8 Tips for Giving Your Home the “Traveled” Look

By Andrea Evans, Interior Designer and Owner of InThePinkBoutique.com

Bringing a “traveled” ambiance into your home this summer means stirring up feelings of intrigue, romance, and beauty. To achieve this, include art, accent pieces, color, and accessories that range from different decorating periods.  Even if you’re on a budget and traveling to international or exotic destinations isn’t in the cards, here are some decorating tips for giving your space worldly appeal:

• Bring in colors like black, white, royal blue, emerald green, crimson, and gold into a room. Using accessories that include pillows, lamps, painting a wall, and upholstered furniture can bring glamour and style to any type of space.

• To really bring in a certain type of international destination into a room look for posters of landmarks, nightspots, and buildings.  Looking for black and white postcards, sepia-tones photos, paintings, and etchings makes a room feel like you could almost be living in that city or town.

• If wanting a European feel, large clocks on the wall can be a focal point in a room. Look for clocks that could be reproductions or shows a scene in the background. It doesn’t even need to work. It just has to look great!

• Depending on the style of a room, window treatments can make an elaborate statement. Flowing drapery panels, linen or toile panels over shutters or blinds can accessorize any type of room.

• Using black as an accent color can also unify any element in a room. Bring black into your home using picture frames, fabrics, lampshades, and painted wood furniture. You want to bring black into your home without making things to dark.

• For light fixtures, bringing a chandelier into a room can help reflect a romantic glow.  You could also add beads, fringe, and cording to simple lampshades to change a look of a lamp.

• Furniture and accessories do not need to match the elements in your room.  Look for furniture and accessories that look old and used. Antique stores or flea markets are a wonderful place to look.

• Carving on furniture can be touched up with a burnished gilt to accent any type of architectural detailing from a certain destination.