It’s fair to say that the trend for neutrals in homes isn’t going anywhere just yet. While the color palette might have moved on from Magnolia to gray in recent years, we’re all still loving and lusting over the calming effect that neutral rooms have. The only problem is that too much neutral really can look a little boring. It might be ok in perfectly styled rooms in homeware magazines, but in person, there’s a danger of it looking too bland or stark. But, you don’t have to surrender your love of neutrals to create a room that’s exciting. Here are a few of the cool accent pieces you could consider to liven up your home, and bring some interest to your neutral spaces.
An Unusual Armchair
Buying large furniture items such as sofas in plainer designs and neutral shade is always advisable. These kinds of colours and styles will last much longer before looking dated and needing replacing. And when they’re such expensive pieces, they’re not the sort of thing you want to be buying every few years. But there are ways you can liven up your slightly bland looking sofas. How about adding an accent chair? Push yourself out of your comfort zone and go with a color, design or pattern you love but would never usually be brave enough to try. When everywhere else is very safe and neutral, you can add these kinds of things without it looking ‘too much.’ Tie it in with your other furniture by adding some cushions and throws in a similar color onto the sofa. The perfect way to add interest, color and pattern. Since a single armchair is much cheaper than an entire furniture set, you could switch it out later down the line. This allows you to change your design without breaking the bank.
An Interesting Floor Lamp
As well as being practical, a large unique looking floor lamp can serve as a stylish decorative piece too. Copper and brass coloured metals are popular at the moment. And adding accessories such as lamps and ceiling lighting in this shade is a good way to incorporate some additional colour into your home. You could position the lamp to light up an interesting corner of your home. For example, throw a sheepskin rug over the accent chair, with a trendy looking side table displaying magazines next to it. Having a variety of light sources in a room is always best as it allows you to control the lighting and set the ambiance depending on what you’re doing. So along with your floor lamp, aim for a smaller lamp or two as well or even something like a wall sconce.
A Large Plant
Plants are a fantastic way to bring interest to a neutral room. The vivid green leaves look stunning against plain walls, and they add texture and color. Research has shown that there are a number of surprising benefits of having plants in your home– they can even make you happier! So on top of looking good, they will also boost your mood too. If you have some empty space in a room, a big houseplant is the perfect way to fill it. It will make a statement and you can even buy a pot in your accent shade as another subtle way to add color. Dot around some smaller plants elsewhere, and it will quickly take your room from bland to beautiful.
Statement Artwork
You could choose one large statement piece of artwork for a wall, for a one of piece you could even commission an artist on a site such as www.degreeart.com/commission-art. Alternatively you could go for a gallery wall instead. This allows you to mix and match all of your favourite pieces and adds loads of interest to an otherwise plain room. A good tip is to choose frames that are all the same colour. This makes your mismatched prints look like a deliberate choice, and helps tie them all together. Choose frames that contrast with your wall colour for the best effect. For example you could go with black on white walls for a crisp monochrome effect, or white on gray walls. The best thing about displaying artwork is you can really have fun with it. Especially when the rest of the room is quite neutral. This is an exciting way to bring in your personality, and you can easily change the prints in them if you start getting bored.
Quirky Extras
This could be anything from a retro house phone to an unexpected decorative ornament to bizarre coffee table. These kind of novel, unusual pieces will draw the eye to them when you step into the room and catch people’s interest. Again with such a clean color palette you have free reign to choose pieces like this without ruining the calm neutral feel. If you’re interested in these kinds of pieces, you could look for more info at PlumGoose.com/bungalow-5/.
An Upcycled Piece
Rather than purchase a piece of furniture that hundreds of thousands of people also own, how about creating something a bit more unique? You could search for an old vintage wooden sideboard, drawers, a headboard or even a mirror and bring it up to scratch. Plenty of sandpaper, some paint, and new handles can transform a piece of furniture to the point that it’s unrecognisable. It’s an inexpensive way to add an unusual looking piece to your home, and you can be safe in the knowledge that no-one else will have one quite like it!
A Feature Wall
Finally, if your plain walls look a little starker than you’d like then a feature wall could be a good option. Your feature wall is generally the first wall you see when you walk into a room, but look around carefully and decide. For example, making your feature wall behind your bed or on the wall where your fireplace is downstairs makes sense. You could go all out with a bold patterned design, or just choose something subtle. Either way, you get to keep the neutrals elsewhere and bring in some added design here giving you the best of both worlds.
Image Credits: PHOTO BY VINCENT IVICEVIC.