Color and Pattern Basics

Q: How can I mix and match colors and patterns without overwhelming the eye?

Photograph courtesy of Thinkstock.com

A: San Francisco interior designer Tineke Triggs of Artistic Designs for Living offers her expert tips, emphasizing balance to keep from weighing down a your bedroom decor: “A typical design mistake is to employ multiple solid colors into a design without any patterns; however, you also have to be careful not to have too many different things competing with each other. You don’t want too much of any one pattern overtaking a space. For example, you don’t want to have all stripes, all florals or all damask patterns. Choose one floral, one stripe, one solid and one trellis or damask in complementary colors, and then distribute them evenly throughout the space. Additionally, use big prints to make bold statements in just one or two smaller pieces, such as a throw pillow or a chair, which can be easily replaced if you decide that you don’t like them.”

By Rebecca J. Razo

Open a New Door

Our new Bedrooms & Baths website is a wonderful way to get in touch with the best comforts of home. 

Reluctant to take expensive resort trips given the economy, we craft spa luxuries where we can or splurge on a great robe to get us in relaxation mode. When you retire to your chambers at the end of a long day, rest yourself on sheets that ease your tired body and soft blankets in colors that reflect your favorite things. I’ve found that it truly doesn’t matter if it’s a grand master suite or a tiny humble room in an old cottage house; these are the places we carefully dress in the kinds of fineries that simply make us happy.

Bedrooms & Baths

With each post, I hope you find something to add to your rooms of contentment: a new accessory to refresh your décor, a simple solution for a certain quandary and at least one little indulgence. I hope you discover new ideas, such as the shed house. When we were children, they were our favorite places: tiny sheds and backyard shacks that felt like secret hideaways and special rooms. Or, for the lucky kids, real tree houses equipped with diminutive chairs and Mom’s kitchen rag fashioned to cover a window. They were for games and play or places to stir our imaginations.

Thanks to good old ingenuity and the spirit of resourcefulness in times of need, these backyard constructions are being re-imagined into useful and beautiful extra rooms for the home. Whether for a home office or guestroom, craft room or nap room, reclaim those sheds (the tools can go elsewhere). Use them—and this special issue—to re-ignite the thrill of carving out your own special havens.