**The Art of Creating a Home: A Guide to Interior Design**

Creating a home that reflects your personality and style is a daunting task, but with the right guidance, it can be a fun and rewarding experience. As interior designer Valentina, I've had the privilege of working with numerous clients to transform their living spaces into warm and inviting homes.

**Understanding Your Space**

The first step in creating a home that you love is to understand your space. This means considering the layout of your room, the natural light, and the flow of traffic. In our latest video series, we're diving into the world of interior design and sharing our expertise on how to create a home that feels truly yours.

**Styling Hacks**

One of my favorite styling hacks is to start with a neutral color palette and then add pops of color through furniture, rugs, and accessories. This approach allows you to easily mix and match different pieces and creates a sense of cohesion throughout the space. For example, if you have a sofa in a bold pattern, you can balance it out with a neutral-colored rug and some greenery.

**Creating a Focal Point**

A focal point is an essential element in any room, as it draws the eye to a specific area and creates visual interest. In our previous video series, we discussed how to create a focal point using different techniques such as using mirrors, artwork, or decorative objects. For example, if you have a large window with a stunning view, consider adding a mirror opposite it to reflect natural light and create the illusion of more space.

**Lighting: The Ultimate Game-Changer**

Lighting can make or break a room, and I always advise my clients to invest in high-quality lighting fixtures. Not only do they add ambiance and style to a space, but they also provide necessary illumination for task-oriented areas such as kitchens and home offices. When choosing lighting fixtures, consider the color temperature and intensity of each fixture, as well as their placement in relation to your furniture.

**The Power of Rug Placement**

Rugs can completely transform a room, adding texture, pattern, and warmth underfoot. One of my favorite rug placement techniques is to place it under a sofa or sectional, creating a cozy seating area that invites conversation and relaxation. Alternatively, consider placing a small rug in front of a TV or console table to define the space and add visual interest.

**Adding Personality with Accessories**

Accessories are an excellent way to inject your personality into a room without breaking the bank. From throw pillows and blankets to vases and sculptures, accessories can add color, texture, and style to a space. When choosing accessories, consider your personal style, interests, and hobbies, as well as the overall aesthetic of your home.

**Understanding Your Style**

When it comes to creating a home that reflects your personality and style, understanding who you are is key. What do you love? What makes you happy? What gets you excited about living in your space? By answering these questions, you'll be able to identify your unique style and create a home that truly feels like yours.

**Virtual Design Consultations**

For those who may need additional guidance or want to explore their design options before making any changes, I offer virtual design consultations. These one-on-one sessions allow us to walk through your space together, discuss your design goals, and provide personalized recommendations for furniture, color schemes, and more. Whether you're looking to revamp a single room or completely overhaul your entire home, these consultations are the perfect way to get expert advice without leaving your chair.

**The Importance of Personal Touch**

When it comes to creating a home that feels truly yours, personal touch is essential. From family photos and heirlooms to artwork and collectibles, incorporating personal items into your space can add warmth, character, and personality. Don't be afraid to display your passions, interests, and values – after all, this is your home, and it should reflect who you are.

**Inspiration and Resources**

For those looking for more inspiration and resources, I recommend checking out my website at HouseValentina.com. There, you'll find a wealth of information on interior design, including tutorials, tips, and behind-the-scenes peeks into my design process. You can also connect with me through social media, where I share regular updates, promotions, and sneak peeks into upcoming projects.

**Conclusion**

Creating a home that reflects your personality and style is a journey, not a destination. By understanding your space, incorporating styling hacks, creating a focal point, and adding personality with accessories, you can create a home that feels truly yours. Remember to have fun, be patient, and don't be afraid to experiment – after all, this is your space, and it's meant to be a reflection of who you are.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwe're launching a new series today called did we name it yes he called it dear valentina oh i said that already oh you did it yes i was lost in your eyes sorry i have that effect where am i what's my name okay so there you go say it again i'll lead up to it again to which part and so you've started a series oh hey guys welcome to the house of valentina i'm valentina and my husband jack is hanging out with me today because he's helping me with the technical side of today's video sorry i'm sure that you love hanging out with us all the time but i do necessity demands that he really has to be here because i have no idea how we're gonna pull all this off but um yes so today's video is a new little series that we thought that we would start because we get so many questions from you guys about how to design your spaces you're wanting to know our opinions and our thoughts and so within the inspired by the facebook group we opened it up to you guys and just said send us your pictures send us your questions and if we have enough we'll make a video about it and as it turns out we got so many responses that we'll probably have to make more than one video yeah the original concept was we thought oh we'll just answer a few of these and we got so many that it was like oh my gosh what are we gonna do so we actually are starting a new series today called dear valentina we're excited yeah so what we're going to do is literally go through your questions and we're going to pop the pictures up here on the screen probably over my he's going to help me with my ugly mug right about here and then she'll answer the questions in real time you set this camera this little scenario up i know we're in the black room we're just trying to like mix things up a little bit so it's the sun room yeah that's the big experience yeah otherwise the sun all right well this is the kind of video that you enjoy and you love to hear interior design tips travel lifestyle all that awesome stuff we renovate we decorate we do it all here so make sure if you have not hit subscribe that you do right now go ahead and hit subscribe hit the notifications bell if you are a subscriber so then you know when a video has been uploaded and don't forget thumbs up comments all that cool stuff helps the channel which makes it awesome more awesome i was gonna say awesome or for you yeah no this isn't england this is not an english video we're gonna awesome eyes the channel yes with you guys so yeah be sure to do all that and let's jump in all right okay so our first question is from that's right and read with a with them i can't make fun of him i'll be there soon enough so our first question is from jamie martin hope i said your name right jamie has this gorgeous room with this amazing fireplace and says pick me pick me oh i've been trying to decide if i should paint my brick cover it with wood or tile or leave it as it is i also want to update my paint color i've been thinking about white but i'm afraid it won't look good with the brick help okay so that's a lot of questions okay so before i just say yes paint your brick um yes paint the brick but if there's more questions attached to this right so we're not just talking about only one thing are we only talking about the brick no we're talking about painting the wall of white well that's a huge change that's gonna completely change the way that this room feels i think the biggest question that you need to ask yourself and this is what i always start with my clients is how do you want to feel in the space overall because painting the fireplace is just one piece of this equation so if you're leaving the color on the walls i might give you different advice on what you would do to that fireplace but if you're wanting something white which to me usually means that my clients are ready for something that feels lighter and airier and we're all works so many of us are in the space we're just we're ready for something that just makes it feel ethereal and just relaxing um so that's my first question obviously i'm a fan of white paint obviously i'm also a fan of black and dark colors so you really need to ask yourself how do you want to feel when you walk into that space what's the emotion that you want to feel do you want to feel soothed and do you want it to feel just really comfortable do you want it to feel just um light and i don't know yeah got that feeling that feeling do you want that or do you want to walk into the room i think when the minute i saw this i was like like it's like cozy and kind of warm and it feels a little bit like fall in there and those colors are very warm so you can still maintain that warmth by painting the walls white you're just going to have to work with your textures quite a bit when you do that you can still have a warm home and white walls if you want to pick maybe a warmer white refer back to our video about what color whites to choose for your house okay so the second question here is the fireplace so let's just say for instance because you can kind of figure out what you want to do if you want to leave the walls this way but let's assume that you're going to want this new look for the space so if we've decided that we still want a cozy vibe and we're going to go white on the walls i would absolutely think about doing something with the fireplace i think that painting the brick is a great easy inexpensive solution and if you don't have a big budget and you don't want to spend a lot of time on it that's easy you can totally do that yourself i would definitely think about maybe flip-flopping your colors here so you might go a little bit darker on the fireplace to add a really great focal point that would really play off well off the artwork that's already in there and if you're going to keep your dark dining room table think about how you can kind of tie that warmth over to that fireplace wall technically those two colors are very similar and you could play up that dark wood color that's another option but yeah i mean you could definitely do something warm maybe take the color off the wall put that on the fireplace and go lighter creamier white and kind of just pull all that together it feels like all these things go together right now so when you start to play with one you're gonna need to play with all of it really come together with like that cohesive look it's okay to keep your dark woods with a light wall but it's gonna change the entire feel of the space so you might find yourself putting linen on the sofa and tying in some of those darker hues maybe into the art what goes on those shelves so all that kind of plays together and the kitchen here even if you had a dark cabinet you could still do light on the walls you would just maybe think through that that island piece may need to be a different color all that kind of stuff all right and our next question comes from laura rhaegar bulger laura says so i've been fighting with my dining room for a long time i actually have three walls don't fight it i literally pictured it like fighting i know everybody's like so we've been in this situation before somewhere we lived where we actually have she actually has three walls and there's no windows in the space i hate that but i have to work with what i have my husband will won't let me knock out the wall for some reason husbands husbands um why am i talking about they're always resistant i'm not um i finally figured out a roundtable wait i was trying to knock a wall into the closet and you were like you're not going to try to knock a window into the side of it so that's what she's trying to do too oh my god see it's not just you it's me too probably not i go through the same thing i finally figured out that a round table would work better than a square one it seems to be working my problem is the back empty wall i'm really not sure what to do with it i'm going to add a small bench underneath the one picture and of course i need to add a rug not sure what red to add a small fence roll to add i'm really bad at picking rugs she wants to add a small bench underneath the picture right there oh okay i couldn't really see the picture the final thing is the angle i'm taking the picture's actually open to the living room there's no wall where i'm taking the picture from so she's basically got two solid walls a door with a wall with a door in it and then no wall in this end yeah it kind of feels like there's not really a focal point in the room right now um if this is the main view that you see so you've got two main views right you're gonna walk in from the kitchen because i can see the refrigerator and then she's saying back behind us there's nothing behind that so there's two main things going on here you're gonna have two entry points and i always think about that how what's at that moment when you walk into the room and you look at it what is that that wow moment that power moment that that's it that's everything and i would imagine that you probably see this more from the living room than you do from the kitchen but we'll talk about that part in a second so if it was me just some quick and simple things first of all the room has like no like power statement really it's just feels like it's kind of there and i i get it we all have spaces like this um the ceiling is amazing that detail work is so cool so i would suggest giving yourself a bigger power statement so if you're working on zero budget the first the main thing i would do is i would take those shelves and i would put them on that wall behind the light behind the table that that becomes your focal point make that wall a wow statement and i think that those shelving would be a great way to do that the other way to do it i just wouldn't put something tall it feels like you can't even walk around the room the way it is right now i kind of feel like there's depth there that's not being taken up which is why i wouldn't put a piece of artwork behind that you could and that would make a bold statement but i just feel like the better move here is to put the two shelves behind the table give yourself a really great power statement fill it up with really beautiful large pieces make sure they're large scale especially on the top shelves that just kind of weights the room it gives you an amazing power statement and then your secondary power statement is the one where the artwork is right now and i think a bench i don't even know if there's room for a bench to be honest it doesn't seem like it and sometimes it's hard for us to tell through the photos but a bench feels like it's gonna feel crowded and if you can't walk through that space what's the point in having it i mean if you can't pull your your chair out from the table and actually sit in the space without bumping into furniture sometimes you have to just go more minimalistic you actually need less in the space than you think you do um if anything maybe just a teensy tiny really super narrow shelf they have a console table they have it at cb2 and i use those a lot they have one similar the collection at target similar but i don't know if they have a table thin enough that would actually fit there like i'm thinking like less than 12 inches it's got to be really narrow that would totally work but if you could you could also paint that ceiling and really get a punch out of that and amp up your lighting a little bit i think that those things would also just make it feel really more of a power statement and um i would just switch out maybe it doesn't feel like the the table over here on the side like it's really been necessarily yeah that table that's in there first of all it feels really big in the picture it could be an illusion um maybe something a little bit smaller or again just a nice big piece of art and maybe the bench could fit there that's again it just looks really tight yeah so i would go more minimal on that wall myself and just go for big pieces big artwork less furniture in the space put a great arrangement of flowers on that table and have that power statement on that wall that's my advice awesome thanks laura for sending that in thank you okay so our next one is from cindy warren crumbly cindy says help help wow what a beautiful no she's like the back signal uh we've just painted and put in new flooring now we have a blank canvas it's a gorgeous room it's beautiful we're in the middle of hanging curtains but i need help on what to put on the wall and furniture placement et cetera okay this is the only picture so we've got this picture and then we've got this picture okay that makes more sense okay beautiful so the room obviously is just stunning the flooring is gorgeous the walls and the beams those windows oh my gosh windows are amazing yeah i don't think i would put any i wouldn't put any curtains on the arched windows i'd only put them on the other side again i just like white frothy light and airy um window treatments now so the biggest question again we're going to come back to the same exact question that i always start with is how do you want to feel when you walk into the space we can't place furniture in any of that stuff we can't do any of those things until we understand how do you want to feel when you walk in in space because i if i'm designing for myself i just painted all the walls white i'm assuming that you might want it to feel light and hairy but white doesn't have to be light and airy white can also be highly dramatic you could add black curtains to those windows or a deep velvet gray and we're gonna have a completely different look in this room so my assumption is is that because you just painted the walls white that you're it looks like you're trying to lighten things and you're just wanting that kind of feel so my assumption is that you would probably put a white linen on those walls but what the room does not have right now is there's no fireplace wall there's no focal point to the space i'm assuming that you're walking in from one of the back corners that we're kind of standing at and so when you walk into the room you just see a wall of brown because your eye just sees brown zofa brown sofa brown chairs brown floor there's black brown beams and a brown band um so if it was mine what i would do is i'm gonna assume that this is a hangout space because it has a tv in it um i think it would be ideal to have a big beautiful wall of bookshelves on that side if you had something that if you wanted it to be more rustic so that far wall when you walk in is your focal point so we want to put something on that wall that really just sparks your sparks you sparked joy but joy had a good point okay we want to spark some joy here people this is a great spot to do it let's spark some joy and add a piece of furniture maybe like a really beautiful wall library library-esque kind of book shelf on that wall you could do that or i mean i'm just assuming that because you have traditional furniture that that's the direction you want to go and you haven't said that you're trying to switch out the furniture so i'm assuming we're still sticking with these pieces and therefore i would take out the two i would you got a couple options here right okay you could either take out the two chairs and keep those two sofas and then add two lighter chairs or you could flip flop it um and which way did i just stay i don't know take out the two chairs leave the two chairs and go light on the sofas go really really light and then you just have those two pieces in there and then you might add a light cushion onto those chairs and you're just trying to make it all feel like it it goes together right so you might add something dark onto that sofa if you decide to leave dark and then something light on the you know just picks it up picks it up light and dark what about underneath the tv what about that little area yeah um well before we kind of move on to that we really need a rug oh yes need a rug to anchor the space um i personally don't love to have the back of a furniture piece normally where you walk into a room and you see the back of a piece of furniture however your room is huge at least it looks like it from here so you could have the sofa on the back and then a console table behind it and it's just totally creating a space over there um but again it just depends on which piece you decide to keep and which chair you most like to sit in for when you're watching tv so i always just think through those furniture arrangements how does a room get a function that's the most important thing i would add a really great light rug it doesn't have to be pure white but something with taupes in it something really light and airy and then switch out that fan well i don't know about you guys but i had a lot of fun this was so much fun i mean what an honor for us to be a part of your homes like this for you to submit your your homes and to be a part of them oh my gosh like i know that there's no place like home right it's so personal it's it's all about you displaying your style and that's my ultimate advice to you is to really dive into who you are and understand what makes you tick what makes you happy what gets you excited about living there we want this is what we always say to our clients is when you walk in we want you to feel like wow i get to live here this is mine this is mine that's what we want you to feel when you walk into your spaces so the pieces a lot of times yes there are some styling hacks that we do there's some things that we change um but ultimately what it's really about is understanding who you are and what you love and creating the home around that and when you do that you'll always end up with a home that you love so i hope that you guys have enjoyed today's video yeah if you want to continue to ask questions first of all if you haven't posted a room yet you're like oh my gosh i didn't know i could even do this jump over to inspired by me and write in your question and if you want to hashtag it dear valentina that way we can find it or even you want to start your letter off that would be really cool dear valentino i have this room what do i do that would be great as well as if you need even further help you do virtual design consultations where you literally do this on live zoom and i walk past them all the time and she's got one in just a minute she's not gonna do and they're giggling and laughing and drinking rose and having a great time i don't have the roses maybe not the rose part but it's a great opportunity if you want her in your house for a few hours or whatever it is you want and just kind of fun because a lot of times i'm not seeing from one picture it's really hard for me to see what's going on in the space and we might back out and be like okay no that's not exactly what i would do so when we're on video we're able to walk around the whole room and um do all of that together and we also do consultations here in the atlanta area um and we're hoping to travel more so if you have big projects let us know because we're looking for some pretty big projects in other states that would uh give us the excuse to hop in the car and go somewhere so exactly yeah so also don't forget hit subscribe give us a thumbs up let us know if you like this new series and if you hope that we do more that'll really help us out and as always you can visit us at housevalentina.com that's where all the virtual design services are and loads of extra inspiration so um thank you so much for visiting us and um allowing us to be a part of your homes that really means the world to us and i guess we'll see you in the next one yeah bye bye how do you want to feel when you do you think did you hear the they're really loud okaywe're launching a new series today called did we name it yes he called it dear valentina oh i said that already oh you did it yes i was lost in your eyes sorry i have that effect where am i what's my name okay so there you go say it again i'll lead up to it again to which part and so you've started a series oh hey guys welcome to the house of valentina i'm valentina and my husband jack is hanging out with me today because he's helping me with the technical side of today's video sorry i'm sure that you love hanging out with us all the time but i do necessity demands that he really has to be here because i have no idea how we're gonna pull all this off but um yes so today's video is a new little series that we thought that we would start because we get so many questions from you guys about how to design your spaces you're wanting to know our opinions and our thoughts and so within the inspired by the facebook group we opened it up to you guys and just said send us your pictures send us your questions and if we have enough we'll make a video about it and as it turns out we got so many responses that we'll probably have to make more than one video yeah the original concept was we thought oh we'll just answer a few of these and we got so many that it was like oh my gosh what are we gonna do so we actually are starting a new series today called dear valentina we're excited yeah so what we're going to do is literally go through your questions and we're going to pop the pictures up here on the screen probably over my he's going to help me with my ugly mug right about here and then she'll answer the questions in real time you set this camera this little scenario up i know we're in the black room we're just trying to like mix things up a little bit so it's the sun room yeah that's the big experience yeah otherwise the sun all right well this is the kind of video that you enjoy and you love to hear interior design tips travel lifestyle all that awesome stuff we renovate we decorate we do it all here so make sure if you have not hit subscribe that you do right now go ahead and hit subscribe hit the notifications bell if you are a subscriber so then you know when a video has been uploaded and don't forget thumbs up comments all that cool stuff helps the channel which makes it awesome more awesome i was gonna say awesome or for you yeah no this isn't england this is not an english video we're gonna awesome eyes the channel yes with you guys so yeah be sure to do all that and let's jump in all right okay so our first question is from that's right and read with a with them i can't make fun of him i'll be there soon enough so our first question is from jamie martin hope i said your name right jamie has this gorgeous room with this amazing fireplace and says pick me pick me oh i've been trying to decide if i should paint my brick cover it with wood or tile or leave it as it is i also want to update my paint color i've been thinking about white but i'm afraid it won't look good with the brick help okay so that's a lot of questions okay so before i just say yes paint your brick um yes paint the brick but if there's more questions attached to this right so we're not just talking about only one thing are we only talking about the brick no we're talking about painting the wall of white well that's a huge change that's gonna completely change the way that this room feels i think the biggest question that you need to ask yourself and this is what i always start with my clients is how do you want to feel in the space overall because painting the fireplace is just one piece of this equation so if you're leaving the color on the walls i might give you different advice on what you would do to that fireplace but if you're wanting something white which to me usually means that my clients are ready for something that feels lighter and airier and we're all works so many of us are in the space we're just we're ready for something that just makes it feel ethereal and just relaxing um so that's my first question obviously i'm a fan of white paint obviously i'm also a fan of black and dark colors so you really need to ask yourself how do you want to feel when you walk into that space what's the emotion that you want to feel do you want to feel soothed and do you want it to feel just really comfortable do you want it to feel just um light and i don't know yeah got that feeling that feeling do you want that or do you want to walk into the room i think when the minute i saw this i was like like it's like cozy and kind of warm and it feels a little bit like fall in there and those colors are very warm so you can still maintain that warmth by painting the walls white you're just going to have to work with your textures quite a bit when you do that you can still have a warm home and white walls if you want to pick maybe a warmer white refer back to our video about what color whites to choose for your house okay so the second question here is the fireplace so let's just say for instance because you can kind of figure out what you want to do if you want to leave the walls this way but let's assume that you're going to want this new look for the space so if we've decided that we still want a cozy vibe and we're going to go white on the walls i would absolutely think about doing something with the fireplace i think that painting the brick is a great easy inexpensive solution and if you don't have a big budget and you don't want to spend a lot of time on it that's easy you can totally do that yourself i would definitely think about maybe flip-flopping your colors here so you might go a little bit darker on the fireplace to add a really great focal point that would really play off well off the artwork that's already in there and if you're going to keep your dark dining room table think about how you can kind of tie that warmth over to that fireplace wall technically those two colors are very similar and you could play up that dark wood color that's another option but yeah i mean you could definitely do something warm maybe take the color off the wall put that on the fireplace and go lighter creamier white and kind of just pull all that together it feels like all these things go together right now so when you start to play with one you're gonna need to play with all of it really come together with like that cohesive look it's okay to keep your dark woods with a light wall but it's gonna change the entire feel of the space so you might find yourself putting linen on the sofa and tying in some of those darker hues maybe into the art what goes on those shelves so all that kind of plays together and the kitchen here even if you had a dark cabinet you could still do light on the walls you would just maybe think through that that island piece may need to be a different color all that kind of stuff all right and our next question comes from laura rhaegar bulger laura says so i've been fighting with my dining room for a long time i actually have three walls don't fight it i literally pictured it like fighting i know everybody's like so we've been in this situation before somewhere we lived where we actually have she actually has three walls and there's no windows in the space i hate that but i have to work with what i have my husband will won't let me knock out the wall for some reason husbands husbands um why am i talking about they're always resistant i'm not um i finally figured out a roundtable wait i was trying to knock a wall into the closet and you were like you're not going to try to knock a window into the side of it so that's what she's trying to do too oh my god see it's not just you it's me too probably not i go through the same thing i finally figured out that a round table would work better than a square one it seems to be working my problem is the back empty wall i'm really not sure what to do with it i'm going to add a small bench underneath the one picture and of course i need to add a rug not sure what red to add a small fence roll to add i'm really bad at picking rugs she wants to add a small bench underneath the picture right there oh okay i couldn't really see the picture the final thing is the angle i'm taking the picture's actually open to the living room there's no wall where i'm taking the picture from so she's basically got two solid walls a door with a wall with a door in it and then no wall in this end yeah it kind of feels like there's not really a focal point in the room right now um if this is the main view that you see so you've got two main views right you're gonna walk in from the kitchen because i can see the refrigerator and then she's saying back behind us there's nothing behind that so there's two main things going on here you're gonna have two entry points and i always think about that how what's at that moment when you walk into the room and you look at it what is that that wow moment that power moment that that's it that's everything and i would imagine that you probably see this more from the living room than you do from the kitchen but we'll talk about that part in a second so if it was me just some quick and simple things first of all the room has like no like power statement really it's just feels like it's kind of there and i i get it we all have spaces like this um the ceiling is amazing that detail work is so cool so i would suggest giving yourself a bigger power statement so if you're working on zero budget the first the main thing i would do is i would take those shelves and i would put them on that wall behind the light behind the table that that becomes your focal point make that wall a wow statement and i think that those shelving would be a great way to do that the other way to do it i just wouldn't put something tall it feels like you can't even walk around the room the way it is right now i kind of feel like there's depth there that's not being taken up which is why i wouldn't put a piece of artwork behind that you could and that would make a bold statement but i just feel like the better move here is to put the two shelves behind the table give yourself a really great power statement fill it up with really beautiful large pieces make sure they're large scale especially on the top shelves that just kind of weights the room it gives you an amazing power statement and then your secondary power statement is the one where the artwork is right now and i think a bench i don't even know if there's room for a bench to be honest it doesn't seem like it and sometimes it's hard for us to tell through the photos but a bench feels like it's gonna feel crowded and if you can't walk through that space what's the point in having it i mean if you can't pull your your chair out from the table and actually sit in the space without bumping into furniture sometimes you have to just go more minimalistic you actually need less in the space than you think you do um if anything maybe just a teensy tiny really super narrow shelf they have a console table they have it at cb2 and i use those a lot they have one similar the collection at target similar but i don't know if they have a table thin enough that would actually fit there like i'm thinking like less than 12 inches it's got to be really narrow that would totally work but if you could you could also paint that ceiling and really get a punch out of that and amp up your lighting a little bit i think that those things would also just make it feel really more of a power statement and um i would just switch out maybe it doesn't feel like the the table over here on the side like it's really been necessarily yeah that table that's in there first of all it feels really big in the picture it could be an illusion um maybe something a little bit smaller or again just a nice big piece of art and maybe the bench could fit there that's again it just looks really tight yeah so i would go more minimal on that wall myself and just go for big pieces big artwork less furniture in the space put a great arrangement of flowers on that table and have that power statement on that wall that's my advice awesome thanks laura for sending that in thank you okay so our next one is from cindy warren crumbly cindy says help help wow what a beautiful no she's like the back signal uh we've just painted and put in new flooring now we have a blank canvas it's a gorgeous room it's beautiful we're in the middle of hanging curtains but i need help on what to put on the wall and furniture placement et cetera okay this is the only picture so we've got this picture and then we've got this picture okay that makes more sense okay beautiful so the room obviously is just stunning the flooring is gorgeous the walls and the beams those windows oh my gosh windows are amazing yeah i don't think i would put any i wouldn't put any curtains on the arched windows i'd only put them on the other side again i just like white frothy light and airy um window treatments now so the biggest question again we're going to come back to the same exact question that i always start with is how do you want to feel when you walk into the space we can't place furniture in any of that stuff we can't do any of those things until we understand how do you want to feel when you walk in in space because i if i'm designing for myself i just painted all the walls white i'm assuming that you might want it to feel light and hairy but white doesn't have to be light and airy white can also be highly dramatic you could add black curtains to those windows or a deep velvet gray and we're gonna have a completely different look in this room so my assumption is is that because you just painted the walls white that you're it looks like you're trying to lighten things and you're just wanting that kind of feel so my assumption is that you would probably put a white linen on those walls but what the room does not have right now is there's no fireplace wall there's no focal point to the space i'm assuming that you're walking in from one of the back corners that we're kind of standing at and so when you walk into the room you just see a wall of brown because your eye just sees brown zofa brown sofa brown chairs brown floor there's black brown beams and a brown band um so if it was mine what i would do is i'm gonna assume that this is a hangout space because it has a tv in it um i think it would be ideal to have a big beautiful wall of bookshelves on that side if you had something that if you wanted it to be more rustic so that far wall when you walk in is your focal point so we want to put something on that wall that really just sparks your sparks you sparked joy but joy had a good point okay we want to spark some joy here people this is a great spot to do it let's spark some joy and add a piece of furniture maybe like a really beautiful wall library library-esque kind of book shelf on that wall you could do that or i mean i'm just assuming that because you have traditional furniture that that's the direction you want to go and you haven't said that you're trying to switch out the furniture so i'm assuming we're still sticking with these pieces and therefore i would take out the two i would you got a couple options here right okay you could either take out the two chairs and keep those two sofas and then add two lighter chairs or you could flip flop it um and which way did i just stay i don't know take out the two chairs leave the two chairs and go light on the sofas go really really light and then you just have those two pieces in there and then you might add a light cushion onto those chairs and you're just trying to make it all feel like it it goes together right so you might add something dark onto that sofa if you decide to leave dark and then something light on the you know just picks it up picks it up light and dark what about underneath the tv what about that little area yeah um well before we kind of move on to that we really need a rug oh yes need a rug to anchor the space um i personally don't love to have the back of a furniture piece normally where you walk into a room and you see the back of a piece of furniture however your room is huge at least it looks like it from here so you could have the sofa on the back and then a console table behind it and it's just totally creating a space over there um but again it just depends on which piece you decide to keep and which chair you most like to sit in for when you're watching tv so i always just think through those furniture arrangements how does a room get a function that's the most important thing i would add a really great light rug it doesn't have to be pure white but something with taupes in it something really light and airy and then switch out that fan well i don't know about you guys but i had a lot of fun this was so much fun i mean what an honor for us to be a part of your homes like this for you to submit your your homes and to be a part of them oh my gosh like i know that there's no place like home right it's so personal it's it's all about you displaying your style and that's my ultimate advice to you is to really dive into who you are and understand what makes you tick what makes you happy what gets you excited about living there we want this is what we always say to our clients is when you walk in we want you to feel like wow i get to live here this is mine this is mine that's what we want you to feel when you walk into your spaces so the pieces a lot of times yes there are some styling hacks that we do there's some things that we change um but ultimately what it's really about is understanding who you are and what you love and creating the home around that and when you do that you'll always end up with a home that you love so i hope that you guys have enjoyed today's video yeah if you want to continue to ask questions first of all if you haven't posted a room yet you're like oh my gosh i didn't know i could even do this jump over to inspired by me and write in your question and if you want to hashtag it dear valentina that way we can find it or even you want to start your letter off that would be really cool dear valentino i have this room what do i do that would be great as well as if you need even further help you do virtual design consultations where you literally do this on live zoom and i walk past them all the time and she's got one in just a minute she's not gonna do and they're giggling and laughing and drinking rose and having a great time i don't have the roses maybe not the rose part but it's a great opportunity if you want her in your house for a few hours or whatever it is you want and just kind of fun because a lot of times i'm not seeing from one picture it's really hard for me to see what's going on in the space and we might back out and be like okay no that's not exactly what i would do so when we're on video we're able to walk around the whole room and um do all of that together and we also do consultations here in the atlanta area um and we're hoping to travel more so if you have big projects let us know because we're looking for some pretty big projects in other states that would uh give us the excuse to hop in the car and go somewhere so exactly yeah so also don't forget hit subscribe give us a thumbs up let us know if you like this new series and if you hope that we do more that'll really help us out and as always you can visit us at housevalentina.com that's where all the virtual design services are and loads of extra inspiration so um thank you so much for visiting us and um allowing us to be a part of your homes that really means the world to us and i guess we'll see you in the next one yeah bye bye how do you want to feel when you do you think did you hear the they're really loud okaywe're launching a new series today called did we name it yes he called it dear valentina oh i said that already oh you did it yes i was lost in your eyes sorry i have that effect where am i what's my name okay so there you go say it again i'll lead up to it again to which part and so you've started a series oh hey guys welcome to the house of valentina i'm valentina and my husband jack is hanging out with me today because he's helping me with the technical side of today's video sorry i'm sure that you love hanging out with us all the time but i do necessity demands that he really has to be here because i have no idea how we're gonna pull all this off but um yes so today's video is a new little series that we thought that we would start because we get so many questions from you guys about how to design your spaces you're wanting to know our opinions and our thoughts and so within the inspired by the facebook group we opened it up to you guys and just said send us your pictures send us your questions and if we have enough we'll make a video about it and as it turns out we got so many responses that we'll probably have to make more than one video yeah the original concept was we thought oh we'll just answer a few of these and we got so many that it was like oh my gosh what are we gonna do so we actually are starting a new series today called dear valentina we're excited yeah so what we're going to do is literally go through your questions and we're going to pop the pictures up here on the screen probably over my he's going to help me with my ugly mug right about here and then she'll answer the questions in real time you set this camera this little scenario up i know we're in the black room we're just trying to like mix things up a little bit so it's the sun room yeah that's the big experience yeah otherwise the sun all right well this is the kind of video that you enjoy and you love to hear interior design tips travel lifestyle all that awesome stuff we renovate we decorate we do it all here so make sure if you have not hit subscribe that you do right now go ahead and hit subscribe hit the notifications bell if you are a subscriber so then you know when a video has been uploaded and don't forget thumbs up comments all that cool stuff helps the channel which makes it awesome more awesome i was gonna say awesome or for you yeah no this isn't england this is not an english video we're gonna awesome eyes the channel yes with you guys so yeah be sure to do all that and let's jump in all right okay so our first question is from that's right and read with a with them i can't make fun of him i'll be there soon enough so our first question is from jamie martin hope i said your name right jamie has this gorgeous room with this amazing fireplace and says pick me pick me oh i've been trying to decide if i should paint my brick cover it with wood or tile or leave it as it is i also want to update my paint color i've been thinking about white but i'm afraid it won't look good with the brick help okay so that's a lot of questions okay so before i just say yes paint your brick um yes paint the brick but if there's more questions attached to this right so we're not just talking about only one thing are we only talking about the brick no we're talking about painting the wall of white well that's a huge change that's gonna completely change the way that this room feels i think the biggest question that you need to ask yourself and this is what i always start with my clients is how do you want to feel in the space overall because painting the fireplace is just one piece of this equation so if you're leaving the color on the walls i might give you different advice on what you would do to that fireplace but if you're wanting something white which to me usually means that my clients are ready for something that feels lighter and airier and we're all works so many of us are in the space we're just we're ready for something that just makes it feel ethereal and just relaxing um so that's my first question obviously i'm a fan of white paint obviously i'm also a fan of black and dark colors so you really need to ask yourself how do you want to feel when you walk into that space what's the emotion that you want to feel do you want to feel soothed and do you want it to feel just really comfortable do you want it to feel just um light and i don't know yeah got that feeling that feeling do you want that or do you want to walk into the room i think when the minute i saw this i was like like it's like cozy and kind of warm and it feels a little bit like fall in there and those colors are very warm so you can still maintain that warmth by painting the walls white you're just going to have to work with your textures quite a bit when you do that you can still have a warm home and white walls if you want to pick maybe a warmer white refer back to our video about what color whites to choose for your house okay so the second question here is the fireplace so let's just say for instance because you can kind of figure out what you want to do if you want to leave the walls this way but let's assume that you're going to want this new look for the space so if we've decided that we still want a cozy vibe and we're going to go white on the walls i would absolutely think about doing something with the fireplace i think that painting the brick is a great easy inexpensive solution and if you don't have a big budget and you don't want to spend a lot of time on it that's easy you can totally do that yourself i would definitely think about maybe flip-flopping your colors here so you might go a little bit darker on the fireplace to add a really great focal point that would really play off well off the artwork that's already in there and if you're going to keep your dark dining room table think about how you can kind of tie that warmth over to that fireplace wall technically those two colors are very similar and you could play up that dark wood color that's another option but yeah i mean you could definitely do something warm maybe take the color off the wall put that on the fireplace and go lighter creamier white and kind of just pull all that together it feels like all these things go together right now so when you start to play with one you're gonna need to play with all of it really come together with like that cohesive look it's okay to keep your dark woods with a light wall but it's gonna change the entire feel of the space so you might find yourself putting linen on the sofa and tying in some of those darker hues maybe into the art what goes on those shelves so all that kind of plays together and the kitchen here even if you had a dark cabinet you could still do light on the walls you would just maybe think through that that island piece may need to be a different color all that kind of stuff all right and our next question comes from laura rhaegar bulger laura says so i've been fighting with my dining room for a long time i actually have three walls don't fight it i literally pictured it like fighting i know everybody's like so we've been in this situation before somewhere we lived where we actually have she actually has three walls and there's no windows in the space i hate that but i have to work with what i have my husband will won't let me knock out the wall for some reason husbands husbands um why am i talking about they're always resistant i'm not um i finally figured out a roundtable wait i was trying to knock a wall into the closet and you were like you're not going to try to knock a window into the side of it so that's what she's trying to do too oh my god see it's not just you it's me too probably not i go through the same thing i finally figured out that a round table would work better than a square one it seems to be working my problem is the back empty wall i'm really not sure what to do with it i'm going to add a small bench underneath the one picture and of course i need to add a rug not sure what red to add a small fence roll to add i'm really bad at picking rugs she wants to add a small bench underneath the picture right there oh okay i couldn't really see the picture the final thing is the angle i'm taking the picture's actually open to the living room there's no wall where i'm taking the picture from so she's basically got two solid walls a door with a wall with a door in it and then no wall in this end yeah it kind of feels like there's not really a focal point in the room right now um if this is the main view that you see so you've got two main views right you're gonna walk in from the kitchen because i can see the refrigerator and then she's saying back behind us there's nothing behind that so there's two main things going on here you're gonna have two entry points and i always think about that how what's at that moment when you walk into the room and you look at it what is that that wow moment that power moment that that's it that's everything and i would imagine that you probably see this more from the living room than you do from the kitchen but we'll talk about that part in a second so if it was me just some quick and simple things first of all the room has like no like power statement really it's just feels like it's kind of there and i i get it we all have spaces like this um the ceiling is amazing that detail work is so cool so i would suggest giving yourself a bigger power statement so if you're working on zero budget the first the main thing i would do is i would take those shelves and i would put them on that wall behind the light behind the table that that becomes your focal point make that wall a wow statement and i think that those shelving would be a great way to do that the other way to do it i just wouldn't put something tall it feels like you can't even walk around the room the way it is right now i kind of feel like there's depth there that's not being taken up which is why i wouldn't put a piece of artwork behind that you could and that would make a bold statement but i just feel like the better move here is to put the two shelves behind the table give yourself a really great power statement fill it up with really beautiful large pieces make sure they're large scale especially on the top shelves that just kind of weights the room it gives you an amazing power statement and then your secondary power statement is the one where the artwork is right now and i think a bench i don't even know if there's room for a bench to be honest it doesn't seem like it and sometimes it's hard for us to tell through the photos but a bench feels like it's gonna feel crowded and if you can't walk through that space what's the point in having it i mean if you can't pull your your chair out from the table and actually sit in the space without bumping into furniture sometimes you have to just go more minimalistic you actually need less in the space than you think you do um if anything maybe just a teensy tiny really super narrow shelf they have a console table they have it at cb2 and i use those a lot they have one similar the collection at target similar but i don't know if they have a table thin enough that would actually fit there like i'm thinking like less than 12 inches it's got to be really narrow that would totally work but if you could you could also paint that ceiling and really get a punch out of that and amp up your lighting a little bit i think that those things would also just make it feel really more of a power statement and um i would just switch out maybe it doesn't feel like the the table over here on the side like it's really been necessarily yeah that table that's in there first of all it feels really big in the picture it could be an illusion um maybe something a little bit smaller or again just a nice big piece of art and maybe the bench could fit there that's again it just looks really tight yeah so i would go more minimal on that wall myself and just go for big pieces big artwork less furniture in the space put a great arrangement of flowers on that table and have that power statement on that wall that's my advice awesome thanks laura for sending that in thank you okay so our next one is from cindy warren crumbly cindy says help help wow what a beautiful no she's like the back signal uh we've just painted and put in new flooring now we have a blank canvas it's a gorgeous room it's beautiful we're in the middle of hanging curtains but i need help on what to put on the wall and furniture placement et cetera okay this is the only picture so we've got this picture and then we've got this picture okay that makes more sense okay beautiful so the room obviously is just stunning the flooring is gorgeous the walls and the beams those windows oh my gosh windows are amazing yeah i don't think i would put any i wouldn't put any curtains on the arched windows i'd only put them on the other side again i just like white frothy light and airy um window treatments now so the biggest question again we're going to come back to the same exact question that i always start with is how do you want to feel when you walk into the space we can't place furniture in any of that stuff we can't do any of those things until we understand how do you want to feel when you walk in in space because i if i'm designing for myself i just painted all the walls white i'm assuming that you might want it to feel light and hairy but white doesn't have to be light and airy white can also be highly dramatic you could add black curtains to those windows or a deep velvet gray and we're gonna have a completely different look in this room so my assumption is is that because you just painted the walls white that you're it looks like you're trying to lighten things and you're just wanting that kind of feel so my assumption is that you would probably put a white linen on those walls but what the room does not have right now is there's no fireplace wall there's no focal point to the space i'm assuming that you're walking in from one of the back corners that we're kind of standing at and so when you walk into the room you just see a wall of brown because your eye just sees brown zofa brown sofa brown chairs brown floor there's black brown beams and a brown band um so if it was mine what i would do is i'm gonna assume that this is a hangout space because it has a tv in it um i think it would be ideal to have a big beautiful wall of bookshelves on that side if you had something that if you wanted it to be more rustic so that far wall when you walk in is your focal point so we want to put something on that wall that really just sparks your sparks you sparked joy but joy had a good point okay we want to spark some joy here people this is a great spot to do it let's spark some joy and add a piece of furniture maybe like a really beautiful wall library library-esque kind of book shelf on that wall you could do that or i mean i'm just assuming that because you have traditional furniture that that's the direction you want to go and you haven't said that you're trying to switch out the furniture so i'm assuming we're still sticking with these pieces and therefore i would take out the two i would you got a couple options here right okay you could either take out the two chairs and keep those two sofas and then add two lighter chairs or you could flip flop it um and which way did i just stay i don't know take out the two chairs leave the two chairs and go light on the sofas go really really light and then you just have those two pieces in there and then you might add a light cushion onto those chairs and you're just trying to make it all feel like it it goes together right so you might add something dark onto that sofa if you decide to leave dark and then something light on the you know just picks it up picks it up light and dark what about underneath the tv what about that little area yeah um well before we kind of move on to that we really need a rug oh yes need a rug to anchor the space um i personally don't love to have the back of a furniture piece normally where you walk into a room and you see the back of a piece of furniture however your room is huge at least it looks like it from here so you could have the sofa on the back and then a console table behind it and it's just totally creating a space over there um but again it just depends on which piece you decide to keep and which chair you most like to sit in for when you're watching tv so i always just think through those furniture arrangements how does a room get a function that's the most important thing i would add a really great light rug it doesn't have to be pure white but something with taupes in it something really light and airy and then switch out that fan well i don't know about you guys but i had a lot of fun this was so much fun i mean what an honor for us to be a part of your homes like this for you to submit your your homes and to be a part of them oh my gosh like i know that there's no place like home right it's so personal it's it's all about you displaying your style and that's my ultimate advice to you is to really dive into who you are and understand what makes you tick what makes you happy what gets you excited about living there we want this is what we always say to our clients is when you walk in we want you to feel like wow i get to live here this is mine this is mine that's what we want you to feel when you walk into your spaces so the pieces a lot of times yes there are some styling hacks that we do there's some things that we change um but ultimately what it's really about is understanding who you are and what you love and creating the home around that and when you do that you'll always end up with a home that you love so i hope that you guys have enjoyed today's video yeah if you want to continue to ask questions first of all if you haven't posted a room yet you're like oh my gosh i didn't know i could even do this jump over to inspired by me and write in your question and if you want to hashtag it dear valentina that way we can find it or even you want to start your letter off that would be really cool dear valentino i have this room what do i do that would be great as well as if you need even further help you do virtual design consultations where you literally do this on live zoom and i walk past them all the time and she's got one in just a minute she's not gonna do and they're giggling and laughing and drinking rose and having a great time i don't have the roses maybe not the rose part but it's a great opportunity if you want her in your house for a few hours or whatever it is you want and just kind of fun because a lot of times i'm not seeing from one picture it's really hard for me to see what's going on in the space and we might back out and be like okay no that's not exactly what i would do so when we're on video we're able to walk around the whole room and um do all of that together and we also do consultations here in the atlanta area um and we're hoping to travel more so if you have big projects let us know because we're looking for some pretty big projects in other states that would uh give us the excuse to hop in the car and go somewhere so exactly yeah so also don't forget hit subscribe give us a thumbs up let us know if you like this new series and if you hope that we do more that'll really help us out and as always you can visit us at housevalentina.com that's where all the virtual design services are and loads of extra inspiration so um thank you so much for visiting us and um allowing us to be a part of your homes that really means the world to us and i guess we'll see you in the next one yeah bye bye how do you want to feel when you do you think did you hear the they're really loud okay\n"