By Kevin Harrison

It took me a long time to learn how to wear a patterned tie with a patterned shirt.  I knew it could look great; my favorite shirt retailer, Thomas Pink, has made a worldwide business on pattern combination – the English style of dress.  It took observation and experimentation, and I mastered the shirt and tie combination.  As difficult as the shirt and tie combination was, I have always been able to combine patterns for the home.  For some reason, this is easier for me.

Pattern does not have to be strong to be effective.  A small pattern or patterns in similar colors create texture when viewed from any distance.  Both pattern and texture are important when creating a pleasing finished product.

Solid fabrics are easier to combine, but are not always very interesting when the room is finished.  Pillows can introduce the pattern; however, I often recommend that at least one piece of furniture also have a patterned fabric.  I feel that this creates the most visually balanced room.

A few ideas:

• Tone-on-tone pattern is often the easiest to combine with more vibrant patterns.  Think about a basket weave carpet to combine with your upholstery.  Or a tonal ticking stripe with floral.
• In general, as long as the colors in each pattern are the same, the patterns will work together.
•  A big pattern should be combined with smaller patterns.  As with artwork and accessories, you should create a hierarchy of pattern.  Lay all of the fabric samples you are considering out on a table, and put them in order of largest to smallest pattern or most colorful to softest color.  As you look at your fabrics, each pattern should step down in scale and intensity.
•  If you still doubt your choices, ask your designer or retailer to order one yard pieces of your fabrics.  I find that customers always feel more comfortable when they can work with larger pieces of fabric.  It gives a customer the chance to cover an existing chair or the end of a sofa with the fabric as it will exist in the new plan.  This will cost you some money; however, it is much less costly than reupholstering an entire sofa.  Also, you can have several accent pillows made with each sample.
• An oriental rug is a great start to a room, and also introduces your first pattern.  Something as large as a rug is automatically the number one position in your pattern hierarchy.  Even if the rug has a very soft palette, because of the size, it is dominate.
•  If you already have a room full of solid color upholstery, think about patterned drapery or wallpaper.  Both drapery and wallpaper are experiencing a strong resurgence.

If you have specific design issues you would like me to address, please send your questions to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  I will be happy answer your questions in one of my articles.

Kevin Harrison owns KH Home, which is located at 6 N. Main St. in the Village of Clarkston.

By Kevin Harrison

So, you walk into your living room, and although it is very well put together, it still seems to be missing something.  You could even say the room is boring.  What the room is probably missing is the unexpected.  What I am referring to is that element in a room which catches attention because it is out of character with the rest of the items in the room.  A room with many unexpected elements is eclectic, but one or two items add interest.

The unexpected item in a room should have at least two of the following characteristics: visual texture, extreme color, large scale, obvious age, or ethnic interest.

A few ideas:

• Use one piece of artwork that is much larger than you would normally select for a space.  I have a very large antique oil portrait in my living room that totally dominates one wall, and is the first thing that visitor’s notice.  It is certainly unexpected to have a painting that is over 5’ tall in a room with 9’ ceilings!  This example gives the room large scale and obvious age.
•  If you collect, use your collection en masse to create the unexpected.  A large collection of Teco or Grueby pottery is stunning.  This would look equally fantastic in a living room or dining room.  This gives the room both large scale (collection en masse) and visual texture.
•  Use color as your unexpected element in a room, but use it sparingly.  During one period in my life, I traveled frequently and was fortunate to stay at some wonderful boutique hotels.  The W Hotel did a great job using color as an unexpected element; at their hotel on Union Square in NYC, the rooms are very monochromatic but have a bright purple throw on the foot of each bed.  This one element relieved the severity of the monochromatic color palette.  In this case, the throw was of a very different texture than  the bedding, so it gave the room visual texture and extreme color.
•  If you have a contemporary room, try adding one very ornate antique to the mix of furniture.  A large French armoire or console is a wonderful contrast to chrome and leather.  This example adds visual texture and obvious age.
•  Antique Chinese items can be a great addition to both traditional and contemporary spaces.  Try adding a red pagoda box or a collection of imperial yellow vases to a coffee table or mantel; it will add vivid color and also ethnic interest.

If you have specific design issues you would like me to address, please send your questions to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  I will be happy answer your question in one of my articles.

Kevin Harrison owns KH Home, which is located at 6 N. Main St. in the Village of Clarkston.

By Kevin Harrison

Lighting is one area where a little bit of effort and money can go a long way toward improving the livability and appearance of a home.    
By Kevin Harrison

There are generally three types of lighting – task, ambient, and general.  Task lighting is focused on a specific spot or area in a room allowing the user to work or read.  Ambient lighting is background lighting that can be used to make a room more pleasing or dramatic.  An example of ambient lighting is an uplight placed at the base of a plant to add visual interest.   General lighting provides the overall lighting in our homes, allowing us to move about and our homes to function.  General lighting is usually provided for us when our home are built or remodeled, so we will focus on task and ambient lighting.

A few rules that I use in my project work:

• Every major room in your home needs to have a minimum of 5 sources of light.  This helps the room feel inviting and properly lit.
• Lamps are the easiest addition to any room, and should be located at each seat in a room.  At night, a chair or sofa feels lost without a source of lighting nearby.
• Lamps should have shades of similar color, and all shades should be at about the same height around a room.  To accomplish this, take into account the height of your tables as you purchase lamps, and size the lamps for each table.
• Most people purchase a lamp that is too small for the spot where it is to be placed.  As a general rule, lamps next to a sofa or chair should be in the 28” – 32” height range.
• I love lighting that is adjustable, in particular floor lamps that are height adjustable.  This allows the lamp to be adjusted to the perfect height for the room.
• Don’t neglect ambient lighting; it can really add that final pop to a room.  Think of adding lighting to the top of a secretary or wall unit, it will add a nice wash of lighting to a dark ceiling.
• I am a big supporter of energy efficient lighting.  I use fluorescent light bulbs in 90% of my fixtures at home.  Compact fluorescent bulbs come in a range of color – from cool white to warm white.  Look for the warm white bulbs when you purchase for home use, and you will be pleased with the color rendition.
• I have mentioned this before, but think about picture lighting for your artwork.  It makes a big difference!

If you have specific design issues you would like me to address, please send your questions to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  I will be happy answer your questions in one of my articles.

Kevin Harrison owns KH Home, which is located in the Village of Clarkston.

By Kevin Harrison

Every room needs artwork to feel finished, think of artwork as the jewelry, the sauce on your pasta, the frosting on your cupcake.  When most of us think about artwork for our homes, we think of images under glass.  However, there are many additional items that look great used as artwork, and in fact help your existing artwork shine.

Artwork should be meaningful to you, not just purchased to “go” with the color of a certain room.  Artists will tell you to buy what touches you, and I do agree with this statement.  Your art will outlast the current design or coloration of any room.  Gallery art or art from a craft show, it doesn’t matter as long as you are happy with it!

A few ideas:

• To unify a divergent collection, try using the same size frames or frames of the same color.  Sometimes it helps a collection with many different sized pieces to use frames of the same color, but vary the scale of the frames to coordinate with the size of the piece.
• Use a collection of plates in a kitchen or dining room.  If you only have a few plates, think about hanging a plate above framed artwork.  On a trip to England a few years ago, I was in the most extraordinary foyer; it had blue and white transferware plates of various sizes top to bottom on all walls - beautiful and memorable!
• Stack artwork.  Two framed pieces have more impact when they are stacked one above the other.  When stacking, use the larger piece in the lower position, it feels more natural.
• Small pieces of art usually look best when placed in a smaller space, like a half bath or hall.  Pewabic tiles are an example of smaller pieces that can add interest and texture, and they also have a great Michigan connection.
• Architectural ironwork or plasterwork is also a great addition to many rooms.  And again, this does not need to be used on its own, try combining it with framed art.
• Try increasing the mat size on a photo or print you are framing.  A mat is usually 3” – 4” wide, but a 6” or larger mat it will make the art you are framing really pop.
• And finally, add a picture light to your artwork.  You will be amazed at how it brings to life the art to which it is attached.

My next article will focus on lighting.

Kevin Harrison owns KH Home, which is located in the Village of Clarkston.