Essential Décor Accessories You Can’t Miss Out On: A Quick Guide

Essential Décor Accessories You Can’t Miss Out On: A Quick Guide

When it comes to creating an inviting and aesthetic space, choosing paint alone just won’t cut it. Here are the essential décor accessories you can’t miss out on. Rugs, pillows, artwork, lighting, plants, and window treatments are essential to transform your home. Accessories elevate your home from a mere living space into a beautifully curated haven. The following décor items add style and personality, while connecting your home’s color scheme and creating cohesiveness.

A living room showing Essential Décor Accessories You Can't Miss Out On(Photo by Skitterphoto from Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/brown-wooden-center-table-584399/)

Rugs, Throw Pillows, and Blankets: Anchoring Furniture, Defining Spaces, and Adding Accents

To begin with, rugs play a crucial role in home accessorizing by effortlessly tying a room together. Area rugs can inspire your color scheme. Also, the right size rug anchors your furniture and serves as a boundary to define “zones” within your floor plan. Beyond their practical purpose, rugs provide coziness, texture, color, and pattern to strengthen the visual appeal of any space. Similarly, pillows and blankets offer both style and comfort. They allow you to enhance your living space with pops of color, interesting textures, and versatile decorative accents that bring warmth and charm.

Living room blue sofa with orange throw pillow and black & white striped pillow. A framed photograph of orange mountain landscape with pale blue sky mounted above sofa beautifully ties together the other blue and orange furnishings in the room.(Photo by Rachel Claire from Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/sofa-and-lamp-near-pictures-on-wall-in-apartment-4846446/)

Artwork: Colorful Harmony as a Unifying Force

Artwork bolsters beauty, adds personality, and acts as a bridge that unites the color scheme in your home. The right artwork creates a cohesive and harmonious atmosphere. By carefully selecting artwork that incorporates colors present in your interior design (or vice versa), you can achieve flow and balance. As a result, your décor looks polished and intentional. Whether it’s a large statement piece, a photo gallery wall, or captivating sculptures, incorporating artwork in your home adds a touch of refinement to any living space.

A room with color harmony creates a cohesive space(Photo by Los Muertos Crew from Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-using-her-laptop-7617028/)

Lighting, Houseplants, and Window Treatments: The (Not-So) Little Details That Count

We usually recommend five lighting sources per room to provide task, ambient, and accent purposes. Lamps and statement lighting serve as essential design pieces that not only illuminate a room, but can create a mood, stand out as art or a centerpiece, or function as reading and task lighting. Lighting can help a space feel warm and cozy or bright and vibrant. Additionally, houseplants and flowers (real or faux) bring life and freshness indoors. Plants promote a calming, rejuvenating atmosphere and improve mood and air quality. Also, decorative pots and vases add to the design of a space. Furthermore, window treatments, such as curtains, blinds, or shades provide both practicality and aesthetics. Window treatments offer privacy, light control, insulation and possess the ability to frame architectural features and alter the proportions of a space.

A seating area that is a prime example of tying together all of the accessories including an area rug with artwork and a green sofa with a floor lamp for lighting and plants and curtains(Photo by Ksenia Chernaya from Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/modern-interior-style-with-wooden-floor-and-cozy-sofa-3952034/)

Unlocking Beauty: Embrace Accessories for a Transformed Home

Thus, unlocking the true beauty of your home means embracing essential décor accessories. The right items reflect your unique taste and create a welcoming environment for you and your guests to enjoy. We recognize that discovering the significance of home accessorizing for a finished and intentionally-designed look can be easier said than done. To help you navigate this process, we provide completely personalized eDesign services. We would love to help you create a look and a feel by curating the perfect furnishings and accessories to incorporate into your home. If you need help with your paint colors and color scheme, contact us today!

If this blog post was helpful, then we know you’ll love our newsletters for more inspiration. If you’d like to know more about how we work, sign up for our client guide.

Color Confidently Yours,

How Colors In Your Home Can Influence Your Mood

How Colors In Your Home Can Influence Your Mood

Does a red room make you feel agitated, while a soft blue or green feels calming? Today, we’ll show you how to use color based on what you want to feel in your home. Science proves certain colors can affect our moods and emotions. Psychology Today has an article suggesting a possible effect on our cognitive skills, as well. So if colors affect our mental health, emotions, and even how well we perform certain tasks, choosing the right paint colors is crucial.

Room with blues and greens with plants for a calming space(Photo by Charlotte May from Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/cozy-interior-of-living-room-with-wooden-chairs-and-table-5824890/)

Infuse Your Home With Comfort Through Color

The current trend toward earth hues like blues, greens, wood elements, and warm colors suggests that homeowners are looking for the comfort nature provides. Different hues, lightness/darkness, and how much chroma/saturation a color has can affect our perception and response to colors. Infusing more saturated colors with the hues of nature can add life to your entertainment and social spaces.

A kitchen with orange cabinets shows How Colors In Your Home Can Influence Your Mood(Photo by Houzlook.com: https://www.pexels.com/photo/orange-wooden-kitchen-cabinets-3418998/)

Saturated oranges and reds stimulate hunger and excitement, which would be good for a dining room or kitchen, but not for a bedroom.

Dining room with muted relaxing colors(Photo by Max Rahubovskiy: https://www.pexels.com/photo/simple-interior-of-comfortable-dining-room-with-table-and-chairs-6180676/)

Bedroom with softer hues to create a calming atmosphere(Photo by Max Rahubovskiy: https://www.pexels.com/photo/cozy-bedroom-with-walls-decorated-with-lamps-and-pictures-6180671/)

On the other hand, lighter shades of the same hues, such as pinks and corals, paired with soft lavenders and lighter blues, could simulate the colors of a soothing morning dawn.

Mixing Neutrals With Pops of Color

Are you ready for more color?  We understand it feels safer to keep main rooms more neutral. If you’re looking to bring in more “pizzazz,” kitchens, powder rooms, laundry rooms, and home offices are fun places to add color. Especially when separate from the main rooms, these spaces act as islands that can support a unique color. We have helped many homeowners work through their fears of adding color by incorporating warm neutrals, textures, plants, and earth hues to balance the amount of sensitivity for each client.

Kitchen with colorful cabinets(Photo by Keegan Checks: https://www.pexels.com/photo/contemporary-kitchen-design-with-blue-cabinets-10117737/)

Sometimes painting a color on the walls of your kitchen feels intimidating. Consider adding a pop of color on your cabinets instead!

Bathroom with dark green walls to simulate naturePhoto by Andrew Neel: https://www.pexels.com/photo/white-ceramic-sink-with-stainless-steel-faucet-5860600/)

The options to bring color into a bathroom are nearly limitless. These are fun spaces to experiment with a bold paint color or even use wallpaper. Use a colored or patterned tile on the walls and/or floors. Try out different bath mats, rugs, curtains, or towels. Even the vanity cabinets could be a fun color.

Dining room with muted blue green walls and saturated yellow chairs(Photo by Max Rahubovskiy: https://www.pexels.com/photo/table-with-flowers-in-kitchen-6492386/)

Intimidated By Bold? Aim For Less Saturated and Subtle Colors

Knowing what you like and dislike is key to choosing the right “feel” for each room. When working with a Certified Color Expert and Strategist, you will be guided to colors that work in your home. We consider your needs and how the colors in your home can influence your mood. For example, in bedrooms where the goals are sleep and relaxation, we show you which colors provide a calming feel. For bathrooms, we have the perfect colors for a spa effect. Soothing blues, greens, and softer hues are perfect for these rooms.

Spa-like bathroom with blue walls and soft white wainscoting(Photo by Max Rahubovskiy: https://www.pexels.com/photo/interior-of-a-comfort-room-with-wood-panels-8143713/)

Before we come out to your home for the in-person consultation, we conduct a pre-appointment phone interview to determine your color sensitivity, likes and dislikes, color and style preferences preferences, and dreams and inspirations. With this information in hand, we’ll help you take the fear out of choosing the right colors the first time. Together, we’ll create a color scheme you love (read how you can prepare for your consultation here).

If you’re ready to create a color-filled space perfectly suited to your desired emotions, reach out to us. We can’t wait to hear about your project.

Color Confidently Yours,

How To Coordinate Paint Colors With Materials: Our 4-Step Method

How To Coordinate Paint Colors With Materials: Our 4-Step Method

Color, whether neutrals or the earth hues trending today, plays an important role in creating hierarchy, harmony, and flow in your home. So many of my clients call me once they have installed new countertops, carpeting, flooring, tile, or other hard finishes. They’re ready to choose a paint color. No problem, right? Wrong! It’s important to coordinate paint colors with materials. Our 4-step method will guide you on how to  align them perfectly.

Fitting the last piece of the “puzzle” into your rooms is the hard way to choose paint colors and results in a very limited palette. You may not be happy with the choices that work! Whether you plan to plan to update & replace all of these elements now or farther down the road, it is still in your best interest to select them at the same time before installation. By doing so, we ensure your future final design is perfectly the way you dreamed without limiting your choices.

 

A room with a warm feel(Photo by Max Rahubovskiy: https://www.pexels.com/photo/hotel-room-with-bed-near-table-under-lamps-6899434/)

Step #1: Determine How You Want The Space To Feel

The most successful remodeling projects begin with an assessment of the space. The psychology of color plays a big role in personal preferences. Consider how you want your space to feel. What mood or vibe are you looking to achieve? Soft and cozy? Dark and moody? Nature-inspired comfort? Clean, elegant, and neutral? Or colorful and vibrant? The purpose of each room will also give you hints. Energetic colors like reds, yellows, and oranges work well in offices, dining rooms and other spaces. Greens, blues, pinks are calming and good for places of relaxation and bedrooms. Browns, grays, blacks, and neutrals can be warm and comforting or elegant and sophisticated.

 

Research How To Coordinate Paint Colors With Materials(Photo by Ivan Samkov: https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-looking-at-an-interior-design-magazine-4238479/)

Step #2: Research Styles and Homes That Inspire Your Vision

For help visualizing your space, search for inspiration photos on Pinterest, Houzz, Instagram, or in magazines. Hone in on what you like about each space and how it makes you feel. Gather photos with whole rooms that you like the feel of, as well as rooms containing certain elements, furnishings and accessories you like.

Select Paint Fixed Finishes and Dictating Elements Together(Photo by cottonbro studio: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-different-objects-on-the-table-6583373/)

Step #3: Plan To Select Paint, Fixed Finishes, & Dictating Elements Together

Before you install the fixed finishes you are considering, gather multiple samples of each material you are considering. This includes carpeting, backsplash, countertop, tile, stone, and wood flooring. For granite and other large stone with pattern, be sure to request to see the actual large sample you will be having installed. Many clients have come home to the unpleasant surprise of countertops with orange veining because the small sample they originally viewed had none. View the samples IN YOUR HOME with the natural and artificial lighting you plan to use.

 

homeowners testing paint samples(Photo by Blue Bird: https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-opening-a-can-of-paint-7217978/)

Step #4: Evaluate, Refine, Repeat… And Action!

Before you order and have materials installed, call an experienced color expert who can measure the hue families of the materials you’re considering. They will help you narrow down the right paint colors to coordinate with each new material, as well as any materials, furnishings, and artwork staying in each room. Choosing the paint color at the same time as the rest of the materials is the only way to ensure that your selection will align with your vision and create harmony and flow in your home. Looking for more guidance in choosing the right paint colors? Call us!

We want you to love the colors you come home to!

If you’re ready for a pro to help you choose your paint colors and design finishes all at once, I would be honored to help. Reach out and let’s chat!

Color Confidently Yours,

color-confident-home

 

All There Is To Know About Our e-Design Services

All There Is To Know About Our e-Design Services

The time for a design refresh is here. You’re tired of the old, outdated look of your bedroom or your living room. Tired of all the advice from HGTV and well-meaning friends, the overwhelming choices, time-draining searches on Pinterest. Weary from multiple trips to stores looking for the perfect furnishings and accessories for your room redesign. Its’a all stressing you out! We’re here to let you know that we get it. We’ve been there. And we have a solution to help you. Here’s everything you need to know about our e-Design services!

What Are e-Design Services?

Whether you’re struggling to create a certain look or you just don’t have time or energy to get started, we have the answer. We can help with the indecision of choosing from thousands of options and alleviate your fear of making the wrong choices. Let us curate beautifully designed rooms with furnishings and accessories just for you. If you need customized help to choose a specific look and furnishings you’ll love, you’ll love our design boards. Do you need a confident color scheme and a purposefully designed look?  Well, look no further. Color Confident home is now offering a service you’ll love. You’ll get peace of mind, time to check off your to-do list, and more rest and relaxation (we hope!). Not to mention admiration from friends and family for your intentionally-designed look.

color-confident-home-oakland-township-michigan-new-e-design-services-mood-board-for-bedroom-grays-and-blues-color-balance-interior-color-consulting

How The Process Works

In our easy eDesign process, all you need to do is first answer a style questionnaire, provide some photos, and room measurements. We’ll then set up a customized design board and curate items from various vendors for you based on your answers. Finally, you’ll choose your favorite furnishings and accessories from the look we’ve created for you. Then you will simply click on the items to purchase directly from the vendors. Your dream furnishings and accessories will be delivered straight to your home!

exterior-color-materials-consulting-rochester-hills-michigan-new-e-design-services-redesigned-kitchen-island-and-cabinets-science-of-color

What You Receive From Your Final Custom eDesign

A recent busy client needed help with her living room eDesign. My team and I curated her furnishings and accessories. We also created a look for her room that aligned with her style preferences and the rest of her home. She didn’t have to take time out of her busy schedule to search online or go to stores. Neither did she fret about making the right decisions.

interior-color-materials-consulting-rochester-michigan-new-e-design-services-mood-board-for-jewel-tone-living-room-science-of-color

A Professional Design You’ll Love

So, give yourself a gift! Avoid the indecision, sleepless nights, conflicting advice from family and friends, and trips to every home furnishing store in town. We’re here to give you peace of mind, more time with family, and also, a look you will love! Openings for our eDesign service are available now. We provide busy professionals, couples, and families a professionally-styled room design for the new year.

Have a question about this service? Ready to begin? Contact us here so we can get the party started!

Color Confidently Yours,
color-confident-home

How to Update the Gray Trend with the New Color Trend

earth colors

Greens in nature

WITH 2022 HALF OVER, many of our clients are asking us how to update the gray trend with the new color trend. The answer involves incorporating earth colors! Yes, the gray trend is ending – finally. The current trend toward earth tones is very different than the browns, beiges, golds, olives, and  maroons of the 80s. Colors for 2022 are warmer, earth-toned schemes of updated beiges, blues, greens, browns, warm grays, whites, and greiges. We’re even seeing more pinks and peaches, like the early morning sky of a new day. “If you’re afraid to bring more color into your home, you need not worry,” – says Lili Englehart of Color Confident Home. “Using neutrals on your walls as a backdrop is not going out of style.”

Though we are getting lots of requests for color on walls, clients who want to change up accessories often, or per season, gravitate toward neutral backdrops on their walls so they have the freedom of variety. Others feel calmed by using neutrals all around. The key to creating depth and a designed look with all neutrals is to use pattern and texture. So whether you want to add color to your home or choose from the myriad of neutrals and their hues, we can help. We take the fear out of choosing colors that are right for you and your home with 3 Easy Steps to colors you’ll love!

The New Color Trend
Evergreen Fog

Sherwin-Williams 2022 Color of the Year

Design trends typically have a lifespan of about seven to ten years. Fads, such as the current black and white craze, go out of style even quicker. Besides the normal lifespan of color and design trends, the COVID-19 pandemic also contributed to the new color trend. Just as the pandemic has shaped every other aspect of life, its effects have also reached home design. With everyone working and studying at home 24/7, being surrounded by gray became depressing quickly. As Joa Studholme, the color curator for Farrow & Ball, recently said in a New York Times article, “There’s nothing about gray that evokes wellness….There is a tendency to crave warm tones in challenging times.” She goes on, “It’s all about being warm and earthy and choosing deeply saturated color. It’s about trying something that gives you a great big hug.” Notice the similarities in 2022 Colors of the Year – the choices reflect this need for color. For instance, Farrow & Ball’s Tanner’s Brown, Scotch Blue, Green Smoke and India Yellow, Benjamin Moore’s Aegean Teal (2021) and October Mist (2022), and Sherwin Williams’ Urbane Bronze (2021) and Evergreen Fog (2022) all offer a much needed atmosphere of comfort.

2022 Benjamin Moore Color Palette

Benjamin Moore 2022 Color Palette

Lili emphasized, “It’s especially important to move away from gray in Midwestern states, where six months out of the year are cold and gray outside. We don’t want to bring that chilliness inside!” Updated neutral options, such as greiges and light beiges, instead make the home feel more inviting after coming in from the winter cold. Even some warm grays can make a drastic difference as opposed to neutral or cool grays.

Update the Gray Trend with the New Color Trend: Earth Colors

If your home is currently in the gray trend, and you’re stumped on how to update, don’t fret. There are plenty of solutions to create a fresh look, while incorporating the gray you already have in your home with the incoming color trends. Many people look to only update one or two rooms at a time, then follow up with the other rooms at a later date. This often leaves clients wondering how they can refresh some spaces with new colors and decor without dating rooms with older color palettes.

A great way to avert this concern is to assess the overall color scheme of your home and the new colors you wish to include, even if the rooms are different styles. Then, choose furniture and accessories that have accents of colors and elements from each room to create a connection. Small, less expensive items such as pillows, throws, rugs, and artwork are a few of the many accessories you may consider to achieve this. For example, if you have a recently updated kitchen and dining area from the gray trend and a colorful living room with blues and greens, you could use a tablecloth with blues, greens, and hints of gray in the kitchen/dining area and an area rug or artwork with a similar color scheme in the living room. The 60-30-10 rule is a helpful tool to keep in mind to create harmony and flow amongst the varying rooms in your home. Color Confident Home will help you with a new color scheme, and if you need help furnishing or accessorizing a particular room, we can create an eDesign to help you furnish and accessorize one room at a time!

Guest room blue yellow

Color Confident Home eDesign using the 60-30-10 Rule

Listen to your home

Most importantly, listen to your home. This seems like a simple suggestion, however mixing color and design trends is tricky. We often see homes decorated with competing and mismatched components due to too many patterns or uncoordinated hues. Beth Maguire, the Benjamin Moore designers’ representative in Michigan, best put it in words, “Design for the home you have, not the home you want.” If you struggle to find a balance between what you want and what your home wants, take into consideration the fixed finishes that are difficult and expensive to replace. If your budget doesn’t allow a total remodel, consider the fixed elements and take them into consideration when deciding on a new color scheme. They include, but are not limited to, flooring/carpeting, tile, countertops, cabinets, fireplaces, etc. Any elements not being replaced must be coordinated with your new color scheme in order to create a deliberate, designed look that has harmony and flow throughout your home. For an expert color consultation, call us or send us an email!

Stuck Choosing a Paint Color?

Choosing a paint color

“I’m stuck choosing a paint color! Should I to turn to my painter for a recommendation?” Choosing paint colors is a daunting task. Upon first thought, asking your painter may seem like a good plan of action. But beware of painter-recommended color troubles!  Painters are not necessarily trained in color and are very busy. They are skilled in painting but can’t give their full attention required to choose the right colors for your home. “So who is the best person to help me choose colors I will love?” you may ask. Lili Englehart, assistant color consultant, explains why our processes at Color Confident Home are a better, more accurate option. Using a Certified Color Expert will leave you feeling secure in your color choices before they go up on a wall.

Painter-Recommended Color Troubles

To begin, painters usually recommend what happens to be popular in their most recent jobs. As of right now, those colors tend to be neutrals, mainly grays. Your painter has good intentions, but you may run into painter-recommended color troubles! Although painters work with color in their day-to-day jobs, they may not be up-to-date on current color trends. What is in? What is passe? More importantly, they may not be able to predict what the next upcoming trends will be, and which ones will soon be fading out. For example, it is predicted within the next few years the gray trend will phase out, and more colorful schemes will trend. However, if you want to sell in the near future, it is best to choose more timeless and classic colors.  Someone who specializes in color trends, like a Certified Color Expert, studies the most current and future color trends. With us by your side, you’ll have more confidence to choose the right colors for YOU!

Pocket-size paint chips

Stuck with Pocket-sized Paint Chips?

“Why does the color on my wall look so different from the pocket-sized paint chips or the walls in my friend’s house?” Even though a paint chip or a painter-recommended color can look great in one home, it might not look so great in another. First, a color from a small paint chip or splotches painted on the wall will not give you a realistic idea of what it will look like. Color gets lighter and brighter on a large area. More importantly, the distortion may be caused by uncoordinated hue families. To the untrained and even well-trained eye, it is difficult to determine the specific hue family of a color. Special tools that scientifically analyze color data give us accurate results from which to choose colors. Thus we coordinate the hue families with your existing furnishings and fixed finishes to create harmony and flow in your color scheme. Check out our 3 Easy Steps to confident color selection.

Lighting Enlightenment

Lighting Enlightenment for Choosing Color

Another important factor to consider when choosing colors is lighting know-how. Not all painters are aware how lighting can affect color. Lighting can make or break the look of a color once it is up on the wall. Different types of lighting such as warm, cool, fluorescent, and daylight all change the appearance of a color. For instance, grays are particularly tricky. In one lighting condition such as cool light, a gray could appear to have a hint of purple. The exact same gray in warm lighting conditions could have a hint of yellow. Even the direction from which natural light comes into a room can affect how a color will look. It is best to view a color in the same conditions in which it will regularly appear in your home, including lighting. At Color Confident Home, we show you a tried-and-true testing process to ensure you can accurately envision the colors we recommend. Confidently choose the right colors before you paint your walls!

Choosing a Paint Color with Confidence

Painting is an expensive endeavour. Choosing a paint color with confidence allows you to live with a color you love without the expense of repainting. A painter could get lucky, but playing the odds on a big job like painting your home is risky and unnecessary. Rather than being stuck choosing a paint color, Color Confident Home can help you choose colors that will suit the needs of your home. With Color Confident Home’s specific, scientific color data, larger paint swatches, and a foolproof color testing technique, you will feel more confident. Our mission is to help you choose the right colors the first time!

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