Purple Decor: How To Decorate With Purple Hollywood Regency Furniture

By Mer, on March 21st, 2011

Purple was always associated with great wealth in ancient times, but it is such an intimating color for most people that many people shy away from it because they simply don't know how to execute the color to achieve a grown-up look in their homes. Elle Decor featured a Hollywood Regency Living room on their April 2009 cover that alluded to the richness of the Hollywood Regency Style. The color purple is very very lush, sexy and sophisticated that if it is presented well, and paired with the right elements, theoverall look can produce a very glamorous look. We show you a couple tips that can give you a dignified and elegant look when decorating with the color purple.

1. Architectural Elements

On the cover of Elle, the moldings set the tone for an upscale appeal. Can you imagine this same room with plain walls? Something needs to dress up the walls to some extent. The purple in this photograph gives the feeling that the person which resides in this home must be established, polished and refined because they use lighter and darker hues of purple. The paneled walls really push forth the theme of luxury. A wall paneled in wood gives the elegance of craftsmanship even pointing to period feel to a room. In this room the wood framed wall gives a contemporary touch, adding an architectural element to the over all design. Selecting wall panels can be one of the best decisions when it comes to improving a homes interior. The overall height, layout, and finishing all come into consideration when choosing the look that would best appeal to you. Whether it is a vibrant wood to be displayed for its natural beauty, or a stylized panel which is painted; budget and availability will determine the best method for the project. Adding wall moldings will heighten the feeling of luxury in your home giving you the prestigious feeling of refined taste.

Regency Furniture and Decorating -Elle Decor April 2009

2. FINDING High Quality Furniture

Locating high quality furnishings can make your design look HIGH END no matter how minimal your accessories may be.

The biggest investment I highly reccomend is a beautiful sofa. Save your hard earned cash for a nice sofa which sets the OVERALL stage for the room. While side chairs come and go, and are easy to locate, finding a high quality sofa is very hard to find, and can really transform a room.

My husband and I are so thankful that we purchased a sofa that is good looking, because it is the first thing people see when they enter into our home. Another thing that we love is that the fabric is plain, which means that over the years when we decide that it is too formal, or needs a bit of color, we can change out the throw pillows. Over time as you find additional accessories, you only need to add to the sofa, than exchange it out entirely.

Putting your money into quality furniture will push your overall look into something common into something rare and well designed.

Finding lush purple velvets in a nice Regency style can be difficult. Armen Living designs a wonderful contemporary set which gives a rich contemporary Hollywood Regency feel. Their collection includes a chair, a love seat, and a sofa, which can be all ordered separately.

Option 1- Consider pairing together two sofas across one another with two french chairs to complete the seating arrangement. Each chair costs approximately $459

Option 2- Consider two Armen Living Purple Velvet chairs across from a the Armen sofa in purple. Each sofa is approximately $870.

Option 3- Consider two Armen Loveseats in lush purple, and accent with a couple french gilt chairs to complete the arrangement. Each love seat is approximately $640

Option 4- Consider purchasing just the sofa and accenting it with a couple french guilded chairs with fabric which will pull the entire scheme together.

The Armen collection features purple colored velvet fabric, but also is available in brown. The overall style is sleek and reminiscent of the glamorous Hollywood Regency.

3. Locating the Right Color Hues To Coordinate With Purple.

Purple can be a hard color to decorate with. If you feel overwhelmed, you are not alone. If you pair them with the wrong colors, your look can come across as young borderline shabby chic, rather than prestigious and cultured.

- Consider pairing purple with lighter hues of purple. Take the Elle cover for example......... The designers paired the color of the sofa with the paint shade on the wall. This can be a very simple way of keeping the overall colors in the room minimal and not overly obtuse. This is a designers secret. Take a look at Jeffrey Bilhuber's New York aparment. He combined gingham wallpaper, and coordinated the drapes to match the wall covering. This can present a very uniformed look giving you the opportunity to focus on something extravagant in the room, because everything else matches. When you can combine elements from the wall onto upholstery, it can be a very striking design.

- Black, Gold, Silver and White all work as neutrals in any room. So when working with the color purple, know that all these colors will work with your design. Your only other decision is to decide on the other color which will work with purple to set the tone of the rest of the furniture and the wall paint colors. Adding in elements such as white and gold picture frames and black or cream furniture is the easiest decision of the whole design. Then you can add in a punchy oil painting in series of greens and pinks to add an extra punch of color. Overall your basics will be either purple and lavender, or purple and gray, or purple and taupe as lovely base colors. Decide on the color tone and the rest is simple.

A dark espresso or chocolate and an eggplant gilded french chair can give a rich, regal look. Or go with a taupe and lavender combination for a subdued and sophisticated look. Choose a shade pairing that reflects your personality, decor or overall home color scheme. If you're on a budget, work a few brown and purple pieces into a neutral color scheme to make a big impact with little money. Adding in punches of orange, pink or even green into wall paintings or throw pillows can really punch up the room for a well designed Hollywood Regency Style.