Candice Olson on Designing with Rhythm

Design leader Candice Olson illustrates how to use rhythm to unify an eclectic space.

by Trisha McBride Ferguson

If you've got a decorating challenge, there's no one more qualified to tackle it than Candice Olson. Designer, TV personality and best-selling author, Olson is host of HGTV's Candice Tells All and Divine Design. She is one of North America's most-loved designers and HGTV's reigning queen of casual elegance. Here's a look at how she transformed an awkward, uninviting bedroom using the concept of rhythm.

From Blah to Beautiful

When you look at a room that feels awkward and uninviting, it may be because it's lacking the element of rhythm. To inject warmth into this couple's master bedroom Olson employed rhythm basics such as color, shape and pattern.

Here's a look at the room before:

Rhythm in Color

One way Olson transformed this room was by defining its color palette and using it exclusively. Shades of red, white and charcoal give the room warmth without feeling overly warm or earthy. A focal wall painted in Benjamin Moore's "Raisin Torte" gives this oversized space a focus. Red accents in the window treatments, bedding and accessories help guide the eye around the room. And while the palette is predominantly neutral, it doesn't feel like it because of the statement-making shade of red.

Rhythm in Pattern

Olson injected pattern into this room to break up its large, blank planes and surfaces. While there are a number of variations of pattern throughout the space, they all work together. The waves of the modular wall panel headboard are complemented by the waves and geometric circle patterns in the bedding. Similar patterns are used in the rug, pillows, and the fabric of the window treatments. And yet to keep the look eclectic, new patterns are shown in the pillow on the chair and the carved mirror. In this makeover, pattern is used to give the room interest and to tie together a variety of materials.

Bringing it Together

When working with seemingly disparate elements in a room, Olson is an expert at bringing them all together. She employs the principle of rhythm by creating visual repetition. In an eclectic design such as this, no element stands on its own without being linked to another through form, line or color. This means the eye is carried through the visual beats around the space that unify the look and create a one-of-a-kind design.