Aggrandize Small Spaces with Bold Gestures

Q: Our city apartment is so small that the bed has to be wedged into the guest room, wall-to-wall. We have a lot of company — we're both college professors with a long list of former students who come to visit. I'm looking for ways to make those visits more comfortable and pleasant.

A: Repeat after me: It's not what space you have; it's what you do with it.

There are many decorating lessons in the pictured little guest room. Small as it is — note the bed "wedged in head-to-foot, wall-to-wall" under the window — the room exudes an air of calm, even spaciousness. At the same time, it's a visual delight, thanks to the highly unorthodox thinking of designer Steven Gambrel and partner Chris Connor.

Contrary to the conventional wisdom that small spaces should wear light colors and small patterns, they have stroked bold colors and oversized patterns on the walls and wood trim. Actually, the walls are covered in a vintage Uzbek ikat, according to Margaret Russell, editor of Elle Decor magazine and author of the new book, "Style and Substance" (Filipacchi Publishing), from which we borrowed this photo.

The room lives up to the book's title: It's as attractive as it is sensible, with accommodation for two guests ... who'll no doubt go home buoyed up by their stay between its joyously decorated walls.

Q: Spoiled by "instant" decorating materials?

A: Then avert your eyes. The rest of this article is about a highly decorative "product" that takes five to seven years of development before it reaches your home.

It's a new variety of plant, and if you count plants and flowers as an important part of your decor, indoors and out, it's worth the wait. For example, I just met a new gardenia in a New York restaurant, of all places.

It came to lunch with Mike Sikes, guru from the Gardeners' Confidence Collection in Georgia (GardenersConfidence.com), who was introducing "Heaven Scent" to the world of home fashions.

The last time we met, Mike was toting a small tub filled with a new kind of hydrangea. I spent a good deal of time researching what's new for the home scene, but reviewing introductions that live, grow and smell divine in the process is an unusual assignment. It certainly stopped talk in the restaurant bar when Mike suddenly pulled out a Patron-shaped bottle of water and proceeded to arrange a table centerpiece on the spot.

Nothing too fancy — Mike claims to be of the "cut and plop" school of flower-arranging — but his combination of burgundy-dark foliage, hypericum berries and small golden flowers was a delightfully instant centerpiece.

A convert to gardening (he took it up at age 30), Mike denies that he has the proverbial green thumb. "A dirty thumb signifies a good gardener," he laughs. Whichever, he rates a thumbs-up for his wealth of hints and how-to ideas with plants and flowers for your holiday decorating.

Two of my favorites: 1. Force paperwhite bulbs in gin or vodka (mixed with two-thirds water). It stunts their growth, literally, so the flowers don't grow lanky and fall over. 2. His catchy formula for planting container gardens: "thriller" (tallest and most eye-catching plant), "filler" (what's lush and space-filling) and "spiller" (a plant, like ivy, that drips over the side of the container and softens the effect).

Rose Bennett Gilbert is the co-author of "Manhattan Style," "Hampton Style," and five other books on interior design.