Instead, furnish your space by floating furniture away from walls.  Reposition sofas and chairs into cozy conversational groups, and place pieces so that the traffic flow in the room is obvious.  In most cases, this means keeping the perimeters clear.  When you place furniture in a room, envision a figure-eight or the letter H in the middle, with clear pathways around it.    Not only will this make the space more user-friendly, it will open up the room and make it seem larger.

If you're nervous about doing something that can seem a bit radical. Try an area rug on an angle first, then move the couch and see how it looks.  But just try it.  If the new arrangement doesn't strike your fancy, you can always put things back the way they were. But chances are, you won't want to.

If privacy is paramount, top-down, bottom-up Roman shades will block the neighbors' view of your bathtub but let you gaze at the sky while you soak. Or possibly a bamboo or parchment shades and simple curtain panels made from fine cotton twill or translucent linen. These materials let light stream in during the day, provide privacy at night and add touchable texture to a room.  Favorite window treatments: sheer fabric shades with built-in blinds. They look great and offer so much versatility.

Other window treatment tips:

• If windows are narrow, extend curtain rods a foot or so on each side to suggest width.
  
• If your ceilings are low, hang rods right at the ceiling line and consider window treatments with vertical stripes to create the illusion of height.
  

To remedy the problem and make your home more inviting, increase the wattage in your lamps and fixtures. Aim for a total of 100 watts for every 50 square feet.  Then install dimmers so you can vary light levels according to your mood and the time of day.  This is a relatively simple project for a do-it-yourselfer, or you can hire an electrician for a couple of hours to do several at once.  And while you're at it, be sure to replace dingy, almond-colored light-switch covers with crisp white ones. New covers cost less than a buck apiece and are a quick, easy update.

Don't depend on just one or two fixtures per room, either.  It's just as important to layer lighting as it is to have sufficient wattage.  Make sure you have three types of lighting: ambient (general or overhead), task (pendant, undercabinet or reading) and accent (table and wall) lighting.  A combination of overhead, floor, table and accent lighting creates great ambience.  And having lights on different planes provides good illumination and makes the room interesting." 

One thing that's always in the bag of tricks is uplights. You can buy one for as little as $5 at home improvement stores and hide it behind a potted plant. It creates incredible drama.  Another hint: Place mirrors, silver or glass bowls or other reflective objects near lamps to bounce light around the room and make it glow even more.

Even deeper shades are enjoying a renaissance.  Don't shy away from dark colors in a powder room, dining room or bedroom.  A deep tone on the walls can make the space more intimate, dramatic and cozy — and surprisingly, it can even make a small room seem bigger because there's no delineation of the corners.

Start with a pillow, textile or piece of art you love,   The background color is often great for walls, and you can pull out the other colors for accents around the room.  You could also try painting an accent wall to draw attention to a dramatic fireplace or a lovely set of windows. Either paint the wall a contrasting — but still complementary — color or a more intense version of the paint used in the rest of the room. If you have built-in bookcases or niches, experiment with painting the insides a color that will make them pop: a soft sage green to set off the white pottery displayed within, perhaps.

If you're too timid to whip out the paintbrushes, add punch with richly colored accessories, pillows and throws, When seasons change, or you're ready for something new, these couldn't be simpler to switch out.

On a side table, for instance, you might have a lamp, a plant or flower arrangement and a book or a small box.  For maximum effect, group accessories by color, shape, texture or some other unifying element, stagers suggest.  The eye naturally "reads" the room from left to right, so putting a striking object in the far right corner will automatically draw your gaze there and make the room seem bigger.