• Confessions
  of an
  Interior
  Designer
• Creating
  Your
  Dream
  Home
• Practical
  Advice
   
• Seasonal
  Decorating
   
• To The
  Design
  Trade

If you’re looking around your room and thinking that it just doesn’t feel like home, it doesn’t feel ‘right’, it may be because you haven’t accessorized properly.
The accessories are the icing on the cake.
Accessories are the details that make a house a home.
A professionally accessorized room feels homey and comfortable, not cluttered or complicated.
It should be personalized to you without being junky.
I have some easy tips for you that’ll help YOU accessorize your home like a Pro!
Here are the first three.

Tip #1
Use an odd number of items.
Whether you’re accessorizing your kitchen counter, your coffee table, dining table, dresser, or whatever, use an odd number of items. It’s just more pleasing to the eye.
If you have candlesticks use 3 or 5 of them. If you use 2 or 4 you’re going to step back and think it looks off.
This also works for throw pillows. 2 pillows on a sofa are just ok. It would be better if you have 3 or 5.
An easy way to arrange your accessories is to create triangles with the items. Add varying height items on each point of the triangle.

Tip #2
Create balance in your room with accessories.
Just like riding a bike, if your balance is off you’ll fall over.
It’s the same with your room. If your accessories are out of balance your room is going to go off the rails.
Balance starts first with your furniture. If you need help with furniture arrangement there’s a free tip sheet on https://www.detailsfullserviceinteriors.com/interior-design-tip-sheets
But, you need to create balance in your room with accessories as well.
If you have really tall accessories on one side you need tall accessories on the other.
If you have floor to ceiling draperies on one wall then you need to balance out the room by adding tall accessories to the opposite side of the room.
The same thing goes for your mantel. If you have tall candlesticks on one side you need something tall on the other end.
Also, things that are dark will appear heavier. They have more visual weight.
So, if you have a lot of a dark color on one side of the room, you’ll need to add some dark accessories on the other side to balance it out.
In the room above you can see a large antique armoire reflected in the mirror. We balanced out the height and visual weight of it with an oversized mirror above a dark table on the opposite wall. If we hadn’t added anything large to the opposite wall the room would have felt very off balance.

Tip #3
Pay Attention to Scale
Scale is another huge thing that’ll make your room feel ‘off’.
Scale refers to the size of an object.
If you have oversized furniture you need oversized accessories that are in scale with the furniture.
Tiny little accessories on a large coffee table are going to look out of whack because they’re out of scale.
Your accessories shouldn’t be smaller than a grapefruit anyway!
When you have a bunch of small accessories in a large room they just end up looking like clutter.
If you step back and can’t see exactly what an object is, it’s too small.
Go bigger than you think.
Most people’s accessories are too small.
A few larger accessories go a long way.
If you have a small, sentimental item you can make it appear larger by placing it on a stack of books or a box.
If you have a large fireplace, you want large chunky accessories on the mantel. Small items are going to be lost on that mantel, like the mantel above.
If you have a smaller fireplace then go with skinnier accessories on the mantel. If you have chunky candlesticks on your smaller scale fireplace, step back, look at it. It looks off right? It’s because those candlesticks are out of scale with the fireplace.
A lot of times when you step back and look at your room and it looks ‘off’ it’s because things are out of scale.

So take a step back. Look at your room. How does it feel?
If it feels ‘off’ check the number of items you have displayed.
Is the room balanced?
Are the accessories in scale with the room and the furniture?
Tweak those 3 things and then check back in 2 weeks for 3 more tips for accessorizing your home like a pro.

Don’t forget there are more decorating and design tips on our YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdNfOkVj0w4U7LjikbTzTLg