Styling Secrets from Home Décor Shops

There are good reasons you want your house to look like one

Well-merchandised home décor shops like John Derian make you want to go home and rearrange everything. (Photo: John Derian)

The home décor store owner has many responsibilities. There’s inventory to order, rent to pay, staff to manage, payroll to make, advertising and marketing to handle …and the favorite: tidying up after customers who leave the place in shambles.

But the one thing talented store owners do that really blows my mind is merchandising. Good merchandising creates a visual feast of proportion, height, texture, color and grouping that instantly transports you to a world where anything is possible. You, too, can have a beautiful space in your living room, bedroom, guest room and kitchen if you unlock the secrets of these clever people.

I’m going to give you a few pointers (based on some clever shop owners) on how to translate good store design into your own home improvement plans.

(Photo: Kneen & Co.)

Color splashes in all the right places

Renters often have to live with bright white walls and some people like the stark cleanness of them. Yet an all-white interior (especially if you’re stuck with awful gray laminate floors or wall-to-wall carpet) can be pretty bleak unless you cultivate some color.

Here is a great example of using plain white walls to advantage. Kneen & Co., a Chicago home and décor shop founded by Mary Jeanne Kneen, specializes in luxury and handmade items. Every piece is special. The idea is to go easy on furnishings so that each item shines. That cinnamon chair! That odd little plant stand!

Notice how much design value the orchid plant, blue vase, wingback chair and velvety throw pillows add to this arrangement.

(Photo: The Huntress)

Setting the stage

Think of your room (or shed or zone) as a stage on which comedy and tragedy play out. Jenny Wolf, owner of The Huntress in Pound Ridge, NY understands that “home is a feeling” and plays with shadow, mood and composition to create really compelling spaces. A massive mahogany hutch provides a dark background for the handmade ceramic pieces glazed in bright white. Notice the pleasing contrast between this heavy piece and the fanciful skirted apron sink to the right.

Oddities and antiquities, personal and historical, combine on store shelves to stir the senses and suggest new ways to arrange your possessions. It’s not about copying mindlessly; it’s more about returning home with your imagination in an enhanced sense of possibility.

(Photo: Haven by Lindsey Colhoun Design)

Getting that cozy room feeling

A home décor shop generally begins as a large empty rectangular box with no distinguishing features. It’s up to the savvy owner to design areas that look like rooms, hallways, courtyards and patios. Without interior walls, doors and windows the challenge is huge. When you think about your own home, you too might be dealing with windowless walls or a small room that has to double as a dining room and a home office.

The arrangement at the shop Haven by Lindsey Colhoun Design in Agoura Hills captures home remodeler Calhoun’s penchant for openness and natural hues. One large art piece anchors the sofa—a large piece of art with a quality frame actually conveys a visual experience that is similar to a window. Also, I really like how the pendant light over the trunk-turned-coffee table binds the seating area together.

(Photo: Pierce & Ward)

Feast for the eyes

Abundance is stock-in-trade for the savvy shop owner and it’s not easy to pull off. It’s expensive to maintain inventory and is also risky: as tastes change or sameness sets in, the stock no longer moves.

Here at Pierce & Ward in Los Feliz, shop owners Louisa Pierce and Emily Ward have found a way around that to celebrate abundance, with expansive built-in shelving painted in the same sage green as the walls. Throw pillows in many different fabrics become the art, and cleverly frame a small nook where a love seat upholstered in pumpkin invites the clientele to stay awhile.

Takeaways here include a plug for the built-in, which dramatically transforms walls; mix-and-match textiles; and effective touches of luxe, like the loveseat’s delicious bullion fringe.

(Photo: KRB NYC)

Yin and yang

Located in NYC’s posh Upper East Side, KRB NYC is flooded with sunshine and filled with glorious things. Even this little corner of the shop offers many ideas for styling your own foyer, hallway or bedroom.

Kate Rheinstein Brodsky pulls in fanciful and classic pieces, composing areas like this one that are exciting to the eyes. I like the gallery of pencil sketches that flank the imposing neoclassical mirror—they make it less serious without detracting from its beauty. The little chest has pretty floral inlay and shows off two pineapple lamps (a small taste of the many lamps and shades the store offers).

Shop styling is unsung merchant art and a cheap alternative to hiring your own decorator. Learn from the best in the business and consider supporting them when it comes time to invest in your own surroundings.