After you’ve finished preparing them, it’s time to decide what type of paint you should apply to them. Chiefly, it comes down to whether you want to use traditional oil paint or the more modern and widely available latex paint. There are advantages and disadvantages to both, be sure to keep your circumstances and priorities in mind when selecting your paint.

Are your Cabinets Already Painted?

If your cabinets already have paint on them, this is a quick decision: use the same type of paint used to paint them the first time. Latex paints do not adhere well to the oil paint’s glossy surfaces, and vice versa; applying oil paints over latex paint could cause peeling, blistering, and uneven coverage.

A quick way to tell which type of paint is on your cabinets is the alcohol test. Simply rub a cotton ball soaked with rubbing alcohol over the area. If the color comes off, it’s latex paint. If it does not, it’s oil paint.

If you absolutely must use latex paint over oil paint or don’t know what type of paint is on your cabinets and want to use latex paint, it is crucial to properly prepare the cabinets and use 100% acrylic latex paint. Start by sanding them with fine-grit sandpaper, giving them a good scrub to remove debris, and priming them with a bonding primer formulated to stick to glossy and hard-to-paint surfaces. Then plan to apply at least two coats of the latex paint to your cabinets, allowing time for each layer to cure.

If your cabinets are paint-free, then you’ll only need to figure out if you want to use oil or latex paints.

Oil vs. Latex: Which one is Better?

Latex paint
For the most part, latex is the most convenient paint, as it dries in as little as one to two hours and can easily clean up with water. Latex is less likely to cause damage to your cabinets, even if they are composed of a more porous material such as MDF. Latex paint is also more widely available than oil paints. New varieties of latex paint are rapidly improving some of the more traditional durability problems. The major downside of latex paints is that they don’t provide the same finish oil paints do, and they can take up to two weeks to cure fully, leaving them susceptible to damage during that time.

Oil Paint
Oil Paint has a reputation for being easy to apply and boasting a very stunning finish that’s quite impressive when done right. Still, it contains much higher quantities of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and has the potential of causing some damage to your cabinets if applied recklessly. Oil paints also have a notorious reputation for taking extremely long periods of time to dry. It often takes a whole day before you can touch your cabinets again after applying the last coat of paint, which is clearly not very practical for most people.

VOC Content
There is a far more significant reason to choose latex over oil paints than just the respective time taken for the two to dry, however. As mentioned above, oil paints have high quantities of VOCs, while latex paints do not. The problem with VOC’s is that they can become a threat to your health in close contact with your food, cleaning equipment, and kitchen utensils.

There are no definitive studies that conclude that the use of oil-based paints in kitchens will become a health hazard for you. Still, there has been substantial documentation of high VOC levels causing minor conditions such as fatigue and eye irritation.

Yellowing is another problem for oil paints with a large VOC content. The color you chose becomes less crisp over time. The day that you first apply your fresh coat of oil paint is the day that your kitchen cabinets will have their sharpest finish, and afterward, you’ll only see a decline in their quality.

In contrast, latex paints with their relatively small VOC content are not linked to any history of ailments, nor have they been documented to wear over time in the same way that oil paints tend to do. Although traditional latex paints are typically less durable, they are designed to be easily cleaned and are not likely to be worn over time. More modern versions of latex paint, especially water-based ones, tend to have greater durability, but they still don’t compare with oil paints in terms of their ability to withstand scratches.

Overall the average consumer tends to go with latex paints, which pose a much lower health hazard to you, dry up quickly, and are quite affordable. Oil paints still have their use; however, if you’re insistent upon having that sharp finish that oil paints provide and don’t mind waiting for a full day before being able to access or use your cabinets again, then perhaps oil paints are a better choice for you.

For most people, though, in the overwhelming majority of possible circumstances, latex paints will prove to be the far better option, and I would personally strongly recommend opting for latex paints whenever possible for both convenience and safety’s sake.

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If you live in a multi-story house, you’ve probably had to deal with the unsightly view of that sizable, unused gap of space underneath your stairs. It’s something I’m sure we’ve all looked at and at least once wondered if there was a way to utilize it more effectively. The following are six intelligent ways to economize on that small bit of real estate starting now.

1. Build a Mini-Garden

If you can attach a small series of shelves, a few large shelves, or a tension rod underneath your stairs, you can add over a dozen different plants and flowers. Either placed within your shelves or hung from tension rods, plants can be a great way to add a bit of natural flair to your space. Not enough light in the area for plants? Look for low light or even artificial plants for the same effect.

2. Build a Small Bookcase

Bibliophiles rejoice! Like the first recommendation, if you can build a small series of shelves underneath your stairs, it becomes possible to store different items, and one of the best things you can place there is a nice and tidy set of books. Who doesn’t want to have their own little library after all? It can serve as an excellent reminder to you to read regularly and showcase your interests in a subtle way to your guests.

3. Build a Small Bar

Speaking of guests, if you often have company over to enjoy libations, why not convert that awkward space into an effective drink-dispensing area? Add a little stand, a few cabinets for storage, and maybe even a few stools if you have room. It’s a great option that might spark some interesting conversations and free up some space in another area of your home as well.

4. Store your Laundry Machines

Laundry machines are becoming increasingly smaller and more compact with every passing year. So why not take advantage of this fact and install your laundry machine right down below your stairs so that you can use the space you previously had for laundry machines for other purposes? This project, however, is a little more involved. Be sure to consult a professional about moving your laundry hookups before you get started.

5. Store your Wine

While storing wine in your basement is the more traditional, and dare I say the sophisticated thing to do, it might not be the most practical. If you’re not storing a literal ton of wine, the buildout on a full-sized temperature-controlled wine storage room might not be worth the cost. Maybe you’d rather have your wine cellar converted into a game room or used for any other purpose anyway. So, it’s worth at least considering utilizing that space underneath your stairs to store wine, even if you’ve always kept your wine elsewhere.

6. Make a Home Office

As more of us shorten our commute from 30 minutes in traffic to a walk down the hall while working from home, it can be challenging to find room for a dedicated home office. This simple solution involves hanging a wide, sturdy shelf to use as a desk and adding a chair that can move out of the way quickly when not in use. Adding decorative storage for your office supplies will help keep the space visually appealing and clutter-free.

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Well, there are several ways to approach this situation, all of which can help you both adjust to the new realities of cohabitation effectively and respectfully.

Does it Matter Whether We’ Blend Styles’ or Not?

Cohabitation is a massive undertaking for a relationship. It means that you’ll see the most private and most familiar aspects of the life of your significant other. While that can be a great boon to your relationship and real evidence that you two belong together, it can also be a source of much conflict if left unmitigated. You want to resolve as much of the possible tension that there is so that you have the smoothest experience as a cohabitating couple.

The most important aspect of this whole equation is learning how to compromise so that you both have the chance to get what you want without feeling like the other person has cheated you out of your style choices. For interior decoration, it can often seem like an enormous challenge to blend your styles.

Figuring Out What Stuff to Keep

The absolute first thing that you two should be working out what how to handle all of your stuff. Maybe you decide that your significant other has a better taste in living room furniture, but you have a better appreciation for how a shared bedroom should look. Perhaps you both realize that together you have too much stuff collectively to be accommodated in your shared habitation realistically. You have to decide how much of it you want to keep and maybe get rid of some of it or shift it to storage.

You’ll always have a finite amount of space in any living space that you can fill up with your belongings, so you must do this wisely and avoid cluttering your living spaces. Nothing good in excess remains good, so avoid cluttering your rooms with excess furniture and belongings.

The first step towards figuring out what stuff you want to keep is by taking an inventory of all of the items that each of you individually owns, whether its pillows, sheets, beds, and couches. Once you have everything written down, you should discuss with your significant other what items they are entirely unwilling to let go of and which ones you are committed to keeping.

If you cannot immediately reach a consensus on this, which is more plausible than not, you should start making trade-offs. For example, maybe you decide to give up your bed, but in exchange, your significant other gives up a couch that you don’t want. In this way, you’ll be able to economize your decisions and reach a working solution.

Focus on What you Share in Common

Even if you and your significant other have wildly differing tastes on most things, you’ll find that there are always at least a few similarities that you can emphasize. For example, maybe both of you are fans of wall art, and specifically, you both enjoy abstract paintings. That’s a similarity you can emphasize and make the first step in your interior decorating plan.
It’s always better to figure out the similarities first and then work out differences to know what you both want before you start talking about what you don’t.

Do this with every single aspect of your living space. Start with discussing basic ideas on what you and your partner want your shared living space to look like, and list all the little details. For the time being, ignore all of the differences you have and work on the similarities.

Make a whole list of similarities in taste and decide upon specifics. For example, following the abstract wall-art example, try to figure out with your significant other what kind of abstract wall art you’d want in your house. Would you prefer to have a splash of color, or is something in black & white more appropriate for your tastes? Like before, when you’re discussing the specifics, try to make trades.

Let’s say you find that maybe you both like abstract wall art, but you like colorful abstract art. At the same time, your significant other insists on black and white pencil sketches, and let’s also assume that you share a mutual interest in tapestries. Still, you prefer more historical themed tapestries, but your partner is a big fan of modern designs.

To resolve this, each of you should figure out which of these two things you value more and choose just one of them. You get the historical tapestry, but your partner gets to have his abstract pencil sketches.

As you can probably notice by now, a lot of figuring out how to decorate with another person lies in figuring out what you like the most, what they like the most, and how to make a practical compromise between the two of you.

How to Handle Disagreements

Now that we’ve gone over the happy bits where you and your partner largely agreed on things, and there were relatively few matters to compromise on, now it’s time to address the most critical part of the equation: How do you deal with differences?

At first, this might seem a little daunting, and perhaps you feel that there is no real way, despite all the other things you share in common, for the two of you to be able to work through your differences in taste when it comes to interior design. If that sounds like you, I think you’d be pleasantly surprised to know that it is possible.

Respect the Other Person

The first thing that you can do reconcile your differences is to use many more- basic styles and colors for your living space and incorporate pieces closer to being neutral than strictly aligning with your tastes. This will allow you to unify your living space’s overall look better and make it easier for each of you to adjust to the existence of a vastly different, and maybe conflicting, interior decorating style within the same living space.

The more important thing that you can do for each other is accept that there will be some matters on which you two can’t agree. It’s completely normal for this to happen, people’s tastes differ more than they align, and it is perfectly fine for you to have a different perspective than your partner. It is also crucial to understand that there are no strict “right” or “wrong” answers when picking out a decorating style.

So, the best solution for figuring out how to handle your disagreements is to draw a list of the most important things to you and your partner, respectively, and then begin negotiating once again. Like before, the basic principle of a negotiation is to figure out what things you value the most and trade those you like the least.

For example, you could end up deciding that you just won’t let the living room go out of your sphere of influence, and your significant other is incredibly passionate about how they want the bedroom to look. That’s fine, you can keep the living room, and your significant other can have the bedroom. This is how compromise is made. Each of you still get to keep what you value the most, and for that, you trade in what you like the least. It’s a rational process that leaves you both better off in the end than if either of you refuses to allow the other to have any say in the whole process.

Don’t Be too Hasty

The bit of advice that I’d like to give on this topic is to tell you that even if everything else comes together fine, one of the biggest mistakes you could make would be to try to do things too quickly. Take the process slowly and take time to figure out the other person and what they want.

Think twice before either of you decides what they want or don’t want, so there’s no chance either of you will have regrets. If you feel like you’re stuck on a particular matter, that’s okay. Just take a break and try again later with some much-needed clarity.

Hopefully, reading this article will have helped you develop a good understanding of how you should approach blending styles when you move in with your significant other.

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What Is Kindercore?
‘Kinder’ is the German word for children, and ‘core’ implies centrality, so, intuitively, one would assume that kindercore somehow relates to children, which is partially true. Kindercore is essentially a décor aesthetic that can only be described as a more intense version of minimalism. The central tenant of Kindercore is the idea that the home décor involves using a lot of primary colors and simplistic but complete furnishings.

It’s not hard to see why a décor trend around these lines has developed in the early twenty-first century when economic stresses and a general feeling that pragmatism triumphs over decoration have become increasingly pronounced.

The three main elements of Kindercore furnishings are as follows:

Primary Colors
Kindercore furnishings will utilize an almost excess of blue, red, and green to the point that this type’s furnishings almost resemble kindergarten classrooms. This effect is entirely intentional. It’s intentionally designed to provide this sort of impact with the idea that familiarity with a kindergarten classroom will provide a much-needed relief from stress and an incredible feeling of serenity to individuals. Primary colors do set a very powerful and energetic tone that Kindercore fully intends to utilize.

Chubby Furnishings
A lot of kindercore furniture and furnishings will have a very chubby and glossy appearance, often with rounded edges and exaggerated features. This is also intended to provide the same sense of comfortable familiarity that the primary colors create.

If you were to look at Kindercore furniture and furnishings, it would not be unreasonable to assume that all of it was intended for children. But no, it is entirely age-appropriate for adults and intended for adult use. Undoubtedly, the rise of these chubby dimensions is also attributable primarily to modern people becoming increasingly pessimistic about life and looking back to more care-free times.

Simplicity
Think back to when you were in kindergarten; the odds are that you probably didn’t have many gadgets, computers, or video game consoles. Kindercore tries to replicate that same level of simplicity through a minimalist approach with furnishings.

Whether you love it or hate it, KinderCore has become one of the biggest new décor and design trends in 2020. With its exaggerated proportions, chubby architecture, staple use of the primary colors, and a strong emphasis on simplicity, Kindercore is a way for people to find the comfortable familiarity of their childhood in the context of their home décor.

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Use Color Strategically

It’s been well-researched and understood that color has strong and immediate psychological effects on people, including influencing their mood and motivation levels. For example, red correlates with energy and danger, so painting a room red or including a few furniture items in red can make your employees feel energetic and alert. Red is especially advantageous in a space where people are as enthusiastic and active as possible for work performance. But can lead possibly to an increased level of mental fatigue and disagreements between coworkers.

In contrast, blue provides a calming effect that makes people relax and induces them to think more strategically. Blue also inspires trust, promoting teamwork within your company. Blue is a perfect color to have in meeting rooms since it will serve as a gentle reminder to everyone present to think first before saying or doing anything.

Similarly, other colors such as green and orange also have psychological effects on people and make them feel more relaxed. Ideally, you want to take full advantage of human psychology and make sure that each room has a color that is the most strategically useful for its purpose. Selecting color based on psychology might require a bit of planning, but the result will make a difference.

Incorporate Nature

Adding to the idea of color psychology, plants also serve as a very effective way to provide psychological calm to an individual. The color green is associated with nature and relaxation, so having green plants can be a compelling but subtle way to maintain an environment of relaxed nerves and cool heads in your office.

Compounding their color, plants also benefit from being a source of relaxation by themselves. Being within the vicinity of plants reminds people of nature and allows them to feel connected with nature despite being inside the office building.

Add Art

Art can be a brilliant source of inspiration for individuals at home or in the office. Within offices, it can be essential for creating an inspirational environment. Hanging a few pieces of large wall art can very quickly add interest and inspire employees. It can be a brilliant way to improve your company’s overall morale.

The type of art you use matters too. Having a portrait of an inspirational leadership figure in your office, whether it’s George Washington, Napoleon Bonaparte, or any other famous leadership figure, can have a powerful impact on your employees’ sense of your company’s seriousness and the strength of its leadership. While adding more whimsical types of art can keep things from getting too serious and provide a better environment for creativity.

Don’t Block the Exits

Keeping the entry and exit points of your establishment clear should seem obvious. Still, you’ll see many businesses place desks, plants, and other things far too close to their doors in attempts to maximize their space. Even if you aren’t breaking the fire code, clutter makes it harder to navigate, especially in an entry where the people who enter might not be familiar with your office. When determining how much clear space to allow in front of an entrance or exit, think about how many people will be in the area at one time. The more people moving in and out of your office, the more clear space you will need. A chaotic entry or exit point can ruin an otherwise perfectly functional office space.

Optimize Lounge Seating

A seating lounge for your employees is a must-have for any business, and it can have a powerful effect on your company’s overall morale. One fascinating modern trend that has developed over the past few years has been the rise of café-Esque aesthetics and more casual furniture in office lounge spaces.

The reason for this is that culturally we are assumed to be in a more relaxed state when we’re in the presence of furniture that we associate with positive places such as restaurants and cafes. As such, choosing to introduce a café-style seating lounge in your company can dramatically increase the positive association that your employees have with your company, which will increase their overall productivity.

Many modern businesses have already begun adopting this approach. Whether it is cafe-style seating or anything else that instantly evokes the happiness or relaxation typically experienced outside of the office, it has had documented positive effects. The employee seating lounge is the perfect opportunity to think out of the box and create a space that shows your employees that you appreciate them.

Layer the Lighting

Good lighting is an absolute must for any space. It doesn’t matter how beautiful your furniture is, how intricately you’ve set up a gallery wall or how you’ve strategically chosen the colors perfect for your rooms; lack of adequate lighting will ruin all of it in its entirety. A simple way to ensure ample lighting in any space, but especially a workspace, is to layer the light—mix natural light from windows with overhead lighting, wall sconces, and lamps.

A well-lit space can energize your employees throughout the day, increasing productivity and boosting their mood naturally. Alternately, being in a poorly lit area for long periods can be depressing and can have an adverse effect on your employees’ productivity and health. They might find it impossible to complete their tasks in the absence of sufficient light. It is also important to mention that having too much light in your office can also have adverse side effects. Consider adding desk lamps to give your employees more control of the light in their immediate area.

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Carpets come in various textures, styles, qualities, and the trickiest of all: colors. Deciding on the right color for any home décor, whether its wall paint, furniture color, or anything else, can be a challenging affair. Usually, you can’t truly visualize how something will look in your home after seeing it in a store. How you perceive a color will depend on the lighting, surrounding furniture, and the rest of the room’s overall aesthetic. For instance, you might not want to have a blue carpet in a room with pink painted walls, but you might like a blue carpet in a room with white walls.

The following tips and advice should help you figure out what color is the best for your room.

Select the Rest of your Décor First

Ideally, you want every part of your home décor to match in some way or to follow a cohesive theme. Most people’s source of frustration with their carpet is color. More specifically, the fact that the carpet color doesn’t match their furniture. So, before you start working on what color you want your carpets to be, you should figure out what the rest of your décor will look like, especially large-ticket items like your furniture.

Since sofas and sectionals have the least diversity in terms of color availability and often have the most visual weight in the room, I recommend starting there if you’re carpeting a living room. Once you’ve selected your seating, it’s time to choose your carpeting.

It may seem like the next logical step is to choose wall paint color because the walls take up the most space in the room, but do not make this mistake. Paint has the most diversity of available colors, much more than carpet or furniture. It will be much easier to match your paint to your carpet color than vice versa.

If the room you are selecting carpet for is a bedroom, then carpet color should come first. This advice may seem to contrast the method of choosing furniture first, but bedding and wall colors can be most easily adjusted. The principle remains the same, to start with those elements that have the least variety and match them with the most adjustable ones.

Neutral vs. Bright Colors

Think back to every carpet that you’ve ever seen in any environment, ever. You’ll probably notice some similarities in terms of color. The overwhelming majority of carpets tend to be very neutral or muted colors, while bright colors are scarce. For example, you may find a brightly colored carpet in a kindergarten classroom, but you won’t often see it in someone’s home.

There’s a good reason for this; neutral-colored carpets sell the most because they’re most appealing due to neutrals’ versatile nature. Also, bright colors tend to put people on alert and unsettle us due to their overwhelming appearance. Think about celebrity red carpets, for example. When you look at them, they instantly cause feelings of intense excitement and energy. While those feelings are appropriate for an event, having a red carpet in your living room might be a little extreme for your everyday lifestyle.

As there are almost always exceptions to rules, certain rooms practically beg for bright, bold colors, even on the carpeting. Any room geared towards children, or the kindercore movement (see article), can have colorful yet appropriate carpets. Stylized rooms, such as a Baroque-era inspired bedroom with glamorous, rich red carpets, also break this rule beautifully. And, if you are genuinely passionate about turning your floors into the ultimate statement piece, there are always decorative workarounds, which, while they may be time consuming and expensive, are still possible. Just know ahead of time what you are signing up for if you choose bright carpet.

Assess the Activity Level in the Room

Your lifestyle has a substantial impact on the kind of color that’s most appropriate for any room. White carpets, while gorgeous upon installation, will get dirty. Consider white carpet for a formal space, mainly used to entertain the occasional guest, to provide a nice clean appearance. The alternative is to invest in a high-quality carpet that can withstand lots of extra cleaning and stain guard treatments if you want white carpet in some of the more often used rooms in your home.

For a busy living room with kids and plenty of intermixing and socializing people, white carpets may not be the best choice. Darker colors naturally hide stains much better than lighter ones, so it will be easier to maintain lighter colors in rooms where you don’t expect much activity and darker ones in high traffic areas. However, dark colors can make your space look smaller. If you already have a small room or want the feeling of a bigger space, many light carpets have intentional flecks of color to help hide dirt and stains between deep cleanings.

While these are the general guidelines for choosing a color for your carpeting, carpet is intended to make your space comfortable. My advice is to choose a color that brings you comfort and joy. If you like it, it is the right choice. Some choices require more maintenance, and some require a little more creative elbow grease to make them fit into your vision. Still, as long as you know the challenges, you will be prepared and pleased with the result.

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