Sally Williams
Colorful Concepts Interior Design, Raleigh
919-846-8281 or colorfulconceptsinteriordesign.com
My design signature: Incorporating original art and fine craftsmanship in its many forms to create a one-of-a-kind space.
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Best $100 decor refresher: Add soft accent lighting to several rooms. Try an uplight placed at the base of a tall plant; or, a Lutron plug-in dimmer that can sit on a table beside the lamp it will control. Or add dimmers to existing switches to tone down bright overhead lighting. You will be surprised by how much more warm and inviting your home will feel with softer lighting at just the right times.
My favorite room: The living room in my last home. The deep blue walls (a custom color) were immediately enveloping and relaxing, while also beautifully showcasing the hand-embossed leather chairs and tables that honor my Peruvian heritage. The base of the floor lamp is covered with inlaid mother-of-pearl – which we joked was the “Magic Lamp” that one only needed to rub and your wish would come true. The mosaic pottery is from Mexico.
What I learned (about) design the hard way: Good installers will generally cost more, and they are worth their weight in gold. That goes for tile installers, window treatment installers, wood flooring installers, and all your home improvement professionals.
My best bargain decor find: I found (on several occasions!) inexpensive-but-fabulous decorative pillows at Stein Mart, to go along with a custom-made duvet cover and shams. The colors and sizes were the perfect complement to the leafy pattern and green tones of the custom bedding collection.
My favorite find: A solid wood oval cocktail table, handcrafted in New York. With a top of Kumbuk wood and a base of Acacia, the Ellipse table by Tucker Robbins was perfect for this living room.
Always in style: Original artwork – any medium, any size, any style. A large statement piece, or a small work sitting proudly on a tabletop easel. Don’t worry about the color or style matching your furnishings or décor. Original art makes a statement all its own and adds another fabulous design layer to any space.
Design fad you want to see retired: Ivy on top of kitchen cabinets or tucked into bookshelves – a tired, dust-catching look.
Bedspread, comforter or duvet? Duvet. I love the flexibility of slipping inserts of different weights in and out of the cover seasonally. I also like a duvet’s fluffy look, and the ease of making the bed by pulling up the duvet and insert at once, rather than several layers of blankets and bedspread. Plus, for very cold weather you can layer a blanket underneath if needed.
Next project at the Williams house: My next project is to find a house. We sold our home last year (the first day it was on the market!) and moved to an apartment in order to take our time finding our next home. We are searching for one with a first-floor master bedroom. Determined to have the main floor as “accessible” as possible, it’s likely that we will have to replace existing doors on the main level with 32- to 36-inch-wide ones. We will keep this in mind as we search, to ensure that it can be accomplished. Undoubtedly, our next home will require quite a bit of additional design work, but I have no idea what that will be yet.
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