Linda Ray Editor

Any Room Can be Beautiful

Rooms come in all shapes and sizes. One wonders, though, what some builders were thinking when they designed rooms that seem nearly impossible to furnish.

The corners and hallways, fireplaces and walls can often make the most creative designer cringe. And those of us who haven’t spent years studying the finer points of interior design can be left puzzled and stuck with the simplest layouts and plain or no decorations.

There are tricks and treats that can help to liven up those difficult rooms, inexpensive ways to camouflage and brighten up any space.

Mirrors are the age-old treatment to make small rooms look bigger. Whether it is a wall of mirrors or a beautifully framed mirror on one wall, the effect is the same – bigger space, if only in the mind.

Landscape pictures also can add dimension to small rooms that have few or no windows. A claustrophobic space can take on new dimensions with a mural that fills the room with wide-open spaces or a large picture of the ocean, mountains or countryside.

Themes taken from that picture or mural will aid in the rest of the design. If you choose a beach scene, hanging a net over an obnoxious corner will soften the edge. Shells and small lighthouses will complete the new feel and expand the attitude the room now projects.

Very large rooms are easier to decorate, but can be even more difficult to pin down. Placing furniture in small groups, almost creating separate rooms, will bring a large room into focus and allow you to match and coordinate only that smaller area.

Screens can serve as dividers that don’t necessarily separate the room like a wall, but give the impression of dimension. An interesting screen is also a great place from which to form a theme.

Lighting is wide open these days, with so many choices that an avid decorator will want to change her room regularly just to experience some of the different effects that lighting can make in a room. Track lighting can be fastened on the ceiling or walls to leave room on the tabletops and floors for other personal expressions. And the bulbs can be moved to highlight specific items or places in the room.

Table lamps do not have to match anymore. In fact, most designers shun the matching lamp motif today. An interesting arty lamp is a great way to bring new light into a room, while introducing a piece of personality or extending a theme. If there is no room for shelves or bookcases, floor lamps can solve the problem of where to display those treasured knickknacks by leaving more table room free.

Finally, the floor can be used to direct the visual effect of a funky room. Long patterned rugs will bring the eye toward the picture of place in the room that you want to focus upon. Large rugs can bring that grouping you made in the large room even closer and cozier. And cold feet are warmed with rugs on linoleum and tile, while brightening a dull or awkward kitchen or bathroom.

A good rug can pull it all together.