Risk Month

Small dining spaces can be a challenge to furnish and stage for a potential buyer. Too big a table, and your family, guests, or potential next homeowner will have to squeeze themselves through your space, making it feel cramped, awkward, and hard to imagine living there.Meanwhile, a too-small table lacks function and the ability to use the space as it’s intended.

For a lot of people, the kitchen is where a lot of time is spent. Everything from cooking to entertaining to hanging out with family happens in this space. So it’s a win if it represents the people who live in the home.Gina Gutierrez, interior designer and founder of Gina Rachelle Design, had a client who wanted her home “to reflect her taste while supporting working from home, cooking, entertaining, and life with her small dog,” Gina shares.

Here’s the truth: Neutrals are nice, but they can also be a little… boring. That goes double when a room is filled to the brim with them, like this beige-on-beige living room from designer Natalie Papier’s own home.Natalie, of Home EC., is all about colorful, eclectic interiors — the exact opposite of the space she found when she and her family bought their new home in North Carolina after moving from Chicago.