Whether you’re an avid DIYer or prefer the assistance of a professional, finding a style and design for your home that suits you and your family can be tricky. Check out the following top design tips to help you decipher your style and transform your space.

Embrace Paint & Colour

Painting a room is the quickest way to add colour and character, transforming a space from dull to dramatic! Every year, The Pantone Color Institute selects a colour of the year, which designers and DIYers alike use as a foundation for their décor palettes. Elle Décor forecasts that in 2018, Pantone will select an intense, vivid hue as their colour of the year. This is in alignment with current trends, especially considering that the Affinity palette by Sherwin Williams features colour combinations of striking blue, animated fuchsia, and stabilizing brown. Adding natural features with a base of neutral browns, such as a fireplace surround or stone wall using Fusion Stone Great Lakes in Raven or Fawn, will allow the colours to pop off your walls!

Embrace Natural Elements Style

According to Elle Décor, the best way to strike a design balance and soften sleek, contemporary furniture is to add “unique natural elements,” including driftwood, greenery and stone. Peninsula Ledgestone is the newest product offered by Fusion Stone and features tightly stacked, offset stone in varying lengths and a moderate width. Available in two sophisticated colours, Cyprus and Grotto, this contemporary stone perfectly blends modern luxury with rustic and natural overtones. Reclaimed accents, such as wood beam ceilings, weathered antiques, and natural textures (including succulents or topiaries) will complete your rustic design.

Embrace High-Low Design

Updating a room’s design does not have to break the bank. Be strategic and incorporate a select number of higher investment pieces that anchor a room, such as a sofa, dining room or stone-clad feature wall. Then, use lower cost accents to give a room a polished, high-end quality. Marrying high-low design of “different levels of price and craftmanship” will not only help cut costs, it will make statement pieces stand out.

Embrace Your Unique Style

You can read style magazines, follow online blogs or hire a pricey interior decorator to achieve a sophisticated décor scheme, however the best, most cohesive and comfortable design will always be the one that speaks to you. Embrace your own unique style and incorporate personal treasures and pieces that you love to curate a comfortable and inspiring space that reflects you and your family.

Forget the Rules

Mixing your favourite design elements and combining different styles into one space allows you to follow your heart and incorporate pieces that you are attracted to, rather than what is ‘in style.’ Mixing styles like contemporary and bohemian, helps to warm up a space and make it feel homey.

Explore Texture

Don’t stick with the same-old, plain fabrics when there is so much texture to choose from! Natural elements such as wood, stone, grass, wool, and leather make stunning textiles and features in a room. Also, consider the fibers and patterns of your favourite pieces of clothing and translate them into your living space.

Use Unexpected Elements

Incorporating unique pieces in unexpected places creates the appearance of luxury and adventure. A stone-clad fireplace in a bathroom adds warmth and serenity, while an outdoor stone pizza oven amplifies your backyard space and takes your next family cookout to a whole new level. Fusion Stone Dry-Stack in Charcoal or Caramel colours offers a traditional, yet striking addition to any room with uniform-cut stone that gives a highly finished appearance.

Ultimately, when it comes to design the goal is to make your house feel like a home. Ensure you choose colours, textures, features and elements that speak to who you are and reflect your personality. When you do, you’ll feel naturally at home in your space.