Free Easy Tips to Select Your Home Décor Accessories

May 28

HGTV has created an unprecedented rage for everything home décor, starting with early shows with Candice Olson of Divine Design, to Chip & Joanna Gaines with Fixer Upper and a plethora of home improvement shows that will satisfy the most ardent designer, decorator, and home do it yourselfer (DIYer). It’s also been advantageous to the home staging industry, showcasing extreme makeover transformations with fully furnished homes by staging professionals.

The worldwide selection of furnishings, artwork/wall décor, accessories, rugs, window treatments, and paint options will boggle the mind, and thus the need to determine your style and color palette first before diving into the accessories. Even an eclectic home décor style has parameters to keep it in line with a décor style.

Home décor can be reasonably priced or vastly priced out of reach. Knowing where to shop, what to shop for, and what to look for will help in your search for your perfectly decorated home.

In selecting home décor options, it’s best to start with any items within your home that are non-movable and hard-surfaced, meaning the flooring, countertops, and tile. If you can customize these items from the beginning, it’s much easier, but if you are limited on a budget (and who isn’t these days) then you need to work with what you have on hand to blend your new home décor furnishings and accessories.

Because the ‘hard’ items in your home are the most expensive and difficult to change, we look to them for their style and color and see how to complement them in new and exciting ways. For example, dark brown granite, extremely popular in the late 90s, requires updating but how do you go about that without removing and replacing the costly stone? My suggestion is to make a less expensive change on the backsplash by either replacing it with a new backsplash or using the new peel and stick vinyl papers on the backsplash that create a fabulous fresh look. Literally hundreds of vinyl paper options to choose from.

Paint is the easiest method of updating your home décor and is the least expensive of any project to give a house a radical facelift. Painting the walls a similar color to the outdated granite will minimize the attention given to the dated stone. Today, floors can be painted with flooring stencils helping to minimize the costs of ripping out flooring, installing new, and replacing baseboards for a finished look.

Décor Accessories for Home | Home Decor

Similar to selecting the perfect piece of jewelry to be the finishing touch on a stylish outfit, the same holds for selecting décor accessories for the home. Once you have your color scheme and style determined for your home and furnishings in place, then begins the search for the ‘jewelry’ to make your room a beautiful statement.

For the budget-conscious shopper, I suggest Home Goods as a great place to start to look for affordable artwork. Shipments arrive weekly, as product turnover is high for this chain of home décor stores, so check back often here. Choices of artwork include still-life, nature, modern artwork on canvas, and framed with matting. Higher-end artwork can be located in art galleries and many online vendors including Zatista.

Showcasing other décor accessories for your home will include decorating bookshelves, tabletops, coffee tables, kitchen counters, bedside nightstands, desks, flooring, and walls. A list of décor accessories to look for when you are shopping may include this:

Faux or real small potted plants/flowers
Tall faux or real trees such as Fiddle Leaf Fig
Ceramic vases (anything grouped in threes of various sizes is a beautiful look)
Orbs (set on coffee tables, a stack of books, or as an added décor piece for a bookshelf)
Decorative bowls
Ginger jars
Candlesticks/hurricane lamps
Table lamps, floor lamps, task lighting
Décor pillows, throws, poufs, ottomans
Stacks of hardcover books on subjects you read & enjoy

Kitchen Décor

Kitchen décor can be practical in terms of use such as an espresso machine, blender, mixer, or toaster. Appliances for countertops have come a long way in regards to looking aesthetically pleasing, with options in multiple colors and clean contemporary lines. Be sure to check out Williams Sonoma for the top of the line appliance items that look smart and function well. Cutting boards, canisters, and crocks for holding cooking utensils are great for displaying. The caveat is that less is more for a streamlined look without clutter and losing counter space.

Use kitchen décor items that complement the backsplash. If your kitchen backsplash is white, dark cutting boards in groups of three lined up against the tile, helps to create a pop of color. Small trays that hold a bottle of olive oil, a crock of wooden spoons, and a gourmet salt shaker is functional and creates an interesting display of home décor accessories.

For that meticulous, streamlined look, minimize the décor and appliances on the countertops, relying on a single large vase of greenery on the kitchen island, a bowl of fresh lemons on the counter, modern canisters, and a set of cutting boards set against the backsplash.

Buy what you love in your home décor accessories and kitchen decor and leave the rest stored to rotate decor items as you desire. Never feel compelled to put everything on display at once. As your style slowly changes, move pieces out and replace them with new ones. Above all, enjoy the process. Home is your sanctuary and should be enjoyed and appreciated.