How to Arrange a Room when You're up Against a Wall that Isn't There by Rose Bennett Gilbert on Creators.com

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How to Arrange a Room when You're up Against a Wall that Isn't There

Q: Our Victorian home has two parlors. They open into each other through a large doorway where there used to be pocket doors — we can see the pockets but some previous owner took out the doors. There is also a doorway into the entry on one wall opposite the fireplace, and a bay window located at the front.

With all these openings, I am having a hard time arranging the furniture. Any help would be appreciated.

A: Where there's a will, there's a wall, to misquote the phrase.

You'll have to arrange your furniture to create the suggestion of a wall. There are a couple of well-tested ways to go about that, each substituting a sofa or love seat for an actual wall.

First idea: Place the sofa across the opening into the second parlor, facing into the front room. If you back the sofa with a narrow table and set a lamp at either end, you will effectively differentiate the two spaces. The sofa/table/lamps arrangement will be the centerpiece of your arrangement. Add a couple of armchairs with a cocktail table — and perhaps an area rug — between, and your space will become a comfortable, self-contained room that focuses in on itself.

Second idea: Same arrangement — sofa across the opening between parlors — but this time, fill the opening literally with a tall standing screen. Jim Hawes, designer with Caldwell Beebe (www.caldwell-beebe.com), used a tall, eight-panel screen to baffle the gaping double door in the pictured room.

Hawes built around a palette of creamy neutrals and understated surprises, such as the celery silk mohair on the sofa and the curtains striped with coral, green and yellow.

Against this sotto voce background, the double helping of sunset colors in the over-mantel paintings adds a welcome touch of spice.

Q: Our new home has ceilings that are 15 feet high in several places — over the dining room table and in the great room are places where I am having problems with decorating. I've hung a really large (3-foot by 5-foot) painting over the sofa, but it just disappears in all that space. What else can you recommend?

A: Large spaces demand large, eye-filling objects. A large tapestry, for example, hung from a decorative metal or wooden rod should look proportionate to your tall ceiling. Or try a collection of artworks in a well-balanced arrangement — that is, compatibly framed and hung close enough together to be seen as a unit. Think "Gestalt," a "unified whole."

There are other ways to bring down the height of an over-high ceiling. Tall pieces of furniture, such as a tall clock, a large bookcase, an armoire or a secretary, will bridge the visual gap. You can also use a hanging light, say, with an opaque shade, dropped low over a dining table or seating group. Its circle of light will claim a cozy, inviting area within the overall space.

Rose Bennett Gilbert is the co-author of "Manhattan Style," "Hampton Style," and five other books on interior design. 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.