The first thing you have to know about darker brown tones is that they need to be paired with contrasting neutral or light colors in order to keep a room from getting too dark. However if you can find the right balance, you can create a palette within the space which is richly contrasting with a depth and energy that is hard to equal.

These colors can then be accented with a variety of more vibrant colors to stand out and create focal points within the space. Hues such as bright barn red, straw yellow, fern green, and crisp bright whites can all serve to create visual interest within the room. These will act against the backdrop of darker and lighter colors, uniting the dichotomy of the two in an attractive way.

One of the best ways to make sure that your colors are all matched and balanced is to use a guide. If you can find a pattern that features the hues you are looking to use, you can follow the proportions in that pattern, matching the amount of color in the space to that found on the cloth. In this way you have a built in plan to follow as you design the room. If possible, that same cloth pattern can then be used in an accent piece within the space to really draw things together.

You have a lot of choices when it comes to rich chocolate hues in furnishings for the space. Consider various leather chairs, couches, and decorative pieces as a way of bringing these colors into the room. Leather is one of the most luxurious materials around and is available in a wide variety of shades to match any décor.

Hardwood furniture is another option. In light colored rooms, you can place furnishings stained in deep rich tones which will stick out, popping against the lighter backdrop. If the space has dark chocolate walls and interior features, then consider lighter gold stained or painted pieces.

Fabrics look especially lustrous in chocolate tones, and you should consider rich brown colors for curtains and window treatments. Linens are also very attractive in these darker tones and can stand out against lighter colored rooms as impermanent accessories within the space.

Using chocolate tones in the home is a matter of finding the right contrast balance within your spaces. You want to feature the deep colors of the darker tones, but you don’t want them to overwhelm a room and plunge it into darkness. Use brighter colors such as reds as greens as focal points throughout, and use a pattern to check the level of your colors within the space.

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Generally the pieces used in a casual décor are simple and unassuming. Often intricate visual decorations are foregone in favor of more subdued textural patterns. This style also tends to prefer simple geometric shapes, boxes, rectangles, and rounded squares.

A casual style tends to stay away from sharply dramatic colors such as black, white or crimson. Rather it should highlight reserved colors such as grays, beiges, and tan tones as the major hues through the space. These can be accented by vibrant, natural colors such as navy blues, forest greens, rust, and olive tones. Those colors will add contrast and interest to the space without giving it an unnecessary sense of drama.

Many times whimsical objects of home décor can be used to break the spell of formality in a room. Novelty lamps, coffee tables made from antique ironing boards or old barrels, and wall decorations depicting strange but lovable characters can all add a sense of personality to the space which will draw people in. Laughter is one of the best ways to break tension so adding a bit of humor to your rooms can go a long way towards making them feel more relaxed and comfortable.

There are many different decorating styles that use casual principles as part of their basic philosophy. Rustic, French country, shabby chic, American country, and cottage styles all have a  relaxed elements that combine with distinctive stylistic choices to create comforting spaces with a unique flavor.

Furniture in a casual space should generally be soft and comfortable. Seats should be oversized, with matched ottomans allowing you and your guests to throw your feet up. Furnishings within the space should tend to be horizontal and low, rather than vertical and thin looming over you. Wider pieces give you more room to stretch out and decorate in a lounged and relaxed manner.

Personal items, sentimental pieces, and family portraits can all add personality to a casual space, making people feel more familiar with you and the room around them. Collections of tiny decorative pieces can also add details to the space giving it character and whimsy. Items do not necessarily have to be matched up perfectly as the style of the space should be inherently relaxed.

Furnishings will often be arranged in such a way that they cut off sharp corners within a room. Couches or cocktail tables will often either be built to slide into these corners, or can be arranged diagonally across them to make the space feel rounder and softer.

The most important thing about a casual decorating style is that is feels comfortable and relaxed to you. It is important to add personality to the space, while leaving it relatively devoid of an abundance of details. Contrast subdued colors with bright unassuming tones and make sure that all of your surfaces are soft and inviting.

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The colors in a rustic style typically mirror those found in nature. Earth tones are generally the predominant colors, along with grays, rusts, and a variety of green hues used for contrasting colors. In some cases bright bursts of red can be used randomly in accents throughout the space to draw the eye and focus the attention of the space.

There are a variety of rustic furnishings that can be used to create an environment in a room. Hardwood pieces can give the space a great living quality, while natural stone tables and accent pieces can help to add color and interest to the room. Whicker and bent willow can also be prominent materials.

Antique or aged items are great in a rustic setting because they can add a sense of age and antiquity to the room. Old timepieces, antique rifles, rocking chairs, and other items available at both your local antique shop and at yard sales around the neighborhood can give the space a feeling of antiquity that can’t be found in new store bought items. Even pieces purposely distressed will lack the feel of real age that true artifacts will have.

You don’t necessarily have to fill a room with rustic pieces to achieve the desired effects. In most cases choosing a single large focal point, crafted in the rustic style using natural materials should be enough to affect the entire room. In a bedroom, a large hardwood bed can be used, in a living room a wrought iron coffee table can act as a focal point. As long as it is prominent it will create a sense of atmosphere that will flow throughout the entire room.

With seating, hardwood and whicker may be a little rough, so use cushions and covers to soften the look and feel. In some cases patterned or colored cloth can be used to draw the entire space together. Match this to curtains and rugs in order to add splashes of contrasting color throughout the space.

In some cases you may want to undertake renovations to make a space feel more rustic. In many rooms the addition of hardwood paneling can give a space a warm cozy feel. In spaces such as the kitchen or bathroom, slate backsplashes can provide the atmosphere of a towering mountain range.

Rustic flooring is most often going to be hardwood planks although here you can also choose tile or flagstone. Match this with throw rugs, or faux skin carpets to create spaces of warmth between the chilly natural materials.

Rustic decorating is a symphony of textures mixed with natural colors and materials to create sturdy simple pieces which are functional and refreshing. These spaces connect us to an ancient world, one far beyond the complex press of the modern day. They allow us to slip from our plastic molded lives and revel in the simplicity of nature.

This article is provided courtesy of the rustic home décor products which are available at PebbleZ including a wide variety of natural slate and mountain born stone furnishings. The article itself was written by designer and artist Joey Pebble.

The actual range of coffee colors runs from the midnight darkness of a black cup o’ Joe all the way up to the pale perfection of café au lait, with every variation running through the middle. And then of course there is the earthy brown of a coffee been itself, practically brimming with the caffeinated goodness that is waiting to be extracted.

You can also draw colors into your palette from the beauty of the coffee plant itself.This tiny evergreen features lush drooping leaves, which are intermittent with tiny short blooming white flowers, as well as the bright red berries known as “coffee cherries”. Buried within those fruit are the “coffee beans” which are actually, merely the plants seeds.

The colors of this lush plant naturally compliment the earthen tones of coffee itself, creating an attractive interplay. Bright red colors can be used as home décor accents, set throughout the space, while pure white items can act as a backdrop to the dramatic colors surrounding it. And of course green tones flow easily with all of these hues, whether you choose to use them as a backdrop, or as complimentary pieces.

Coffee is transported in bags made from a material known as hopsacking. It is a tough, durable brown material with rich colors and textures. This can also be used as a decorative element, cutting panels out of old hopsacking and sowing it onto decorative pillows to create your fluffy full simulated coffee bean bags. If you can’t find an authentic bag, hemp or jute can be purchased at a local fabric store. Use fabric paint and a home made stencil to imprint coffee been logos on the material to complete the authentic look.

Many materials, such as hardwood, whicker, and thatch, all blend seamlessly into coffee color decorative schemes. Accessories such as curtains and carpets should try to contrast light against dark with the other coffee flavored tones in the space.

A room rich with coffee colors can be complimented by the introduction of a variety of coffee decorative items which are available. Posters and other promotional items can be printed with ads for coffee beans, or famous cafes worldwide. Drink coasters printed with coffee specific images, and pictures of the coffee plant or of places where it is grown will also fit well into the overall style. In fact almost any piece of décor can be given a coffee theme just by adhering actual coffee beans to the item in lines and patterns.

By using coffee colors, and really coffee philosophy in the decoration of a room, you will be evoking all of the things that the beverage stands for. Excitement, adventure, travels to exotic locations, energy and vigor, chance encounters and warmth that can beat back the coldest winter mornings. All of these elements can be imparted onto the space through the simple act of evoking warm coffee colors in your home.

This can be exemplified by imagining a cold, blustery, winters evening. You step into the house and the first thing that you see is a thick fuzzy blanket, lying drooped across the couch. As soon as your gaze falls on this object, your mind is going to access memories of being nestled under the covers, its going to bring up thoughts of softness, and warmth, and in a way just viewing this item will make you feel a little less cold.

In general fuzzy items are going to make a space feel warmer. This can be as simple as adding pillows or throws to a room, but can also extend into features such as thick velvet curtains, or soft fluffy throw rugs. Couch and seat liners can also be used to add a little cozy comfort to the rooms seating arrangements.

The opposite effect can be achieved by using smooth, sleek surfaces. The flatter and more solid an item, the less heat it will tend to retain, making these objects inherently colder than their fuzzy counterparts. Just think about the cool smooth texture of glass, steel, or polished marble decor. These materials have a formal, chilly energy, that will make a room seem more remote and less hot, a trick which can be used to good effect during warm summer months.

Sleek polished textures also tend to indicate a more modern style when used in the home. The natural world is often rough and rustic, and it’s only in recent decades that we have developed the ability to mass produce perfectly formed designs. That means that anything which looks like it was manufactured by a machine is going to have a contemporary feel, which can lend a modern sensibility to your home.

By contrast items with a rougher or more rugged texture will tend to connect a space back to the natural living world. The infinite imperfections which make up the texture of brick, wood, or concrete, will align with things in nature such as trees, rocks, and earth. Slate coasters will simulate the look of a mountain, while wrought iron will reconnect the space with your rustic roots.  This can be a good way to give your space a distinct personality, which will be more unique because of the imperfections that give it its appearance.

Texture is a vital element when trying to create a deep and intriguing decorative atmosphere. It can engage the senses, creating an atmosphere of warmth or chill, formality or comfort.

That’s the ideal, but throughout the course of our lives, the ideal often falls apart. As we are seduced by objects of beauty and promise, decorating ideas that seem brilliant at the time, appliances that will make our lives easier, and tools that seem so very chic, we slowly destroy the perfect dream of a completely efficient kitchen, filling the space instead with clutter, chaos, and needless items that detract from the purpose of the overall space.

However you can oppose the forces of chaos that seek to destroy your perfect kitchen. You just have to have a discerning eye, and the ability to make choices. Some items will have to be removed; others will have to be discarded. Not everything has a place when room is limited, or efficiency is at stake.

One way to make this process a little easier is to regulate it. Set it up so that every 3 months, you take a few minutes, and look at your kitchen with a discerning eye. Take a look at the various objects within the space, and try to figure out if there is anything that you haven’t actually used in the last 90 days. Those are the objects that should be placed in a box, and then set aside.

You don’t necessarily have to start throwing things out right away. Once you’ve set the nonessentials in a box, and hidden that receptacle in a closet or on a shelf, you should make a list of everything that you removed and hang it from the fridge. Then, each day as you prepare your families meals, you can look at the list and decide if there is anything that you want to pull out of storage. When the next 3 month period has passed, anything that you haven’t used from that box should go on ebay, be set aside for a yard sale, or should simply be tossed.

Removing clutter is about more than just getting rid of things. There is also an important organizational component to this process. Even if you only have a scant smattering of accessories and appliance, if they aren’t organized in a neat and efficient manner, their going to end up just being piles of useless junk that you have to sift through to find anything that you need.

Racks, shelves, dividers, and bins should all be used to separate items by necessity and function. Small kitchen tables should be utilized as work and storage space, both above and below. Once organized, everything will fit more neatly and easily into the space, instantly eliminating any clutter problems that you might have been having.

It is important to institute a system of organization in the kitchen, which not only eliminates useless, and semi useless objects, but which also takes necessities, and places them in spots where they can easily be retrieved. In this way you can maximize the efficiency in this space, while also removing any unnecessary items which might otherwise get in your way.