5 Ways Designers Are Making Statement Decor Fit In and Stand Out

The bold seating choice means her designer, Crystal Sinclair, needs to tweak her game plan. To play on the sofa, Mrs. Sinclair created a luxurious black and white color scheme around the sofa and striped ceiling. Getting the perfect shade of pillows and making sure the green and white ceiling lines look straight from below required trial and error. “We really had to work with her,” says the designer from Tuxedo Park, New York.

Homeowners—easy customers ever—seem more determined than ever to put their favorite bold pieces front and center as they redecorate their homes, thanks in part to easy access to ever-increasing options. This reality has its designers—who used to have the last word—sharpening one of their least favorite tools: the leveling.

These homeowners are taking the buy now, think later approach, and leaving it up to the experts to work their magic, says Anthony Barzilay Freund, managing editor at 1stdibs, a vintage furniture and decor website.

Internet searches for “statement pieces” have increased 15% since last year, with furniture categories such as Japonisme, Rococo, Art Deco and Space Age gaining ground, according to 1stdibs data. “People are fascinated by something that has really cool streaks or a slightly awful color,” says Mr. Barzilai Freund. “They want a piece that isn’t necessarily pretty or polite, but it’s kind of a talking point.”

Here’s how some designers work to incorporate essential elements for their clients:

Bold sitting

New York-based interior designer Elena Frampton says she’s making more requests to add unique and colorful seating, rather than the more common boxy furniture, to main living areas. The large, curved or rounded pieces that are in demand now tend to work best in larger rooms or open-concept living areas combined with a mix of geometric furniture, she says.

For a recent project, figuring out where to place a Verner Panton-designed Cloverleaf sofa in her client’s Manhattan home took weeks of nearly experimenting with configurations, says Ms. Frampton. The $17,400 modular sofa with three distinct curves and seats on either side was too upright for reclining. “It feels like something you could have in a hotel lobby,” says Ms. Frampton.

In the end, Ms. Frampton decided to add seating near a floor-to-ceiling window that borders the living room in the space. The sofa allows the owner to use it for entertaining but leaves room for a more practical and comfortable seating nook surrounding a coffee table. She added a bold mix of shapes, including a coral-toothed sculpture, so the piece wouldn’t stand out in the main living areas. “Even on projects where we have carte blanche, there’s always one wild card,” she says.

legacy statement

Stylist Keren Richter, of White Arrow in New York, says beloved pieces that have been passed down through generations are a sensitive topic because of the added emotional value and the client’s attachment to a particular item. When her client loves heirloom style, she often uses it as a starting point and makes sure the piece stands out within the room rather than being “covered with pillows.” When planning, you include images of the item in the client’s inspiration boards along with any other pre-selected home features, including moldings, entryways, and floors.

Recently, Ms. Richter created a room highlighting a rare 60-year-old George Nakashima coffee table. The designer combined a mid-century wood plank, a V-shaped table with natural fibers and a hanging branch. “There’s a sense of movement and nature in that space, but it’s also clean and modern,” says Ms Richter.

Table owner Sandra Chapont says it’s important that the eye turns directly to the piece in the center of the room. She still remembers tagging with her dad to buy the table in 1962 for $225. Similar products now sell for more than $30,000.

“I wanted it to stand out,” says the attorney who worked with Ms. Richter to design her holiday home on Martha’s Vineyard. “It’s the most important piece of furniture I have.”

Unique lighting

Los Angeles-based designer Jhoiey Ramirez says incorporating Old Hollywood lights and a tripod into her client’s home without feeling overly pretentious took a bit of fiddling. A 1930s Mole Richardson Type 210 lamp, which her client bought stained and broken, took months to restore and cost $5,500. Once that was done, he asked Mrs. Ramirez to find a place that would highlight the magic.

“He ordered it and it’s like, ‘Make this work,'” she says.

Originally, the light was for the living room, but the fireplace and other things made it feel cluttered, she says. “She would have gotten lost in the living room, there were a lot of artifacts,” she says, pointing to his collection of antique items.

Instead, light from the corner of the bedroom delights and stands out among more organic materials, including a wooden platform bed and built-in shelving. “When you open the door, you see it immediately; there is nothing to distract you,” she says.

Organizing groups

When working on what she calls a “sophisticated hunting lodge” outside of Cotola, Texas, designer Anne Grandinette wasn’t prepared for the sheer number of deer head stands popping up on the site. In all, Ms. Grandinetti, designer at Mark Ashby Design in Austin, combined more than 30 deer head holders while leaving room on the wall for the collection to grow. (The kit costs $30,000, or roughly $1,000 per install.)

To prevent deer from overwhelming the space, she added stands to the wide foyer with a 14-foot-high ceiling that spans the entire 11,000-square-foot home, with select pieces placed in other rooms. She kept the lobby walls and floor space sparse, while adding custom brass lighting made by local craftsmen.

“We tried to spray it and spread it outside, so it didn’t feel like a taxidermy parlor,” says Ms. Grandinetti.

Homeowner Rod Meijer, 64, a retired real estate appraiser, says his goal was to showcase both white-tailed and exotic deer species without resorting to dark, traditional farm décor.

“I wanted it to be clean,” says Mr. Meijer of his eight-bedroom, 10-bathroom home, which was completed in 2019.

Dramatic wall art

After Miami-based designer Brittany Farinas saw a piece of art that her client asked to incorporate into his home, she wasn’t sure where to fit it. Signed by photographer Terry O’Neill, a large-format photography of actress Raquel Welch partially dressed on a cross will be the centerpiece of any room.

“It’s different and very special,” Ms Farinas says of the photo, which was originally taken as part of a series of teasers for the 1966 movie “One Million Years BC” but was never used.

In the end, Ms. Farinas found space for a $10,500 photograph on a bedroom wall, adding accents of black and dark granite throughout the room. “I wanted to bounce back from what that piece of art is, it’s dark and moody,” she said of the room’s decor. Adding a bold piece of art, she says, helps separate the bed visually from the sitting area and dry bar nook at the far end of the room.

Not all designers are eager to fulfill orders. Recently, Mrs. Sinclair, of Tuxedo Park, New York, turned down a client with a piece of art she didn’t like. She said she felt very loud. Instead of taking on the project, she referred the person to a design colleague who would appreciate the style better. “Sometimes it’s an expression of how we’re going to communicate,” she says.

write to Alina Dizik at alina.dizik@wsj.com