Date:  January 26, 2010  |   Story: Diane Carroll  |  

For product designer Brad Beach, identifying trends and refining home décor ideas is a daily practice. As the senior product development director for Walmart’s Mainstays and Home Trends lines, he travels the world, visiting stores and trade shows in search of fresh designs. Those concepts weave their way into his work, and often influence his own home as well. “My style continues to evolve,” says Beach, “because of the ongoing exposure to great design ideas.”

While individual items may come and go, the overall concept for Beach’s home interiors remains the same. “I have always loved mixing prints, patterns and textures, all held together by a tight color palette,” he says. “Done the right way, it’s a timeless look.”

At his 1920s-era Fayetteville residence, which Beach purchased three years ago, that meant choosing a few paint colors and using them continuously. “It’s not a big house, and I knew it would flow better if I settled on a color story and used it throughout the spaces,” he adds. Working with North Carolina-based decorator Bill Crowder, who helped Beach at his previous residences, they selected a variety of shades of blue for the living and dining areas.

Beginning with a basic gray color for the walls, they layered on blue patterns and prints—a navy chinoiserie-style wallpaper in the dining room, accented with navy and white plaid draperies, a light blue printed fabric for window treatments in the living spaces, followed by furnishings in a range of blues with hints of both pink and red. “Blue is fresh and timeless,” says Beach. “Plus all the shades work well together and it’s easy to accent with reds, browns and other colors.”

With these bright colors in the living areas downstairs, Beach sought a calmer, more soothing and cozy atmosphere for the bedrooms upstairs. To achieve that effect, he and Crowder chose tones of brown for the walls and bedding in the master suite and guest rooms. “To me, the dark walls are restful and sophisticated,” says Beach. On top of the basic brown, he added his characteristic mix of patterns—from plaid and printed draperies framing the bed in the master suite, to toile bedding and curtains in one guest room, to a plaid upholstered daybed topped with chinoiserie-influenced pillows in another.

That blend of color and pattern, says Beach, achieved the eclectic look he had in mind. “You can mix a wide variety of styles,” he adds, “as long as you use harmonious colors to hold them all together.”

Design Resources

Contractor Mike Pennington, Fayetteville
Interior design Crowder Designs, High Point, North Carolina
Fabrics Larry’s Inc., Little Rock
Furnishings Bear-Hill Interiors, Little Rock; Rye Fine Furniture, North Little Rock; White Furniture, Benton
Paint Benjamin Moore, locations statewide
Window treatments Mary Rice, Fayetteville