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Maria Killam

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How to Avoid Opening a Can of Worms While Decorating or Renovating

10/04/2011

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Hi, I'm Maria

I teach homeowners and designers how to choose timeless finishes and get colour right the first time—using my proven Killam Colour System®.

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It happens all the time. You install new flooring in the kitchen and suddenly your cabinets look old. You buy a new sofa and it makes the rest of your furniture look tired. The bathroom countertop you just replaced makes the floor tile look like it was installed in 1974.

The best, money saving advice to avoid the “can of worms” phenomenon that I give my clients every day is to help them visualize in advance what the changes will look like and then be able to communicate that end resul’ to my clients. And it’s actually really easy to do, and EVERYONE should know these little magic words. . .

Source

It’s called Yesterday & Today

Standing in an oak kitchen, when a client once asked if I thought installing stainless steel backsplash tiles was a good idea I said “No, it will look like ‘new backsplash, old kitchen’ Yesterday, today all together.   

When you are shopping with your spouse and they pick up a tile or hardwood and randomly say “I like THIS ONE, SHOULDN’T I HAVE A SAY IN SOMETHING”. You can say “Will this make our bathroom/kitchen/living room look like yesterday and today all in one room? NO ONE likes that look. But this might help in the random purchases you make just because ‘you or someone else likes it’ not considering the look and feel it creates combined with everything else.

If you are not a design professional and you decide to do a little renovation in your 1992 home for example. You go out shopping and start looking in magazines to decide which look you like the best.  And then as I talked about here, you fall in love with everything trendy. And that’s all good.

Except when you try to install finishes from 2012 into your house that is 10, 20, 30 years old. And that opens a can of worms which can get really expensive if you don’t get the mix right.

So next time you are going to buy something new and incorporate it into your dated house ask yourself, ‘Will this look too much like yesterday and today all in one room?”.  And then buy something closer to the era of the space you are changing.

Download my eBook, It’s All in the Undertones. If you have a computer, you can download my book!

If you would like your home to fill you with happiness every time you walk in, contact me.

To make sure the undertones in your home are right, get some large samples!

If you would like to learn to how choose the right colours for your home or for your clients, become a True Colour Expert.

Related posts:

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So Much Easier to be a Critic than Create from Nothing

The 3 Most Important Words in a Consultation

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Hi, I'm Maria

I teach homeowners and designers how to choose timeless finishes and get colour right the first time—using my proven Killam Colour System®.

eDesign

Timeless

Neutral Undertones

Colour Trends

Bathrooms

Kitchens

Decorating Advice

know what works
and why

Life’s too short to live in a home you don’t love, and it’s too expensive to start from scratch when you don’t have to.

 Let me help you make confident colour decisions for every project in your home.

About Maria

Maria Killam is the leading authority on practical colour for real homes. A decorator, stylist, and the creator of the revolutionary Killam Colour System® and the Understanding Undertones® Neutral Colour Wheel.

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