Creating a Timeless, Sophisticated Room

Design tip from Lisa Hoyt, ASID

Lisa Hoyt Design

858-395-4958

wix.com/lisaghoyt/design

Lisa Hoyt is a full-service interior designer who can assist with all facets of the design of a home, remodel or home project. Her design company focuses primarily on residential projects and specializes in kitchen and bath, window covering, flooring, furniture, accessory and fabric selection, finishes and paint selection, outdoor landscaping and patio design.

To create a timeless, sophisticated room that has a cozy, welcoming feeling, you need the knowledge of good design techniques combined with an eye for how to pull a room together. It takes the right color palette, correctly placed pictures, plants, pillows, throws, furniture arrangements, lighting and, of course, accessories. Don’t let that discourage you, though. Here are a few tips to help you on your way:

1. Choose soft earth tones for your color palette. Hues such as butter yellows, mossy greens, camels, creams, whites, browns and pale blue-greens do not grow tiring through the years.
    
2. Provide texture in the room with natural stone for fireplace surrounds, etc., woven fabrics in window treatments and area rugs, hard woods for flooring and interesting paint applications or finishes for walls and trim. 
    
3. Consider using only natural fabrics such as wool, silk, linen, cotton, hemp, jute, mohair, cashmere, even velvet on upholstered pieces. These add authenticity to a room. If they are eco-friendly products, too, they will help protect our planet.
    
4. Bring the outdoors in with plants in big stone, wicker or authentic ceramic pots originating from different foreign countries.
    
5. Keep plenty of cashmere, linen, light wool, soft textured mohair and cotton cable-knit sweater throws placed strategically over chairs, sofas and in baskets. Even in summer you’ll be thankful you have them on hand to keep you warm on cool evenings. 
    
6. Have interesting artwork and design elements that add humor, personality, texture, character and an element of surprise to the space.
    
7. Have eye-candy accessories displayed on coffee and end tables, bookshelves and consoles — but only in odd numbers with each item varying in height and shape.
    
8. When picking out your case goods, or the wood, stone or glass pieces in the room (such as coffee and end tables, etc.), incorporate the masculine (square) and feminine (round) shapes into the design.