Decorating by the book By Mary Vinnedge / Staff Writer of The Dallas Morning News IN PRINT Use What You Have Decorating (Putnam, $26 hardback) identifies 10 mistakes that doom a room. Then author Lauri Ward tells how to dodge or undo those decorating disasters. Ms. Ward, a member of the American Society of Interior Designers, encourages the decorator to take a fresh look at each wall within a room and appraise the elements to decide what stays, what goes and what should be added. The method, almost a paint-by-number approach, is so easy a rookie can create a respectable layout. And it's sophisticated enough thatit- yourself decorators will benefit, too. In case studies, Use What You Have Decorating shows black-and-white before and after photos as well as overhead floor plans. The differences are dramatic. Ms. Ward gives clues to identifying the mistakes in the before rooms. Then she lists furnishings that are kept, removed, borrowed from other rooms, and purchased; often nothing is purchased. Most of the mistakes are common sense and/or decorating wisdom you've heard or read many times. But goof No. 5 on her list, furniture of different heights (she calls it the "roller-coaster effect") is less of a universal truth and possibly trickier to cure. After all, in a smallish family room, isn't the shelving for the television and audio equipment likely to go vertical and be taller than seating? Aren't lamps expected to soar above the seating? Ms. Ward offers tips for balancing the tall furnishings. One way is with artwork hanging above the shorter pieces. Or if a sofa and other seating pieces are shorter than a solitary wingback chair, she suggests isolating the tall piece - perhaps to a corner or on a wall by itself - to minimize the height difference. The other nine mistakes are: * Not defining your priorities. Analyze needs, balanced with financial realities (keep spending minimal if you're moving, for example, to determine what's doable. A priority questionnaire prompts the reader to consider: pets and children in the house, a work-at-home area, storage and comfort. * An uncomfortable conversation area. Often, this is because seating is so far apart that folks would have to yell to be heard. * Poor furniture placement. In siting furniture, go with the natural traffic flow and allow proper clearance. To determine flow, consider routes between doors. * A room that is off-balance. If all the heavy pieces (upholstered seating, large case goods and pianos, for example) anchor only one wall or two adjacent ones, the room will seem to tilt. Balance can be restored by distributing heavy pieces more evenly; often this means pulling objects away from the wall. * A room that lacks a cohesive look. The biggest principle Ms. Ward preaches here is how "pairs create instant cohesion." Although the author strongly advocates the use of matching lamps, she doesn' t necessarily mean that everything has to have its exact twin. Instead, pairs may be chairs of similar weight and pictures with similar matting and frames. * Ignoring a room's focal point. A focal point must dominate one wall, Ms. Ward says. Often, she corrects furniture placement that doesn't give a fireplace its due. And she creates a focal point - a picture grouping above a sofa, for instance - if the empty room lacks one. * Improper use of artwork. The usual mistake is hanging art too high above its anchoring piece of furniture. Other errors include hanging small art in a wide-open space or too much art (Ms. Ward advocates one art-free wall per room to let the eye rest) or hanging art in a jagged array (instead, align the bottoms of horizontal pictures within a grouping). Ms. Ward also advocates a careful combination of horizontal and vertical art; she doesn't mix mediums - for instance, watercolors and oils - within a grouping. * Ineffective use of accessories. Ms. Ward stresses that less is more. Her strategy is to empty rooms of knickknacks and critically examine what has been taken out. Display only the pieces that matter most in terms of decor or sentiment. Ms. Ward also tells how to show them at best advantage. * Using lighting incorrectly. Use bright bulbs and recognize the limitations of individual types of lighting. For example, many chandeliers light only the ceiling. These mistakes, along with detailed fixes, make up the first 10 chapters of the book. Chapter 11 focuses on the shell of a dwelling, its walls, floors and windows. Chapter 12 gives tips for fine-tuning the decor in specific rooms. BANISHING ACTS Near the end of her new book, Use What You Have Decorating, author Lauri Ward lists these 10 elements to eliminate from rooms: * Lucite frames. Use anything but; they do nothing to enhance a picture. * Refrigerator magnets. They make a kitchen look messy. * Cluttered windowsills. Leave the windowsills clear. Exception: indoor flower boxes. * Doilies. Whether crocheted or linen, remove these dust collectors. * Patterned and colored toilet tissue, napkins and paper towels. Plain white won't intrude on your style. * Big audio speakers. If they're on the floor, they're too big. Buy small white speakers to mount in corners near the ceiling. * Cute bathroom bric- a-brac. Use only things that add to the desired light-and-pristine look. * The same rug, wallpaper or fabric in more than one room. Each should be an original. * Liquid detergent bottles on kitchen counters. Use a built-in sink dispenser or a stainless-steel pump container. * Do-not-remove tags on toss pillows. It's safe to discard them. sins, including furniture of different heights, awkward conversation area, lack of cohesion and poor use of artwork. 2. After: Isolating the tall armoire and wingback chair and adding a tall piece of art minimizes furniture height differences. Two dining-room chairs enhance the reconfigured conversation zone. CHART: BANISHING ACTS ; LOCATION NOTE: These photos were not sent to the library for archiving. © 1998 The Dallas Morning News All Rights Reserved Mary Vinnedge / Staff Writer of The Dallas Morning News, Decorating by the book., 10-16-1998, pp 1G. |