Those days are over: throw pillows are GIGANTIC now! I don’t think I’ve specified a 16″ square accent pillow in a year. Even 18″ square can feel small to me.

I just ordered 22″ throw pillows from Sparkmodern via Etsy for our family room sofa. Granted, the sofa itself is 37″H, but still. Two 22″ pillows, two 20″ pillows, and one long lumbar. That’s a lot of fluff.

Layering patterned pillows is still a white-hot trend, especially if your taste runs to the eclectic. (The fact that these pillows are in matching pairs saves the room from becoming a crazy mess.)

The sofa in this Thom Filicia-decorated living room is so long it NEEDS the bigger pillows. Again, using pillows in matching pairs is a plus. (Am I the only one who still refers to him as Thhhom, as I did when Queer Eye for the Straight Guy reigned? Yes? Ah, well. God, I miss that show.)

Don’t these pillows look skimpy to you now?

As opposed to, say, these by my hero, Jamie Drake?

If not, give it time. Soon you’ll be turning your nose up at anything smaller than 24″ square. It’s happening, people.

Cococozy, you saved my bacon this post with your excellent pictures — thank you! Quoted in publications from The New York Times to The Washington Post to Real Simple magazine, Annie Elliott is an interior designer in Washington, D.C. Her firm, bossy color, delivers distinctive, curated interiors with professional precision.

I’m exaggerating (who, me?), but this little accent piece has come in handy so many times! It’s not right to keep it to myself any longer. I’d like you to meet West Elm’s Martini Table.

It’s a stool! It’s a table! Obviously it looks good in contemporary settings…

…and with mid-century pieces…

…but if you use it in the antique brass finish, I argue that it can go a little more traditional. (A little. It mixes, not matches.)

You can even use it outside.

Pretty versatile piece for $150 smackeroos, isn’t it?

Quoted in publications from The New York Times to The Washington Post to Real Simple magazine, Annie Elliott is an expert in color, residential space planning, and telling people what to do in the nicest way possible. Her interior design firm, bossy color, is based in Washington, D.C.

But you know how I value the high/low mix. And I keep turning to these three items as my favorite “lows.”

1. Robert Abbey’s Genie Lamp

The ubiquitous gourd lamp has served us well. But aren’t we a wee bit tired of it by now?

What I’m NOT tired of, though, is color, ceramic, and a bargain on behalf of my clients. So I’ve been substituting Robert Abbey’s Genie Lamp for the double- or triple-gourd lamps of yore. (Usually for the nice round price of $184.91.)

The variety of base options — bronze, brass, and silver — means it works in almost any setting. It comes with the shade shown, but if you’d like the lamp to look more contemporary, replace it with a smooth drum shade and choose the silver base.

It comes in a variety of mouth-watering colors: blue, green, yellow, plum…we have three of them in bossy color’s world headquarters alone. (They’re not all the same color, though, natch.)

2. West Elm’s Antique Tiled Wall Mirror

I’ve used one of these over a custom-built lingerie chest, two over a Stickley dresser…when I find a way to use three, you’ll be the first to know.

It’s a lovely piece, and the details make it look special. It’s nice and big — 24″ x 36″ — and the price? $149.

3. Ikea’s Stockholm Table

Ok, this one’s embarrassing.

I walked into a new client’s house and noticed this table in their rather small sitting room. Long and narrow, this coffee table was the perfect scale for the space. The brown color was rich and interesting, and it mixed beautifully with my client’s eclectic collection of mid-century furniture and antiques. And it looks well made: the top has a center seam instead of a single veneer slab.

I was more than a little sheepish when I found out it was Ikea. At $199, it’s extremely affordable. (It seems outrageous when you’re walking through Ikea ogling double-digit price tags, but compare it to other stores, such as Crate & Barrel, it’s a steal.)

Give these inexpensive babies a look-see, then spend the money you save on something really special. Like a $10,000 sofa, maybe?

Quoted in publications from The New York Times to The Washington Post to Real Simple magazine, Annie Elliott is considered an expert in color, residential space planning, and telling people what to do in the nicest way possible. Her interior design firm, bossy color, is based in Washington, D.C.

Look no further than today’s article in The Kansas City Star: “Dare to Dabble in Bold Emerald.”  Thanks so much for including me, KCS!

I suggested that layering Emerald Green with various shades of blue was a pretty foolproof way to work with this super-hot hue.

Other designers suggest limiting Emerald Green to accents, but, well…I’m not other designers .

Quoted in publications from The New York Times to The Washington Post to Real Simple magazine, Annie Elliott is considered an expert in color, residential space planning, and telling people what to do in the nicest way possible. Her interior design firm, bossy color, is based in Washington, D.C.

The online version doesn’t really do it justice; you have to click through to the terrific graphics.

Among other things, Mr. Kurutz asked me whether people should hold off on an expensive sofa because a future spouse might disapprove.

How do YOU think I’d respond, Gentle Readers?

Couches. Demystified. Check it out.

Quoted in publications from The New York Times to The Washington Post to Real Simple magazine, Annie Elliott is considered an expert in color, residential space planning, and telling people what to do in the nicest way possible. Her interior design firm, bossy color, has been serving residents in the greater Washington, D.C. area since 2004.

Two weekends ago, our family flew to the town where I grew up, Glens Falls, NY. We’d arranged to meet friends up there, and John wanted the girls to try alpine skiing.

We stayed in Glens Falls’s best hotel, The Queensbury.

I love The Queensbury Hotel. It’s the fanciest place in town for weddings and parties…I went to my first bar mitzvah there when I was 11.

Built in 1922, The Queensbury Hotel’s grandest days are likely behind it. Like most other towns in America, Glens Falls has not escaped the recession…even when I lived there, it wasn’t the thriving mill town it once was.

But The Queensbury remains a dignified monument to the past, even if it’s a little worn around the edges. It’s clean, the people are friendly, it has an indoor pool that the girls LOVE, and we were in a 1.5-bath suite that would have been out-of-reach-expensive anywhere else.

I also love the little sparks of awesomeness that older hotels in not-so-fancy places have. Parking is free and plentiful. The elevator is fast, since there aren’t that many stories. There’s no line at breakfast — and the breakfast is actually quite good. (Ask the girls about the waffles if you have 15 minutes to kill.)

If you ever find yourself in Glens Falls, The Queensbury Hotel is the place to stay.

The very next weekend, John and I went in the other direction, literally and figuratively. John has cousins outside Richmond, so we dropped the girls there to be spoiled silly, and he and I carried on to The Jefferson Hotel downtown. (“Porter, send my bags to The Jefferson!”)

Have you been to Richmond? I hadn’t. But you must go, and you must – MUST – stay at The Jefferson if you can possibly manage it.

This is an award-winning hotel. Every fancy, multi-diamond-star-whatever rating you can get, it has. I don’t really care about that. What *I* care about is this:

And this:

I mean, HOLY COW. This is a drop-dead gorgeous, Beaux Arts masterpiece. There’s glorious stained glass, marble floors,

and attention to every space. This is the elevator lobby on our floor:

Naturally, there’s a statue of Mr. Jefferson smack dab in the middle of the lobby.

(Mr. Jefferson wrote his own epitaph, by the way. See what’s missing? “Third President of the United States?” He makes his priorities pretty clear.)

It’s all grand, grand, grand. Magnificent, actually.

What made The Jefferson especially fabulous is that it was bustling. I saw at least four groups there for tea — and they weren’t thousand-year-old biddies tucked away in some remote corner of the restaurant. They were families and groups of friends, right there in the lobby area, laughing with their cheery servers and ACTUALLY DRINKING TEA.

When John and I had a drink in the lobby before dinner on Saturday night (Gimlets: the anti-tea), the lobby was busy enough to feel full, but not so crowded that we didn’t score an awesome sofa where we could lounge and people-watch.

And we could listen to the wedding going on upstairs, which contributed to the festive air. (Note to wedding bands everywhere: it would seem that the Black-Eyed Peas’ “Tonight’s Gonna Be a Good Night/I Got a Feeling” is more difficult to play than one would expect. No one will fault you for skipping it.)

In the rooms, there were crisply ironed sheets, framed botanical prints and maps of Richmond of yore, and ultra-thick towels.

As for amenities, the pool was fancy-schmancy and the workout room excellent (so John reported; I had better things to do, like nap).

It’s not fair to compare The Queensbury Hotel and The Jefferson. But it is interesting to see how two historic hotels have survived into the 21st century, each in its own charming way.

Quoted in publications from The New York Times to The Washington Post to Real Simple magazine, Annie Elliott is considered an expert in color, residential space planning, and telling people what to do in the nicest way possible. Her interior design firm, bossy color, has been serving residents in the greater Washington, D.C. area since 2004.

But first, a reminder: follow the same rules you would for PAINTED accent walls. Accentuate unbroken, prominent walls. The best wall is usually the first one you see when you enter the room.

• Trend #1: more wallpaper accent walls behind beds…as headboards, really.

• Trend #2: framed wallpaper.

• Trend #3: Wallpaper accents in nooks and insets.  Below, the wallpaper (which I’m pretty certain is by Manuel Canovas) turns a potentially awkward space into an interesting feature.

• Trend #4: Wallpaper on fireplace walls. I have mixed feelings about this one. I don’t generally recommend wallpapering a fireplace wall; I think the fireplace provides enough of a focal point. But the wallpaper is a sweet addition here…

…and here, where it frames the fireplace most effectively.

Seeing as how I seem to be on a one-woman campaign to bring wallpaper into every single house on the planet, I’ll leave you with a few more thoughts:

• Remember that wallpaper accent walls are especially terrific if you don’t have a lot of art.

• Wallpaper accent walls can be particularly interesting in a stairwell. Try this instead of hanging family pictures up the stairs, as so many of us do. That’s a fine look, but unless each photograph is double-hung, they’re going to get knocked off-kilter every time your toddler (or teenager, or Goldendoodle) bounds down the stairs. How fabulous is this Osborne & Little dog wallpaper? It’s called, appropriately, “Best in Show.”

And of course you remember Nina Campbell’s Paradiso wallpaper in bossy color’s stairwell.

• Finally, do not do a wallpaper accent wall in a really tiny space, like a powder room. Go big and do the whole room, or leave it alone.

Wallpaper, Gentle Readers. An accent wall is the easiest way yet to make it your friend.

Many thanks to everyone who submitted questions to The Washington Post’s Home Chat last week with Jura Koncius! An excerpt ran in yesterday’s Local Living section of the Post. Thank you!

Quoted in publications from The New York Times to The Washington Post to Real Simple magazine, Annie Elliott is considered an expert in color, residential space planning, and telling people what to do in the nicest way possible. Her interior design firm, bossy color, has been serving residents in the greater Washington, D.C. area since 2004.

I’ll be honest: I still have mixed feelings. But there are several trends in accent walls that give me comfort.

• Paint PART of a wall to emphasize a particular object. The Bossettes went to hear my hero, Jamie Drake, speak recently, and we were fascinated by his use of contrasting paint behind a freestanding bookcase. (Did you catch that? Freestanding, not built-in. So bold.)

Tragically, I can’t find a picture of that, but here’s a similar flash of Jamie Drake genius: in the 2012 Kips Bay Show House, he used white on part of a wall to highlight the art.

• Paint the “fireplace column.” That’s not a real term. But you know what I mean?  Not the whole wall, just the space above and around the fireplace.

• Insets make for terrific accent walls. Why, how shocking: this gorgeous space ALSO is by Jamie Drake!

Less glam, but still on-trend (yep, still hate that phrase!) is a painted inset bossy color did recently. (Also file this under “painted bookcases”):

• Paint the surrounding walls white – or another super-super–light color) to keep the overall look fresh and modern. High contrast is best. See how dated the khaki walls make this room look? (Sorry, Herrell remodeling on Houzz…)

• Black is the edgiest accent wall.

Hey, look at this! Another black accent wall in a nursery! There’s hope for the next generation after all.

So those are the trends in accent walls…and then there are a few rules. I’m sure you already know them, but let’s review just to be safe:

• The accent wall should be the main wall in the room i.e.: behind the bed or behind the sofa. Ideally, it will be the first wall you see in the room.

• An unbroken wall is the best accent wall. The fewer door and window openings, the better.

Want to ask me a question about an accent wall — or anything else? You’re in luck! I’ll be the guest designer on The Washington Post’s Home Chat this Thursday – aka tomorrow, February 14, Valentine’s Day! You can even submit a question in advance RIGHT HERE. I hope to hear from you!

Quoted in publications from The New York Times to The Washington Post to Real Simple magazine, Annie Elliott is considered an expert in color, residential space planning, and telling people what to do in the nicest way possible. Her interior design firm, bossy color, has been serving residents in the greater Washington, D.C. area since 2004.

What’s that? Sorry — I didn’t hear you. I was yawning

Can I be honest with you? In addition to striking me as just plum uninspired, gray and white nurseries make me sad. The yellow saves the gray nursery above, but what about the first one, where gray is the…the what? The “pop of color” in the room?

BLACK and white nurseries, on the other hand — or better yet, black and white with dashes of color — are edgy and awesome. We’re finishing up a nursery right now with Quentin Blake’s ABC wallpaper on one wall (you read correctly, Gentle Readers: a WALLPAPER ACCENT WALL!).

All the other walls are white. There are green, black, and orange stripey FLOR carpet squares on the floor (Sound Check in Lime…you know I’m a big fan of FLOR), a modern orange glider (not, alas, an Eames plastic molded rocker but the Eames doesn’t come in orange), and a green Roman Shade with white trim. I hope to post a picture when it’s 100% finished, but in the meantime, here’s a cheat sheet in case you, like me, want to take a stand against blah in the nursery.

Stay tuned, Gentle Readers. We also did a purple and orange nursery recently, so I’ll try to get that up, too. These kids are going to be bossy, no doubt about it.

1. FLOR Tile Made You Look in Kiwi;  2. FLOR Tile Sound Check in Lime, the one we used; 3. FLOR Tile Rake Me Over in Clementine  4. FLOR Tile Rake Me Over in Lime, which we used in another child’s bedroom; 5. Giggle Fitted Crib Sheet, but Etsy is another great resource for amazing custom crib bedding;  6.Mustache Pillow;  7. Mini Library;  8. Classic Crib;  9. Eames Molded Plastic Rocking Chair; and  10. Osborne and Little’s Quentin’s ABC Wallpaper.

Quoted in publications from The New York Times to The Washington Post to Real Simple magazine, Annie Elliott is considered an expert in color, residential space planning, and telling people what to do in the nicest way possible. Her interior design firm, bossy color, has been serving residents in the greater Washington, D.C. area since 2004.

Emerald Green,  I apologize! I’m sorry I doubted you! I was counting on a liberal interpretation of the color — grassy green, yellowy green, limey green — to get me through 2013. Turns out I don’t need to!

I mean, look at that bedroom up there! Love the green on green with the lamps and the wall color. Please don’t carry the green into the adjacent bathroom, though…funny things can happen when you paint a bathroom green. Ask me how I know that.

And how awesome is this stair runner with black and white? We did a green stair runner last year — we’re SO ahead of the trends — and it was smashing.

We’ve been deep into tile-land lately…these green tiles are fantastic, aren’t they? Look carefully: they’re just hexagonals, but the pattern and installation make them so edgy. Love them with the tub. (Note to self: layer the same color via different elements in a room.)

Here are a few ideas for incorporating Emerald Green into your home this year:

Convinced? If you’re still on the fence, stay tuned. Post coming soon of my very own, brand spanking new dining room rug. Guess what color it is?

1. Etsy Decorative Pillow Cover; 2. Emerald Isle Pillow Cover; 3. Jonathan Adler Zebra Pillow (I’ve been wanting one of his needlepoint zebra rugs forever. Maybe I’ll do a pillow instead); 4. Etsy Vintage Style Sign; 5. Case Glass Table Lamp; 6. Ovo Table Lamp; 7. South of Market Loveseat; 8. Glass Charger Plate; 9. Glass Votive Holder; 10. Baccarat Water Glass. The splurge item, obviously!

Quoted in publications from The New York Times to The Washington Post to Real Simple magazine, Annie Elliott is considered an expert in color, residential space planning, and telling people what to do in the nicest way possible. Her interior design firm, bossy color, has been serving residents in the greater Washington, D.C. area since 2004.