I’m decorating three rooms on the first floor of my house: the living room, dining room, and hearth room. I’m unsure about how much or how little they should “match.” Can each room have a look of its own?
Continuity from one room to the next is ideal, especially when the rooms are adjacent to one another, says designer Joni Spear, of Joni Spear Interior Design. “Most people like to begin decorating with paint colors; however, paint is typically the last selection in my design process,” she says.
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Instead, Spear recommends choosing the most formidable feature in the three rooms–think the natural stone of the fireplace in a hearth room, for example–and using that as the starting point for the overall design. Identify the undertones in the stone that are attractive to you, says the designer.
“If the fireplace has brown hues, you could select a warmer palate with beige or caramel and consider other colors that complement your selection,” says Spear. In the neighboring rooms, add more color or keep the same colors in more or less saturated hues. From there, invest in a rug that enhances that color and helps form the initial concept for all three rooms.
Designer Ashley Obradovits of Karr Bick Kitchen and Bath says rooms are like relatives. “They should have some of the same DNA but have their own charm and character,” she says. To build cohesiveness between rooms, you’ll want to design with elements that complement each other, whether it’s a color scheme, an aesthetic, or vibe. Most importantly, you don’t want your first floor to feel like one large room. “Each space needs a little moment to shine,” she says. Keep the powder room, mudroom, office, and bedroom as places designed to surprise and delight. “[Those rooms] can have a different feel than the rest of the house,” says Obradovits.
