" Bob, something I wanna point out to you, throughout the house, I'm using mixture of formal and informal pieces. This is a reproduction of 18th century mirror and mixed it with the pewter stands."

" Well, it really works very nicely here in our entryway. "

" It's more primitive, but I like that kind of mix----"

" Right."

" 'cause there's a lot of warmth. These are 2 paintings on glass of sheets and it's called eglomise."

" The technique."

" The technique, right."

" Ah! But this is just spectacular."

" Here we are."

" It's just wonderful."

" Great."

" I mean you took this little living room that we had here and, you know, this could be the White House. It's so elegant."

" Oh, I'm so thrilled. I'm glad you like it. We worked on it very hard."

" Well, remember---- well, no, you never saw it when we first started the process?"

" No, I didn't."

" It was your classic little split entry---- split-level ranch living room with no wall, you know. It just kind of had a railing on one end----"

" Right."

" so the front hall was open to the living room."

" What I'm getting at is, let's enclose this entry foyer."

" Yeah."

" Separate it from the living room."

" Okay."

" Get rid of this railing."

" I like that."

" And put up a regular partition right across here. And that way, we've done something good for this room."

" Right."

" And this room can be turned into, say, a colonial parlor, which is what I'd like to try."

" Then, what would you do about the fireplace? 'Cause we've got a perfectly alright little mantel shelf that was probably carpenter-built right on site."

" Yeah."

" But there's a lot of brick you're looking at."

" Yeah, and it's a nice brick too. I would like to make it a focal point, draw our attention to it and really put a nice formal mantel on it. Dress it up---- real good and it could look that way."

" So you could, you could put a pine board and some more moldings right in place."

" Yes."

" Oh, this is a nice addition, very nice."

" And you know, the separation between the kitchen and the living rooms in existence, just open plan so that, you know, all those architectural changes have really made a difference. But you have just done a stunning job. Well, I get started with the wallpaper. That was my lead as far as the color and then I took that from the other---- This is our main architectural feature in the room, the fireplace which we designed sort of asymmetrically. We have instead of the typical pair of candlesticks in the clock in the center, we went with a large ivy on one side, some family pictures for warmth."

" Again, keeping things informal."

" Informal and just kind of stay with the little bit of that interesting asymmetry."

" Which is the foil to the formal design of the mantelpiece that Riley built for us, right?-Right."

" And of course, you trimmed it out with pretty formal andirons and----"

" Well, I think the brass repeats the gold laurel motif in the wallpaper. "

" In the wallpaper, yeah."

" That's a nice touch."

" So that's one of the main architectural features in the room. What was the other one that you looked after?"

" The other is the bay window."

" Aha!"

" I'm just---- I love this window. I love the light that comes through it and I thought how can I decorate this without doing gobs and gobs of drapery treatments in fabrics and----?"

" Yeah. Well, I think you're absolutely right 'cause a lot of people would look at a big picture window like that and get the traverse rods up and lots of draperies and then shut them at night or whatever."

" Oh, people think they have this need for privacy, but we're up high enough here that we don't really need it and we certainly don't wanna block that light."

" Yeah, because it's a raised ranch, we've got, you know, treetop views practically."

" Right. It's great. Now, this is a very simple treatment; in fact, a little later Bob, I'm gonna show you how to make one of these swags. These 3 swags here which is a dipping pieces, the end panels are called jabots and another thing for designing this in detail is I repeated the garnet color of the wallpaper---- on the contrasting lining on the jabots."

" It's a nice trick. Now, what do you call this fabric with this big, big flower?"

" This is a toile de Jouy."

" Toile----"

" Toile de Jouy. We used it on the windows itself on the window treatment and to pull it down and repeat it again because that's the key to good design, is repeat your fabric and your patterns. Hold it down to these throw pillows, trim them again and the garnet red for details."

" Yeah."

" I also used a toile on the wing chair, Bob."

" Right."

" Let's talk about the couch for a minute."

" Okay, the couch is neutral. I went with an ivory fabric [unk]. I have cranberry on the walls. I have this wonderful linen white on the wings coating and the chair rail. All these color, and how do I tone that down a little bit? I wanna go with the ivory color. But this particular fabric is called a matelasse. This is another French term----"

" Yes."

" and what it means, it gives you the feeling of clothing. We have white on white here."

" Yes."

" This is really an ecru or ivory fabric. It's very pretty. Trace the design-like detail here."

" Yeah. And which kind of echoes what you see in the toile, you called it, right?"

" Echoes from the background color of the toile----"

" Yeah."

" and also of the carpeting."

" Yeah."

" Here too, we have a nice neutral carpeting."

" But then with all this flowery stuff, you end up with a check over here."

" Well, I felt we needed something casual, so I went with the navy check. There actually is a burgundy line in here if you can see it."

" Yes."

" And our base, our base----"

" Yeah."

" from our carpet is repeated."

" Right. I think maybe as a good anchoring color in this room and it's back to another rule of design. Use 3 colors. We have the garnet red, the ivory, now is to anchor it all, bring it all down with a navy."

" And you blended the formality of some of the fabrics with the informality of a check."

" Informality of a check."

" And you've got some nautical."

" Again, more nautical accessories, a nautical print."

" Very, very nice."