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High Design

Large vaulted ceilings and multiple windows can make a room feel larger than it actually is. If you're decorating a primarily white-and-black space, bring in an unexpected piece of wood furniture to warm it up and give it personality.

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White Wall

Decorating a large kitchen can be an intimidating task. If you choose to stick with a neutral palette for the larger items (white walls, black granite counters, and ivory cabinets), then you'll have greater freedom and flexibility to update accents like textiles, runners, and even place settings.

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Color Story

If you have a modern decorating style, embrace a bold color and high-gloss finish. Vanilla white and cherry red lacquer cabinets take this kitchen to daring heights. To avoid visual commotion, keep the rest of your accessories (kitchen textiles, servingware, plates) in this color palette.

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Sunshine Day

Short on square inches? A tiny kitchen (and a tight budget) requires careful and creative planning. A gray-and-white palette gets a burst of charm from bright pops of lemon and turquoise. If you don't have much cabinet space, bring in freestanding pieces to hold appliances, dishes, and other kitchen essentials.

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Great Room

A kitchen that opens up into the main living area can be an extremely exciting space to decorate. A generously sized table is ready to accommodate holiday dinners, game nights, or even intense science projects. Keep the vibe modern, casual, and cool by layering a black-and-white–striped rug and hanging an oversized drum shade.

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Neutral Zones

Warm up a neutral kitchen by inviting different shades (gray, ivory, cream) and textures into the picture. Storage is maximized with a wall of cabinets, floor to ceiling.

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Shelf Life

Use every inch of space for smart, space-saving storage. This 16-cube shelving unit steps up to the challenge of holding plates, linens, and serving pieces. For an unexpected decorative touch, line the backs with wallpaper so it coordinates with your style.

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Something Blue

Ready for some color? For an instant update, give cabinets a fresh coat of paint. This pale shade of blue is a cheery alternative to the sleek white look.

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Black and White

You can stick to a monochromatic palette while still adding interest and personality to a room. A continuous pattern, like this modern black-and-white zigzag, running across a counter or backsplash is graphic and unexpected. If you're short on cabinet space, consider hanging floating shelves to hold frequently used tools or display favorite accessories.

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Stove

The midcentury Caloric stove was a craigslist steal. McPhail constructed the shelves from pipes and plywood for the owner.

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Kitchen

One evening last fall,  and a pair of cohorts—architect Julianna Morais and carpenter Ryan McPhail, as it happens—began chatting about her fantasy kitchen. Today, the kitchen delivers analog charm and functionality.

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Effortless Appeal

Granite countertops make for easy cleanup. Custom cabinets complement the architecture of the house.

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Use Clear Cabinets

Glass-fronted drawers are reminiscent of 19th-century apothecary cabinets. The practical design makes it easy for the family to find dishes when helping out in the kitchen. Bead-board wainscoting on the backsplash reinforces the relaxed effect.

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A Comfortable Corner

Windows capture plenty of natural light while enhancing the home’s classic style. An archway frames an inviting breakfast nook, which includes a radiator and built-in storage bench.

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Smart Devices

Energy-efficient appliances like this dishwasher reduce the use of natural resources (and electric bills). Stainless steel gives the kitchen a sleek, up-to-date attitude.

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Add a Little Extra

Extend the countertop across a window to create an eating area and prep zone.

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Mix It Up

A collage of textures—beadboard, exposed limestone, weathered wood, stainless steel, smooth granite—enlivens the setting.

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Open and Airy

Vintage kitchen stools are covered in a blue fabric. An entrance to the kitchen at each end eases traffic.

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A Classic Look

Cellular blinds and distinct flooring keep this kitchen fresh.

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Be Deceiving

The wide-plank style and realistic pattern of this laminate flooring give it the look of hardwood, without the hard work.

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Add some color and comfort to your outdoor furniture by adorning your chairs, chaises, or couches with cushions. Sunbrella fabric is a good choice for outdoor cushions as it is resistant to UV rays, mildew, stains and mold. Add another interesting and practical feature, an umbrella, to your patio or deck table. Also, consider providing a freestanding, adjustable umbrella that can be moved to provide shade for your guests depending on where they may be seated and the angle of the sun.

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The deck, porch, or patio of your home on Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard or Nantucket is actually much more than you think: it should really be considered another room of your home – and a valuable one at that.

So much of what makes Cape and Islands vacations spectacular is being able to spend copious amounts of time outdoors. And visitors choose to stay in a vacation rental because of access to private outdoor spaces, which provide fun opportunities to dine or just hang out together with family and/or friends. So it’s a good idea to take the time and resources to enhance your deck, porch or patio and make it as lovely as your living room.

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Layer Patterns and Bold Prints

Layers of classic patterns and bold prints connected by a warm palette of brown, ivory, and green give this D.C. cottage a hefty dose of handsome hospitality.

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Pull Out a Bold Accent Color

With the multihued curtain fabric as her jumping-off point, designer Ashley Whittaker splashed an amped-up version of pink in three places in the living room—the footstool, the contrasting pillow welt, and the slipper-chair trim. "We wanted the home to feel bright and colorful like Florida but not like a vacation home," says Ashley. She pulled off the cozy yet elegant vibe by grounding the sun-and-surf palette with serious touches, such as the antique demilune tables.

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Balance Rustic Elements

Front and back doors open directly into a two-story-high living room, where spruce-planked walls and wood beams salvaged from an 1890 Tennessee barn reflect the home’s rural setting and give the space a refined, barnlike feel. Interior decorator Phoebe Howard balanced the rustic elements with color. “I added an air of elegance with a soft color palette that reflects the surrounding sky and hills,” she says.

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Use a Range of Textiles

A range of textiles (including velvet, wool, linen, and cotton) adds texture and keeps the muted hues of the C. R. Laine upholstery from falling flat.

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Choose a Statement Sofa for a Large Room

A tufted chesterfield sofa covered in family-friendly Sunbrella fabric adds scale and traditional style. Tip: A large sofa needs large pillows—ours are 26 inches square.

Editor's Tip: Reinvent vintage finds in a new setting. Here, an old flat file cabinet works as a coffee table

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Give a Small Room Big Style

A pair of oval mirrors bounces more light around the bright white room and draws the eye up, underscoring the lofty ceiling height.

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Inviting Family Room Design

Reclaimed-wood beams ground the airy, white space. A large but delicate chandelier with a burnished brass finish helps anchor the room, while a vertical custom metal-framed mirror emphasizes the room's height.

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Use a Mix of Hues

The homeowners combined several shades of blue, from almost-black navy to royal, in the light-filled living room. The hand-blocked batik print on the curtains and bench is by John Robshaw Textiles.

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Mix Up the Seating

Seating shouldn't be limited to club chairs and sofas. Utilize benches, ottomans, and odd side chairs to accommodate more people.

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Add a Sense of History

Barn builders used post-and-beam construction in rough-hewn yellow pine. Linen curtains with vintage trim add elegance to the rustic room.

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Use Bold Accessories

A geometric flat weave is more casual and youthful than a heavy Oriental or wool rug. Balance it out with a large piece of modern art framed in a simple white gallery frame. Finish with blue glass lamps or a pretty bowl to add sparkle and dimension.

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Mix Instead of Match Fabrics

The designer started with fabric selections to set the room's happy mood and a bright color palette of pink, turquoise, and chartreuse. Fabrics have to be matchy-matchy to communicate with each other. If they share a similar vibrancy and color temperature, they'll look good together.

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Make Large Rooms Cozy with Multiple Seating Areas

How do you make a gigantic room look cozy and appropriate for today when it's actually an old Virginia cow barn?

Steven Gambrel, one of America's top-tier interior designers, recently had a chance to consider the question. Although he lives and often works in the most urbane precincts of Manhattan, Steven grew up in Virginia and still has ties there. When the owners of a Middleburg horse farm asked him to convert one of their barns into a place for large, casual parties and just hanging out and watching TV, he took it on with relish—his first barn, and on home turf.

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Create a Statement with Art

With impressive artwork and sleek, sophisticated furnishings set against a perfectly pale palette, this space is a constellation of star elements.

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Add Occasional Tables

Several small tables in this living room offer enough room for drinks and can even be used as additional seating when necessary.

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Incorporate Personal Touches

Can't find the exact table or chest that you need? Just add your own touches, such as a paint finish or unique drawer pulls, to convert an available piece into a one-of-a-kind item. The designer of this living room set a piece of custom-cut stone on top of the wooden coffee table in the family room, giving it a more durable surface.

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Maximize Space with Dual-Purpose Built-Ins

Built-in bench seating in this small sitting room provides a lot of seating and storage for books and games.

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Salvage Original Materials

In this living room, the heart-pine flooring came from a South Carolina textile mill. It has the original nail holes, and if you look closely, you can still see oil stains from factory weaving machines.

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Add Privacy without Losing Light

Add a little privacy to family rooms without sacrificing light by installing drapery panels that don’t have a thick lining.

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Surround Your Fireplace with Built-Ins

An inglenook is a space next to the fireplace that often includes seating. These built-in window seats provide extra seating and are a comfy place to read.

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Mix and Match Your Wood Tones

Your wood pieces don’t have to be the same color. Here, a dark wood desk is at home among blond occasional tables because the pieces have similar clean lines.

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Create Display Cubbies

Cozy built-in cubbies provide the perfect place to display antique collectables and heirlooms in this living room space.

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Try Natural Textures

Warm up a room with interesting textures. Woven accessories and ottoman keep things simple and natural.

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Splash on the Color

This pool house living room sports sherbert-colored hues and feminine flourishes. Quirky cobalt table lamps from Stray Dog Designs and an eccentric teak table serve as foils for the sofa's old-fashioned fringe.

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Get Creative with Your Ceiling
Don’t forget to address the ceiling of your space. This vaulted ceiling has a rough-hewn wood treatment that warms-up the feeling of the room.

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Embrace Ideas from the Past

Try a great idea from the past. The triple-hung windows on either side of the great room’s fireplace are found in many older homes in the Deep South. When the two lower sashes are raised, the openings serve as passageways to the screened porch beyond.

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Plan Ahead for Artwork

A stacked fieldstone fireplace takes center stage in this family room. Rather than just a sheer wall of stone, the exposed chimney is designed with a central recess for artwork, along with tapered edges on either side, to keep it from appearing too overpowering. Sconces mounted directly to the stone are an attractive way to shed plenty of light on the antique timber mantel.

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Use Picture Molding

Family photographs instantly add warmth and personality to your home. Take them out of the attic, off your computer, or out of the infrequently viewed albums on your bookshelves, and enjoy them every day. Pick a wall, corner, or entire room. If your chosen spot already has picture molding (found in many older homes), your job will be easy. If not, adding new molding is not that complicated.

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Find Meaningful Local Art
Local artwork is a meaningful accessory. A locally painted scene of Florida live oaks hangs above this family room’s cast-stone fireplace.