DECORATING ADVICE : Colorful Tree-of-Life Sofa Pattern Will Enliven Den

Question: I need to re-upholster the sofa in my den, but I’m having trouble choosing the color and pattern. I found a tree-of-life pattern with a red flower, but I thought it might be too busy for this room. The walls are covered with pine paneling, and the ceiling is painted white. The love seat is a mushroom-color corduroy, and the carpet is light olive green. Red accessories are used throughout.

Donna Graham

Answer: A tree-of-life chintz sounds perfect for your den. Select one with a straw-colored background and a moss-green, fern-green, apple-red, lemon-yellow and royal-blue pattern. The red accents are also a nice choice. Order some extra fabric, and make up some throw pillows to add to your corduroy love seat.

Q: I have a 4-year-old son who loves carousels, horses and trains. I would like to decorate his room. It has beige carpeting, which we cannot afford to replace, and beige textured walls, on which I can’t hang posters. It has a bunk bed, and a small, bright-blue painted chest of drawers. His room has several stackable storage units, a toy box and a hobby horse.

J. Bradshaw

A: Though you’re stuck with the beige carpeting and the beige walls, you do have a ceiling to play with. Paint your ceiling with 3- to 5-inch yellow, white and red stripes so that it looks like a tent. The bunk bed and small chest of drawers that are painted blue sound fine. Maybe you’ll want to trim them with a white and yellow line. Find a carousel horse light fixture to hang from the ceiling of your tent.

Q: I love footed bathtubs. But can such an old style work in a new bathroom?

Barbara Arrera

A: There’s no better way to bring a fanciful look to a bathroom than by adding vintage features. Many people go to salvage companies to search for standing basins and footed tubs. When the porcelain on the fixtures is in good shape, salvage companies find that the demand for them is quite high. Faucets with porcelain knobs are especially popular.

If you’d like to decorate your bathroom in the vintage manner, first look for an attractive vintage medicine cabinet to hang over the pedestal sink. If the medicine cabinet is in a rough pine, you might even consider painting it white and then trimming it with a soft-green line or a hand-painted garland of flowers.

The ideal floor for a vintage bathroom is made of whitewashed wood (cover with polyurethane for safety’s sake) and accented with a throw rug--one in a happy color such as soft pink, apple-green or light aqua. I love Appalachian cotton throw rugs, especially since they’re so easy to wash.

For accessories, use baskets to hold towels and facecloths, and hang a basket on the wall for sponges and brushes.

The most practical wall decor in your vintage bathroom would be a washable vinyl wall covering covered with a scattering of garden flowers on a white ground. And, for the final touch, place a coordinating border design at the ceiling line.