While it’s often said you should play it safe and go neutral with your furniture and take risks with accessories that are easy to change up, choosing to break the rules and purchase a statement piece can really anchor and set the tone for a room.
While this probably isn’t for the commitment-phobic, if your statement piece reflects your personal style and if you choose wisely it can make a big impact.
A few things to keep in mind…
1. To keep a statement piece from feeling over the top and to help it blend with the rest of your furnishings choose a classic style with a strong color or pattern (such as the wonderful example of a French country living room featuring boldly patterned upholstery fabric by artist Sonia Delaunay, shown above from Elle Decor) or opt for a dramatic shape in a classic color. It’s best to choose only one element to play up.
2. Don’t have too many competitive elements in the room. The opposite to the “neutral furniture/bold accessory” rule applies here. While this doesn’t mean every single accessory has to be neutral, too many statement pieces in a room can make it feel disparate.
3. Use it as a guide when styling the rest of your room. If you choose to go with a strong pattern, pick up shades of colors in it elsewhere to help tie things together. If you choose to go with a solid color in a strong hue, playing with complimentary tones feels harmonious and can make your piece really pop.
4. Consider the style. While you don’t want your room to end up feeling too staged, incorporating pieces that pick up on the style or era of your statement piece can make it feel cohesive.
Image: Elle Decor
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Beautiful ceiling! Overwhelmed with the zig-zag pieces though. Don't you think?
No. Just.....no.
A carnival barfed in that room.
Statement "piece" ??? I count FOUR pieces in that room that are making a definite statement, though I'm not certain what that statement is. Perhaps: "Thank goodness some clueless wannabe 'decorator' bought us at deep discount and didn't separate us." ??? Because they all look like they were offloaded from the same truck, said truck having no doubt made a quick getaway before anyone could change their mind.
Though a (as in ONE) statement piece in a room can be wonderful, this particular example of overkill is not appealing at all, IMO. And their very matchy-ness makes them less interesting as a group than any one of them might have been on its own.
Wow, that's horrible.
@rustypatina Amen.
The picture and the article do not seem to go together. The image violates rule #1. And what is that tri-sofa-thing in the middle????
I think it is bold and different! Love!
Life is too short for beige. Embrace it!
I had a sweater exactly like that in the 80's!
OKAY. I love France and Sonia Delaunay is amazing but seriously, that island thing has a FRINGE.
Ugh.
The misuse of Delaunay fabric is criminal. The focus furniture looks squat and childlike in the center of the room, while the other furniture pieces surrounding the room are bland insignificant...and the wall color! The room stinks!
Mis-use and over-use of a great fabric.
I don't get the example room. Did some 1980’s Miami hotel go out of business, and this is where the lobby furniture wound up? There is no relationship between those FOUR pieces and all the classic rattan and wood pieces in the room. It's a fabulous fabric, but there's too much of it, on pieces that just seem ridiculous in the room.
this is what the word "fugly" was invented for...
I didn't really care about the topic, but I clicked through because I knew the comments would be to die for! Just awesome.