Selecting an area rug for a room with a sofa or sectional is not as straightforward as finding the right size rug for under a dining room table or bed.  There are more variables involved in deciding on the carpet size that works best for your seating area.  Some very basic guidelines apply, but even [...]

One of my early jobs after grad school landed me in the Old Master Painting department of an auction house. I had just left a marquee contemporary New York art gallery with live artists and a vibrant scene and suddenly was thrust into the world of paintings by long-dead Europeans based on historical, allegorical, classical [...]

America’s decorator-in-chief Michael S. Smith surely must be recession-proofing his White House purchases. But across the pond, a couple of longtime clients from L.A. — naturally, we smell movie money — gave America’s top designer a mere six months to decorate their London flat as “a home of connoisseurship in which the likes of Noel [...]

Hanging Robe
Take your love of interior decorating to the walls with Artist Victoria Molinelli’s “The Exotic Series” watercolor renderings of vintage home interiors.  I’m most captivated by the details in the image above, especially the way light from the window shines upon the roll top desk and the reflection of a painting in the mirror,   [...]

The recent House Beautiful spread on the room designed by Bunny Williams for this year’s Kips Bay showhouse [above] may have caused a stir for its style but something in that room (no, not the red egg chair!) caught my attention. It was the kantha throw atop this dining table.
Traditionally made by women in India [...]

Plummy purples and  sang-de-boeuf reds are some of the dark, warmly romantic colors being touted as fashionable by trend spotters and solution-dispensing experts whose purpose in life seems to make many of us feel  we are  “so last year” as far as our houses are concerned.
At those moments (one occurred yesterday while reading about a [...]

There’s something about repainting the bedroom that heightened my sensitivity to accent walls. “Well, duh,” you may be thinking. It wasn’t that obvious to me since I was mainly focused on finding a fresh color without making radical changes in the headboard or bedding.
Also, I’ve seen so many hideous painted, patterned or textured bedroom walls [...]

When San Francisco designer Susan Harris remodeled this California bathroom, she did so around the theme Bath Time!  The graphic style of the homeowner’s own rug is a terrific example of incorporating a patterned area rug in lieu of a solid color bath mat.  It also illustrates the impact achieved by accessorizing with the right [...]

I thought we would have a bit of fun shopping this week. While the selections may not be up your decorating alley, you have to admit they are entertaining! The mesmerizing cutting board reminds me of the metal spinning tops we played with as children. The multi-colored glass is heat resistant, so it can also [...]

Simple, luxurious and perfectly planned down to the last tiny detail, this contemporary kitchen with its glorious book-matched sustainable Eucalyptus veneer cabinets manages to be both exciting and serene.
While it’s true that the stainless steel lining of the stove cove requires considerable maintenance, the workability shines through. There is acres of prep area on the [...]

Beach house white. Cottage white. Stark white. Winter white. Snow, milk or chalk. No matter what the style of a room, or which words are used to evoke the almighty absence of color, white rooms are the greatest shape-shifters of all. Some call them stark. Others find them soft. True, they’re not for everyone and [...]

To all our blog pals visiting for Metamorphosis Monday, welcome!  If you haven’t had time (what other reason could there be?) to read my bio, I am the Rug Guru Jane T. of Atticmag.  Rugs are in my blood.  So are decorating and design.  I also have an insatiable curiosity.  You never know what my [...]