Ornare Living · Home & Garden Guide
Small Changes, More Character: 6 Ways to Refresh Your Home
A room rarely needs a full overhaul to feel new. More often it needs one considered swap in the right place — a printed towel, a quilted runner, a striped quilt, a lamp — and the patience to leave everything else alone.
A room can feel completely different after three small changes. Nothing dramatic happens — a printed towel goes up where the morning light lands, a runner appears on a bare dining table — but your eye has somewhere new to land, and the mood of the room shifts with it.
That is the appeal of small-scale decorating: you are not redoing a room, you are adjusting its rhythm one beat at a time, and each change is small enough to happen. The six ideas below run from the kitchen counter to the reading corner, and each one comes with a tip you can use whether or not you buy anything.
One note before you start: the six pieces below were found in the Ornare Living Home & Garden collection and in the store’s US market catalog when this guide was assembled. Catalog inclusion does not establish live inventory, shipping to every address, delivery timing, or current prices. Every button here opens a product listing so you can check current details before ordering.
01 · Kitchen textiles
Give the kitchen one color note
In a working kitchen, the easiest place to add color is where your hand already goes. A tea towel gets picked up, moved, and displayed dozens of times a day, making it one of the most efficient decorative objects in the house — and it never reads as decoration.
The Apple Orchard cotton tea towel shows why a printed towel does more work than a solid one: colorful birds, apples, flowers, foliage, and butterflies run across a white ground, so it reads like a small piece of illustrated art while the white background keeps a modest kitchen calm.
Lift one color out of the print and repeat it once elsewhere — a terracotta mug, a muted green vase, a wooden board. One repeated color separates a considered update from an impulse buy.
- Material100% cotton
- Size18 inches wide by 28 inches high
- CareMachine washable
- DetailsHanging loop, full-coverage print
02 · The sink area
Let a utility item do double duty
The counter beside the sink is the most-used surface in most kitchens and the one most often left bare — a good place to let a functional object carry the color scheme.
The Farm Stand dish drying mats are a set of two microfiber mats, each 16 by 20 inches, and they double as a pattern piece: a colorful fruit-and-vegetable print that suits a kitchen with wood, tile, or a quiet counter. They fold flat for storage, so one can live by the sink while the other waits in a drawer.
The listing specifies countertop use with unheated dishes, utensils, and glassware, and the mats are designed to cushion what you set down on them — so plan for washed items rather than hot cookware, and machine wash them on rotation.
- SetTwo microfiber dish drying mats, 16 by 20 inches each
- CareMachine washable, foldable for storage
- UseDesigned to cushion dishes and glassware
03 · Tabletop
Set the table without a redesign
If a dining table feels unfinished, the quickest fix is usually horizontal. A runner down the center breaks up a wide expanse of wood and gives a centerpiece somewhere to sit.
The Enchanted Meadow runner is quilted microfiber with a floral pattern on both sides, so the second face is a free change of mood. Sizes are listed at 13 by 54 inches and 13 by 72 inches.
Measure before you choose. Both are 13 inches wide, so the real decision is drop: the shorter option leaves a modest overhang, the longer one more, and the right amount depends on your table and how often people sit at the ends. Keep the rest of the setting simple so the pattern stays the event.
- MaterialQuilted microfiber
- DesignReversible, floral on both sides
- Sizes13 by 54 inches; 13 by 72 inches
- CareMachine washable
- PaletteBeige, rose, and soft green tones
04 · Living space
Add one tactile accent to a quiet sofa
Some rooms are calm to the point of being flat: neutral upholstery, cotton throws, no pile, no shine. That kind of room does not need more pattern — it needs one object with a different surface for the hand to find.
The Jewel Tones emerald faux fur pillow cover is that object. It measures 18 by 18 inches and is made of polyester faux fur, with a scalloped textured design in emerald, teal, and blue tones. Against a quiet sofa or a reading chair, one saturated accent reads as deliberate.
Two notes. This is a cover, not a filled throw pillow, so plan on an 18-by-18-inch insert you already own or buy separately. And if the room already has strong color, repeat something small in it rather than adding a third competing accent.
- ItemDecorative pillow cover, insert not included
- Size18 by 18 inches
- MaterialPolyester faux fur
- DesignScalloped texture in emerald, teal, and blue
05 · Bedding
Build a bedroom palette from stripes
Stripes are the easiest pattern to build a room around, because they arrive with a built-in palette. A striped quilt in desert tones — clay, sand, rust, muted olive — hands you colors you can reuse elsewhere in the room.
The Southwest Horizons quilt set is that kind of starting point: a Southwest-inspired striped design in desert tones, with a cotton face, microfiber backing, and polyester fill. It is machine washable, with tumble drying on low, and includes a quilt with coordinating pillow shams — the number of shams varies with the size you select.
Because the quilt is reversible, the reverse gives you a second look from the same piece. Treat the shams as shams — they usually cover a pillow you already own.
- DesignSouthwest-inspired stripes in desert tones
- ConstructionCotton face, microfiber backing, polyester fill
- CareMachine washable, tumble dry low
- IncludesQuilt and coordinating pillow shams
06 · Lighting
Give a reading corner a focal point
A reading corner comes down to three things: somewhere to sit, a surface within reach, and a light low enough to take the glare off a page. When the light is right, the corner becomes a destination, and it usually needs one object that says “sit here” more than a bigger chair.
The Glowing Cabin table lamp is that kind of object. The base is wrought iron in a burnt sienna brown finish with a cabin-and-tree scene, and the shade is painted parchment with pinecone detailing, so the light it throws feels warm and layered against wood, leather, or warm-toned walls.
Before you buy, confirm the bulb type, wattage, and any electrical specifications on the listing, along with what is included. If you already own a lamp that works, this may be the piece that changes the mood of the corner rather than the light itself.
- BaseWrought iron
- FinishBurnt sienna brown
- SceneCabin and trees
- ShadePainted parchment with pinecone detailing
07 · Before you buy
Where to start: a short checklist
One change at a time works better than six at once. Run this list before you order, whether you buy one of the pieces above or something else entirely.
- 1Find the focal point. Stand in the room and notice where your eye lands first. Start there.
- 2Choose one surface, not one room. A counter, a table, a sofa, a bed, a corner. Small changes stack better than big ones.
- 3Settle color or texture first. Pattern is easier to add once the palette is decided.
- 4Measure before you order. Table length and overhang, an 18-by-18-inch insert, and the reach of your reading chair all matter.
- 5Keep the surrounding space quiet. A new accent looks intentional when it is not competing with three others.
- 6Check the listing on the day you buy. Price, availability, shipping to your address, and care details change.
Then make one change and live with it for a week before the next. Rooms usually improve by editing, not by shopping.