Tips on How to Mix Design Styles

May 19, 2017 by Stoney Creek Furniture
Fulton County Collection

Fulton County Collection

Throughout May we’re featuring design advice from our Visual Design Team. How do they get inspired? What are their best design tips? How can you take your home from ordinary to exciting? This week, we’re exploring how to mix design styles by examining how our Visual Merchandisers, Carolyn and Amanda, created a fun kids’ bedroom. Here are some of their insights:

Look Beyond the Obvious

Amanda says, “When you first look at this furniture, the finish is rustic, but the lines and cut are modern. That triggers the imagination and opens the door to mixing design styles and themes.”

Mix Eras 

Our Team went with retro styling rather than a predictable rustic theme for a playful effect. Carolyn explains, “We let shapes and colours take centre stage. Turquoise bedding and accents highlight the beauty of the furniture’s finish while offering fresh colour and contrast.” Geometrics create an art deco vibe that is very on-trend.

Consider Geometrics

Whatever your design style, geometric s add instant modernism and drama. In the vignette created by our Visual Design Team, circles in the bedding and wall hanging and square details in the lamps set a contemporary tone.

Carolyn and Amanda offer their expert tips for incorporating geometrics into your space:

  • Repetition is the key. Find 2 or 3 elements in your room to repeat geometric patterns – wall hangings, upholstery, rugs, etc. Don’t go overboard, but do establish unity through repetition.
  • Geometrics become the focal point of a room. If you’re conservative, limit your use to a few simple pieces and avoid bright colours. Amanda explains, “A rug and cushions with a circle pattern may be all you need to embrace the look.”
  • Accessories. If you want to sample geometrics, accessories are an affordable way to dabble, as in our vignette. A single wall of geometric wallpaper is also a great place to start.
  • Think outside the square (or circle!) Don’t forget, geometrics include other patterns that may better suit your sense of style – like a triangle, rhombus or even the timeless stripe. Plus, you can mix a couple of shapes for even more interest.

Don’t be afraid! Carolyn says if there’s one message she’d like to convey, it’s to go past your fears and welcome change. “Our team loves to experiment. When we allow ourselves to go outside the box, we have our most amazing ideas.” She adds, “And you can too!”

French Country Inspiration

May 11, 2017 by Stoney Creek Furniture

Our series of inspirational advice from Stoney Creek Furniture’s Visual Design Team continues with a look at French Country style. It’s so easy to be drawn to the beauty of French Country – it’s elegant yet relaxed, charming yet classic and surprisingly easy to achieve in your own home. Our Visual Design Team is happy to share their interpretation of this iconic style, including their exclusive tips on how to take it up a notch.

French Country

This featured vignette, created by Visual Merchandisers, Carolyn and Melissa, is a great place to kick start your imagination.

  • Melissa created this stunning pale pink flower wall from a Pinterest inspiration. It’s generated quite a stir among customers (and led to a few custom orders!). Celebrating the glory of spring, it’s the foundation for the vignette. In your own home, find a focal piece you love to set the palette and tone for your space.
  • The Colleen chair is classic French and carries the theme beautifully. It exudes comfort and luxury without being pretentious.
  • Showcase pale pink and white flowers in glass vases – and then in complete contrast – also in a rustic wood box. “Juxtaposition is exciting,” says Carolyn, “Add a couple of unexpected elements; mix it up for a fresh look.”
  • Mirrored accent pieces extend the unexpected theme. “It’s not classic French style, but it fits perfectly,” Carolyn says, “In fact, I think it adds a gorgeous hint of glamour.”
  • Porcelain accessories continue the glamour – highlighted by a stunning cake server that can be used to display just about anything. The scalloped edge is so French!French Country

How can you add a French Country feeling to your home? Our team suggests:

  • Subtle sophistication. Inviting and warm, yet always chic – that’s the hallmark of French country. While there’s definitely a nod to femininity, it’s not about ruffles or frills. Simple and understated reign – a touch of cotton lace or a decorative edging.
  • Soft palette. Muted colours and subtle patterns are classic French country. Toile is the go-to choice. While soft is the theme, French Country often embraces a pop of colour, typically in warm shades like red, green or yellow – evocative of the countryside in the south of France.
  • Natural influence. Steer toward natural materials to achieve the French look. Tiled or unpolished wood floors, plants, fresh flowers, brick walls, linen, cotton, etc.

I hope our Visual Design Team has inspired you with French Country ideas. Just keep in mind that styles are always adaptable, as our Team demonstrated in the vignette. Melissa adds, “If it pleases the eye, try it!”

Get Inspired! Decor Tips from Our Visual Design Team

May 4, 2017 by Stoney Creek Furniture

When you walk into a beautiful home furnishings store, are you mesmerized by the stunning displays and wish you could bring that level of style to your home? At Stoney Creek Furniture, we’re especially proud of our talented Visual Design Team and want to share their insights on how they find inspiration – and how to create some of their signature looks in your own home. Here are some of their decor tips:

Vanna Sofa in Smoke

Vanna Sofa in Smoke

Be Fearless

A simple leather sofa is classic and always appropriate, but if you want to take things up a notch, a smokey grey velvet tufted sofa with nail heads and gilded legs is remarkable! Be adventurous and you’ll see extraordinary results. As our Visual Merchandiser, Carolyn, says, “Sometimes you have to think outside the box to create a look that fits. Maybe it’s not the obvious choice, but whatever draws attention seems to work best.”

Spring display at our Stoney Creek location

Spring display at our Stoney Creek location

Look to the Seasons

Our merchandisers were inspired to create these wall hangings by the beauty of spring. Yellow daffodils, a blue robin’s egg, leaves bursting into bloom – how do these images ignite your imagination? It may be a glorious centrepiece, twigs fashioned into a mantel display, furnishings in gentle blue or a metal container housing a collection of this season’s on-trend cacti. Our Visual Merchandiser, Amanda, says it best: “Choose natural foundations for your displays; highlight greens and soft pastels to blend with outdoor elements.”

Magnolia Home display at our Stoney Creek location

Magnolia Home display at our Stoney Creek location

Use Juxtaposition and Contrast

Don’t be confined by a décor style! If your look is contemporary, go beyond those boundaries with rustic, Boho or traditional elements. That’s what our team does! Initial instincts may be to match – but dig deeper. Our expert tip: “Mix it up. Bringing modern elements to a rustic finish, for example, works really well and makes a space fresh and fun.”

Magnolia Home display at our Stoney Creek location

Magnolia Home display at our Stoney Creek location

Choose a Palette and Materials

It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the smorgasbord of colours and materials available. Our Visual Merchandiser, Melissa, offers this advice, “Pick two colours and materials as your foundation and build from that. Like white and turquoise. Or iron and metal.”  You can certainly add touches of other colours or materials, but do so judiciously. Harmony and repetition are pleasing to the eye and calming to the spirit.

Borrow and Adapt

Inspiration is everywhere – read magazines, explore online. Open your mind to how you can take a great idea and modify it for your space. It may mean changing the colour scheme, adding new fabrics and accessories or scaling the size up or down – or perhaps indulging in a new piece of furniture to totally change a room’s vibe. Our Visual Design Team agrees: “If you love a look, think creatively and you’ll make it work for your space!”

Stay tuned for more blogs on decor tips and inspiration from our Visual Design Team – and great ideas to fuel your imagination.

Planning Your Summer Garden? Join Us for Inspiration and a Free Seminar!

April 26, 2017 by Stoney Creek Furniture

Long before you plant your garden, the daydreaming begins. Each year about now we start thinking about colours and designs; what to keep from last year and what to update. This year, before you go any further, let us inspire you with our take on the latest garden trends for 2017. It starts with a free design event that shows you how to create an outdoor planter – and much more!

Spring It Up
Join us this Thursday, April 27 from 6pm to 9pm at our Stoney Creek location for an incredible design-focused evening including a Free Magnolia Home Gift for the First 100 People in attendance, Free 15 Minute Design Consultation with our Experts, Home-related Exhibitors and Free Seminars including:

Here’s a sneak preview of 2017 Garden Trends:

Photo credit: Annie Spratt

Photo credit: Annie Spratt

Succulents. Cacti and succulents are the it plants for 2017. What’s great? They thrive with very little care and they look amazing. They also touch on another trend – mindfulness in the garden. The sublime beauty of succulents reminds us of the joy that comes from simply spending time cultivating growing things.

Container gardening. Many of us don’t have a full size garden. No worries! Container gardening is hugely popular. Do your research. You’ll be surprised at the diversity of plants that do well in a container. Choose plants that look good and provide function – like strawberries, lavender and rosemary – even salad greens like kale! (Growing edible plants is very trendy!)

Photo credit: Annie Spratt

Photo credit: Annie Spratt

Repurpose. Before you toss that candlestick, basket, chair or wall hanging from inside your home – consider if it can work outside on your patio. Recycling from home to garden is on trend and practical. Things like vintage rocking chairs are especially popular. Sometimes a coat of weather resistant paint is all you need to rejuvenate a treasure.

Natural elements. Embrace what nature has provided – or add it if necessary. Gardens incorporating rocks, driftwood, tree stumps and more are ‘in’ this year. It’s a look that speaks to ease and effortlessness.

Photo Credit: Meg Nielson

Photo Credit: Meg Nielson

Bright colours. This year, go bright! Orange, fuchsia, bright yellow and red are spectacular in the garden. Be bold and vibrant with the colours of your plants.

Statement planters. Consider it a focal point for the garden! Brightly-painted planters with charm and whimsy are also on trend for 2017. Get a head start by learning how to create a beautiful planter at Spring it Up!

RSVP for Spring It Up now. See you there – and bring your green thumb!