RULES FOR ACCESSORIZING YOUR HOME

You spend countless hours browsing Pinterest, reading home design magazines, and watching home renovation shows, yet you find it difficult to put these ideas into practice in your home. By following these simple guidelines, you too can achieve the look you desire.

To create a more cohesive look in your home, select accessories that complement your furniture and style. Use these accessories to form eye-catching focal points or vignettes.

Vignettes:

A vignette is a grouping of accessories that showcases a room’s best features. This could be in the center of your coffee table, on your fireplace mantle, in a bookshelf, or on your kitchen counter.

When building vignettes, follow these basic guidelines to help your arrangements come together:

1. Group objects by similar shapes, colours, themes, or other shared attributes. For example, if you collect elephants, keep the grouping together.

2. Cluster items in odd-numbered groupings. Odd numbers, particularly three, are visually more appealing and create a sense of balance and interest.

3. Keep pairs and sets of items together and display them nearby.   

4. Build symmetrical or asymmetrical pyramid shapes with your accessories. A tall or large object will serve as the peak of your pyramid while smaller items will fill in the body and base.

   

   

Bookshelves:

When arranging items in a bookcase, place heavier pieces on the lower shelves and use lighter items as you go up. Arrange books by size to form graduated patterns or group them by colour or theme. Display some books lying flat with small accessories on top for a change of pace. Recently, I saw that designers were arranging books with pages out for a uniform, simple look.

Spread colour:

Another quick way to create interest is to spread one colour throughout the space you are accessorizing, e.g., blue pillows on the couch, a blue throw on the armchair, and pops of blue in your art or vases. This works beautifully when you have a neutral colour palette as a base.

All about pillows:

If you want a formal look, go ahead and have matching pillows on both corners of your couch. If you want a more comfortable, casual look, choose 2 main colours and a neutral colour. To style like a pro, make sure one pillow is textured, three with a pattern and one solid. Place 3 pillows on the side with the tallest lamp, if applicable, and 2 on the opposite side. If you have a chaise, toss on your blanket over the chaise. Designers like to follow this rule for size: Start at the back with 2 x 22" square pillows. Add in 2 x 20" square pillows. Then 1 x 12" lumbar pillow.

Patterns:

As you look around your room, your eye wants to find patterns in your room's arrangements and accessories. The pattern you choose will have an impact on the feel of the room. For example;

• Patterns with geometric shapes will give you a contemporary look

• Patterns with checks or florals will give off a casual vibe

• Tapestries or paisleys will give you a formal look

Hope this helps! Attention to our clients' accessories is one thing Downsizing Diva focuses on when we downsize and apply our interior re-designer skills to their new spaces.

Ultimately, your home should embody who you are and what brings you the most joy.

My style would be called Boho Biophilic Design, meaning plants, plants and more plants mixed in with some pretty wacky stuff i.e. old, new and everything in between!