DIY Ideas To Transform Your Backyard for Summer Gatherings
Summer’s here, and that means backyard barbecues, casual hangouts, and nights filled with laughter. It’s the perfect season to enjoy your outdoor space, but if it’s looking a little tired or uninspired, don’t worry. A few clever upgrades...
How To Create a Thriving Backyard Garden Oasis
There’s something truly special about stepping into your backyard and being greeted by the sights, sounds, and scents of a flourishing garden. Creating a thriving backyard garden oasis blends nature’s beauty with your personal touch, offering a space to...
Ideas for How to Create a Comfortable Outdoor Living Space
Create a Comfortable Outdoor Space Creating a comfortable outdoor living space is a wonderful way to extend your home’s living area. Whether you have a small balcony, a spacious patio, or a sprawling backyard, incorporating elements that promote relaxation and...
Creating the Ultimate Outdoor Living Space: Extend your home
By creating an outdoor living space that feels like an extension of your home, you can increase both its coziness and value. Your personal style can shine through in any sized outdoor area with the right design choices for creating an inviting living space. With just...
How to Use Color Psychology to Transform Your Home Design
Color has a remarkable way of changing how a room feels and how people respond to it. From cozy and calming spaces to bold and energetic ones, the shades you choose can set the mood, influence your behavior, and even change how you feel at home. That’s why...
7 Ideas to Create a Stylish and Functional Home Office
Last year I took on the challenge of converting an old bedroom into a functional home office. Creating a work space that’s both beautiful and practical can be a tough process. For a while now, my home office had been in a catch-all room. Fulfilling many...
How to Use Awkward Spaces in Your Home and Make Them Stand Out
When you move into a home, you take the good with the quirky. And while you might not renovate every odd feature, you can find creative ways to make it work. Many homes–especially older ones, even after renovations–have odd little corners, tiny alcoves, or...
5 Renovation Mistakes to Avoid at All Costs
Updating your home can ease tension, boost its value, and refresh the overall look—but without the right plan, it’s easy to run into costly mistakes and wasted time. 5 Renovation Mistakes to Avoid Let’s break down five renovation mistakes that...
21 Inspiring Scandinavian Front Porch Ideas: Add Curb Appeal
Scandinavian Front Porch Ideas Old man winter is never kind to a home’s exterior. Walking around my house at this time of year and seeing all the work that needs to be done, can be a bit daunting. But the very first task I always take on is my front porch. After...
5 Easy Living Room Layout Ideas That Actually Work
Let’s be honest—designing a living room layout can feel like one big puzzle. You want it to feel cozy, look pulled together, and still function for everything from movie nights to chatting with friends. But sometimes, no matter how many times we...
7 Reasons Why Your Home Doesn’t Feel Cohesive and What to Do
Have you ever stepped into a room in your own home, taken a look around, and felt a nagging sense that something just wasn’t right? You have all the right pieces—a comfy sofa, a stylish coffee table, those eye-catching throw pillows—but instead of...
4 Practical Kitchen Considerations for Your Renovation
Home renovations are always an exciting project to jump into. Allowing your creativity to run free as you create a space that is perfectly tailored to every need of your family is so much fun. If you’re looking into a potential kitchen renovation in the coming...
How to Decorate a Bookshelf Without Feeling Overwhelmed
Overwhelm and intimidation. These are the 2 emotions that often arise for people when they’re attempting to decorate a bookshelf. Are you one of these people? All you can see are the empty shelves with no clear direction on how to fill them. While there is an...
The Perfect Curtain Length and Height for Every Room
Have you ever hung a pair of curtains, stepped back, and thought, Hmm… something feels off? Maybe they look too short, making your windows seem tiny. Or maybe they’re hung too low, making the whole room feel squatty and unbalanced. The truth is, finding...
9 Hotel Bedroom Ideas to Make Your Room Feel Like a Boutique
If you’ve ever stayed at a five-star hotel, you know how amazing their bedrooms are. The crisp white linens, plush pillows, and elegant decor create a space that exudes relaxation and comfort. But why limit yourself to experiencing this level of luxury only on...
9 Dining Room Design Mistakes You Might Be Making (And How to Fix Them)
A well-designed dining room isn’t just about having a table and chairs—it’s about creating a space that feels inviting, functional, and visually balanced. However, some common design mistakes can make your dining room feel cramped, uninviting, or...
Easy How to Make a Modern DIY Planter Box
We love our neighbors, but also love to have some privacy when sitting out on our patio/pergola area. Last summer, I built an easy DIY planter box and filled it with the perfect plants to keep away mosquitos, while also adding some seclusion…. Buying a wooden or...
How to Care for Your Favorite Furniture
If your sofa could talk, it would probably beg you to stop dropping pizza crumbs between the cushions and to finally wash that throw blanket that’s been “decorative” since 2017. We tend to overlook our furniture’s feelings—yes,...
5 Essentials Every Entryway Needs for Function and Style
What is the first space your guests’ enter when they walk through your front door? Whether you have a grand or small entryway, you only have one chance to make a great first impression. Entryways tend to be a magnet for clutter. But it doesn’t have to be...
How to Brighten a Dark Room: Simple & Stylish Solutions
Do you have a room in your home that always feels dark and dreary, no matter the time of day? Many homes have spaces that struggle with natural light. But the good news is, there are plenty of ways to brighten a dark room without a full remodel. Let’s dive into...
11 Easiest Indoor Plants to Keep Alive
What are the easiest indoor plants to keep alive? Let’s find out! Are you someone who loves the idea of houseplants but fears you might not have a green thumb? That was me a few years ago. I pitied any plant I ever received as a gift, because I could pretty much...
How Easy It Is to Add Greenery to Your Home
I have a rule when it comes to decorating a room. Every space needs a touch of green. And the best way to add green is to add greenery to your home. Whether it’s through indoor plants, fresh flowers or faux plants, bringing the outside in will always brighten up...
24 Interior Design Mistakes You Can Easily Fix
Interior Design Mistakes that can be easily fixed I don’t have an eye for decorating. I don’t know what looks good together. It’s too overwhelming. Does this tend to be your mantra when it comes to creating a space you love within your home?...
How to Best Arrange a Living Room with TV and Fireplace
Finding the perfect furniture layout for a sitting room can be tricky. Determining the right place for your furniture while ensuring your fireplace is the center of attention, is key. And then the question comes in…where do I place my TV? Do I opt for a...
The Only Color Palette You Need for a Cohesive Home in 2025
Every year, I love curating a color palette that sets the tone for my design vision. For 2025, I’ve put together a selection of 7 stunning shades. These beautiful colors create a warm, inviting, and sophisticated home. If you’re looking for the best home...
11 Top Interior Design Colors That Are Timeless for 2025
The easiest and least expensive change you can ever make to your home interior is paint. Like every other trend, interior design colors are here today, gone tomorrow. But thankfully, paint is cheap when considering all other design elements. And so easy to change....
13 Top Kitchen Design Trends for 2025
Trends come and go like the weather. And kitchen design trends are no exception. Having just remodeled my kitchen not too long ago, and then finding out that some of the features of my kitchen are on their way out, could be very discouraging. But honestly, who...
13 Top Home Decor Trends That are Timeless for 2025
Google pretty much any home decor trends coming in 2025 and you’ll find articles that say they’re “in” and articles that say they’re “out.” What does this mean? It’s all in the eye of the beholder. And once again, goes...
9 Top Kitchen Paint Colors in 2025 for Walls and Cabinets
Just like fashion trends come and go, so do paint colors. But when it comes to updating the paint color in your kitchen, you’ll want to choose one that is timeless. What is the perfect paint color that won’t have me regretting my decision and painting my...
9 Top Kitchen Hardware Trends for Cabinets in 2025
What are the top kitchen hardware trends of 2025? Kitchen cabinet hardware is one of the least expensive changes you can make to a kitchen. Easily transforming a dated, drab kitchen to a modern, beautiful one. When remodeling my kitchen a couple years ago, shopping... The Best Dark and Moody Paint Colors for Your Home in 2025
Dark grays, earthy greens, rich blue tones. Can’t you just feel the warmth and coziness these dark colors exude? Moody paint colors are all the rage in the interior design world right now. And I am all in! I was made for this era. These colors give me all the...
7 Best Tips to Effectively Organize Your Home In 2025
Do you get anxious at just the very thought of organizing your home? Maybe you look around and all you see is clutter and so much stuff. But trying to figure out where to even begin is too overwhelming. So, like most people, you put it off and think, I’ll do...
9 Modern Design Ideas for Stairs and Railing Trends in 2025
Ever since I was a little girl, I have been drawn to unique staircases. My dream was a grand staircase ascending on two sides to meet in the middle and continue to the second floor. Just like fashion trends evolve, so do trends in home design. Staying in the loop, is...
Expanding Your Home Without Renovations? Consider This
It’s easy to think of a home extension as a tangible addition of size to the property. Because in most cases, that’s what people mean by the term. But not every homeowner has the means or permission to extend their home as and how they’d like....
4 Easy Ideas for DIY Woodworking Projects
Eager to create something beautiful with your own hands? Woodworking is a fantastic hobby that rewards you with custom pieces for your home. Explore these four easy ideas for DIY woodworking projects… Why Woodworking? Woodworking sparks creativity and enhances...
Easy How to Extend Kitchen Cabinets to the Ceiling
I have been wanting to extend my kitchen cabinets to the ceiling for quite some time now. With a ceiling height of 8 feet in our kitchen, we don’t exactly have high ceilings. But that dead space above our wall cabinets has bugged me in the recent years. Open...
Exploring Different Kitchen Styles to Find the Right One
When it comes to designing your dream kitchen, finding the perfect style is key. The kitchen is not just a place for preparing meals; it’s the heart of the home, where memories are made and shared. But with so many different kitchen styles to choose from, how do...
Home Updates to Enhance Comfort and Value
Updating your home can transform it into a more beautiful, functional, and energy-efficient space while also increasing its value. Simple upgrades, such as fresh paint or more specialized changes, like adding screens to your windows, can make a significant difference...
How Organic Modern Paint Colors Bring Warmth to My Home
A question I get asked about often are the paint colors in my home. To make things easy, I thought I would break down each room and share all of the colors I’ve used throughout my home. From the primary wall color, to the accent colors, to the sheen I’ve...
Hi! I'm Nicole
Interior Designer. Fearless DIYer. Sharing interior design tips and building project tutorials. Let’s design and build something beautiful together. For more design tips, projects and behind the scenes, follow me @designtobuild.nicole
More About Me