Small Accents, Big Interest

Hi all, I’m Susi, a writer for Design Shuffle, a fantastic social media site for decorators, interior designers, home owner and other design professionals to share inspiration, showcase their design projects and network. Thanks for inviting me and Design Shuffle to visit Wells Interiors today to talk about small accent decorating ideas that can create big interest in our rooms. In interior design, the devil is in the details. Small accents can create a big impact that makes a room go from ordinary to interesting.

 

Better Homes and Gardens via

Use food to decorate your kitchen. Grouping like objects, like colorful bottles of cider or cookies in a glass jar, add interest to open shelves or counters.

 

Design Hole Online via

Piping in a contrasting color creates an accent on furniture that draws attention to the lines of the piece. White on dark, dark on light or a contrasting color can become a small accent that creates big interest.

 

Photobucket via

Like piping, bias tape and ribbons are a simple design element that can add big interest. Orange ribbon trim on curtains and pillows adds a graphic pop of color to this neutral living room.

 

Urban Outfitters via

Pullbacks for curtains are an old fashioned accent you don't find in many interiors today. I think they should make a comeback because despite being small, they add great style to curtains—perfect for a bedroom design.

 

Pinterest via

A single brightly colored accent adds interest to a space. Paint an existing mirror, lamp, frame or object with spray paint to change the look and feeling in a big way.

 

Pinterest via

The orange runner is a great splash of color in this foyer and staircase. But the small accent that caught our interest is the stripe of orange paint just above the baseboard; it completely changes the look of the space.

 

Brass Works Blog via

Changing knobs and handles is a small detail that has a big impact on the look of a cabinet or piece of furniture.

 

Rue Magazine via

Small objects can add big interest to a shelf or table. Sparkly metallics or shiny ceramics reflect light and draw the eye. Animals make charming objects in almost any interior design.

This guest post was designed by Design Shuffle, a website that helps give exposure to Los Angeles interior designers to New York interior designers and is a source of inspiration for design enthusiasts.

Fall Colors

It's officially becoming fall outside my bathroom window!  Like or dislike?

Like: sweaters, wool skirts, apple pie
Dislike: winter on the way :(

Fall Heather Curtains

It's starting to feel a little bit like fall here and it's time to start thinking about some of my favorite fall colors!  Yesterday I broke out the heather purple and I'm loving it in curtains, too!

The Decorista

Headboard Progress

Earlier last month I went up to Vermont where I got to see the first of my beautiful headboards being handmade!  These headboards are to be the first examples of my furniture line, designed for those of us who are looking for well made, beautiful furniture that isn't stuffy or prohibitively expensive.

Without giving away TOO much and spoiling the surprise, I wanted to share the amazing process that turns one rough 4x10 into a beautiful headboard frame.

The painting and upholstering steps are next so hopefully I'll have some finished products by the end of 2011!

Here are the very rough boards which will soon become beautiful headboard frames!  I had a lot of fun at the lumberyard learning how to pick the best piece of lumber, but I think the man, who was forced to show me just about every piece of wood they had, was pretty glad to see me finally go.

 This machine planes the wood down so that it's smooth and flat.

 The wood had to be passed through multiple times to get rid of all the roughness, which you can see here.

 Next, the smooth piece of wood was cut into long pieces that were roughly the size of the two sides and top of the headboard frame

 Tangent: this is where all the sawdust in the workroom goes for recycling.  I thought it was actually kind of beautiful!

 Finally, a couple of detail shots showing the craftsmanship on a couple of the headboards.  But no final pictures...yet!!