Fall Is Here! What Does It Mean For Your Home?

School has started back up, it’s beginning to get dark a bit later and temperatures have begun to drop by the slightest bit. Fall is on everyone’s mind! I’m sharing some helpful hints on how to get your home nice and cozy for the season ahead.

Fall Cleaning?
Though spring-cleaning typically gets all the attention, fall should not be ignored! It may not be on the top of any Southern California residents’ to-do lists, but it’s a great way to prepare a home for the cooler winter months where much more time is spent indoors. Before the temperatures start to drop, tackle all the loose ends that build up over the year. We talked about organizing the closets a couple weeks ago, but don’t forget about the kitchen pantry, turning rugs to avoid ware, removing summer slipcovers on furniture, changing bed linens and so on. While vacationing with my family this summer in the Caribbean, I was catching up on my favorite magazines and came across some incredible cleaning checklists from homemaking maven Martha Stewart. I thought these were excellent tips to share with you, and you can check them out here: www.marthastewart.com/photogallery/fall-homekeeping-tips

Changing Seasons, Changing Wall Color:
The leaves are changing color, the weather is changing, so why not transform a room in the home with a wall color change? Painting is the quickest and most inexpensive way to give any room a new look and feel. You can even do it yourself! Over at Chameleon Design, we find ourselves getting sucked into that late-night infomercial just like the rest of you. One of our latest faves is the “Paint Zoom” paint gun www.paintzoom.com. This can turn anyone into a pro, and make transforming a room with a color change a low-cost breeze that anyone can do.

Also, consider painting one accent wall as opposed to a warmed background color on all four walls.  An accent wall is traditionally a brightly-colored wall added to a room where the other three walls are white.  They draw your eye to a particular part of the room and give you a chance to play around with color in your house in a new way.  When deciding what wall to use, look for the natural focal point in the room.  If you have a fireplace, you can make the room more dramatic by painting the wall around it a different color.  The wall behind a bed's headboard or an important piece of furniture are also great options.  When there is no natural focal point in a room, you can create one. Look around- where do you want the eye to go first?  Here are a few examples to illustrate this design technique: 

This orange bedroom accent wall is a bold choice but works with the mostly neutral decor colors and the pops of color on the bed tie it all together.

 The accent wall in this office brightens up the room and creates a focal point around the desk.