Make your accessories count

If you're hesitant about the latest colour trends when it comes to large pieces of furniture or walls, go wild by purchasing several new accessories.  It goes without saying that you have to find a new home for the ones you are replacing.

My trusted friends when I want to turn things up a notch are pillows and painted furniture because you can  change your look and keep the same objects (of course it helps if you know how to sew). Moving artwork from room to room is a close second in low cost updates in your home.

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Consider using brightly coloured accents with neutral walls. Some of my favourite Benjamin Moore go - to colours for walls are: 

 Elephant Tusk  OC 8

Natural Linen CC 90

 Stone Hearth CC 490

Revere Pewter HC 172

Now that we have ideas for a neutral backdrop, the sky's the limit for accents. Choose from reds, fuchsias, purples, sapphire blue, yellow greens ,  turquoise, corals or soft oranges. Oranges are particularly prevalent in design forecasts for 2011.  Choose vases, pillows, baskets, candles, throws, bowls,  lamps, mats/rugs, draperies or anything else that you can think of .

Garrison Hullinger Interior Design Inc.

Red works beautifully in this vignette .  I particularly like the geometric step pattern in the front pillow that is backed by a solid colour. This arrangement makes the pattern even more obvious.  Your eye naturally moves to the large red vase and then tracks to the subtle hints of red in the art work. Always think in threes of varying proportions  when you are setting up a vignette of this type. The same is true  when you create a  composition in visual art.  I jokingly call this approach The Three Bears -Papa Bear, Mama Bear and Baby Bear to indicate the need for varying proportions of the same colour. 

Silvia Garcia Interiores

Solids, stripes and florals backed by a padded headboard in red  What a lovely burst of colour energy for a room.  I'm assuming the art work over the bed is fabric stretched over a frame.  It's time to get out the sewing machine and staple gun. 

Marie Burgos Design

The beautiful blue in the rug, pillows and bowl are allocated in varying amounts of blue which add interest and move your eye around. 

 Traditional Home

Blue and orange are a hot, hot  combination this year. It keeps coming up in every magazine I look at.  Layering is the name of the game in this room.  You could achieve the look of layered colour and pattern on the mirror by adding a backing of MDF to the mirror which you would paint.  Another suggestion is to paint  an orange rectangle on the wall and then mounting the mirror on top of it.

I love using two colours of side panels because it allows you  to easily change the accent colour down the road.  There are many good quality ready made panels that are not too expensive.  For those of you who don't  require  full length draperies (96 inches), you will have fabric left over when you hem to the required length.  This material in turn can be used  to make accent pillows.

Traditional Home

 Massed together over a table these colourful graphic designs  provide quite a focal point.

Traditional Home 

 Finding lamps that have vibrant colours is usually a chore where I live.  Sometimes buying a colourful lamp can be limiting but  you can  make it work for you.  My favourite trick is to move a lamp from one room to another as your colour scheme changes. Photos of my rooms over the last ten years suggest a  bad case of" have lamp will travel". I'm showing my age with that reference!

Cristi Holcombe

 The rug makes this room, but I'm sure it isn't an inexpensive item! When accessorizing your can go overboard with too many small hits of the same colour that reminds me of a scattering of snow. Remember to variety in proportions. 

Jennifer Brouwer

I can't get enough of this room.  Yellow, vibrant and beautiful, is a wonderful accent in this predominantly white and gray room. I like the way it is used sparingly but it does the trick.  

   spaces design

Do you have favourite ways to accessorize?