Top Decorating Tips Of the Month

Here are some great decorating tips and interior design ideas to help you with your summer decorating:

• For small spots, something Japanese-inspired often works, because you don't want to overwhelm the space with anything too big or bulky. Installing a shelf with a few small Japanese porcelain pieces, one of them a vase with a few curling bare branches, may do just the trick in terms of bringing life to an otherwise dull corner. More tips in Decorating Dilemma.

• If you have any bulky piece of furniture — bookshelf, armoire, or the like —and you want it to just blend in with the room's decor, a helpful decorating tip is to give it a paint job in the same color as the wall. The piece will fade into the wall, looking as if it were built in.

• Looking for childrens' decorating tips? Here's one you might consider — try brightening up mealtime with some special plates selected just for Junior. Using dishware that's particular attractive to kids follows an age-old principal: when a little child looks forward to seeing the duckies on the bottom of the bowl, the nutritious soup is more likely to be slurped down in a hurry. Learn More in Decorating Children's Rooms.

• Summer's the time to bring the outdoors in, and to bring the indoors out. You don't need fresh flowers every day to enhance the summertime mood. Instead, a great decorating idea for the summer is to scour flea markets and yard sales for floral patterned fabrics. You can easily make your own pillow coverings from these to toss about the living room, or simply drape over an unattractive yet useful end table.

• To give a lift to a dull wood floor, consider paint. Not all flooring is made of wood of such high quality that it warrants being sanded and polished. Instead, one decorating idea you might try is painting the floor and then stenciling a pattern around the edge. It can bring in the "wow" factor for a low cost.

• Navy blue, especially combined with bright white, gives a crisp, clean feeling to any room. One great summer decorating tip is to re-do a bathroom in this color, starting by painting the ceiling navy blue. Next, choose a wallpaper that is in a navy-and-white pattern; if you're really going for the nautical effect, choose a pattern of seashells or life preservers. For something more subtle, you can find navy and white wall paper in every pattern from toile to floral prints to a checkerboard design. Check out more tips on using navy in Magic of Color.

• Whether you've got a home office tucked into a corner of a living room or a 20-person operation in a big building downtown, an investment in proper and stylish desk accessories will not only look good, but will also help keep things easy to find. Learn more decorating tips in Little Things.

• If your summertime fireplace is looking neglected, clean it out, wipe it down, and put some fresh logs in it. If you live near the beach, driftwood will do. Then, set a collection of tea candles scattered on top of the logs. When these are lit, they'll add a pretty glow to the room without warming it.

• One clever design move in this summertime porch was the use two wicker tables for the center of the room. This gives the room versatility, because the tables can be separated and moved to best serve the needs of the moment. Don't miss the rest of decorating ideas in our Room of the Month.