Consult these design tips from the experts at Belle Maison Interior Design to bring beauty into your home this holiday season

By Sarah Emily Gilbert

Belle Maison Interior Design principals, Mitchell and Catherine Engelmeyer, are the husband and wife design duo behind stunning interiors across the United States. Despite being headquartered in Short Hills, New Jersey the Engelmeyer’s have been hired by clients from the Tri-State area to Texas and Florida. That’s because between Mitchell’s business savvy and Catherine’s 30 years of interior design experience, they’re at the helm of the design world, masterfully mixing textures, paints, and fabrics to create high-style interiors. Below, the Belle Maison Interior Design team shares their expert decorating tips so you can revamp your home just in time for the holiday season.

The Power of Paint: According to the team at Belle Maison, when it comes to decorating a room, paint color is the single most important factor. You should pick a color based on what “look” you’re going for in that particular space. For example, if you want to achieve a contemporary look, seek out a more modern hue. The same goes for a traditional space. As Catherine points out, a warm paint color can immediately make a lackluster room interesting. Feeling bold? Try painting the room’s ceiling to give the space dimension.

Embrace Texture: When selecting design elements, Belle Maison suggests sisal rugs and textured paper as easy ways to incorporate texture into a room. Sisal rugs – like the one in the yellow bedroom pictured above - are great options for homeowners on a budget as they are both durable and affordable. Textured wallpaper has become a popular design element because it creates interest and complexity to an otherwise banal area. Most textured wallpapers look like fabric, which gives richness to a space. Whether you’re using textured paper on one wall or all the walls in a room, Catherine insists it will make a statement.

Choose Accessories Thoughtfully: It’s always fun when it comes time to accessorize a room, but your selections can make or break the final look. Belle Maison warns to carefully select the accessories for your room.   Instead of several knick-knacks, Catherine suggests finding a few larger statement pieces to incorporate into the space. Additionally, creating a scene with the objects, like that in the image above, makes your accessories look neat and orderly.

Find Fabrics: Don’t shy away from fabrics during the design process. In fact, Belle Maison uses fabrics to cover entire walls in a room when appropriate. Catherine explains that fabric can transform a room’s floor plan to better meet your designing needs. For example, in the image above, Catherine found that the bed worked best between two windows, but she needed to make the wall look uniform before situating the bed. To accomplish this, Catherine placed red fabric over the windows to blend in with the walls so that the area better framed the bed.

Built-ins, built-ins, built-ins: Belle Maison can’t get enough of built-ins. Whether they’re filled with food, kitchen appliances, or design accessories, they always make a space look tailored. Built-ins can also cover up unsightly parts of a room. Believe it or not, the gorgeous built-ins in the kitchen pictured above were used to cover up an unattractive area of that space.

Think Vertically: As is evident in this before and after shot of a bedroom Belle Maison designed, vertical elements can transform a space. Floor to ceiling built-ins are a great way to incorporate them into your design. Tall open shelving or fireplace mantels are just two examples of floor to ceiling built-ins that can make a room appear taller.