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Published on Jun 23, 2008

“This House Needs Personality” is my favorite line from Fred Sanford of the television show Sanford and Son.

In one episode Fred was invited to a fancy decorated house. The hostess expected Fred to be impressed but the look on his face said it all.

Then came the show stopper comment,“This House Needs Personality”. For anyone that has not seen Sanford and Son, Fred Sanford was a business man that collected and sold junk.

Fred’s home was the main location of the show where you could see that Fred’s junk became his home accessories.

Fred did not like the fancy house for two reasons, visual and smell. Visually it lacked the nick nacks, clutter and junk. It also lacked the smell of down home cooking. Fred almost got it right, a house needs character which gives it spirit. The only way to give spirit to home décor is through the art of accessorizing. Your selection of art and accessories should be items that identify with your style and things that you love. On the flip side, sizes, materials, placement location and arrangement of accessories is not about love but balancing a composition. Here are a few rules to follow to accessorize like a pro:

Table Accessories

Always use an uneven amount of items on a table.
Always use accessories made of different materials such as metal, paper, straw, etc.
Always use accessories of different heights.
Never place accessories on the four corners of a table.

Wall Accessories or Art

Wall art should be no less than 3/4 the size of the anchor item below, such as a sofa.
Wall art that has no anchor items should be 3/4 the length of the wall.
The center of the art should be hung five feet off of the floor, which is eye level.

Although I loved Fred’s quote, I did not love his decorating. Accessories must act as an accent partner. Fred’s home was consumed by clutter and poor taste. Cecil says, “Accessories brings life to your home, make it a beautiful life”.

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Cecil Says

Look at your home as a three layer decorated cake. The floor layer of the house holds 65% of the decorative items. The walls and windows hold 25% and the ceiling 10%.

-- Cecil Hayes

Using Color

Use a maximum of three colors per room. This does not apply to shades of a color, nor does it apply to neutrals, such as white, beige, black, gray, or brown. Hard-surface items such as tables, consoles, or wood items are generally considered neutrals. Select one color that can be used throughout several rooms in your home. This will pull the entire decorating scheme together. Otherwise, you may have a series of beautiful rooms that don't seem to cohere overall.

It's All in The Details

Flooring is available in a variety of materials, and there is no hard-and-fast rule for combining materials within an installation. You'll want to keep function and overall design aesthetic in mind. You'll also want to make sure that you keep the floor height level when combining different flooring materials such as tile and wood, carpet and tile, or other combinations-uneven transitions between flooring materials create tripping hazards. In addition, you should be aware of the cleaning requirements of each material that you plan to install.

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Full Size Furniture Templates

Research shows that all furniture comes in standard sizes. Get It Right! furniture placement patterns were designed with this in mind. With Get It Right! you can:

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- Rearrange your present space before moving your furniture.
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Wallpower

PANELED WALLS. The rich look of wood can be enjoyed in any room of the home. Gone are the days when its use was restricted to the library or the den. There's no need to limit yourself or your imagination anymore. Achieving full wall coverage with wood is not as difficult as one may think, and even a small amount of wood appled to the wall in this manner is strong enough to create a rich, inviting interior. Various types of wood applied to a plywood backing are available. Usually these are veneers laminated to panels approximately 4 feet wide by 8 feet high. These panels can be either glued or nailed in place and then finished as desired. All in all, it's a fairly simple process, and one that I think only enhances a room