Clients love the styling stage of a project. This stage is when all the large pieces of furniture are installed. As well as some furnishings such as rugs. I visit the space and assess it for what’s needed. More colour, texture, pattern and then add suitable décor, styled just right to create WOW factor. Here are my favourite styling tips and tricks.
Layering décor
Putting a vase on a dining table isn’t enough. Neither is putting a candle on a coffee table. But adding a tray or book and foliage works wonders. This is a fail safe technique I use often.
In this example, a bachelor pad apartment in Southbank I used a vase curved vase placed in a round black leather tray with a singular piece of foliage.
The details here matter. Take the round leather tray. Using leather is suitable given the masculine nature of the aesthetic. Using a round tray is also important to counter balance all the straight lines in the dining setting.
At play here are important styling tricks involving colour, texture, line, shape. So even though we’re just using two or three objects, this layered approach ensures a sophisticated styling outcome.
Notice also the position of the tray in relation to the dining table and the art. It’s off centre. So positioning plays an important part of the layering trick to superb styling.
Mixing pattern and colour
Another simple but impactful styling trick is to use different patterns with the same colour base. So you might have a striped cushion and a geometric cushion both in the same colour.
You could apply this idea in the reverse also. By have the same pattern but different colours. You can see this idea installed into this project for a client of mine in Glen Waverley.
Notice that all the cushions have a floral pattern but they’re different colours. Green, yellow and white base. Even though the floral patterns are different this styling is cohesive because of the repetition in pattern.
As with the layering option above, the shape and size of the cushions adds kudos to your styling efforts. The varying sizes and shapes shows some intention to your styling.
I know a lot of people like a lot of décor. But a lot of décor doesn’t increase the quality of the styling. It makes it harder to get right. As other interior design elements needs to be considered such as balance.
Curating a collection is different again. This requires special consideration to showcase the collection in the right way.
That’s way I love the two styling tips above. Layering and mixing colour and or pattern you can achieve a sophisticated, less is more styling look easily.
We all want to live in a beautiful home but it’s not always easy to maintain so simply styling tricks that are easy to understand and apply are key to a polished look in your own home with your own pieces.
