Expert Tips for DIY Interior Design

Over the last 20 years or so, DIY has grown in popularity. But really, how easy is it to do it yourself?

From DIY shows that make decorating a home look as easy as pie to sites like Instagram, Pinterest, and Houzz, homeowners get an unrealistic idea of what it takes to successfully DIY their home décor. This leaves many people dispirited and dejected when their projects don’t come out as planned.

But this doesn’t mean all hope is lost. With the right planning and research, you can successfully tackle a home decorating project.

Planning & Research

It’s easy to see how DIY projects can take more time than people expect. Everything happens in a neat one-hour episode on TV, and most likely, you don’t get to see all the errors, false starts, and other roadblocks that delay a project.

In order to produce results that are in line with your expectations, planning and research are essential. To help you avoid mistakes and ensure the result is a home you love to show off, spend as much time as you can on the preparation stage. There’s nothing more satisfying than saying “I did that” to admiring guests.

Find Interior Design Inspiration

Inspiration is essential when considering a style for your home. Few things are worse than completing an extensive DIY project and realizing it is dated and going out of style. Base your decision on what you personally like as well as the trends. You want your home décor to be fresh and also timeless, which can be a challenging balancing act.

There are tons of places to look for inspiration, but Pinterest is a great place to start. Not only can you find a ton of ideas, but you can also save them on a Pinterest board, add ideas from other sites, and review what you’ve saved. Once you have your ideas organized, take a mental step back and check what you have. You should be able to see a trend in what you’ve chosen. Disregard the outliers and focus on the ones that have a common thread to find your style.

Flooring and Walls Create the Canvas

Now that you’ve discovered your inspiration, you need the perfect canvas to show it off. That means flooring and walls.

The floor and wall treatments can either overpower your DIY home decorating or give it the foundation it deserves. If you don’t want to commit to an entire room, you can add a designer look by using color or texture on a statement or feature wall.

When considering flooring, keep in mind that neutral colors will give the space a light, airy feel. Using the same flooring in several rooms offers a seamless, flowing look that can make smaller spaces seem larger. Choosing flooring with no pattern will allow other elements, such as furniture or cabinetry, to stand out in the space.

Choosing the Right Furniture

In most rooms, a big piece of the overall look is the furniture. It is by far the most significant investment and the most considerable influence in showcasing your style. If you are unsure of your ability to put pieces together, consider working with a furniture store that offers a free design service. Having all your ideas in one place and a fairly clear vision of what you want will help this process. You can even have someone step in with advice toward the end of your DIY home décor project to help you achieve a professional look.

Adding Accessories to Finish the Design

You’ll often hear designers say that accessories are the jewelry of design. The key to accessorizing space is finding balance. Throw pillows can highlight colors and bring texture into a room. Mirrors can brighten up a space and make it look bigger. Benches, ottomans, and poufs are a stylish way to add convenient, movable seating. While these items pull a design together, be careful when choosing them. Too many accessories can make a room feel cluttered.

These tips should give you plenty of interior design inspiration and keep your DIY design project on track. Doing your research and consulting a professional when you are in over your head is the recipe for a great design outcome.

Read Baer's Furniture reviews. Learn more about Baer's Furniture.

How to Create an Eclectic Florida-Inspired Space with Color and Pattern

With its playful aesthetic and colorful palette, Florida style merges nicely with eclectic sensibilities. Intentionally composed and curated, this style brings in pieces from different designs into a uniquely personal look. Unburdened by rules, the blending of these two aesthetics gives you the freedom to explore any looks you are drawn to, individual pieces that, when collected, make a pleasing whole.

Guidelines for Florida Eclectic Style

The juxtaposition between opposites is what makes an eclectic space work. Traditional and modern, old and new all come together in these spaces. Pattern and color can be used in exciting ways in Florida upholstery, floors and walls, and accent pieces.

For example, with its clean lines and high contrast, this look would feel right at home in a Miami loft apartment. The sofas are prim and tailored, with modern silhouettes. Their neutral color anchors the space, and the contrasting color on the chair and metallic legs add a touch of the unexpected to the space.

Eclectic style Dos:

• Do use pattern and color boldly and with confidence
• Do mindfully curate the space to keep it balanced
• Do play with color, pattern, and texture

Eclectic style Don’ts:

• Don’t get too hung up on rules, there is no single right way
• Don’t just throw things together without thinking about how they fit together
• Don’t forget white space and symmetry to strike the right balance

Play with Your Sense of Whimsy and Fun

One of the hallmarks of Florida's eclectic style is adding unexpected items that surprise and delight you and your family. Play with your sense of whimsy and bring in a sense of fun. Use wicker, rattan, or bamboo in the dining room or living room. Use different objects of the same color to create a more curated, cohesive look that isn’t too matchy-matchy.

Mix Textures for Visual Interest

As with any design, you want to incorporate different textures to add depth and interest, especially if you are using a simple color palette. Items to consider adding include shaggy throw pillows or rugs, nubby fabrics, thick weaves, rough wood, and smooth metal finishes.

Remember the rule of threes, and use one of your textures at least three times in three different areas of your home. This helps keep the look cohesive.

Florida Eclectic Style Colors

Color can bring different styles together into a unified whole. In Florida eclectic décor, you’ll find light, airy colors such as sand, turquoise, coral, citrusy limes, and orange. By combining the brights with neutrals and texture, you can create a look that is delicate rather than heavy-handed. Although the eclectic style is varied, each room in the home should complement each other, if the style changes abruptly from room to room, the overall feel of the house can be disjointed.

Create a Lived-In Look

As you choose décor for your Florida eclectic design, keep in mind that the rooms are meant to be lived in. Let utility and practicality inform your decisions. Thinking about how you will use a room will help pull it together. Bookshelves, baskets, card tables, and drink trays all lend a cozy, lived-in vibe to your home.

Read Baer's Furniture Reviews. Learn more about Baer's Furniture. Learn more about Baer's Furniture.

Are Accent Walls Still a Thing? Spoiler Alert: Yes.

Rumors that accent walls are on their way out are greatly exaggerated, as evidenced by their resurgence this past year. This trend is expected to continue beyond 2021.

Accent walls are a fun and relatively easy way to spice things up in your living room, dining room, or bedroom. If you are thinking about adding a little extra interest to a room in your home, check out these accent wall ideas.

Make a Design Statement in Your Home

When done well, accent walls are a stunning feature in your home. They make a powerful design statement that draws the eye to a specific part of the room. Not only do they create a focal point in the space, but they also give you a chance to play with textures and colors that you may not want on all four walls.

With this in mind, don't be afraid to use a bold color or pattern on your accent wall. Choosing a bold, bright color makes the wall stand out, which is precisely what you want. If you are a little hesitant to use bold color, go with a color that is several shades darker than the color on the rest of the walls. The goal is to make the difference obvious, otherwise, your accent wall won't stand out.

Choose the Right Wall

Once you've decided on the color or pattern for your accent wall, you need to decide which wall will be the accent wall. Find the room's natural focal point; this will be the best place for an accent wall.

In a living room, the focal point is generally the wall the couch is against, but it could also be the wall with built-in shelves, the TV, or the fireplace.

In the bedroom, the accent wall is the wall with the bed, and bathroom accent walls are generally behind the bathtub or vanity or in the shower.

You can add an accent wall in any space you want to pop, but we recommend only one accent wall per room or they will compete with each other. You can add accent walls to more than one room in a house.

Color Combinations for Accent Walls

Draw color inspiration for your accent wall from the existing color palette in the room. If you have a rug or upholstered furniture, try pulling a color out of the palette featured in the pattern. If you have a solid color sofa, try a contrasting color on the wall behind it.

Types of Accent Wall Materials

There's more to accent walls than paint, although that is the fastest and easiest option. Other ways to create an accent wall include wood, wallpaper, or stone.

Painted Accent Walls

The easiest way to change the look of a room is to paint one wall a bold color. But that's not the only way.

Think about creating a pattern with two shades of the same color. Try a deep purple with another purple two or three shades lighter. Paint the wall with the darker shade, then using painter tape, tape off simple stripes or get funky with a geometric pattern. Then paint over it with the lighter shade, remove the tape, and you have a tone-on-tone pattern on your beautiful accent wall in your living room.

Wood Accent Walls

There are many ways to add a wood accent wall to your home décor - from shiplap to millwork to reclaimed planks. Wood accent walls are a safe way to add interest without bold color.

Wallpaper Accent Walls

Wallpapering an entire room may seem intimidating, but one wall? With a little practice, you'll soon be a pro. There are so many wallpapers to choose from that you can evoke whatever mood you like in your space.

Stone Accent Walls

There’s nothing like the look of a stone accent wall color for adding texture, detail, and interest to a room. In a dining room, a stone accent wall makes a statement that catches everyone’s attention; in a bedroom, it adds warmth and depth to the space.

Are you considering adding an accent wall to your space? What materials and colors inspire you?

Read Baer's Furniture Reviews. Learn more about Baer's Furniture.

Baer's Interior Designers 2021 Trend Forecast

In 2020, feeling comfortable in your home became more important than ever. This trend will likely continue into the New Year. Home is where we work, relax, recharge, and spend quality time with family and friends. People want their homes to look and feel comfortable, so expect soft shapes, plush fabrics, and some traditional styles to return to living rooms and bedrooms. While inspiration blends with function in these spaces more than ever, there are other home décor trends our interior designers see coming our way. Here are some of the major trends we see for 2021.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Baer's Furniture (@baersfurniture)

Browns and Beiges

One of the things we’ve seen again and again is a rising interest in browns and beiges. Bright sandy colors, warm taupes, and pretty khakis are all trending. Pretty much any earth tone is gaining popularity. It’s a shift from whites and grays, but still neutral. These colors also work well as accent colors, bringing warmth to white or gray palettes. So you don’t have to repaint all your walls to easily warm up a space.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Baer's Furniture (@baersfurniture)

Expanding Outdoor Space

Homeowners are increasingly looking to expand their living space, and this means turning outdoor areas into places they can relax in comfort. You can feel the South Beach vibe with these super modern architectural pieces. This space is made for dining, lounging, and enjoying the ocean breeze.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Baer's Furniture (@baersfurniture)

Harmony with Nature

Natural materials have been relevant for years, and that trend is going to continue. Wood, stone, glass, and metal still reign in interiors, and natural fabrics are chosen over synthetics. Especially popular will be unpainted stone textures, wood surfaces, ceramics, wicker furniture, and live plants. Decorative elements and prints will also echo this trend towards nature. Images of birds, animals, leaves, and flowers are being used in urban interiors. Intense floral prints and vivid tropical motifs in wallpaper and upholstery fabric will continue to surge in popularity.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Baer's Furniture (@baersfurniture)

Multizone Kitchens

These days, homeowners want their kitchens to accommodate a variety of tasks. This means they are evolving past the traditional triangle shape and towards a work trapezoid that includes a variety of areas for all the action that takes place: baking, chopping, and prepping as well as drinks, snacks, and meals.

 

Metals Still Shine

Metal materials will continue their migration from kitchens and bathrooms into living rooms, dining rooms, and bedrooms. Warm metals such as copper, bronze, and brass are still popular, while cool silvers and blacks are rapidly becoming stylish. Metal lamps and coffee tables shine against plush upholstery and dark brown wood.

Individualization, of Course

It may seem counterintuitive, but the most important trend of 2021 is to ignore these trends and personalize the design to create a space that reflects your personality. In this individual approach, everything you love is concentrated, and your interests and tastes guide the design. 

This means your interior design isn’t limited to the framework of a particular style, but follows the needs and preferences of the people who occupy the space: you and your family.

Read Baer's Furniture Reviews. Learn more about Baer's Furniture.

How Would Describe Your Personal Design Style?

Deciding what you like and what works in your home are the first steps to creating a space that you love. Décor is so individual that it can be difficult to get it just right. Identifying your personal design style can make it easier to choose what is right for your home. Take the personal design style poll below, then read more to see if you agree with the results.

Traditional Style

This look takes inspiration from the past with floral-print fabrics and vintage-inspired pieces. It’s all about comfort, with every element feeling warm, welcoming, and familiar. The sense of order created by this style makes it easy to live with.

Hallmarks of traditional style: symmetry in furniture layout; soft edges in skirted pieces and leggy tables and chairs; neutral colors such as cream, taupe, beige, and tan; furniture with rich wood tones; statemen trims and molding.

This Tommy Bahama Home Royal Kahala Seven-Piece Islands Edge Dining Table & Molokai Chairs Set is an example of traditional style.

Transitional Style

This style blends the warmth and comfort of traditional style with the understated colors and clean lines of contemporary design. This creates graceful, streamlined, harmonious spaces that are a pleasure to live in.

Hallmarks of transitional style: warm neutral tone-on-tone colors; furniture with simple lines and silhouettes; neutral flooring in natural woods, tile, stone, or carpeting; textural materials such as leather, chenille, sisal, and rattan.

This Bernhardt Criteria Queen Bedroom Group is an example of transitional style.

Contemporary Style

Contemporary design refers to what is going on now in design, so it is often influenced by what is currently popular. This generally means less ornamentation, subtly patterned or solid fabrics, and minimal accessories. Its emphasis on lines and form means that every piece in the room has to count.

Hallmarks of contemporary style: simple lines that highlight planes and angles; sophisticated neutrals such as black, tan, white, cream, and beige; minimal clutter that creates an open feel; high-impact furniture that makes a statement.

This Lexington Ariana Queen Bedroom Group is an example of contemporary style.

Coastal Style

Light and breezy, with a colorway inspired by sand, sea, and sky, coastal style whispers summer all year long. It evokes the easy, carefree vibe of beachcombing and boating. But you don’t have to live by the seashore to get this look, you can easily pull it off wherever you live.

Hallmarks of coastal style: light, light, and more light streaming through windows, glass doors, and skylights; crisp fabrics such linen, cotton, and muslin; pale neutral colors and crisp whites; natural materials such as seagrass and jute. 

This Tommy Bahama Home Ocean Breeze 7-Piece Dining Set With Captiva Table And Regatta Chairs is an example of coastal style.

Cottage Style

Cottage style celebrates ordinary treasures, slight imperfections, and blended families of furniture. The style is unpretentious and full of heart. Comfy, casual, and personal, the style celebrates the joy that can be found in every day.

Hallmarks of cottage style: slightly faded colors and pints that have the patina of age; soft colors such as ivory, cream with dusty blues, pinks, and greens layered in; slipcovers that add a low-maintenance charm; rustic flooring materials such as wood, brick, or stone.

The Panama Jack By Palmetto Home Millbrook 7 Piece Dining Set is an example of cottage style.

Tropical Style

Laidback and easy-going, this style blends many different elements into a vibrant whole. When you think tropical style, relaxed elegance and exotic touches come to mind. Warm and welcoming, this style amplifies small pleasures and urges us to lighten up.

Hallmarks of tropical style: natural textures such as bamboo, rattan, and wicker; bright tropical plants; colors drawn from the sea, sky, sand, and tropical blooms; bold botanical prints that feature palms, plumeria, and banana leaves.

The Tommy Bahama Home Bali Hai Bedroom Group is an example of tropical style.

Best Interior Paint Online Color Palette Generators

When choosing a color palette for your home, it' sometimes hard to get it right. Luckily, there are many online tools to help you choose a color and design a color palette around it. Online color palette generators help you identify colors and color palettes, based on your preferences.

For example, you can upload a photo, and the tool will tell you what colors are in it. Other online color palette generators allow you to pick colors from a color wheel. Here's a list of online color palette generators that can help you get the perfect colors for your home.

ColorSnap

This fun, online tool lets you create a palette for any room. Upload your inspiration photo, and it will develop a color palette with coordinating colors. You can easily create an account and save your choices for future use.

As an example, the Bali Hai Stationary Living Room Group by Tommy Bahama offers more than 1,000 fabric colors and styles for you to choose from. Using the online color palette generator can help you coordinate the primary color, secondary color, and accent color.

Visualize Color

With this user-friendly tool, you can upload your own image or use one already in the tool. You get to virtually paint your room or create a palette tailored to your home. Once you've developed your color palette, you can save your list and take it with you to your local paint store.

Colors.co

Colors.co is a standalone tool meant for home decorators and graphic designers. Don't' let that throw you, it's super easy to use. Just upload an image, pick a starting color, and discover more colors to develop your own palette. It has plenty of features that let you work with the colors until you find exactly what you like.
I uploaded a picture of the Bali Hai Queen Island Breeze Rattan Bed by Tommy Bahama Home to demonstrate how this tool works. The color palette generated reflects the rich details such as woven raffia, leather-wrapped bamboo, and rattan of this eye-catching tropical bed, creating an elegant and exotic look.

Canva

Straightforward and easy to use, Canva lets you upload a picture and create a color palette from it. Once you upload your image, you get five colors that play beautifully together. You can then match these colors to paint and other accessories for your room.

Colormind

This is an excellent tool if you don't know where to start when it comes to finding the best colors for your space. It comes with pre-made color schemes to give you inspiration. You can also upload an image and match colors to the ones in the photo.

Turning Your Color Scheme into a Reality

Once you've developed your color palette, the true test if to see how they look on your walls. Buy some paint samples and paint some test patches on the wall to see how they look. Live with them for a few days so you can see how they look at different times in the natural light of your space.
Whether you're revamping an entire room or just want to get a few new accessories for throw pillows, an online paint color generator is a great way to find color combinations you might not have thought of but will end up loving.

Tips for Spicing Up Your Rooms with Area Rugs

When you want to spice up your living room, adding an area rug is one of the best things you can do. Area rugs are on trend these days since many people are opting for wood floors instead of wall to wall carpet. They come in all kinds of shapes and sizes and are a practical way to change the look of a room. If you are wondering how you can spice up your room with an area rug, here are some handy tips.

Soften It Up a Little

There’s nothing like stepping out of bed in the morning and setting your feet down on a soft, fluffy rug such as one from the Zen collection by Nourison. Not only does this make getting out of bed easier, a soft, fluffy rug makes a nice contrast against wooden or laminate floors.

Add Some Stripes to the Room

Choosing a striped rug will make the room look bigger. Stripes will also give your room a contemporary modern feel. However, if you are adding a rug to your bedroom, and your walls are already striped, a plain area rug will work better.

Mix It Up with Minimalism

If your style is minimalist, you can still add an area rug as a finishing touch to the space. Keep surfaces clear of clutter and stick to neutral colors. Plain walls with a plain, solid color on the area rug anchors the space. Or go bolder with this geometric pattern from the Décor 1 collection by Nourison. It’s minimalist and effective.

Break Up the Color

On the other hand, if you have too much of the same color in a space, an area rug can break it up. Choose one in a complementary color to liven up the palette.

Wall to Wall Area Rug

Even though wall-to-wall carpet is no longer in style, nearly wall-to-wall area rugs are all the rage. Make sure all the furniture sits on the rug to anchor and balance the space.

Blend in the Grays

A gray area rug may seem like an old-fashioned choice, but that’s not the case. Gray is making a comeback. Gray on gray is a popular and beautiful choice. Gray on the walls paired with this gray plush area rug from the Zen collection by Nourison, makes for a clean, classic look.

Create the Right Vibe

Keep in mind that the rug you choose will affect the mood in your space, so consider more than color when choosing an area rug. If your style is traditional, choose classic patterns or solid colors. On the other hand, if you like something more bold or eclectic, choosing dots and stripes will make the room feel more upbeat.

Careful Positioning

The furniture in your bedroom should be placed over one-third of the rug. This is called offsetting the rug. In the living room, all the furniture, or at least the front legs of the couch should be on the rug. This works exceptionally well with heavily patterned rugs.

These days, we like our rooms comfortable and cozy. The right area rugs will not only cozy-up your rooms, but it will also add style and a unique vibe to your home.

Find more design inspiration and read Baer's Furniture reviews. Learn more about Baer's Furniture.

Interior Home Décor Trends Inspired by Nature

Nature-inspired home décor trends are a great way to bring warmth and texture into your home. Bringing a touch of the outdoors in gives your home a living, breathing natural element of je ne sais quoi that keeps people talking about your style and elegance. Earthy browns and sandy beiges with a touch of deep greens come together in an intentional layering of fabrics and prints that highlight beautiful wood and stone.

Here are a few examples of how to incorporate nature-inspired home décor trends into every room in your home.

Home Décor Trends Inspired by Nature: Living Room

Your living room is a place for relaxing and enjoying your leisure time, whether watching TV, reading a book, or chatting with friends and family. Its style should reflect this. Using nature-inspired décor, you can achieve a bright and welcoming space, and it all starts with the palette. Keep your base colors neutral, think white, cream, or beige. Then add color and interest with texture and materials inspired by nature.

The Bali Hai Quickship Shoreline Sofa with Fern Leaf Carvings by Tommy Bahama Home is perfect for this aesthetic. The sofa features rolled arms with elegantly curled fern wood accents, traditionally turned legs, and wooden base rail. It creates casual appeal with tropical accents. Add a plush rug with a botanical theme and pops of fresh green botanical print pillows and real plants.

Home Décor Trends Inspired by Nature: Bedroom

Warmer tones work well in a bedroom, but don't stray too far from neutrals. Choose a warm beige or brown-gray as a base shade. Use natural materials whenever possible, whether that be wood paneling, walnut flooring, or refreshing shell white finish on braided banana leaf, as seen on the Ocean Breeze Queen Siesta Key Woven Bed with Rattan and Banana Leaf by Tommy Bahama Home. The leather-wrapped bedposts and low-profile footboard add extra charm to the look.

Keep decorative accessories low-key in this space, since eliminating clutter will create a calming space to get a good night's sleep. Where possible, add fresh flowers or a real plant or two as the perfect accent accessory for your nature interior. A textured, natural rug is the perfect finishing touch in a bedroom.

Home Décor Trends Inspired by Nature: Dining

A great way to add nature-inspired style to your dining room is to freshen up your dining and tableware accessories. Textures are often forgotten on the dining room table. Choose table linen with tactile surfaces such as woven placemats that bring a natural feel to the setting.

The simple, elegant Sandcastle Dining Room Group from Hooker Furniture features clean lines and relaxed styling for a classic, timeless look. Hang a chandelier made of natural materials over the table. Add fresh, green foliage to the space, but not necessarily as a centerpiece. Rather, place a plant in the corner or use greenery in your place settings to bring in more natural elements.

When adding nature-inspired elements to your interior décor, keep it simple and clean. Layer in natural materials and textures and keep the color palettes simple.

Read Baer's Furniture reviews and get more design inspiration. Learn more about Baer's Furniture.

Boring Beige Is Back and We're Loving It

There’s nothing wrong with drenching your walls with color if that’s your thing, but a neutral color palette can create the perfect backdrop for your life. It’s ability to not stand out is what makes it stand out. This palette highlights the beauty of natural wood grains and lets pops of color stand out.

Beige Is Having a Moment (Again)

This is isn’t the first time beige has been popular, so you may find you already have this color in your home. In fact, for some, this colorway never went out of style. Once this warm hue joined barely-there pinks and mossy greens on the runway, it was only a matter of time before it began to show up in interior décor.

Explore the Many Shades of Beige

Most people think of beige as a boring shade of light brown or tan. From cosmic latte to desert sand to khaki and ecru, there are so many shades of beige to choose from. The subtle differences in these shades of beige can change the feeling they give off, especially when they are combined with other colors. If you walk into a paint store, you’ll find shades of beige that are too numerous to list.
One thing that these shades of beige have in common is the sentimental and comforting vibe they bring to a space. Beige’s big moment comes from using it in exciting ways. The room above featuring the Nantucket Casual Style Sofa by Rowe demonstrates how many beiges can work together to create a harmonious space that is far from boring.

Beige and Transitional Style Furniture

Beige and transitional style furniture go together like peanut butter and jelly. Transitional style mixes modern and traditional elements in a way that is fresh and new. This mix creates spaces that encourage rest, relaxation, and rejuvenation.
Part of what makes transitional style so restful is its focus on neutral colors. Beige fits in with this aesthetic perfectly. Textured materials such as leather, sisal, burlap, and chenille add interest to transitional furniture and make up for the lack of color as well.
For example, the Los Altos Ivory Coast Bed from Tommy Bahama wrapped in woven banana leaf on the headboard, footboard, and sideboards. It creates a subtle pattern that allows the strategic use of bold pops of color and gives your bedroom a high-end feel.

Add Warmth with Beige

A beige leather sectional and wood floors bring warmth to your living room, making it the perfect hang-out space. The McGuire leather Power Reclining Sofa and Power Reclining Chair from Bernhardt are great examples of the comfort and style beige brings. The luxurious driftwood beige leather and nailhead studs make it cozy enough for the rec room but also stylish enough for the living room.
With homeowners craving warmth, this once considered dated neutral is back in a big way. It’s easy to see why. We’re looking for spaces that feel cozy and inviting, and beige is up to the task. The color is breaking out of its reputation as being safe and blah. Mix it with olive green and yellow for a playful vibe, vibrant rust colors for a homey feel, black for a modern look, or amber and golds for a polished aesthetic. There’s almost nothing these new beiges can’t do.

Read Baer's Furniture reviews to see why it is so popular. Learn more about Baer's Furniture.

5 Beautiful Focal Point Ideas for Family Rooms

What is a family room focal point? It's where your eyes land when you first enter a space. In a bedroom the bed usually takes center stage. But in a family room, it could be a window, wallpaper, artwork, the sofa, or an architectural feature.

The focal point usually faces the main entrance of your family room. And while the focal point can dictate the furniture placement in your room, the seating does not have to face it. Also, in some cases, you can have more than one focal point, just make sure they complement rather than detract from each other.

1) Create a Focal Point around a Stone Accent Wall

If you have an architectural feature or textured wall, you can use this to create your focal point. Highlight the wall by adding lighting that makes a statement. Stylish, rectangular wall sconces do the trick. Then add a sofa such as the Bedford Customizable Sofa by Lexington.

The sofa’s relaxed contemporary style complements the casual feel of the stone wall. Since the sofa is customizable, you can choose the upholstery, arm style, cushions style, and more to create the look you want.

2) Create a Bold Family Room with Wallpaper

Bold wallpaper can make a great focal point. A dramatic print paired with a large round mirror makes an unforgettable focal point. Place a leather couch in front and accessorize with pillows, plants, and a curated arrangement of glass vases. Since the focal point is so bold, remember to keep everything else streamlined and simple for maximum impact.

3) Bold Black and a Gallery Wall

Sometimes all you need in your family room is an eye-catching gallery wall as a focal point. The key to creating drama is using art that can be seen from the family room’s main entrance. The dramatic gallery wall makes a dramatic backdrop for the Grandview Sectional Sofa by Bernhardt. It makes this family room the perfect place to gather. This cozy sofa brings classic design to your family room with its smooth rolled arms, nailhead trim, and thick block feet.

4) Make a Dramatic View More Dramatic

If you have a large window that automatically grabs attention, highlight it to make it even more dramatic. With its architectural shape and posh marble top, the Ariana Vernay Console Table by Lexington adds more than a dash of panache to any space. It features elements of modern sophistication with its impeccable layering of colors and textures. Tuck a pair of Laurel Canyon Wheatly Ottomans upholstered in bold yellow underneath for extra seating.

5) Plants Make Beautiful Family Room Focal Points

A beautiful specimen-sized palm or a collection of smaller palms make an attractive and refreshing focal point. There’s a lot to think about when choosing the best plants for your family room, lighting being the most important. The potted palm behind the Astuzia Reclining Sectional from Natuzzi is thriving because of the sunlight it gets from the nearby window. This wall-saver recliner slides slightly forward instead of straight back, allowing you to keep it close to the wall without disturbing the plant.

Creating a focal point is one of the most essential elements of interior design. Whatever you choose will be the first thing people see when they enter your family room and will be the center of your layout. A few small tweaks can take your design to the next level.

Read Baer's Furniture reviews and learn more. Baer's Furniture defines Florida style.