Do you remember the potluck dinner parties our parents’ and grandparents’ used to throw? Mom or Grandma would get a bundle of grocery store flowers (mums or carnations, anyone?!?) and plop them in a big pitcher or some random family heirloom vase. A giant stack of plates would get posted on the end of the banquet and that was that.
Well, we thought it’d be fun to take a little inspiration from classic Dutch paintings and make a non-traditional, traditional floral arrangement to go with our modern take on the family buffet. Everything old is new!
1. Refresh Your Room’s Energy
There are a few things in life I’ve recently realized are nearly impossible to find. 1.) the perfect wedding dress. 2.) a kitchen table that feels like home and 3.) my dream sofa. My fiancé and I spent months, actually years, looking for our dream sofa. And we ironically found it on a lazy weekend afternoon at an Odds & Ends Furniture Warehouse closeout sale. It was just one of those serendipitous Sundays where we both looked at each other with heart eye emojis and said, “We NEED to buy this sofa!” It was the one.
So you just moved in (that, or you’re itching to move some things around in your existing home). Now what? I don’t know about you, but I’m always so excited at the prospects of a blank canvas floor plan, until I actually have to start making decisions on where to put everything. I start questioning everything! Is my rug the right size? Should my sofa go against the wall or float in the room? Do my nightstands have to match? Before I know it, I’m completely paralyzed by the whole situation and need my trusted design friends to rush over and help ease me into the right decisions. I rationalize my indecisiveness to the fact that space planning and room layouts are so crucial to the overall vibe a home puts forth.
Wouldn’t it be so nice to know what an interior designer actually notices in your home? Having this information would make it that much easier when you clean or decorate new spaces, or even when you decide what to renovate and what to leave as is. It can be somewhat difficult to take a critical eye to your own space that you see consistently day after day, but knowing where to place your focus and creative energy would certainly help to take out some of that guesswork, so we decided to reach out to design professional Shelly Gerritsma from 
Your couch is the hub of family activity and a place that guests will gravitate to. That empty space is the perfect opportunity to make a bold, gorgeous visual statement. We’ve rounded up some captivating, inspiring ideas sure to add major impact. Decorating over the couch can be tricky. The space is usually big, blank, and highly visible. That prime decorating space is usually between six to eight feet wide. That is a huge area and should be treated as a huge area when thinking of accessories that will work. It other words, think big!
The great thing about staying in a hotel is that you don’t have to clean up after yourself. Is there anything better than coming back from a day of sightseeing to find your room spotless and welcoming? Yes, there is something better — and that is the white fluffy robe that you get to drape around yourself as you watch TV. And then there’s the room service; hello, cheeseburger on demand! So we’ve got the robe, the room service, and the fact that someone else makes your bed. Oh, and fancy ice buckets . . . On second thought, there are a million great things about staying in a chic hotel!
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