February 01, 2020

Creating a gallery wall for our treasures

February 01, 2020/ Wrenda Goodwyn

Wrenda Goodwyn • special to the Fort Myers News-Press • February 1, 2020

Let’s face it: we love our stuff.

It’s why parting with things is so difficult. And no matter how often we have a healthy decluttering, there are just some items that are too important to part with. These are the things that tell a story about who we are and how we got here.

White sofa with statement wall featuring arrangement of art, accessories, books, and personal treasures. Art is displayed on Pottery Barn’s Frame Rail. — Mix art, accessories, books and personal treasures for a fun and playful statement wall. This arrangement combines items with art displayed on Pottery Barn’s Frame Rail with industrial chains that work with artwork or photos. Photo: Pottery Barn.

It’s also what makes a house a home.

But there’s a difference between a pile of things that we can’t say goodbye to and a carefully curated and styled grouping. It could be a collection of art, photography, objects from travels, collections, books. Anything that makes us happy when we look at it.

As a Fort Myers interior decorator, I can tell you that gallery walls are a huge trend right now and it’s no wonder. They look great and give us pleasure when we look at them. It gives us a place to display what we love in a creative way that adds to the look of our home. Arranging art and other objects on walls or shelving also frees up space on surfaces that can add to the cluttered look that none of us want.

Cream sofa with blue pillows and blankets in front of striking gallery wall hung using Pottery Barn's stylish frame rail. — This easy-to-hang and stylish frame rail offers a chance to curate a gallery wall designed to fit the style of the room. Photo: Pottery Barn.

You can create a gallery wall in a large or small space with two or three objects or 20. It just takes a little imagination and a wall.

A few tips to get you started:

Pick a wall. Decide where your gallery space will be located. It can be over a table. A sofa. In a small nook. In a dining room. You can fill a hallway with family photos and artwork.

Pick a theme. Family photos. Nature. Fine art.

What to use. Give the display more dimension by carrying the theme of the pieces to a table or shelving.

Over wooden side and corner desk are hung a grouping of hand-drawn monocromatic sunflowers in black frames. Arrangement includes greenery, candles and stacks of books. — Photo: Pottery Barn.

Decide on framing. If your wall will be a photo gallery, select matching frames if you want a cohesive look (my favorite) and the photos will be the focal point, not the frames. Or mix up the framing for an eclectic look.

Figure out the space. If pieces are of different sizes, begin by placing the largest piece first and filling in with smaller pieces. Do a layout of each item with brown wrapping paper to see how the sizing will work in the space.

Create drama. Take your display from the floor all the way to the ceiling.

From floor to ceiling, combine a bench artwork, family, photos and other items in a floor-to-ceiling gallery wall.. Photo: Pottery Barn.

Keep it clean and simple. If your style is clean and modern arrange two rows of photos the same size.

Eye level. If you are hanging pieces of different sizes, the largest piece should be at eye level. And if you are hanging a row of several pieces of different sizes, align the pieces at their center points.

Ledges. If nailing into the wall makes you a little nervous, style frames on a ledge (or two).

Pottery Barn ledges were used for this bold gallery wall in a bright white room with natural light, rustic floors, and tropical plant. — Photo: Pottery Barn

Make it easy. A frame rail from Pottery Barn lets you customize a statement wall with industrial chains that hold art or photos. See photo.

Make it fun. You are creating a collage of objects that means something to you. Use your imagination and see what happens!

Wrenda Goodwyn is a Southwest Florida interior decorator, A.S.I.D. associate and gold member of the Interior Redecorators Network. She helps homeowners throughout Southwest Florida with timeless, affordable ways to create beautiful spaces and solves decorating problems. Her article appears the first Saturday of each month. For more information visit her website at spectacularspaces.com. Call her at 949-1808 or e-mail wrenda@spectacularspaces.com. For more decorating tips, articles and photos, visit spectacularspaces.com/blog

January 04, 2020

A new year: Finding peace and comfort at home

January 04, 2020/ Wrenda Goodwyn

Wrenda Goodwyn • special to the Fort Myers News-Press • January 4, 2020

A new year begins. With new dreams, hopes and possibilities. A time to take inventory and come up with new inspiration to enhance our homes for 2020.

If you’re like me, the decorations are almost all put away and things are looking a little sad without the lights that kept things bright and cheerful over the past month.

Never have our homes been more important to us. They’re our sanctuary. Our refuge from all of the stress and turmoil that is swirling around nonstop. From everything that is thrown at us on a daily basis. Some days it’s just a relief to get home and turn off all of the noise. To disconnect.

And whether “home” is a temporary rental, a studio apartment, spacious condo or estate home, we all want the same thing when we walk in the door: peace and comfort. It’s the only resolution worth having (in my opinion) because if you have peace and comfort, you have everything.

Each January, I like to take some time to think about how I can renew and refresh. A little reboot for myself and my home. I like for ways to enhance what I already have. A bit of a reimaging for the New Year. A tweak here and there. Some fine-tuning.

This is the time of year, as a Southwest Florida interior decorator, that I receive phone calls from clients who tell me their home needs something but they don’t know what. Just something to give it a little life. It can mean anything from new paint to new sofa pillows to a new kitchen backsplash. Here are a few of my suggestions. Maybe a few will work for you or at least give you a little inspiration.

• Take a photo of the room. A design trick! There is nothing like a photo to help you zero in on what you need. Artwork? New lighting? A new rug? Furniture rearrangement? I promise this tells the truth and will help you to say goodbye to what isn’t working.

Thibaut’s Palm Frond wallpaper from its Tropics collection adds a perfect Southwest Florida coastal look to a home. Photo: Thibaut

• It’s all about you. A client recently told meat she wanted to redo her home for herself this time. Huh? She said that she had always tried to make it look like a home in decorating magazines and it had never worked. Of course not. Those rooms were styled for the camera. Here is a fact: the design of your space will only make you happy of a personal approach is taken. One that is unique to you.

• Add some sparkle. An outrageously beautiful chandelier over your bed. If it means removing a fan, give it a try. You can always switch it back or you may love it some much that you don’t give it a thought.

• Pick one accent color and flow it through your home: paint, pillows, flowers, wall covering, a tray on a table. A little sprinkle here and there. This is an easy one.

• Set your table. It looks pretty and chances are that you won’t need to purchase anything except maybe some new napkins.

• Hang a pot rack in the kitchen. This gives the space a new look with a gourmet kitchen feel (even if you never cook).

• Rethink the walls. Maybe this is the year that you go for a huge change and invest in a beautiful wallcovering. Botanicals are outrageously popular and you can’t go wrong. Powder rooms are perfect for this treatment.

• Supersize lighting. Kitchen pendants and chandeliers are all trending huge and it is a great look. Go big if you are replacing lighting.

• Bathroom mini makeover. The New Year is a perfect time to refresh with new towels, rugs, scents.

• Paint the ceiling. If you are looking for a small investment that will give you a huge change. Designers have been doing this for years and you can too.

• Speaking of designers. This may be the year that you decide to call one of us to help you come up with a plan. We can keep you from making mistakes, come up with creative solutions that you have never considered and we have great sources.

• Refresh window coverings. If they are looking a little tired but a total replacement is not in the budget, think about trimming them with tape for a designer look. You can find directions online or have them done professionally.

• Kitchen reboot. If it’s looking a little tired and outdated, purchase a showstopper faucet. A knockoff of the ones that you see in magazines that homeowners design a kitchen around! It’s a small investment for a kitchen reboot. You can find them (affordable) online and at big box home stores.

November 30, 2019

Holiday decorating: keep it simple and happy

November 30, 2019/ Wrenda Goodwyn

Create a holiday tablescape with some of your favorite décor and leave it up for the entire season. A nice touch: try a pretty, petite wreath on the back of dining chairs for a festive gathering. All décor and furnishings from Ballard Designs. Photo… — Create a holiday tablescape with some of your favorite décor and leave it up for the entire season. A nice touch: try a pretty, petite wreath on the back of dining chairs for a festive gathering. All décor and furnishings from Ballard Designs. Photo: Ballard Designs.

Wrenda Goodwyn • special to the Fort Myers News-Press • November 30, 2019

Let me guess. Chances are that you’ve barely recovered from Thanksgiving and you’re thinking (stressing) about the fact that Christmas is 25 short days away. This really can be the most beautiful time of year.

Everything seems to have a softer glow. People we run into in our daily lives seem a little softer as well. It’s the time of year where we are wrapping things up and looking hopefully to a new year. We are fortunate to live in Southwest Florida this time of year where not only the weather is beautiful, but the area is filled with seasonal events that you don’t find anyplace else.

But the holidays can be complicated.

Travel plans. Friends and family commitments. Shopping. Transforming your home into a Hallmark movie set. So much to do and so little time. As a Southwest Florida interior decorator, I see the stress that my clients put themselves under to “get everything done.” My advice: don’t.

A good lesson

At this time last year, I had just moved into a new home and was still getting settled. The thought of pulling my Santa collection (along with snowmen) out of boxes to clutter up my still not-quite-finished home, gave me nightmares.

It was a real lesson and set the tone for my future holiday decorating. I learned that that less is more when it comes to the holidays. I put up a tree (two). Put a wreath on the door. Added fresh flowers and fresh scents. That was it. And it was fine. I will do a little more this year but not much.

Enjoy the holidays: that’s what it’s all about.

Give yourself a break this year and make it about you. Take the time to actually enjoy the season instead of running back and forth to the mall to buy plastic things to decorate your home. You can still have a great holiday and live through it happy and calm. A few suggestions:

• Keep it simple. If it’s not too late, don’t go crazy with the decorating. Remember: it all has to come down and gets stored in a few weeks.

A little something in each room. For the bedroom, fresh greenery, a wreath and a wrapped package. Easy and pretty. Décor and furnishing from Ballard Designs. Photo: Ballard Designs

• Do the things in your home that make you happy all year. Fresh flowers. A pretty scent.

• Don’t wait too long. Make a plan this weekend and get started so it doesn’t all pile up on you.

• Use what you have. Skip a year of buying anything and go with what you already have.

• Pick a look that goes with your home’s décor instead of trying to create something that doesn’t work and leaves you frustrated.

For example: my home is done in a beach/coastal décor. So, this year I decided on a white Christmas tree with pink and turquoise. It’s a little crazy but stay with me on this. The tree is on my lanai and sits in an old, antique row boat that my husband pieced back together and repurposed for our décor. You can read about the boat at https://tinyurl.com/wyzzltv.

And this is the boat today and my lanai tree this year, here it is. A little Key West vibe.

IWrenda-=goodwyn's-key-west-christmas-tree

Wrenda-Goodwyn's-key-west-christmas-tree

• Don’t put all of your decorations out. Pick a few and be done with it.

• Declutter at the end of the holiday season. Take what you can’t use and donate it to someone who can use it.

• Do a little something in each room. A small table tree. Wrapped presents. Fresh flowers

• Create a tablescape on your dining table and leave it there the entire holiday season. Candles, flowers, small trees, a bowl of glass balls that match your décor. Use whatever you love. Switch it out a few times during the season.

• For me, the lights make the holiday season. Use lots of them around your tree, outdoors, on your porch or lanai.
Enjoy this most beautiful time of year. I will be back in 2020!

October 26, 2019

Thinking about pink: 2020 Color of the Year

October 26, 2019/ Wrenda Goodwyn

Wrenda Goodwyn • special to the Fort Myers News-Press • October 26, 2019

It’s a good day to think about pink.

If you’ve been craving something pink in your palette, but have been afraid to make a commitment, this could be it. Living room accent wall with Benjamin Moore First Light 2102-70 on walls; White Heron OC-57 ceiling. Photo: Benjamin Moore

Actually, think about that pretty dusty glow first thing in the morning when the sun is coming up. Before the hot, Florida sun has brightened everything up. That’s First Light 2102, Benjamin Moore’s Color of the Year 2020.

Let’s face it: pink has been a popular, trending color for several years. In fashion (I give you Lilly Pulitzer), accessories and paint. We see lots of pink in Southwest Florida. Especially at the beaches. Every time I go to the beach I pass a beautiful pink home on the beach with the blue gulf behind it. I’m certain that I was meant to live in that home.

These color of the year announcements from paint companies are fun and playful. Not to be taken too seriously. It doesn’t mean that you are meant to redo your home every time a new color is highlighted. It’s just something to consider that you may not have when refreshing your home.

As a Southwest Florida interior designer, my job is to help my clients select what they like. Not what is trending. I present choices that are best for their home within the guidelines of what they like. We make it all flow together when creating a color palette. Get the color right and you will have a happy home. Miss the mark and something will always seem off.

My take on First Light 2102

It’s a happy color. Not sugary sweet.

A fun neutral between cool and warm. It’s should not be taken too seriously. This is not an in-your-face color.

To me, it presents an alternative to white or beige that is modern and refreshing.

It plays well with other colors. Some examples:

Colors that work well with First light. Photo: Benjamin Moore

If you have been craving something pink in your palette, but have been afraid to make a commitment, this could be it.

How to use it

I love this color for ceilings and trim. Pair it with Decorator’s White or Simply White on the walls in a bedroom or dining room and you have a gorgeous room.

When selecting color, I always go with colors that are found in nature. This one certainly is, so don’t be afraid of it. A bathroom, living room or office that need a change would be perfect.

Bedding, pillows, accessories, window treatments in a white room.

Give it a test run as an accent color. Or a throw for your bed or sofa.

A new decade

“We selected First Light 2102-70 as our Color of the Year 2020 to represent a new dawn of idealism, design and living,” said Andrea Magno, Benjamin Moore Director of Color Marketing and Development. "First Light 2102-70 reflects a new definition of the home – a shift in mindset from the material to satisfying the core needs in life: community, comfort, security, self-expression, authenticity and ultimately, optimism.”

I think we could all use a strong dose of comfort and optimism. If First Light can give us that, I am all for it!

October 05, 2019

Blue Hues: why we love them in our homes

October 05, 2019/ Wrenda Goodwyn

Wrenda Goodwyn • special to the Fort Myers News-Press • October 5, 2019

It’s classic, timeless and never goes out of style. And it’s America’s favorite color. No surprise.

The New Colony Collection from Thibaut Design is full of exotic patterns that add globe-trotting flair. From African mud cloths to scenic tiger reserves, this bold collection reimages prints and textiles discovered during colonial trade routes. Show… — The New Colony Collection from Thibaut Design is full of exotic patterns that add globe-trotting flair. From African mud cloths to scenic tiger reserves, this bold collection reimages prints and textiles discovered during colonial trade routes. Shown: Tiger Reserve wallpaper in slate blue. It presents a fresh look with a painted table and blue lamp base. Photo: Thibaut Design

Blue is also calming, invoking feelings of tranquility and peace. It’s thought to reduce stress, lower blood pressure and heart rate.

It’s a color from nature found in water and the sky. It reminds us of the tropics, the beach and the deep blue sea. It makes us feel good.

Blue is the most commonly used color in corporate branding. Think about the logos of American Express, Ford, Oral-B, Dell, Facebook, Lowe’s, Visa and many others.

Pretty in blues. This dining room pairs Thibaut Design’s Chappana wallpaper and printed fabric for roman shades. Darien dining chairs in Grassmarket check woven fabric in navy. Blue and white accessories. Photo: Thibaut Design

In our homes, we can’t possibly go wrong with blue. As a Southwest Florida interior decorator, I have always felt that no matter what your color palette, every room needs something blue. Even if it’s just a little pop.

Something blue for the home

Many of my clients have gone very bold with blue in the past year. Try it on:

· Furniture: Paint a tired piece of furniture in the beautiful cornflower blue that we see so often in French décor. It gives it new life and serves as a great accent piece.

· Sofa: Say goodbye to your brown sofa and have it reupholstered in a beautiful blue or blue/green fabric.

· Kitchen cabinets: Seeing lots of these lately. Navy is hugely popular and you likely know by now that Sherwin-Williams named its color of the year SW Naval (6244). Using a color on cabinets is a beautiful commitment so ask yourself if you will love it in five years!

· Wall coverings: my favorite is in a dining room or powder room. Something bold and outrageous!

· Window treatments: drapes and shades.

Mix blues for a pretty entry with this color palette from Benjamin Moore. Wall: Palladian Blue HC-144. Trim and wainscoting: Whipple Blue HC-152. Ceiling: Mascarpone AF-20. Photo: Benjamin Moore

· Bathroom walls: the color of water with white gives your bath a spa feeling.

· Ceilings: The ceiling is your fifth wall. If your walls are a silver gray or white, there are gorgeous blues for ceilings without boxing in the entire room in a color. Think about a blue ceiling with gold fixtures.

· Trim and baseboards: Rather than walls, paint the trim and baseboards for a dramatic accent.

· Rugs: A splash of blue in a rug on wood or tile brings the room to life.

· Accessories and artwork: Want just a pop of blue? Lamps, pottery, dishes, books, candles, ginger jars, vases, pillows, a splash of blue in paintings.

· Front door!

Color palette

It’s difficult to find a color that does not look great with blue. I always like to throw in a third color. Here are a few mistake-proof combinations:

· White-blue-gray

· White-blue-yellow

· Blue-black-coral

· Dark blue-white-hot pink

· Light blue-green-red

· Blue-all neutrals

· Blue-brown-taupe

· White-blue-coral

· Red-white-blue

Whether you live in a home near the beach or just want the feeling of a calm and pretty space, think blue. You can’t go wrong.

Wrenda Goodwyn is a Southwest Florida interior decorator, A.S.I.D. associate and gold member of the Interior Redecorators Network. She helps homeowners throughout Southwest Florida with timeless, affordable ways to create beautiful spaces and solves decorating problems. Her article appears the first Saturday of each month. For more information visit her website at spectacularspaces.com. Call her at 949-1808 or e-mail wrenda@spectacularspaces.com. For more decorating tips, articles and photos, visit spectacularspaces.com/blog

September 22, 2019

Love your home again

September 22, 2019/ Wrenda Goodwyn

Wrenda Goodwyn • special to the Fort Myers News-Press • September 2019

Fall arrives tomorrow.

Time to pick out a fall wreath for the door or flag for the yard. Even though we really don’t have a fall season it’s nice to mark the change. Then it’s on to Halloween. And Thanksgiving, although it usually gets lost in all the Christmas shopping.

While there is still time, let me wish you a happy 2020!

It’s the time of year when things start to move at warp speed and we wonder where the months went. And if you’re like most of my Southwest Florida home interior clients, you want to get a few things done before we slide into the holidays and then into season again. Yikes.

And because we’re still into what I call our “endless summer” with a couple more months of steamy, hot weather, you may be thinking that your home could use a little something right about now. Something new to make you love it again.

Don’t wait for “someday”

Make a plan now. Be intentional. Strive for curated look. Get motivated. Pick a couple of ideas (see list below) and decide how you want to implement them. Start now and you will have something done before you hang your holiday wreath on the door! Whether you spend a little or a lot, don’t wait. Time is flying by!

And if you need inspiration, call a decorator or designer. We have lots of ideas in any budget and promise that you will love your home again when we are done.

Do these:

• Give your entry a new look with a dramatic color.

• Add a little glam to each room: a tufted sofa or a chaise lounge. Please, no brown! Pick a color that you love. Or a new mirror or a few glass accessories for some sparkle.

In the market for a new sofa? Glam it up with a chesterfield upholstered sofa. This one from Pottery Barn, has comfort and style and is crafted in the U.S. using eco-friendly materials. Photo: Pottery Barn

• Paint your front door. Add a new welcome mat that says something fun.

• Wallpaper a powder room. Something outrageously beautiful.

• Add some sparkle: a chandelier in the living room or bedroom (you really don’t need a ceiling fan in every room in the house). Or hang one in the master closet. It will make you happy every time you walk in.

• Display a collection. Haul out those ginger jars and fill them with fresh flowers.

• Soften the harsh, recessed lighting in the kitchen with a lamp on the counter or island. You won’t believe the change.

Powder rooms are the ideal spot for pattern and color. And no worries about water contact from showers and baths. Thibaut’s Palm Frond wallpaper from its Tropics collection adds a perfect coastal vibe to a home. Photo: Thibaut

• Invest in hotel-style bedding. Don’t be afraid of white linens (always go for a high thread count). White sheets are so popular now and for good reason. Easy to care for and you can change your color scheme whenever you like.

• Hang something colorful in your laundry room.

• Change your drapes or drapery panels over the sliders. Make sure you hang them high: just below the ceiling or molding. And forget solid colors. Try a print or design.

• Delete what is no longer working in your home. I do this seasonally as things do tend to accumulate no matter how hard we try.

• Want color but afraid to commit to an entire room? Fine. Paint the ceiling that color that you have always wanted to try. Yes, the ceiling!

• Create a gallery-style wall with your favorite art.

• Need a new kitchen backsplash? Check out the new textured, handmade subway tiles. Spectacular!

• Add something velvet. Like a few new pillows.

Skip these:

• Oversized anything. Seriously. Not pretty.

• Purchasing a white sofa if you have children, grandchildren, pets, a husband, friends or anyone who will be sitting on it. Trust me on this one.

Wait until you find artwork that means something to you...rather than purchasing just to fill a space. Waves wall art by Pottery Barn.

• Generic, mass-produced artwork. Leave the wall blank until you find some meaningful art or photographs.

• Slip covers for dining chairs. They never fit and always look tired.

• Trendy kitchen updates. White cabinets will always be in style.

• Renovating one part of an open floor plan. Because you can see everything, a renovation of a piece of the open space will make everything else look dated.

• Complicated outdoor spaces. This is where you will be spending some time as soon as the temperatures drop. Keep it simple and comfortable.

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