How to Arrange Accessories Like the Retail Magicians

Dear Melissa:

When I go into furniture stores they have everything arranged on tables so nicely. When I try to do it just looks like I dumped a bunch of things on a table. How do I make groupings look good? K.P.

Dear K.:

When trying to create a vignette of accessories, family photos, and the like, it helps to have an eye for composition. Barring that, try these guidelines. Copy what you admired as closely as possible. If you are more confident, group your accessories by type, size, shape, or color – either to relate them to one another or to contrast them. Try to balance the large, dark objects within the arrangement in such a way that your eye travels around them, and is not drawn to just one place. The aim of composition is visual movement and balance. Vary the height of the objects in the grouping to create a more interesting display. Combine tall and short accessories. If you are arranging a collection of objects of roughly the same size, place them at differing heights on top of books or decorative boxes.

If you are still compositionally impaired, remember that “less is more”. Make a statement with just one really impressive accessory on the table, and leave it at that. M.A.K.

Rotate Your Collections

Dear Melissa:

Help! I keep buying tchotchkes and I can’t stop myself. I pick up mirrors, pottery, ceramics, everything. How do I make sense of this? Should I throw it all away and start from scratch with an idea or color scheme at least? S.B., MD 

Dear S.:

A woman after my own heart! Your collection of “stuff” already has a theme: your personal style. What’s needed is not necessarily an intervention, but a plan.

Collect all of your misfit items from around the house. When you have them all together, group them by their most common element. This may be by material, color, function, etc. Displaying your collections in groups will give them a cohesive look and greater visual impact than scattering them around your house. If your grouping of collectables is all the same height, use stacked books to raise the height of some objects to create a more interesting tableau.

Once you’re happy with the look, STOP. Pack up the rest of your items, and perform the exercise again in 6 months. By rotating your accessories periodically, you’ll be able to refresh your home with the items you’ve packed away, and gain a new appreciation for them. Happy shopping! M.A.K.

Lacking Drama

Dear Melissa:

My house is decorated, and people seem to like it, but I don’t know, it seems to be lacking drama. My walls are painted soft colors, but something is missing. N.I., OK

Dear N.:

Maybe all of your colors are so soft, there is no punch to the rooms. You do not want your colors to match exactly. Vary the shades of your colors for visual interest. Say for example, your room is basically a medium blue. You don’t want all of the pieces to be the same medium blue. Some items could be navy blue, others powder blue. You could even throw in a totally different accent color. Variety helps.

Perhaps the problem lies with your accessories. They may be small and unobtrusive or scattered, instead of grouped for impact. Unless you are a collector, one large object can be better than five tiny ones, which may just look untidy. If you are a collector (or just have lots of stuff) group the pieces for more impact in a display cabinet, on shelves, or on one tabletop. In the case of the latter, arrange them in an interesting manner – in small groups of like kind, shape, or color; or with some on top of books or decorative boxes for varying heights. M.A.K.

Pint-Sized Collector

Dear Melissa:

My adolescent has the smallest room in the house and the most stuff. She’s a collector and every surface is covered. Can you suggest something to stop the battles? Frustrated Mom

Dear Frustrated:

I totally sympathize. I have two collectors myself, and we’ve tried everything, including the dreaded “mom cleaning with a garbage bag”.

Consider replacing some pieces of furniture with those that do double duty, such as a captain’s bed, a cabinet with built-in hampers, wall mirrors with an attached shelf/hooks, and a vitrine (glass-topped display table). Trust me, you’ll feel better freeing up some horizontal surfaces just so you can actually see the dust for a change.

There is also untapped space just below the ceiling. Consider running a 4” deep display shelf around the upper part of the walls. Your child probably just wants the comfort of having her favorite things nearby where she can see them. Keep only her actual playthings within easy reach.

You might also try rotating her collections, the way adults do when they have too much clutter. Possessions feel fresh and new again when brought out of storage. And if all else fails, keep the bedroom door shut. M.A.K.

No Flatscreen over this Mantel

Dear Melissa:

We have a couple of questions concerning what to do with our walls. Could you tell us when to place art or a mirror over a fireplace mantel? I don't need mt TV in this room. Also, where is a good place to group family pictures; we live in a raised ranch and have a long hallway leading to the bedrooms, and an entranceway with a massive wall that needs something. Thank you.

D.Z., NJ

Dear D.Z.:

Let me address the fireplace mantel first. Since the fireplace is usually the focal point of a room, one has to consider what is worthy enough to occupy this “seat of honor.” Artwork, clocks, and mirrors are all perennial favorites for this prime real estate. Sculpture, collections, and candles also work well. Artwork and other objects placed over a fireplace become slightly more important than the other accessories in the room, so choose something you love. Consider adding a spotlight or a picture light.

Mirrors add sparkle to a room and can help to brighten it when placed near a window or other light source. When placing a mirror over the fireplace, or anywhere for that matter, one must also take into account what else will be reflected in the mirror besides light.

Whatever the choice, keep the scale in mind, trying to complement the size and shape of the fireplace, neither overpowering it nor letting the fireplace dominate.

The location of family photos is a personal choice, but my preference is to display them in a more private area of a home, like a bedroom, family room, den, or that hallway you mentioned. I think that would be a perfect location for a grouping of photographs.

As for the large entry wall in your raised ranch, the options are endless. An accent wallpaper or paint color can be a good foundation. Since this is a large area, either think big or think multiple arrangements. Something sculptural or three-dimensional would be a nice change from the usual pictures. (Just make sure you can get past it on the stairs.) Whatever you do, try to avoid a single row of pictures marching up the stairs like little soldiers. Groupings are much more interesting. Overhead lighting is critical in this typically dim space, so explore wonderful chandeliers, pendants or accent lighting.

M.A.K.

What to Put on the Walls

Dear Melissa:

We have a couple of questions concerning what to do with our walls. Could you tell us when to place art or a mirror over a fireplace mantel? Also, where is a good place to group family pictures; we live in a raised ranch and have a long hallway leading to the bedrooms, and an entranceway with a massive wall that needs something. Thank you.

D.Z., AL

Dear D.Z.:

Let me address the fireplace mantel first. Since the fireplace is usually the focal point of a room, one has to consider what is worthy enough to occupy this “seat of honor.” Artwork, clocks, and mirrors are all perennial favorites for this prime real estate. Sculpture, collections, and candles also work well. Artwork and other objects placed over a fireplace become slightly more important than the other accessories in the room, so choose something you love. Consider adding a spotlight or a picture light.

Mirrors add sparkle to a room and can help to brighten it when placed near a window or other light source. When placing a mirror over the fireplace, or anywhere for that matter, one must also take into account what else will be reflected in the mirror besides light.

Whatever the choice, keep the proportions in mind, trying to complement the size and shape of the fireplace, neither overpowering it nor letting the fireplace dominate. Scale matters.

The location of family photos is a personal choice, but my preference is to display them in a more private area of a home, like a bedroom, family room, den, or that hallway you mentioned. I think that would be a perfect location for a grouping of photographs.

As for the large entry wall in your raised ranch, the options are endless. An accent wallpaper or paint color can be a good foundation. Since this is a large area, either think big or think multiple arrangements. Something sculptural or three-dimensional would be a nice change from the usual pictures. (Just make sure you can get past it on the stairs.) Whatever you do, try to avoid a single row of pictures marching up the stairs like little soldiers. Groupings are much more interesting. Overhead lighting is critical in this typically dim space, so explore wonderful chandeliers, pendants or accent lighting.

M.A.K.

Don't Hang 'Em High

Dear Readers:

A lovely woman recently asked me for some tips on hanging pictures. I told her a condensed version of what I tell my students, and what I’ll share with you.

There are some obvious guidelines such as hanging large pieces of artwork on large walls and smaller pieces on smaller walls. There is a little more to it, however.

If you are lucky enough to have a gallery wall, you have the luxury of hanging a painting at eye level, which allows the viewer to "disappear" into the painting. Most people, however, just want to accessorize a room with something pleasing on their walls. Unfortunately, paintings are not meant to replace wallpaper. By that I mean their purpose is not simply to fill up space on a wall. Artwork should be placed judiciously.

The foremost purpose of a painting is to highlight the artist’s work. Its secondary purpose is to complement the grouping of furniture below it. I think we all get the first part, but I know from experience that very few people understand the concept of working with the furniture beneath the artwork.

Valuable artwork should have pride of place. Lesser works can be thought of as part of the composition that a piece of furniture and its accessories make. Most people hang artwork too high. Paintings should be low enough (yes, sometimes even sitting on furniture) to seem to belong to that little vignette. The viewer’s eye should circle around the arrangement created by the furniture and the artwork. Leaving empty space in the room (and therefore on the wall) between these groupings is okay, and helps to give them more impact. There are some exceptions, but these are usually space related and have to be judged on a case-by-case basis.

As for the colors in paintings matching your décor, in a word: “Don’t”! This is art. Please don’t buy a bunch of meaningless pictures in a particular color palette as though you were decorating a motel room. Take your time. Buy what you love. You will find a place for each piece of art and conversely, you will find the perfect picture for each furniture grouping eventually.

M.A.K.