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Home Design Secrets: Top Tips from Seattle’s Experts

Seattle’s top designers on how to get the home you love

Dynamic Decor Dramatic contrasts in color and pattern infuse this Bellevue living room by Brio Design with a bright energy that supplements the natural light in the space

This article originally appeared in the October 2016 issue of Seattle magazine.

Whether you’re a longtime homeowner or just signed the lease to your first apartment, transforming any space from an address to a personal abode can be daunting. In many areas of the Pacific Northwest, there are also the particular challenges of light, space and yes—gray— that interior designers must contend with. To help, we reached out to the city’s experts for advice on everything from maximizing daylight to making your space more eco-friendly.

They shared their secrets for turning any house, on any budget, into a dream home.

LIGHTING

Illuminating Ideas for Interior Design

The Right Shade of White for Every Room

The ABCs of LEDs

Seven Lamps We Love Right Now

KITCHENS

Tips and Tricks to Brighten Your Northwest Kitchen

Four Great Kitchen Style Ideas

GREEN DESIGN

The Styles of Green Building

ROOFTOP DESIGN

The Call for a Practical Rooftop Living Space

HOME ORGANIZATION

Melissa Michaels on Simplifying and Organizing

Nine Principles of Feng Shui That Bring Balance to Your Home

Rebecca West on How Happy Starts at Home

Rebecca West’s Essentials for Containing Clutter

DIGITAL DESIGN

Two Local Design Sites With Great Redecorating Ideas

 

Can Alaska Kelp Help Washington Crops Beat the Heat?

Can Alaska Kelp Help Washington Crops Beat the Heat?

A Ketchikan company is working with WSU researchers to see whether its kelp-based biostimulant can help grapes and berries withstand environmental stress.

From the floatplane, reddish-brown kelp traces the edges of the small islands between Ketchikan and Prince of Wales Island like brushstrokes on the surface of the water. Up close, on a rare 70-degree July day in Alaska, the kelp is glossy and beautiful, though the wind coming off the water makes it nearly impossible to…

PlantCon Is Coming for Seattle’s Windowsills

PlantCon Is Coming for Seattle’s Windowsills

The nation’s largest gathering for houseplant lovers makes its Pacific Northwest debut this August with 200 booths, hands-on workshops, and a DJ.

My house is full of plants, enough that I’ve lost count. Houseplants have the same suspicious math as tattoos: One is rarely the final number. I propagate cuttings in jars of water, regularly rearrange corners of the house in pursuit of better light, and like to imagine the entire collection is improving the air. That…

Noir Lux Lights Up Fourth Avenue

Noir Lux Lights Up Fourth Avenue

The Seattle candle brand’s new two-level pop-up brings workshops and community gatherings downtown through September.

It’s often said that good things come in threes, and for Colina Bruce, founder of the lifestyle and home fragrance brand Noir Lux, that’s certainly proving true. With a flagship shop in Belltown and an outpost in Ballard, Bruce is rounding out a Noir Lux trio with the opening of the Noir Lux Collective on…

Better Together: This Take on Co-Housing Emphasizes Quality and Community

Better Together: This Take on Co-Housing Emphasizes Quality and Community

The Seattle project presents an out-of-the-box model, where investors are also residents, and the design focuses on longevity and tenant retention—not profit.

Growing up in rural Detroit, Chad Dale spent many after-school and weekend hours playing with neighborhood kids in an open lot near his house. It’s an experience he always hoped his children would have someday, but by the time he became a father in Seattle, land was at a premium: either already developed or prohibitively…