Have you noticed your rooms look great, but don’t seem to flow together? Do you often find that your rooms seem segmented each with its own polarizing designs? I see this in many homes because we tend to forget that our rooms all need to have some continuity in their overall styling and designs to make your home feel more curated and less hodge-podge.
This is especially true when it comes to modern farmhouse design. Why? Modern farmhouses often tend to have open-concept floor plans which give you an almost birds-eye view of the main living spaces. If your rooms are each competing with their own personal identity, your home will feel very segmented and out of place.
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Creating Flow
Instead, we want to create what I like to call “flow.” This is where you utilize particular elements throughout the home in multiple spaces to create a more curated look throughout the entire house. This can be achieved through four fundamental, repetitive elements. Each of which we will cover today.
Rule 1: Establish A Singular Color Palette
Picking a color palette is essential to creating continuity throughout your home, which in turn is what creates flow. This one can be quite difficult for people as it can be challenging to commit your entire home to one, singular color palette. After all, there are so many beautiful colors so how do you choose just a few?
Ultimately, it is most important that your open areas in the same sightline all fall into the same color palette. If you decide to mix it up, opt for different colors in your bathrooms or bedrooms as these will not be in one singular view. As you read on, you will also discover other ways to incorporate fluid elements that tie into one another to help with rooms that fall in another color palette.
When creating your home’s color palette, I firmly believe you should have no more than 3 to 4 colors (unless you just love a bright and colorful home). These 3 to 4 “accent” colors are just that, accents. These do not include wood tones or neutral colors such as white, black, tan, or grey. I even dare to include wicker in this as it is somewhat of a neutral.
This opens up a whole world of creativity when you exclude wicker, greens, and neutrals from your accent colors. I do recommend limiting your wood tones to 3 per room so as to not overwhelm the eye. However, this is honestly up to your own personal preference but there needs to be a balance between introducing new colors and creating continuity through a designated few colors.
Rule 2: Repeat Patterns
Along with a consistent color palette, you should also repeat patterns throughout your home. It’s a very simple concept that makes a huge difference in creating a flow for your home. If you have floral patterned wallpaper in one room, you could use that same floral pattern on a throw pillow in a bedroom, or a canvas painting in the living room.
There are a plethora of ways to incorporate patterns into your home, but here are a few places that are extremely simple to do so:
- Pillows
- Blankets
- Pictures or paintings
- Table runners
- Towels
- Cloth napkins
Rule 3: Use The Same Materials
The more you can incorporate similar or like materials, the better the overall flow of your home will be. If you have open shelving in your kitchen, replicate that in your laundry room or bathroom. If you have a stunning iron bedframe, you can incorporate a coffee table with iron legs to continue the same vibe in the living room.
There are so many material options that you can use in your home, but unless you’re aiming for an eclectic look, it won’t really fit into your home all that well. Aim to have a maximum of 3 to 4 different wood tones in your home, but certainly in one room. Keeping your metals the same color or at least repeating those 2 to 3 times in space will also help!
Rule 4: Keep The Same Textures Throughout Your Home
The last thing you should repeat in your home is textures. For example, if you have fur blankets in your living room, include fur pillows in your bedroom. This will help create connections within your home that are a bit more subtle than colors or materials. Connecting your room designs with textures allows you a ton of creative freedom to create this subtle flow, but it’s just not as in your face.
There are a ton of ways to incorporate textures, so let me list a few to help get you started.
- Have your poofs in your sitting nook match pillows in a bedroom
- Find a candlestick that has the same smooth texture as the legs on a coffee table
- Use the same texture as the vase on your fireplace in a bowl on the entryway table
- Have your leather chair in your living room aligned with a leather stool in your bedroom
Regardless of how you decide to incorporate textures in your home, just make sure you keep a good balance of each texture in each space for the best flow!
