Accessories add personal finishing touches to a room

Press, 27 April 1989, Page 28

Accessories add personal finishing touches to a room

Have you ever wondered why some rooms featuring all the desirable elements — plush carpet, elegant drapes, designer furniture — can have a distinctly unfriendly atmosphere? Probably it lacks personal finishing touches, the accessories which give a room its character and atmosphere, according to Colin Foggo, of Belle Merivale. It is the pictures, rugs, lamps, ornaments, floral arrangements, books, candlesticks and occasional furniture, often lovingly collected over many years, which complete a room. Accessories are a clue to the person who lives in the room. You can visualise the person from the room, and the room from the person. •

There are no hard and fast rules for choosing accessories — some things look good together, some do not. The aim should be to make the room inviting and interesting. Bear in mind the relationship of pieces to each other, whether they are complementary in scale, form and textures, Colin Foggo said. The style of accessories must fit the style of the furniture.

If you like the country interior look, featuring elegant, natural timber and wallpaper with small motif prints, baskets of dried flowers, broderie anglaise tablecloths, blue and white china will appeal. Solid earthy colours fit this style. The kitchen is a “living” room where baskets, pots, pans and utensils become accessories. Accessories should be the last things to be

chosen for a room. Be careful about making impulse purchases; do not buy that fabulous item unless you know exactly where you are going to put it, Colin Foggo advises. Arranging accessories is something some people find difficult. A useful guideline is to place objects in natural positions where you would expect to find them. A contrived effect is uncomfortable. A small-framed chair, not upholstered, could look at home near a doorway or entrance. An occasional table is an ideal setting for contrasting pieces such as a sphere and obelisk. Group contrasting forms which look good together and avoid a clutter. Ornaments regimented in a line look unnatural. Several pictures grouped together on a wall can look good. To find out the shapes of pictures which go well together, trace the outlines on to paper and place them on the wall. Move them around until you find a pleasing arrangement. Floral arrangements

are a very important part of the decor, dried or cut. A large arrangement is better than a small one, but it should not dominate the furniture it sits on. Pot plants should be few and large in attractive containers. Rugs are both practical and ornamental, a must in any room. They make a room inviting, asking you to walk on them. A huge selection is available — Oriental, Persian and Indian. They can be used to divide a room into areas. Lighting, a topic in itself, can be used L to enhance a room > dramatically. Collections are as varied as the people who collect — ceramic eggs, ducks, obelisks and clocks, but not trophies. Ethnic objets d’art are in vogue. And as for the modern day problem of where to put the television, which Colin Foggo regards as a “nothing which imposes itself on us,” it should be incorporated into a bookcase or wall unit. Ignore it as an accessory, he said.

INTERIOR DESIGN