35 Home Decor Ideas That Designers Swear

To avoid drawing attention to ceiling beams or other architectural oddities, designer William Cullum and his partner, Jeffery Rhodes, painted the walls, trim, and ceiling the same color blue in the hallway (seen at rear) of their New York City apartment.

Literary couple James Fenton and Darryl Pinckney opted for bright, jewel-toned walls in shades of green, blue, yellow—and even purple—throughout their Harlem townhouse.

At Jean-Louis Deniot’s family retreat on Île de Ré, France, the designer deployed nautical references to emphasize the seaside setting: Maritime rope frames all of the doorways; the steps are hand-painted with wave scenes; and the bedroom wall mural (seen through the doorway here) resembles a sandstorm.

In a Toronto home by Colette van den Thillart, the designer decided to replace the original mantel with a sculptural, eye-catching fireplace surround.

Don’t be afraid to mix patterns and prints. Designer Ramsey Lyons combined different patterns in shades of pink for the sofa and chair upholstery, and yet another one for the curtain fabric in the sunroom of her Pittsburgh home.

In the dining area of Gabriel Hendifar’s downtown Manhattan apartment, a mirrored wall helps to bounce natural light around the room, brightening it in the process.

In art historian Carolina Vincenti’s apartment in Rome, she painted the bookshelves in the hallway and living area a bright red as an homage to British telephone booths.

Designer Ryan Lawson reconstructed what was formerly a dining room and turned it into a study to better suit the client’s needs in this Connecticut home. To make it comfortable and practical, Lawson commissioned bookshelves that match the Shaker style of the house and layered the room with pieces from the homeowner’s travels.

A suzani hangs high above an Indonesian rattan sofa bed in this Cartagena, Colombia, home. The gorgeous textile adds interest to the white walls and mixes well with other prints.

ELLE DECOR A-List designer Sheila Bridges added texture and color to her home in New York’s Hudson Valley with an emerald green sheepskin throw rug.

Graphic prints can have major impact in a small space such as a powder room. Here, an Ellie Cashman floral wallpaper is the star in a New Orleans manse designed by Sara Ruffin Costello.

Every room can benefit from accessories with a history. Rather than showcasing your collectibles on a shelf, set them out on a table, as seen in this Italian apartment. Just be sure your collection is highly curated to maintain a sense of balance in your display.

There’s a fine line between kitschy and curated. Rebecca Robertson unifies vintage and new pieces by grouping them by color.

To avoid being locked into a single style, lighting designer Lindsey Adelman switches up the fixtures in her Park Slope home on a regular basis. “It’s part of my creative process,” she explains. “I love to see things in context, in real life—to live with them.”

Rather than art, a high-impact wallpaper can give a subdued room some wow factor. The 19th-century wallcovering from this luxe Milan apartment was purchased at auction in France and adapted to the room. “We created the missing parts—the plinth and the ceiling frame—to depict an Italian capriccio, a fantastical and bucolic landscape with architectural features,” says Laura Sartori Rimini of Studio Peregalli.

Art director Vivia Horn’s Zen upstate New York home makes use of an unexpected gift to give her traditional kitchen a dose of fun. This breakfast table is made of a refurbished hibachi, a present from the late wrestler and Benihana restaurateur Rocky Aoki.

When renovating a building that already has plenty of character, like this 1920s Spanish Colonial home in Los Angeles, it’s all about striking the balance between what you add and what you leave. “We wanted to make it feel more holistic while still honoring its heritage,” designer Steven Johanknecht says of the decision to keep the original hand-carved ceiling beams and wrought-iron chandeliers while removing mismatched materials from previous renovations.

To soften the modern edge of stainless steel, decorator Alisa Bloom put a traditional spin on the kitchen cabinetry of her 1920s Chicago penthouse with brass inlays. With the help of a local hardware maker, she even designed her own hinges and drawer pulls. “I would never go into a store and just buy something,” she says. “It’s all about the process and the hunt.”

In Josh Groban’s The Great Comet dressing room, interior designer Mike Harrison selected this constellation artwork as a clear focal point for the room. “I loved this piece for its dimensions and colors, but also as a tip of the hat to the comet influences that I know were of importance to Josh,” says Harrison. “I was searching for artwork that would tie together all of Josh’s design sensibilities.”

re outside, Mary McDonald litters her yard with candles and lanterns. They up the romance factor, too.