Arrange Accessories

Accessories are expressions of your spirit and can make a room come alive. They can also be both decorative and practical, introducing accents of color into a room, enriching it with pattern and texture, or infusing a familiar setting with renewed energy and style.

Changing your accessories offers a simple and affordable way to evolve your style over time. Change can be simple: switch lamp shades to alter the atmosphere; try adding a slipcover, some vibrant pillows, and a colorful, unexpected throw to renew a sofa. Or, simply rotate accessories within the room, or from one room to another. 

Often it's the arrangement of accessories, as much as the items themselves, that creates a strong impression. 

Pair items of differing colors, textures, and provenances to draw attention to them. Creatively grouped accessories not only hold their place in a large room, they also arouse curiosity and make you want to draw near, whether to touch a translucent alabaster bowl or to sink into an inviting heap of pillows.

Accessories can change and evolve as you do, chronicling your interests like a three-dimensional scrapbook. Don't be afraid them to change them up or add to them on a whim. Shelves offer opportunities to present interesting vignettes. Use them as you would a shadow box to combine the personal and the familiar with more exotic items: a postcard from a friend propped against a small painting, or leather-bound books comfortably arranged beside a modern vase.

 

A room should never be just a place to pass through. Use accessories to lend character to your space and offer a reason to stop and linger.