Accent wall update part deux! Trends in wallpaper accent walls

I wrote about wallpaper accent walls last spring, but since we’re seeing them EVERYWHERE, I think we should examine the latest trends. Don’t you?

But first, a reminder: follow the same rules you would for PAINTED accent walls. Accentuate unbroken, prominent walls. The best wall is usually the first one you see when you enter the room.

Gray geometric wallpaper accent wall

  • Trend #1: more wallpaper accent walls behind beds…as headboards, really.

Green and white wallpaper accent wall behind bed

Metallic wallpaper accent wall behind bed as headboard

  • Trend #2: framed wallpaper.

Yellow and white wallpaper framed

  • Trend #3: Wallpaper accents in nooks and insets.  Below, the wallpaper (which I’m pretty certain is by Manuel Canovas) turns a potentially awkward space into an interesting feature.

Toile wallpaper on bedroom inset wall

  • Trend #4: Wallpaper on fireplace walls. I have mixed feelings about this one. I don’t generally recommend wallpapering a fireplace wall; I think the fireplace provides enough of a focal point. But the wallpaper is a sweet addition here…

Floral wallpaper around fireplace

…and here, where it frames the fireplace most effectively.

Black and white wallpaper accent wall

Seeing as how I seem to be on a one-woman campaign to bring wallpaper into every single house on the planet, I’ll leave you with a few more thoughts:

  • Remember that wallpaper accent walls are especially terrific if you don’t have a lot of art.
  • Wallpaper accent walls can be particularly interesting in a stairwell. Try this instead of hanging family pictures up the stairs, as so many of us do. That’s a fine look, but unless each photograph is double-hung, they’re going to get knocked off-kilter every time your toddler (or teenager, or Goldendoodle) bounds down the stairs. How fabulous is this Osborne & Little dog wallpaper? It’s called, appropriately, “Best in Show.”

Osborne & Little black and white dog wallpaper

And of course you remember Nina Campbell’s Paradiso wallpaper in bossy color’s stairwell.

Nina Campbell's Paradiso wallpaper

  • Finally, do not do a wallpaper accent wall in a really tiny space, like a powder room. Go big and do the whole room, or leave it alone.

Farrow & Ball Rosslyn wallpaper in powder room

Wallpaper, Gentle Readers. An accent wall is the easiest way yet to make it your friend.

Many thanks to everyone who submitted questions to The Washington Post’s Home Chat last week with Jura Koncius! An excerpt ran in yesterday’s Local Living section of the Post. Thank you!

Quoted in publications from The New York Times to The Washington Post to Real Simple magazine, Annie Elliott is considered an expert in color, residential space planning, and telling people what to do in the nicest way possible. Her interior design firm, bossy color, has been serving residents in the greater Washington, D.C. area since 2004.

Nate Berkus in Parade Magazine: a True/False quiz

The ever-adorable Nate Berkus was the cover story in Sunday’s Parade Magazine. Former Bossette and all-around awesome chick Elizabeth Spratt Cooper (her new biz is called Art & Design Partners – website coming soon!) gently suggested that I might want to weigh in on his “Three Things a Designer Can Help You With” and “Three Things You Don’t Need a Designer For.”

Boy, was she right!

I’m loathe to disagree with Nate about anything. I mean, have you seen him? (Of course you have. You don’t live under a rock.) He’s a doll.

Nate Berkus

And he’s talented and savvy and thoughtful, and he hasn’t exactly had an easy time of things. (His beau, The Tsunami…you remember.)

But I will politely, professionally, challenge my esteemed colleague on these points.

Three Things Nate Says A Designer Can Help You With:

1. Getting the scale right. TRUE! says bossy color. This might be the biggest challenge for home decorating enthusiasts. Huge sofa + diminutive cocktail table = Alice in Wonderland.

John Tenniel's drawing of Alice in Wonderland growing out of a room

2. Mixing styles. TRUE AGAIN! says bossy color. It’s harder than it looks.

Black study black library

3. Access to resources. TRUE, most of the time. Thanks to the magic of the Internet, we can get our grubby little mitts on many things that until recently were available only “to the trade.” But for the super fancy stuff, like Holly Hunt furniture or massive quantities of Manuel Canovas toile fabric and matching wallcovering, it helps to have one of us on your side.

Manuel Canovas orange toile fabric and wallcovering

Three Things Nate Says You Don’t Need a Designer For:

Here we go.

1. Buying furniture. Nate says “You don’t need anyone’s help to buy a well-made sofa or chest of drawers.” Well, TRUE, but please see Point #1 above. Buy at will, but install at your own risk.

Lief chest of drawers with brass handles from 1st Dibs

2. Hanging artwork. FALSE! Nate specifically mentions gallery walls, and how he loves it when disparate things — framed/unframed, large/small, “important”/”modest” (these are my designations) — are mixed. I agree with that. But guess what. Mixing them is MUCH more difficult than it appears. I do this for clients often.

Gallery wall art wall

3. Choosing colors. FALSEFALSEFALSE! Holy cow. If I believed this, I’d be out of a job. Nate says, “I’ve always felt that color is intrinsically personal.” Darling, of course it is!

But if you want, say, a vibrant blue bedroom — if you ENVISION a vibrant blue bedroom — it can be impossible to create in real life what you picture in your head. It takes trial and error…and even then, you might not get it quite right. And THEN you have to make sure this room color works with the other rooms in your home.

Blue bedroom with red bedspread Elle Decor

Frankly, I think paint colors are one of the first reasons you should call an interior designer (designer, design professional, decorator…tomato tomahto.) So on this point, my friend from Minnesota/NY and I respectfully agree to disagree. (That’s so shades of the VP debate, isn’t it? “My friend the congressman…” But I really WOULD be friends with Nate Berkus if he wanted. I think we’d have fun.)

The moral of the story, Gentle Readers? Think for yourselves. And then call me.

Quoted in publications from The New York Times to The Washington Post to Real Simple magazine, Annie Elliott is considered an expert in color, residential space planning, and telling people what to do in the nicest way possible.

It’s gray’s day! Thanks, Washington Post!

Anyone tired of the 50 Shades of Gray references? I’m not! The witty and eloquent Elizabeth Mayhew debuted a column in The Washington Post on Thursday, and her first one was called, 7 Shades of Gray.

Bedroom with upholstered floral headboard and Benjamin Moore's Gray Owl paint

Benjamin Moore’s 2137-60 Gray Owl on the walls of Elizabeth Mayhew’s bedroom (photo by Annie Schlechter)

I was delighted to provide some thoughts for the article’s sidebar. You know I think gray can be tricky…and we’ve talked before about two of my favorite light grays, Benjamin Moore’s HC-172 Revere Pewter and HC-173 Edgecomb Gray. My dining room is currently a medium gray, AC-31 Hot Spring Stones (also by Benjamin Moore).

But this time, we’re going deep. We’re going dark. Sherwin Williams’ Iron Ore has captured my fancy of late: it’s a beautiful grayish black with a hint of brown in it – just a touch of warmth. I’ve been thinking about it for my new kitchen cabinets, as a matter of fact.

Black dark gray dining room with chandelier

Dining room painted in Sherwin Williams’ SW7069 Iron Ore, in the blog Ruth Burts Interiors

For those of us who haven’t quite had the courage to paint a room black, as Candice Olsen has been begging us to do for years, maybe dark gray would be a little less scary.

Tell you what: I’ll try it if you will, ok? We’ll just hold hands and jump.

Annie Elliott – aka bossy color – is an interior decorator and design blogger in Washington, D.C. She has been quoted in publications from The New York Times to Real Simple and is considered an expert on color, residential space planning, and telling people what to do in the nicest way possible.

Miami’s Royal Palm hotel, white and serene, is now a distant memory

We returned from Miami to freezing temps and aspirational snow on the ground. Sad any way you look at it.

As I Tweeted, the hotel itself, the Royal Palm, was lovely. A page out of old Miami: a tidy and tasteful room (I’m not a believer in big bedrooms, let alone big hotel rooms) and a sweeping view of the sea.

Miami Beach view from balcony

Miami Beach ocean view

For this color-obsessed design maven, the white walls, drapes and bedding – and I mean WHITE, not ivory, cream, light taupe, or gray – made a big impression.

Hotel room at Royal Palm, Miami Beach

Hotel room at Royal Palm, Miami Beach

Hotel room at Royal Palm, Miami Beach

It was peaceful. The white worked because there was a ton of light, and because the furnishings were coordinated, modern, and minimalist, but it worked.

(My notebook reads something like this: “White walls. And they’re NOT depressing, boring, or twee. Hmmph. Is THIS what all the fuss is about?!”)

Even the floor is white, 12 x 24″ white and light blue/gray striped ceramic tiles. Tile floors are popular in hot climates for all the obvious reasons, but this was a nice reminder that white walls with a white floor can be very effective. Practical for full-on family living, no, but definitely appropriate for a resorty hotel room.

Hotel room at Royal Palm, Miami Beach

The wood is “cerused,” a process by which white wood filler is rubbed into wood (often oak) to highlight the grain. It’s a popular finish right now. I’ll confess that I haven’t been a fan, having considered it most recently for several dining room tables.

Cerused wood headboard

Here, though, it’s nice. It can stand out; it doesn’t have to work with other wood tones or finishes…it can just be its edgy but kind of quirky self. And, of course, the white grain lightens the dark wood, which might have read too heavy otherwise.

Reading nook, Royal Palm hotel room, Miami Beach

Here’s my one beef with the room, though: what’s up with painting a taupe rectangle on the wall and ceiling above the built-in bench? I mean, I get it: they were trying to define the sitting area, blah, blah…

But it was unnecessary at best and hokey at worst.

The smoked amber pendant also gave me a ’70s rash, but I decided to grant the Royal Palm some artistic license. Like the taupe corner, it didn’t detract. So I let it pass. Ditto for the faux Saarinen tulip table with the bizarro glass inset for an egg effect.

Reading nook, Royal Palm hotel room, Miami Beach

Let it never be said that bossy color is inflexible. Overall, the room was really, really nice.

The cream-on-taupe-onwhite action in the bathroom – a veritable symphony of neutrals – also is worth mentioning. Tomorrow, hopefully.

Annie Elliott – aka bossy color – is an interior decorator and design blogger in Washington, D.C. She has been quoted in publications from The New York Times to Real Simple and is considered an expert on color, residential space planning, and telling people what to do in the nicest way possible.

Imaginary friends: Foolproof paint colors for a bachelor pad

I mean, why not? I can’t work with every single person who contacts bossy color, tragically. But if I had some imaginary friends with fairly universal paint color challenges and I helped them

(You know there’s a big caveat here, right? I can spare you the blah blah blah  of “there’s really no such thing as a foolproof  color palette when you don’t know what the space looks like, how much light it gets and from what direction, what the client’s tastes are…?” You’ll grant me a little leeway here, right? Thanks, man.) So…

THE IMAGINARY FRIEND: a youngish bachelor.

THE IMAGINARY HOME: a one-bedroom apartment in the city.

Living room (because there’s no foyer): Benjamin Moore’s HC-172 Revere Pewter. Grays are still huge – finally gaining traction in all parts of the country, as we know from the last Color Outlook podcast :) .

Bossy color’s imaginary bachelor is so cutting-edge.

Revere Pewter in Hallway

HC-172 Revere Pewter in the blog AM Dolce Vita

Revere Pewter wall with photographs

Benjamin Moore's HC-172 Revere Pewter, in DecorPad via Hirschfeld's Color Club

Light warm gray, Revere Pewter

Benjamin Moore's HC-172 Revere Pewter. Isn't it crazy how tan it looks on your screen? It isn't in real life.

Kitchen walls: Ellen Kennon’s Silk Road Plum. That’s right, Gentle Readers. PLUM. I don’t know whether our guy is gay or straight (he’s private that way), but he’s going to get all kinds of points for this one.

First, because he knows about full-spectrum paint, and second, because he isn’t afraid to use it. In purple. In his kitchen. Even if there’s only one wall, painting it a warm, rich aubergine is a bold move. And deep purple isn’t limiting, color-wise; it’s liberating. Pair it with gray, orange, red, green…

Lovely picture in a random blog. The purple is similar to Ellen Kennon's Silk Road Plum

Then paint those sticky oak cabinets from the 80s Benjamin Moore’s  HC-173 Edgecomb Gray or a glossy black.

Purple foyer with black built-in shelving

This isn't Ellen Kennon's purple, but how fantastic does it look with black? Designed by David Kaihoi in House Beautiful

Holy cow: this is the only picture I could find of Ellen Kennon's Silk Road Plum! It's fourth from left. This group of colors is her "Designer Color Palette"

Silk Road Plum, third from left

Bedroom: Benjamin Moore’s HC-67 Clinton Brown. You thought I was going to suggest a green, didn’t you? But no! Our bachelor is more sophisticated than that. He’s going for the drama. (You CAN use a crisp white trim color with Clinton Brown, but I prefer something creamier. For what it’s worth.)

Kiwi green headboard in dry dark brown bedroom

Benjamin Moore's HC-67 Clinton Brown, in the seemingly defunct blog windula - now 4 men, 1 lady? - via decorpad

Brown, white and red living room

Benjamin Moore's HC-67 Clinton Brown, design by Cristina Azario, Elle Decor

Deep dry brown

Benjamin Moore's HC-67 Clinton Brown

Bathroom: If our bachelor were lucky enough to have decent white ceramic tile in his bathroom, then Benjamin Moore’s HC-6 Windham Cream would have been a nice surprise. But, alas, his apartment came with natural stone – very masculine, if somewhat uninspired. In this context, a deep blue-gray, such as Benjamin Moore’s HC-146 Wedgewood Gray, TRULY is foolproof. Heck, I even have it in my own bathroom.

Light blue-gray foyer with photographs

Benjamin Moore's HC-146 Wedgewood Gray, via the blog The Lettered Cottage

Benjamin Moore's HC-146 Wedgewood Gray

Benjamin Moore's HC-146 Wedgewood Gray

There you go, imaginary friend! The best part about being imaginary, of course, is that painting your apartment is going to be SUPER easy.

Annie Elliott – aka bossy color – is an interior decorator and design blogger in Washington, D.C. She’s considered an expert on color, residential space planning, and telling people what to do in the nicest way possible. She’s also a proud member of the Color Outlook team:  6 experts from across the country who podcast quarterly about color trends and forecasts.

Thanks, Associated Press! “Carpet, the bolder the better, makes a comeback”

Do you remember reading my post about wall-to-wall carpeting a few months back? About how it’s making a comeback?

Patterned carpet in bay window

Wall-to-wall carpeting in bay window (Photo: Michael K. Wilkinson for bossy color)

Well if you didn’t, now you won’t have to!

Manuel Canovas bedding and headboard, Crate & Barrel lamp, Horchow side table (Photo: Michael K. Wilkinson for bossy color)

The AP interviewed me last week for a story about it, and it hit the papers – and the web-waves – yesterday. Newsday, The Washington Post, and abc.com lead the list, but the story also was carried by aol newsThe Albany Times-Union, and others.

Wall-to-wall stair runner

Striped wall-to-wall carpeting on staircase (Photo: Michael K. Wilkinson for bossy color)

Most papers also carried 2 of my – (“my” = the work of my fabulous photographer, Michael Wilkinson) pictures, which was super duper.

What’s new about wall-to-wall is PATTERN. That and color. We’re not talking about the beige berber you have in your basement. We’re talking about strong, graphic carpeting.

Wall-to-wall carpeting in playroom

Bordered wall-to-wall carpeting in playroom (Photo: Michael K. Wilkinson for bossy color)

(Huh? What’s the name of the carpeting in the bedroom pictures? I knew you were going to ask that…I think the name involves the word, “princess,” but I’m going to have to let you know when I’m back in my real, non-remote office with all of my files. Sorry about that.)

In any event, Gentle Readers, the stigma is gone. Carpet away!

Art wall with heating vent

Art wall over Wisteria chest (Photo: Michael K. Wilkinson for bossy color)

Annie Elliott – aka bossy color – is an interior decorator and design blogger in Washington, D.C. She’s considered an expert on color, residential space planning, and telling people what to do in the nicest way possible. She’s also a proud member of the Color Outlook team:  6 experts from across the country who podcast quarterly about color trends and forecasts.

Bossy color in The Washington Post! The case for the bachelor’s chest

Bossy color is in today’s Washington Post, in the District Local Living section!  The fabulous Terri Sapienza has written an article called “10 first pieces that will last.” It’s about the best investment furniture for recent graduates.

If you’re hell-bent on avoiding the Ikea abyss, on what piece of furniture should you splurge?

I recommend a bachelor’s chest.

Wisteria Louis XVI chest

Wisteria's Louis XVI chest

The difference between a bachelor’s chest and a regular dresser is size and scale. The bachelor’s chest is much smaller, and therefore infinitely more versatile. (See the article for what you can do with it – and where I have mine!) And it’s more portable than a regular, chunky chest of drawers.

Stanley Furniture bachelor's chest

Stanley Furniture's Continuum 3-drawer chest

It’s the ideal piece of furniture in part because it’s small and easy to move. When you’re a recent graduate sharing an apartment in NYC or DC, you won’t have SPACE for a big dresser! Let alone the desire to move it into a 5th-floor walkup.

Hickory Chair Reed & Ribbon bachelor's chest
Hickory Chair’s Reed & Ribbon chest

Other designers had great suggestions, too, like a desk or an “unexpected” piece.

With all due respect to Erin Paige Pitts – who’s room in the D.C. Design House was WONDERFUL, by the way – I think a sofa is the worst possible investment piece at this stage of life. They’re awful to move, and scale is so important – you really need to know what size the room will be. I think that sofas should be as close to disposable as possible when you’re still unsettled. That’s my two cents. Others may disagree.

If this subject is interesting to you, you might also want to read, “The 6 best decorating tips for your rental (if you can’t paint).” What I REALLY recommend if you can’t paint is to move as soon as possible. But I understand that that’s not always practical.

Take a look at today’s Post article and let me know what you think. Anything we missed?

Annie Elliott – aka bossy color – is an interior decorator and design blogger in Washington, D.C. She’s considered an expert on color, residential space planning, and telling people what to do in the nicest way possible. She’s also a proud member of the Color Outlook team:  6 experts from across the country who podcast quarterly about color trends and forecasts.

Dateline, St. Michaels: the girls’ bedroom

Boy, did I need that. Three days out of town, with our little nuclear family and dear friends, doing pretty much nothing. It was perfect.

Even more perfect was this: the tremendous calm I felt upon walking into a house that had been repainted, modestly renovated, and stripped of extraneous art and tchochkes.

kitchen

It felt peaceful.

You’ve seen the St. Michaels kitchen…again, it was a pretty straightforward job, but what a difference.

Then I went to the girls’ bedroom. The teeny tiny one my husband used to sleep in as a child. The one with ancient grimy carpeting with no padding underneath. The one with a wall of bookshelves that had been built around a file cabinet. And with a closet door smack dab in the middle of a wall, rendering that wall pretty much useless, even if you were to take down the shelving.

Built-in shelving in bedroom

Here it is now.

Ikea pink bunk bed

Bunk bed and wooden door

Dresser with polka-dotted rug

Dresser

Bird wall hanging and blue roller shade
Blue roller shades

That navy blue bed is actually the 2 boxsprings of the twin beds with a futon mattress thrown on it. A kid slept on it fine this weekend – and I bet the right adult could, also.

Bunk bed and rug: Ikea.

Tiny desk and chair: my mother’s when she was a girl.

Carpeting: indoor/outdoor from the local Lowe’s, less than $1/sf.

Roller shades: Blinds.com.

Lamp: the St. Michaels community center (12 bucks).

Not bad.

Annie Elliott – aka bossy color – is an interior decorator and design blogger in Washington, D.C. She has been quoted in publications from The Washington Post to Real Simple and is considered an expert on color, residential space planning, and telling people what to do in the nicest way possible.

White trim before and after

Hello, Gentle Readers! I do love updates. When we last spoke, I was debating whether the trim in this bedroom -

John Robshaw bedding

- needed to be painted a deeper cream to match the ceiling (on which we used  OC-9 Ballet White). That was the conundrum that led to 7 sanity-restoring rules about trim color. You remember.

I’d pretty much decided that yes, we needed to get rid of the blindingly white trim on the crown and baseboard, but I was going to risk leaving it on the windows.

Here’s the result!

Cream headboard

Hooray!

My client was so funny. We walked in and I gasped. “Holy cow!” I said, “WHAT a HUGE difference! I’m SO glad we changed it. Aren’t you?” And there was this big silence. Then she kind of laughed and said something to the effect of, you know, if it makes you happy…

She’s awesome.

Here again is before:

White trim in blue bedroom

And after:

Black chest in bedroom

The funny thing is that while I was there, I didn’t even remember to look critically at the still-stark-white windows.

Madeline Weinrib rug

So I guess they’re fine! The strategy of thinking of the windows as their own separate thing seems to have worked.

This was an interesting exercise in creams and whites overall, I must say.

John Robshaw bedding

What say you, Gentle Readers? Could you have lived with the white trim? Would you have obsessively painted the trim after the fact – even if you were doing the painting yourself? It’s a tough one, isn’t it…

Horchow ottomans

Annie Elliott – aka bossy color – is an interior decorator and design blogger in Washington, D.C. She’s also the creator of the “bossy basic,” a one-time service to jump-start the interior design process in your home.

Patterned wall-to-wall carpeting. It’s baaaaack!

Over the weekend, the fabulous Rita Konig (you know, of Domino Magazine fame) had a snappy article in the Wall Street Journal called, “Not Your Grandma’s Patterned Carpet: It’s time to reconsider wall-to-wall.”

Black and white wall-to-wall carpet

Francois Halard/Trunk Archive, WSJ article

Super fun. Here’s my favorite part:

Generally speaking, I think we shy away from such bold moves for two reasons: first, we worry that it will be overpowering, and second, that we will tire of it. So out comes the beige—as if there’s no chance of tiring of something that starts out boring!

Amen, sister. Zebra wall-to-wall carpeting

But I think there’s a third reason we’re reluctant to take the plunge. We’re unsure how to balance a bold, geometric pattern – especially in such large quantities.

Ms. Konig is correct that the layering upon layering of mixed-up patterns is so three decades ago.

But you have to support a graphic rug somehow. A strong and/or interesting wall color (as in that pink DR above), bold art, wallpaper…SOMETHING visually interesting. I think it’s would be unwise to put a Kelly Wearstler rug in a white box and hope for the best.

Kelly Wearstler wall-to-wall carpeting

Kelly Wearstler's dressing room, from A Bout Life Styles blog

So where  MIGHT we consider graphic wall-to-wall carpeting? We’re perfectly comfortable with wall-to-wall in:

- Basements (we definitely could take more risks there, don’t you think? I think we’ve taken oatmeal berber as far as it can go)

- Bedrooms (so cozy)

- Family rooms

Family room by bossy color

- And kids’ playroomsFLOR carpet tiles have made it easier to faux wall-to-wall in these areas…

Kids' playroom

FLOR carpet tiles, from the blog Droolicious

But what would it take for you to put some graphic wall-to-wall carpeting in your living room? Or, even bolder, in your dining room?

Do tell.

Annie Elliott – aka bossy color – is an interior decorator and design blogger in Washington, D.C. She has been quoted in publications from The Washington Post to Real Simple and is considered an expert on color, residential space planning, and telling people what to do in the nicest way possible.

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