DECORATING ADVICE : Flowers Can Make Room Size Blossom

Question: I’ve been to some of the hotels you have decorated, including the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island in Michigan. I love the big flowery prints you use, and I would like to incorporate one into our bedroom. But our room is not large! Would a big print overwhelm the space?

Barbara Summer

Answer: A large flower print can make a room look bigger, depending on the color and design in the print. For your walls, find a print of pink roses with green leaves that cling to a white garden trellis. The trellis and flower design will open up the space if it is printed on a colored background, such as aqua blue, soft yellow or soft-pale green. If the wallpaper you find has a flowery border, use that too. For a headboard, pick something open--wrought iron or white painted metal, for example.

Q: We are planning to install tan carpeting in our living room. Our tables are pecan and birch. The sofa is tan, and our two side chairs are white. I would like to give the place a country look. What color would you suggest for the walls and draperies? My husband has threatened to start painting!

Christine Foster

A: With so much tan in your living room, I would suggest a country-red wall color. It should not be a lipstick red but, rather, the color of a country barn. Paint all your woodwork bright white, not off-white or beige. Paint your ceiling pale blue. For draperies, pick a country print, perhaps birds and fruits and berries on a country-red background. Hang the draperies on brass poles with brass rings. Accent your sofa with cushions made of antique country quilts. Buy quilts that need restoration so you won’t feel guilty about cutting them.

Q: I long for a beautiful bedroom. What can I do?

Cindy Sandpiper

A: Consider painting your bedroom walls and ceiling mint green. Frame the walls with a crisp white trim. Cover the floor of this bedroom with raspberry carpeting. For drapery, select a hollyhock print of raspberry, deep green and white on a mint-green background, and line the valances in raspberry. Club chairs can be covered in a quilted hollyhock print. For the upholstery on the sofa, raspberry tweed would be my choice. Finally, pull-up chairs can be covered in soft aqua, a color that I often use with mint.

Another delightful bedroom scheme combines mint with navy blue. Cover the walls with navy blue wallpaper and the floor with a mint-green carpet. For the windows, find draperies with a navy, white and mint seashell pattern. Club chairs can be covered with a navy, mint and white striped upholstery.

For the romantic at heart, a bedroom with a floral wallpaper of pink, white and soft blue would be a welcome sight at the end of the day. Find a coordinating wallpaper border for that crowning touch. Hang soft blue curtains on white rods. Then place a black-lacquer vanity table with a soft-blue skirt by the window. Lay a pink, light blue and cream Oriental rug over a carpeting of dusty rose. Accessorize this room with lace doilies and mirrors with brass frames.

If you have been dreaming of a beautiful bedroom, 1992 is the year to make that wish come true!