Kiki Phukan Design

I just found out that yellow is one of the most used wall colors according to Benjamin Moore and I had a hard time believing that. I know that my sister's 3-bedroom apartment in Mumbai, India is painted yellow but here in North America? Then I understood why. It is the color of sunshine and everyone loves and craves it. I prefer my sunshine in the form of decorative accessories but I do see why some would like to paint their walls with it. As you will notice in the first series of images below, I believe, yellow is best served with gray. I love how the cold and warm combine to create perfect balance.  Having said that I think yellow can be combined with the right shade of any color really. It is an easy color to work with and when used even  minimally, can bring positive energy to a room. If you like browsing through beautiful images and getting inspired to create your own slice of heaven, check out my Pinterest boards .  Until next time. Happ...

I spent the first couple of years of my career, as a new design school graduate, just playing with patterns as my job was to create textile patterns for home decor use (upholstery fabrics, area rugs, bed linen, drapes etc.). It was an affair of using unlimited colors and shapes and the million different ways they can be used to create mood and personality. As my career veered more towards the application of these amazing patterns to create beautiful homes, my love of patterns played an important part in my later work. Patterns, used properly and in the right quantity can create a dramatic yet restful room. Overuse patterns and it will take away from the livability of a room . Here are some of my most favorite applications of patterns in home decor.   The floral and stripe patterns dominate while the rest of the neutral decor helps showcase the patterns Neutral wall color and sofa fabric support the mix of complementary colors and patterns On a neutral back...

They reflect light, open up narrow hallways, expand space and help us get ready for work everyday. Mirrors are as much of a necessity as they are objects of decor used to add glamour and glitz to a home. Many styles and sizes can be found everywhere from the simple rectangle in our bathrooms to glamorous ornate masterpieces adorning palaces of the world. To add a sense of beautiful mystery and intrigue, you can use mirrors strategically throughout your home.  Lets take a look at a few creative and exciting ways of using mirrors for decorating. I love large mirrors, collections of mirrors, mirrors framed with mirrors, sunburst mirrors or just a simple round or square variation. The best part is, because mirrors are color-neutral, most styles can be used very successfully for staging homes. Mirrors of different sizes or styles can be grouped to create striking focal points The popular sunburst mirror also adds a sculptural element to a space  Mini...

Burlap, also known as sackcloth, is a coarse canvas woven from jute, hemp or similar fiber, used mainly for, you guessed it, sacking. A lighter version, however, is now a popular trend in home furnishing. As a lover of all things natural, it is very exciting for me to see burlap fabric used to make drapes, accent cushions, table linen and so much more. Layering textures and neutral colors has long been my favorite style of decorating. Because of its coarse texture and neutral color I love the way burlap adds a touch of nature and interest to the decor of a room. These are some of my favorite applications of burlap in home decor. I would particularly love to get my hands on the bottles with burlap labels!  Burlap Table Runner Burlap Labels Burlap Napkin Rings Burlap Cube Ottoman Obviously, there are many more clever uses of burlap in decorating your home and I have chosen to list ones that I personally like. Burlap is a coarse material and th...

I find that a lot of people are looking for ideas about how to arrange furniture around a fireplace.  A warm fireplace the most inviting feature in a home during freezing winter months. In a Home Staging project a  fireplace is a focal point and a coveted feature in any room. Seating and furniture arrangement around a fireplace must not only provide function but should also showcase these selling features.  In general, the main considerations when arranging furniture are function and aesthetic. Function indicates how the space is going to be used to its fullest potential. The function of a fireplace is to provide warmth and comfort to everyone who sits around it thereby creating a relaxing area to spend time with family and friends. To achieve this function we aim to create a conversation-friendly seating arrangement. This type of arrangement usually works best in a larger room with the fireplace in the middle of a wall or in a corner.  I have chosen a few p...

Have you ever wondered why most decorators chose to work with white when there are numerous other colors out there? Why not another neutral color? What about blue or green? Those are unobtrusive colors of nature too. Well, the answer lies in a simple fact. Every other color is in fact, obtrusive. White is clean, pure, dramatic and unobtrusive; rooms photograph well when all decked out in white. The same reason a bride wears white from head to toe. We all love white - universally and unanimously. We do not question its presence but get caught up in its unique ability to create a feeling of grandeur and openness; a feeling akin to no other than heaven itself. Most people may have a different favorite color but they all still love white for its inoffensive and clean presence. Home decorators understand this natural affinity for a clean, bright and open space; they layer white trim with white fabric and furniture. It is easier to introduce accent colors to a predominantly whi...

Recently, I saw a fashion blog claiming that orange is the new gray. I have always loved orange as an accent color for Staging homes. In home decor, orange works very well with gray and many shades of brown. This makes it a popular accent color. Orange is a bright, cheerful and dominating color and to use it appropriately in the right quantities is the key. It is important to keep in mind that if you use a large piece of art, an area rug or a chair in orange, you have to make sure to balance it all with a lot of other neutral furnishings. Orange in large quantities can be overbearing. I prefer it in smaller doses as purely an accent color. The market offers a large variety of decorating items in orange. This makes it easier to put a room together at a lower cost and in no time at all. See a few examples of using orange as an accent color below:

Many people feel that decorating with neutral colors is only for selling homes or for people who are color blind! It is most certainly a prerequisite for selling a home but it is not necessarily only for people with no interest in color. I am not sure if anyone else noticed but the sets and homes designed for magazines today clearly lean towards neutral decor. When Home Staging first became popular and homeowners selling homes saw the transformation of their homes to a luxurious neutral palette, a new trend was born. This is interesting because normally magazines would set the trends and the readers follow. This time around the population experienced a trend that they liked and the magazines catered to their changing taste.   My interest in decorating homes started roughly 25 years ago and I was always a huge fan of layering different textures and prints in, you guessed it, neutral colors! It was difficult to convince clients that a neutral palette will stand the test ...