Adding accent furniture to your living space

By Catalogs Editorial Staff

Liven up your space with accent furniture!

Finding just the right balance for a room can sometimes be a grueling task. Not all of us are interior designers by nature, but that doesn’t mean we can’t still decorate like one. One way to instantly give a room in your home more life is by adding accent furniture. Adding accent furniture to your living space can mean anything from the design of the furniture, to the color–or both.

Why add accent furniture? To bring more personality into a room, to make it more pleasing to the eye, to break up the monotony. There are several ways to decorate using accent furniture, here are some easy ways to get you started:

The Living Room:

Adding accent furniture to your living space can round out the floor area and walls you have in the room. Having too many blank spaces can make a room look uninviting. The corners of the room can look especially awkward if there is nothing in them.

Adding a small accent table or a multi-purpose ottoman to the corner of a room can quickly bring attention away from the edges. Also, a decorative vase will also do the trick. Try adding something with a little color, but not so much that it will draw too much attention. Accent furniture shouldn’t be the focal point of your room, just a lovely addition.

Other things to try in your rooms would be decorative rugs, and colorful paintings. Try to make all of your paintings hang at eye level, or slightly above any major furniture. Having the paintings be too high above furniture can make them look detached and misplaced. Decorative rugs and colorful paintings can add just what you need to make your room more inviting.

The Bedroom:

A nice addition to the bedroom would be a decorative chest at the foot of the bed. Not only will this dress up the bedroom, but the chest can double as more storage space. You can also add a decorative mirror above your dresser, adding a bit of flair to your bedroom set.

The Entryway:

The entryway may seem like the most difficult place to decorate given that entryways are relatively short, often narrow. One way to utilize this relatively small space would be to put up decorative coat hooks or hang a fancy lighting fixture. These are very simple, but can give guests a welcoming, inviting feel to your home as soon as they step inside.

There are lots of options in accent furniture for an entryway. The area immediately inside the front door is an excellent place to start adding accent furniture to your living space. Consider a high, narrow table to catch mail, keys and display a welcoming bouquet or collection of photos. Small, matched chairs make pulling on shoes more comfortable. A low bench serves the same purpose. The entryway is an excellent place to display a prized antique piece of accent furniture: it will be admired, but not heavily used.

Art furniture is also an excellent choice for accent pieces, especially in an entryway, where it is easily showcased. Hand-painted, shabby chic chairs or tables are an interesting alternative to more formal antique pieces.

Less is More:

Because accent furniture can be so decorative and colorful, there is one thing to keep in mind–sometimes less is more. If you have an elegant table with a decorative vase, an elaborate coffee table, and decorative rugs it may give off the impression of being cluttered. Accent furniture should add to a room, not take it over. Having too many pieces of accent furniture in one room can be over stimulating.

No matter what your decorating style, a piece of accent furniture can be easily found to match the room. Whether you want a decorative chest to match an old world themed bedroom, a coconut husk table to fit in with a beach theme, or even just a brightly colored rug to bring out the more subtle colors of your other furniture, accent furniture is a great way to brighten up your room.