HOW TO CREATE AN ELEVATED SPACE | Whether your Taste is Dressy or Casual

You can always do it in great taste. Whether it’s one or the other you’ll look successful - like a great 3-piece suit. You’ll look confident and put together. And that is what we’re going to help you do!

You want your home purchases to last a long time and you want to feel confident in what you’re buying. This will help you with the correct discernment when you do come up with those choices.

A lot of clients aren’t sure what their taste is. Oftentimes we’ll ask them what’s in their closet and that tells us other purchasing decisions they’ve made. Another way to help distinguish our clients is how they dress when they come to sit down with us. We can understand how elevated they want their space to be verses how casual and comfortable they want it to be. And oftentimes there is a living room and a family room where you can have both of those styles. We help make those decisions and what to put in the home.

Designing a home is all so personal and you don’t want your client’s home to be something they are not. We don’t want to give them something that doesn’t feel like them.

The biggest thing we hear is “What can we do to like these forever?” We’ll give you the key basics to shape the shell of your home. Just know that just as you evolve, your home will evolve too. Causal or dressy - we want you to be the best you.

DRESSY

How do you know if you are dressy? Here are a few things we’ve observed:

When you are polished - most likely you press your shirts so everything is tip top tidy. You probably have a Chanel bag, and pearl earrings. People see these things and think timeless. You are timeless if you are dressy. You like shiny things verses things that are honed and more earthen and more causal. You love a shiny object. You’ll want your marbles polished and high contrast. People who are more dressy love the crisp, sharp whites. Blacks are inlayed with gold. You yourself probably wear heals.

How to incorporate DRESSY into your home:

Antiques: You usually like things that are higher up on legs, that have shiny hardware with an inlay. Mirrors are great because you look good in that pressed shirt and you want to see that reflection. It brings in the shine.

Wet Velvets: What is a wet velvet? It’s velvet that has a shine and luster to it. The sheen can be seen turning a corner from a seat to the arm. It’s also called the Queens Velvet. A dry velvet is like velcro for cat hair. There is no luster to them and not if you want a dressy look for your home.

Wallpaper: You love a wall paper with a lot of detail. We love using Gracie wallpaper.

Art: Original works of art and paintings create a very dressy and elegant space.

Color: You’ll see more jewel tones, which are navys, oxblood, garnet, emerald greens, reds - these add richness and formality. The entry has the blacks and whites. Like the black and white checkered entry. Rooms that are darker do have a bit for formality. Dark rooms are known to provoke creativity and depth. It puts your mind at ease to focus and be creative.

Hardware: Fluted and curvy make for elegant vibes.

Floors: Dark walnuts are elegant but a dark floor also means you’re always cleaning it. For rugs it’s the wools and silks that makes the room really dressy. It’s easy to find an antique rug because it wears so long. It’s hardwearing and so gorgeous to look at. It’s like looking at fine jewelry when you’re looking at this hand-knotted antique silk rug.

Drapery: You love a silk or formal velvet with the pleats and hardware. Incorporate heavy drapes with a finial and and tassels, tapes, garlands or all the above! Incorporate silk drapes instead of linen for your windows.

Lighting: In lighting you can really express your style. Incorporate crystals and which evokes a real dressiness in the space.

CASUAL

Are you more casual?

The client that comes in a great pair of jeans and a t-shirt with a fun bag and a great story to go with it us usually more casual. Most times the casual clients are ones that love a really great expensive pair of jeans with a Target t-shirt, or a blazer that’s cuffed up. They are more into the mix of casual. There is less hairspray and not everything has to be in its exact place.

Jess would say she is a more high-end causal person and Suz is a curated casual. Cori says he is definitely casual. We like to think he’s a cool-casual!

How to incorporate CASUAL into your home:

Causal homes are more earthy where clay tones are more prominent. These are the sunset colors - the rich brownish orangey red tones. These colors are more youthful. The entry would be a wood or limestone floor. It could be a lighter floor such as white oak instead of marble (like in more dressy homes). The floors won’t show much dirt and are designed for living in. The baseboards are not as curvy on a casual home but you would still have nice hardware, but don’t want it to be too fussy. Things won’t be as symmetrical. You appreciate the imperfection in asymmetry.

Fabrics: Open weave linen has a casualness to it but also a shiekness to it. It relaxes a space. To make it feel more authentic add some thickness to it and layer up.

Lighting: Your general spaces are more light and natural. It’s a little less expected and more organic.

Artwork: Incorporate a mix of different artworks - find pieces you love.

Rugs: A mixture of patterns and colors create a more causal space. Just be sure they are the right size for your space.

THE IN-BETWEEN

How do you walk the line between the two without the home going more eclectic?

Dressy or Casual there is still a practicality that goes into it. It’s where form follows function. If you have too many pillows you’re trying too hard and not functional. You just need to find the right amount of pillows that are just right. If you keep buying pillows and you find it’s just not working, take away all the pillows and find three that are awesome - and you’re done!

People try to overcompensate by adding and adding and it over complicates things. If you have a throw on one sofa arm you just need one pillow on that arm. And then add two pillows on the other arm to balance out that throw and pillow.

With a formal person they want things symmetrical. but we’ll add a ball pillow and make it asymmetrical.

It’s interesting age plays a factor - that’s not to say a women who is 55 doesn’t like Traditional. We’ve noticed that the 30-somethings want a traditional home because it makes them seem more successful and look established. The crowds that are in their 40’s are more contemporary because it makes them feel more youthful. They’ve already acquired all this great stuff and want to start pairing down and look edited. They don’t over buy at this point because they already know who they are and what they like.

Look at the successful designs and do what you can with it. You always want to look successful - make it feel look like a professional helped you and make it you. It’s making smart decisions and make it feel authentic to you. If it’s casual right now doesn’t mean you can’t add dressy elements into the mix. That’s the best kind of design we like to do!

Thanks for listening and following Dear Alice. We love hearing from you! Send in more questions or ideas by DMing us on social or emailing us at dearalice@alicelanehome.com. You can also find this episode of Dear Alice on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or Google Podcast.