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Chapter 1: Styling in 8 Simple Steps: A step-by-step system that will get you styling like a professional in no time.
You know the saying: If you want to whip your house into shape or even just get the place clean, throw a party! For some reason, hosting a bash has the power to evoke styling inspiration in each of us. It seems that as soon as you decide to invite people over, you suddenly have the eyes of a designer, the spirit of a magician, and the energy of third-graders on a playground -- or at least you wish you did!
Why does the mere prospect of throwing a party excite us into action after we've gone weeks or months without so much as buying new dish towels for the kitchen? For one thing, most of us are energized by the challenge of creating a special environment for a special occasion, for nothing gets a party going like the right atmosphere. For another, once you decide to have a party, the drive kicks in to make it a standout -- something to talk about. Not only do we want our guests to have a great time, we also hope that at the end of the evening they'll walk away with smiles on their faces and say, "What a party! What a house! How does she do it?" But perhaps most importantly, fixing up the home in anticipation of guests is a creative act, an avenue of personal expression. And that's what styling for entertaining is all about.
Styling for Entertaining will help you develop your own personal style so you can entertain more with less effort, enjoy every moment to the fullest, and reap the many benefits of living in a welcoming, creative space. Everyone has their own story about why they entertain less than they'd like. Mine was that I began a demanding new career at about the same time that I became a mom. Wow, did things change! One of my largest styling dilemmas was the dining room, which I'd converted into a playroom for the baby. Hmm, where to put grown-up people wanting something to eat? I had previously co-owned two restaurants, so the utter absence of a dining table presented a whole new challenge. My child's needs unquestionably came first, but I still wanted to entertain. I needed to streamline and simplify -- reduce the stress, get maximum effect from a minimal outlay of time and money, and then make sure that I was having as much fun as my guests. My solution was an easy-access approach to creating fabulous spaces to entertain in based on the principles of Everyday Styling that I introduced in my first book.
Styling is a relatively simple and inexpensive process that can almost immediately give your home and garden a new personality. It does not require much more than your own creativity. Simply by looking at things in a fresh light, you can manipulate your spaces and turn them into beautiful sanctuaries and relaxing retreats. Because the commitment of time and money is significantly less than when you decorate or landscape, you can allow yourself to experiment to no end. When you style you use your own creativity, rearranging your belongings in a fresh new way, rather than using someone else's cookie-cutter design. You can easily update your spaces once you look at them as an opportunity to express your personality and your lifestyle, and to unearth your inherent creativity. Anyone can style on any budget. That's the allure of styling!
Certain spaces are central to opening up your home for easy entertaining.Your living room should welcome guests to sit back and relax; your dining room should easily morph into different styles for varying menus; your patio should be a comfortable environment that offers the best of indoors and out; and your backyard lawn should be able to transform instantly for outdoor events.
In my experience working makeovers on hundreds of homes, I've found that these four areas -- living room, dining room, patio, and lawn -- are not only places where most people entertain, but also areas where homeowners say they need the most help.
Waiting to be discovered within these four areas, like sculptures hidden in stone before the artist begins carving, are many different party settings. These few spaces can give you enough flexibility for all kinds of get-togethers -- from tea for two to a buffet for dozens of people. Becoming fluent in styling each area will put an endless variety of parties at your fingertips.
The style of any space in your home can change as naturally as the seasons or with your mood, and change is both practical and creative. On one hand, your entertaining venues have to shift from one function to another to serve the purposes and particulars of the event. On the other, any space looks and feels stale if it stays the same for too long. Just as your plants need water, fertilizer, light, and an occasional haircut in order to blossom and grow, your home also craves attention -- and what better excuse for a makeover than to throw a party?
By the way, my styling solution to the missing dining oom was to have a table mde for the living room -- my favorite room in the house, with its beautiful fireplace and habd-painted 1927 wood coffer ceiling. During the day, this french country farm table doubles as a beautiful desk (complete with a fake drawer), while for special dinners it opens up with leaves and seats twelve with ease. I love our fireside parties in our customized "dining" room!
By bringing together ideas from the worlds of professional entertaining and styling, I've streamlined the process of styling for entertaining into eight simple and reliable steps that make both the creative and logistical parts of a party doable and fun. Whether you enjoy elaborate affairs, prefer to keep your get-togethers simple, or want to change effects with every event or season, the eight steps provide a blueprint you can follow every time.
To illustrate the eight steps in action, I've created twelve makeovers for entertaining you'll see in the following chapters, each accomplished by following the same procedure. None of the makeovers take more than a day or two, even those that require building structures or repainting furniture. That's the power of having a system. And if the mere idea of a makeover has you groaning and giving up before you start, don't worry: the eight steps make it easy. When the procedure is predictable, you can unleash your imagination and embrace the surprises styling for entertaining brings.
So check the calendar. Grab a notepad and pen. You're about to learn a process that will keep you styling for life!
1. What Is the Occasion? A friend of mine planning a birthday party for her small twin boys thought it would be fun to add an elegant cocktail party for the young guests' parents. Location: their big living room, with ice cream and cake at one table, champagne, cocktails, and canapés at another. Sounds fun and different, right? But my friend didn't think the idea all the way through. Twenty running, squirming, sugared-up five-year-olds with sticky hands and faces, plus expensive suits and dresses, plus tall slender glassware standing atop the perfect setting for a fort or playhouse, equals...Let us now draw the curtain on the next morning's bottleneck at the dry cleaners.
The question, "What's the occasion?" seems so simplemindedly obvious that we too often forget to ask it. But all of your creative choices stem from the answer, so let's give it some thought.
Why are you entertaining? Is it your best friend's birthday? Time to have a few friends over for cocktails? Did you just decide to host your son's wedding in your own backyard? Or maybe you simply want to restyle the patio because spring has come, or spruce up the living room to give yourself a change. Defining the occasion gives meaning to your plans, so think through what you're celebrating and why. Whatever the reason, write it down now.
2. Envision Your Ideal Setting With the groundwork laid, now is your chance to dream. What is the most exhilarating environment you can imagine? Let your mind soar with ideas. Do you want a romantic, flowery garden filled with the sweet aroma of English roses -- a perfect setting for afternoon tea with a close friend? Or are you captivated by the idea of creating a desert oasis in your backyard, with luxurious lounging areas and passionate colors where you can serve exotic foods and relax on a summer evening?
This step requires you to frame a big picture of the space in your mind. If you're short on ideas, try paging through your favorite magazines and books, or preview Step 3 to spark the seeds of your vision. If the first image that comes to mind doesn't seem to fit your home or garden -- perhaps a ten-foot waterfall is a bit extravagant for your allocated space and budget -- then find a substitute that incorporates its essence, such as a small water feature. At this stage, don't second-guess yourself by thinking you can't reach your goal because of budget or time. Believe me, I know how easy it is to get stuck in the practical logistics from the very start. How many chairs do I need? How many plates? How much wine? How many manicures for all the nail biting? Quiet these chattering voices and take this opportunity to expand your styling possibilities beyond the boundaries your skeptical mind tries to draw. Keep working your image until it becomes clear, and you can't wait to get started.
In this step, you will also need to determine the location. This decision isn't as straightforward as it sounds. A large dinner party might work better in a living room than in the dining room, while a formal tea you'd thought to hold in the living room could be even more elegant in the backyard. Take into account the number of guests you're inviting and what kind of event it will be, then consider all four spaces -- living room, dining room, patio, and yard -- before choosing the best location. Once you've determined where you will be entertaining, your makeover will be much more tangible, as you have finally set its physical framework.
3 Develop a Makeover Style Now that you have a vision, you need to take the image from your head and make it manifest in the physical world by determining your style. The style is the overall general concept that will guide your makeover to fruition. It will focus you, and your styling supplies, and give you a clear concept that will make it easy to weed out the yesses from the nos. Think of words that you can use to describe a style for your makeover -- tropical, vintage, ethnic, Asian -- and I'm sure just the words themselves have already given you a feeling or picture in your head.
Now, come up with a title: "Tropical Paradise," "Vintage Romance," "Exotic Oasis," or "Asian Fusion." You have suddenly created your own makeover style. You can find inspiration for your makeover style in a seasonal holiday or particular event, a single inspirational item, a photo you saw in a magazine, or even something as intangible as a memory of good times past, ripe for revisiting and creative play. So check your box of treasures under the bed, or an old scrapbook from your last vacation for inspiration. Don't worry if your style idea is not fully developed at this point; it will become more clear in the steps to come. It's always better to make a decision and move forward (especially if it doesn't cost you anything) than to wallow in indecision -- the kiss of death for an artist.
4 Create Your Style Board In this step you begin to bring the makeover style to life and refine it through work with your Style Board. You'll collect and display the materials that move you into action: pictures, color samples, and other items that align with your style, mood, and color. Although creating a Style Board isn't essential for every entertaining makeover, it is, nonetheless, an extremely beneficial tool when styling. Designers often assemble such boards for their clients with samples of tile, fabric, and drawings to test ideas and serve as a creative springboard. Likewise, creating a Style Board allows you to find real-life examples that illustrate the ideas you have in your head. It's like a scrapbook of an event that hasn't yet occurred; a transfer of ideas from your imagination into visible reality.
To create your Style Board, buy a piece of white or colored foam core from an art-supply or craft store or a framing shop. This light, sturdy, and inexpensive material makes a handy medium for playing with style ideas and is easy to move from room to room. Start by pasting, tacking, or sticking small items to the board that have inspired your style. These may include fabric swatches, small ornaments or accessories, paint samples, tear sheets from magazines, pictures from your Style File (see "Style File," p. 20), and recipes and food photos that fan the creative flame. Keep an eye out for snippets in your daily rounds -- bits of ribbon or lace, wrapping paper or seed packages, stickers, matchbook covers.
The Style Board enables you to try out colors and ideas for your makeover before you make the commitment of time and money. Experiment; swap things around; add and discard. Don't hesitate to return to your Style Board at any point as you find new materials or test and develop new ideas. You may have no problem coming up with a color palette in this step, but if you do, it is perfectly okay to revisit your Style Board for color refinement later in the eight-step process.
Style File
The Style File, a powerful creative tool I introduced in my first book, Everyday Styling, helps you whip up a Style Board in no time flat. Essentially, the Style File is a collection of images you like -- colors, patterns, designs, rooms, gardens, and so on. Once you learn how to collect and work with the visual images that inspire you, your styling possibilities are endless.
Here's a quick route to creating your personal Style File:
• Label four file folders "Indoors," "Outdoors," "Holidays," and "What Were They Thinking?"
• Take some time to look through magazines, books, and catalogs, pulling out anything that favorably impresses you: flower arrangements, table settings, color combinations, living room setups, dinnerware, deck treatments, holiday decorations. Mark each picture with the date, then circle the part that attracts you and write a note about why ("pretty flower arrangement," "russet and gold color combo"). For the "What Were They Thinking?" file, pull images you don't like or that just plain make you wonder who would design such a thing? Sometimes knowing what you don't like helps build confidence in what you do. File the pictures into the four folders as you go.
• Continue to collect pictures until you have a good assortment, then organize them one step further. In a file drawer, accordion file, or portable file box, label four hanging files with the four main categories, then insert file folders for subcategories: individual rooms for the "Indoors" file; each of the holidays you hope to celebrate; the patio, lawn, kids' areas, garden, and so forth for the "Outdoors" file. You don't need subcategories for "What Were They Thinking?"
• Keep adding photos, clippings, and printouts to your Style File, and you'll soon have an archive of your personal preferences, a practical guide to your own taste, and a rich trove of ideas for all your styling projects.
5. Paint Your Color Palette A carefully chosen and consistent color palette is probably the most important aspect of successful styling, whether for entertaining or for any other makeover. A well-conceived color scheme creates visual flow and balance in any space.
Choosing the color palette for a party can be a little different from other styling steps in that there are special considerations above and beyond personal preference. A wedding, for example, almost always calls for a certain amount of white. Season and tradition affect color selection, from the reds and greens of Christmas to the pastel shades of spring. For a special-occasion makeover, you may decide to use bolder colors than you normally would, knowing that you can tone them down when the party's over.
The basis of your color palette will most likely come from your Style Board. (In some cases you might already have a color palette in mind from the occasion you settled on in Step 1.) Your palette may be obvious. If you've pinned up photos of daffodils, daisies, and sunflowers, a fresh yellow is clearly part of your palette. On the other hand, you may need to study your Style Board for a while before understanding its theme. A collage of country-style living rooms may seem like a cacophony of disparate colors until the common element emerges: simple pieces painted white. Move items around to create different color combinations until your palette announces itself. After you've decided on your colors, give each one a name that helps support your overall makeover style. If your makeover is based on a patriotic theme, don't just use red, white, and blue. Try Apple Red, Picket-Fence White, and True Blue. It will help to get you in the spirit of things and jazz up your overall makeover.
In general, pastel colors tend to soften and blend. Neutrals -- unobtrusive whites and off-whites, beiges, and grays -- are easy to work with, as you can add accents of color anytime. Bright colors make a bold statement and bring vibrant energy to a room or space. What to do if you're stuck with colors that you don't love -- like that red floral sofa you haven't yet figured out how to replace? Try working them into your palette to harmonize with the whole, or simply cover them up. There's nothing like a throw to brighten that drab old olive chair!
6. Gather Your Styling Supplies Now that your vision, makeover style, and Style Board have determined your direction, it's time to go shopping -- but not in the traditional sense. The first step in gathering your styling supplies is to shop your house. That's right; grab a basket or empty box and start ransacking each room for anything you can use in your makeover. If your color palette is yellow and green, pull everything you find in those colors even if you don't yet know how you'll use them. If it's a tea garden you're creating, look for teacups and saucers, silver teapots and plates, wide-brimmed hats, and anything related to roses. Don't overlook the neglected spots around the house, for that's often where the good stuff hides. Basements, attics, garages, sheds, storage areas, high shelves and cabinets, the tops, backs, and bottoms of closets. These are your forgotten treasure troves. Even the kids' rooms are fair game!
Don't censor yourself at this point; grab everything, whether it usually serves a decorative role or not. Remember, there's no price tag when you shop your own house. Only after you've completed your sweep should you assemble everything in one spot, on a table or floor, and review your collection. What you're looking for now are the items that seem to gravitate toward each other, because they're in a similar or coordinating color palette, or support your theme, or create a surprising combination you like. If something looks odd or out of place, take it away. Don't even question why. You can always use it in another makeover. Styling never stops!
After shopping the house, start a list of items you're missing -- maybe a few dishes, a rug for under the sofa, fresh flowers for the table. (Some needs will be obvious now, while others will crop up as you start styling. Just be sure to write everything down.) These are the items you'll need to buy, borrow, or substitute. If you find that you have to buy too much, consider adjusting your color palette or adding another shade so you can use more styling supplies you already have.
In any case, with a concise list, the shopping trip for your makeover should be short and financially sweet. Professional stylists never go shopping without a very specific list; otherwise it would cost the client a fortune and many hours while they perused the shops looking for inspiration. Make your main decisions before you hit the stores -- though you can always keep your eyes open for that brilliant last-minute addition.
7. Style the Space With your styling supplies now on hand, you're ready for action! It's time to style the space. Because this is the crucial juncture where your vision comes to life, I've broken Step 7 down into three sub-steps. This sequence will help your styling go faster and will soon become second nature as you gain confidence in your ability to do it over and over with different results each time. (Warning: Styling can be addictive!)
Lay the foundation The best styling starts with a clean slate. Yes, that means moving everything but your furniture out of the room or off the patio for your makeover. If there are any pieces you know will not work for the particular makeover style you have chosen, move them out now. If you aren't sure at this point if a certain piece of furniture will work or not, leave it in the room. Through the process of styling, you will easily be able to determine what stays and what goes. Although this may seem like a lot of unnecessary work, believe me, it will save you extra effort later on. Think of it this way: you're an artist, and you should start your magnum opus with an empty canvas.
Once the area is cleared, lay the foundation and place the furniture. Indoors, the large items to arrange include sofas, coffee tables, side tables, armchairs, hutches or armoires, and dining tables. Outdoors, place patio tables or lawn furniture, benches, arbors or fencing, large water features or fountains. Large items also include specially built structures for outdoor makeovers such as a gazebo, arbors, or canopy frames -- anything that will provide a foundation or frame for your makeover.
Work with the largest items first. As you go, take into account the number of guests, possible traffic flow, and how much seating you'll need. Do you want people to serve themselves from both sides of the buffet table? How about a separate table for the kids? Do you want some open space for speeches, games, or performances, or instead need to close up the room into a cozy nook for an intimate occasion? Foresee fast mid-event changes, say, from dining to dancing, and figure out how you'll make them. In short, envision the space filled with guests and the activities you plan, and ask yourself if your setup allows everyone to comfortably drink, eat, converse, and circulate. You'll want to ensure your setup won't create a bottleneck where people crash into each other trying to get past the sofa to reach the hors d'oeuvres!
I don't like rules that say how you have to place your furniture. No single set of principles accommodates all situations and tastes. Rules also squelch personal expression and reduce your chance of coming up with something original. Instead, I prefer to move the furniture around, try different approaches, and experiment until it feels right. Not only does this hands-on approach yield an arrangement tailored to your event, but moving pieces around is also how you learn which looks you like the best. And hey, it's good exercise.
Soften the lines Now that the foundation is in place, the next task is to place the styling items that soften the look. Indoor styling supplies include area rugs, fabric wall hangings and curtains, paintings or artwork, pillows, tablecloths, and throws. Outdoor items include plants, fabric for the arbor, and some of the same soft items you might use inside, such as rugs, pillows, throws, or tablecloths. Some styling projects will fall into this phase if they pertain to softening the space -- making a painting, decorative screen, wrapping-paper collage, or fabric wall hanging or framing a piece of antique clothing.
As you style in this phase, work with what you have before running out to buy what you think is missing. If you don't like the color of the sofa, you can first try changing it with an old bedspread before investing in a brand-new throw. Do the chairs need a pick-me-up? Add a bright pillow to one and a slipcover to another. Outdoors, use the plants you have to soften walls, pillars, and walkways. Tall vines in containers highlight the wood frame of an arbor or a fence, a cluster of potted flowering plants define and brighten a garden path, and a trio of miniature fruit trees masks a garage wall.
Personalize with details As much work as we do arranging furniture and creating the overall style of a space or event, it's the small touches that other people most often notice and remember. Invaluable in personalizing a space and defining your own signature style, the details may come toward the end of the process but should still take top priority. Whether you finish your look with a group of specially selected photos on the piano, mismatched vintage dishes to serve your bistro dinner, a patio buffet strewn with tropical flowers, or strings of tiny white lights to give shape to trees and bushes on the lawn, these small details speak volumes and set the mood.
At this stage of styling, I like to bring all the small items into the room and quickly place them here and there, letting my first instincts guide me. Then I step back, look at the effect, and begin to assess and adjust. Too much thinking right off the bat can forestall the creative process. So don't micromanage. Act with abandon!
Once you've got a first pass in place, look at the space from both a wide-angle point of view, by standing in the doorway or entrance, and from close up, sitting on the sofa and gazing at the items on the coffee table. Decide whether something's missing, or if a tabletop seems too cluttered or a tall vase blocks a view. Now adjust and fine-tune until everything feels just right.
You might delete some accessories if you're going for a clean, modern look. If, instead, an eclectic feel is your goal, try shuffling your styling supplies around to discover more surprising combinations. Grouping items in threes is always a good idea, as is grouping together different shapes that share a common element, such as color or texture. Generally, it is best to put taller items in the back, and smaller items toward the front. These styling tips go for flower arrangements as well. For a more formal effect, however, strike a note of symmetry and balance by placing two matching candlesticks on a mantle or two potted ficus trees to define an entrance.
Once everything seems to be in place, step back and take a fresh, critical look. Have you realized your vision? If not, anything is open to change, even that second sofa you lugged in that you now see takes up too much space. Don't think you've failed if something doesn't work. Assessing and adjusting are simply another stage of the creative process. All artists do it!
8 Style the Food and Table This final step to styling for entertaining includes finalizing the menu, setting the table, preparing and styling the food. The on-the-spot logistics of entertaining become seamless when you have a plan complete with a preparation schedule and serving pieces, dishware, and table linens picked out and ready to go.
At most gatherings, the food and drink are of primary importance, yet it's easy to lapse into a just-get-it-finished mindset here. So often the food is ready but you're wondering, Where's the tablecloth? Do I have enough glasses and plates? Do I use paper or cloth napkins? Avoid the common pitfall of concentrating merely on what's being served, and start to think about how it will be served. Styling for entertaining means incorporating your food and table into the styling process. Once you start recognizing the food and drink as styling accessories, you will notice that the inherent colors, flavors, and cultural history of the dishes on the menu provide infinite opportunities to underscore your style.
Styling the food and the table can make a big difference to your guests, who will feel indulged by your attention to detail. A simple plate of pasta doesn't seem at all ho-hum when it's offered in a rustic Tuscan pasta bowl and garnished artfully with freshly shaved Parmesan and fragrant leaves of basil. Homemade spring rolls are so much more fun when you playfully present them in white take-out boxes. If you're serving cookies for dessert, don't just slap them on a plate; sculpt a pyramid, stud it with truffles, and sift a light snow of powdered sugar around the plate's edge. Playing with colors, shapes, and garnishes can turn your menu into a work of art -- and when your personal style makes it to the table, your entertaining will be a success long after the last bite.
Copyright © 2003 by Susie Coelho