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Give Namby-Pamby Neutrals the Color-Punch of Black
Q: I have always liked living with calm, neutral colors, but lately, I've decided all that beige may just be too bland. Without getting all new furniture (not the year for that!), what can I do to punch up my color scheme (taupe, cream, and beige-…Read more.
How to Make an Attic Bedroom Worth the Climb
Q: My husband's niece will be living with us while she goes to grad school nearby. He has been doing over the attic for her bedroom — paneling the ceiling and putting in a new engineered wood. Now it's my turn to decorate, and I don't know …Read more.
Two Seating Pieces can Double Your Fireplace Pleasure
Q: How should I arrange furniture in a large contemporary living room with a fireplace on one wall adjoining a window on the side wall, with the space open to the dining area? I plan to buy a new sofa, but I have no idea where to position it. We …Read more.
An Open-and-Shut Case For Dressing Doors Differently
Q: Our sun porch has six windows plus a French door that leads out to the patio. My furniture is mostly traditional, so I'm thinking of using pleated draperies on the windows. But what should I do with the door? It opens into the room, so more …Read more.
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Find Tall Furnishings to Scale down a High-Ceiling RoomQ: We are thinking of turning the dining room into a first-floor master bedroom (the dining table will go into the great room). The only trouble is, the dining room has a cathedral ceiling. I'm worried that it will make a bedroom feel too cold. What's your advice? A: There are ways to tame space and still respect the spaciousness of a room. Basic responses to high ceiling include tall furniture, such as a canopy bed with print hangings, ceiling-height bookcases or an overscaled armoire. You can also borrow smart ideas from the pictured bedroom. Designer S. Russell Groves had to handle a soaring ceiling in this bedroom addition to a contemporary home in last year's Hamptons Cottages & Gardens Idea House. His objective is to establish strong vertical lines to tie the floor to the ceiling. His solutions: wood batten strips to add dimension to the wallpaper on the bed wall, a "really fabulous" iron light fixture that joins the two planes visually and the immense 6-foot by 8-foot painting (by Antonio Murado), which is in perfect scale to the size of the room. Groves also uses a neutral soft-gray-into-beige color scheme that both softens the contemporary scene and relates to the Hamptons' famed beaches. A final note, one that you can't see: The entire room is environmentally friendly with features like cork flooring and a rug made of recycled antique kilims. To see more of the designer's work, click on www.srussellgroves.com. Q: Can a table be a table without legs? A: Ask interior designer Kathy Corbet (www.kathycorbetinteriors.com), or better yet, visit her home and look under some of her tables. Instead of ordinary table legs, you'll find a pair of large metal garden urns holding up the glass top of her patio table as well as a matching set of old Singer sewing machines — the pedal model — supporting a dining-table top made of an old beadboard storm door. The sewing machines had to be wired immobile, Corbet confides. More legless tables can be found during Historic Garden Week in Virginia; some of the state's most interesting private homes are open to thousands of visitors. I saw vintage wrought iron balconies, ubiquitous in Paris, tipped up and topped with glass for stupendous dining tables. I spotted a large round of stone fitted with Lucite supports as a cocktail table and two slabs of marble resting over a radiator as a dining room sideboard. Another serendipity from the Garden Week tours — which have happened every April for some 76 years — was the half-round, carved stone column capital that had been fixed to a dining room wall in order to hold a butler's tray for cocktails. I also loved the quartet of wicker chairs on one covered porch; each one painted a different bright color: blue, chartreuse, OSHA yellow and shocking pink. Mark your calendars now for next year's tours and join the crowds who flock to "America's Oldest Open House." You'll pick up clever ideas while helping The Garden Club of Virginia continue to restore historic sites, such as Jefferson's famed serpentine brick walls at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Va. Find information at www.VAGardenweek.org.
Rose Bennett Gilbert is the co-author of "Hampton Style" and associate editor of Country Decorating Ideas. To find out more about Rose Bennett Gilbert and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com. COPYRIGHT 2009 CREATORS SYNDICATE INC. 
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