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 We Craft Interiors to Suit Different Partner Preferences

How We Craft Interiors to Suit Different Partner Preferences

One question we get often is how we craft interiors to suit partners with different style preferences. Many times our clients look to us to referee or simply to choose the colors for them. We’re happy to report a solution with a win-win outcome! It’s important for both partners to have a say, since color affects our moods, outlook, and feeling of well-being.

Couple intently staring at computer screen and various countertop samples.

(Photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/coworkers-pointing-at-a-laptop-and-tile-samples-4977411/)

 

1. We Support A Culture of Candidness

Sometimes one partner will defer or express a fear of stating a preference, either out of uncertainty or to avoid conflict. When each person is open and honest about what they want, like, and dislike, we can help guide the couple to choosing the right colors they will love to come home to. We encourage each person to let us know what they like, even if they’re not sure if “it will work.” We ask our clients to show us inspiration photos of what they each like, and we’ll let them know if and how we can incorporate their dream looks.

A room showing a style to suit different tastes of a couple(Photo by VAZHNIK from Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/brown-wooden-tables-and-chairs-7563521/)

2. We Have the Knowledge to Integrate Different Styles Harmoniously

We excel at blending styles and creating harmony and flow from room to room. If a husband likes rich dark hues, while the wife likes light neutrals, we sometimes suggest a color for the husband’s office that ties in with a darker color, for example, found in other parts of the house. Balancing neutrals and darks in the right combination can create spaces both parties will adore.

A couple talking about How We Craft Interiors to Suit Different Partner Preferences(Photo by Diva Plavalaguna: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-man-giving-cooked-meal-at-home-5711141/)

3. We Advise Couples to Embrace Flexibility and Encourage Compromise

Additionally, couples will need to compromise to come to a win-win solution. Using the overall color scheme in different combinations and percentages, we aim to meet the needs of both. Keep in mind the less critical components of the design lend themselves to the give-and-take necessary to help couples come to agreement.

Couple happily dancing in their new home.(Photo by cottonbro studio from Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-in-white-long-sleeve-shirt-and-gray-pants-standing-beside-brown-wooden-table-4554422/)

Over the years, we’ve put our “couples counseling” hat on many times to help couples find solutions that work for both of them. We make the process easy and fun by listening to both people, looking for colors that make them smile, and leaving them feeling relieved and happy.

Need help designing a home that you and your spouse will both love? That’s what we do. Reach out and let’s chat. Get our client guide too.

Color Confidently Yours,

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

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!

How to Choose COLOR in Your Color Scheme

Who’s ready for some change? To ring in the new decade, choose color in your color scheme!

Color is the New Gray

The gray trend is at its end, and more of my clients are asking for color! If you want to know how to choose color in your color scheme, start with the 2020 Color of the Year choices of different paint companies. In reviewing the color picks, I found a trend toward restful nature, revitalizing the spirit, mindfulness, and well-being. With our fast-paced, demanding world, I’m not surprised that homeowners are looking to color to create nourishing environments where we can relax, reflect, and recharge.

Color Confident Home will show you how to choose color in your color scheme.

(by liliyroseinteriors.com.au)

Color Me Blue

Color Confident Home will help you choose the right colors

(Photo by Pantone.com)

When we look at Pantone’s 2020 Color of the Year Classic Blue (19-4052), their website describes “a rich, dreamy, dark and beautiful shade of azure. This particular shade of blue is reflective, anchoring and self-assured. It’s relaxed and restful and meant to offer us all a sense of needed tranquility.” Shades of blue help create the calming environment we crave after a busy day. Good for bedrooms, many of my clients opt for a deep, confident blue while others crave a warm, enveloping blue with soft, pink accents.

Choose color!

Benjamin Moore’s 2020 Color of the Year (photo by BenjaminMoore.com)

Positive Pink Color Scheme

When I began seeing pink in fashion, I wasn’t surprised to see Benjamin Moore’s Color of the Year 2020, First Light 2102-70. On their website, it says First Light “symbolizes an upbeat and hopeful start to the next ten years” and is part of their new collection of colors that “provide security, comfort, community, self-expression, and optimism.” For clients looking for more subtle color on walls, choosing First Light is light and airy and harmonizes with the on-trend blue and navy colors that have come onto the scene in the last several years. It also coordinates nicely with the current restful greens showing up in furnishings and accessories.

Back to Nature Color Scheme

Colorful scheme

Behr 2020 Color of the Year (by Behr.com)

Behr 2020 Color of the Year  (by Behr.com)Behr – BACK TO NATURE S340-4 a collection of invigorating and restorative hues designed to infuse vitality and life in any room through color. The Behr 2020 Color Trends palette was inspired by natural elements such as sky, earth, water and plant life.

Color schemes with navy

Sherwin-Williams 2020 Color of the Year (by Sherwin-WIlliams.com)

Navy is a Neutral Color

Sherwin-Williams is getting in on the design trend by revealing Naval SW 6244, a bold navy shade, as its 2020 Color of the Year.  “The use of color in interior design is changing. It’s not just about what a space looks like anymore, but how it makes you feel,” said Sue Wadden, director of color marketing at Sherwin-Williams. “People want to feel grounded and inspired to pursue their mental, physical and emotional well-being. Naval is reminiscent of the night sky, which people have looked to for centuries for guidance, as a muse and as a reminder to live more mindfully.”

Navy is a colorful neutral that goes with many colors and can be a backdrop for your artwork and furnishings. Look through any home magazine or sale paper and you’ll see many options for inspiration pieces and accessories.

 

Whether you’re ready to jump in and add color to your walls or you want to start slowly by adding colorful accessories, you have thousands of colors to choose from. Overwhelmed and not sure where to start? A Certified Color Expert who is trained in the science of color as well as the art of design can show you how to visualize your colors and take the fear out of choosing the right colors the first time. Contact us today!

2019 Home Color Trends to Start Using Now

Color is back in 2019 Home Color Trends!

After the gray trend of the last nine years, I’m seeing home color trends moving toward more color and warmer colors. Look in accessory catalogs, on home decor blogs, and in paint company inspiration palettes to see bold colors, warm earthy tones, and navy being featured. Remember, trends last 7-10 years, and gray is on its way out. Here in the midwest, we are a little slower to catch up with color and design trends. Along the west coast in California and on the east coast in places like New York these color trends are here. If you’re a late bloomer, maybe you’ve just finished painting your walls gray. Don’t despair! Bringing in colorful, new accessories can brighten your home and give it a fresh update until you paint again. On the other hand if you’re ready to get rid of the gray and not sure how to transition to color, read on.

2019 Home Color Trends

Pillow by chicdecorpillows

 

Curating Your Color Scheme

One way to create a new color scheme without gutting and starting over is to find a pillow or fabric with new colors that complement your current color scheme. This pillow by chicdecorpillows incorporates a blue-gray in the pattern along with yellow-green, aqua, and the on-trend navy I’m seeing in so many accessories now. The gray color scheme was originally intended for consumers to use pops of color to brighten up the gray backdrop. Many homeowners gravitated toward monochromatic shades of gray and neutrals with no colorful accessories or artwork anywhere. If your color scheme falls into this category, a simple way to freshen your design would be to add those intended pops of color.

If you still shy away from bold, saturated colors, consider navy to accessorize and add color to your home. Navy is the new neutral of neutrals, so it’s a good way to start experimenting with color if your home leans toward whites, grays, and other “safe” colors. Scour home decor catalogs for accessories, scan Pinterest to see how others incorporate navy, and seek help from a color consultant if you need help.

 

Cultivating the New Home Color Trends

After the cool gray trend, consumers are wanting bolder colors and warmer environments. Home color trends are moving toSherwin Williams 2019 Color of the Yearward earthy colors, as demonstrated by Sherwin Williams 2019 Color of the Year, SW 7701 Cavern Clay. Their website descriptively states: “A warm terracotta color with ancient, elemental roots, Cavern Clay is a nod to midcentury modern style, but with the soul of the American Southwest, which together creates the desert modern aesthetic.” Bringing these colors into our homes reminds people of varying landscapes, the freedom to explore, and a serenity only nature can offer. Geometric patterns and layered textures and accessories create a richness that invites. Wallpaper is back in subtle and creative ways to enhance the feel of our spaces.

 

2019 Home Color Trends

Behr’s 2019 Color Palettes

Behr describes their 2019 Color of the Year, S407-5 Blueprint, as “An honest, approachable color that conjures up the blueprints builders rely on to bring architectural designs to life, Blueprint creates a space where you can build your own reimagined life—where awareness of what we want to build for ourselves can transform into action.” The saturated blue-gray surrounds consumers and invites them to be the creator of their spaces. The names of their four curated color palettes – Color Binge, Down to Earth, Soft Focus, and Inspired Curation – demonstrate how saturated colors dominate the new home color trends.

A Whisper of Color

In the end, many people still prefer neutral walls with accessories, rugs, and furniture bringing in color. The trend for neutral walls leans to greige, which adds a touch of warmth to the grays we’ve been using. Greige paints a whisper of color to freshen up and brighten, while still providing the backdrop for artwork and color. If you need help figuring out the best color for your walls or deciding on an updated color scheme, contact me so you can choose the right colors the first time!

Call Now