"Ribbons of Color"

As an interior decorator for more than 25 years and passionate lover of all things vintage and salvaged…… I know that there is a simple yet universal element in decorating that transcends all time periods and styles….. Color!

Color offers one of the easiest and most exciting ways to add interest to a room. When we talk about using color in our homes, our ultimate goal is to create an “invisible ribbon of color” that comfortably moves throughout our room in order to create a cohesive environment.

Our “ribbon of color” is our personal stamp of taste, our tool by which our color choices express our own style. Best of all, color is a design element that doesn’t necessarily cost us an arm and a leg! It’s as simple or elaborate as we want it to be.

Introducing color into our room(s) can be considered an “art”. Balancing color in a room is paramount to creating a pleasing environment! When we introduce color(s) it is important to pull our color throughout the room at 3 levels…eye, mid and floor levels.

Eye-level color offers most likely, our largest opportunity to make a statement. The color of our walls, ceiling, artwork and window treatments are some of the first things that we see when we enter a room. Consider, therefore, choosing a color that you want to be your dominant color in your room and place it on your walls in order to set the tone of the room!

Mid-level color can be introduced with furniture, pillows, table lamps and accessories. Making sure that we introduce a secondary color into our room with these pieces sets the structure of our color scheme.

Finally, floor-level color is often “the forgotten level”. Although we have some type of flooring in our rooms, it’s important to take advantage of the opportunity to add color from our color scheme to the floor level as well. Area rugs, greenery and accessories such as large statuaries and urns are an excellent way to introduce color to that forgotten level!

I have instructed clients over the years that balancing color at every level in a room is the key to a “decorator” look! Take a look at your room very closely….. what color(s) are you using, where are you using it and where is color lacking? With a few simple additions where there are color “voids”- you’ll be on your way to creating the room of your dreams.