What's Hot

Soft neutral backgrounds such as tinted whites for walls, provide a canvas for bold color accent accessories. This is called Color Forward.

Beautiful looks can be achieved by accenting large furniture in muted colors with bold pillows and throws, traditional or contemporary art pieces and vibrant decorative objects. These can be quickly and effortlessly and best of all inexpensively moved or changed to effectively redecorate an entire room.

Bold colors and casual shapes such as the pottery on the rustic accent table in the photo at right provide emphasis for the neutral wall, finished in an earthtone faux Venetian plaster. The art plaques are remarkable for providing visual interest not through color but texture.

The corner vignette in the lower photo shows a mix of traditional in the Italian server cabinet, transitional in the palladianesque gilded mirror and contemporary in the modern art painting. The large aqua charger is a traditional shape but shines with Aqua, the hot color of the moment. Not only does this tie the space and the artwork together, but it is easily changed with style or mood.