Accent wall update! New trends in accent walls

February 13, 2013 4 Comments

Like stainless steel appliances, painted accent walls are here to stay. Fascinatingly, after more than five — count ‘em: 5! — years of blogging, “The Accent Wall: Friend or Foe?“ remains one of my most-read posts. Can you believe it?

I’ll be honest: I still have mixed feelings. But there are several trends in accent walls that give me comfort.

  • Paint PART of a wall to emphasize a particular object. The Bossettes went to hear my hero, Jamie Drake, speak recently, and we were fascinated by his use of contrasting paint behind a freestanding bookcase. (Did you catch that? Freestanding, not built-in. So bold.)

Tragically, I can’t find a picture of that, but here’s a similar flash of Jamie Drake genius: in the 2012 Kips Bay Show House, he used white on part of a wall to highlight the art.

Jamie Drake's grasscloth room in the 2012 Kips Bay show house

  • Paint the “fireplace column.” That’s not a real term. But you know what I mean?  Not the whole wall, just the space above and around the fireplace.

Gray fireplace accent wall

  • Insets make for terrific accent walls. Why, how shocking: this gorgeous space ALSO is by Jamie Drake!

Jamie Drake's pink dressing room

Less glam, but still on-trend (yep, still hate that phrase!) is a painted inset bossy color did recently. (Also file this under “painted bookcases”):

Brown accent wall, inset accent wall

  • Paint the surrounding walls white – or another super-super–light color) to keep the overall look fresh and modern. High contrast is best. See how dated the khaki walls make this room look? (Sorry, Herrell remodeling on Houzz…)

Green accent wall with khaki

  • Black is the edgiest accent wall.

Black accent wall in bedroom

Hey, look at this! Another black accent wall in a nursery! There’s hope for the next generation after all.

Black, white and yellow nursery

So those are the trends in accent walls…and then there are a few rules. I’m sure you already know them, but let’s review just to be safe:

  • The accent wall should be the main wall in the room i.e.: behind the bed or behind the sofa. Ideally, it will be the first wall you see in the room.
  • An unbroken wall is the best accent wall. The fewer door and window openings, the better.

Orange accent wall

Want to ask me a question about an accent wall — or anything else? You’re in luck! I’ll be the guest designer on The Washington Post’s Home Chat this Thursday – aka tomorrow, February 14, Valentine’s Day! You can even submit a question in advance RIGHT HERE. I hope to hear from 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.

Filed Under: Bookshelves, Color, Fireplace, Paint Tagged With: , , , , , ,

The wallpaper accent wall

May 28, 2012 24 Comments

Here’s my final push for wallpaper.

If, after all my eloquent, experience-based research, you’re still unsure about wallcovering, let me confess something. Whereas I have VERY mixed feelings about The Accent Wall when it comes to paint, wallpaper accent walls are another story.

Red and white wallpaper accent wall in kitchen

Alex Papachristodis in Elle Decor

A wallpaper accent wall is less expensive, less difficult to estimate and install, and less risky than tackling a whole room. And it can be very effective.

Blue and white floral wallpaper accent wall in dining room

From the blog Retropolitan

Remember, though: even though you’re using less wallpaper, you still must decorate responsibly!

Wallpaper the most important wall in the room: the wall with the fireplace, the wall your desk faces, or the wall the sofa or headboard leans against.

Wallpaper accent wall in child's bedroom

Peter Pawlak in Elle Decor. Alphabet wallpaper by Alexander Girard.

Wallpaper the wall with the fewest – if any – window and door openings.

Blue and white peacock feather accent wall in office

From the blog buckboard hill interiors

Or if you feel you’re without an appropriate wall to cover, wallpaper the back of a built-in bookcase with a faux textured wallpaper or grasscloth.

Grasscloth wallpaper accent wall behind shelves

Elle Decor, via Maria Killam's excellent blog, Colour Me Happy

If this doesn’t convince you to try wallpaper, Gentle Readers, I’m out of ideas! Well, I’m not, but I said that for dramatic emphasis, with a foot stamp and hand fling for good measure. Give it a try.

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.

Filed Under: Accent wall, Bookshelves, Built-ins, Color, Wall covering, Wallpaper Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Heellllllloooooo!

November 15, 2011 12 Comments

Hello, Gentle Readers! I missed you!

I promise that there were no mysterious illnesses or tragedies that caused the blog break (thank you for your concern!); I just needed some time away. I hope you had a wonderful summer and that you’re now frolicking in big piles of yellow leaves.


Fall has gone by in a blip. Did you realize that Thanksgiving is next week? I know – neither did I. Lucky thing I’m not hosting this year.

So what’s shaking? Over here in bossyland I’m excited to have a new colleague to brag about (my former assistant is now kicking butt and taking names at Parsons School for Design). K* is totally awesome and has a blog, too, 75th and Sedgwick, which she writes w/ her best friend. Here’s her supercute post about coming to work at bossy color.

The new team bossy's first photo shoot together. Photo: Michael K. Wilkinson for bossy color

Meanwhile, my Design Associate, E** continues to be fabulouser and fabulouser. If it weren’t for her, none of my clients’ pillows would be trimmed (tip: cording, out; small flanges, IN!), bookshelves throughout the capital region would be haphazard, and I would remain woefully unconvinced of the power of a potted plant.

See the plant? (Photo: Michael K. Wilkinson for bossy color)

The former bossy team had crazy schedules and were juggling different projects. Now, though, E, K, and I are often crammed into my office at the same time, happily brainstorming, snarfing sandwiches from Jetties and trying not to laugh so hard that Diet Coke comes out our noses.

And working, of course.

Oh, and bossy color still has a plus one in the form of my brother, James (aka Uncle Jimmy, Jimmy Riot), whose tendonitis seems to be on the mend (finally; let’s hear it for acupuncture), so he may be leaving us soon. 2nd-grader-picker-upper, laundry folder, errand runner, dinner appreciater…his leaving would be a big blow for us, but awesome for him.

Between work fantastickness – the new team plus a bursting-at-the-seams roster of new and returning clients – my own back porch/basement renovation showing signs of progress (so, so expensive; so, so unsatisfying because most the work is outside, beyond the reaches of my decorating tentacles); and happy and healthy daughters, husband, and crotchety aging cat, things are pretty darn good.

It’s great to be back.

Photo: Michael K. Wilkinson for bossy color

*You’ll probably learn K’s real name eventually, but I forgot to check w/ her about anonymity and the blogosphere; most people are smarter than I am about that stuff.

**I’ll check w/ E, too. Maybe I’ve even already mentioned her in this blog…see how long I’ve been away? I’m sorry!

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. 

Filed Under: Basement, Bookshelves, Client project, Entry hall Tagged With: , ,

Built-in bookshelves, or freestanding bookcases?

December 30, 2010 7 Comments

Gentle Readers, while I’m on vacation, I’d like to direct your attention to one or two earlier posts – slightly revised and updated – that you may find interesting. Have a wonderful New Year!

When should you hire a carpenter for customized built-ins, and when is buying freestanding shelves the better option?

Designer unknown, in Elle Decor

This question comes up a lot, and the safe answer, of course, is, “It depends.”

Since that’s not a very satisfying answer, though, here is a quick and dirty checklist.

Built-ins if:

- You plan to stay in the house or apartment at least a few years

- The wall is asymmetrical and/or you want to use the shelving to create visual order

- You want to build around a window or create a window seat (which no one will ever use, but it could look nice)

- You want to maximize your storage potential

Elle Decor

Freestanding if:

- You plan to move within a few years – You want the flexibility of moving the shelves from one room to another

- You’d like to display books, pictures and objects without turning the room into a library

- You don’t have the funds to do high-quality built-ins

Green bedroom bookshelves

Amy and Todd Hase in Elle Decor

And here are answers to some oft-asked questions:

1. Will built-ins add value to my house or apartment?

If they’re attractive and well-constructed, I say yes. I once advised a client to rip down floor-to-ceiling shelves in his living room because they were so shoddily built – they looked horrible and cheapened the entire apartment.

Ultra modern built-in shelves

Frank Roop in Metropolitan Home (RIP)

2. How much do built-ins cost?

The answer is almost always, “More than you think.” Honestly, if you’re not prepared to devote a few thousand dollars to even a small project, I suggest holding off or buying decent freestanding shelves. Let me give you a few examples of price points, bearing in mind that these projects were in metropolitan Washington, D.C. Elsewhere it might be possible to have decent shelves built for less.

- I recently designed some paint-grade wall-to-wall shelves that were nearly 20’ wide, about 8’ high on each side and about 11’ high at the peak in the center (this was a huge wall!). The two estimates we received were for $10k and $13k.

- Another set of wall-to-wall, floor-to-slanted-ceiling shelves – 10’wide, 4.5’H on the right side and 8-1/2’H on the left side – were built and painted on-site for about $2,500.

- I designed two walls of shelving for an office: one wall was a breakfront about 11’W x 11’H, and the other wall – which included a built-in desk – was 8’W x 9’H. The contractor had these fabricated off-site, and they were built and installed for about $30k.

Cream built-ins

Dransfield & Ross in Elle Decor

3. Who designs built-in shelves?

This REALLY depends on the people involved. Some carpenters – the true craftspeople – design the shelves as part of their service. Some contractors ask for design drawings, which some architects and designers are happy to produce. But you don’t necessarily have to get that fancy; even if you draw something yourself, it’s always better to have a visual to discuss with the carpenter.

4. Where can I get cool, well made freestanding shelves?

If you have the time, I think the best first step is visiting the funkier, antique-y stores in your area. Reasonably-priced stores I like in and around D.C. are GoodWood and Random Harvest. Nationwide, you know I like Cubitec from Design Within Reach, Room & Board‘s Linear Series, Crate & Barrel and CB2.

Red bookcase

Jesse Carrier and Mara Miller in Elle Decor (that's an Ikea bookcase!)

I hope this is helpful, Gentle Readers. Good luck!

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 that jump-starts the interior design process in your home.

Filed Under: Bookshelves, Built-ins, Cabinetry Tagged With: , ,

Built-in bookshelves – and Ben Moore’s AC-34 – MAKE the space

December 17, 2010 11 Comments

You say, “hallway,” I say, “library.”

This area a master suite was woefully underused. It’s too wide to be considered a true hallway, but it’s too narrow to be treated like a room.

Wide hallway

Hallway before built-ins

Since this client is a GENIUS with photographs and has roughly a gazillion, we thought it might be handy to have some shelves where she could store completed albums as well as unframed pictures in boxes. Open shelves and closed storage, in other words.

First, we met with the carpenter to talk about the design.

Built-ins elevation

Then we added a wool flatweave rug from Rugman.com.

Wool flatweave

Benjamin Moore AC-34 Cape Hatteras SandAnd THEN we painted the walls Benjamin Moore’s AC-34 Cape Hatteras Sand in a matte finish. Aura paint, of course. It’s a lovely warm gray. (Hmmm, should have tried THAT for my dining room. Ah, well.)

The trim is OC-18 Dove Wing, semi-gloss, and the ceiling is OC-17 White Dove, matte finish.

And finally, the built-ins were installed.

Cherry built-in bookcases

Don’t they look beautiful? We’ll put a wall-mounted swing-arm reading lamp over by that little chair eventually, but this is where we are right now. (You know I don’t have the patience to wait until it’s ALL finished to show you the pictures!)

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.

Filed Under: Before and after, Benjamin Moore, Bookshelves, Built-ins, Cabinetry, Client project, Color, Paint Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Ikea’s Expedit shelving: the Cubitec alternative

December 2, 2010 13 Comments

I’m a fan of Design Within Reach’s Cubitec shelving, as you know. I’ve used it in my daughter’s bedroom…

Orange Cubitec in pink room

…twice, in fact…

Orange Cubitec in blue room

…and I’ve recommended it for clients’ offices, family rooms, and TV rooms.

Cubitec in red room

1 kit of CubitecBut here’s the thing. It’s not dirt cheap. Not if you want more than six boxes, which is what constitutes one kit.

One Cubitec kit is $245 or $265, depending on the depth. So double or triple that if you want significant shelving space.

Enter Ikea’s Expedit. It’s enormous. And it’s $199 for aaalllll those little boxes.

Ikea Expedit shelving

(You can go a little smaller – and even less expensive – but I’m trying to make a point here.)

Clients recently used the white Expedit in their daughter’s bedroom,

Ikea Expedit in yellow room

And a bossy basic client knocked my socks off with the Expedit in her living room

Ikea's Expedit in living room

and children’s bedroom.

Ikea Expedit light wood

One of the reasons the Expedit looks so amazing in her house is that the shelves are EXTREMELY TIDY. My client wisely knows that with open shelving, everything’s on display, all the time. So it better look nice.

Look. I still think Cubitec is decent value – it’s certainly less expensive than wooden bookcases or built-ins – and has lots to recommend it. But if you’re looking for a SUPER inexpensive, stylish alternative, Ikea’s Expedit may be the way to go.

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.

Filed Under: Bookshelves, bossy color's house, Kids, Living room, Storage Tagged With: , , , , ,

“Can I Just Say Something?” by Sheila Hagar

November 9, 2010 12 Comments

As we approach the holiday season, I’m sure that at some point I’ll write a post about home-related gift ideas. (And you will see it for what it is: my own thinly disguised shopping list.)

"Can I Just Say Something?" by Sheila Hagar

"Can I Just Say Something?" by Sheila Hagar

But here’s another gift idea: the book, “Can I Just Say Something?” by Sheila Hagar.

I ask you: who wouldn’t want a book with that title?

MOM: stop reading here.

This is a great gift for the women in your life: gal pals, your mother, your grandmother. I already may have ordered several copies, in fact. May have. Mom. In case you didn’t heed the warning above.

Sheila and I met several years ago through bossy color blog. “Met.” Tragically, we’ve never met in person, but we write e-mails and talk on the phone…which is more than I do with some local friends, now that I think about it.

It’s very 21st century.

Anyway, when she stumbled upon bossy color blog, she did a blog post called “Your new best friend.” In it, she wrote:

this blog is like having your best friend come over, drink tea* and walk around your house in her socks while charming your children.

Which might be the nicest thing anyone has ever said about me.

Feet in wool socks

"Warm your feet" through iStock photo

But that’s not why I’m plugging her book.

I’m plugging her book because it’s fabulous. It’s a collection of the very best articles she’s written for her newspaper (the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin), and it’s funny, insightful, and sometimes, it’s that word I hate but can’t come up with a more accurate alternative: heartwarming.

As for being house-related and this being an interior design blog, well, the book will be IN your house. By your bed, on your coffee table, and eventually on the bookshelf.

Trust your new best friend and order yours today.

*You may know that I actually don’t care for hot drinks, but I’m sure Sheila was using tea as a metaphor.

Filed Under: Bookshelves, Gifts Tagged With: , , ,

Child’s bedroom makeover: the challenges of small and north-facing

September 13, 2010 19 Comments

Just when you’ve cracked the code, they change the code.

That was our conclusion when our twin daughters were babies. The moment you think you’ve nailed down a sleep schedule, food preferences, and personalities, they change. Willfully.

twin babies with tongue sticking out

Bossy color has news for you, Gentle Readers. The code-changing continues!

We really did crack the code on our daughters’ shared north-facing bedroom. When we first moved in, we painted it a cheery, sunny yellow. We added a light blue stripe, because the ceilings were high and everything else was low.

yellow and blue kids' bedroom

(Pardon the mess; servants’ day off.) [More...]

Then our children went into girlie mode and wanted a pink bedroom. Fine.

girls' pink and green bedroom
pink bedroom with orange Cubitec

But recently, the moment we’d been dreading arrived. Having reached the advanced, pre-tween age of 6, the girls changed the code again: they asked for their own rooms.

The EXCELLENT news is that for some reason, Ruthie decided she’d rather take over the tiny guest room than bossy color’s world headquarters. Here’s the guest room pre-Ruthification:

green bedroom twin beds
Tiny, not sun-filled, but cozy and rather sweet.

The bedding was custom-made using Jane Churchill fabric. We ADORE it.

Jane Churchill India fabric

(The reason there is no artwork over the beds, by the way, is that that wall is impervious to nails. We bent a dozen before giving up. Before we could investigate alternatives – sticky, velcro-y devices – we became distracted by another project.)

small

Ruthie wanted a change. Her favorite color happens to be yellow. (Hm. Wonder where she gets that.)

Benjamin Moore's 2052-70 Ice Blue

Yellow would have been perfect to warm up and brighten this north-facing room. But in the interest of environmental responsibility – and budget – we happened to have some of Benjamin Moore’s 2052-70 Ice Blue left over from when we painted bossy color’s office. (We just couldn’t believe a single gallon would paint the entire room. But it did. Aura paint is truly remarkable.)

Promising to paint the ceiling orange for warmth and fun, we managed to convince Ruthie that an Ice Blue room would be darling.

light blue bedroom with orange ceiling and colorful quilts
light blue bedroom, orange ceiling, colorful wall hanging

We believe it is.

The Cubitec shelving is from the pink room…

orange Cubitec shelving

…Robert Abbey orange gourd lamp is from bossy color’s office (oh, the sacrifices we make for our little moppets), and the quilts are from The Company Store, which we lovelovelove.

The wall hanging over the beds is from the Smithsonian Folklife Festival a million years ago, when we worked at that venerable Institution.

colorful wall hanging

The little yellow lamp on the dresser is from our favorite junk – rather, antique – shop ($12!), and the dresser itself belonged to bossy color’s mother-in-law when she was a girl. It’s the perfect size.

white dresser with yellow lamp

The client is delighted.

yellow R on bedside table

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 The Seattle Times and is considered an expert on color, residential space planning, and telling people what to do in the nicest way possible.

Filed Under: Bedding, Bedroom, Before and after, Benjamin Moore, Bookshelves, bossy color's house, Children, Color, Fabric, Kids, Lamps, Lighting, Paint, Pottery Barn, Small Spaces Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Excellent built-ins: worth every penny (and more)

April 23, 2010 10 Comments

We all know that there are questions you should ask yourself before investing in built-in bookshelves.

If you’re not going to be in the house for a while, or if you can’t afford a GREAT carpenter just yet, you might want to investigate nice freestanding options, of which there are many.

Once you’ve met the criteria for built-ins, however, and you’ve decided what style they should be, built-in shelving can transform a space from large and looming to cozy and friendly (and practical).

This was a client’s family room when they first moved in.


We decided that shelves along the window-free wall would be practical and beautiful.


And although the family room adjoins the kitchen, which has darkish stained cabinetry (you can catch a glimpse in the lower right corner of the above picture), we wanted the family room to have its own identity. Thus the painted shelves. We also wanted to keep the room bright.

Our primary concern, actually, was that the room was so bright that the sunlight would make watching TV difficult during the daytime. We started out with some blackout liners on the Natural Woven Roman Shades, but it made everything look too heavy. So off they came, and they can watch TV just fine.


Built-in shelving also can make a room more purposeful. This was going to be the default piano room.


It’s a decent-sized room…almost too big to have only one function. With the shelves, it’s now a library that – bonus! – happens to have a piano in it.


Aren’t they beautiful? Both sets of shelves were architect and bossy color-designed and carpenter-built, and you can feel the quality. The shelves are solid and adjustable, and they fit into the cases perfectly. Everything is straight. The crown moulding and trim fits in with the adjacent rooms.

Holding these shelves below the ceiling was a brilliant idea – not mine, unfortunately, but this is why it takes a team sometimes. It was the right decision to bring the family room shelves all the way to the ceiling. But in this case, it enabled us to put that bridge over the top of the window; there’s a light in it for the window seat.


We’re still working on the rugs and furniture, but I just couldn’t wait to show these to you. Enjoy!

Filed Under: Bookshelves, Built-ins, Cabinetry, Client project, Family room

You asked…about a color for your built-in bookshelves

February 23, 2010 12 Comments

Hello! We just added some built in bookcases and window seat to our dining room. We love them and now we are on to the painting stage – this is my problem.


I am a fan of white. Not so with my husband. My husband would like to do something other than white – but he is talking about painting the doors a different color than the cabinet than the back of the bookshelves – I shudder just writing that. Trouble is, if I don’t come up with some alternative soon – we will have romper room built-ins!

Anyways – the walls are painted Benjamin Moore cream – (though it looks really yellowy to me). The dining room opens into the kitchen, which is painted BM camoflauge and has off white cabinets. I don’t love the cream/camouflage combo but have gotten used to it. I am afraid to add yet another color, hence the white…

Any suggestions? Thanks for any insight you might offer! Laura


Dear Laura,
It fills my heart with joy to see built-in cabinetry of such excellent quality. It’s amazing, but you can see that even in the pictures. And I LOVE bookshelves in the dining room.

Alas, the Camouflage/Cream paint color combo does not fill my heart with joy. If you’ve learned to live with it, then so can I, I suppose…but promise me you’ll at least consider repainting the kitchen? Just carry that Cream right in from the DR.

Back to the question at hand. I have three possible solutions.

TAME BUT VIABLE SOLUTION

Because the kitchen opens into the DR, it would be totally acceptable to paint the bookshelves the same off-white as your kitchen cabinets. The books and other objects on the shelves will provide plenty of visual interest.

Even if your door and window trim is a brighter white, I am suggesting the off-white of the cabinetry. Benjamin Moore’s OC-39 Timid White is a favorite of mine.


BEAUTIFUL BUT CURIOUS AS TO WHY YOU DIDN’T PROPOSE THIS SOLUTION

Stain? Have you considered staining the built-ins? A nice deep rich dry not orange brown? Perhaps the wood isn’t good enough quality and I just can’t tell from the pictures, but I do think that stained bookcases would look fantastic – the most library-like effect of the 3 solutions.

BOSSIEST SOLUTION, AND NATURALLY THE ONE I WOULD CHOOSE

Paint the shelves – all of them, not just the doors or the inside of the shelves – a rich, deep, glossy color. A deep marine blue would be breathtaking, as would a green so dark it’s almost black. (The latter only if you ditch the camouflage walls.)

Take a look at 2059-10 Marine Blue. There’s a lot of black in this color, too. But see how it’s a sophisticated color? Go too light and you will have the unintended “Romper Room effect” to which you referred.

Benjamin Moore has an exterior paint color called Black Forest Green, which I myself have used on the shutters of my house. It is gorgeous. Another fabulous option is 2054-10 Bavarian Forest, which is more of a bottle green (has blue in it).

Good luck, Laura! Keep us posted.


Picture of white bookshelves from Living the Swell Life. Could not for the life of me find a picture of dark painted bookshelves that weren’t red. ?? If anyone finds one, I’m sure Laura would find it most helpful…

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Filed Under: Bookshelves, Built-ins, Color, Dining room, Paint, You asked...
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