View full sizeWhen all the colors fit together, the whole space seems to come alive.Remodeling or decorating a room -- or the whole house -- can be fraught with anxiety, especially for us indecisive types (which we prefer to think of as having too many good ideas to choose from). Will that zingy patterned chair go with those floral print draperies? Will the lime and fuchsia colors of the accent walls work together? Will you change your mind two minutes after the decisions have become irreversible?
So here's a tip from an interview with
in the Washington Post. Moss has written seven books and is a contributor to Architectural Digest and the Wall Street Journal. She also has designed collections of china, fabric, carpet, decorative accessories and home fragrance.
She was asked, "What do you tell clients who are unsure of what they want?"
Moss replied: "Silly as it might sound, I tell them to make collages. As you pull clippings, you hone your tastes. You learn to edit. And then, when you're forced to take the images you've collected and commit them to one page, you find you're pretty picky about what you glue down! You analyze those clippings so much that by the time you're done, they really speak to you. That is what decorating is. So, if I as a designer can interpret someone's taste with a single sheet of paper, God bless America."
Visit the Post's site for the
-- Homes & Gardens staff
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