Plans to improve a boring room

I recently had an appointment with a client who had one of the most boring houses I have ever seen. It was a fairly new house. It had oatmeal colored berber carpeting and builder white walls. They were replacing the furniture soon. The decorating consultation they wanted was for a paint color plan.

Yes, I totally agreed that they needed to add color but the real key element they need was inspiration. If you have a house such as this, what do you do? Well, the first decorating secret is to choose the paint color last. This house needs a coordinating element that will pull all the colors together and make the rooms look coordinated and complete. This element is usually a beautiful rug (yes - place it on top of the boring berber) or a large painting. The rug or painting needs to have a least three different colors in it. That inspiration is where you will find your furniture color, paint color and accent colors.

So by the end of the appointment I gave the client a shopping list not a paint color list. In this case, giving the client not what they asked for but what they need will result in a better room in the end.

Tell me about your plans to make your home no longer boring. What is your inspiration piece?