Headboard Height

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Think about all the ways that you can decorate a bedroom, but the elephant (literally) in the room is the bed itself. It's the largest, most important piece of furniture in the room, and it will have its proper due. The headboard can be used in many ways to integrate the bed into the room's design scheme - or eliminating the headboard and floating the bed is a good way to free it from conventional placements.

We made a video of the integration of the headboard with the wainscoting in our hotel room this summer at the Grand Hotel de la Ville, Parma, Italy's sole 5-star hotel. The clever continuation of wood from the wainscoting to the ceiling, surrounding a decorative wood inlay, made the bed appear even more enormous than it was and gave the illusion of added height to the ceiling.

New Kitchen Solutions

We know that remodeling kitchens today is a moving target. What are the latest trends, and what are the must-have features that will give the heart of your home more efficiency, better storage, and greater ease of use? As boomers age and older millenials look for new kitchen solutions, we decided to go to Hafele America's NYC showroom for some suggestions. John Risch, Showroom Marketing Manager, steered us to Daryl Nauman, Regional Account Manager, who showed us the latest Hafele solutions to organize and modernize. The shelves in the photo above pull down to provide easy access to the contents of higher cupboards, and there are more great features in the following video.

The Decorative Carpet

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We were fortunate to interview author Alix G. Perrachon of The Decorative Carpet: Fine Handmade Rugs in Contemporary Interiors  on the night of her official book launch.

This is a much-needed look at how 32 of today's top interior designers - including Design2Share's Irwin Weiner ASID - use carpets in their design schemes. This advice ranges all over the map, as you'd expect from a diverse group of talented people. Each follow her or his muse, starting with colors, ending with colors; building a room design around a rug, ending a room design with a rug; and so on. This book is key inspiration for anyone who needs home decorating inspiration, including the homeowner who wants to learn more about how to dive in to the many carpet and rug options available today, at any price point. Finally, as published by The Monacelli Press, this book is a real beauty. The interiors are all inspired, from a great sampling of older and younger designers who are all performing at the top of their games.

A big thank-you to the decorative carpet folks at the Michaelian & Kohlberg Manhattan showroom at 225 East 59th Street for hosting this book launch in style.

Showtime House

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The Showtime television network sponsors a showhouse unlike no other. Each room is based on an architect, fashion designer, or interior designer's take on one of the Showtime programs, and the 2010 House adds an incredible array of interactive technology to heighten visitors' experiences. Click here for more information on the house, its location, dates, and hours. Click here to see photos from the 2010 rooms (see above; photo courtesy of Andrew French). Finally, you can watch the following video to see what the 2009 house was like.