9 Designer Decorating Tips

Three Houses, Tons of Ideas

Tour these Southern Living Idea Houses for ideas you can take home. Smythe Park House, located on Daniel Island, S.C., honors classic Charleston style. Plus, it's the home of our first-ever Idea Garden. Planter's Retreat, a rural homestead near Tallahassee, Fla., puts a fresh twist on tradition. Cedar Creek, a ranch-style house in Bryan, Texas, re-imagines the Lone Star spread. Let these homes inspire the dreamer in you.

Unexpected Combinations

Smythe Park House: Charleston, S.C.

Try combining opaque and sheer fabrics for fashionable new effects. In the sunny master bedroom at left, opaque turquoise fabric, together with an overlay of sheer, striped silk, makes up the window treatments. The silk layer softens the turquoise underneath, and the fabric combo looks light and airy.

Storage with Style

Smythe Park House: Charleston, S.C.

Need more storage? Try tiered tables and stands. Furniture with multiple shelves offers easy, stylish storage for books in a bedroom and toiletries or towels in a bath.

Picture Perfect

Smythe Park House: Charleston, S.C.

If you've got an open floor plan, make sure to break up the space into cozier, more intimate living areas. Here, a 40-inch-high divider wall separates the family room from the breakfast room. On each side, framed photographs hang on iron rods suspended from the ceiling beams, adding a personal touch and further dividing the rooms visually.

Game Room Grown Up

Planter's Retreat: Tallahassee, Fla.

Add sophisticated soft touches to a game room. Hang an unexpected white drum shade light fixture over a pool table; display colorful, contemporary paintings on the walls; and fill gaps in the room with tall, graceful potted palms.

Dog's Life

Planter's Retreat: Tallahassee, Fla.

A built-in, chain-link kennel outfitted with two dog beds provides the perfect indoor shelter for your furry friends. Cabinets and cubbies store pet food and other supplies.

Suite Surprise

Planter's Retreat: Tallahassee, Fla.

To make a master suite feel more open, use a sliding door to divide your bedroom and bath. This one runs on a track above an extra-wide doorway. A design plus: You don't have to worry about how it will swing open into the room.

Framing the Family

Cedar Creek: Bryan, Texas

Give different size family pictures a more cohesive look by putting them in matching frames. The wall of photos in the master bedroom is an excellent example of how to display your own family tree. Corrugated cardboard mats provide a neutral background for the black-and-white images.

Unexpected Islands

Cedar Creek: Bryan, Texas

No longer just for kitchens, islands can be major assets in baths too. This built-in adds six more drawers for storage. Lower than a kitchen island, it's easy to place a suitecase on for packing.

Maxed Out Message Center

Cedar Creek: Bryan, Texas

Who wants a measly bulletin board when you can have a floor-to-ceiling bulletin wall? Line office or mudroom walls with cork, and tack up school-day treasures, photos, invitations, and reminders.