Using Accessories to Decorate Your Home by Barbara Jennings Apart from complimenting your newly painted walls with soft furnishings and effective flooring, home decor accessories in a room are just as equally important. Accessories ranging from flowers in a contemporary vase to art pictures hanging on your walls, all add the finishing touches to any room. Above all, accessories add personality to a room, they inject your own personal touch making your home unique to you and comfortable and inviting for you and your family. Decorating with Art Pictures You will be surprised at the important role that art pictures play in home decor accessories. Not only do pictures add your own personality into the room, they absorb noise and can actually help change the illusion of a rooms' shape if placed in the right places. For example: · horizontal landscape pictures help widen a room; · portrait floral pictures help give the illusion of height; and · one large picture reflected through a mirror gives the sensation of additional broader space. Creating Art Arrangements:- For a maximum effect and to make interesting wall arrangements that can become a dynamic focal point of the room, try to hang smaller pictures in a cluster. If you hang an even number of smaller prints tightly together in a cluster, this will help balance out a large space and give a window effect in a small space. Remember to hang the prints together tightly to create one unit and one focal point. For larger pictures, place them in proportion to the furniture. For example, hang a large picture approximately six to nine inches above a sofa or at eye level. By hanging a larger print too high above any piece of furniture can leave both pieces feeling disconnected. Tips Before Hanging Art:- Before hanging any art on a wall, try different combinations of arrangements. Use painter's tape and brown paper bags and keep rearranging the bits of paper on the wall until you have come up with a great picture arrangement. Always hang prints at eye level and use your hand in between pictures >as a guide to space large and medium sized pictures. Create Illusions with Mirrors Mirrors are great to help create the illusion of space. By cleverly placing mirrors on an adjacent wall to a picture or something that is interesting in your room, will reflect the image and add a sense of space. For darker rooms, hang a decorative mirror near a window. The light will then bounce off the mirror into the room portraying more natural much-needed light back into the area. To give the illusion of depth in a room paint one of your walls in a darker contrasting color to your other walls. Then hang a mirror on that darker wall. This instantly gives the additional sense of depth to the dimensions of the room. Lighten-up with Light Fixtures Light fittings are one of the most important elements of home decor accessories as they set the ambience of the room. By using different types of lighting you can create different moods on different areas of the room, at different times of the day. For example:- · accent lighting such as a spot light is used to emphasize wall paintings, ornaments or other interesting areas in a room; · soft lighting used by small wall light fittings or table lamps, help create a gentle romantic mood; · general lighting such as a ceiling center light, strip light or bright wall lamps are used for everyday purposes. Tip: use a dimmer switch to create different moods with your lighting. Adding Color with Flowers & Plants Fresh flowers are always a wonderful accessory in a home. They are easy to blend in with any rooms accent and you can swap and change the color, type of flower and position at any time. They are such an easy and adaptable accessory to have. If you are allergic to flowers, try silk flowers instead - sometimes it is hard to distinguish between real flowers and silk ones... By placing plants throughout your home helps add natural color, texture, and also softens the area making it more appealing to spend time there. Don't forget to use attractive plant pots and containers for your plants - they are a home decor accessory too! Area Rugs and Textiles Area Rugs:- Area rugs add warmth and texture to a room. They help soften wooden or hard floors and add contrasting colors and patterns into the room. First you must determine what you want the rug for - is it a focal point? or do you want to group furniture on it? Secondly, you must measure what size rug you need before you go shopping. Other Textiles:- By using other types of textile home decor accessories, you can create additional comfort and softness in using:- · scatter cushions made with different types of material; · throws on your sofa or lounge chair; · napkins, place mats and tablecloths in the dining room or kitchen. Summary Home decor accessories play a crucial part in your home decorating. Even if you don't need to repaint your walls, you can still change the look of your room. By rearranging furniture and wall pictures, adding soft light fixtures, flower arrangements and plants, the placement of an area rug and using different textiles in a room, all help create a new look to reflect you and your personality.