2 (above) Un-stuff a too-formal room with inexpensive, casual fabrics, such as printed cottons, glazed chintzes and gingham checks. Who says “serious” furniture demands expensive materials? If you like it, it works. After all, “Bill Blass used muslin on museum-quality antiques!”—TV stylemaker Christy Ferrer (Breaking The Rules, Simon & Schuster). PHOTO: Tony Giammarino Work magic with paints and fabrics. By Rose Bennett Gilbert 1 Steal a fun custom from the Scandinavians and stencil your family name or inspiring words all around the room, just below the ceiling line. Print out the letters in some fancy computer font (your choice), then blow them up to size on a photocopier. Trace and cut in stencil board (available at crafts shops). For more ideas and how-tos, click on hgtv.com and search for stenciling. 3 Make a fabric-covered three-panel screen. A smart way to divide—or hide—a space, a decorative screen also adds color and architectural interest to any room. Make one inexpensively from quarter-inch plywood, padded then covered with fabric. Turn fabric under and staple edges, then hide the staples under a border of glued-on ribbon. Final step: hinge panels together (piano hinges are expensive, but they work best and you’ve created the screen of your dreams!). 4 (left) Be bold and paint something (anything) purple. Designer Jamie Drake has slicked purple over walls and woodwork... Benjamin Noriega- Ortiz purple-cobalted an entire brick fireplace wall...Tricia Guild favors a blend of mauve/lavender/purple...Margot Gunther painted the floors purple in her mid-18th-century Nantucket house, then spatter-painted over them with a half-dozen confetti pastels for a one-of-a-kind effect. PHOTO: Eric Roth;

5 Do the write thing: cover a wall with chalkboard paint to encourage creativity in a kid’s room. One source of chalkboard paint is Benjamin Moore (benjaminmoore. com). While you’re online, check out “Interior Style,” a new Benjamin Moore guidebook to color, starring top New York designers Vicente Wolf, Steven Gambrel and Jamie Drake (who also happens to be the personal decorator to New York’s Mayor Bloomberg). 6 Paint a black (or white) “wrought-iron” head for your bed. Open and tape grocery bags together to make a sheet of paper large enough to work out your design. Cut out the pattern carefully, leaving the background paper intact. Tape to the wall and chalk through the cut lines. Remove the paper and paint freehand, following your chalked guide, and remember wavy and imprecise lines only add to the charm. 7 Blaze just one wall—or the ceiling—in a brilliant red paint. (right) When almost everything else in the room is neutral, the impact is quite stunning! One wall—and maybe a couple of red cushions—are enough; too much red can feel overpowering —London designer Tricia Guild (White Hot: Cool Colors for Modern Living, Clarkson-Potter). PHOTO: Tony Giammarino

10 Believe in brown. Famed designer Billy Baldwin certainly did, passing his enthusiasm on to the late Mark Hampton, who believed that brown could be warm in winter and cool in summer (and did his vacation home accordingly). If you try brown, balance the walls with generous helpings of white woodwork. 11 Reupholster a weary club chair in a brightly patterned sheet. Tuck tightly into the seat section and secure with rolled-up magazines. Gather the skirt about leg-high and tie with decorative braid or grosgrain. 12 Take advantage of a color’s caprices. Crisp apple green on just one wall of a dining room opens direct-opposite opportunities: pair it with a formal white cloth and china and the room feels traditional, but bring out the Fiestaware and all fun breaks loose.

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