We love coffee table styling! It is one of our favorite parts when we stage an empty property. Coffee tables are an important part of a living room. We could say that it is a bit of an art! When styling your coffee table, it is important that they look good, but they also have be functional. The display needs to be attractive without disrupting the flow of the space.

What steps do I need to follow to style my coffee table?

Our staging team brought you some useful and practical tips to help you style your coffee table, let’s get started!

#1 – Create a composition

This step is key when styling your coffee table. Imagine a few items in a little vignette and make them work as a unit. You need to find a way to connect all of them. To do this, you could use a color, shapes, a theme, sizes, a particular style, color shades… Getting a balanced composition takes time. You can play around with all the items, set different vignettes and finally decide which one feels right to you.

#2 – Use proportional sizes

Play around with different height and scale of objects to give structure and proportion to your composition. It will make it more dynamic and will add a visual interest to your coffee table. But be careful not to have anything so tall that could obstructs the view of people sitting on either side of the table.

#3 – Less is more

We know. Sometimes is hard to say no to all the nice accessories that we see around. However, it is really important not to overcrowd and keep the functionality of your coffee table. You can stack or group objects together to avoid a cluttered look, while keeping enough space for whatever you might need.

#4 – Natural elements

A little plant, a vase with some flowers, nature-inspired accessories, some dried leaves… you name it! Incorporating natural elements is one of the biggest interior design trends at this moment. Try different color combinations to create your own personal style. Our favorites? Warm neutrals and off-whites! They are a great option to create a timeless and flexible natural palette.

#5 – Include a conversation starter

Your coffee table need that one standout piece! It could be a personal item that is dear to you, a statement piece with a unique shape or finish or any other item that has a good story waiting to be told! Like any other room, your living room can benefit from having a focal point. And a coffee table display could help to create this visual point.

#6 – Textures and shapes

Coffee table styling is all about experimenting to create the perfect style for you. Don’t be afraid to mix shapes and finishes to create interest and dimension on your display. Texture accents, a touch of high-gloss, lines vs. curves… It is time to unleash our imagination and have fun!

We hope you liked our coffee table styling tips!

Have an idea in mind to re-design your home? We can help! Contact us today to discuss your upcoming renovation or design project. We would be delighted to work together to make your space a place you call home! Give us a call today at (604) 674-8884 or email us at hello@flowsmartliving.com 

Do you want to know how to showcase your property and appeal to the largest number of potential buyers?

When selling your property, it’s important to make sure your it shows its absolute maximum potential. For many home buyers, the outdoor area of a home is just as important as the interior. Staging your patio will definitely help you increase your chances of selling your property, specially now that spring is finally in Vancouver!

Here are a few tips for staging an outdoor area that will help you sell your home faster and for more money!

#1 – Keep it simple

You can get amazing results by adding a minimal amount of outdoor furniture, to make sure there is an easy traffic flow through the space. If you have a large outdoor area, you can set multiple areas, such dining area, living area or even an outdoor kitchen. This way, buyers will be able to see the possibilities of this space. However, keep it as much simple as possible. Too much furniture may have the opposite of the desired effect and make it seem small and overdo.

#2 – Give a little TLC

Cleaning up dead leaves and bugs, trimming trees and bushes, pressure-washing decks or floors, making some minor repairs, freshening up flower beds… You’d be surprised the difference that a nice little revamp can make to the outside! It will help to make the space look brand new and inviting.

#3 – Add an color accent

It’s the time to move all the toys, lawn ornaments, pet supplies and other stuff that you can have outdoor to the storage room and save them for your next home. Keep your largest furniture pieces neutral and color accent them by adding a few items such as potted plants, outdoor rugs, colorful pillows, and props such as refreshment trays.

Need more help to stage your property? If you are considering listing your home and are curious about staging, feel free to give the Flow Team a call at (604) 674-8884 or email us at hello@flowsmartliving.com. We’d be happy to answer your questions!

Brilliant!

Another stunning interior design project completed by our talented design team, Nicole Varga and Elisa Fox. This incredible condo design was a very unique and special project for the Flow Team.

This bachelorette unit belongs to our lovely client, a stylish 78-years-old woman. Nicole and Elisa had previously worked for this client’s daughter who hired them to transform the apartment for her mom.

This was a small condo with some particular features. A challenging layout was presented with a long, angled wall, completed with a dining area that was pretty much nonexistent and a complete lack of overhead lighting.

Nicole and Elisa added some molding details to create a feature wall that unites the living and dining areas to the office.

“We love the molding on the feature wall and fireplace because It is such a simple and cost-effective way to dress up a wall. This not only created great texture for that otherwise very plain wall but also allowed us to define a centre point for our dining space and bring continuity all the way into the office”.

The problem with the dining area was fixed by using a round dining table that helps to keep a good flow throughout this area and anchored it with a beautiful light fixture and custom over-sized framed mirror.“

The mirror was two-fold in creating a visual weight for our new dining center line as well as opening up and reflecting the entire space to make it feel bigger. The beautiful thing about the light fixture is that the wire it hangs on is so thin that it almost appears to be floating over the table.  Aside from providing much needed light it almost acts as an art piece in itself.”

And what about the master bedroom? The main requests for this space was to improve the function by sourcing properly scaled furniture and proper placement, getting a little more bedroom storage, improving the lighting and essentially create a beautiful space for her mother to enjoy and be blown away by.

And here comes one of our favourite details of this project!

The bedroom was covered with a beautiful floral wallpaper that you can stare at it for hours and never get enough of it. It added the perfect sense of femininity and power. We also love how you can see the wallpaper from almost every spot in the house because of where the mirror is placed it picks up the reflection. It definitely set the tone for the entire project! Click here to see more pictures about this project

Contact us today to discuss your upcoming renovation or design project. We would be delighted to work together to make your space a place you call home! Give us a call today at 604-674-8884 or email us at hello@flowsmartliving.com

Flow Smart Living + Interiors has won “Best Of Service” 2018 on Houzz, the leading platform for home remodeling and design!

We were chosen by the more than 40 million monthly unique users that comprise the Houzz community from among more than one million active home building, remodeling and design industry professionals.

The Best Of Houzz is awarded annually in three categories: Design, Customer Service and Photography.

Design award winners’ work was the most popular among the more than 40 million monthly users on Houzz.

Customer Service honors are based on several factors, including the number and quality of client reviews a professional received in 2017.

Architecture and interior design photographers whose images were most popular are recognized with the Photography award.

A “Best Of Houzz 2018” badge will appear on winners’ profiles, as a sign of their commitment to excellence. These badges help homeowners identify popular and top-rated home professionals in every metro area on Houzz.

We want to give a big thank you to our amazing team, to our clients and to our professional partners, for helping us win this award!

Visit our Houzz Profile for more information

We don’t believe in compromising on style and quality when buying furniture for your home. And this is why our Flow Furniture Lounge opened its doors almost one year ago, bringing a different concept: offer amazing pricing on stylish and high quality home staging furniture that have been used only for our staging projects.

Why is home staging furniture a good alternative for your home?

It’s been gently used. All the furniture pieces available at the Lounge have been used only for our home staging projects. This means that they have never been used by other home owners or they have a seldom use as sometimes people live in their home and use the furniture. These pieces have always been moved by professional movers, and displayed in different houses or apartments.

It’s less expensive. The brands that we have available are all mid to high quality, such Sunpan, Moes Home Collection, Mobital or Style in Form. The retail price on these stores could be quite expensive sometimes. But the price that we offer at our Lounge is between 20-50% off their retail prices.

It’s better quality. We only work with the best furniture suppliers in Canada. When we purchase new pieces to grow our home staging furniture inventory, we always keep style and quality in mind. All the pieces available at our Lounge meet our quality standards, offering style and durability.

Our professional team is here to help! We can help you create your ideal living space to reflect your personality and lifestyle with hands-on decorating insight, space planning and styling advice. Bring your pictures and measurements and let us do the rest!

You’re supporting local business! When you purchase staging furniture from our Lounge, you not only get the best deal on high quality furnishings for your home, but you are also supporting your community!

Come visit us and check out the accessories and furniture pieces are available at our Flow Lounge! If you have any questions, you can call us at (604) 674-8884 or send us an email at hello@flowsmartliving.com

We have exciting news to share with you!

Our friends from Big Sisters of BC Lower Mainland​ celebrated their 2017 Annual Luminary Award Soirée last Friday, October 27, at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver. And it couldn’t be more sucessfull!

With the help of all their big-hearted supporters, they were able to raise a record breaking amount for mentorship. A very well deserved sucess, congratulations from the Flow Team!

We were really happy to contribute to this cause, using some of our warehouse furniture pieces to create an inviting and comfortable space at The Bourbon Lounge that made their guests feel like at home.

Big Sisters of BC is committed to enhancing the confidence, self-esteem and well-being of girls through supportive relationships with female mentors. In 2016, their mentoring programs helped change the lives of 775 girls who are now on a path to reach their full potential, avoid risky behaviour and make healthy choices.

We are so proud to support this inspiring organization and their work, that makes such an important difference in our community!

Did you know home staging is just as important to the potential value of your home during slower times in the market as it is during busy periods?

The key principal behind home staging is to make sure your property shows its absolute maximum potential. Professional stagers can help you address odd nooks or intrusive angles and either position your furniture to best suit the rooms in your home, or bring in suitable replacements that will wow the buyers coming through.

Stagers can also provide advice on small upgrades that will make your property stand out in photos online, such as replacing outdated lighting fixtures, painting over bold colours or refreshing barren plant beds in the yard. Agent photos on websites such as REALTOR.ca are often the first impression potential buyers have of a home they’re interested in, so hiring a stager to help prepare your home before photographs are booked is incredibly beneficial.

Contact the Flow Team today for a consultation – call 604-674-8884 or email us at hello@flowsmartliving.com.

For more helpful hints about home staging, interior design and decor, be sure to follow us on social media.

When tackling a major home renovation, hiring an interior designer may feel like little more than an added cost. However, designers are a key player in making sure your project goes smoothly from the beginning. And here’s why…

• An interior designer takes the pressure off of your contractor for handling tasks such as materials selection, space planning and cosmetic decision making. This will ultimately save you time and money as these are a designer’s specific skill set, and their guidance can help whittle down an ocean’s worth of choices to a pool of your specific taste.
• What do you feel goes into planning a room? What should be ordered first, a sink or the tiles? Any idea looks great on paper, but what about the finer details as the project progresses? This is where an interior designer really saves the day. Working in tandem with your contractor, a designer can ensure that every stage of your renovation – from demolition to final styling – stays on time, on budget and on target.
• An interior designer can handle the preparation of construction drawings, both for tradespeople and for any necessary city permits, with a more immediate understanding of your project and the vision you have for your home.
• Interior designers are trained professionals who have a unique understanding of both the technical mechanics of renovation, as well as a creative eye for unique décor. Hiring an interior designer helps bridge the gap between the mechanics of a house and the beauty of a home.

The Flow Team would be happy to schedule a 1 hour consultation for you with one of our skilled interior designers. Call us today at 604-674-8884 or email hello@flowsmartliving.com.

So you’ve decided to renovate your home. Great! Now… where to start? Hiring a knowledgeable contractor to help make your vision a reality is the best way to ensure you get the results you want. Here are some tips on how to choose the right company for you.

Word of mouth is still the best kind of advertising. If you know someone who’s had renovations done recently, ask them who they worked with and what their honest opinion of the contractor was while the project was underway. This will give you a real sense of the kind of working relationship you can expect during your renovation.

Ask for a list of references. It’s always a good idea to call 2 or 3 people who have worked with your contractor previously. If they are able to provide professional references as well as past clients, so much the better.

Ask questions. If there is anything noted in your estimate or quote that is unclear, be sure to ask about it. This benefits yourself and your contractor, as it will alleviate any future miscommunication about your needs and expectations.

Be patient! Good contractors usually have a waitlist of at least 3-4 months. Don’t cut corners and choose someone who’s ready to start tomorrow. If a contractor is not busy it could be a bad sign! Good, solid work takes time, and it will be well worth the wait to have your dream project completed properly.

If you’ve got a vision in mind for your dream project but don’t know where to begin, or would like some further guidance in choosing the right tradespeople to work on your home, Flow’s design team would love to help. Contact us today at 604-674-8884 or email hello@flowsmartliving.com.