We have already established that having a plan is the best way to start with your project! Now we need to make some decisions so we can plan, and the first thing to think about is “your style”.

The style of your home does not have to fit neatly into a category as defined by the home décor world.  A mixture of the looks you love, done properly, come together to create “your style.” Most importantly, you want consistency. From the outside to the inside, you want your home to come together with a general feeling, or style, and flow.  Now, my brother always says, “why do you always talk like that? Flow??… Like I am supposed to know what that means?”  So, for you little brother Shane; in a nutshell, this means you don’t want to walk up to a home that looks like a Mexican adobe on the outside and the inside is a Victorian Castle! It’s difficult for the senses to grasp, and something about it just feels wrong and uncomfortable. You want to make sure that your exterior has the same appeal as your interior. This doesn’t mean your colours have to match, but as you walk from outside in, you want the general feeling to flow, not change abruptly – this can be very shocking to the senses!

It’s really all about balance and having a common factor.  For example, lets start on the outside.  You have chosen crisp white siding with a black trim, black lighting accents, black door hardware, and a red front door with bold red house numbers.  I would expect to see that same crisp and distinct feel inside the house perhaps by bringing in black finishes on the lighting and on the interior door handles.  This doesn’t mean you can’t add in a few touches of other colours, such as a gold metal finish in a few spots, say on a few key kitchen cabinet doors or maybe in the light fixture over the dining table.  But, bringing in that black in a few places on the interior helps to balance what you started on the exterior.  You have a bold red door and letters on the exterior, but yes!…  go for a deep navy velvet stool at your island.  Obviously red and navy are not the same colour, but they complement each other well and you are showing some bold choices and pops of colours on the exterior, as well as the interior.  Your designer will help you draw these parallels and further, having the interior black accents in hardware as your common ground will really tie it all together.  You could even throw in a gold planter on your front step to really knock it out of the park.

Now I realize this is a pretty general example, but I want to make sure you are “picking up what I am putting down.” This is a really important step towards your home having just the “feeling” that everyone talks about. Your home’s personality needs to reflect you, so this is just the tip of the iceberg as to how the accomplish that.