Design details like pelmets and valances, sheers, casements, and upholstered doors may not feel accessible to the average homeowner, but in Decorate like a Decorator: All You Need to Know to Design like a Pro (Monacelli, 2024), creative director Dara Caponigro reveals 21 tricks of the interior design trade and illustrates how to practice them like the professionals to transform a space from standard to sensational. “Much like brushstrokes on a canvas, a successful room is made up of myriad details and decisions that add up to a cohesive whole—a whole that evokes emotion, reveals personality, and welcomes you in,” she divulges. “While it might be impossible to put your finger on exactly how the best pros do what they do, there are certain strategies they return to time and time again.” Each chapter of Decorate like a Decorator tackles one of these techniques—from stripes on the bias to matching patterns and using plates as decoration—while providing readers with inspiration on how to personalize and adapt the element to their interior aesthetic.

In chapter 12, Caponigro explains how accent paint is a powerful tool that can be used to reshape a room when added to the ceiling, doors, stairs, and floors. In addition to being one of the easiest and most effective methods to elevate a space, incorporating accent paint is also one of the most accessible and affordable. This cozy bunk room, for example, features white stripes on the ceiling that radiate around a light fixture, adding a graphic element to an otherwise simple design. Enveloped in a rich green hue, the bedroom, which Sarah Sherman Samuel of SSS Design created for her son, includes chartreuse velvet panels and a playful tiger rug that offers texture and whimsy. Consider integrating accent paint along with these nine finds to design your next room like a pro.

Excerpted from Decorate like a Decorator: All You Need to Know to Design like a Pro by Dara Caponigro with Melinda Page (Monacelli, 2024). Reprinted with permission from the publisher and photographer.