We tend to pay a lot of attention to the things that produce our rooms exceptional, layered and intriguing — and rightly so. However, a house with nothing tying its spaces together can feel haphazard or even embarrassing to be in. By making a few important decisions about finishes and materials and applying them throughout your house, you may bring unity to your area.
Listed below are eight attributes to make continuity with, in the big areas (paint and flooring) to the tiniest details.
Jennifer Weiss Architecture
1. Hard flooring. If you are redoing flooring or picking floors for a new residence, a fantastic option to make early in the design method is to proceed with the same treatment throughout the area. You can maintain a sense of continuity even with several different flooring materials provided that they make sense together. For example, consider using stone or tile flooring in the entry and mudroom , and hardwood flooring in the rest of the area.
Jennifer Weiss Architecture
This dark floor proceeds up the staircase, leading the eye upward and giving the space a natural stream. This clean treatment provides a perfect foil for the furniture and artwork.
Jennifer Weiss Architecture
Upstairs at the same residence, the same gallery-white walls and beautifully rich flooring expand the sense of space, allowing the eye to travel from 1 room to the next within an unbroken route.
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Mackle Construction
2. Trim color. Sticking with a single color for trim, window frames, doors or all the above is an easy way to unify your own space. Painting only the inner frames of your chimney as shown here, gives any room a very finished look, and replicating the treatment throughout the house is a subtle way to offer a sense of rhythm.
Mackle Construction
In this house, the black frames are replicated on a number of doors and windows. For a subtle and classy look, try out a wash of grey or crisp white instead.
Tim Barber Ltd Architecture
3. Hardware. something as small as a switch plate or drawer handle is worth your attention. Rather than picking out hardware randomly as necessary, create a conscious choice in the get-go and be consistent.
Tim Barber Ltd Architecture
The designers of this home went with old-style push-button light buttons, the kind I remember from the turn-of-the-century Craftsman house I grew up in.
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Tim Barber Ltd Architecture
Even the knobs and pulls in the kitchen subtly reinforce the brass colour of the lighting switches. Consider the style of your house in addition to your personal preference, and choose a style that will mesh nicely with both.
Schwartz and Architecture
4. Window treatments. Choosing a single window treatment style for your house is just one easy way to connect the rooms. Roman shades are a classic option — they look good with any style decor, and they may be layered with curtains if you want to change things up.
Schwartz and Architecture
Roman shades were used in several rooms in this house, but the colors were chosen separately to match the decor in every room — a fantastic strategy. Other classic choices for window treatments include plantation shutters, bamboo dividers with curtains layered over, and complete, floor-length curtains alone.
Guides to window treatments
Hillary Thomas Designs
5. Lighting. While statement pendants and vibrant lampshades are enjoyable and certainly have their place, you may want to keep a few of your light constant. Try wall-mounted swing-arm lights above a seating area from the living room, flanking a bookcase and at the bedroom.
Hillary Thomas Designs
This designer used classic black lampshades in many of rooms, from the dining and living rooms to this particular bedroom workspace.
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Smith & Vansant Architects PC
6. A touch hue. Paint colour may be fantastic unifier — or even an interruption to stream. Invite the eye to travel through rooms and provide the whole space cohesion by choosing paint colors in shades of the same colour or analogous hues.
Guides to picking colour
Smith & Vansant Architects PC
This house is filled with a rich and intriguing array of shades of green, out of neutral almost-beige to pea soup. In this view down the hallway, the subtle variations in colour lead the eye pleasantly to the next rooms.
Lauren Liess Interiors
7. Rugs. Natural-fiber rugs are a no-brainer for nearly any area, which makes them a fantastic selection for providing consistency in the house. Use coir or sisal carpet to insure a staircase and in the living room, halls and bedroom. Natural-colored carpets, as revealed here, is the classic option, but black or espresso would be quite sophisticated.
Lauren Liess Interiors
A tactile fur rug has been layered in addition to the organic fiber carpet for softness inside this bedroom. You could also try layering colorful kilims, Turkish rugs or fluffy Moroccan rugs for an eclectic look.
Jessica Helgerson Interior Design
8. A clean background. This cottage feels serene and spacious, thanks in great part to fresh white wall paneling throughout. It’s one of the oldest tricks in the book, but an all-white space actually can work wonders.
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Fotograf Lisbet Spörndly
White walls may also be a wonderful way to tone an extravagant group of colorful objects or artwork.
Tell us What tricks or hints do you have for unifying a space?
