Revealing the secrets for styling key spots

I love to help friends and customers solve their decorating dilemmas, and high up on their lists are questions about how to style highly visible spots like fireplace mantels, coffee tables and bookcases. I've found that the secret to making these all-important focal points fabulous is to create cleaner, more dramatic displays that use just a few well-chosen accents. Here are a few tips you can use to design simple displays that make big statements.

Coffee tables: Right now, my favorite way to decorate coffee tables or upholstered ottomans is to top them with a beautiful tray. Next, I build visual height on the tray by stacking a few oversized books or antique boxes. Lastly, I place an interesting box, bowl or basket on top to hold essentials like the remote. The finished look is edited yet stylish, leaving you lots of room on the table to hold your coffee cup or book.

Side table: Side tables are ideal for showing off a few of your favorite keepsakes. But first and foremost, they need to be functional. Start with a beautiful lamp. Then add just a few accents in different heights. How about a trio of framed snapshots? A lovely urn, fern and a bird figurine? Include some unique coasters, like antique saucers, that guests can rest their drinks upon. If the side table is next to the chair where you read, tuck in a mint-julep cup or compote to hold your glasses.

Bookcases: Before you decorate your bookcase, define its purpose. Do you need it to hold your extensive library, or do you want to keep the shelves open enough to also display accents? Once you know, you're ready to decorate.

One of the biggest mistakes people make when decorating bookcases is to cram them full of lots of tiny objects, like collections or small picture frames, creating a look that is chaotic and overwhelming. For a more powerful display, limit yourself to just a few larger pieces, like a gorgeous cachepot, a garden bust or a sizable antique box.

To set off the treasures you display in your bookcase and to make the overall display three-dimensional, create a vertical backdrop for each tableau by propping a piece of art, a silver tray or a china platter upright in an easel. Otherwise, dark bookcase shelves can become black holes into which your carefully constructed display disappears from view.

If you're working with a larger bookcase, be sure your display is well balanced from one side to the next. To do so, place objects that have the same visual weight opposite each other. For instance, if you put a large blue-and-white ceramic cachepot on the right side of the bookcase, you will need to add another -- or something that carries the same visual weight, like a garden bust or large wooden box -- on the left side.

Fireplace mantel: While I love to constantly redecorate my home, I rarely change the display on my mantel. This all-important spot is reserved for a select number of sentimental objects that I keep out year-round, like an oversized charger that is near and dear to my heart and a bronze figurine given to me by a cherished friend. But to ensure the look stays fresh, I display seasonal greens in a lovely vase that's always on my mantel.

If your room is formal, consider a simple yet stately symmetrical display: Place a pair of large matching urns on each side of the mantel and call it good. For a more informal look, try an asymmetrical arrangement that creates visual interest and energy. To achieve an effective asymmetrical look, select a few objects of varying height that will carry the eye across the mantel. Again, make sure you have visual balance between the two sides.

No matter how you decorate your mantel, incorporate pieces that are precious to you, because your mantel display should tell visitors volumes about your personality and passions.

Mary Carol Garrity is the proprietor of three home-furnishings stores and is the author of several best-selling books on home decorating. Write her at nellhills@lvnworth.com. Style at Home