We tackled the boys’ bedroom first. Henry fell in love with a quilt on an outing to Sperryville, VA, last weekend, so we had our inspiration piece to start a new look. I took the matching sham with me for reference:

I told Camille that I wanted a sleek new look for the boys’ room. Considering the “country” nature of this quilt, I didn’t want the room to devolve into some Holly Hobbie nightmare.

With barely a pause, the ideas started flowing. “I think this color on the walls,” she said, pointing to the brown background on the sham. “I think it’s sort of handsome looking.” That came as a bit of a shock – all that brown? But it might be growing on me, considering the trim, ceiling, louvered doors, and bookcases would be painted cream.

Then she told me to find a “tweedy” rug with a “salt and peppery” mix of navy and cream. I never would have thought of something like that, but more on the rug later.

We then tackled the window treatments. I told her Roman shades would be good, but what kind of fabric? Remember, I kept telling her, no Holly Hobbie. No gingham. No country look.

So we started in stripes.

While the selection at Kravet was lovely, it was also waaaay too expensive for a little boys’ room.

The Fabricut showroom was next. We found a good candidate.

Camille gets help from the lovely Jennifer Clark

A close-up of our first candidate – Fabricut’s Deer Grove

But Camille was trying to find a version of mattress ticking with some navy blue in it, which we both thought would look great. But we, along with Fabricut’s Jennifer Clark, made an interesting and rather depressing discovery: “Navy is actually a color I don’t see that often in textiles,” Jennifer remarked.

My pillow sham has dark, nearly-black navy blue in it, but no one seemed to have anything that runs dark enough.

Nope, won’t work.

Not quite.

On to Pindler & Pindler we went, without any more luck. But then we stopped into Schumacher on a whim, where Camille declared she had found The One.

Remember what I said about avoiding Holly Hobbie, and no gingham?

“I like this!” She said excitedly. “I think it goes!” Meanwhile, I’m getting bad, eye-twitching visions of some Kountry Kute explosion in my poor son’s bedroom.

What’s worse? This fabric is from Schumacher’s “Country House Cottons” collection. I can’t do it, Camille. I just can’t. Then the showroom rep, Mark Hall, produces a solid blue color. “I’m drawn to the solid,” I tell her. “Hmm” is her response, in a tone that’s more of a “Humph.”

She compromises. Try the solid with a wide trim in the check pattern, she says. Then she tells me to walk away from it, turn abruptly around, “and take a quick look – they do go.”

Oh, okay.

Here it is. I have since gotten the approval from Henry, who really likes the combination.

As for the rug, I’m pretty much on my own now, but I like Camille’s tweedy concept. Here are some options I’ve found online, which don’t approach the “salt and peppery” texture I’m after, but are worth considering. 

From Flor:

Clockwise from upper left: Rake Me Over in Lagoon; Twist and Shout in Indigo; Velvet Rope in Cream and Indigo

From CompanyKids:

Flokati rug in Denim Blue

So let’s put the bedroom aside for now and check in on the dining room.

“I think we ought to try to do something from this light fixture,” Camille says. “I don’t want to scare you, but it looks like there’s a hint of peachy in here.”

And you know, she’s right! I came home and turned on the light, and there is a bit of a peachy glow from it, which is somehow appropriate because there are some peach tones in the adjacent living room.

In any event, she says, with all the blacks, whites and browns in this room, “You need color. You really need color.”

Now, here’s the second whammy: She says we should paint some peachy stripes where the wallpaper is now – only this time, they should be horizontal, and very wide – six to nine inches wide. She whips out a photo of a similar room she designed with wide, sorbet-yellow stripes, and I immediately see how horizontal stripes can make a tiny room like our dining room look much bigger.

But what kind of peach? Like the boys’ bedroom, I can see this going bad, fast. But this is why Camille is a designer and I’m not.

Camille started searching for a fabric in Pindler & Pindler’s cotton section that might emulate the paint color.

Hmmm. We’re not quite there yet. I started looking online, but again, paint needs to be viewed in person. The search is not over.

How about Farrow & Ball’s Fowler Pink? Maybe too pink.

Benjamin Moore’s Peach Sorbet? Maybe too peach. (I’m starting to feel like Goldilocks here…)

Sherwin Williams’ Pizazz Peach? Maybe?

Decisions, decisions. Thank you, Camille, for at least giving me a road map – one I never would have imagined if left to my own non-designer devices.

Anyone else have advice pour moi? This will likely be a year-long process, so there’s plenty of time to mull it over. I’ll keep you updated.

Philippe Starck’s Mr. Impossible Chair by Kartell, so named because of the advanced plastics technology it took to meld the seat and the frame in a translucent piece of furniture.

I love the Zentrix Shower Drainage, not only because it’s not the typical round drain with holes in it, but it allows for level access so no threshold for the shower is needed – perfect for people with mobility problems.

This Bulthaup kitchen is amazing: a work bench in the middle that includes a sink, plus armoires that hold “appliances, crockery, tools, and ingredients.”

Mary-Ann Williams rocks for her laser-cut felt Lotus Flower rug.

(This is another of her rugs, so you can get a better idea of what they look like from a distance.)

I’ve seen walls covered in all manner of fabric, but blankets? This is too cool. By David Rockwell for Maya Romanoff.

This is what I need, a carafe to instantly chill down the warm white wine that just came home from the store.

I was excited to see John Pawson’s cookware win a design award – seeing as I blogged about it here last summer, great minds think alike.

Patricia Urquiola was honored for her Design Landscape tabletop series, in which one of seven different sculptural reliefs are etched into each piece. Wow.

Even the most humble of house wares – the dishcloth, was recognized. Eva Solo’s dish cloth is designed to stand on an attractive base when not in use – no more smelly dishcloths hanging off the side of the sink.

And it doesn’t get more workaday in the kitchen than with Pyrex and Tupperware. They also won design awards for the Teardrop bowl (Pyrex),

and the Allegra storage containers (Tupperware), although the American version might also be called Radiance, based on an Internet search.

Dixon calls his designs “abstractions of more traditional rugs, and they have a transitional quality that can be used happily with contemporary or traditional homes.”

Dixon ordered the Foret pattern, inspired by leaves on the forest floor, in a giant 24- by 36-foot size for the Nashville home of former Sen. Bill Frist and his wife, Karyn.

Dixon, who is currently offering nine designs in more than 160 color combinations, has already ordered them for clients in five U.S. states and in Russia. Fourteen other designs are forthcoming.

The Glen Keith pattern was inspired by a castle Dixon visited in the Glen Keith region of Scotland. The border was carved in the castle’s walls outside, and the bell flowers and palmettes were among the interior carvings. Dixon said the rug’s pale red color comes from the skin of the pomegranate, while the more intense shade in the border and flowers comes from the juice.

Dixon and Megerian’s Sarkis Vardanian met three years ago in High Point, NC, where Dixon was featuring his latest furniture collection for Tomlinson/Erwin-Lambeth and Megerian had set up a temporary showroom. “A friendship led to more creativity,” Vardanian said. “It was a dream, to tell you the truth.”

Timothy Paul, who said “Barry’s been a client and a friend for a long time,” jumped at the chance to sell Dixon’s rugs after he saw them displayed for the first time at the Atlanta International Area Rug Market in January. “The designs are spectacular. I think we’ll do really well with them,” Paul said.

Shoppers in the store see the back of the Floret Vine pattern, above, which is just as lovely as the front, visible out the window, below:

“This line is very special for us. On our collection list, it’s one of the tops,” Vardanian said of the designs. “They look so different and so new – they are very unique in the market.”

Dixon, ever the Southern gentleman, shrugged off the repeated accolades. “You see things, you’re inspired by them, and you create something fresh. That’s what we [designers] do.”

Yes, Barry, sure.

I can’t get enough of this Baby Zoo Rug by Boym, which you can buy from the great kids’ Web retailer Modernseed. Not only is it a fun, funky rug for your kids’ room, but it also contains a (brillianty) built-in night light.

As for room décor, it’s hard not to fall for these sweet animal shapes cut from vintage wallpaper by Inke, a designer in the Netherlands whose work can be purchased in the U.S. right here.

This wallpaper from Sweden-based Sandberg is subtle but imaginative. But find an interior designer friend to get it – you can only buy it at to-the-trade Stark Carpet.

I flipped over these Rug Company wall hangings by Paul Smith – they remind me of the crazy graphics and storybook illustrations of my early-’70s childhood.

And how can you resist getting these toy boxes from Mod Mom?