home design ideas

Instead of the usual coffee table, try a pedestal table at tea height. Its more versatile you can even pull up a few chairs and eat at it. And the scale and height creates a different landscape in the room, which is much more interesting.

Dont dismiss your ceiling with a coat or two of white paint. The least you can do is tint it with a dollop or two of your wall color. Or paper it with pattern. Or make a sky of golden stars with rubber stamps and a metallic ink pad.

Ive always collected textiles, and you can make a fast, easy change with bedding, towels, and table linens to create a different mood. Switch things out seasonally, or for a special event, or whenever you want to play with a certain color or pattern.

Collect small succulents and pot them in an assortment of vintage ceramics. Line them up on a sunny windowsill. Forget to water them, and watch them grow.

Add a splash of red to your room. It could be a lampshade, a cushion, a carpet with some red in the pattern. Red is so uplifting.

I love black and white photography, and often mix my own photos in with a known artists work. I even added black linen pillows to my sofa to echo the photography and create a more graphic look.

Put a striped rug over your solid color carpet to create a new feeling in any room.

Paint the inside of your lampshades a very pale pink. This will combat the cool light from those green fluorescent corkscrew bulbs.

Buy lampshades in unusual shapes. Have them made out of fabric that will cast a glow. I also love the look and texture of brown string shades from justshadesny.com. Change the color of the light by buying bulbs in amber or pink.

Wallpaper a closet. A linen closet only needs a couple of rolls and you will feel sheer joy every time you open it.