One of the easiest ways to spruce up a space is to add greenery – real or faux. If you’re into caring for live plants, that’s great, but the artificial ones have come a long way in terms of looking and feeling realistic also, so if you don’t have a green thumb, don’t worry – you can still enjoy the look of greenery in your space.
I add them to almost every design for several reasons — plants help a space feel more fresh, more stylish, more finished, and most importantly, more cozy and “lived in.”
If you’re wondering where to add them, consider any dead space that you have in the room, such as in corners or next to sideboards or TV stands.
Contemporary Dining Room, Black Cat Interiors
Plants also add a nice pop of green to shelves:
Bookshelf Styling, Black Cat Interiors
And work great as centerpieces on table top spaces:
Coffee Table Styling, Black Cat Interiors
If your style leans boho or organic, use lots of plants:
Boho Living Room Moodboard, Black Cat Interiors
However, if you tend more toward modern or mid-century, then keep the plants simple:
Mid-Century Modern Bedroom Moodboard, Black Cat Interiors
If you love a coastal look, then incorporate tropical plants into your space:
If you’re familiar with my work, you may have figured out that my favorite plant is the fiddle leaf fig tree.
Artificial Fiddle Leaf Fig Tree, Black Cat Interiors
Wildly popular and versatile, this beautiful plant seamlessly integrates into almost any style or space–note that in the above designs, I used it in boho, contemporary and mid-century designs.
As mentioned, indoor plants are a quick and easy way to enhance the overall appearance of a space and one of my favorite finishing touches. Studies also show that plants can enhancemoods, increase creativity, reduce stress, and–if using live plants–can eliminate air pollutants. So when putting together your spaces, don’t forget the plants.
Many clients ask me at the beginning of a project whether I can work with their existing pieces and/or design choices — art, furniture, flooring, tile, etc. As I’ve said in a few of my other posts, the answer is, it depends…
Existing elements can always be worked into a design but the end result may not always be what was desired. For example, many clients have dark leather furniture for practical reasons, i.e. durability and ease of maintenance mainly — but want a light and airy coastal design like this:
So, can we incorporate dark leather furniture and still get this look? Not quite. Yes we can do an overall coastal look — but no, the design won’t be quite as light and airy as the picture above, because the light and airy feel is accomplished (in part) from the main pieces…which are white.
All hope isn’t lost however, and I’m always happy to try to incorporate existing pieces since it saves time and budget. So, a couple of options here:
Option 1: we incorporate the existing black leather seating but keep everything else light and airy to balance it; we’ll get a hybrid look that isn’t quite as breezy, but still has a coastal feel:
Modern Coastal Living Room Moodboard by Black Cat Interiors
Option 2: we modify the existing seating; adding a custom-made slipcover will accomplish both goals of keeping the existing furniture while still achieving a light and airy feel.
Sometimes however, the best way to proceed is to replace the item. One of my recent projects was converting a nursery into a little boy’s room. There was a bed similar to the one below in the room that the client was hoping to use:
I love the bed itself, however its curved lines and nailhead trim have a feminine feel that didn’t fit with the aesthetic the client was wanting for her son’s room. She also wanted additional storage since there wasn’t a real closet in the room, so a new bed solved for both issues:
Shelter Side Storage Bed, West Elm
West Elm’s Shelter storage bed had cleaner lines that fit the design aesthetic, and provided the additional storage that the room needed.
Space Themed Boy’s Bedroom Design by Black Cat Interiors
In some cases however, the existing furniture works great. As shown in the photo below, the client already owned a bed, nightstands, floating shelves and a floor lamp (also not visible here, a large wall mirror and recliner):
Since the existing items fit the overall aesthetic the client was wanting, I incorporated all items, just adding a few touches to make the room feel more finished:
Transitional Bedroom Design by Black Cat Interiors
Circling back to Option 2 above, for those not afraid of DIY and some elbow grease, keeping existing elements and modifying them can save a lot of money. The moodboard below includes several relatively easy updates for a small kitchenette in the basement of a vacation rental. Painting cabinets and swapping out hardware are well-known updates, but did you know that appliances can be painted? Or that epoxy kits can refinish countertops to look like marble?
Coastal Kitchenette Design by Black Cat Interiors
If you’re unsure about whether to work with an existing item when redesigning a space, start by asking yourself,
does the item fit the design aesthetic that you’re wanting? if not, ask yourself…
are you OK with the compromise, noting that it is perfectly fine to mix styles as long as you like the end result. If you don’t want to compromise on the overall “look” however, consider…
modifying the existing item(s), i.e. painting/staining, slipcover/re-upholstering, etc. so that it better fits the design.
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