DECORATING ADVICE : You Can OK Coral in This Country Home

Question: We have remodeled a three-bedroom, late 1940s country home. Our furniture is very traditional, and we have many elegantly framed oils, a collection of period china and several antique lamps. The French Provincial antique-white dining room set has high cane-back chairs. Our favorite color scheme includes Wedgwood blue, lavender, pink and green.

The living room has a soft look. Two armchairs, two ottomans and a couch are covered with a pink, aqua, lavender, brown and beige quilted chintz. We also have a matching king-size quilted bedspread, which could be used for valances. I have enclosed a sample of the soft-gray rug we plan to use throughout the house.

What color would you suggest for the living- and dining-room walls? What window coverings would be most appropriate?

Chris Rogers

Answer: For your living- and dining-room walls, choose a rich coral color. Paint your ceilings soft white, and cover the trim with a white semi-gloss enamel. Find a border paper with a gray and white or coral and white architectural design for your living room. At the living room windows, hang white drapery fringed in coral and pink. Use white louver shutters at the dining room windows. Valances over your dining room windows can be made of that handsome chintz. Line the valances in soft coral, a lighter shade than your walls.

Q: Our 90-year-old home is decorated in a Victorian style. We have a collection of framed paintings that are arranged in mixed sizes, subject matter and shapes. Every space in the sitting room, parlor and along the stairwell has been filled, but there are still more pictures to be hung. I would like to hang pictures down to the baseboard (I’m told the Victorians did this). But my husband says it would be in bad taste. We have agreed to abide by your recommendation.

Eugenia Spears

A: I believe pictures should be hung where guests can see them--from the ceiling to the wainscot. A picture hung below 32 inches on the wall doesn’t suit me, unless it is a long panel that is 8 feet high and hangs from ceiling to floor. It isn’t in bad taste to hang pictures to the floor, but it’s also not my personal preference. Even though the Victorians liked it, it was generally done on staircase walls, where low hung pictures could be enjoyed from different steps and landings.

Q: What is so appealing about checkerboard floors?

Laura Sanders

A: Perhaps it’s because the checkerboard is a classic pattern that has vibrancy. The checkerboard floor adds character to almost any room: the foyer, the dining room, the kitchen, even the bath.

There is a range of materials to create this stunning pattern. Private residences often feature floors of marble, ceramic tile and vinyl. In public spaces--large hotel lobbies, for instance--one can find some spectacular checkerboard floors made of granite.

Currently, I’m involved in a project in Columbus, Ohio. The floor has yellow and white checkerboard tiles, with bright lipstick-red grouting. The same bright-red grouting is used on the walls of the kitchen/breakfast room. Red, white and yellow are the perfect colors for a breakfast room.

Tiles are available in all sizes, in a wide variety of colors. On the floor of a home in Aspen, Colo., I used bright-purple and aqua tiles and a rich Indian turquoise grouting. Since the home is in the Western tradition, the floors will be enhanced with furnishings of pine, wrought iron and oak.

For traditionalists, the classic black and white marble floor is a must. Try it in the bathroom. Cover the walls with a washable vinyl wall covering that features a rosy red stipple pattern. At the window, hang rose-coral silk draperies, lined in gray, from gray poles and rings. Accessorize your bathroom with a black and brass Napoleon-style mirror and brass and chrome towel bars. Accent towels should be gray, black and rich gold, and the fixtures should definitely be classic white.