Incorporating Radiant Orchid, The Pantone Color of The Year, Into Your Decor

The Pantone color of the year for 2014 has been announced, and the winner is: radiant orchid. So get ready for a purple reign all over the retail and home design worlds soon. According to Pantone, "Radiant orchid reaches across the color wheel to intrigue the eye and spark the imagination." It "inspires confidence and emanates great joy, love and health. Purple was once the color of "Roman Emperors and magistrates, and later by Roman Catholic bishops," said Wikipedia. Since that time, purple has been commonly associated with royalty and piety." So how much radiant orchid will we see? Lest you think radiant orchid is a flash in the purple pan, the Chicago Tribune says we should "Look for the hue to carry deeper into fashion and beauty items, including nail and lip color, and to infiltrate home furnishings and paint." Adds the L.A. Times: "At the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York last spring, Emerald - Pantone's color of the year for 2013 - could be found seemingly everywhere: Bernhardt furniture, acoustic wall textiles, Ikea velvet sofas. Bottom line: Prepare yourself for purple furniture, pink poufs, fuchsia bedding and perhaps Radiant Orchid gowns at this year's Oscars." Whether you're looking to make sweeping changes to your décor or simply want to infuse your place with a few colorful on-trend accents, we have a few easy ways to incorporate radiant orchid into your home. Paint Paint is typically thought of as the biggest yet most affordable change you can make in a room. For under $100, you can alter the whole look and feel of the room, if you do it yourself. Is radiant orchid a little too strong a color for a entire room? Elle Décor doesn't think so. "Purple is divine as an accent or as a wall color," said New York designer Alex Papachristidis in Elle Decor. "I think of purple as a neutral - it looks wonderful with mossy green, a bit of yellow, red, and aqua blue. Purple is rich and lush, and has an incredibly regal quality." If radiant orchid is a little too much pinky-purple for you, "Deeper shades of purple have been on the upswing as well," said the Wall Street Journal. "Sherwin-Williams recently announced its 2014 Color of the Year is a murky violet called 'exclusive plum.'" Multiple shades of purples can also work together, especially in a girl's bedroom, because the "typical" rules of design are more easily bent - or broken. One Big Punch But if you like your colorful impact in smaller, but no less potent, doses, maybe this graphic wallpaper from HGTV is more your speed. Looking for something a little less labor-intensive? Hang a piece of art that offers a vibrant counterpart to more muted hues or plays off of opposites. "In home interiors, Radiant Orchid pairs well with many colors, such as turquoise, teal and light yellows. It also livens up neutrals such as gray, beige and taupe," said ApartmentTherapy.com. Accessories One of the easiest ways to incorporate a new color into your home - especially a color as bold as radiant orchid - is with accessories. A cool ottoman gives an instant pop. Still too much work? Head to the flower mart and pick up a bunch of the color or the year's namesake flowers: orchids. There: instant update! Check out Houzz.com or ApartmentTherapy.com for more great ways to use radiant orchid in your home.  Written by Jaymi Naciri

4 Tips for Effectively Staging Your Home for Sale

4 Tips for Effectively Staging Your Home for Sale You've accepted the job offer, met with the REALTOR, and are starting to get bids from moving companies. It's official—you really are selling your home and moving away! As anybody who has ever sold a home knows quite well, it takes a lot more than sticking a For Sale sign in the front yard and hoping that potential buyers will love it as much as you did. In order to get the best price for your home and pique the interest (and bidding power) of buyers, you need to take some time to stage your home so that it looks and smells—yes, smells—terrific, inviting, and worth every dollar of your asking price. The following four tips can help home sellers effectively and attractively stage their home: 1. Consider new window treatments Take a look at the various window coverings in your home and ask yourself if they look new, clean, and in excellent condition. If the answer to any of these questions is an honest "no," then consider getting some new window treatments. Home window treatments are available in a variety of textures and colors, and can make a huge difference in the quality of light that enters a room. 2. Upgrade your tile with paint As HGTV notes, bathrooms have been known to help sell a home, but old and shabby tile will definitely steer potential buyers away faster than you can say "avocado and almond tile." Because replacing tile can be on the costly side, sellers can repaint them. After coating the tiles with a primer (be sure you purchase one that is marked "high adhesion"), paint the tiles with a ceramic epoxy coating. This relatively easy and low-cost job can really help update the look of the bathroom without having to spend a ton of money on new tile. 3. Tone down an old fireplace Sure, that brick fireplace in the living or family room looks great during the holidays when it's festooned with stockings and the various trimmings of the season, but the rest of the year it really doesn't do much for the look of the room. To lessen its visual impact, try adding a thin coat of paint to the bricks. In order to avoid the mortar, you do have to paint one brick at a time, which can be time-consuming. But the pay-off of painting your fireplace is well worth your patience when you have a new neutral focal point in your room. One additional tip: to make sure the fireplace blends in as much as possible, choose a color that closely matches the surrounding walls. 4. Simmer some apples Nothing will turn off home buyers faster than a musty, moldy, smoky, and/or any other type of undesirable smell. Even the cleanest home can often benefit from the addition of a nice aroma. Shortly before your open house, place some sliced apples and cinnamon sticks in a sauce pan on the stove, and let them simmer. The delicious smell will be sure to tempt potential buyers to spend even more time—and hopefully money—on your home.