Ditch the Rules but Keep Some Tools
My recent ideabook Feel Free to Break Some Decorating Rules was almost the death of my smart phone. The poor thing positively vibrated with the deluge of comments streaming in. Thank you all for your feedback! It was a joy to feel the passion that you bring to decorating your home.
Just when you thought it was safe to venture back into the decorating waters, here I am again. This time I am going to amplify and hopefully clarify why I encourage you to take rules very lightly. By their very nature, rules tend to tie us in knots — to restrict us, to box in our creative juices. My husband would say they're much more likely to constipate than to educate. But that does not mean we are cast adrift on the open sea with no oar and no canteen. There are some very helpful tools that we can turn to for guidance as we create personal, welcoming rooms. Not all the tools will work in every instance, and not all will apply to every person. But availing ourselves of these tools will help us avoid the hodgepodge that was a concern for many of you.
The bottom line in decorating is not to get it "right." It's not to please our neighbor, our mom, our UPS man or even our interior designer. It is to please ourselves, to tell our story and to create a warm, welcoming, comfortable environment for our family and friends. "I am doing this to please myself and my family" is interior design's one and only unbreakable rule, as far as I'm concerned. That said, let's investigate some of these tools.
First, let's go back to the primary precept that we build our rooms around things we love. Be very deliberate about the concept that if you love it, it will work. Trendy or not is completely beside the point. After all, do you really want your room to look like it was decorated in the last half of 2009?
Take this room and its timeless, classic look. I like to think that the painting over the sofa was the loved piece that dictated the design. But make no mistake, other tools have been skillfully employed here, like the repetition of the soft green color of the painting in the curtains and the chair cushions. First tool: repetition.
Among other things, repetition gives balance to a room. Look at this living area. A lot of mixing is going on: mixed metals, mixed patterns and mixed textures. Don't you love the juxtaposition of the various stripes with the geometrics? But the repetition of the matching chairs — with their matching pillows — gives the room equilibrium, balance.
Repetition can be a unifying factor in your decor. Take the use of the pumpkin color in this room. It first occurs in the pair of chairs, appears again in the artwork and then reappears in the accessories on the coffee table. Then there is the repetition of the black and white geometrics: first in the rug, then in the throw pillows. See how the black is repeated in the picture frame over the sofa.
This room, with all of its interest and personality, hangs together beautifully because its repeated elements give it cohesion and consistency.
Don't you love this kitchen? It's clean, sleek, contemporary and extraordinary! The pops of color provided by the deep yellow island and bright red stools make the room sing, while their repetition makes potentially disparate elements work happily together. The island's color is repeated in the hutch's wood top, providing another unifying factor. The overall design is greatly enhanced by the use of stainless steel throughout.
Repetition is created naturally if you have collections. Take the dogs that march across this mantelpiece: They add such whimsy and interest. Notice though, that they are not all over the room. There has been remarkable restraint in the repetition, which is not always easy for those of us who love to collect. Note, too, the way the topiaries are used. They bring a wonderfully organic balance to a room that's brimming with personality.
Second tool: Find and accentuate your room's focal point. The oversize fireplace in this room is without a doubt its focal point, and the rest of the room is built around it. Repetition and equilibrium abound here as well: The Euro-style tufted bench balances the pair of black chairs opposite, and the bright yellow of the pillows shows up in the coffee table accessories and the stripe in the wall art.
Have you ever walked into a room that made you twitch? A room where you felt nervous and uncomfortable? That response is often caused by the lack of a place for the eye to rest. Every room benefits from a quiet place — a place without motion or pattern, a place where your eye can take a break. The ceiling, walls and carpet in this room provide exactly those places and are the reason this room works so well. Look around your rooms. Do they make you twitchy? If so, consider creating a place where your eye can rest.
Scale is one of the most exciting ingredients in our design toolbox. No, I am not talking about the rule that says we mustn't put a big piece in a small room. Usually that rule is simply wrong. I am talking about our fourth tool: varying scale. See how this very large and lovely armoire, the single piece in this small area, is beautifully balanced by the petite picture propped beside it and by the repeating texture of the baskets resting on top of it? Scale is our very good friend when we learn to vary it.
Consider the widely varying scale of the pieces in this room: the heavy, dark sofa and the light, almost airy child's rocker. The large, dark stained coffee table and the smaller end table made of white wood and glass. The imposing floor lamp and the quieter table lamp. And the fabulous giant clamshell filled with diminutive yellow lemons. If you could magically wave a wand over this room and change everything to the same scale, what would happen? The room would be totally drained of its life and its dynamism.
If you prefer neutrals to color, no worries. Just remember the fifth — and to me, the most important — tool: Mix, mix, mix! This lovely, calming dining room gets its allure from its mix. The rustic ladder, the formal dining chairs, the somewhat woebegone metal chandelier, the fibrous frame on the mirror and the glass table with its sculptural base all work together to create great interest and personality — with not so much as a touch of color. Mixing is (dare I say it) practically a rule.
Has this been an exhaustive treatise on rules and tools? Clearly not. Many other designers have lots to say on the issue. And I've not even touched on the importance of laughing a little — of not taking the process too seriously! (Another ideabook, perhaps.)
Let me leave you with this striking room, with its use of all five tools. We have balance and equilibrium provided by the repetition of pairs of chairs and lamps. The wonderfully "other" chandelier sets the stage for the mix of styles, colors and periods. Varying scale is accomplished by the placement of the low-backed chairs and sofa in such a high-ceilinged space. And the undressed windows provide that oh-so-critical place where the eye can rest. The fireplace, with its statement mirror, shines as the focal point, putting a decisive bow on this great example of how to utilize basic tools to create personal, warm and inviting rooms.
More: Feel Free to Break Some Decorating Rules
