Thursday, November 23, 2017

Escape Your Space with Jaclyn Genovese- Feature Article

Escape your Space with Jaclyn Genovese

While we all crave a place to escape to after a long day’s work, some are desperate to escape their current space. In searching for a solution to re-inventing my personal space and inevitably yours as well, I consulted Jaclyn Genovese of Jacflash Toronto, to share her personal insights and tips on creating a comfortable and aesthetically pleasing environment.

What is Jacflash?
The Jacflash journey began in 2007 as a women’s clothing boutique on Queen Street West. After establishing a career in fashion, Jaclyn expanded Jacflash into a lifestyle brand, to provide interior design and event planning services. Her interest in interior design began at a young age, where she was influenced by her parent’s work and their family owned antique shop. It wasn’t until a big move from a trendy loft to a traditional house that she had experimented with home decorating. In gaining more square footage, she sacrificed the visual appeal of her downtown loft. Negative feedback from friends allowed her to come to the conclusion that her new humble abode was, to put it simply; creepy and haunted looking. This is when Jaclyn took action and put her design skills to the test by independently re-decorating her space in just two weeks’ time. With a fresh coat of paint, faux marble vinyl and heaps of decorative accessories, Jaclyn transformed her eerie space into a luxurious and welcoming home. She took advantage of the older house’s character and added Victorian and modern elements, similar to the style of the majority of her interior work. As Jaclyn’s friends discovered her talent and asked for her assistance in decorating their homes, she decided to pursue interior design as a career and joined a local firm. After acquiring a clientele, Jaclyn began her own independent venture and added Spaces by Jacflash to her repertoire.

Jaclyn classifies her design style as a fuse of “Parisian charm with modern lines”, which is greatly inspired by her travels throughout Europe and hotel décor, specifically The Mercer Hotel in New York City. Her personal style of European sophistication and simplicity is expressed throughout her decorating as well as her fashion designs. In developing and showcasing her unique design style, she further established her client base as her work was widely admired. This allowed for her to integrate her design preferences into her projects, while remaining true to the vision of her client. From small scale room re-decorating to total penthouse customization, Jaclyn has made interior design her domain and hopes to further expand into a boutique hotel.

Creating Your Escape
Decorating your space by yourself can be a difficult and intimidating task, often leading to an excess of furnishings and a mess of mixed styles. Fortunately, Jaclyn and the Jacflash team have compiled a series of decorating dos and don’ts to avoid these common decorating mistakes and to effectively create your own escape.  
While decorating can entail purchasing plenty of new furniture pieces and décor, Jaclyn suggests that in most cases, “less is more”. As a design and decorating novice there is a tendency to overwhelm the space with colour and decoration, however taking a minimalist approach will ensure a cleaner and more uniform looking space. This approach can also be reflected through the design style throughout the space. Minimalist décor is a reoccurring theme in interior design and can be the most simple to follow. However, if minimalism is not quite your cup of tea, don’t be afraid to incorporate your personal style into the space, just be cautious of “mixing styles that don’t mesh well together.” As seen throughout her work, Jaclyn often uses black and white colour schemes, along with marble surfaces, metallic accents and organic materials such as greenery and natural wood. This creates a polished and fresh appearance, which can be simple to reproduce in your own home. The difficulty however can be in maintaining such a space. Day-to-day items like keys, pet accessories and children’s toys can throw off the ambience of a room and while these items require accessibility, closed storage using cabinets or baskets can prevent the unsightly mess.

If a total re-decoration isn’t viable, try changing the paint colour, adding some window treatments and adjusting the lighting. Small changes like these can create a world of a difference in the overall atmosphere. Changing light fixtures and hardware, as well as using marble contact paper on surfaces can also create a more fluid and finished looking space, which is ideal for home renters who cannot make large scale, permanent changes.

Though changing fixtures and design elements are effective, bringing in decorative pieces like house plants, mirrors and area rugs will create focal points and make a space look more complete. Mirrors, as well as white walls, are great when making a small space feel larger and area rugs can be layered on top of standard carpeting to add dimension. When working with a low square footage, avoid using large, bulky furniture and reach for more proportionate furnishings that utilize the space well.

With decorating always comes a budget, and for those looking to spend the minimum, experimenting with furniture restoration and do it yourself projects are a great alternative to purchasing new, expensive furniture. While quality furniture is worth the investment and should not always be omitted from your design plan, upcycling vintage or second-hand pieces can add charm to a space and make for a fun D.I.Y. Use your creativity and make the most of the design process!


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