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If you’re scratching your head over why the decor in your home leaves you feeling slightly underwhelmed, a remedy — or at least an improvement — may be just a few moves away. Whether it’s a bland room, a paint color you’re not quite sure about or throw pillows that refuse to sit right, here are some tweaks that can help turn your questionable decorating decisions into resounding wins, along with examples of rooms that do it right. And remember that a good interior designer can help you pinpoint issues and come up with creative solutions as well.

1. Your Dark Walls Need a Lift

Inky indigos, gunmetal grays and midnight blacks have never been more popular. If you’ve been tempted by their elegance and drama, but they’re making your room feel a little closed-in, here’s how to dump the dungeon feeling.

What to do: Good lighting is essential to reveal the tonal complexities in deep, saturated darks. Multiple light sources allow you to control the ambiance and light direction. Combine uplights and downlights as in this bedroom and don’t let the ceiling disappear into gloom.

Also, bear in mind that an over-furnished room will seem more cave-like than one that’s simply furnished. Clear out clutter and nonessential furniture.

“The darker the night, the brighter the stars,” Dostoyevsky wrote. Your bold move gives you the perfect excuse to indulge in rich, theatrical color contrasts. Play up dark walls with jewel tones, natural wood, reflective metallics, greenery and dramatic artwork, as in this Houston living room by Chandos Interiors.

Far from restricting a color palette, dark walls come to life when used with shades such as pale aqua and mint, silver-gray, teal, mustard, dusky pink and pumpkin yellow. And you can never go wrong with white.

Another approach is to simply surrender to your dark side and go moody and monochrome, as in this understated Scandinavian bedroom. Texture and layering are key to nailing this look. Think dusky velvets, slubby linens and sensuous silks.

2. Your Shelves Are Bursting at the Seams

Putting every ornament you own on open shelves often leads to a distracting mishmash of nondescript items. Serious sorting is needed to create some focus.

What to do: I recommend organizing-expert Marie Kondo’s life-changing advice of honoring items, then letting them go. Another motto may be “Beautiful, interesting or out.” Empty your shelves and create “yes” and “no” piles. You don’t have to throw items away, but this is a good chance to do the Kondo. The shelves seen here in this room by CAVdesign make clever use of space in a way that enhances every object.

Once you’ve reduced your candidates to the beautiful and meaningful, let them shine. You might want to paint the back of the shelves to emphasize lovely shapes and colors among your chosen collection; white items against a dark shade really stand out. Avoid highly patterned or textured backgrounds since they can be confusing to the eye.

Rather than lining books up soldier-style, stack some to form bookends and mini shelves, choosing intriguing titles and spines that coordinate with your display.

3. Your Sofa Is Pale and Interesting but Totally Impractical

You somehow forgot that a dog, a cat, two toddlers, sticky fingers, raspberry cordial and pet hair just don’t go with light sofas.

What to do: Have the fabric professionally cleaned and treated. Be aware that no stainproofing is infallible and that its effectiveness depends on the fabric. Modern formulas penetrate fibers and enable most liquid and other residue to be removed. DIY aerosol sprays are a short-term solution, but they only coat the surface and wear away after one cleaning.

We’re loving sofa throws at the moment. Drape them casually and pile on big pillows to deflect the worst of spills and grime. Another solution is to opt for slipcovers that can go in the washing machine when dirty.

If you want to leave sofas bare, vacuum often with a spotlessly clean brush attachment. In the event of a spill, blot carefully and never rub.

4. Your Vignettes Look Like Bargain Tables

Vignettes like this are a lovely way to show off treasures and create character. They’re pocket-sized portraits of your personality, so if you haven’t mastered the knack, read on.

What to do: Start with an anchor piece and build from it. Asymmetry avoids a stiff, formal look. Contrast shapes and textures. Connect with a theme, color or mood.

In this elegant vignette, angles contrast with curves, shiny and matte textures are juxtaposed, and a black-and-white palette anchors the scene. The setup is asymmetrical but, thanks to a careful arrangement, still manages to feel balanced. Best of all, it draws the observer in for a closer look.

5. Your Living Room Doesn’t Feel Friendly

We want guests to be impressed by our home’s public spaces, but often style takes precedence over comfort and we end up with a dressy living room that feels stiff and unwelcoming.

What to do: The problem may simply be in how the furniture is positioned. Seating should be arranged in a way that encourages social interaction as in this room by ACM Interiors. When deciding where to put sofas and armchairs, imagine how sitters will communicate with one another. Put seating close enough to encourage conversation rather than back against the walls, which can leave you with a no-man’s land in the center of the room.

This article first
appeared on houzz.com.

New York and San Francisco are seeing the largest number of residents looking to leave the city, according to Redfin.

U.S. homebuyers are looking to flee expensive coastal metropolises such as New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles, and are instead turning their attention to smaller, inland cities, according to a report Friday from Redfin.

Though migration away from major cities has been prevalent for at least five years, the coronavirus pandemic and the increased time spent at home that has accompanied it has exacerbated the trend, the estate agency said.

“People who can work remotely are re-examining where they want to live, and for most of them that means they’re looking at places that are less expensive,” Veronica Clyatt, a Redfin agent in Pleasanton, California, a city roughly 40 miles east of San Francisco, said in the report.

“Everyone wants a bigger house and a bigger yard, and they want to pay less. A lot of people moving away from the Bay Area have had it in the pipeline for awhile, and remote work is accelerating the process,” she said.

Such is the exodus from the Bay Area, that close to a quarter of sellers in San Francisco are having to discount their asking prices to temp buyers, Mansion Global reported this week.

For those looking to relocate to a new metro area, Sacramento, California, was the top destination in July, the report said. More than 50% of people searching Redfin.com for homes in the city last month were out-of-towners.

The net inflow of searches to the city—how many more people are looking to move to the area than leave—hit 8,070, up from 4,497 at the same time last year.

Phoenix and Las Vegas ranked as the next most popular areas for buyers to search for a new home, according to the report.

“It’s a feeding frenzy in Las Vegas right now, with low inventory and tons of interested buyers. We’re seeing mass migration of people from other states moving into Nevada,” Las Vegas Redfin agent Marco Di Pasqualucci, said in the report. “The lack of state income tax, warm climate and the relatively low cost of housing—you can buy a nice home for around $300,000—make Las Vegas an attractive place for people looking to move away from expensive areas.”

New York saw the highest number of those seeking homes outside the city. There, 26,584 residents were looking for homes in other areas in July, compared to 21,692 last year. San Francisco came a close second with a net outflow of 26,247, up from 17,052 in 2019.

View Homes For Sale In Murrieta, CA

This article was first published at mansionglobal.com.

Buyers and sellers must gauge the health of their markets and know when to pounce by tracking key indicators

After months of uncertainty, buyers and sellers are wondering whether housing markets will prove to be resilient this fall. A number of forces could influence the long-term health of the market: The release of pent-up demand after a muted spring season, uncertainty around whether schools will reopen, buyers motivated to move out of large cities hard hit by the pandemic, unusually low mortgage rates, and more.

In the U.S., home prices increased by 4.9% from June 2019 to June 2020, a CoreLogic report found, though the report also anticipated a 1% decrease in prices over the coming year, the first annual decline in nearly a decade.

That drop is relatively mild, given how the pandemic has put many markets on pause, led to mass layoffs, and sparked economic uncertainty globally. Real estate experts say that low mortgage rates, limited supply, and motivated buyers bode well for the upcoming fall season, traditionally a busy time for real estate. In the coming months, buyers and sellers must keep a close eye on transactions to get a sense of the resilience of the real estate market in the wake of coronavirus upheaval.

+ Read More

This article first appeared on Mansion Global.

If social distancing has you focusing on your property’s flora, we’re here to help with some clever gadgetry that will give you the best looking lawn and garden on the block.

Rachio 3 Smart Sprinkler Controller

Water is the source of all life, and, unsurprisingly, an integral component in keeping your lawn and gardens at their most lovely and lush, but when to water and how much? Leave the aquatic queries to the automated experts at Rachio. The Rachio 3 Smart Sprinkler Controller, which works for eight or 16 zone sprinkler systems, gives users complete, smart device-based control over their watering network, allowing them to call for water on demand or schedule regular sprinklings. Or better yet-let Rachio handle it all.

With its Weather Intelligence Plus system, Rachio can accurately read changes in weather patterns and automatically adjust when, and how much, it will water, saving homeowners expenses and removing the threat of over- or under-watering.

The Rachio 3 Smart Sprinkler Controller is available for $229 (eight-zone) or $279 (16-zone).

Landroid

A properly manicured lawn can be a tricky task, so why not move that burden onto a bot? Landroid, from tool manufacturer WORX, is a grass-eating automaton that is capable of mowing lawns up to a half-acre. Users simply lay a boundary wire around their yard-accounting for obstacles like flower beds-and Landroid takes care of the rest, chopping grass within the defined area, regardless of the weather conditions, and automatically returning to its charging pad when it is done or needs a little boost.

With the accompanying Landroid app, users can activate on-demand mowing, keep tabs on the mowing progress, set a specific mowing schedule, and even get accurate measurements of their lawn.

The Landroid is available for $999 to $1,499, depending on features and mowing area capability.