BHG
Calm Home
With our fast-paced lives, many of us long for a calm, peaceful home. If you love color, pattern, and surrounding yourself with objects you enjoy, it can feel challenging to create that serenity. The good news is you don’t have to give up personality to achieve a restful space.
When I talk about visual clutter I mean the layers we add deliberately—collections, bold patterns, many colors, and styled surfaces—not the everyday junk or excess belongings. Visual clutter happens when there’s nowhere for the eye to rest, even if everything in the room is meaningful and intentional.
BHG
A room with multiple surfaces, colors, and patterns offers lots of chances for visual busyness. Some people prefer very minimal environments with muted palettes or unadorned surfaces. Others—myself included—feel energized by color and pattern and want to display things we love. The trick is finding a balance that lets your personality shine while keeping the overall space calm.
BHG
The room above feels very peaceful because it leans on a soothing neutral palette and uncluttered surfaces. A single lamp and a small stack of books on the console table create a restrained, restful look. But neutral color is not the only path to calm.
If you prefer color and pattern, you can still create a tranquil home. One effective strategy is to designate specific areas as visual clutter–free zones. These are surfaces or planes in the room where you keep things simple so the eye can rest.
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Look at the living room above: it has plenty of color and pattern, yet it still feels orderly. The reason isn’t that every surface is empty—rather, the balance of pattern to plain surfaces is carefully managed. A measure of “white space” (not necessarily white paint, but uncluttered, unpatterned areas) creates breathing room for more decorative elements.
TIP: Designate several visual clutter–free areas in a room so you can concentrate your decorative energy on a few lively focal points.
In those colorful rooms, the walls, curtains, and major furniture are plain or solid, which acts as a calming backdrop. The main furniture and larger surfaces become intentional places where the eye can rest, allowing you to enjoy bold accents without feeling overwhelmed.
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Note how this room balances lively patterns with simple, unadorned windows and a solid-colored sofa. A strong, single-color piece—like the orange sofa—can feel bold yet restful when it’s a solid field of color amid other patterns. You don’t need white furniture to create calm; you need clear, less-busy surfaces that provide visual balance.
TIP: Simple, bold statements or larger scale pieces are often more striking yet less visually distracting than a surface covered with many small items.
Another easy technique is restraint on smaller surfaces. Many end tables here hold only a single lamp and minimal additional items. That simplicity balances a more curated coffee table or shelf filled with objects you love.
TIP: If you enjoy styling a coffee table, balance it with a nearly empty surface or an undecorated wall elsewhere in the room to give your eyes a break.
You can have a home filled with art, color, pattern, and treasured objects while still keeping it peaceful and orderly. The balance comes from thoughtful editing: choose a few focal points, leave other areas simple, and let larger surfaces or solid colors act as calm backdrops. With those small adjustments, a vibrant, personal home can also be a restful sanctuary.
Do you think it is possible to have a balance of lively and calm all in one home?
Check out my new book, Love the Home You Have!
