“It is just as disastrous to have the wrong accessories in your room as it is to wear sport shoes with an evening dress.” – Dorothy Draper
And let’s just take this quote a step further and bring it into our homes, I say not only the wrong accessories but too many accessories in a room can also be disastrous. Have you ever been in someone’s home that has every square inch of wall space is covered….not a spare place to rest your eye in the house. Where do you focus…what’s the focal point? Or maybe you’ve been someplace where every table top is covered with knick-knacks….no place to set a drink. I have even finished beautiful renovations for clients just to return a month later and find it stuffed to the brim with all of their “treasures”. Surprising to me that this can happen despite all of the discussion and preplanning in the beginning of a new design project. Proper accessorizing is just as imperative to a successful design outcome as over decorating can be detrimental to a newly decorated space.
Day 8 – Over Decorating is O-V-E-R!: When redecorating or designing a new space try to keep only the things you love and the things that are useful and functional. This reiterates two of my previous posts that you can read here and here….one discusses “Function Driven Design” and the other talks about “Editing Our Spaces”. There are a lot of people who love a lot of things and to them I say, you just need to decide what’s more important….a home full of cluttered tchotchkes or a beautiful, functional living space you can be proud to entertain friends and family in. It’s tough to successfully have both!
Speaking of “Over Decorating”, I still get questions about decorating above Kitchen cabinets and my very quick answer to that is…..don’t do it! Most of the time it leads to unnecessary clutter that doesn’t function for any purpose and worse of all it collects dust and grease…..yuck! Although these photos below are beautiful, I ask you, “Is it practical for you home?” If your Kitchen is beautifully designed at eye level, it’s most likely not necessary to display items above your Kitchen cabinets.
What are your thoughts on knick-knacks, collections, or accessories just for accessories sake? Accessories and artwork are absolutely necessary…they add that finishing touch to any space. There is a fine line between accessorizing and clutter that can very easily be crossed. I do believe there are beautiful ways to display your collections and things that you love, it just needs to be planned and well thought out. Check out my (3) C’s for displaying treasures and collections.
Keep your collection “Cohesive”
Keep your collection “Color-Coded”
Keep your collection “Contained or Covered-Up”
If you’re interested in learning more tips about accessorizing, you may want to check out this post for some updated ideas. I’d be happy to help creatively “contain your collections” and “tame your treasures” just give me a call at (678) 316-0113 or email me here jennifer@jenniferreynoldsinteriors.com I’d love to hear from you.
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