One of the offerings at the upcoming Fall Home Show in Toronto is a crash course in interior decorating by design expert Janette Ewen. Using a hands-on approach, Ewen will teach the ABCs of home decorating while providing tips and tricks used by the pros.
“It’s going to be all about ‘decorating 101’—sort of learning how to start decorating your home, how to be a good decorator. And we’ll be doing inspiration boards, so you can bring images of a room that you’re looking to redecorate and we’ll create an inspiration board that’ll serve as your starting point,” says Ewen.
She will also give direction on picking a colour palette and how best to shop for and arrange furniture.
“I’ll give some tips on how you can arrange furniture depending on your lifestyle means. For instance, if you have kids and a dog it’s going to be very different from a retired couple that enjoys entertaining.”
Renowned for her expertise in interior design, Ewen appears regularly on CityTV’s lifestyle show Cityline. She has also reported on the latest style trends for Chatelaine, the Globe and Mail, and Chocolat, and has been featured on Canada AM and the Debbie Travis series From The Ground Up.
Ewen says the days of hiring expensive interior designers are over and that people are increasingly undertaking their own DIY decorating projects. She believes anyone can develop a sense of style—it just needs to be “awakened and cultivated.”
“Whether it’s a small project like refurbishing a lamp or something like redoing a room, you just practice and do things like an inspiration board or sketch—just sort of think like a stylist or a decorator. Everyone can channel that inner interior designer.”
“Vignettes are really easy to do; it’s like creating many display areas in your room… If you do little vignettes around the entire room, all of a sudden your room looks like you hired a decorator.”
She says the latest trend in interior decorating is “a move toward masculine opulence.”
“It’s a lot of the ornate patterns and graphic details we’ve seen in the past, bringing in masculine elements like dark rich leathers and darker flooring. Golds are coming back. So it’s sort of that mix of feminine shapes making really masculine materials.”
Trends aside, Ewen firmly believes that if something is pleasing to the eye, it works.
“I think you should always trust your eyes. I have a saying, ‘If it looks right, it is right—go with it’”
Ewen decorated the Dream Home for the 2009 National Home Show held in Toronto this spring, as well as the Dream Homes for other National Home Shows. She says she always tries to incorporate “as many trends as possible” and hopes that people get ideas and inspiration when they view the homes.
“I want to show something different and how to incorporate those trends into your space. So maybe it’s a little over the top, but you can come and take bits and pieces from it and figure out how to bring that into your own home.”
The Toronto Fall Home Show will take place at the Better Living Centre, Exhibition Place, from Oct. 1 – Oct. 4. More Information: www.fallhomeshow.com.
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