Go BIG or Go Home-decorating with high ceilings! Contest winner announced!

I hope all you gals survived our "big snowstorm" here in NC this weekend. I was inside by the fire most of the time and left the snow frolicking up to the kiddos!

The last time we had snow, Jacki sat by her fire and obsessed about focused on decorating her mantel. One of the dilemmas she ran into is a common one in this area--balancing the size of your accessories with the uber-tall 10ft. ceilings.

When we traded our 9 ft. ceiling home for one with 10 ft. ceilings, I got a real shock as well. The buffet lamps that looked perfecto in my last dining room looked like doll furniture in the new house--and that was just the beginning!

This server (small buffet) fit the bill in my last house but looked very tiny in this large room with high ceilings. I thought I could remedy the situation with larger lamps but the larger lamps just overpowered the server. Of course I turned to my friend Craig and his list. I sold the server and bought a longer buffet.

That helped some but it still wasn't great! The lesson I learned here was a) good things do not come in small packages when dealing with high ceilings and b) bulkier is better! This room needed some heft (read: no leggy furniture). This is a hard lesson to learn as it applies in no other area of our lives (i.e.fashion, personal hygiene, etc).

Of course, the rug helps too!

The rug, the lamps and a bulkier buffet serve to occupy your eye and help fill the space appropriately. This room could use some custom window treatments but alas! the money tree is not producing adequate fruit at this time!

Here are some examples we found around the 'net:

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This room has tall ceiling and is blessed with built-ins flanking the fireplace. They did a good job with the tall painting over the mantel but fell short with the love seat and small rug. This room would look great with a giant sectional and a set of club chairs, don't you think? And, no one has EVER complained about too much seating in the family room!!

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Large scale accessories are key! I love how they cut these hydrangeas long and stood them up in a giant vase! Perfect for a room with tall ceilings!

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This is a large table with GIANT accessories! Just what the Decor Doctor ordered!

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I like the example in this picture. They've taken somewhat smaller, yet skirted (read: appears bulkier and fills the space), sofa and club chairs and paired them with HUGE accessories against the backdrop of the tall french doors.

One of our favorite bloggers, Emily A. Clark, recently shared a reader question on the very same topic. Take a peak at her article here. There are tons more articles on the subject sprinkled throughout the internet but the bottom line is: if it looks too big in the store, it will look great with your tall ceilings!

One last thing! The winner of our room re-design contest from last week is...drum roll please... Jennifer O'Connell.  Jennifer, contact the blogsters to claim your prize!!! We can't wait to work with you!