This email has been sitting in my inbox for a while now.  Melissa sent me her dilemma  for me to answer here on my blog.  I asked her for a few more pictures and some additional information, but perhaps a cyber monster ate it up because I haven’t heard back.  I’m going to address this email anyway and use it as an illustration for what a decorating “typical” Decorate Your Space consultation looks like. (If there WERE such a thing as typical.)

 Here’s the email:

 ”Hi

I have a decorating issue. I’ve attached a photo. I am leasing this house, but I hate the color pallet. There is emerald green tile in front of the fireplace and in front of the door. What color paint should I use if I want to down play the green, and what kind and color of furniture would go as well. I currently have big red furniture, but I am afraid it will look like Christmas all year round, so I am willing to buy something new.

Thanks a bunch.

 Melissa”

Melissa,

 Thank you for reading Design Strategies.  I love it when someone tells me about their decorating dilemma and gives me the chance to solve it. 

If you had hired me to come into your home for a consultation, I would ask you a whole lot of questions.  (I do hope you read this, and answer!) 

1)   What changes are you actually allowed to make?

I am assuming from your email that the owner of the home you are leasing is ok with you painting.  You will be doing her a big favor by bringing this room out of the 80s, but sometimes owners intend to move back into their homes one day and they don’t want anything changed. This is especially true where I live and work, as we have a high number of military families who will one day return to the area.  

The wallpaper border really dates the house.  The first thing I would suggest is to remove it. Now we need to decide what color to repaint the walls.  The high contrast between the tones above and below the chair rail also screams “twenty years ago!”

2)   How old is the current big red furniture?  Does it fit well in the space?  Are you looking for an excuse to buy new?  Is red a color you would choose again? 

If you love your furniture, let’s make it work.  From the picture, the room looks large and will give you plenty of configuring options.

3)   How many people are living with you?  What will the room be used for?  How many of those people will actually be using this room? (I told you there would be a lot of questions!)

4)   What is your style?  Are there other pieces that you own that you want to highlight?  What are your favorite colors?  What colors do you hate?

A lot of these questions I never need to ask.  I can get plenty of information from the client by having them show me around their space and talking to me about the things they own and how they acquired them.  I try to always ask about what the client absolutely does not want as well, as that can be as revealing as it opposite question. 

Since I have none of the answers to the questions, I am just going to wing it.  I am going to give you a palette that suits a variety of tastes, can blend with most shades of red, and will downplay the green in the tile.  I hope your “hate” is not….Neutral.

Without further information, and taking into consideration that you are leasing this house, I will suggest a rich but safe neutral scheme.  Aura Paint in Affinity Colors by Benjamin Moore is my personal favorite right now.  The palette is limited, but gorgeous, and good for situations like this.  (Normally I need every single swatch from the three separate manufacturers’ cases that I would bring to your home to find exactly the right color.)

 Try Carob AF- 160 below the chair rail and Pensive AF-140 above.  These colors are pretty, and will prevent you from having to paint the cream trim.

…Oh but I can’t stop before you get your money’s worth. Funky slightly greenish golds instantly update dated tones of green.  A dark brown as a backdrop for reds?  Perfect.

 Try Wenge AF-180 below the chair rail and Anjou Pear AF-425 above.  If you dare.

My friend-for-life, Betsy, is having her first baby.  She just found out yesterday that it is going to be a boy.  Here is my Congratulations Gift to her: a virtual consultation.  She wrote me yesterday to tell me she didn’t want any kitschy character crap and her hallway upon entering the baby’s room had chocolate walls and vanilla trim.  (Hint Hint, right?)

When I give a client a Design Recap, the copy is formal.  But Betsy is my friend, not my client, and I am posting this on my blog for the world to see.  So just imagine me standing in room with her…

Run out NOW, Betsy, and get the DwellStudio Space Baby Bedding Collection because it is really really super cheap at $64 for Designer Bedding.   They have it at your Target (I checked) but in limited quantities. Plus, its blue and green and should remind you of my dorm at Westminster. (Readers, Betsy and I went to college together, but we go back  waaayyy  before that…) And space stuff is cool, not dumb like trucks or trains. The world needs more scientists. 

The paint swatches are from Benjamin Moore’s new Affinty Colors mixed exclusively in Aura paint.  Aura paint is scrubbable, which is good since you are having a boy, and is environmentally friendly.  It is more expensive, but take my advice.  This high quality paint is worth the few extra dollars.

An outdoor rug will protect your light carpeting, and can be hosed off when the baby has an explosion poop or barfs all over the place.  It doesn’t look like an outdoor rug, does it?  I have had great luck with Home Decorators Collection.  Go for as big as you can afford, but try not to get any smaller than the 5 x 7, which is more than I wanted to find at $169, but remember I saved you a bunch on the bedding.

I love this earth decal.  It’s pretty big at 27 x 27, only $30 and is removeable, so have no fear.  You can use it to point out where mommy and daddy are from.  And teach Biddy Baby how important it is to clean up after your oil spill.

Brown furniture will coordinate well.  I tried to find  something for you on CraigsList, but I wasn’t too successful.  The good thing is you have time to keep checking.  I do love this $99  small dresser from Ikea.  You can use it for a changing table, and buying it will give you a reason to come and see me. I found this crib at Target and it looks pretty nice  for only $149.

NO GLIDERS!  Get a Poang instead.  Plus I really want you to make an Ikea trip so I can rub your baby bump.

The drapery panels are from Pottery Barn Kids.  They are clearanced priced at $49, and if you have only one window, you will need two.  (A panel for either side.) They are Blackout, and if you have a baby that sleeps better in a dark room you will love me forever for suggesting them.  Choose navy in order to avoid Matchy Matchy Syndrome.

Last but not least, understand that every baby’s room needs a little kitsch.  It’s the American Way, Betsy.  This Rocket Lava Lamp is the bomb diggity and only $23!  The green goo sparkles as it warms up.  And when Biddy is the first man on Mars, you can tell him to thank his Aunty Denise.

She is pleased with the result, as she should be.  Her new Kitchen is gorgeous.

I promised my reader, Cyndy, I would give a brief instruction on mosaic tiling.  I must apologize that I can’t pictorially document the process since I don’t have a project before me.  The process is extremely simple, so I don’t think it is necessary.  The difficulty has nothing to do with the execution, and everything to do with the design.

The trick to making a finished piece look good is in the placement of the tiles.  All the grout lines should be the same width, so choosing pieces that fit is the challenging part.  It’s just like working a puzzle. It is necessary to select each piece in relation to the one next to it and place every piece the same distance apart.  Purchasing tile nippers makes this a little easier, because you can cut a small, precisely-sized piece if you need.

Choosing the tile is the most important part of the process.  Making sure all the tiles you select are the same thickness makes the grouting job easier and the end result is much better.   If you use a variety of color and pattern, consider the proportions carefully.  Stepping back and viewing the design every few feet is essential to maintaining even distribution of color, pattern and size. 

Now for the process:  Place a thick towel or blanket on a hard surfaced floor.  (Outside on pavement is safest.)  Wrap a few tiles in the cloth.  Give the package a whap with a hammer.  Continue until you have a nice selection of differently sized shards.  (Just hitting the tiles is dangerous.  Plus it causes the finish of the tile to chip.) 

Using a notched trowel, place an even, thin coat of mastic on the surface to be tiled.  I like to do a few feet at a time, so I can stop when I need.  Applying the mastic over the entire surface is a bad idea because you run the risk of having it dry before you can finish placing your tile. 

Lay each piece carefully by wiggling them gently into the mastic.  If mastic oozes between each piece you have used too much.  Scrape it out neatly, otherwise you will see some messy residue after you have grouted.  Once mastic has dried it is much harder, if not impossible, to remove, so neatness is vital. 

After at least 24 hours, the tile can be grouted.  Follow the mixing instructions on the grout package.  If the grout is too dry or too wet, it will be difficult to work into the spaces.  Use a float to push the grout and be sure every line is completely filled.  WARNING:  The tiles edges are ridiculously sharp.  Expect to cut yourself, even when wearing gloves and being cautious.    

Once every space is filled with grout, you can wash away the excess. Step back and admire your work.

*The edges on mosaics can be sharp.  I helped a friend mosaic her Kitchen table and after we had to have a piece of glass cut to put on top so her little girls wouldn’t cut themselves.

I received a series of emails from Suzy in Maryland yesterday. I will copy the first here:

Denise –

I came across your website looking for ideas for my kitchen/family room.

We are in the process of redoing the kitchen.  The layout of the area is very open and includes the kitchen, a nook for the table, the family room (with a reddish brick fireplace – brick to the ceiling) and a hallway area that connects the kitchen to the ½ bath and foyer.  This hallway area isn’t really a hallway, it is more an extension of the kitchen. The family room is one step down.  The family room has a vaulted ceiling on the fireplace side.

The whole area is southern exposure with lots of windows and tons of light.  The family also has 2 skylights.

The space before had very little color.  White walls with a stenciled design around the top.  Cream sofas with small colored pin stripes. Cream tile floor in the kitchen, light oak cabinets…you get the picture.  BLAH.

My goal was to add lots of color.

The new kitchen cabinets are a medium-maple shade.  The counters are “verde butterfly” granite – a grey/green/blue with black, gold, cream and specs of deep red.  The deep red you really only can see when the light hits it right.  The floor will be a 13 x 13 porcelain tile – colors vary from deep grey to light grey and various shades of beige (i.e. LOTS of variation in the tiles).  The backsplash will be fully tiled with a natural stone tile that is creamy colored.

Now I am trying to decide what to paint the walls.  I have already added a lot of color just with the cabinets, granite and floor.  So perhaps I no longer need to worry about putting lots of color on the walls.  I don’t know whether to paint each distinct area its own color – (1) nook (2) kitchen/hall (3) family room, or if 3 colors is too many, given all the color in the new kitchen.

The colors I am drawn to are earthy reds, greens, tans/browns and golds.  Although the granite has a lot of grey/blue in it, I really do not want grey or blue on the walls.

I would like a bold color in the nook – 3 sides of the nook are all windows (the 4th side being open to the kitchen)…I was thinking of something in the deep red family.  But then I am lost as to what to put in the family room (which has LOTS of wall space) and the “hallway”.

Any advice or ideas?  I can send pictures of the space if that helps.

Thanks-

Suzy in Maryland

Ok, deep breath. This is not as hard as it seems. First off, I want to congratulate you on your Kitchen remodel. You have made some wonderful choices. I am especially delighted in the backsplash. Using a darker tile as a border and then rotating the creamier remainder will be unusual and interesting. And your choice for a variegated tile floor will be very dynamic. 

Your biggest challenge is finding a way to blend the older but still pristine wallpaper with your more current choices. Since the Dining Room wallpaper is so visible from many angles in the Kitchen, it would be a mistake to just ignore it. The good news is the teal tone below the chair rail, though dated, coordinates well with the new granite. The bad news is….the very 90′s burgundy in the stripes make using red virtually impossible. Today’s reds are very “earthen”. In other words, they have a lot of orange in them. Plus, you already have a lot of tones of red: in the brick fireplace, in the cabinets and, of course, in the wall paper.

 My solution would be to paint the Eat-in Nook, which butts to the exigent wallpaper, Waterbury Green. (HC-136 from Benjamin Moore). This tone is bluer than the sage green choices you already tried, but it will act as a perfect connector to from the old to the new. Plus, it is really beautiful. I believe it will draw some color out of the granite and will harmonize perfectly with the orange undertone in the cabinet and the teal in the wallpaper.

The Kitchen proper, and the hallway containing the Mudroom and Half Bath should be a soft but strong gold. Try Henderson Buff (Benjamin Moore HC-15). A soft gold that is not too yellow or bright will set a perfect note that allows the cabinets to sing. The cabinets should steal the show here, not the wall color. (Ok, enough with the theatre metaphors.) You should also sample Summerdale Gold (Benjamin Moore HC-17) since there is a lot of light entering the room. Repaint all the trim and doors and ceilings white. My favorite is Cloud White OC-130.

Now for the finale. Oh no, I said I was done with the metaphors…I want you to paint the Family Room a deep rich brown. Don’t be scared! This will be stunning. You have all the elements to make it work— A tall vault in the ceiling, skylights, and a pair of glass doors. Use Middlebury Brown (HC-68, also Ben Moore). This brown has enough red it in to make it lively, and will bridge the three colors of tile and the accent stain in the ridges on the cabinets with the reds in the brick on the fireplace. If facing the fireplace, paint the wall to the right brown all the way to where it ends on the short wall to the left of the refrigerator. All sides of this short wall will be gold. You can decide which of the three colors you would like on the half wall on the back of the second island.

Bold reds aren’t forever gone. They can be added back in on furnishings and in accessories. I would love to see a huge piece of art on the long Family Room wall with brighter, bolder tones of all the colors we used.

Thanks for writing, Suzy! Remember to send pictures of the “After”!

I received this email on Friday:

Hello Denise,

First of all, let me say, your ideas are just wonderful!!! The site is so very helpful for me and my friends when we re-decorate our place/ move to a new place!!

I recently moved to a bigger place and have been wondering about an used TV space in the living room since then! This is above our normal eye level while sitting and hence we are not using it to keep our TV. Now this space originally intended for usage for keeping TV is left useless, and I really don’t have any idea at all as to what needs to be done! Its about 45 inches x 45 inches in height and width, and is about 25 inches to the inside. Below this space is a shelf which we are using for keeping the cable devices.

Could you tell me what can be possibly done for this, it would be really great to hear from experts!

Hoping to see a reply soon!

Warm Regards,
Rosh

Well, Rosh, I can certainly relate to your issue, since I HAVE THAT VERY SAME THING AT MY HOUSE!  I guess I understand why it became popular for builders to create this stupid box on the wall.  Only a few short years ago, televisions were giant, deep square behemoths.  Someone must have had the brilliant idea to create a hole in the wall to hide their girth.  And this was accomplished most easily by placing it above the fireplace.  I am sure at first it was the hot new thing, judging by the high end model homes who were touting this as a desirable upgrade.

Well, televisions are now high definition, slim and rectangular, and above the fireplace is the worst possible place to put them, so  we decorators must deal. 

The space is deep, and putting anything inside it pushed all the way to the back will look odd.  I purchased this shelf unit at Pier 1 for like 60 bucks when I first moved into my condo.  The dimensions make it not an exact fit, but I think it is close enough.  I put on it  three little pieces of pottery that I got at Ikea for a buck each, and it has remained this way for 2 ½ years. 

So creating a shelving unit is the first option, but a crazy second would be to hide it with a massive piece of art.  (You may need to place something in the opening for support, like a heavy box…hey you just found a little extra storage space!)  An interesting work of art at 4 feet square would certainly create a dramatic focal point.

And finally, to be honest, if I could, I would simply dry wall the whole thing, remove the incredibly tacky electric fireplace and forget about it.

Hi Denise
I have noticed a lot of photographs lately on the decorating blogs of books displayed by color on shelves.  What do you think about this?  Thanks for taking the time to answer, Jesse

Well, Jesse, I’ve seen a lot of this, too.  We must be reading the same stuff!  This picture made the blog rounds many times.  Whoever did this certainly caused an uproar!

I decided to go around my house and take random pictures of a few of the millions of stacks of books I have.  It is hard not to notice that I tend to do this.  Not as rigidly as the picture, mind you, but certain colors tend to–congregate.  I can’t really help myself. 

Dear Denise,

I have a family room in the basement that I have a definite dilemma when deciding how to decorate. There is a ledge around the entire room – about 4 feet high and 12 inches deep in addition to baseboard heating around the room. I’m not sure how to address the ledge. I also have another dilemma – pertaining to the colors. it’s a large space, and we have a wood stove. The windows are hidden behind bushes in the yard and not much light penetrates. it’s a drop ceiling and putting a sheetrock ceiling is somewhat out of the question because we need access to a variety of pipes, cleanouts, electrical boxes in the ceiling. Basically – I need light, but painting a light color seems out of the question. The wood stove would cause a light color to look dirty in no time.

Any suggestions?

Basements can be dark, gloomy places with their low ceilings and lack of natural light. Creating a happy, friendly space can be a challenge.

Since adding a drop ceiling is not an option, I would suggest painting the current ceiling and everything on it pure white. Everything. This is a very time consuming job, but I have a client who spent a few weekends doing so to great success. (If you are ever going to hire a painter-this would be the time!) I have also seen this done with matte black paint. The effect was really dramatic at first, but soon all the tops of the pipes and trusses were covered with a thick, ugly layer of dust.

Consider painting out the area around the wood stove an accent color. Measure out a proportional area, tape it off and paint it a rich, strong color. Try a deep ash gray to camouflage the ashes and soot. Consider Natural Gray VM 78 from Ralph Lauren Paints. The rest of the room can now be painted a bright, light tone. Try something with a bit of pink such as Cameo Pink VM 41 also by Ralph Lauren. Whisper soft pinks can glow in low light conditions and when paired with deep ash gray the pink will look more sophisticated than childish.

Concerning the rather odd ledge, do you need to address it all? Have you attempted to ignore it altogether? The ledge is at the height and is deep enough to be used as a shelf, so I imagine it becomes a catchall for clutter. If so, consider designating a just few areas to be used as shelves. Place baskets, magazine files or whatever will corral your particular clutter in these areas and discipline yourself and your family to use them.

Suppress the urge to slam your furniture up against the walls, shotgun style. Create separate, floating areas instead. Situate the conversation area near the wood stove and recall the days when life revolved around the hearth.

We are having our first snowfall in over a year, so my later appointment to work on basement window treatments was postponed.  So instead I draw from my inbox. 

I received an email from a reader asking me for help with her decorating dilemma. 

Denise,
Can you help me with the design for the front door in my living room? I have no foyer and the room is long and narrow.
Thank you,
Jill in Mass

I assume from your note that when you enter your home, you walk directly into the Living Room. This is an awkward setup visually and well as functionally. I am going to assume that there is a coat closet nearby.  But I realize that here in the metropolitan Washington DC region there are hundreds of thousands of townhouses with entrances directly into the living space and no coat closets whatsoever.

Tidiness is of the upmost importance here. Use the closet to hang coats and place a basket on a shelf for hats, scarves and gloves. And add a small cabinet to house any miscellaneous items and place a tray or another basket on the top for items often dumped at the door, like keys and mail. Whatever you do, tame the beast that throws coats on the sofa!

Since your Living Room is long and narrow, paint out a foyer. Use good quality painters tape to mask off an area near the door three or four feet on either side. Paint this “Faux Foyer” an accent color. Choose something bold and dramatic. Just be sure your color harmonizes with the current Living Room scheme. This could be the perfect spot to try a graphic wallpaper.

Consider purchasing a console table. Try something like the Pia Table from Crate and Barrel, which looks attractive from all sides. To create a visual break, place it perpendicular to the wall at the edge of the painted out area. Avoid placing a lot of items here, but fresh flowers or a potted plant will add life and energy.

Finally, paint your door and add it to your cleaning routine. Because it is a visible element in your living space, it must be maintained like any other structure there.

Denise,

Where should I place my area rug? In front of sofa or love seat? Both are against a wall with an entrance between them.

It sounds to me like your arrangement needs to be reworked.  An entrance between in the center of a grouping is a sure conversation killer.  Do you have your furniture up against opposite walls?  Move them so they are perpendicular instead. 

Perhaps the sofa can remain on the wall and the love seat can be move to one side of it to create an L.  It now becomes obvious where the rug belongs.  Place it in front of the sofa.  (Hopefully it is large enough to have at least the front legs of both pieces on it.  If not, consider replacing it.)  The rug serves to designate the space as one for “sitting together”.   Notice, too, how welcoming the room feels when you enter.  The new arrangement calls you in by providing a cozy seat in your line of sight. 

Before:

After: