Interior Design and Wall Decor Tips from Sigrid & Co. - Part 2

What considerations should I have in mind when selecting new room décor pieces?

Fair Trade Interior Decor

Sigrid: Quite often, I see home decor stores focus on cost and large production. Big box stores and midsize retailers offer their customers a large volume of artwork and home décor at reasonable rates. I decided to take a different approach. At Sigrid & Co., we source home décor products with the underlying principle that home décor is a gateway for global connectivity and fair trade.

This means that we source our products from talented artisans from around the world and believe that by providing our partners a channel to reach buyers, we help enable a globally connected economy.

You may be wondering why we decided to focus on Fair Trade (we get this question a lot!). By implementing conscious fair-trade practices, we are holding ourselves accountable to helping the world fight against poverty, gender inequality, child labor and migration. As a company, we believe that we can do well AND do good – all at the same time. 

Selecting Interior Decor Through the Lens of Fair Trade

 We provide our customers the opportunity to purchase home décor that makes a difference in people’s lives. We encourage our customers to research their products and select pieces that are unique and also do some good in our world. Often times, because we source our products from global artisans, we have more unique products than big box retailers. 

 It also means that we help enable artisans in third world countries to make money to help pay for their own necessities such as food, housing, and education. Artwork and home décor is a language that everyone can speak. It transcends language barriers, cultural divide and borders. By supporting our artisans, you’re supporting a world of positive change with true impact, changing lives one product at a time. 

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NYC Interior Design - Sigrid & Co

Look out for our third and final blog post from Sigrid & Co. coming soon!

Part 1 - Interior Design & Wall Decor Tips from Sigrid & Co.

      We believe that artwork should inspire.

Especially the artwork in your home since it’s where you spend a lot of your time. It’s where you and your loved ones create lifelong memories – where milk is spilled, tears are wiped, and family dinner traditions are created.

We know that our artwork is just one piece of what you put in your home, so we partnered with the talented founder of Sigrid & Co., to bring new ideas and inspiration to your interior design.

This is a 3 part series of blog posts and we will be posting helpful hints over the next few weeks as Spring gets into full bloom. Make sure to tag us in your home décor photos on Instagram for a chance to be featured!

 Xoxo,

@marysmark

@sigridandco_

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Part 1 - How do I start pulling decor together for a room?

Sigrid exploring NYC for design inspiration

Sigrid: When I begin a home decor project, there are two things that I anchor the room around: color and tone.

Color: The color palette of a room is fundamental to creating harmony and a cohesive space. It should be inviting and easily translated by the viewer as warm and welcoming. As you select décor, ensure that your personality shines through as you curate pieces.  

Here are two color palette examples for you to consider:

1.    If you would want an airy and calm room, consider combining light neutrals or leveraging the same color in different shades.

2.    If you would like to create a warm space, consider combining coral and pink blush tones.

Tone: Once you have defined your color, decide on the tone you would like to convey. Consider combining cooler tones such as blues for your bathroom to remind you of a fantastic trip you made to Maine last summer or perhaps you would prefer warmer tones in a dining room to represent your time in lovely Northern Italy.

Once you identify which color palette you would like as well as the tone, selecting the rest of your decor will fall into place.

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Pro Tip: If you are decorating your entire home, consider focusing on rooms one at a time so that you can play with colors and decor styles on a room-to-room basis. This process can be overwhelming so by breaking an entire home into rooms, it can make the project feel more manageable.

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Stay tuned for next week’s blog post from Sigrid & Co about fair trade home decor. Sign up for our eNewsletter here so you don’t miss our next post!

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Interested in the home decor items you see in this post?

Check out Sigrid & Co’s online store here!

Photography Inspiration - Providing clients with more than just photographs

As a photographer, I meet quite a few incredible people. Whether I’m photographing a family session or providing artwork for someone’s home, for a moment in time I get to see into the golden hearts of my clients.

This is such an important part of the job because it reminds me that I’m providing more to my clients than just a transaction - more than just a photoshoot or more than just a photograph for their wall. It’s a reminder that I’m sharing in something greater with them: capturing family memories or shaping how someone’s living room looks for their children to make fond memories in.

A treasure chest of stories

Over the last couple of years, I have collected a treasure chest of stories and today, I’d love to share one of them with you. It’s from a photoshoot that I provided to a client while I was working in Florida.

I met my clients on the beach to take photographs of a family. The weather was fantastic, the clients were excited and throughout the shoot, we shared quite a few laughs. It was a picture perfect family photoshoot - I couldn’t have asked for better clients or better photography conditions.

After wrapping up our session and editing their photos, I reached out to the client to share their images. The client’s response took my breath away.

In addition to thanking me for my time and the photos, my client told me that she had terminal cancer. Her family had insisted on getting family photos with her but she was initially hesitant to do so because she had scars from radiation and surgeries. She thanked me for making her feel comfortable throughout her photoshoot.

It was such an incredible reminder that life is short and that we should embrace every moment of our lives, living purposefully and with positive intentions. These photographs would serve as a reminder to her family of the incredible times that they shared together while on vacation.

To my client: Thank you so much for being brave and for letting me see into your golden heart. You continue to provide me inspiration even years after we met.

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Have you had a breathtaking story happen to you lately? I would love to hear about it if so. Comment below or reach out to me here.