An Essential Element for Your Home Decor - Candles

Home Decorating

Home decorating is often about the little details, as much as it is about the big choices. The small, additional, contents of a room are what gives it individuality, and what helps us to create a certain mood or theme. Lighting is obviously more than a practical necessity in a home. It is an important accent to your decor that highlights and attracts our eye to the best features. Any artist will tell you that natural light is always the most flattering. This is where candles can come into play. They add a timeless, warmth and romance to a space, bringing it from just another room to a real home, for living in.

Traditional Dining Room by Portland Maine Interior Designers & Decorators Celia Bedilia

Home Decorating - Colour

We all want colour in our lives. The selection and use of three colours, in the perfect balance, is thought by many to be a fundamental part of design. The common advice is that one colour should always predominate, representing approximately 60 percent of the space. Usually, in a room, the walls play the biggest role here, with neutrals as a popular choice, as well as rich or bright, cheerful tones. The secondary colour should appear in 30 percent of the features, such as upholstery, textiles and bedding. This is sometimes split into more than one shade to add extra interest and depth, while maintaining the same overall hue. The remaining 10 percent constitutes your accent colour, often the most vivid aspect of the room. These proportions are said to bring a unifying harmony and a sense of intention to any decorating project, from flower arranging to interior design.

Home Decorating - Accents

Candles can support either a room's secondary or accent colour. Often, decorators use a colour wheel to create a complementary or analogous colour schemes. Either by using colours that are directly across from each other on the wheel or next to one another. Using colours from the largest pattern present in the room, in bedding or upholstery, is another well used technique.

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Home Decorating - Placement

Values, how light or dark your color are, must also be carefully considered, when it comes to placement. In nature, darker colours are usually on the ground, so floors and carpets often are the heaviest, with the walls having a more moderate value. Ceilings are almost always the lightest, acting like an artificial sky. Contrasting values create definition. Candles and other accent pieces can act in this way by grouping candles with coloured vases and other glassware in the same hue but with different values, for a sculptural effect on a mantel, coffee table or shelf. Alternatively, they can add interest and enhance the colour around them by adding white or black.Lighting can also add texture to a room. Some materials reflect light, while others create interesting shadows. Play with varying textures with different tactile qualities by adding candles to different textural elements. Try grouping them with stones and shells or placing them on stone or ceramic trivets. Put them with flowers for emphasis or in front or on top of a mirror to double their lighting effect.

Traditional Spaces by Scotland Furniture & Accessories Houseology

Home Decorating - Be Creative

Candle holders and containers can accessorize as personal curios. Don't underestimate the opportunity to choose something that is unique to your personality and add to a room's theme. There are hundreds of containers and holders to choose from, including sconces, hurricanes, lanterns, pillar holders, votives, tea-lights and candlesticks. Repurposed bottles, jars, vases, pottery and ceramics could be holders for tapers, votives and tea-lights. Don't be held back by traditional candle holders. Any heat safe container will do, so feel free to use your imagination.Small, inexpensive items like candles and candle holders are the perfect place to experiment. Pillars or tapers of varying heights, placed together or on a platter make an attractive centre display. Dessert or cake-stands can make an interesting centrepiece. Candles are also frequently used to frame a special focal point on mantels, shelves and tables.The varying heights, color tone and texture of candles, their holders and containers really can create a sense of flow and move a viewer's eye from one space to another, by using different types of candle holders at different heights and locations. Candles can help you accentuate the positive and create drama or give a room a relaxed or sophisticated feel, depending on how they are used and displayed. That kind of versatility is what makes them an essential element to your home decor.

Traditional Spaces by London Interior Designers & Decorators Charles Bateson Interior Design

Guest Post Written by: Trish.  Trish is the owner of the blog Candle Junkies, where she covers all things wax related. From how to make candles, to which candles she loves, and most recently ring candles. Check her out here!

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