Windows & Curtains
How Wide Should a Curtain Rod Be? The Math I Use
Every curtain I hung in my twenties was mounted right at the edge of the window frame, because that seemed logical at the time. It made every window look
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Author · Priya Raghunathan
I write Decorating Our Space from a rented flat in Portland where two rooms get real light and one never will. I measure a room before I decide anything in it, and when a change did not hold, the article says so.
How Many Metal Finishes One Room Can Actually Hold
My kitchen has brass hinges I inherited, a brushed nickel faucet I installed myself, and black pulls I added last spring. For…
How to Measure a Room Before You Buy Any Furniture
I once bought a couch based on a photo and a single number: eighty-four inches wide. I did not measure the wall…
Hanging Art Without a Single Hole
Renting does not mean bare walls. Adhesive strips, leaning ledges, and a few other no-drill methods each suit different pieces and weights.
Giving a Room a Focal Point It Doesn’t Have
My childhood home had a fireplace, and every layout there started from what faced the mantel. My apartment has no fireplace, and…
Where Each Paint Sheen Actually Belongs
I ruined a stairwell wall with the wrong sheen before I understood that gloss level does as much work as color. The…
The Small Bedroom Problem: Why the Bed Is Eating Your Room
My bedroom is ten feet by eleven feet, and for the first year I had a queen bed in it that left…
Where to Start When You Are Decorating a Room From Scratch
Most people start with paint. I think that is backward. Here is the order I actually use, and why starting with color…
Blinds or Roman Shades: How I Decide Room by Room
A client once asked me to pick between blinds and roman shades for her whole house in one conversation, as if there…
Why Cold Materials Need a Warm Neighbor
I have a concrete kitchen counter I was told to hate by nearly every design blog before I moved in. Mine has…