I can look at a photo and the dimensions of any piece and tell you if it's going to sit well with the four other pieces in your room.
There weren't any curtains in the windows, and the books that didn't fit into the bookshelf lay piled on the floor like a bunch of intellectual refugees.
There are many nations that have perfected a particular room. You know, you have the French drawing-room, the Austrian ball room, the German dining room, and I think the library is a room the English get right.
I used to love a well-arranged room: the furniture, the fabric, the lighting.
Decorators never quite saw the point of massing books. Books brought colour to a room and filled it up, but shelves bearing just one thing struck them as a decorative display opportunity tragically lost.
We need to pay attention to the whole space - every room, chair and table - so it feels uplifting and inspiring.
This is so lame to say in a magazine, but I just grabbed some pink wallpaper. I find it to be a very relaxing color.
If you have white walls, human beings look better in a room than if you have red walls.
What I am after is the first impression - I want to show all one sees on first entering the room - what my eye takes in at first glance.
I have a dining room done in different shades of white, with white cushions embroidered in yellow silk: the effect is absolutely delightful and the room beautiful.
A common mistake people make regarding dining rooms is to buy a matching set of table and chairs, which can be monotonous. I like to mix guest chairs in one style and head chairs in another for a more interesting, dynamic look.
One of the biggest mistakes people make when hanging curtains is hanging them too low. It can make a room feel really shrimpy to hang the curtain rod just above the window moldings. Go all the way up to just below crown moulding or below the ceiling if there is no crown.
