Decorating Tips and Trends

If your decorating it means you're probably knee-deep in fabulous fabrics, vivid colors and difficult decisions. That can overwhelm even the hardiest home designer. Here are some helpful hints to ease your decorating dilemmas.

		Picking A Starting Point- Choose your favorite object in a room, whether it's an antique armoire or a bay window. Make it the centerpiece and decorate around it. Let your favorite object suggest the color palette for the entire room.
		Color Flow - Create a unifying flow of colors throughout your house by using the same colors in varying roles in your rooms. If you've used lemon yellow on the wall of the kitchen, use the same lemon yellow as an accent color in the adjoining family room.
		Use Varying Shades- Don't match carpet color exactly with wall paint or upholstery; the room will appear too rigid. Instead choose a darker or lighter shade to create variation and definition.
		Accentuate the Positive, Conceal the Negative- Highlight the items that you love in a room, whether it be a favorite mantelpiece to a beloved lamp. Hide the things you don't like but can't change. Put carpet over horrible tile or curtains over an unattractive window.
		Keep a Scrapbook- Collect photos and magazine pages of room designs you like. Keep them in a file for inspiration and ideas. Click on My Portfolio to keep articles, carpet colors and styles in a file that you can save and print.
		Have Samples, Will Travel- Keep a bag in your car with samples and swatches of carpet, paint and fabric you are already using. If you come across anything in your travels, you'll be able to determine quickly if fits into your existing décor.

Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company 1007 Market Street, Wilmington, Delaware 19898, USA All Rights Reserved