Garden looks
have always been popular for the invigorating color and cheery designs they add to a room.
There may be no better way to banish the chill of winter than to sit in a beautiful garden room decorated in fresh spring color.
Although home decorators might be intimidated by working with a strong floral print, these patterns offer a built-in blueprint that allows you to easily construct a color scheme.
In addition, most floral patterns feature a range of shades and colors that coordinate easily with a variety of solids, mini-checks, plaids, and stripes.
Fabric lines such as Waverly have made decorating easy with fabrics and wallpapers are coordinated into mix and match groupings. Now any home decorator can achieve a designer-coordinated look without spending days or weeks searching for coordinating items.
If you'd love to have a garden room in your home, here are some tips on using strong floral patterns in interiors.
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Look for florals that will coordinate with colors you may already be using in your home. With dark green carpeting, for example, a floral with pretty green leaves will fit in well. If you have tan carpeting or just prefer a more neutral look, some of the tea-stained floral designs may be perfect.
Balance strong patterns with liberal amounts of plain surfaces, on walls, floors, sheets, or curtains. Strong florals are beautiful and sometimes a little can go a long way. Using plain backgrounds will also give you flexibility in updating your accessories from time to time.
An easy way to construct a color scheme is to choose the background color of a floral pattern for the paint color of the room.
Next, look carefully at the floral to decide on the secondary and accent colors.
In general the secondary color will be a pleasing mid-tone that might be used for carpeting, bedskirts, pillows, upholstery, and trims. A lovely green, rich camel, or a soft rose are some of the possibilities.
The third color is often a brighter accent color such as blue, yellow, or red. Use this color in smaller accessories, trims, and accents throughout the room -- in pictures, vases, small boxes, welting, pillows, tie-backs, chair seats, and the like.
Use the design principle of repetition to balance the look of a floral pattern. Repeat fabrics within the room so the patterns are seen throughout the room. For example, if your bed is dressed in a pretty floral, add a floral runner on your dresser, a floral pillow to a plain chair, or perhaps some floral plates hung over the door.
Carry your floral theme into an adjacent room by paint the walls a hue that's found in the floral. Repeat floral touches in that room's curtains, pillows, or accessories.
Upholstered furniture will take on new life when covered with floral fabric. Be sure that it's a look you'll love for a long time, however. If you're unsure, then choose upholstery in a plain or textured solid and dress it up with pillows in a floral print. Or, use easily changed slipcovers to bring a floral look to furniture.
Floral area rugs add color and pattern, however, make certain that their scale won't clash with the scale of floral fabric or wallpaper. If the rug is large scale then the fabrics should be a medium or small scale floral pattern.
Floral wreaths are a wonderful accent in a garden room. Bring in the colors that repeat your secondary and accent tones.
Look for artwork that includes floral themes. Select mats and frames that compliment the art's color palette.
Use a few beautiful ribbons to underscore your floral theme. Tie a wide coordinating wired ribbon into a pretty bow and attach to drapery tie-backs. Slipcover a chair seat with floral fabric tied on with lengths of ribbon, or embellish pictures with a backdrop of wide plain ribbon streamers.
Floral china is a beautiful look for a table. Keep table linens in a plain, check, or stripe pattern so as not to take away from the china's colors.
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