Photo by David Michael Miller

Warm up your home with soft colors, natural fabrics and
exotic accessories for a look of modern romance

If your idea of romantic home décor calls for red velvet drapes and rose petals scattered across a gilded canopy bed, please don’t tell David Michael Miller.

“I’m so the antithesis of that,” the designer says. “I’d much rather have a beautiful silk fabric in a beautiful soft texture instead of a roomful of candles – that’s just air pollution to me.”

The interior-decorating guru, well known in Phoenix and Scottsdale for his modern eye, re-imagines “romantic” with a streamlined, 21st-century twist. He says that many designers, in fact, are throwing out old notions of what’s lovely to create a look that is sensual and subtle all at once.

You, too, can introduce a bit of romance into your home without completely changing your style, even if it involves sleek lines and a muted color palette. The marriage of old romance and new design can produce a fetching look.

Color Me Pretty

The best place to start is with a color palette. While red is fine and good, romance doesn’t have to be so obvious. This season’s most romantic color might surprise you.

For the bedroom, Miller suggests sticking with a neutral shade as a backdrop, such as white or beige, and picking a cool accent color, such as blue, green or lavender. (Color experts say that calming colors invite us to kick off our shoes and stay awhile, while loud ones send us running for the door – certainly something to consider when romance is at stake.)

Miller’s firm recently designed a house, featured in Western Interiors, with a master suite decorated entirely in soft creams, aqua and blues.

“Soft blues and soft greens are what’s feeling good to me these days, especially if somebody wants a soft, romantic aesthetic,” Miller says. “I’m Mr. Neutrality, but sometimes that leaves you too dry. I’m in favor of adding soft color, not jarring color.”

Also in the blue color camp is Laurie Lavy, owner of Paris Envy, a Phoenix home décor and gift shop. With the help of a vintage paint chip, she painted her store walls a romantic “French blue.” Soon her customers were asking how to duplicate the romantic color in their homes. Now, she mixes up extra paint and sells it.

“It’s a green-grey-blue… a soft blue that has some green to it,” she says. “We do quite a few pieces [of furniture] in that color. It looks awesome with black, ivory or white.”

Lush Textiles

Once you have the colors down, fabrics are the next step toward creating a cozy haven. We take them for granted, but the weaves of our pillows, sheets, towels and rugs can be the most sensual things in our homes. And they provide the biggest opportunity to take a home from run-of-the-mill to ravishing.

Natural fibers are the most sensual, Miller says. And they just so happen to be fashionable and easy to find right now, thanks to the green movement. He advises buying anything in the linen family, which includes wool, linen, cotton and silk. Stay away from synthetics.

“You can communicate a lot of romance in just the weave of a fabric, a choice between silk and linen,” he says. “To me, romance and sensuality can be expressed in color, material or texture; texture alone can be a very sensual statement.”

Lighting is an important step, too. Restaurant interior designers spend most of their time thinking about lighting; it’s the single most important element when it comes to creating ambiance, making people look good and facilitating comfortable conversation. So why should it be any less important in the home?

Of course, lighting is also trickier today than it was yesterday. The tint on energy-efficient windows can be so thick that it “kills the magic of daylight,” Miller says. And unfortunately, skylights aren’t terribly efficient. Opt for halogen lights for general illumination, supplemented by incandescent table and floor lamps.

“It’s that soft light that is really the mood light,” he adds.