The biggest conundrum of decor, even with all the right main pieces coordinated and considered, is somehow the flare is still missing. As small as pillows, candles or a vase may seem in the big picture, it’s these finishing touches that add the personality, colour and individual style that every room needs to make those staple items look like they belong together.
Most clients I work with assume one short shopping trip to the local shopping centre is all that is required to pick up these decorative items to complete a room. They imagine they simply will grab a few pieces here and a few pieces there and cart it all home, unwrap each accessory and there you have it; instant style.
It’s this query that makes me emphasise to my clients to purchase more at the outset and return what you don’t need. Basically, get more rather than less, as you don’t always know if something will work until it is placed. Advising your clients to allot a full 20% of the room’s budget entirely to these final touches allows them to commit to accessorising, much like flooring or electrical budgets.
To finish the room completely, it requires money to be spent on it. Like many clients who are close to the end of a home project and have reached financial and emotional fatigue, the room gets close but is not quite done after all the work to this point. This is frustrating as it’s still missing the personality that accessories add.
Layering
Once you have committed to the time and cost with your client, think about layering as a way to create individuality and fullness. Layering in design means that there may be a variety of vases grouped together for instance, but behind them is a framed photo leaning up against the wall as their backdrop. The goal is not to have just a single item or even a grouping of similar pieces, but rather to incorporate different shapes and sizes of mixed elements and a few that are not of the same ilk at all. Layering adds warmth, interest, texture and most importantly personality.
Artwork in the kitchen
Art adds instant focal points to any space and can pull in colours and textures missing from the larger staple items. For art, think big and strategic as you begin choosing. What do your clients want to see on the large wall over their kitchen worktop? One large piece in a key location like this draws immediate attention and quickly fills a room. Look for other large walls that can handle oversized pieces or groups of art together.
Next, select smaller sized art as ‘infill’ intended for walls that aren’t necessarily large or focal but which will benefit from a dash of colour or provide a place to add pieces interesting to your client. And a note here, anything can be considered art; whether it’s shadow boxes of clients’ kids’ crafts or photos from their holidays, always select items that have meaning to the client.
Once artwork has been determined, adding other three-dimensional pieces like boxes, baskets, books, candles or clocks can be grouped and placed together throughout a room. The key here is to group. A long line of accessories in a row can look messy, so placing them into a group and leaving space before the next grouping creates visual harmony. And of course, the key to making this work is to ensure your clients have enough surfaces for display so add small tables, ottomans, bookcases and shelves to allow accessorising to happen.
Perhaps the easiest way to add a final flurry of colour and texture is with soft textiles like pillows and throws, within seating areas of the kitchen. Although much is overlooked as important elements of interior decor, a grouping of three pillows in differing sizes at one end of a seating area provides layers of colour, texture and shape that then connects to other elements within the kitchen.
Accessorising is the last 20% of a room’s design that ultimately makes the other 80% sing. Layering items of similar hues together using varying shapes and sizes, and repeating this concept throughout the kitchen using a range of decorating elements, will create visual repetition and ultimately tell your client’s personal style story in an authentic and individual way.