Home Design with Kevin Sharkey

1 Bathed in soft gray and enlivened with peach, what's normally a utilitarian space becomes warm and welcoming.

2 Araucana Sage makes a stylish understatement on living-room walls; the ceiling is Araucana Blue.

3 A range of neutrals from seashells and stones inspired the choice of restful colors for this living room.

4 This bed frame is encased in thick bump padding, then in fine-linen slipcovers that are stitched together into a simple dressmaker shape that gracefully envelops the frame of the bed. Pink linens accentuate the pink in the wall color.

5 Under Martha's direction, pink seems to have found its decorative footing. One of her design tactics was to create a continuous wash of ambient color throughout the guesthouse.

6 In the bedroom, Martha had a lampshade made to match the Italian alabaster reading lamp; the ruffled edge echoes the fluted top of the lamp base.

7 The bed expands the range of pinks with its French sheets and pillowcases and mohair throw.

8 With a little doctoring, unfinished bookcases from a furniture store can take on a built-in look, and add architectural interest to a room.

9 In this master bedroom, a ceiling fan with mahogany blades and tongue-and-groove wood paneling convey a cottage feel.

10 Richly colored two-tone framing mats bring vibrancy without the need to repaint an entire wall.

11 In this living room, Philippe Starck chairs sit next to a weathered celadon cabinet. The pale-orange walls unite this unexpected pair.

12 This sun-dappled room is what made the apartment's owner first fall in love with the space.

13 Shades are partially drawn in this gray sitting room.

14 Groupings of furniture provide for conversation spaces. Here, the settee, chest, and rounded-back chair are Swedish antiques.

15 With its coffered ceiling, which conceals support beams, this room lacks the height of the rest of the apartment; the skylight, however, opens up the space.

16 This cabinet is painted with varying shades of white and ivory to create contouring.

17 This baroque Swedish desk in a guest bedroom has idiosyncratic hardware and slightly crude joinery and carving. The small side cabinet is rococo, and the lamp is Danish.

18 t's counterintuitive to pair a slim Hepplewhite sofa with giant throw pillows and grand side chairs, but the result is surprisingly effective.

19 In this very Parisian breakfast room, there is as much cream as there is coffee: An eggshell-colored cupboard, curtains of pale chiffon, light woods, tan piping on the seat cushions, and snowy wainscoting all help to enrich the cafe au lait brown of the walls.