House Guest // For the Love of Design

Today's House Guest is a Kansas City graphic designer with mad skills, Rachael from For The Love of Design. I came across Rachael's blog last year and have been hooked ever since (her Pin Palette posts are stellar for color inspiration). We have yet to get together, but I can tell we'll have a real good time when we finally do! I am loving Rachael's tips for adding graphic elements to your space, and am happily applying a few of them to my own home.

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 Hello BIA readers! I'm Rachael from For The Love of Design. I'm super excited Tobe asked me to be a part of her house guest series this week. Ironically enough, I'm on the hunt for a new place, so to say home design has been on my mind would be an understatement.

As a graphic designer, I'm constantly finding inspiration in interesting patterns, shapes and textures, so I thought it would be fun to bring a little graphic inspiration to the interior today. A lot of people think bringing graphic elements into a space can be too bold or scary. I'm here to give you a few ways to use them subtly will work in any space you chose.

1. Textiles - The easiest and most common way to get great lines and shapes into a space it through pillows, throws, curtains or rugs. I love mixing patterns through different throw pillows, especially because they can easily be changed out with the seasons.

2. Plants - For those of you who are fortunate enough to be able to keep them alive, plants are a beneficial and unexpected way to add geometric lines to your home. I'm a huge fan of succulents because of their fun shapes and they get bonus points for being the hardest to kill.

3. Wallpaper + Wall Flats - Have you seen these? That, my friends, is geometric bliss. I'm looking forward to the day I'm no longer renting so that I can get crazy with my walls.

4. Typography - Typographic elements are a great way to add visual interest to a room. One of my favorite uses of type in a home is with marquee lettering, but a more subtle way to use it is to frame prints or old greeting cards and add them to a gallery wall.

5.  Wall Art + Tapestries - Lately, I've been loving simple, oversized black and white geometrics. Dwell Studio has some pretty fabulous pieces. If you're a girl on a budget, all you need is a canvas and some acrylic paint and you have a beautiful and custom piece made just for your space!

 6.  Vintage - Make a trip to some of your local vintage stores. This is one of my favorite things to do because you never know what you're going to find and from what era you are going to find it. Mixing lines and shapes from different time periods is key to making your space truly special.

7. Reupholster - If you're like me and have acquired several random pieces of furniture over the years, you have nothing to lose from reupholstering grandma's beige wingback in a fun, up-to-date pattern.

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Thanks so much for having me Tobe!