Decorte Your Eating Places

An airy breakfast nook takes its streamlined style and charming colors from a pretty print. Here are the five essential elements of the space:

1. Lighting: A drum shade hangs high above the table, allowing natural light to fill the space during the day and casting a warm glow at night.

2. Fabric: Fruit-pattern toile that appears on the window treatment and pillows inspired all color choices and the custom floorcloth.

3. Window treatments: A tailored toile valance with five sections separated by crisp pleats highlights the inspirational print fabric. A band of contrasting fabric gives the window treatment a subtle tone-on-tone effect, while tassels add a textural flourish to each gentle point.

4. Seating: Two French Empire-inspired chairs work in tandem with built-in seating, offering flexible dining for two to six people.

5. Personal touches: A banquette ended up being a good solution for the postage-stamp tiny room, increasing seating and allowing for nearly a dozen pretty pillows in rosy red and buttery yellow, both colors inspired by a fruit-pattern toile.

Green and pink could easily have been too sweet in this intimate, off-the-kitchen dining space. But by deftly combining pretty with practical, a feminine, not fussy, look was created. Here are the five essential elements for this space:

1. Lighting: The intricately worked chandelier and sconces (1950s pieces) were painted, rewired, and topped with pleated mini shades.

2. Fabric: Pretty print fabric -- featuring porcelain vessels and summer blossoms -- gives the room another whimsical touch while also providing a warmly neutral taupe-and-green backdrop.

3. Window treatments: The ornate window treatments are full, functional, and rich in detail. The room's panel draperies include contrasting botanical trim and custom-painted hardware.

4. Seating: Sage-green slipcovers with crisp white piping instantly updated and softened the curvy French dining chairs.

5. Personal touches: A passion for porcelain serving pieces is showcased in a carved pine corner cabinet (top photo, above). These pink and green pieces from the homeowner's collection inspired the vibrant color scheme in this dining space.

Shown here: Antique print fabric was stretched into three panels that hang as art over a serving buffet, with the florals complementing the roses, vases, magnolias, and urns among the cadre of charming images included in the print drapery fabric.

Unexpected color and pattern update the classic furnishings in a cozy eat-in kitchen, transforming it to country French sophistication. The essential five to get this look include:

1. Lighting: A burnished bronze fixture hangs low over the pine table, casting warm light and producing a comfy country French effect.

2. Fabric: A richly detailed print with fruit depicted in full color contrasts perfectly with a rusty-red solid and a blue-and-white plaid.

4. Window treatments: The tailored valance frames three print panels like pieces of art. Crisp pleats, a polished paneling effect, and multihue fringe make it a showstopper. (See below for a complementary window treatment.)

3. Seating: French chairs, reupholstered in contrasting fabrics and filled with generous padding, offer inviting resting spots for a busy family to gather around the table.

5. Personal touches: The homeowner's collection of transferware is on prominent display in the side hutch.

In contrast to the lush main draperies, a simple sheer hangs from an ornate rod on the side door, allowing easy access to the sun-drenched patio beyond.