Lynn asks, "What about mixing patterns?"

First, here's what I mean about "part of the woodwork".  Look at this picture, from a wallpaper book you might find in any decorating shop:

Although there's a lot we could talk about in this photo, what most people don't notice is that architectural features almost always create a pattern!  See the beadboard on the vanity?  It's almost the same size as the strips in the wallpaper. This chops the room up, making it look smaller.  Our number 1 rule:

The more you contrast, the smaller you make a room look.

Brick, tile, panelling, beams, all create "plaids", stripes, or a lattice of some sort.  So, when you're selecting materials, pay respect to your architectural surfaces.  Most times, it's hard to compete with a real orange brick on an interior room.  If you can't beat em, join em!  Blend your patterns with the brick (a yellow red combination of some sort).

In a photo like the one above, the company will try to sell you everything they've got in one picture.  Some books are great, though; we really like Thibaut, Ronald Redding, and Stroheim and Roman.  You can pick up some nifty tricks in the higher end sample books.  Just flip through the pictures; nobody says you have to buy it!  ;-)

 The most effective way to use patterns is to use them to fill up a room when you don't have a lot of really high end furniture or architecture.  One pattern bedrooms are most effective and dramatic.  When using more than one pattern, the biggest thing is to:

Vary the size of the patterns (small, medium, large)

Here is a section from our room planner:

This planner is handy, because when you start sorting through different options, you tape your swatches right to the "grid".  So, yes, you can use more than one stripe in a room, if you like stripes.  Just vary the size.

This idea is important if you have oriental rugs.  You'll want to know how big the pattern is on the rug, and go bigger or smaller for the pattern on your furniture.

Other than that, it's pretty much up to you.  If you like a lot of pattern, go for it (just remember about the "contrast" rule as shown above).  Some people like more cream in their coffee than others, if you know what I mean.

Doreen asks, "What colors work well with other colors?"

Great question! There are three colors that work with any color on the pallette.  We call them collective colors, because they collect other colors together.  You can see a section of the book where we talk about collective colors here.

We also affectionately call them "God's colors".  They are the colors of earth, grass, and sky.  The make up Nature's backdrop.  Think about it:  have you ever seen flowers "clash" with the background of your garden?  We're so conditioned to see by habit and experience to see these colors together.  There are a couple of great reasons to consider using them:

You can't clash blues, greens and browns (with one exception, which I'll get to in a minute).
You can mix differenet shades of the same color together.
They don't compete with nice looking furniture or architecture.
Since two of the colors are cool (blue and green), they recede and make a room look bigger.

The exception to the rule is beige. which is a version of brown.  Beige is all three primary colors blended together.  There will always be one dominant color in the shade of beige.  So, if you have a reddish pinkish beige (which is sometimes called taupe), try not to mix it with a yellow beige (sometimes called camel) if you can help it.  Keep your beiges in the same color family.

Collective colors are the easiest ones to move through different rooms of a house.  They're also great if your doing different parts of a house at different times.  Why?  Because with fabrics, for example, patterns are discontinued all the time, so if you try to find an exact match on a color you picked 5 or 6 years ago, you may find that fabric is no longer available. 

It helps to have a backup plan, sometimes! ;-)

Lynn wanted to know, "how to decorate on a budget...making the most of what I already have."

Good question.  Now, let me ask you a question, Lynn:  what do you have? :-)

I'm not trying to be smart.  What I'm saying is that you can make the most out of something in a couple of different ways.

Don't tell anyone, but here's a secret:  an interior designer should be a lot like a magician!  It's about misdirection and fooling the eye.  I want you to look "here" and not "there".  Does that make sense?  I want you to put your best foot forward, show off what is good looking and hide what is not.

So, my advice to a twentysomething couple with little or no nice stuff would be different than to someone with nice furniture or antiques.

For the younger couple, I might say, "use a strong advancing color, because no one will notice your beanbag chairs and lava lamps!"

For the antique owner, I might say, "use a collective color like blue and green, which will make your good looking stuff POP!"

I know most people are kind of "trained" by the media to go for hard and fast rules.  I wish it were that simple:  we're all pressed for time, and would like to check our decorating project off the "to do" list.  But each of you is unique, and so are your "decorating dilemmas".  The best thing I can do for you is to introduce you to the guidelines of "classic design" and help you start thinking through the challenges of time, money and taste all of us face when we start creating a project.

Hope that helps.  Let me know how else I can help!

True

I must have wasted 2-3 gallons of paint any hurt my aching back painting my family room a beautiful Sage Green. I love the color, but every time I walk into the roon I say "Why is it so DARK in here! The room faces north and has a covered patio outside the windows. I have 7 lamps in and next to the room and it is still DARK! I wish I had consulted you before I did all that work!

I'm so sorry!  There's nothing worse than getting your hopes up, putting all that time and energy in, only to end up disappointed.

A couple of comments...

1)  If your room faces north, that's a tough place to use a cool color, like green.  Cool colors diffuse sunlight, which is why the room is looks so dark with that exposure.  I thought you had mentioned you had seven lamps in the room, but maybe I'm wrong about that.  If you don't, more table lighting might do the trick for you.  A warm color enhances the available light with northern exposures or "evening" rooms.

2)  When you get ready to paint your next room, here's a tip:  get a quart of the color you're considering, and paint a large piece of poster board.  Live with it for a couple of days before you decide.  Look at it on a sunny day, a cloudy day, at night, whenever you're in the room the most.  That will save you a lot of time and effort.

Please don't feel bad; I can't tell you how many times we hear the phrase, "If I'd only known about you before..."  :-0  We don't come into this world with knowledge; we learn as we go.

Thanks for sharing your "decorating dilemma" with us!

I thought I would start the new forum by answering the questions submitted by new members.  I invite everyone to join in!

Yana asked: "What are the rules for the colors of our rooms?"

First of all, let's talk about how "rules" operate for classic design, and we have them.

Interior design rules are not about right or wrong, the way that Mary Cynthia and I use them.  Rules help guide us:  will we get the intended design effect we want?  The rules help us understand, before we spend a penny, whether what we want is realistic, given the situation.  Every rule I can list (and there are hundreds interior designers use) has an exception, a "but" or a "however".  Rules are here to serve us, not rule us, if you catch my meaning.  I could list dozens of rules on color, but until I know what kind of design effect is desired, they won't really help.

Interior design is like a domino effect: one decision informs the next.  We're going for a harmonious, overall look, not dealing with bits and pieces of furniture, or fabric, or even paint colors.  Does that make sense?  People can study and study without ever really get the look their aiming for.  That has always seemed like such a shame to me.

To really understand how this works, I invite everyone to participate, and leave a response.  We can all help Yana with her decorating project!  Remember, there are no stupid questions! :-)

The number one rule is to take into account where the sunlight is when you use the room the most.  Pay attention to where the sun is when you're in the room.

So, my first question is this, Yana:  do you have a room you're working on, and, if so, what time of day do you plan on using it the most (morning, afternoon, evening)?

Welcome to the first thread of our new forum!

I invite those of you who just completed our February decorating classes to post your questions and comments here.  My goal is to help you take our classe from the realm of theory right into your own personal set of "but's and however's", and begin to apply the principles of classic design in your own home.

For those of you who haven't taken the class or read the books or watched our videos, this will give you some idea of the power of classic design.  I want this forum to be a place where we all share and learn with each other.