Dream Home designer offers tips

Interior designer Linda Woodrum, who worked her magic on HGTV’s Dream Home 2008, offers these decorating tips for creating your own dream home:

* A wall-hung flat-screen TV is more aesthetically pleasing if it appears to be on a shelf. Mount a shelf directly under your TV, and lean framed pieces of artwork on the shelf on either side of the screen.

* Art belongs everywhere in the home, even the kitchen. Woodrum positioned three round wooden pieces under a bank of windows in the Dream Home to create a kitchen focal point.

* Paint ceilings and walls the same hue to give the occupants the feeling of being encapsulated with color.

* When grouping framed artwork, stick with the same frame finish: black, white, silver or wood. Group all color pictures or all black-and-white pictures.

* Movable chairs and tables allow a space to suit a variety of needs and activities.

* You don’t need to be limited to a single centerpiece on your dining-room table. Woodrum fills the Dream Home’s table with three elements: a mirrored tray holding a cluster of crystal candlesticks, a decorative metal bowl and a pair of white scallop-shell dishes. Vary the size, style and shape of the decorations.

For more decorating ideas from Woodrum, visit www.hgtv.com.