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Want to elevate your home from good to great? Try decorating
in layers to create depth, coherence and lushness in any space
By DAWN KLINGENSMITH
CTW Features
If you want a room makeover but
don’t know where to start, consider
decorating in layers. Many designers
recommend this approach but offer
different ways of going about it.
Blogger Erin Souder suggests “building
a room from the ground up, layer by layer.”
Celebrity home stylist Christopher Lowell
recommends starting with the room’s “shell”
and then moving inward. Whatever the sequence,
the point of layering is to break the
decorating process into manageable steps
and make certain along the way that the design
elements are cohering.
Using this approach, you can keep certain
things the same and incorporate items you
already own, but clear the room and start
with a clean slate for the best results.
For the ground-up method, start with
the floor and work your way up. If your start-
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ing point is a rug, choose something textural,
colorful or patterned, suggests Souder,
creator of the DIY and home-style blog,
“House of Earnest” and a contributor to the
official Etsy blog. A patterned rug will help
determine the room’s color palette.
For wall-to-wall carpeting, on the other
hand, choose a neutral color so as not to limit
future makeovers.
Next, arrange large wooden furniture or
“anchor pieces” and then add the upholstered
furniture. Choose the lighting, hang your
artwork and finish up by adding accessories.
Lowell’s approach starts with walls and
flooring – the room’s shell. “The biggest mistake
people make with paint is using an accent
color as a background color,” he says.
Don’t go too bold on the walls because
correcting regrettable choices is costly and
time-consuming, and the painting process is
“a huge disruption to the home” he adds.
Choose a neutral color for the walls,
which is not to say a boring color. “Neutral
doesn’t mean beige,” Lowell says.
If you’re looking at a color strip at the
paint store, the third or fourth square down
often is a safe bet for a wall color, he adds.
Once you’ve selected the paint color,
“carry the paint swatch with you or have it
on your phone for reference when you shop,”
California- and Nevada-based interior designer
Susan Ippolito advises.
Lowell’s third layer is high-ticket upholstered
furniture. You want your selections to
stand the test of time and provide a pleasing
background for any accent-color changes you
make in the future. Accent fabrics, layer four,
are your draperies, rugs and decorative pillows.
This layer adds “personality and punch”
to the room, says Lowell: “You could have
Muppet fur pillows on the sofa but a little bit
goes a long way.”
Layers five through seven are non-upholstered
furniture such as coffee and side
tables; accessories; and lighting and plants.
Accessory colors and finishes should be