we're going out with a bang - more specifically interior design. Designing your space can be difficult, especially if you don't know how to turn an empty space into a home. Everyone wants their space to be a place they like coming home to at the end of the day. We all want it to be our definition of cozy, to feel like a safe space, and most importantly to reflect who we are.

This can be a hard thing to do when there are so many different design styles in the world and so many pieces to chose from. So here's my top 5 tips for decorating your space, for the boiz:

1 Measure Your Space

When moving into a new space, or redecorating a known one, the most important thing to know is how much space you're working with. Furniture shopping can be a bunch of fun, but there's nothing more heartbreaking than finding the couch of your dreams and then realizing it doesn't even fit through your front door. Start with the room you're decorating. Measure the length of the walls, the wall spaces between windows and doors, the width of the room, the distance from wall to wall, the angles of the corners, and the height of the ceilings. After you know all of the dimensions of the rooms, measure the doors. If you're moving into a new place, this is something you can do while touring. If you don't have the option of in person touring, most leasing offices have this information. You want to shop/repurpose items that actually fit.

2 Pick a Workable Color Palette

Before you start dreaming up your space, pick a palette. Take into account the items you already have that you're planning on using, the wall color (if you can't change it) and the lighting in the space. You want to think about how different wood tones will look against the colors of fabric you might bring in. Also consider colors with the lighting your space already receives and the lighting you may bring in. Warm lighting is going to make everything more warm-toned, and vice versa for cool lighting. If your space has off-white walls, warm lighting is going to make the color a little yellow/beige, and cool lighting will make it more blue/gray.

When picking the colors you want to bring in, first pick your neutral and your wood tone. Neutrals can be white, off-white, tan, beige, variations of gray, and black. These neutrals look good with any wood tone, but when choosing one, you're picking the darkness of the basics of the room. Lighter toned woods are going to make the room feel softer and more bright and darker tones will create more defined lines and bring a much warmer/deeper feel to the room.Also, pay attention to the color/shade of your flooring. Whether its vinyl, tile, wood, or carpet, that color/shade matters too when choosing your color palette.

Once you have your neutrals and wood tones down, then we get to move into color! Now, you can have as much or as little color as you want. You can have more color than neutrals if you'd like. That's up to you. My only advice is that you pick colors that compliment each other and that it's not going to be too difficult to find.

3 Put Thought Into Your Rug

In a room, the rug is what ties the space together. It's not always the focal point, but it is the foundation of the room. Take this into account when choosing one. Pick the right size for the space, you don't want it to cover your entire floor but also don't want it to barely fit the coffee table. Also decide if you want this rug to be the focal point of the room, or if you want it to be an accessory. Make sure it compliments the colors used in the room as well as the decor style of the room. You don't want to throw in a natural jute rug to an all black, sleek furniture style. The rugs purpose is to ground and compliment.

Also be mindful of rug thickness in accordance to your space. Rugs can range from super flat to super plush, and when paired in the space that can alter the feel of the room. A thin rug in a large space with a high vaulted ceiling, can almost seem like its part of the floor. While a super thick rug in a low vaulted space can sometimes feel like it's taking up too much vertical space. So be mindful of your preference as well as your vertical space when purchasing.

4 Throw Some Green In There

One of my favorite interior designers Drew Scott from LoneFox Home once said "plants are a neutral that complete any and every space," and he is very right. Inviting plants into your space makes it look lived in and well loved. Plants can brighten up any dark corner, are great uses for vertical or horizontal space if needed, and also bring a sense of life into a room. There are so many kinds to choose from that will fit your lifestyle, feel free to get some fake ones if you're bad at remembering when to water what and how much sunlight certain ones need! Plants come in all kinds of care levels, shades, and colors and I promise you there are plenty that will fit your space perfectly.

5 Mismatching Is Encouraged

Designer Suzanne Kazler once said, “A room should feel collected . . . not decorated.” Truer words have never been spoken. Bring in your knickknacks and your favorite art pieces. Your space should feel like your space, not a picture from an Ikea catalog. Hang your guitar on the wall as a statement piece, display your grandma's tea cans, put your favorite books on the coffee table instead of splurging on "coffee table books" you'll never open, bring in that weird ceramic sculpture you bought at a craft fair in 2014 that you don't know why you like but you just do. It doesn't have to be perfect in the eyes of Pinterest, but you have to live in it, so make it yours.

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Well there ya go, the last of HTG, and probably my favorite post so far!

Thank you guys for loving me and this platform so well! I'm very grateful for the support you've all shown me!

Bye bye to He's That Guy for now, and back to all of my regularly scheduled girly content!

Can't wait to see you all on Thursday!

ttyl,

Carrie <3