From time to time, the design of your home is the best manual for the style of the furnishings you fill it together; other times, its surroundings will guide you.

Consider Custom Options If you are outfitting a space that's small or has awkward layout features, custom-made furnishings may be the best option. Case in point: this elegant guest space. "The bed was designed to get a room that had door locations that inhibited twin beds out of being placed side by side as they typically are," clarifies designer Chandos Dodson Epley. "We went together with the corner-style headboard to provide more floor area and a walkway at the bedroom. It also created a comfy nook for the clients' two young granddaughters."

Select Fabrics With Durability Built-In When picking upholstery for a beachfront house belonging to an active household, designers Betsy Burnham and Max Humphrey opted to upholster all the furniture from indoor-outdoor fabric. "Every piece is covered in Sunbrella fabric -- even the pillows and the custom area rug underneath. Outdoor cloth was the perfect choice for this particular room, which is 'command central' to get TV-watching and game playing." And, they note mount tv service . "In regard to the furniture program, sometimes it's dramatic to do fewer bits and maintain the scale of every big and daring; that's true here. We picked the largest sectional we could fit in the area and made sure it was super deep and comfy. We paired it with a large upholstered ottoman, which serves double duty as a coffee table and a great spot for everybody to kick their feet up."

Catalogs Can Make Your Budget's Best Friend For a project that called for a slick luxurious look -- on a tight budget -- designer Shirley Meisels shopped carefully. "You are able to create a great look without going custom," says the designer, who flipped to significant retailers and internet sources, choosing a mattress, dining table and linens from West Elm, a rug from Dwell Studio, and a lamp from Restoration Hardware. Of course, designer know-how is what pulls it all together: "To make heat in such a spare and simple setting it's important to incorporate feel. That's where the fur pillow and rug come into play."

Match Your Furniture's Scale to the Space "Choosing furniture that is proportionate to the room and also to all the other furniture pieces in the area is very important for a successful design," say the designers of Laura U, Inc. "This really is a really large area, the bed is custom and overscale, and also the bedside chests are the perfect size for our colossal mattress and generous room. A custom mattress also means custom bedding. Ours is detailed with a Moroccan motif in a neutral tone as the embroidery using a free arctic blue to the accent pillows."

Small Space? Show Some Leg Keep in mind that your furnishings should be in proportion not only to the actual size of this space but also to the sensed dimensions -- which can be affected by such elements as paint color or broad regions of glass. Within this undertaking, the latter came to play. "The floor-to-ceiling windows make this little space feel bigger, and to keep that open atmosphere the furniture needed to be scaled appropriately," states architect Leslie Arnold. "Choosing furniture which has been open at the bottom -- i.e. pieces which don't go all the way to the floor -- 'enlarges' the room by letting the whole floor to be visually unbroken. The easy, solid colored upholstery makes it possible for the brightly colored rug and wall art to be the primary focus of the room."

Old Chair New Upholstery = New Chair In a master bedroom that's all about comfy luxury, designer Lauren Macer created an inviting seating area using present pieces from her client's collection. "The armchairs are vintage pieces, nevertheless they have been upholstered in black leather that was damaged. I reupholstered them in a beautiful soft linen fabric for an entirely different appearance," she states. "When searching for vintage furniture pieces, the most essential element is shape. The upholstery, wood colour and status of the filling could all be altered -- so keep an open mind and don't let a solid pattern or color distract you."

Pick Pieces That Are Movable To make a multifunctional seating space within an attorney's home office, designer Tim Barber picked a flexible mixture of classic and reproduction pieces. "For a space flexible enough to prepare a legal brief, host tea with friends, steer fundraising projects, help with assignments and sometimes accommodate overflow guests, we made a strategy with bits mild enough to be transferred easily -- and durable enough to endure frequent rearranging (nothing overly precious here)," he states. "The couch is a Lino Comfort sleeper from Design Within Reach, making the office a convertible guest bedroom in a pinch. We love the deep seat cushions and low level arms: ideal for a power nap. The chairs are classic 1957 Knoll Saarinen armchairs, reupholstered from Kravet cloth. The Saarinen cocktail table is a reproduction from Room & Board."

Get Thrifty From the bedroom of a beach house on the Indian Ocean, designer Nelly Reffret chose a creative solution to the project's extremely tight budget. She says: "I hunted for deals and only selected items that I knew would function flawlessly in the space. The headboard is a discontinued Ikea style, which I painted in a sandy color. I discovered that the suitcases on the curb throughout garbage collection (you know that saying about somebody's crap being somebody's treasure...)." When blending an assortment of furniture styles, she recommends enabling scale and size to direct your choices. "Before selecting a look, it is important to determine what will fit in the space: width and depth matter. Scale is another important element. Too many large pieces and the space will seem cluttered; also many small pieces, and there'll be no sense of cohesion, no feeling of 'grounding'. Having one item of large scale next to smaller things can create an interesting focal point to your room, just enjoy the headboard does in this bedroom"

Modern Style? Opt for Streamlined Shapes To get a manly and contemporary bedroom, select a bed with presence and a strong, geometric shape, like this contemporary four-poster style. "A mix of geometric and organic patterns and shapes in the Exact Same deep color palette creates a sense of calm in this space and helps ground and unify the various patterns in the carpet, bedding and Fantoni lamps," states designer Amy Lau of the elegant retreat.

Take Inspiration From Where You Are From time to time, the design of your home is the best manual for the style of the furnishings you fill it together; other times, its surroundings will guide you. When choosing furniture for this living space, designer Kristen Rivoli chose the tiniest tack. "This distance is at a building directly next to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), in nyc, therefore our inspiration was that the traditional midcentury modern furniture you might find in the museum," she states. "We discovered the side table in a vintage furniture shop, but the sofa is new -- it's available through KRID but has the lines of a classic tuxedo-style sofa. The Brittania lighting fixture is new but increases the midcentury design, and the toss pillows are custom-made in a mellow color palette average of the '50s and '60s."

Coordinate Wood Tones "We opted for a durable, solid wood dining table from Crate & Barrel with this casual eat-in kitchen nook. It's perfect for family meals and works equally well for crafts or homework," says the developer of the project by Niche Interiors. When matching chairs and table, she states, "always think about the leg end of your dining chairs: They ought to maintain the exact same tone household as the dining table. A few shades lighter or darker is fine, as long as the wood tone resembles"

Consider the Way That It Will Fit The right furniture configuration can mediate any range of design challenges, making multiple zones in a big, open space, for example. "This open-concept household room/kitchen has a long, narrow arrangement," say the designers of Niche Interiors. "We made a cozy seating area near the TV and picked for smaller-scale furniture to maintain the space from feeling helpless. The airy lightweight coffee table from Blu Dot is easy to move aside for rail or Lego marathons." Tip for tight spaces: "In case you're squeezing a lot of furniture into a bigger area, select pieces your eye could see beneath. This helps make the room feel visually milder. Higher furniture legs or box frame tables similar to this one are equally fantastic choices."

Choose Pieces Together With the Right Height To make sure your nightstand is suitable for your space and is easy to reach from bed, "Make sure to select one that is level with the height of your mattress, or at the most 3 to 4 inches taller. It'll look proportional and provide the maximum performance," say the designers in Niche Interiors. To create this comfy master retreat, they utilized a mixture of bright colours and clean-lined, modern furniture, pairing a tailored upholstered bed from Pottery Barn using a mirrored wood side table from Vivaterra. A patterned rug in Emma Gardner Designs and custom cushions provide just the right quantity of pattern without overwhelming the space.

Built-In Functionality = Easy Entertaining To create a party-friendly focal point for a large dining area, Susana Simonpietri of Chango & Co. given a huge round dining table, complete with a lazy Susan. "Both the chandelier and table have been custom made for this particular space," she states. "The simplicity of the first structure creates a natural flow and flow whilst gauzy curtains soften the organic light."

Insert Interest With Contrast A cocktail table may supply the ideal chance to present an unexpected design notice. Here, designer Jarrett Yoshida accented a slick, modern living room with an oversized rustic table. Dark and weighty from the light, delicate area, it stands out and provides sculptural interest to an otherwise simple inside.