The Journal
Interior design decisions, made with real numbers
Every guide on this site answers a concrete question: how wide, how high, how far apart, how bright, how durable. Pick a room, a color problem, or a material, and get the figures you need before you buy anything.
Rooms
All Rooms guides-
Bedroom Layout: Clearances Around Beds, Dressers, Closets
Standard mattress footprints, walkway widths around the bed, dresser drawer clearance, closet door swing, and nightstand height.
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Dining Table Sizes: Seating Math for Real Dining Rooms
Place-setting width per person, table dimensions for 4 to 10 seats, chair pull-out clearance, and round versus rectangular capacity.
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Entryway Design: Sizing a Drop Zone That Actually Works
Console depth for narrow halls, hook and bench heights, shoe storage per person, and doormat sizing: the numbers for a working drop zone.
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Home Office Dimensions: Desk Height, Depth, and Clearance
Desk height and depth, monitor distance, chair-zone clearance, and the minimum footprint numbers for a home office that works.
Color
All Color guides-
A Whole-House Color Palette: Build It in Five Steps
Build a whole-house paint palette in five steps: anchor neutral, room-to-room flow, sightline tests, palette limits, and code records.
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Color Drenching: One Color, Walls to Ceiling, Done Right
What color drenching is, which rooms it suits, how to mix sheens within one color, and what the walls-to-ceiling repaint really costs.
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Dark Paint in Small Rooms: When It Works and Why
Why dark paint often beats white in small rooms: shadow-line logic, the rooms where it works, and the lighting needed to pull it off.
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How to Test Paint Colors: Samples, Light, and Timing
How to test paint colors the right way: sample boards vs. wall patches, viewing times, fixed-finish checks, and peel-and-stick samples.
Lighting
All Lighting guides-
Bathroom Vanity Lighting: Placement That Flatters Faces
Why side lights beat overhead, sconce heights and spacing at the mirror, bar light placement, lumen targets, and wet-location ratings.
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Bedside Lighting: Lamp Heights and Sconce Placement
Table lamp heights relative to the mattress, sconce mounting numbers, reading light angles, and lumen targets for reading in bed.
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Dining Room Chandelier Size: A Simple Formula That Works
Two sizing formulas, hanging height above the table, ceiling height adjustments, and the oversize and undersize mistakes to avoid.
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How Many Lumens per Room: A Lighting Level Cheat Sheet
Lumen targets for every room, the square-footage math, watt-to-lumen conversions, and adjustments for dark walls and tall ceilings.
Small Spaces
All Small Spaces guides-
How to Make a Small Room Look Bigger: What Really Works
Scale, sightline, mirror, and curtain tactics that genuinely enlarge a small room, honest weighting for paint color, and the tricks that fail.
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Multifunctional Furniture: What to Buy and What to Skip
Honest tradeoffs for sleeper sofas, storage ottomans, drop-leaf tables, and murphy beds: what converts daily, what disappoints, typical prices.
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Small Bathroom Design: Fixtures and Clearances That Fit
Minimum fixture clearances, compact sink and vanity sizes, shower versus tub footprints, and the door swaps that free floor in a tiny bath.
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Small Bedroom Storage: Plans That Beat the Clutter
Under-bed clearance heights, wardrobe and dresser footprints, over-door and wall storage, and what to move out of the bedroom entirely.
Materials
All Materials guides-
Ceramic vs. Porcelain Tile: Where Each Belongs, and Why
Water absorption and PEI wear ratings decoded, floor vs. wall use, price gaps, DIY cutting difficulty, and grout line widths.
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Countertop Materials Compared: Quartz, Granite, and More
Cost ranges, heat and stain behavior, and maintenance schedules for quartz, granite, quartzite, butcher block, laminate, and solid surface.
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Curtain Length and Fabric: Measurements That Look Custom
Rod height above the frame, panel width multipliers for fullness, float, kiss, break, and puddle lengths, lining types, and hemming.
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Hardwood vs. LVP Flooring: Cost, Wear, and Resale Value
Installed cost ranges, scratch and water resistance, refinishing lifecycles, and room-by-room picks for hardwood and luxury vinyl plank.
