Aesthetically Speaking

These Architectural Details Will Help Highlight Your Home’s Best Features

If you’ve recently purchased a home with unique architectural features, or if you’re looking to bring out the best in your home’s existing features, but aren’t sure how, here’s the lowdown on what to do. You’d be surprised at how much a little furniture, wallpaper, and paint can do to improve the design aesthetic of your home. 

Columns 
Often used as a way to integrate structural support and design, columns can pose a challenge when it comes to interior design. If you’re looking to blend your columns into the rest of the home, match the paint color and finish to your home’s trim, so that they’re better integrated and set into the room. But if you wish to accentuate your columns without ostentation, one easy way to do this is to either change the color — slightly — or the sheen of your paint. Choose a color that is within the same family as your trim, but slightly darker, so that the columns pop. Or, up the ante on sheen, going for high-gloss so that they reflect the light.

Arches 
One excellent way to play up the curvature of an arch is to complement it with the right kind of furniture. Furniture that matches the line of the arch offers symmetry for the eye, and helps to offer the room a cohesive look. If your arch leads to a dining room, consider an oval-style table, or chairs with a gentle slope. For an arch that leads into a larger room, like a living or family room, consider a focal piece with a similar shape in a strong color or profile. Consider the NOUHAUS Classic Massage Chair with Ottoman, a sleek, design-friendly chair that is available in five colors; framed by an arched entry, this chair draws the eye up to the architecture, a reminder of the mastery both of the home and of its furnishings. 

Tray Ceilings 
These decorative ceilings are often found in primary bedrooms, where they add grandeur and texture to a room. But you can step this feature up another notch by adding a deep, saturated paint on the ceiling, at its highest point. Neutral blues, like Farrow & Ball’s Hague Blue, work well (this paint color, which is a blue-gray, is available in many sheens, so you can use whatever works best for you). For a lighter color and less saturated look, Benjamin Moore’s gray-toned Smoke is a beautiful way to accentuate this architectural feature. 

Built-Ins 
For built-in bookshelves, paint sheen and color are also a good way to differentiate space. Rather than matching your built-ins to the rest of your trim work, pick out one color in the room — from a sofa, or a rug, or even a lamp — and run with it. If painting a built-in feels too risky, another way to breathe new life into this architectural feature is to add wallpaper. Choose a pattern that coincides with your home’s décor (botanical, animal-themed, geometric, damask) and add it to the back of the shelving, so that it acts as an accent.