What others are saying about
Welcome Home
"Shannon’s approach to decorating is warm & fun – the perfect combination for creating a cozy home. Her book is filled with tips & tricks to create your dream space with a small budget and minimal skills by being creative with amazing results. Well written, beautifully put together and a joy to read!"
- Gina Luker, The Shabby Creek Cottage
"Shannon has taken some of the best-loved features from her blog, as well as some never seen before content to create this wonderful book. Welcome Home demystifies the organizing and decorating process by providing practical tools for creating a personal, functional and beautiful space. If you’re looking for lovely inspiration, manageable how-to steps and budget-friendly ideas, this book is the quintessential resource."
- Shauna Oberg, Satori Design for Living
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Welcome Home
Tips, tricks & ideas for creating a beautifully cozy home
By Shannon Acheson
Smashwords Edition
Copyright 2011 Shannon Acheson and aka design
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
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“Comfort is perhaps the ultimate luxury.”
- Billy Baldwin
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Contents
Introduction
Begin at the Beginning
Declutter and Organize
Decorating Do’s and Don’ts
3 Elements of a Successful Space
Inspiration and Preparation
Mood Boards
Curb Appeal
Focal Points
Conversation Areas
Floor plans
Nitty Gritty
Small Space Decorating Ideas
Budget Decorating Tricks
Bargain Shopping Tips
Refinishing Furniture
Decorating Tool Box (Yes, an actual toolbox, people!)
30 Minute Home Improvement Ideas
BONUS ONE: Basic Design Styles
BONUS TWO: A Welcome Home Smells Good
Thank you
About the Author
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“Design trends online change more often than the wind, and slightly less often than my socks.”
- Seleiman Leadbitter
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Introduction
Since you’ve purchased this eBook, I’m going to take a wild guess and say that you’d like a home that is comfortable and beautiful: A home that may even be as welcoming as a warm hug. A home that, while not quite as polished as your favourite magazine photo (who lives there anyway?) or as matchy-matchy as a furniture retailer’s showroom (blah!), is definitely more, shall we say, put-together and cozy than your current space.
I want to guide you to your perfect home. Not THE perfect home. Just one that’s perfect for you.
The definition of guide is “to assist a person to travel through, or reach a destination in an unfamiliar area, as by accompanying or giving directions”. As you read, let’s pretend I’m right there with you, like a guide, sharing my tips, tricks and how-to’s.
The definition of home is simply “the place where one lives”. But I think a welcoming home should go a step or two further. A welcoming home should invite both the inhabitants of the home and its visitors inside. Everyone within should feel inspired, comfortable, cozy and most of all loved.
I want to help you make your house (or condo, or apartment, or cottage) the home you’ve always hoped it could be. A welcoming home: A haven and a getaway from the craziness of our world. Consider this eBook an expanded version of our blog. It contains loads of my tips and tricks and ideas all packaged up neatly and in one place.
Finally to all of our blog followers, friends and subscribers out there, thank you so much for your support. I hope you enjoy and put into practice some of the ideas in the coming pages. We may not have met yet, you and I, but no matter how you found this book, I am so glad you did. Truly I am.
May you and your home be richly blessed.
xo,
Shannon Acheson
P.S. If you have questions while you’re reading, please contact me. You can reach me on twitter or {aka} design’s facebook page. Or you can email me at shannon@akadesign.ca. Even if you don’t have any questions (you smarty pants you!) I’d love for you to come by the blog and just say hello!
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PART ONE BEGIN AT THE BEGINNING
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Declutter and Organize
This is where we talk about decluttering and organizing. Because, let’s face it, no one can relax in chaos. With all redecorating projects, first things must come first. I know, brilliant aren’t I?
Anyway, if you are not starting from scratch, also known as an empty room, you must declutter and organize before you can decorate. (If you happen to be staring at an empty room right now wondering what on earth I’m talking about, just skip to the next chapter, k?).
Unless you happen to be a born organizer (some people are, ahem!), this part of the process may seem more like work than fun. But stay with me, I’m gonna make it easy on you.
Decluttering and organizing is quite simple when you break it down. That’s because anything and everything can be organized in FIVE SIMPLE STEPS. Just five.
Don’t believe me? Keep reading.
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My Five Steps to Organizing Anything
Step 1. SORT. Place like with like. No matter what you’re trying to organize – a desk, a drawer or a whole room – this is where you begin. Don’t try to be tidy with this. Just make piles of similar things. Believe me; your mess has to get worse before it gets better. And we want it to get better, right?
For example, if you happen to be organizing a bathroom, put all the soaps together, all the first aid supplies together, all of the hair care products together and so on.
Likewise, if you are trying to sort a child’s playroom, pile all the dinky cars in one spot, Barbies in another and books in their own stack.
At this point do not try to find places for them, or be neat. We’ll get to that.
Just sort.
Step 2. EDIT AND ELIMINATE. Now that you have umpteen little piles around you, decide what stays and what goes. Broken toy? Gone. Favourite doll? Stays.
Get rid of anything that’s irreparable. Go ahead toss it. You don’t need it. Next donate any items that can be donated and recycle what can be recycled, of course.
So far so good?
Step 3. ASSIGN A HOME for the items you have decided to keep. Once you have sorted and edited, you should have a good idea of how much space you need. Assign homes in cupboards, on shelves, etc. Remember to put the things you use often within easy reach. Things you use less frequently can go up higher or in a slightly less accessible place.
Step 4. SHOP. This step is by far my personal favourite. What? I like to shop. After your “keep” things have a home, you can shop for pretty containers, baskets, labels or whatever you need to get and stay organized. Don’t forget to “shop the house” for these things. A basket or box that may no longer work in one room may work wonders in the space you’ve just sorted.
We do this step after the other three so we don’t waste resources on containers that we already have or on containers that won’t work or won’t fit.
Step 5. MAINTAIN. Your things now have a place. Put them there when you are finished with them. It shouldn’t take more than five minutes to set your space right everyday. Everyone can manage five minutes in twenty-four hours.
That’s it! An organized space in just five simple steps.
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“The first rule of decorating is that you can break almost all the other rules.”
- Billy Baldwin
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Decorating Do’s and Don’ts
When you are decorating your home it is good to know some do’s and don’ts. Not so that you have a lot of rules to follow (definitely not fun!), but so that you have somewhere to start. And, let’s face it, it’s so much easier when you know where to start.
Do
* Choose or create a focal point. A TV, a fireplace or a picture window can be a focal point. I’ll talk more about this later.
* Pick a signature piece on which to base your colour scheme. This can be a piece of art, a rug or a couch.
* Choose coordinating fabrics. Stripes, florals, geometrics can all live together quite happily if they are in the same colour family.
* Plan your large elements first (after you’ve chosen your signature piece). Accessories can be chosen later.