Wallpaper is an amazing way to add color, texture and pattern to a room. And it doesn’t need to look like it came from your grandmother’s house — there’s all sort of fresh, modern stuff out there. Here are a few of our favorites. What sort of wallpaper do you like, and where would you choose to put it? Let us know in the comments!

Gravity (designed by Emil Kozak) from ferm LIVING
This bright blue, boldly geometric wallpaper would add oomph to any room. For an unusual twist, try it on the ceiling.

Fornasetti Collection from Cole & Son
This whimsical wallpaper would be perfect for a walk-in or entryway closet.

The Vibe from Afro Chic
Afro Chic’s funky print is surprisingly versatile and would work well in a modern living room or a girl’s bedroom.

Pure Paintable from Graham & Brown
Paintable wallpaper may sound like an oxymoron, but in reality it’s the best of both worlds. Use this wherever you want a little subtle texture in your house.

Kinky Vintage: Naughty Noir by Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen from Graham & Brown
This darkly elegant flocked wallpaper is described by Graham & Brown as “Marrakesh meets Marie Antoinette”. It might be too much for every day use, but if you have a guest room you’ve been dying to experiment with, or a library/office, it could be just the ticket.

Every once in a while, we like to give you a peek inside a celebrity’s big, fancy home. Not to make anyone jealous or anything like that — just to show some great examples of stylish interior design and decor and perhaps to give you a bit of inspiration next time you tackle some home improvement projects.

The March 2011 issue of Architectural Digest include a predictably great photo feature about musician Sheryl Crow’s 1920s home in the Hollywood Hills. With a original Spanish tile on the staircase, and furniture from the Pottery Barn, and a host of instruments strewn about the house, Crow’s home effortlessly blends classic decor with more modern elements.

According to AD: “The Ginebra sectional sofa and vintage cocktail table [in photo at right] were found at 22 Bond St.; the sea-grass rug is by Pottery Barn. Ron Pippin’s trophylike 2007 sculpture Deer with Copper Horns is displayed on a wall.” The photo shows a bit of the home’s Spanish-style architecture and gives a taste of Crow’s decorating style.

The home sits on an 11-acre property that also includes a bridge arching over a small ravine and a garden complete with tepee. Learn more — and see many more photos — at Architectural Digest’s website.

Last week, we shared a video that introduced you to P. Allen Smith’s Garden Home Retreat. Today we continue that exploration with a video from Smith in which he explains his home’s approach to sustainability. It’s a mix of traditional and newer building techniques — he’s done things like positioning the house with consideration for the sun’s angles and including a sophisticated, energy-efficient in-floor heating system.

When P. Allen Smith designed the Garden Home Retreat, he wanted it to be as energy-efficient and “green” as possible. That includes positioning the home to take advantage of shade, collecting rainwater for irrigating the garden, using energy-efficient appliances and windows, and more. Watch the short video above for more, or check out our YouTube channel for other videos from Smith.

We’ve written in the past about kid-friendly room design ideas, and more recently, we came across this post from DigsDigs, which shares some great modern kids’ bedroom designs, created with furniture by Italian company Callesella.

They are mostly done for teens and feature everything they need to study, play and rest. The color themes are chosen stylish and funky. With these ideas and such furniture you easily can transform the children’s bedroom in a young, dynamic and functional space.

The photos on DigsDigs are a good source of starter inspiration for designing your kid’s room — either by adding some modern elements or starting from scratch with a new approach. And few thousands more ideas, flip through this photo set on Flickr dedicated to kids’ room design.

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After a hard day at the office or with the kids, this room is your escape.  The master bedroom is unlike any other room in the house, as it truly is your personal getaway.

When I’m building a home and helping a client with the designs, I always follow three rules:

1. It’s all about the bed.
2. Build the rest of the room.  “What else do you want?”
3. Express yourself.  Show off your own personal style.

It’s all about the bed.

Thinking of the bedroom like a theater, your bed is the stage. It is the main piece of furniture that sets the style of the master bedroom. My one bit of advice in choosing a bed: Go for comfort. The master bed should meet both your decorating and health needs, so do not skimp on costs here. Get one that’s comfortable and fits the room.

Like other large pieces of furniture in the home, you must allow for traffic here as well.  Place your bed in an area that won’t obstruct a door or block a window and allow enough floor space to move around it.  The best location for a bed is to place it opposite the entry of the door, allowing you to look out on your entire room.

Build the rest of the room.  “What else do you want?”

This is the first room you see in the morning and the last one you see as you drift off to sleep. Nowadays, people want it all in a master bedroom. A room you can sleep in and an area where you can relax and read a good book. In addition to your master bed, think about the other items you would like to surround yourself with for that added personal comfort.

Whether it’s a nightstand, a flat screen television and DVD player, a stereo or a special chair for reading — make yourself comfortable. Whatever you choose, just remember to allow enough room for your items. When planning your master bedroom, you should follow these guidelines:

• Add three to four inches to width and length for your bed covering.
• Leave at least 24 inches for clearance around the bed for traffic.
• Allow three to four inches of space at either end of the bed for the headboard or footboard.

Express yourself. Show off your own personal style.

Of all the rooms in your home, it is your master bedroom that is the most personal space in the house, so give it a style and a personality that is all its own. Whether it is your bedding and style of furniture or it’s the photos of the kids and your Monet painting, make this room your own. You’ll be glad you did.

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Marvin Windows was delighted to have architect and author Sarah Susanka as a guest of Marvin Windows and Doors at this year’s Remodeling Show. Here are some tips from Sarah’s latest book, “Not So Big Remodeling,” written with Marc Vassallo.

Bathrooms are among the most expensive rooms in the house per square foot. Carefully consider personal patterns and preferences before determining the best remodeling solution for the situation.

1. Positioning the Plumbing. Avoid added expense by leaving plumbing locations alone.

2. Control Costs. Before beginning, identify parts of the existing bathroom that can be saved, such as tile work, half walls, faucets and fixtures. Use available tools such as mirrors, reflected light, clear glass shower partitions and ceiling height variety to make the space look and feel larger. Identify ways to introduce natural light with glass block or frosted-glass windows, skylights and solar tubes. Do not overspend on bathroom tile or jewelry such as faucets and fixtures.

3. Express Yourself. Add simple, yet creative, deisgn flair with tile. Place a single, more expensive feature tile in a field of less costly tile to create a focal point. Or use only low cost tile, but several sizes or colors to create an innovative pattern.

4. A Tub for Young and Old. It is a good idea to have at least one bathtub in a house. Tubs are needed for bathing small children, and the elderly often prefer baths to showers.

5. Daylight in the Shower. When adding a window to a shower, make sure the window is installed properly, or it can cause moisture problems. If possible, use a metal or fiberglass covered unit and make the sill and surround out of tile or a solid surface material.

6. The Throne. For extra comfort in a bathroom or powder room, choose an elongated toilet bowl over a standard model. Given how much time we spend with this trusty fixture, it is worth a few extra dollars to make the experience a pleasant one.

7. Mirrored Gains. No room benefits more form the use of reflecting surfaces than the bathroom. A wall-to-wall mirror can double the apparent size of a room without adding a single square foot.

8. Small Space, Big Effect. Powder rooms have the most impact per square foot of any room in the house. They do not have to be spacious to make guests feel well taken care of. What is important is the design and the attention that is given to the details, such as lighting, cabinetry and countertop design, and color. In this room, beauty matters more than you might expect.

We’re delighted to have architect and author Sarah Susanka as a guest of Marvin Windows and Doors at this year’s Remodeling Show. Here are some tips from Sarah’s latest book, “Not So Big Remodeling,” written with Marc Vassallo.

1. Set priorities. When beginning a remodel, consider the three values of quality, quantity and cost. Determine which two are the most important. Because remodeling is an inexact science, one of these variables must be allowed to “float” in order to make a remodel possible.

2. Examine the space. Begin exploring remodeling options by first looking at what can be done within the existing footprint of the house. By thinking creatively about the available space, you may discover that no additional space needs to be added on.

3. Think in terms of activity areas. Don’t think about remodeling in terms of rooms. Instead, create a list of activities that need to be accommodated — recognizing that a place for the activity is needed, but not necessarily an entire room.

4. Start with the simplest strategy. Begin by exploring the simplest solution — working within the existing footprint — and only move to more complicated solutions, such as a bump-out or a small addition, after determining that the simpler solution won’t work. This is the most important tool for discovering a Not So Big solution.

5. Study storage. Evaluate the home’s existing storage areas. Many homes have too little storage in places where it is most needed, and too much in places where it is only marginally useful. A little well-designed storage in the right place can replace a lot of poorly designed storage, opening up floor space.

6. Bump out a little. Bumping out a section of wall by just a few feet can add some much needed square footage just where it is useful. A bump out that creates an alcove or a small extension running the width of a room will keep costs down while maintaining the scale and proportion of the existing house.

7. Add on with grace. If none of the above strategies meets the remodeling needs, and budget allows, a small addition may be the best option. A well-proportioned addition can greatly enhance the value of a house, while a poorly proportioned addition can actually reduce a home’s value.

8. Let the roof be the guide. To ensure that a bump out or addition will look good on a house, let the existing roof inform the design solution. The roof shape will make some options easy and others nearly impossible without looking like a mistake.

9. Work with windows. Few things can have as much impact on the character of a room as the shapes, patterning and positioning of the windows. In any remodeling decision, an interesting composition of windows can add personailty to both the inside and outside of the house.

10. Include the exterior. Few remodeling strategies can affect the long term value of a home more than an external face lift. These can be accomplished inexpensively when done with a Not So Big focus on quality rather than quantity.

There’s nothing you can’t accomplish with a little creativity and some engineering smarts. Gary Chang has turned his Hong Kong apartment into one of the more impressive displays of space-making remodeling we’ve seen.

As the video mentions, Hong Kong is one of the world’s most densely populated places, so living space is certainly at a premium. Chang took advantage of his space by turning a 330-square-foot apartment into a home with 24 different “rooms.” We could try explaining, but you probably just have to see it:

Kind of makes your three-season patio addition seem like a little less of an accomplishment, huh?

We’ve seen some great kitchen makeovers lately and wanted to take this opportunity to share some of them with you. In particular, two websites have some impressive collections of before-and-after photos, makeover slideshows and watch-it-unfold videos that take you inside for a good look at these remodeling projects.

A post from AOL.com’s ShelterPop blog has a nice slideshow of their top 7 remarkable kitchen makeovers. They include some serious drab-to-fab overhauls, like this one:

For an even more impressive collection, head over to HGTV’s FrontDoor.com. In their guide to home staging — preparing a home for sale, making it look its best to fetch the most — they have a series of before-and-after comparisons, slideshows and videos that are sure to get your wheels spinning. These kitchen makeovers are great, but if you’re looking for something beyond that, they have similar collections for bathrooms, living rooms, bedrooms, patios and more.

Have you seen any impressive makeovers lately? Done one yourself? Share some details in the comments!

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We recently shared some tips on refreshing your home in 2010 with a successful remodeling project. Of course, remodeling is only part of the picture, so let’s take a look at some interior design and decorating trends pros see on the horizon for the year ahead.

Shelterffic has a list of 15 predictions of hot trends from interior design Christopher Hyland, some of which are simple and sensible (like “couches with high backs” or “frosted glass”) and others of which are maybe just a bit too sophisticated for your average homeowner (like “18th Century Gustavian design” or “An increasingly creative use of seemingly incongruous elements such as sheets of studded metal over plastic or in tandem with silk damask as wall panels”). Still, it’s a good list and should give just about anyone a little something interesting to think about.

A blogger at Houzz.com says the classic black-and-white color combo, though it never really went away, will see a resurgence in 2010. And if black and white isn’t your thing, purple will be a popular, bold color choice. She also expected demand for reclaimed wood and other “green” materials to continue to rise.

Speaking of which, Natural Home Magazine offers its own take on predicted trends for 2010. Among them: sprucing up with bright, natural colors like turquoise and an increase in “designing with natural light.”

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