When decorating, it’s not enough to design each room separately; you also need to think about what happens as you look through doorways and move from one room to another.

As you plan your décor, think about the transitions. In a way, walking through a home is like reading a book. You don’t want too much of a disconnection from one chapter to the next, but if they’re all the same it becomes boring. Your home can find this balance from room to room.

These photos show the same home from two directions. It has particular challenges because the positions of these doorways allow the eye to view four rooms from one position. This requires even more transitional planning. In the first photo, the entryway looks into the living room and then a sunroom.

The second photo shows the house from the other direction, standing in the living room and looking through the entryway to the dining room and one side of the kitchen. Each room has its own feel, and instead of making the home feel disjointed, it adds interest. Let’s look at why. First, the living, dining and entryway share rich wood flooring. This is the most consistent feature across the rooms, and compensates for the differences in wall color and details. The sunroom has different flooring, but having the step-down into the room allows that space to vary from the rest. The other design consistency comes from the doors themselves. The glass French doors help keep the space feeling open while echoing the same style from room to room.

Finally, the choice to scatter smaller Oriental rugs maintains a design link in spite of the different colors and furniture styles. With one room in a vivid red, one with wood paneling and the other two painted white and cream, color links from room to room come from the furniture and art. This allows each room to feature one color or tone while making sure that all of the rooms feel cohesive. Find your connective elements and then have fun letting each room feature its own design look and style.

Do you ignore your hallways? Are they just paths rather than an integrated part of your home’s décor? Well, it may be time to expand your narrow thinking of this skinniest part of your home and let it add its own charm.

Take a look at this hall. For something only about three to four feet wide, there’s a lot going on here. To begin, the pine wood floor helps to link all the rooms together. Architectural touches such as the high baseboards and door surrounds combine with the flooring to create a powerful look that combines the best of traditional with a touch of classy country.

The furniture choices support that image. A simple wooden bench that coordinates perfectly with the floor begs visitors to sit and take off their shoes. A watering can adds to the casual welcome. A few steps further in and a small chair and narrow table with a few accessories add personality.

While this hallway gives the impression of a casual decorating approach, the art and lighting prove that this is no unthinking design plan. Instead of the standard look of several hug-the-ceiling light fixtures, track lighting has been pre-set to provide each piece of art with its own spot. This provides an invitation to linger in the hall, pausing to see each picture along the way.

Altogether, this is not just a path from one room to another; it’s a welcoming event as you walk through this home. Do your hallways tempt visitors to linger and appreciate the walk? What can you do to make them as special as the rest of your home?

What makes this room so inviting? It certainly breaks more than one design rule. The furniture is too big and crowded for the space, seating is limited and not set for conversation, and colors are all over the map.

This room demonstrates that sometimes rules are made to be broken. It is so individual and almost quirky that it’s more about the people who live here than about design, and that’s alright.

Even if you are not inclined to create spaces as unique as this, you may find some ideas about breaking the rules that you can borrow from this room. First, the large rug overpowers the flooring, but this can be a good thing. If you are not ready to replace flooring in a room but it doesn’t work with your taste or color preferences, a rug like this can change the flavor of a room instantly.

Next, let’s consider the use of color. The rug and painting on the far wall have vivid colors that take over the color palette of the room. However, much of the furniture is neutral. By choosing white and black for the larger pieces, the smaller elements can carry some color without overwhelming the room.

Next, accessories have a particular place in this space. Take a look at the three figures in front of the piano. They are unusual and intriguing. Their position in the room gives them star status, and the white stand and piano behind them supports this. Sometimes a special piece of art or sculpture deserves center stage, as in this case.

Yes, this room breaks rules, but it does it in the right way. So don’t be afraid to step beyond the traditional standards of design to create a room as vivid and interesting as this one.

Would you love to have a home office but just can’t spare a room? Don’t limit your thinking. You may be surprised at the choices you actually have. Let’s consider one.

Do you have a formal dining room? How often do you use it? Chances are most of the time it sits empty. Well, with a laptop and rolling file cabinet, you can turn your dining room into a temporary home office. The room has comfortable chairs and a large table for spreading out your work.

It’s up to you how deeply you want to convert your dining room to the home office role. For some, it may make sense to simply repurpose the room. If you’re not ready to go that far, can you use part of your buffet for office supplies? Would a wooden file cabinet look appropriate in the room?

One other temporary addition might be helpful – a good floor lamp. Depending upon your dining room chandelier, you may need different lighting to be really efficient.

If your dining room has wood flooring or an area rug such as this one, you may want to think twice about pulling a rolling chair up to your dining table. Pick up an inexpensive rug or pad to protect your floors and good rugs. Then enjoy the fact that you can have your office space when you need it and quickly convert it to a dining room for those gatherings of family and friends.

At the end of the day, do you wish you could escape to a beach like this? For most of us this scene is beyond our reach on an everyday basis. However, you can take your back patio and find ways to bring the mood of the beach to your own home.

Although this scene is inviting, it’s also pretty impractical. We wouldn’t really want to have sand in the back yard or sit on those rough rustic twig chairs, but you can grab some ideas and translate their essence to your patio.

Sand is replaced by travertine pavers. The light neutral tones that travertine provides mimics the look of sand without the mess.

Substitute oiled teak for the rustic furniture on the beach. The contrast with the travertine and the rich wood color is still there, but made more comfortable and inviting for everyday use.

A few plants in pots recollect a natural setting, and the mosaic table has the feel of a seashell with its spiral pattern.

Instead of the colorful flags flying over the shore scene, adding throw pillows in bright solids finishes the space with color. Thanks to the weather-resistant fabric choices available now, those pillows can stay outside all the time.

As the sun sets, add candles or lanterns on tables and use light strings to add charm, set the boundaries and light pathways. Now you’re ready to relax at home every evening, or gather some friends together for a beach party with everything you need except for the ocean.

This living room is an unusual combination of good design and design mistakes. Can you tell the difference?

Let’s start with what works. The sofa with its matching dark brown pillows combines perfectly with the art above it. Proportion and tone balances well. The plant to the left of the photo has just the right height to match the other elements. The lamp may feel too dramatic for some, but its height and the silver and stone material choices link the sofa with the concrete floor.

This type of floor will always work better with an area rug. However, the rug’s position isn’t the best for this space. Laying the long edge of the rug parallel with the sofa would make the proportions of the room more cohesive.

The most questionable piece is the coffee table. The light wood tone works in the space, but the over-large size and busy surface compromises the look of the room. First, setting the long edge parallel to the sofa along with the rug will make the proportions work better. Second, the kaleidoscopes scattered in the pocket in the foreground of the table look cluttered and confusing. The clean lines of the rest of the room are hurt by this design decision.

Although the kaleidoscopes add an element of whimsy, the visual simply doesn’t work. What could you do to change the impact of this choice? How about a fabric bag or other container to hold them? Or they could simply be placed in another room. A final option would be to select a rug with more color so that the splashy multicolored toys blend in better with the room.

By taking a look at rooms like this and determining what works and what doesn’t, you can make your own home design plans a success.

The potential for every room is visible in the foundation. In this case, the light wood floor and matching two-inch wood blinds create the canvas for an appealing space.

Smart design connects to the basics of a room. The dark tapes outlining the blinds come to the foreground thanks to the dark padded headboard and the dark wood nightstand.

This room is a study in neutrals. Dark and light marry in the major room elements, and then the bedding and pillows bring in the mid-tones as well as some pattern. The simple choice of large dots for one set of bed pillows keep to the extremely contemporary theme. Then the second set of pillows with their old-style embroidered dragonfly fabric brings a soft touch to the room, keeping it from feeling too cold.

Although this room is crisp and modern, comfort has a strong role. The headboard is curved and padded, inviting the opportunity to lean back and read or watch television. The night table is just the right height for reaching from the bed, and has plenty of room for reading material and other bedside essentials such as a clock and phone. Add just a few flowers in a contemporary vase and the room is done.

With the foundation of the straightforward light wood floor and matching blinds, this canvas is ready for almost any look. A good start like this leads to a great room: a bedroom demonstrating comfort, style and taste.

Come the weekend, or on Monday night, does your living room or family room become a center for the sports enthusiasts in your family?

Whether your team wins or loses, you can be a winner after the party if you plan ahead to keep your floors clean under the onslaught of snacks and beverages that are part of watching a game.

If you’re ready to replace your flooring or planning for a new home, take the potential for parties in your home into account. When you plan the position of a large flat screen, think about choosing flooring that can handle the challenges of the gathering of family and friends for sports events, movies, or other events.

Tile and laminates provide the most low-maintenance flooring solution. With a quick wipe down, crumbs and spills disappear. If you prefer carpeting, look for the stain-resistant varieties that allow spills to be handled with no leftover damage. You can also pre-prepare by gathering the requirements for carpet cleaning – the right cleaner and plenty of small white work towels so that you can clean up any spills immediately. It’s important not to make a fuss, just clean up the situation and move on.

Think about snacks that minimize mess such as pretzels and cheese. Set up a snack buffet in your kitchen, where people can fill their plates to bring into the big-screen area of your home.

The final solution is rather dramatic but it works. Pick up a few beach towels or bath sheets in colors similar to your flooring. Then simply scatter them within the snack zone. Dropped chips and spilled crumbs stop being a worry. Once everyone leaves, gather the towels, shake them outside and throw them in the wash. In the meantime, your floor is ready for the next exciting incursion by the untidy crowd.

 Are you ready to redecorate your home? One of the most challenging, and most fun, aspects of your planning is choosing the right mix and balance of colors.

If you’re having trouble deciding on a color palette for a room, how about starting with totally unrelated photos? Browse through some photos you like. They can be close-ups of nature like the one here, or landscapes in any season.

Let’s take a look at how a room looks that uses the colors in the photo above. This inviting mix of browns and neutrals has the potential to translate into a warm room in natural tones.

Let’s start with the flooring, the best foundation for any room’s design. As you can see the mid-range wood floor here pulls its color from the shell at the front of the photo. The walls pick up the shell’s lighter tones with the brown wrapping the windows and doors just like it wraps around the shell’s spiral pattern.

For the sofa color, check out the shell toward the back of the beach photo. That rich caramel is a very close match. The area rug captures all the shades of gray that are reflected by the stones in the photo.

The beach shot also has a variety of dark and light tones, and these can be seen in the accessories. By drawing on the colors and mood of a photo, this homeowner was able to create a room with a natural feel in soft warm neutrals. Whatever your color preferences, take the time to find just the right image for inspiration as you design your own home.

This inviting contemporary condo has so many features that add sophistication and style. What may not be as easy to recognize is that this home is also designed for children.

The marble flooring has a natural beauty and the darker color choice, large tiles and glossy surface keep it low maintenance – particularly important in the eating area.

The art in this room also works well with children. By choosing a simple tile mosaic in the place of more traditional art, the piece has a strong presence while actually providing the same wipe-clean advantage as a kitchen backsplash. Notice that the chairs have modern lines while the leather provides another easy-clean surface.

One appealing and unusual feature separates the dining area from the front entry. This half wall differs from standard designs thanks to the square openings set in a pattern through the entire wall. This architectural feature allows homeowners to simply leave the spaces empty, providing inviting glimpses from one area to another. This homeowner chose to add Plexiglas containers to allow for additional style by adding various elements to each opening.

In this case, good plastic replicas of fresh produce provide an intriguing addition to the entryway while hinting at the purpose of the next room. Small children’s toys or blocks could also fill the containers at the lower levels, adding color while providing elements of interest for little ones. The options are only limited by your imagination and size restrictions. Altogether, this space combines a home for adults to appreciate and children to enjoy.