Décor Score by Rose Bennett Gilbert

Q: I suck at arranging furniture! Our living room is really big (27 feet by 25 feet), and I have no idea where to begin. We have an extra-long couch and a couple of end tables. Can you get me started, like, where do I begin putting down the furniture?

A: Relax. Furniture arranging is all about common sense, and, obviously, you have enough of that to ask for help. By "common sense," I mean knowing what furnishings you need to make the room work for whoever's going to use it and how they're going to use it.

A few questions that will help you find the right answers: Do you have a large family to accommodate? Do you entertain a lot? Do you find yourself inviting over small or large groups? Are you more or less formal in your lifestyle? These answers will dictate what furnishings you need to best serve those basic needs.

As to your bottom-line question — where do I start? — the common sense answer is with the sofa. It's the largest piece in your arrangement. Make it the centerpiece in a gathering of furniture that includes what other seating pieces you also need to accommodate your family's everyday and your occasional guests' needs.

Once you've settled your sofa and chairs arrangement, begin adding in the satellite pieces that satisfy the comfort quotient: lamp tables and lamps, a sofa-front cocktail table and an area rug to organize the grouping visually.

Next come the accessories. Accessories get a bad name. They are necessities, not ancillary at all. They're to a room what salt and spice are to food: Accessories add life, visual interest and personality.

Consider the room we show here without that drop-dead vintage-looking map of Paris on the wall. Glowing from the picture light mounted above, it not only illuminates the entire room, but it's also the center of attention and what everyone always remembers about that room.

Other unusual accessories — the ornate capital column, the tripod floor lamp, the collection of old weights — confirm the overall attitude of this room. It's both formal, thanks to the symmetry and balance of the furniture arrangement, and slightly, delightfully eccentric (all the furnishings are from Restoration Hardware, restorationhardware.com).

Q: Sat on any milk jugs lately?

A: If you've recently redone your sun porch or an outdoor living area, you may have.

In the ever-growing realm of green furnishings, there's a new contender for eco-plaudits: outdoor furniture made of recycled materials such as plastic and wood. Up to 90 percent of its furniture's content is recycled, says the manufacturer of Trex furniture (trex.com) and that includes virtual mountains of old milk jugs.

Not that you'd guess it from looking. The furniture styles are traditional favorites from Adirondack to country-look rockers, and they're cushioned with high-style fabrics (by Sunbrella) that yawn at the worst weather nature can conjure.

In fact, if you're in the market for more family-living space next spring, spend some time this winter studying new ideas for outdoor decking, also made of recycled plastics. Trex executives say they turned a whopping 3.1 billion plastic bags into decking last year, but you won't recognize your old, plastic throw-aways: They've been upgraded with new wood-grain embossing in a range of seven colors.

.

Rose Bennett Gilbert is the co-author of "Manhattan Style' and six 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. COPYRIGHT 2011 CREATORS.COM.