Decorating Details Make or Break a Room
Decorating Details Make or Break a Room- In a featureless room, architectural details can make a big difference for a little price.
Wood moldings from the lumberyard or home center are the equivalents of architectural appliqué. They come in a wide range of sizes and styles, and they can be painted or stained. Use them to frame windows, doors, or panels of wallpaper, or to create a chair or plate rail.
Similarly, a wallpaper border is architecture by the roll. It can add ornamental detail to plain rooms and alter the perceived shape and dimension of spaces.
Even if you can't afford a masterpiece, you don't have to settle for bare walls. Cut out, mat, and frame 20 pages of a book featuring botanical illustrations or architectural sketches. Mount them on a single wall to achieve the collective impact of one large work of art.
Turn an ordinary print or poster into an extraordinary piece of art by splurging on professional matting and framing. Elaborate mats and frames can make an inexpensive print look far more sophisticated.
With just a hammer and nail, you're on your way to turning framed treasures into dramatic groupings. But before getting too hammer-happy, make templates of your artwork by tracing the perimeters on Kraft paper. Cut out the shapes and tape them to your wall, rearranging until you're happy with the look. Nail through the paper, adjusting nail position according to the frame hangers. Remove paper and hang artwork.
Because they come in coordinated solids and patterns, sheets take the guesswork out of mixing and matching. Plus, they tend to be less expensive than the same yardage of fabric. Use them to make curtains, craft table skirts, or upholster a salvaged headboard. Turn sheets into a shower curtain or a skirt for a wall-mount sink. Or appliqué strips of sheet fabric to inexpensive towels for a high-end coordinated look.
Fabric, like paint, covers a multitude of sins and can make a dramatic difference in an entire room. It also allows you to change the character of your decor seasonally. Use a floral-chintz print for wicker-chair cushions in the summer, and switch to a red-and-black tartan plaid in the winter. Because cushions take so little fabric, you may find what you need on sale in remnant quantities. If you don't sew, have an upholsterer make the covers for you at a reasonable cost.
For old chairs, consider new slipcovers: they can give a brand-new look at a fraction of the price.
You don't need expensive fabrics to create a luxe look. The trick to using inexpensive fabric effectively is using lots of it. Instead of just one skirt on a round table, use three: a maxi, a mid, and a mini. Layering conveys luxury.
For a monochromatic look, use a solid-color fabric that matches the walls -- perhaps sea-foam green, dove gray, ivory, camel, or creamy yellow -- for slipcovers, table skirts, and window treatments. In lieu of pattern, choose fabrics with texture to increase visual appeal and tactile qualities.
Mixing fabric patterns and colors is trickier, of course, but you can improve the odds of doing it successfully by starting with a paisley or floral, adding a stripe or plaid, then introducing a solid color.
Study rooms in decorating magazines and books, and you'll find most have three fabric colors in diminishing proportions -- for example, lots of blue, a little less white, and just a smidgen of yellow as an accent. It's a reliable formula that works for any color scheme.
Repetition creates continuity. Sew pillows from the curtain fabric; trim curtains and pillows with the same fringe.
Similarly, a wallpaper border is architecture by the roll. It can add ornamental detail to plain rooms and alter the perceived shape and dimension of spaces.
Even if you can't afford a masterpiece, you don't have to settle for bare walls. Cut out, mat, and frame 20 pages of a book featuring botanical illustrations or architectural sketches. Mount them on a single wall to achieve the collective impact of one large work of art.
Turn an ordinary print or poster into an extraordinary piece of art by splurging on professional matting and framing. Elaborate mats and frames can make an inexpensive print look far more sophisticated.
With just a hammer and nail, you're on your way to turning framed treasures into dramatic groupings. But before getting too hammer-happy, make templates of your artwork by tracing the perimeters on Kraft paper. Cut out the shapes and tape them to your wall, rearranging until you're happy with the look. Nail through the paper, adjusting nail position according to the frame hangers. Remove paper and hang artwork.
Because they come in coordinated solids and patterns, sheets take the guesswork out of mixing and matching. Plus, they tend to be less expensive than the same yardage of fabric. Use them to make curtains, craft table skirts, or upholster a salvaged headboard. Turn sheets into a shower curtain or a skirt for a wall-mount sink. Or appliqué strips of sheet fabric to inexpensive towels for a high-end coordinated look.
Fabric, like paint, covers a multitude of sins and can make a dramatic difference in an entire room. It also allows you to change the character of your decor seasonally. Use a floral-chintz print for wicker-chair cushions in the summer, and switch to a red-and-black tartan plaid in the winter. Because cushions take so little fabric, you may find what you need on sale in remnant quantities. If you don't sew, have an upholsterer make the covers for you at a reasonable cost.
For old chairs, consider new slipcovers: they can give a brand-new look at a fraction of the price.
You don't need expensive fabrics to create a luxe look. The trick to using inexpensive fabric effectively is using lots of it. Instead of just one skirt on a round table, use three: a maxi, a mid, and a mini. Layering conveys luxury.
For a monochromatic look, use a solid-color fabric that matches the walls -- perhaps sea-foam green, dove gray, ivory, camel, or creamy yellow -- for slipcovers, table skirts, and window treatments. In lieu of pattern, choose fabrics with texture to increase visual appeal and tactile qualities.
Mixing fabric patterns and colors is trickier, of course, but you can improve the odds of doing it successfully by starting with a paisley or floral, adding a stripe or plaid, then introducing a solid color.
Study rooms in decorating magazines and books, and you'll find most have three fabric colors in diminishing proportions -- for example, lots of blue, a little less white, and just a smidgen of yellow as an accent. It's a reliable formula that works for any color scheme.
Repetition creates continuity. Sew pillows from the curtain fabric; trim curtains and pillows with the same fringe.