DECORATING ADVICE : Coin Gold Adds Richness to Brown-Tile Room

Question: I would like some help with a master bedroom and bath. The bath is really my main concern, as it has dark-brown and yellow-gold tile. Even though I like it, it has been hard for me to decorate around. The bath is 7-foot by 12-foot, and all the tile can be seen from the bedroom, so it needs to coordinate. The carpet is dark brown and the walls are white. I would like to use bright colors, but I don’t know if it would go with my bright tile. I don’t have the furniture in the bedroom yet either.

PEGI HANDLEY

Answer: With brown and gold tile and brown carpeting, you have a difficult decorating task, but it’s not insurmountable. Paint your bedroom walls coin gold with white trim. Leave your brown carpeting. A white four-poster bed would look best in this room. Skirt the bed in soft blush pink.

For a bedspread and curtains, use a bright, flowery chintz of pink, soft green, emerald green, yellow, red and lavender on a rich sable-brown background. Hang the draperies of the print on white poles with white rings. Select a bright plaid for your club chairs in brown, pink, bittersweet orange and green (just a dash) on a white background.

Your bedroom armoire should be painted white and trimmed in pink. One night table can be white, and the other can be skirted with a blush-pink cloth to match your bed skirt. For your bathroom walls, install a wall covering to match your bedroom curtains. Your bathroom towels can be pink, coin gold and lilac.

Q: I need new carpeting for my living and dining rooms. I do not wish to change my salmon and rust draperies, and the color of the walls will remain antique white. Enclosed please find a photograph of these rooms.

MRS. J. PRYBY JR.

A: Your draperies and carpeting give your room a very monochromatic look. I suggest you change the carpet color to soft champagne beige. But I also think you should repaint your room a very pretty pale blue with white trim. Your fireplace mantle should be covered with a white semi-gloss enamel. Accent your sofa with some rust, white and light-blue cushions. You might also trim your draperies with soft champagne, beige and white fringe.

Q: Is gray making a comeback?

JON DANNY

A: In the 1960s, gray flannel was all the rage on the decorating scene. It worked well with that day’s sleek modern designs. The late decorator Angelo Donghia loved gray, and he brought its sophisticated appeal to many homes across America.

Although gray is often relegated to offices and airplane interiors, there are ways to bring its classic look into the home.

In a living room, paint the walls a very handsome steel gray, the trim white. Carpet the room in emerald green. Find a sofa covered in a print of soft green and yellow, lilac and red on a gray background. Hang a matching print drapery, lined in warm lilac, on shiny brass poles at the windows. For club chairs, a lilac tweed would be my choice. Find some Oriental lamps with white shades lined in warm pink for the perfect finishing touch.

Gray is a great color to combine with burgundy red, and gray with navy blue is a favorite combination for a young man’s room. But a color scheme of gray with cream beige, butter yellow and white is always a winner.

Try painting your library walls butter yellow, and paint the trim white. The flooring can be covered with a gray, butter-yellow, white and black plaid. Hang some draperies of gray flannel on brass rods. Accent a gray-flannel sofa with butter-yellow throw cushions trimmed with black braid, and place a black lacquer Oriental coffee table in front of it. And of course, I would also highlight the black lacquer table with black ginger-jar lamps on brass and glass end tables beside the sofa.