Maybe you’ve been surfing Pinterest for the past few hours… looking at all the beautiful rooms and wondering when you’ll have the money to decorate the way the pros do. They have gorgeous furniture and all you have is the chair you found on Craigslist last month and your childhood dresser. Of course, buckets of money definitely help when you’re decorating a room but let’s be honest they’re not necessary. You can use accessories to make a room come together in a way that is cohesive and beautiful.
We are working on the hubby’s office at the moment and let’s be honest… it’s kind of the left-over room. It has all the bits and pieces that didn’t quite fit in any other room all shoved together: our gorgeous pie safe that doesn’t fit in the kitchen, the secretary I love but is a weird shape, two file cabinets my MIL gave the hubs back in his bachelor days, the hand-me down desk his Grandfather gave him before we got married and the bookshelf I had in my closet as a little girl.
Not a single piece was picked out intentionally for him. For his space! So we’ve slowly started to replace some of the bigger pieces… his desk is broken so we took it outside and left it on the curb and replaced it with my childhood desk. It’s another hand-me-down but it’s solid wood and matches the secretary fairly well. We replaced the file cabinets with a cube bookshelf and my old bookshelf with two beautiful new tall white bookshelves.
It’s starting to come together but it’s still a hodge-podge! Just take a look at all of the big pieces:
Gray, White, Blue and a little bit of rustic wood… we’re all over the place! Luckily we have enough colors already in place that our color scheme is set… now we just need more of each color. So in order to take our room from hodge podged and mis-matched add a few accessories in each color from your color scheme.
Add 3 Items in a Triangle Pattern, this creates movement!
Typically adding 3 items in a certain color or style will help to tie that color into the room. Think of textiles like rugs, curtains, chairs or pillows. Functional items like fabric covered boxes, storage pieces or even computer stands. Decorative items like artwork, figurines, lamps or lampshades!
In my room the big pie safe is quite the color… a dramatic greek blue. I love that it stands out so I don’t want to add too much of the color in the room however it definitely needs to be spread around the room a bit! When in doubt add color in triangular zones… kind of like the kitchen.
Since the pie safe is set on one wall I added blue directly across the room in the form of curtains for the one large window. Then a big bold tufted office chair (from Craigslist!) completes the triangle. A triangle of color makes the room feel put together while moving the eye around the space.
It doesn’t have to be the exact same color, think same color, different hue!
I also added a zebra print rug I picked up several years ago for pattern underfoot… it’s a similar shade of blue but a muted version so the color is similar but doesn’t take center stage.
The final step is to add fun lampshades in a similar blue color to tie it all together. Adding similar hues (like a slight blue/green lampshade to a greek blue room) helps your room to look collected instead of staged. You want your room to look lived in… like you put it together over time.
Use Different Materials to add Neutral Colors!
Right now the big gray bookshelf is the only gray in the entire room so adding a few more gray pieces is essential. Sticking with our rule of three a gray chair, linen cubes for the bookshelf and mercury glass lamps add color and texture.
Just because something is neutral doesn’t mean it doesn’t have to interesting. Linen fabric has a textile depth and mercury glass has different tones. When looking for a neutral color try searching for something that isn’t flat but has different components that add interest.
A Little Goes a Long Way
With strong colors (like wood tones, blacks, reds) a little can go a long way… like the letters on our large, hanging pallet. They add just a bit of warmth to the room without going overboard.
Since the secretary and the new desk are both wooden adding large doses of wood in this room wouldn’t be productive. So small pieces are the name of the game like hanging file boxes, a monitor stand and of course my giant hanging pallet!
Look for your Color Scheme in Artwork
I can’t wait until this entire room is finished… I need a few more white items to bring the entire space together. Right now I have white in other accents (like the curtains and the rug) but the only white piece I know I need for certain is this gorgeous cow painting.
In this case the white frame around the painting is a good start but the actual painting itself is made up mainly of whites and creams… the exact color I’m looking for! Try searching for certain colors in paintings, canvas, photos and other artwork. Pulling in those colors through art can be the perfect way to finish off a room.
Cool suggestions, love them all.