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Where should I splurge when designing my home? What’s the best white paint color? Can I mix patterns?
Your girl APRIL TOMLIN is BACK! And she’s dishing her BEST TIPS on how to make your home feel like YOU.
AND! She’s letting you in on a HUGE announcement first! Seriously – she hasn’t announced this anywhere else yet – and I couldn’t be more excited!
April is the owner and founder of April Tomlin Interiors – an in demand design business known for their texturized and distinctive style plus A-list clientele.
She also just so happened to help me design my store here in Nashville!
In Season 1, April’s episode was one of your favorite episodes – so obviously I had to bring her back for Season 2!
We chat about:
- April’s surprising passion behind interiors
- Answering Her #1 Question: How She got into interior design
- How she finds her rhythm of motherhood and business ownership (+and what her sacrifices look like right now)
And of course I’m asking YOUR questions! Take a look below!
DESIGN FAQ:
Trends that are coming in??
So trends that are coming in are these color block tiles. They were used a long time ago and now they’re making them in the squares, you’ll see a white square and then like a tan square. Tile in kitchens and tile in general on the floors is making a huge comeback – where before it was all wood and now tile is really making plays and floors right now.
What is your go-to white wall? And do we keep the baseboard the door, the doorframe all the same color like just one blank canvas?
Yes – And one of my favorites is great Villa. If you want a warmer tone, it’s pure white by Sherwin-Williams Greenville is one of my top, top.
If you’re going to paint your door not white, which we do all the time, we’re doing a lot of Sandbar on the doors right now. It kind of feels like the same as a natural wood, like in that color palette, but on the paint side.
And if you do paint a door, you do not paint the trim around the door. Keep the trim around the door, the same as the wall color.
Where do you start when you’re just updating your decor?
For sure – Paint. And I’d 100% hire a painter.
When building a home, what would you splurge on?
Windows – I like direct set window style. That’s the cleaner, sleeker, more simple look.
How do you hide cables and boxes and all that TV equipment?
I suggest Velcro’ing them to the backs of the TVs. If you’re building a house, we cut out the drywall and inset the boxes into the wall. Or get white cords and use decor pieces to hide it.
How do you make a small room feel bigger?
Most of the time when people say I’ve got a small space, it’s because they have a lighting issue and the lighting issue is the problem, not the size. Use big art, smaller beds, that sort of thing if it’s a bedroom. But most of the time, what people are saying is my room is not well lit and it’s small.
And if that’s the case, you might as well go dark, do the drapes, do the lamps and the lights and make it feel moody because then you get like a vibey or small cooler space than just and you don’t notice that it’s poorly lit.
How do you warm up a space?
Greek Villa actually does warm it up just a little bit just to start there. I actually did lime wash my own hood that we just built in our house and that is definitely a technique to warm up. It’s going to look like plaster, but it’s actually paint.
HOW TO LIME WASH: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVLO7WdHkO8
How to display family photos in a way that works with the rest of the room?
I typically do the 10×10 frame and I do a 5×5 print. I do it in almost every home I do.
I was also going to do this in my home, but I noticed a gap – so I went floor to ceiling down the hall and around the corner. If you go this route, leave 4-5 inches at top and bottom.
How to mix patterns?
Mixing patterns is something that you’re going to have to work at – it’s not usually something that comes naturally.
I think if you stay neutral: medium or small-scale patterns can be mixed with literally almost anything. If you get into the bigger patterns, to me, they can come off a little cheesy-ish. But if you want something big and cool, I would do a wallpaper with a very small pattern or no pattern and just provide texture over it. Then I would play up your pillows. I think that would be the safest bet.
Keep everything in the same color family or keep it neutral. If you want it to be transitional, you have to be really cognizant of pattern.
Remember: Neutral, medium, and small.
How to combine styles when moving in together?
If you are a new wife or you’re trying to convince your husband or something, the best thing that I can say to you is take the time to pull together imagery and thinking through it and then talking to him about it.
There are pictures all over the internet, literally everywhere that you can find that you feel might represent you both. So the first thing I would do is set that in front of him and say, ‘Hey, which one of these do you like?’ And give him the ability to participate if he cares.
And remember: It’s not ‘Your furniture against my furniture.’ It’s ‘Let’s get this image.’
You can keep some of this stuff for a while because well, affordability. But if eventually you want to have this look, assess the furniture pieces that fit in and the ones that don’t. So over time, you can eliminate these pieces and strategically bring in piece after piece until eventually over the years, you’ve accumulated that look.
How do we get the rug size right?
Amazon actually does have some like 10 x 14 rugs that are neutral, which will usually cover a living room space just fine.
But if you’re not in that position, you can also do two rugs. So if you need a 16 x 10, then you can do two, 5 x 8, if they’re neutral and you bump them up and you put a table over the middle. Or sometimes I’ll even divide out the seating to where it is obvious that it’s two rugs and I’ll put the sofa and my two side tables and two little Ottomans on one rug – and then the two chairs and then another coffee table and some ottomans on the other rug.
