WHAT IS TRANSITIONAL DESIGN?

Transitional Design is a careful, well thought out blend of many styles of Interior Design. It is an eclectic blend of the past and the future. It is the marrying of what was before and what is now, and you can have it all! Your great grandmother’s dresser, yes! That painting that made your heart skip a beat when you were traveling in Europe, yes! The mid-century modern set of chairs you picked up at a flea market, yes! You can even have that trendy floral printed ottoman that you’ve been eying at Target while shopping for the family! The question is, how? How do you blend all of these styles and make it all look chic and put together? How do you make the color of the wood on your great grandmother’s dresser go with the wood color of your mid-century modern chairs? Do the wood tones need to match? Do you need to choose between the two? What happens when the colors in the painting, although you love them all, aren’t really what you want for the whole space you are trying to decorate? I am here to answer all of your transitional design questions!

Let’s go back for a few minutes. You should be asking yourself, why do I have my grandmother’s dresser? Why have I kept that fabulous set of mid-century modern chairs for so long? What moved me when I bought that painting while strolling the streets of Europe? Why a floral printed ottoman? Why? If you take a minute and ponder these questions, you will come up with a surprising answer. Think. You love a LOT of things in the design world. You are touched by the color of a beautiful old wood tone, you are intrigued by searching and collecting pieces that make your heart sing! YOU are one of a kind! Trends are fun, but YOU are deeper than that, YOU breathe to surround yourself with beautiful things that you have collected throughout your lifetime. I am not talking about a flea market look, I am speaking about Transitional Design! Your unique transition of style and living!

Now that you know this, and you are living in a little bit of chaos with all of these things around you, what are you going to do about it? You don’t want it to look like a mis-matched array of garage sale finds. You hate that you love the “things” but not the combined look. You feel a little intimidated because all over Instagram and Pinterest the beautiful homes seem like they are either farm-house style, very modern, or so Tuscan that you want to cry out, “NO!!!!!!!!” The designs you are scrolling through look so put together, so lovely, so “designed!” You want that. You want your home to feel put together, but you don’t know where to start! You need help and I am here to give it to you!

Let’s take an inventory first. Literally, take an inventory. How is your home functioning? You must start with function. Be sure that you know how you live. Do you need additional pieces to make your home more functional? Are you comfortable living there? Forget how it looks for right now. How are you living? Is your sofa comfy? What about your bed? Do you need more seating? What about the rest of your family? Do you need more storage? Help! Let’s work through this transitional re-design while working in individual spaces. I use MyDoma Studio for this in my Interior Design Firm, but you can literally use a sheet of paper for each space in your home and put it in a 3-ring binder. Go ahead, brain dump how things are functioning in each and every room in your house. Make a list of needs. (not wants at this point, functioning needs only.)

Now that you have your list of functioning needs for your space, (remember we are working in individual rooms right now, so you will repeat this for every room) you are ready to get to work! Look around, can you re-invent grandma’s dresser as a foyer table and put a lamp on it so that people have a place to drop their keys on the way into to house? Can that floral ottoman sit next to that dresser so that someone could take their shoes off there in the foyer? OOOh! Now you need one of those bohemian baskets for shoes next to that ottoman or better yet, could you find a shallow one that could be slid under the dresser and pulled out like a drawer when needed? Now the function is starting to be fun, isn’t it? But you are asking, how is this all transitional deisgn? It is transitional design, because it is all working like a beautiful ballet with 3 acts. You are only on act one my love! Keep going!

photo cred: architectural digest/belle vivir

So, let’s say that your foyer runs into your living room and we were just focusing on your foyer right? Where will you put that collected painting? How about a gallery wall? What if that collected painting you’ve kept for years found a home amidst many collected pieces? What if, I’m just making a suggestion… What if you were a collector of art? A transitional designer of collected art? It feels good, doesn’t it? You feel your wings starting to open and believe that you could do this! I give you permission to embrace your inner transitional being, love who you are, own it! (give yourself a hug!) There is nothing wrong with you, you are just not the typical, modern farmhouse girl, or the Tuscan tiara wearing design lover, or even, the ultra modern design enthusiast. YOU are transitional. You transition on how your loves evolve throughout your journey here on this earth. You can’t be put into a design box and told that “this” is your style and you’re are stuck there! I get you, many of my clients feel this way, and I help them know and understand that they are not alone. You are not alone!

Let’s move on to 5 key points that will help your transition into Transitional Design! (LOL!)

1. Keep what you love, don’t get rid of it just because you think you need to be a “style.” YOU are your style, own that! (Your style is “Transitional” and you are sticking to it!

2. Get rid of anything that is not functioning for your space or ANYTHING that you hate! Yeah, say goodbye to those hand me down nightstands that never made your heart sing!

3. Create function first. Take notes on the things the space needs to function.

4. Look at your things from another set of eyes. You are now a transitional designer, how can that piece you’ve kept for years serve you in a different way?

5. Give yourself permission to let it flow and come together naturally. You are not a Pinterest Board or Instagram account! YOU are YOU! Be YOU!

Moving on! Here are 5 additional tips to help you create that Transitional Designed look in your home:

1. Use Wallpaper to combine rooms or spaces. Yes, this is my best trick! Wallpaper can make spaces look cohesive for very little money. You can purchase wallpaper just about anywhere! I use Thibaut.com exclusively in my interior design firm. Contact me for a special discount, be sure to mention this article.

2. Paint your walls all the same color. Please no feature walls in a crazy color that just makes everything look cheap! Let your paint color be calming so that your beautiful old and new pieces can shine! My favorite paint color is Dunn Edwards: Shady. It’s a grayish beige. This color is THE most forgiving on the planet, just use it, I promise it will solve all of your painting dilemmas.

3. Carefully choose where you are using color. You don’t want an explosion of color everywhere, let it just be in a few places. I love color as much as the next person, but transitional design is a carefully curated look and that includes where you are using color. Don’t be afraid of it, but be deliberate!

4. Be a collector of textures. Fuzzy, weathered, glass, metallic, gold, silver, soft, leathered, all textures are invited!

5. Adopt a mindset of “can.” YOU can do this, you just need to get out of your own way! Although the flow of transitional design to embeded in your soul! Remember, YOU are not an Instagram feed or a Pinterest Board, YOU are YOU!

Learning about what Transitional Design is and how to get that look is a process, so go, take the time and enjoy the journey! If help is needed along the way, check out my website here: https://www.funkituplasvegas.com/

Kim Johnson Owner: Funk It Up Interiors

702-560-5940

Kimjohnson@funkitupinteriors.com