Details are at the heart of every decorating scheme. Flowers and plants, art, collectibles, books, photographs - these are all finishing touches that add energy and character and wit to our homes. In this new volume in their Great Style series, the editors of House Beautiful offer myriad ways to choose and arrange these wonderful "punctuation points" to animate every type of decor, from sleek and contemporary rooms to highly embellished traditional schemes. House Beautiful takes the mystery out of selecting and displaying these accents by exploring the five simple guidelines of shape, scale, texture, color, and finish that are the major criteria in all professional design decisions: which pieces belong together, how many of them are enough or too much, what background is best for paintings, how to add drama to an arrangement. And each page is brimming with ideas for enlivening every room with the beauty of nature, with favorite collectibles or serious collections, even with personal mementos and everyday items. More than one hundred rich color photographs of homes throughout the country bring all these design lessons to vibrant life.