Designer Secrets

Here are some designer secrets as featured in House Beautiful May 2012 issue.  Happy decorating!

- If you're going to paint the walls white, you need art.

- When you're hanging a series of pictures together, keep the gap between then 2" to 2 1/2" to really utilize the wall space, and keep a minimum of 9" between the art and tops of sofas and chairs.

- If you have a painting that looks too small above your sofa, don't center it.  Offset it in a few inches to the left.  The negative space - called "ma" - becomes part of the image.

- The ideal height to hang your flat-screen TV is at eye level when you're in viewing position.  The ideal viewing distance is 1 1/2 times the size of your flat screen.

- Float something in the room - a sofa, a lounge chair - to avoid the "dance hall" look.  Think of it as an opportunity to show off the back (do something with the back".

- A bed should be 23" off the floor, no higher.

- Instead of a towel bar, mount 5 robe hooks 68" high for towels and robes.

- When it comes to bookcases, stick to books.  Nothing is more visually chaotic than 46 shelves of random stuff.

- Dining room chandeliers should hang 60" to 66" above the floor.

- Surprise the eye with scale.  Use one large lamp with a large lampshade, or an oversize ottoman.  One large-scale element takes a room up a notch.

- Measure the depth of your dressers, desks, and other furniture before purchasing a rug.  The rug should stop before the furniture in most cases.

- A dining room rug should extend a minimum of 3' from the edge of a dining table - dining chairs should always be fully on the rug - not two legs on and two off.

- The minimum break for drapery panels that hand to the floor is 1/2".  Anything less is like wearing high water pants.

- The only time white curtain lining should be used is with white curtains.