Though it may sound like it should be, your home’s completed interior design is not a static museum display that shouldn’t be fiddles with. Adding new items and dimensions to an established design can be fun and reinvigorate well-loved looks.
As you poke around antique stores, home stores, and thrift shops, it is a definite possibility you will comes across something that is a ‘must have’ to be incorporated into your home. You shouldn’t feel guilty, or that you are cheating on your interior designer, as your living space is a vibrant and ever maturing statement of who you are.
Accessories, art, and even furniture pieces can always be integrated into an existing design, but you should have a good sense of what will work and what will not. One great find can add to your environment’s look, while one bad piece can completely disintegrate a room’s feel.
Antique Stores
These are wonderful places to find just the right item, and with higher prices, you will be less likely to go overboard and allow yourself to stray from your design concept. Be sure to haggle on the tagged price after checking the piece for damage. If it is a piece of furniture, look it over carefully for missing sections as well as for practical usage.
If you are on vacation and antiquing is part of the trip, select something that not only enhances your home design, but will be a pleasant reminder of your visit. Local paintings, sculptures, and even vases and bowls that reflect the color schemes and overall concept of a room are wonderful elements that speak further of who you are.
Home furnishing stores
These stores can overtake a room’s concept with a single trip, as buyers are tempted with quality items often at discounted prices. Bedding and accessories are the items most found in such stores, and should be purchased with care.
As for bedding, these can be safe integrations to a room as they can be stored and retrieved for a temporary look every once in awhile. Just be sure you have closet space for them. Stick with your color scheme in the room it is destined for, basing choices on furniture coloration and wall paint.
Accessories are simply objects to put on surfaces that look pretty, so a good rule of thumb is to buy with the idea of replacing something that is already there. If a new piece will replace an existing anchor piece designed to draw the eye, make sure the new find will perform the same function.
Yard sales
Warmer weather brings yard sales to every block, and neighbors cleaning out the stuff they no longer have use for. Though any room can benefit from a great yard sale find, it is often kitchen and bathroom items that are the best bets to look out for. Copper molds, pottery, and counter top storage such as crockery and cookie jars abound, so be selective and don’t over pay for something you might well be selling at your own yard sale in a month.
Thrift stores
For adding to a well designed interior plan, thrift stores can offer some interesting finds, though it is a labor of love to select just the right item. Each visit guarantees a plethora of items that kind of work with your theme and at bargain prices it can be difficult to pass them up. But as with any other potential addition to your home, you should be selective and ensure the second-hand item will be a happy fit. Look an item over carefully for damage, and accept the fact that once you get it home, you might not be that pleased with how it looks. If the price is low enough to take that gamble, go for it – the worst thing that could happen is that you bring it back the next day as your own donation.
