4 Decorating Tips from Steven Sabados

Photo: CBC

How to Decorate Your Home Like Steven Sabados

One of Canada’s most respected celebrities and acclaimed designers, Steven Sabados certainly knows a thing or two about home decor. After re-launching the S&C home product line he co-founded with his late partner Chris Hyndman, Sabados returns to television with The Goods, along with co-hosts Jessi Cruickshank, Andrea Bain and Shahir Massoud. The new daytime series premieres Oct. 3 at 2 p.m. on CBC. Here are his top four home makeover tips for fall.

Photo: Shutterstock

1. Throw Some Artwork On the Wall

Let’s face it: painting your living room or bedroom is hard work, and oftentimes, it’s also completely unnecessary. If you want to revive the look and feel of your home, hanging up a painting or two does the job. “Artwork is an awesome way to change your environment,” says Sabados. “You’ll be surprised by how much art–especially sculptural art–changes the dynamic of your space.”

And remember: art doesn’t have to be expensive. You can get plenty of great affordable prints from IKEA, for instance, or you can display art made by a loved one. “Once you throw something on your wall, you get so accustomed to it that you just leave it, so the trick is to switch up the artwork around every few months, kind of like an art gallery,” says Sabados.

Photo: Shutterstock

2. Avoid Trendy Furniture

The late, great fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent once said: “Fashions fade, style is eternal.” The same can be said about the furniture in your home. “If you’re making an investment on a piece of furniture, you don’t want to be overly trendy because one day you’ll stop and think, ‘Wow, that is so last year,’ and no one needs to deal with that,” says Sabados.

Stick to simple, modern-looking furniture, and spruce it up by adding little twists. A lot of newer furniture, for instance, now come with metal leg options. If you want your home looking stylish, try to strike a balance between modern and traditional–in other words, timeless.

Photo: Shutterstock

3. Play with Scale

When decorators talk about “scale,” they’re referring to how accessories relate to the size of the room or other objects. When figuring out how to decorate your room, Sabados says it all depends on how big it is. For example, repetitive patterns and colours on throw pillows make a space more inviting and pleasing to the eye, but if your room is on the small side, keep those patterns down to a minimum.

“I’ve always loved bold elements,” he says. “A great way to update your room would be to clean off an old console and simply put two massive objects on top, and then you’re good to go. Keep things simple. Two end tables in your living room can become cool side tables in your bedroom, too.”

Photo: Shutterstock

4. Look for Inspiration Everywhere

Ever look at an object in your home or at the department store and think, “We could have fun with this”? Well, that’s a good thing. Sabados says autumn is the best time to experiment with the furnishings in your home, and the only way you can pull that off is from finding inspiration wherever you go. Next time you’re in a department store, take photographs. If there’s a cool detail that catches your eye, maybe you could translate that into a pattern or stitching!