The Importance of Accessories in Decorating

 

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For many of us, accessories are the last things we consider when we design our homes and offices. Often, we plan the materials for the floors, the color of the wall, maybe even the finish for the ceiling, and the type of furniture we will put in. But seldom do we think about the accessories that will finish it all off.

In the end, we come up with a room that feels comfortable, looks decent, but somehow feels incomplete – like a salad without dressing, or an iced cake without flowerettes, or a low-cut dress without a necklace to match.

Now if you’re still wondering why the room feels incomplete, let me spell it out for you: it is incomplete. You haven’t put in the accessories yet!

Paint and floors and ceiling and furniture make a room – but it is the accessories that make it your room. In exactly the same way, offices have hundreds of identical cubicles. Only when you’ve put in your family pictures and potted plants does it become your cubicle.

Without the accessories that mark a territory as your territory, that piece of space will never completely feel like home. It will feel like a nice hotel room – shiny, anonymous, impersonal.

So when you design your room or office, remember not to stop halfway. Put some pictures or other interesting items on the walls, tables, or shelves. Put in your favorite books or magazines, and let the world know what you feed your mind with. Let your choice of blinds or curtains reflect who you are: bamboo, lace, or beads, perhaps?

Of course, make sure that all these things combine harmoniously with each other. You don’t want your picture frames or curtains to clash with your furniture or walls. And this is why you need to plan your accessories along with everything else; they should not be an afterthought, because really, your room will never be truly finished without them.

(Can you imagine how annoying it would be if, after all the time you’ve spent cutting and washing up veggies for your salad, anticipating how heavenly it would taste after you’ve tossed it in with your favorite dressing, you discover that there’s nothing but chocolate syrup in the house?)