A balanced yet interesting room like this can be achieved through a combination of custom-made and store-bought items.

People often ask us where we get our ideas for interior design and how we stay on top of trends. Here are some of the interior design tips and tricks we use that you can adopt for freshening up your own décor.

At Tracy Lynn Studio, we give your home great style but we also watch your budget. Our approach typically is to do some custom-made pieces for a room and pair them with items purchased at stores such as Pottery Barn, Crate and Barrel and West Elm. We love these stores because they carry items that work with many different design themes, and they have terrific return policies that allow us to make sure we have just the right pieces for the room we’re designing. But the trick with this interior design strategy is to limit what you buy “off the rack” so your room doesn’t look like it was copied straight from the Pottery Barn catalog, for example. A balance of custom home décor and store-bought is best.

We get a lot of our interior design ideas from magazines that showcase “the best of the best” in design. My favorite publication is Veranda Home, but I also find inspiration from Elle Décor (mostly modern and contemporary), Better Homes and Gardens and any of the Martha Stewart magazines. I’ve also consulted Country Home and Coastal Home on occasion.

When I’m starting a new room design, I usually select the furniture first. For example, if I’m doing a bedroom, I will look at practically every bed available until something catches my eye. Then I might move to the nightstands and dressers, and from there I will choose the bedding and other fabrics. Even before everything is actually in the room, my mind’s eye has made sure it all comes together and meets the client’s expectations.

Speaking of clients, we don’t expect our clients to know exactly what they want when they call on us to decorate their homes (although some do!). So we’ve created design books of favorite looks we’ve gathered from magazines, websites and our finished projects. When we flip through these with our clients, we get a better idea of what they like and don’t like, which allows us to anticipate not only what will look fabulous in their room but what will make them comfortable and satisfied too.

Ready to talk about redecorating your home? Contact us!