The Popularity of Home Organization in 2023

If there is one thing that spending more time at home has taught us is that we have way too much stuff. Or maybe we have more stuff because we were forced to spend more time at home for almost two years. Home organization is a trend in 2023 that most furniture retailers have noted. We’re not only going to discuss why this is a popular trend, but we’re also going to give you a few suggestions about how to get your home organized. 

Why is Home Organization Popular This Year

Without polling individual homeowners and renters, it would be impossible to provide an accurate answer, but we can create a few sound hypotheses about the subject.

Increased Online Shopping

It doesn’t take a team of statisticians and market researchers to tell you that online shopping has been on the rise. When people can’t dine out, go to shows, or attend sporting events, their discretionary money goes into buying home consumer goods. People need space to store their gaming systems and home gym equipment. 

The Price of Real Estate

Skyrocketing housing prices have forced people to reconsider the size of the space they need to be comfortable. Moving one's belongings to a smaller place makes one ponder the question, “Where am I going to put all of these things?”

The Popularity of Decorating Trends on Social Media

There was a time when most people were only exposed to professionally decorated homes when they were watching television or standing in front of decorating magazines while waiting to check out at the grocery store. Trendy platforms like Pinterest, Instagram, and, more recently, TikTok have piqued our collective interest in interior decorating by steering us to content that shows gorgeous living rooms, bedrooms, home offices, dining rooms, etc. 

How to Get Organized in 2023

If you’re reading this article, it’s probably because you really want to organize your space. You’ve probably already cleared out your CD towers and gotten rid of obsolete VHS players, but what remains, you want to keep. Here are some tips for organizing your space. 

Credenzas, Side Boards, and Closed TV Consoles 

There are few things more beneficial when you’re trying to create hidden storage than a cabinet — even better when that cabinet includes features like adjustable shelves and cable management. Introducing a closed console to your living room or a sideboard to your dining room gives you the spare storage you need to stow items that don’t need to be out every day. 

Additionally, it provides surface area for more displayable items. The Axiom Contemporary Buffet by Bernhardt is a beautiful two-toned piece with textured surfaces, adjustable shelves, and two hidden drawers in the center compartment. It also comes with a serving tray, as you can see here under the wine service.

The layout of this piece will give you numerous organizational options. 

Shelving Units For Vertical Storage 

Shelving units can be extremely helpful when you’re trying to get organized. Additionally, you can find relatively narrow bookcases and shelving units that mount to the wall for enhanced stability. You can put an attractive piece in your bedroom, living room, hallway, home office, or any nook in the home where it will fit. 

We love multipurpose shelving units like the Sligh Greystone Octavia File Chest and Deck, which has deep drawers that can accommodate standard and legal files and an LED-lit hutch with elegant glass shelves. This is perfect for an upscale home office. The top drawer even locks to ensure your security and privacy.

Curio Cabinets for Displayable Items

If you love to accumulate collectibles or you have objets d’art scattered about your space, a curio cabinet may be the answer to your organizational woes. Curio cabinets allow you to display items in a well-lit, confined space. They have the additional benefit of preventing people from picking up delicate items to examine them. If you have expensive china, it’s nice to be able to put it on display even when you’re not serving dinner. 

Look at how amazing this china looks in the Arch Salvage Gwynn Curio Cabinet by A.R.T. Furniture. There’s even a touch-lit chandelier inside!

Final Tips for Home Organization

If you’re serious about putting your home in order, here are a few tips to help you stick the landing:

• Decluttering is a must
• Do a deep cleaning once you’re done
• Buy fewer small items and save your money for high-quality impact pieces
• If you’re replacing furniture, shop at a high-quality furniture retailer near you. 

7 Interior Decorating Tips for the Bedroom

Your bedroom should be your personal sanctuary. It should be a place you can escape from the stress and craziness of the world, even if only for a little while. Your bedroom should express your style, immerse you in your favorite colors, surround you with your trappings, and elicit feelings of both serenity and joy. 

You can transform your bedroom into the perfect haven for relaxation with these interior decorating bedroom ideas.

1) Keep It Cozy and Simple

No matter what style you choose — traditional, transitional, modern, or tropical — a bedroom should be cozy and simple. Keep at least three feet between the bed and sidewalls or large furniture pieces to make it easy to move around. Maintain a minimum of two feet between furniture such as dressers and tables and the bed. This allows you to move freely through the bedroom.

When space is free of clutter, it will automatically be more relaxing. A bed, a dresser, a bedside table, and a chair are all you need in the way of furniture. Streamline your accessories, and consider sticking to flowers and candles, some family photos, and a stunning piece of art on the wall.

2) Select a Soothing Color

Bold, bright primary colors tend to be too energetic for the bedroom. Instead, select soothing, restful neutrals, such as gentle blues, barely-there pinks, and muted greens to create a mood of cozy comfort. Using toned-down hues of your favorite colors is another way to make the space relaxing. If you love orange, choose earthy pumpkin rather than bright tangerine.

3) Right-Size the Furniture

In addition to furnishing the space sparingly, ensure that the furniture is the right size for the room. Measure and make a floor plan if you are purchasing new furniture. If you have room, add an ottoman, chair, or bench at the foot of the bed.

Avoid heavy, large furniture if your bedroom is on the small side. On the other hand, if your bedroom is big, make sure your furniture is proportionate. Small furniture will be lost in a large room, and furniture that is too big will make the room look small.

4) Dress the Bed in Luxurious Linens

Get the nicest, prettiest, most luxurious sheets you can. Choose 100 percent cotton and a thread count of at least 350. The higher the thread count, the better. You won't be sorry.

5) Layer the Lighting

Pay close attention to the layers of light in the bedroom. This means to make sure you have ambient lighting, task lighting, and accent lighting. Choose a pretty chandelier or pendant to light up the entire space, a task lamp for the bedside table, and accent lights to softly illuminate the walls.

For maximum lighting control, put your bedroom lights on a dimmer and ensure you have a separate on/off switch for each one. Then you can light only the area you wish to.

6) Dress the Windows

A beautifully dressed window puts the finishing touch on a bedroom. Window dressings are a great way to add pattern, color, texture, and softness to the bedroom. Soft sheer curtains with blinds create a gentle look with plenty of privacy. Choose drapes with lining or opaque blinds to keep the sun out when you want to sleep in.

7) Keep Tech Out of the Bedroom

Try to keep cell phones, computers, televisions, or exercise machines out of the bedroom. This is your space to become refreshed and renewed. You'll enjoy having a room, especially for reading, sleeping, and relaxing.

Calming Decorating Ideas to Make Your Home Feel More Soothing

 Who doesn't want a more soothing home? After a long, arduous day at work, nothing is better than just being able to sit down and relax. Don't feel relaxed in the surroundings of your home?

You can make your home more soothing and conducive to these relaxing moments with just a few decorating tweaks! Having a more comfortable home is vital because being more at ease at home can mean better sleep, improved interpersonal relationships, and an overall sense of well-being. Follow along as we review some methods to make your home more soothing and relaxing, such as updates to colors, lighting, and ergonomics in your home.

Using Relaxing Colors in Your Furniture

The color of your furniture is a key factor in how naturally soothing the room is. Neutral and light colors tend to be more relaxing than bold or saturated colors if the neutral and light colors are mixed or layered. Solid colors, as opposed to mixes of colors, are also good bets for soothing qualities. Blues, whites, and similar colors are generally considered the most relaxing.

Take, for instance, this Chateau D'Ax CB52 Sofa. Its gorgeous royal blue shade instantly projects calmness and serenity in whatever room it is located. The solid color makes for easy visual acknowledgment of the sofa, and the color is reminiscent of the ocean.

If you want a more neutral color, try this Stone & Leigh Upholstered Sofa. It has a relatively neutral profile and offers a perfect canvas for you to carve out the rest of your soothing living room around, whatever your choice of color.

To keep a soothing theme, you want to avoid too many patterns, with some exceptions. Complicated designs are generally not soothing if they are free form, so it would be better to stick to geometric and symmetrical patterns if you are going to use them to add depth to the room. A tessellation, for example, is much more likely to be soothing because it's predictable when compared to, say, a Jackson Pollock painting.

Soothing Lighting

Another critical element of making your home feel more soothing is the lighting. Harsh, fluorescent lights can make even the coziest space feel like an emergency room, so the lighting you have in the rooms you will frequent is of great importance.

You generally want to avoid harsh lighting and instead opt for soft light throughout. You can even use tinted lights to create a certain mood in your chosen space. A darkly tinted lamp can help contribute to the room's soft light and transform the area's mood characteristics. A dark red tint, for example, can work magic on a room decorated in neutral colors. It adds a pop of color as well as an overall relaxing feel to the space. Just be sure you do not have any furniture with strong colors that might clash with the tint.

Remember that the type of lightbulb you use can significantly affect the room's lighting. Fluorescent lights look a certain way, and alternative kinds of lightbulbs can overhaul the look of the room by adjusting the natural light in the room. You should also ensure that the whole space is well-lit, as dark areas in rooms that are otherwise well-lit are associated with eye strain, which is the opposite of soothing.

Ergonomics Add to Relaxation

The importance of ergonomics in making your home feel soothing cannot be overstated. The ergonomic quality of your home's seating can make a huge difference in how soothed and relaxed you feel when sitting in a room.

Imagine that you have dining room seats that are wooden stools. The seat itself is hard on your bottom, and there is no back support. How can you relax in such an environment? This is why the ergonomic quality of your seating is so important. Imagine instead this Bernhardt Contemporary Wicker Chair, which has both seat cushioning as well as back support in order to ensure maximum comfort.

If you're uncomfortable when seated, then you'll hardly ever relax. This is why ergonomic seating is such an important part of making your home feel more soothing!

Baer's Furniture Can Help!

We have thousands of floor models to choose from and even more furniture available to order. Come and transform your home with all new home furnishings - visit one of our Florida furniture stores today!

Decorating Challenges in Older Florida Homes and Unusual Florida Architecture

Many visitors to Florida are under the impression that every building in the Sunshine State was built in the past 25 years. While we do have more than our share of new construction, many homes were built during the 1940s, 1950s, and even earlier.

These vintage Florida homes are some of the architectural jewels of the state, but they also present decorating challenges. The interior design professionals at Baer’s Furniture have seen numerous older homes during their time in the field and have developed tried and true solutions to some of the obstacles that older homes present. 

What Are Some of the Features of an Older Florida Home?

Air Circulation Features

Many older Florida homes were designed before central air conditioning became popular. Consequently, these homes are set up to take advantage of the cooling options available to them: fans, ceiling fans, screened windows, bare floors, and front-to-back hallways – halls that connect the front door to the back to allow a cross-breeze. 

Cooling Solutions

Because heat rises, ceilings are often higher than in northern homes. Terrazzo floors became very popular in Florida homes because they don’t retain heat in the way that carpeted floors do.

Oftentimes, you’ll also find an exposed brick wall or a white-washed brick wall in one or more rooms. This is because brick slowly absorbs heat throughout the day, and releases it at night.

Heating Solutions

Fireplaces and built-in space heaters are common in central and northern Florida.

Outdoor Spaces

Front porches and back screened-in patios are frequently found in older Florida homes to provide the denizens with a place to enjoy fresh air in the shade. 

Vintage Florida Home Challenges and Solutions

Older Florida homes can be charming, but often present obstacles for interior decorators.

Here are a few of the most common decorating challenges of older Florida homes and practical solutions for professional and DIY decorators:

Fireplace in the Living Room

Challenge: Florida does not give you many cold nights to start a fire, and many fireplaces in Florida homes are no longer functional. Additionally, fireplaces are usually situated in a place that makes them impossible to ignore.

Solutions: You can, of course, celebrate the fireplace with candles or dried flowers, or you can obscure it with a piece of furniture. Depending on the height, you can conceal the fireplace with a high-backed sofa or loveseat with a skirt or short legs.

This Huntington House Loveseat is a perfect example of an attractive piece that you can put in front of a fireplace.

This also gives you the option of using the concealed hearth for additional storage or a place to hide holiday gifts. 

Too Much Terrazzo (or Tiling)

Challenge: While newer Florida homes have light-colored tile, many older Florida homes have wall-to-wall terrazzo. Without sufficient furnishings, both types of flooring can be cold to the eye and to the touch.

Solutions: You don’t need to replace your flooring to warm up the space. Adding an area rug and a sectional to the center of a room can turn the exposed portion of a terrazzo or tile floor into an elegant framing for the room.

Look how beautifully this tile floor garnishes this stately Natuzzi reclining sectional and matching area rug.

Too Small for a Bedroom, Too Large for a Closet

Challenge: Most standard-sized bedrooms are 12’x14’, but older Florida homes frequently have non-conforming, smaller rooms that would be too cramped if you moved a bed and dresser in.

Solutions: Because of the current work-from-home trend, many Floridians are looking for unused space in their homes to create a home office, which these small rooms are perfect for.

Home offices require much less area than a bedroom or guest room. Depending on the size of the room, you can place a desk against the wall and have a quiet space to work and conduct your video conferences.

With a width of around 48 inches, this Hooker Furniture Knee Hole Desk fits perfectly in a smaller room and has plenty of drawer storage for organization. When not in use, your chair tucks neatly under the kneehole.

Unattractive Wall Features 

Challenge: Some Florida homes have unfortunate locations for electrical outlets, phone outlets, circuit breaker panels, etc., or, a previous owner made a modification, and the wall patching is inconsistent and unattractive.

Solutions: The easiest way to deal with a botched wall repair or unattractive fixture is by putting something in front of it. If it’s something you don’t need to access, you could use a tall furniture piece, like the A.R.T. Furniture Arch Salvage Gwynn Curio, to block it. If it’s an item you need more frequent access to, like a circuit breaker panel, you can use wall art to cover up the offending metal encasement.

For every decorative obstacle, there’s a workaround. Need help? Stop in at a Baer’s Furniture showroom and ask our knowledgeable design experts about your options.  

What is Coastal Grandmother Design and is it Right For You?

 Depending on how closely you pay attention to design trends, you may or may not have heard of Coastal Grandmother, which had admittedly obscure origins. According to the design influencer Lex Nicoleta, who was credited with coining the term “Coastal Gran,” this decorative motif is for anyone who “loves Nancy Meyers movies, coastal vibes, recipes and cooking, Ina Garten and cozy interiors.” And despite the quirky name, Coastal Grandmother is a legitimate and appealing design style growing in popularity. 

What Exactly is Coastal Grandmother Design?

Coastal Grandmother combines the light, cool tones of coastal design with the warmth and coziness of Grandmillenial. If you have a coastal bent but find the whitewashed décor a bit cold, this might be just your niche. 

How to Achieve Coastal Grandmother

By now, you’ve probably perused more than a few images of Coastal Grandmother rooms on Google, and you’ve made up your mind. But admiring a look and achieving it are two different things, so here are some tips from the design experts at Baer’s Furniture for achieving Coastal Grandmother in your home. 

Choose Warm Whites

White is at the core of a Coastal Grandmother space, but if you choose the wrong tone, you may push the needle more toward coastal than coastal grandmother. For your walls, select a creamier or buttery shade to make the space feel warmer. You can use colder whites or gray whites for the trim or as a secondary color, but if your primary color is white, we recommend warmer shades. 

Textures are Essential

The Coastal Grandmother design requires textures that feel good to the touch. Afghan throws, knitted toss pillows, and warm fabric chairs are practically requirements for the Coastal Grandmother style. With this in mind, you’ll want to be careful incorporating leather pieces. While they may have a place in a CG room, leather can overwhelm the aesthetic. For example, the Candace Curved Sofa is available in both leather and fabric (fabric shown here). For such a large piece, we think that the fabric works best in Coastal Gran.

Add Color and Dimension with Accent Pieces

Coastal Grandmother is more than just a white room with white pieces of furniture, but it also doesn’t have the over-the-top colors and patterns of Grandmillenial. Colors and accents are more subtle in CG spaces. Consequently, Coastal Grandmother style requires muted or neutral tones. Incorporate colors with area rugs, lampshades, drapes, or even an accent chair. The Times Square Accent Chair by Rowe is the perfect addition to a Coastal Grandmother living room or bedroom. It’s warm, comfortable, and even stain-resistant, and the tones are just right for this aesthetic. 

Avoid Clutter

One of the mistakes that people often make when going for a Coastal Grandmother look is leaning too hard into Granmillenial style. While the two styles share common shoots, CG doesn’t have the busyness or overlapping patterns of Grandmillenial. For example, with Grandmillenial, you can have a striped sofa, a pin-dot-patterned pillow, and a plaid throw (if they are from compatible color schemes), but with Coastal Grandmother, you have to make a choice: one pattern would be the rule here. You could drape a patterned throw across the cream-colored Tryp Swivel Glider, for instance, but not its heavily patterned counterpart. 

How Coastal Grandmother is Different From Coastal and Grandmillenial

When two styles merge to create a new look, fine lines are drawn in the sand. If you cross to one side or the other, your space may become coastal or Grandmillenial, but not Coastal Grandmother. 

As the name implies, coastal design celebrates the beach and the coastline. It favors cool tones, light or white wood furniture, light-tone area rugs, nautical themes, and more. The density of the décor should be on the airy, less cluttered side. Coastal Grandmother borrows heavily from the color palette and layout of the coastal theme. 

Grandmillenial is a maximalist approach to design that celebrates the style and furniture of generations gone by. Grandmillenial features prints, patterns, and cozy furniture, among other things. Coastal Grandmother intersperses these design elements throughout what would be an otherwise coastal decorating scheme. If Grandmillenial makes you think of your grandmother's furniture, Coastal Gran should make you think of your cool, beach grandmother.

With millions of feet of showroom space throughout Florida, Baer’s Furniture has high-quality furniture that fits many different decorative motifs, including Coastal Grandmother. Let our experienced sales staff help you with your decorative choices. Shop Baer’s Furniture today!