Accessorizing a room, stencils, and stunning furniture finishes.

Accessories make a room.

At least thats what I find most of the time~and it seems to be 

the hardest thing for many to do well.

I accessorized this space for a client of mine after we nailed down

the room layout and got the furnishings and draperies in place.

Working with HomeGoods selection of many different styles

all in one place makes the job of accessorizing pretty easy.

I always try to buy more than I need so I have options when I go

to do my tablescapes.  You can always return what you don't think works

later on, but the more you have to play with, the better your results will be.

So tip #1~buy more than you need.

This is the before photo~not bad, but it is not very interesting.

compared to the photo above after I accessorized the space.

This area is in Heather's living room behind the sofa. It is a nice

place to pay some bills, set up the laptop, and look out the back window

while the dog runs around after the kids.

A selection of topiaries from HomeGoods in grey terracotta pots add softness. 

Use faux or live greenery like this to add a little life to your vignettes.  I also

grabbed this yellow chevron tray~its covered in fabric and its a nice way

to layer some more pattern as well as give a place for Heather to throw her daily mail.

A pair of vintage lamps and a cute little clock from my shop rounded out the desktop.

The other piece of furniture in this area is the vintage 

fall front desk that I found for Heather. 

A nice big Paris clock fits the french lines of the desk and is the 

the right shape for above the desk.  More artwork would have 

competed with the large painting over the console desk.

Another HomeGoods cache of accessories included a topiary, 

large faux pear, pineapple finial in rustic gold,

 a rococo photo frame in antiqued gold and a few other goodies

that look cool on a desk like a notebook with metallic chevron and zebra stripes.

When Heather entertains this fall front will switch roles and become 

a serving bar for mixing up a few cocktails!

Love a multi-purpose piece with style galore.

Try putting pieces on top of old books for an easy decorator look.

I rip the book jackets off of my hardbound books and then organize

them by color and then use in rooms for accents pieces.

Books look great with everything.

We used lots of shades of green and black through out the room.

 Don't forget to check the clearance items too~

this neat terrarium container was a steal.

I filled it up with green moss balls and then added a pile of

rustic wooden pencils to a garden motif ceramic plate,

all found at HomeGoods.

You can see the desk area behind the sofa~now the room has

got personality and its largely in part to the accessorizing!

So get out there and fill up your cart~you will have a "Happy by Design"

 result after adding some coordinated accessories to your rooms!

You can check out my Pinterest boards by clicking on the poster above

and see the HomeGoods board as well as my other boards and I think 

you may find much decorating inspiration there.

On the Maison Decor store front at 150 Main Street Reading, Mass we have 

just added the Royal Design Studio stencil collection.

Colin got our display up and running and we have so many to choose from~

Chevrons, Animal prints, Damasks, French motifs, Numerals, Moroccan and more.

We also got our Artisan Enhancements display finished as well.

This Rustic Chateau console has lots of layering and its got that

glamorous rustic look with a touch of gilding that I favor.

Justin used Crackle Tex and Finestone on this piece after Colin got the

base coat of Antoinette down. Then after Crackle Tex we added Country Grey

and Justin worked the crackley crud peeling magic on the console.

I finished it off with a dark wax glaze and a touch of Empire Gold gidling wax.

A real collaborative project with all 3 of us taking part.

Hint of pink Antoinette Chalk Paint® by Annie Sloan hides

 under the Country Grey layer on top.

See the itty bit of gold on the edges? 

The Antoinette pulls out bits of pink in the marble top.

Marie Antoinette would have loved this piece!

Artisans Enhancements were used to do the Rustic Chateau console as 

well as the French Provincial Pearl dresser below.

And thats the latest from Maison Decor!

Post Script~

For those of you interested in our August Chalk Paint Intro

class, there are only a couple of spots left for the 8/18 class.

Register online at shopmaisondecor.com