How To: Update Your Home's Style

Stacey Tapinis gives it to her clients straight.

"I tell them when it's time to throw the drapes in the fireplace," she says with a grin.

Tapinis is a painter by trade and a designer by instinct, rather than by schooling. "I can't tell you what a Louis XIV-style chair leg looks like but I can feel what works in a space. It's a taste level and a natural passion."

She started out in her family's house-painting business, which led to design consulting for painting clients, and in 2003 she opened House to Home, focusing on supplying retail solutions for shoppers looking to go beyond the cookie-cutter big box home improvement store linens, drapes, rugs, furnishings and accessories.

Tapinis advises clients and customers to finalize their vision and plan before they make any purchases.

"So many people head to Home Goods, and get 42 items that add up to thousands of dollars instead of one or two quality pieces for the same price. I always say spend your money on a great quality couch, drapes and a great paint job," she said.

Expert advice is another great investment, Tapinis believes. "Instead of making a costly mistake, hire someone who can help you," she said.

House to Home offers consulting services that start at a one-room "road map" and go up to a full home design service. Tapinis acknowledges that not everyone can afford to hire a decorator, but getting some inspiration is a must.

"Get an inspiration room: check out the magazines and see what they're doing. You don't have to copy it exactly but it helps you narrow down what you like."

Tapinis says she sees the same mistakes again and again.

"I see bad paint jobs...people spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a renovation, then try to save a little by doing their own painting, and if you mess it up, it can ruin a room."

She also cautions against too small rugs ("rugs should anchor a room and be big enough to fit the space"); shoddy drapery from, again, big box chain stores; and window hardware placed on the window frame itself, rather than above the frame, to make windows appear larger.

"I also see too many accessories. Get one or two statement pieces. And no one is doing the roped off living room look now. Arrange your spaces to reflect how you really live. Decorate your bedroom and your family room. That's where you spend your time."

Current style trends that Tapinis sees reflect a transitional design aesthetic — a mix of traditional and modern — and she says gray walls are particularly hot right now, along with solids, layering of textures, geometric details, and tone-on-tone color schemes.

"You can mix leather with woven wood, with soft linens, with a nickel furniture piece."

It's that designer's eye, that willingness to mix and match and to push the envelope a bit, that Tapinis lends to her clients.

"Sometimes they fight me; they say 'but it won't go' and I tell them, you have to trust me."

If you also trust Tapinis and want more of her advice, you'll have to stay tuned to HGTV: she has tried out for the network's competitive reality show "Design Star" and is considering shopping around a pilot that combines her do-it-yourself painting professional ethic with her comfortable, eclectic design style.