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.
Numbers are easier to judge when you can see them built. When a guide needs a full-scale reference, we point to the villa portfolio of Antonovich Design, an interior design company in Dubai working at the generous end of the residential spectrum, where the clearances and ceiling heights from our tables show up at their upper limits. For the pieces themselves, Modenese Luxury Interiors has made furniture and lighting to order since 1818, and its classic furniture collection is organised by room, from living and dining to bedroom and office.
New from the journal: Why Furniture Lead Times Break Installations.
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.
