One of the questions I get asked most often is, “How do I begin to decorate a room?” My answer is always to find one inspiration piece that you love in the room and then build the décor around that.

Inspiration can come from an area rug, a toss pillow or even wall art. The idea is to have that be your guideline for the room’s color scheme and decor. In the end you achieve a look where every thing complements each other—at least that’s the goal. This is the decorating process at its most basic.

In the makeover featured, the only color came from the area rug, so this was our inspiration piece. There was too much contrast between the white walls and black leather furniture and the idea was to make everything blend together.

The first step was to paint the wall a beautiful toasted almond color. It immediately added warmth to the space when compared to the stark, white walls we had before! The second step was to soften the look of the leather by adding toss pillows that picked up on the tones from the area rug. This is a great comprise that will still give both sexes what they want in their home décor—the durability of leather furniture for him, and the softer touch of fabric and pattern for her.

An important element missing in the space were end tables, which I believe every living room needs to achieve a completed look.  The new end tables now highlight lamps with a fabric shade that tie in with the red rug we used as inspiration. Dispersing accents of color throughout the room makes it all work together. We picked up the red in the curtains and finally, with new wall art above the sofa.

This makeover is a perfect example of how it doesn’t take much to update the style of a room. New paint color and accessories should do the trick to give any room a brand new look for less!