My passion for interior design derives from helping people just like you solve design dilemmas. My hope is that I can inspire you through my own life journey and what I’ve learned along the way. Thank you for your support. -Tiffani
Fall Porch Decorating Ideas
Transform your front porch into a cozy autumn retreat with thoughtful decor ideas.
Hi friend! I love the fall season! The changing cooler weather, pumpkin everything, and pulling out my cozy sweaters. My most favorite part about fall is decorating my front porch.
It doesn’t take much to transform your porch. You could use what you already have or find inexpensive decor items to add some warm welcoming vibes to your home.
Front Porch Inspiration
Transform your front porch into a cozy autumn retreat with thoughtful decor ideas that celebrate the season.
Start with a warm welcome by adding a seasonal wreath adorned with vibrant leaves or rustic accents.
Seasonal welcome mats come in an array of shapes, sizes, and wording. I like to layer welcome mats to add dimension and texture.
Incorporate hay bales and pumpkins in various sizes to create an inviting focal point.
Some of the most popular flowers, like mums, roses, dahlias, purple pansies and, yes, even bright yellow sunflowers, all bloom around September and October. Plant these in varying planter pots of different sizes, shapes, colors, and heights to add visual interest.
Use throw pillow cushions on rocking chairs to invite guests to sit and enjoy the crisp air.
Create symmetry by repeating the same planters on both sides of the steps or doorway.
Use muted colors that relate to the home's exterior colors and don’t be afraid to mix in green with shades of orange.
I wholeheartedly believe that there's no such thing as too many pumpkins!
With these delightful fall front porch decor ideas, you can craft a lovely space that truly captures the essence of the season!
If you are local the the Charlotte, North Carolina area, I would LOVE to help you transform your front porch! Let’s connect!!
Did you know that eDesign can keep you from making costly design mistakes?
-Tiffani Michalenko
HSR Certified Home Stager & Expert eDesigner
Fashion-Inspired Dining Room
Fashion advertisement transformed into a room design.
In the realm of Interior Design, inspiration can spring from various sources. Recently, I stumbled upon a fashion magazine ad and had the idea to transform the campaign into a room concept for a creative twist.
The Inspiration
The sand, sky, and sea at the beach are the foundation for a style movement that we never tire of - the classic, quintessentially coastal look. It always stays in style because, when done well, it conjures up a luxurious, laid-back lifestyle.
The Louis Vuitton Cruise 2024 Campaign, is an evocative fashion campaign starring English actress Emma Laird set on the captivating Italian island of Isola Bella.
The narrative blends history, elegance, and allure, with models representing the collection's essence.
Jamie Hakesworth's visuals depict the island's rich history and folklore, evoking a timeless and fantastical atmosphere.
The Mood Board
Drawing inspiration from the location and model’s ensemble in the advertisement, I concentrated on infusing soft tones and textures into this mood board to reflect the essence of the captivating image.
Visual mood boards are instrumental in sparking ideas and integrating textures from inspiring images. Through carefully selecting and organizing a collection of pictures, I establish the groundwork for designing a room.
The Sketch
Sketching a room puts my ideas to paper.
The Rendering
After I’ve brainstormed and have a better understanding of the overall feeling of a room’s aesthetic, I put it all together into a 3D rendering.
Advertisement Reimagined
Both the advertisement and room design encapsulates a vibrancy, crafting a timeless and enchanting atmosphere.
I can't wait to hear your thoughts on my creative process of turning a fashion design advertisement into a room design.
Did you know that eDesign can keep you from making costly design mistakes?
-Tiffani Michalenko
HSR Certified Home Stager & Expert eDesigner
Hallway Refresh
Hallway gets a refresh with board and batten and new wallpaper.
This dark dead-end hallway was boring and needed a refresh. Check out what we did to make this a more appealing and happier space!
The Before
Where to start with this dead-end hallway? The overall darkness, the chair rail, the awkward yet narrow walkway, or the lack of a linen closet…
I’ve always been bothered by the floor plan layout of this hallway. The angled wall to the right creates a very narrow walkway from the landing of the stairs. Since we aren’t changing the walls or layout of this space, I had to decide on what could be changed.
What We Did
We opted to remove the unnecessary chair rail. Chair rail has a place in dining rooms to protect walls from chairs being pushed up against the wall. Why the chair rail was installed upstairs in this hallway will always be a mystery to me!
We repaired the walls from the chair rail removal and installed board and batten.
I found this gorgeous Dark Multi Moody June Blooms peel-and-stick wallpaper from WallPops. I loved the blue accent color paired with the different shades of green and tiny bits of orange.
This was my first time installing peel-and-stick wallpaper and it was fairly easy. I did find it a bit challenging to line up the patterns perfectly. I love it though and the print adds so much life and cheerfulness to this dead-end wall.
After applying primer to the wood, we painted a fresh coat of Sherwin Williams Agreeable Gray SW7029 paint on the walls. I opted to paint the board and batten the same as the original paint color as a way to color drench the space. The original white chair rail and trim stood out, and not in a good way!
It took me several days of sanding and fully preparing the walls to be primed and painted.
Once all the painting was complete, we moved our antique pie safe back into place. The blue cabinet which we use for linen storage, was the inspiration behind my selection of wallpaper, area rug runner, and table lamp.
HOT TIP: Find an inspirational piece to begin developing your design plan. This can be artwork, a pillow, an area rug, a pretty pattern on a dish… you can draw inspiration from almost anything! Your design plan will have a purpose once you do. You’ll know what colors or patterns you are drawn to and a clear direction of what you would like to try and incorporate into the space.
To help add some light to this hallway, I found this adorable blue glass table lamp on Amazon and the white wall mirror was on clearance at Hobby Lobby. The mirror helps to reflect light and also makes the hallway feel a bit longer than it really is.
The dark wood cabinet in front of the wallpapered wall has a lot of scratches on it. I’m considering stripping the dark stain and giving this old cabinet a facelift.
What do you think?
Paint the cabinet a light green or go with a more natural-looking wood tone. I’d love to hear your thoughts!
-Tiffani Michalenko
HSR Certified Home Stager & Expert eDesigner
Out With The Old… In With The Newly Refreshed Kitchen
An outdated kitchen gets a fresh coat of paint.
When we purchased our house in 2020 we knew that the Kitchen would need a facelift. The layout is perfectly functional, but the overall aesthetic was mismatched and outdated.
The Before
The layout of the Kitchen works for us, but the reddish brown cabinet stain and pink beige tile felt outdated and clashed with the black and white granite countertops.
The hanging pot holder served no purpose and was crooked and off-center. When we removed it, we found out the hanging pot holder wasn’t even secured to a ceiling joist! Thankfully we never hung any pots from it.
The Flooring
The flooring had to go! The pink beige builder-grade tile was chipped, cracked, and clashed with the black and white granite countertops.
With kids and pets, we ultimately decided to install a wood-look LVP (luxury vinyl plank tile) throughout our first floor due to its durability and water resistance.
When installing this type of wood look flooring, it is important to try and run it continuously throughout. Never try to install the flooring up to another type of wood pattern. It will not ever look right because the wood tones will be different and you could timestamp your house.
BEFORE
Do you see how awful the installation was? The previous owners of our house installed LVP next to the old tile. The tile is much thicker than the LVP so we constantly stepped on the “ledge”. Plus, they didn’t bother removing the tile that created a pointed angle that butted up to the column. It drove me nuts that the point was not centered on the column!
AFTER
The Walls and Cabinet Paint
We painted the walls and ceiling with a fresh coat of paint. The walls are Sherwin Williams Agreeable Gray SW7029 in a satin finish.
The reddish brown cabinet stain represented the Tuscan trend from when the house was built in 2008. The cabinets themselves were in great condition so we opted to paint the cabinets a fresh bright white. We also replaced the cabinet door hinges with soft-close hinges as well as replaced the knobs.
Want to find out how I painted my cabinets? See more here.
The appliances were replaced with a matching set and we swapped out the sink faucet for a taller spot resistant brushed stainless steel sink faucet from Moen.
The Result
The Kitchen now feels brighter and makes the entire space feel even more spacious!
What do you think about this Kitchen Refresh?
FREE download! Start planning your next home refresh with this Room Budget Calculator.
-Tiffani Michalenko
HSR Certified Home Stager & Expert eDesigner
Pantry Refresh
An organized pantry equals easy access to food and cookware plus an immense feeling of order.
Pantry Goes From Dysfunctional to Completely Organized
Holy pantry space! This oversized pantry recently got a facelift and I’m here to share with you how we did it.
The Before
Disorganized and cluttered, things fell through the wire shelving. A very frustrating space that made me feel overwhelmed every time I walked in.
When my husband I bought our house we were shocked at the size of our new pantry. We’ve only ever had a small closet space to use. This pantry could easily fit bunk beds LOL!
The drab basic builder-grade white wire shelving was over twelve years old, dirty, stained, and not functional for adequate food storage. The vertical posts made it challenging to organize food and the open shelving caused things to fall through the cracks all the time.
What We Did
First, the wire shelving was torn out and the many, many holes left in the walls were patched.
We painted a fresh coat of Sherwin Williams Agreeable Gray SW7029 paint to the walls and I worked on the staining and adding a coat of Polyurethane to the wood shelves my husband cut and sanded. I used the Dark Walnut #2176 stain finish by Minwax.
The shelves vary in length according to the wall-length but are all right at 11” deep.
One by one we spaced out the brackets determining how much height we wanted between shelf levels and the shelving space came to life. We maximized every square inch in this space!
Once all the shelves were up, the room overall felt more open and spacious, but the dark wood tone absorbed much of the light so we decided to also update the semi-flush mount light.
Voila, instantly more light!
The fun part began with a shopping trip to IKEA where I was able to source most of the storage bins. I found the clear bins on Amazon. You can download a free copy of all the products I used here.
I organized all the food and made my own vinyl labels with my Silhouette cutting machine.
You could certainly download free printable labels and print them on sticker paper or use a marker and handwrite them!
All Done
Everything now has a place and I couldn’t be happier channeling my inner KonMari!
What do you think about this Pantry Refresh?
FREE download! Shop my favorite organizational products used to accomplish this Pantry Refresh.
-Tiffani Michalenko
HSR Certified Home Stager & Expert eDesigner
Farmhouse Bedroom Designed Four Ways
We’re seeing Farmhouse design everywhere! Is this style here to stay? We designed a bedroom with four different variations of farmhouse style.
Farmhouse Style. Is it here to stay?
I recently went shopping at The Depot at Gibson Mill which is an Antique Mall located here in Concord, North Carolina. It is a fabulous place to visit with oodles of vintage and antique booths. One of my happy places! 😊 I am a sucker for unique vintage finds!
During this trip, I was inspired by the aged furniture, all the patina you could ever imagine, and mostly the surplus of farmhouse decor.
Source: @thedepotatgibsonmill
As we perused the aisles, I was so inspired that I found myself placing pieces of furniture together in my mind and imagined a farmhouse-style bedroom situated in a cozy old home somewhere deep in the country.
That leads me to question if the Farmhouse Design Style is here to stay?
After I got home I dug deeper into this thought and realized that the term ‘farmhouse’ is loosely used to describe a design trend that is so much larger than its name.
“Defined as an interior design style, farmhouse is a style that draws inspiration from the look of an actual farmhouse and uses decorative elements that you’d find in rural or agricultural areas. Farmhouse interiors are warm, cozy, relaxing and full of charm and character.” -Modsy
The style takes me back to “simpler” times. It is easy though to veer the look into too much “country kitsch”, so it’s important to maintain a stylish balance of old and new, focusing more on a natural look. In other words, farmhouse design isn’t code for going overboard with the mason jars, shiplap, cotton stems, and collections of rooster statues!
I further discovered that there are many variations of farmhouse design and how each has its own distinct characteristics.
The farmhouse interior design style can be seen all over HGTV shows, Pinterest, Houzz, and Instagram feeds. The most popular forms of farmhouse style are Classic Farmhouse, Rustic Farmhouse, Modern Farmhouse, and Victorian Farmhouse.
After reading more about each individual style, I categorized my antique mall findings as Classic Farmhouse.
I developed a bedroom mood board based on my shopping adventure.
Classic Farmhouse
A more traditional style with “French provincial” aesthetic influences, Classic Farmhouse is a softer, more feminine approach to farmhouse style and creates that classic cottage chic vibe.
After creating this concept board, I decided I needed to challenge myself to create more versions of the bedroom in each of the most popular farmhouse styles.
Rustic Farmhouse
This style is a less mid-century and more rustic/industrial take on farmhouse design. It has a heavy focus on rugged materials—like rough-hewn and natural woods, wrought iron, and leather with a rich patina—along with more vintage and antique pieces.
Modern Farmhouse
Modern Farmhouse effortlessly blends the best parts of some of the most popular trends from the past several years—you’ve got a smidge of Rustic, a dusting of Industrial, and just the right amount of Mid-Century Modern design. It instantly adds a casual-but-pulled-together character to any interior. While this style is a bit more dramatic than your typical rustic or classic farmhouse look, it still manages to be effortlessly livable. It embodies that perfect mix of modern and relaxed, for a look that’s both on-trend and approachable.
Victorian Farmhouse
Victorian Farmhouse style is warm, cozy, and a relaxing style that’s full of charm and character, but also mixes in the elements and principles foundational to Victorian style. Victorian Farmhouse maintains a definite farmhouse aesthetic. It takes all of the comfortable, cozy, and approachable parts of farmhouse design, then pulls in some of those antique and classic vibes, with a bit of a collector approach. It’s an elevated country style, with a bit of French country decorating mixed in.
When it comes to decor trends, Farmhouse style has it all—think texture, contrast, and coziness all rolled into one perfect space. This trend is here to stay and is already becoming a classic design style.
What’s your favorite variation of farmhouse design?
FREE download! Start your design project the right way with the Principles of Design.
Want to see your space before you commit to a new design?
Try eDesign.
Work directly with me on your design project. Let’s set a plan in motion so you avoid costly design mistakes. Click here to learn more about my eDesign services.
Your vision before you buy.
-Tiffani Michalenko
HSR Certified Home Stager & Expert eDesigner
3 Designer Tips to Easily Refresh Your Space
Swapping out throw pillows is one of the most inexpensive ways to spruce up your home decor.
Updating Throw Pillows is my top recommendation to quickly and affordably refresh your home! Swapping out a throw pillow cover is one of the easiest ways to change up the look of your space and give it a fresh new look!
When it comes to changing out your throw pillows in a Living Room, I recommend keeping the large pieces in your room (sofa, chairs, ottomans, etc.) neutral or even a solid so that the throw pillow updates are easy to change when the mood strikes and not to mention are super affordable! You could potentially update your rooms seasonally, yearly, or as often as you like by switching up the throw pillows. You could really spruce things up by adding a new area rug and a few statement accessories!
If you are bored with your bedroom decor, the same concept applies. If the headboard and base bedding are fairly neutral, you could switch up the pillows, duvet, and other accessories to completely change the look!
Let’s Talk Pillows
Tip #1:
Always… I mean always check to see if the pillow cover you are ordering comes with an insert or not. You will end up with a disappointing surprise when the package arrives at your doorstep to only find a small flat package instead of a larger box!
When selecting a pillow insert, a great rule of thumb is to size up by 2 inches. Doing so will allow your pillows to look fuller and clean instead of saggy or wrinkly. Plus you’ll be able to karate chop them to make those pointy dog ears!
Size up when it comes to ordering your duvet inserts too! Using a King duvet insert inside of a Queen duvet cover makes for a super overstuffed fluffy bed of dreams!
Tip #2:
Mix it up with patterns and textures!
The results will be more sophisticated and visually interesting. Incorporate the Interior Design Principles scale, color, and texture into your combinations.
An example would be to start with either a solid or a large scale pattern. Next, layer in a smaller scale geometric or floral pattern. Lastly, complete your look with a bold pattern, solid, or textured pillow. The possibilities are endless!
Tip #3:
The Art of a Polished Arrangement
Symmetrical pillow arrangements work well in more formal settings. A matchy-matchy pillow arrangement is sometimes necessary in order to create visual balance.
If your space is a bit less fussy, try out an asymmetrical pillow arrangement. You might be surprised by the outcome of a more interesting arrangement from varying the throw pillow sizes.
Incorporating fresh new throw pillows can instantly update your decor.
Are You Ready to Refresh Your Look?
Shop all the pillows shown right here…
Like these Pro Tips? Receive even more helpful information… never salesy stuff! Sign up for my Mailing List and never miss out.
-Tiffani Michalenko
HSR Certified Home Stager & Expert eDesigner
What’s your favorite pillow combo? I’d love to hear from you!
SUBSCRIBE
Signup for our mailing list so you are always in the know!