Stimulate Your Senses

Achieving contrast- that’s how it feels to chew 5 Gum. I’m kidding, but only a little. Creating contrast in a space is a fundamental pillar of interior design, but it’s also one of the hardest with which to find success.

Ultimately, you want your space to be visually appealing. You can achieve this with blends of color, pattern, and proportion, but simply tossing a truckload of stuff in a room and expecting it to make sense isn’t realistic. People aren’t going to want to hang out in a garage sale (no offense).

Let’s start with that aforementioned truckload of stuff. First of all, everything in there will succeed in bringing contrast into a space. Second of all, since it is a truckload, you don’t need to go splurge on extra stuff. Your stuff is plenty to prevent an infestation of monotony.

Arranging things with colors on the opposite ends of the color wheel is a giant leap for contrast. The next logical step is to mix differing shapes- lines and curves, circles and squares, shorts and talls.

Another more subtle, yet effective strategy for bringing contrast into a space is to blend items with different textures. This will keep the visual weight of the items balanced and interesting at the same time. Think of things like marbles and linens, woods and furs. In the same vein, material mixing is another great idea- wood and glass, stone and metal.

Contrast will highlight your rooms and create striking vignettes within them.