Decorative accessories can give a finishing touch to a room
Decorative accessories are so much more than superficial ornaments for a room. Oftentimes, accessories are precisely what create or give a finishing touch to a room. There are rooms that you can enter and immediately tell they were designed professionally, and usually this is due to the rare or unusual accessories they feature.
What's on your walls? Art can be considered an accessory. Art and wall hangings such as paintings, prints, limited lithographs and giclees, as well as some wall sculptures and tapestries, all fall under this category. Undoubtedly, original artwork makes the biggest impact on your interiors.
If you are contemplating starting an art collection, my advice is to concentrate on one genre of art, artist or generation of artist or subject matter. For example, you might like American pop art from the 1960s. If this is the case, collecting art from this period will be a unifying element and give your room a point of view.
Vases, boxes and sculpture are three-dimensional accessories that do not hang on your wall, but top off your coffee table, console, pedestal or dining room table. You may dot your furniture with one or two items on top of the furniture itself or on top of a stack of books. If you are more daring, you might top off a table with an entire collection of items that create a dialogue between them. If all of your objects are the same color, it can help accentuate the accent color in that room.
Decorative pillows are the softer side of accessories. In my opinion, no room, bedroom, living room or den is complete without its share of pillows. These create visual impact, as they give a final touch to your sofa, chair or bed with the added benefit that they can be used for comfort. Sometimes these decorative pillows define the style of your room, for example, by adding a geometric print to a solid-color upholstered piece or vice versa.
In years past, quilts were on the arm of every sofa pictured in home shelter magazines. More recently that trend has been replaced by throws of cotton, wool and cashmere in all sorts of colors and textures for warmth and comfort and to match almost every type of interior design. Most savvy designers have entered this market and offer eponymous throws as a source of branding.
Finally, smaller tabletop accessories are necessary to complete your design. These accessories can be small silver picture frames, ashtrays or small boxes and curiosities that create interest on top of side and end tables.
Do not crowd your tabletops. Your tabletops should have enough room to place a cocktail on a coaster or to hold a book that you are reading while you take a break. Crowded tabletops are never attractive and make for endless hours of housekeeping. My personal thing about accessories is that they should never be smaller than a football. For me, finding balance and knowing when to say “enough” is the key.
• Joseph Pubillones is the owner of Joseph Pubillones Interiors, an award-winning interior design firm based in Palm Beach, Florida.
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