5 Tips For Decorating With Rugs

Rugs add so much personality to a room. What was once just bare hardwood or yucky rental apartment carpet instantly gets a design makeover just by spreading a rug across the floor. I’ve lived in my share of dingily-carpeted apartments. Rugs added some much-needed visual spice to a room (and covered up at least a portion of the drab carpet.) If you have hardwood floors, which I do now, rugs bring coziness and a pop of color to plain flooring. They can do far more than just these decorating tricks, though. Here are five more practical and pretty ways to use rugs in your home. 1. Rugs separate areas Rugs work wonders at visually separating a room. If you have a room that functions as both a living room and a dining room, for example, then you can use rugs to create divisions. Place one rug in your living area, you know, under your couch, coffee table and armchairs. And, lay another rug under your dining room table to visually separate the two sections. Without these visual cues the large room will just sort of meld together. I used this same idea in my oddly-shaped bedroom. My bedroom functions as both my sleeping area and my office. Before I placed a rug in my “desk area” of the...

Branch Jewelry Hanger

This project started out as a Valentine’s Day decoration gone wrong. I originally spray painted this tree branch and thought to use it to display Valentine’s Day cards clipped to the limbs with clothespins. After I did it though, it just looked silly. Really, what was I supposed to do with a card tree? Still, I was in a quirky kind of mood so I decided to use the branch to display my jewelry. I love how it turned out! Delicate necklaces draped over the limbs look slightly airy, and I adore the touch of whimsy with my metal owl nestled in the back. All you need to create your own branch jewelry hanger is to scope out the perfect branch. Look for lots of limbs and check it for sturdiness. Then, spray paint the branch in your color of choice and secure it to the wall. (I just used a couple of nails.) Done! An easy and lovely jewelry display. What do you think of this quirky way to display jewelry? Would you ever use a tree branch to show off your baubles? Let me know your thoughts in the comments… Keep Up With Red Leaf Style! Follow Red Leaf Style author Kirsten Hudson on Twitter @kirsten_hudson,...

5 Valentine’s Day Home Decorating Ideas

Chalkboard with "love" written on it.

I’m not usually one for decorating my home for, what I call, the “smaller holidays” (Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Fourth of July.) Too much work. But, a couple days ago I went to turn my calendar to February and such a happy picture of heart-shaped cookies greeted me that I felt the urge to celebrate. Valentine’s Day may seem like a cliché holiday, but you can’t argue that it does bring a bit of cheeriness to this blistery-cold winter. The cookies and chocolates. The flowers. The happy colors. (Well, I’m a fan of red at least. See title of blog). The sentimentality. It’s one day where I think it’s okay to be corny. Even if you don’t have a special someone, you can still use Valentine’s Day to appreciate the other people you love. Write a cheesy poem for your best friend. Bake cookies for your co-workers. Give your doggie an extra treat and belly rub. And, why not decorate your house? You know, just a little. These five ideas are simple, not cheesy. You won’t find any corny plastic hearts or teddy bears here. 1. Accessorize with pink and red You can’t beat free decorating. Simply reuse items that you already own to spruce up your home for...

Do It Yourself Hanging Collage

If you need an easy way to fill a blank wall, go for a simple hanging collage. It creates a lot of drama without much effort. It’s inexpensive. It’s completely customizable. And, it doesn’t require you to be handy with any tool more difficult to use than a hammer. Basically, you just string up a length of picture hanging wire supported by nails. Then, you use small binder clips to secure photos, magazine clippings and any other pretty papers you want to the wire. (Step-by-step instructions are at the end of the post.) When I first hung this collage in my living room, I had some decorating issues with it. See… Whoa. Way too much going on. It seems that I wanted to hang pretty much every postcard, photo and stray paper I had available on my collage. Don’t do this. It’s unorganized and cluttered. Instead, do this: Keep your papers and images evenly spaced. If you leave some room in between each paper, it creates a clean look. I also like the idea of picking a “theme” for your collage. That way it’s not too random. I chose travel. Thoughts of wandering and discovering new places inspire me. Plus, I already had a box full of various papers I accumulated...

How to Style Your Shelves & Surfaces

When arranging items on your shelves, end tables, dressers and other areas, it’s often hard to know where to start. What makes one arrangement of books and pottery more attractive than another? And, what is it exactly that makes a bookshelf in a magazine look so put together? Styling items in your home really isn’t as difficult as it seems. It just takes a bit of planning, and some trial and error, too. But, it’s well worth it. To me, the “little things” are what make a home special. Like the bowl my sister brought me back from a trip to Mexico and the travel books I picked up at my local library’s book sale. The items in your home mean something to you and they deserve to be put on show. Use these tips to inspire you to arrange your shelves, tables and any other spot where you display items in ways that you’ll love. I’ll show you how I styled the top of this dresser in my living room… Start with bigger items Whether you’re arranging a bookshelf or an end table, place the larger items that you know you’ll want to use first. That way you...

Home Decorating Resolutions For 2013

Happy New Year! I’m not always a fan of resolutions, but I love the idea of a fresh start that comes with the New Year. When decorating your home, it’s always nice to take a fresh look at your space. What better time than the New Year to do just that? Often, you can rework what you already have to create a whole new look in your living room, kill the blahs in your bedroom, and even love your less-than-perfect kitchen (I’m talking about you renters). You may even realize that your dream home is the one you’re in right now. This idea goes along with the tagline of Red Leaf Style: Reimagine. Repurpose. Relove. I haven’t really taken the time before to explain Reimagine. Repurpose. Relove. So, I’m going to now in the form of home decorating resolutions. These resolutions are for any of you who want your home to be a place you love. When you reimagine… …you find new ways to look at your current home. Reimagining opens up far more possibilities to be happy in your current home than if you just focus on your bedroom being too small or the fact that you can’t...

Decorating Your Fireplace For Fall: With What You Have

December is here, and I’m posting about fall decorating. I know, bad blogger. I’m behind on my posts, but I was too proud of my fall decorating to let it go unseen. Unfortunately, I don’t have a cute fall display on my fireplace mantel to show you, just a display in front of my fireplace. My Kansas City apartment is so tiny that my only option is to set my T.V. on my mantel, which doesn’t make for pretty decorating. Sigh. My apartment, which is an old house converted into two apartments, has the typical odd layout of an old home. Every single wall in the living room either has windows, radiators, or doors (sometimes more than one) taking up valuable space. This makes it extremely difficult to cram in a couch and to also find a spot for the T.V that’s isn’t directly in front of a window or a closet door. Even though it hurt my decorating heart to place a flat screen on my mantel, that’s where it had to go. With a quirky home, I had to work with what was available to decorate for fall. So, I decorated the area in front of my...