You want your room to feel:

Exotic

Exotic is a mood that reminds you of adventure. It’s the memories you bring back with you from vacation. It’s the tropical scent of coconut. Like placing mementos from your travels next to old family pictures, it’s that thrilling feeling when the extraordinary becomes a part of your home.

Start Again

To create an exotic feeling in your home, we recommend

LIFE SCENTS™ LUSH HIDEAWAY

This constantly changing fragrance evokes the awesome power of the wilderness. First you might smell wild berry, then coconut water and finally mint, creating an ever-evolving connection to the energizing outdoors.

Other Exotic Scents

Lush Hideaway
Tuquoise Oasis

Expert Insights

These tips will help bring to life the mood you’re looking to create in your home.

Kris Jarrett

Driven by Decor

Seek Global Inspiration

Bring a taste of the tropics into your home with an indoor palm tree or exotic plant with lush, large leaves such as an Amazon elephant’s ear. No room for a large houseplant? An African violet with its stunning pink or purple flowers is a perfect tropical beauty for smaller spaces.

A Surprising Touch

Add personality to your home by using a variety of different textures. Dried bamboo blinds and chairs, as well as chunky rattan weaves, will make your room more exotic and welcoming to touch.

Imported Adventure

Do you have a passion for experiencing the sights, smells and sounds of faraway places? Bring colours and patterns with a global flavor into your home by using boldly patterned Turkish rugs, curvy Moroccan tiles or carved Asian-style folding screens.

Bamboo Centerpieces & Accents

Fresh bamboo makes anywhere look like an adventure. Grab a large vase and fill it with fresh bamboo stalks for your table or smaller vases for exotic accents throughout your home.

A River Runs In It

Place smooth river stones at the bottom of your shower. The water dripping on the round stones and the feeling of them against your feet creates a sense of adventure to come.

Upgrading a Flat Door with Panel Molding

The transformation of unattractive flat doors into panelled stunners shows that adding little details can make a huge difference to the look and feel of your home. And since you get to decide on your own panelling design, you can create any type of look from classic box panels to more exotic patterns with a unique flair.

Kris Jarrett

Driven by Decor

Supplies List:

Low profile panel molding (available at hardware and home improvement stores)

Miter box and saw

Spirit level

Tape measure

Fast-drying wood glue

Painter’s tape

Small brad nails

Hammer and drill

Wood filler, sandpaper, paintable caulk, and paint

Before starting work on your project, you'll need to decide on the type of panelling pattern you wish to create on your doors. Once you've figured out a design, measure your doors and calculate how long each piece of panel molding needs to be cut in order to create a centred pattern on your doors. Using a pencil, tape measure, and level, mark the spots on your door where your molding pieces will go. To determine how much panel molding to buy, add up the measurements of the panelling pieces that you'll need and then add on an additional 15% of material. There are many different size options for panel molding but molding that’s about 1” wide and has a flatter profile (between about 1/4” – 3/8”) works best for this project.

Now that you have your panel molding, use a miter box and saw (or an electric miter saw if you have it) to cut all of your moulding pieces to size. Prep your doors by lightly sanding them. Then use painters’ tape to tape each of the moulding pieces into place at the marked spots on your doors. Double check that all of your moulding pieces are level and aligned.

To adhere the molding to the door, add a small line of fast-drying wood glue to the back of each piece, push it into place, hold for a few seconds, and then secure it to the door with painter’s tape. Wipe away any excess glue with a damp rag. If you have any molding pieces that won't lay flush on the door while the glue dries (due to warping of your door or the molding piece), drill a tiny hole into the end of the piece that’s sticking up and lightly hammer a small brad nail into it until it lays flat. Pre Drilling the hole before driving in the nail keeps the molding from splitting.

Once all of your molding pieces have been glued down and the glue has completely dried, the painter’s tape can be removed. If you needed to use any brad nails, fill those small holes with wood filler and sand them smooth.

The final step is to caulk any gaps between the molding and your door and paint the entire front of your doors. Add new knobs or pulls and you've transformed your flat, unattractive doors into decorative panelled beauties!

Other Projects

Bamboo Wind Chime

Make a bamboo wind chime that will remind you of the soft breezy music of a jungle retreat. Purchase 10-15 lengths of bamboo sticks about 10 inches each and use a drill to make a hole at the top of each and string with twine. A small embroidery hoop is perfect to tie the twine around at varying lengths before hanging by a window, porch or near the front door.

Share Your Mood

I want my home to feel Exotic. Pass it along and help friends find the right mood for their homes.