Decorate Like a Pro

I have a friend with such an innate sense of design who, although he's had a 20-year career in a different field, probably missed his calling. As a Decorator/Designer of 35 years, I can walk into a home and immediately see the makings of a true designer -- a person with an eye for the fundamental elements of design buried so deep down beneath the obvious, there are only 3 words to describe the bearer of all this natural talent: they get it.
 
With the birth in the early '90s of TV Channels such as Discovery and HGTV, who taught everything from how to prep a paint job to no-sew throw pillows, home decorating became so run-of-the-mill, we decorators and designers found ourselves at parties with guests who delighted in telling us every minute detail of their decorating projects.  It got to the point back then, if you wanted to pick out the real decorators and designers at a party, you had to look for the people who weren't talking about design.

Modernism has played havoc with the basics of good design, because it takes minimalism to the extreme, thereby leaving little room for the polar opposites.  That's why modernism is uncomfortable for some people, and why it doesn't appeal to their emotions or make them feel all warm and fuzzy.  Polar opposites are those secret little building blocks innately talented decorators understand without thinking about them, the same polar opposites that are so difficult to teach new design students who lean toward modernism.  But I'm confident you'll understand and maybe want to use the concepts, or at the very least find them interesting.   So here we go.....

Polar Opposites #1: Black & White
How many times have you said to a friend, "I decorated my bedroom in green."
What you are really saying is:  "I added green when I decorated my bedroom."

Every room -- no matter what color you envision it, is really -- or should be -- black and white or variations of black and white, such as ivory and charcoal, with color added.  Black and White are polar opposites.  A and Z.  Ying and Yang. Alpha and Omega.  Genesis and Revelations.  White is the presence of all color.  Black is the absence of color.  

Let's go back to Dove Cottage and I'll show you what I mean.....

Below is a photo of Dove Cottage with autumn colors:

And here's the same room with all the color removed.  What do you see?

I'd be willing to bet you didn't even see the black and white draperies in the first photo.  Am I right?  That's because your eye doesn't land on the black and white in the photos -- it's drawn to the color.  But black and white anchor your color.  They give it life, depth and dimension.  Again, White is the presence of all color -- it's where color begins.  Black is the absence of all color -- it's where color ends.  Except for God and Spirit, nothing in the universe exits without a beginning and an ending -- not even our physical bodies!  The colors you put in your room, without the anchor of black and white, technically are floating in the air like a rainbow.

To decorate like a pro, each room should have an underlying anchor of black and white.  You don't have to start with a black and white base, like I usually do.  You can go back after you've added all your color, and balance it out with the addition of black and white accessories or small furnishings. I really don't give it much thought -- I automatically look for black, white or off-white furnishings and upholstered pieces.  If find a sofa in a style I like, such as in these photos, and it's a color -- that's okay (this sofa is red under the white slipcover.)  The black and white can be incorporated in other ways.  I generally throw in some natural woods like the pedestal table here.  Then I begin to colorize the room.  Think of a coloring book with white pages and black lines, where you fill in the color with crayons. You could take this same room in the second photo above, and add blue and green, or purple and gray.  The color doesn't really matter.  The anchor of Black and White does matter. 

Even the exterior shade of Dresden Blue on Dove Cottage, is anchored with black and white.



 
Next Lesson will be
Polar Opposites #2: Light & Darkness