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Talk about color with the Post Home staff and the Kips Bay decorator show house in New York, a very influential showcase for interior design talents and trends.

Have you been planning to do something about that faded wing chair the cat loves to sleep on? Or the brown corduroy sofa you bought when the kids were young to hide all their spills? Or the little upholstered footstool passed down from granny that is showing its stuffing?

Reupholstering costs can be a lot more than you'd like to spend, and a big part of the cost is the fabric. Sometimes, it makes more sense to let an old piece go and buy something new. The first step is figuring how much fabric you'll need to recover the piece. Home offers a helpful chart of 6 basic pieces of furniture and how to figure out how much yardage you need. Also, in this age of laptops and palmpilots, find out who collect typewriters.

Do you have a closet? Then you've got space for a home office. We show you how, and where to get the equipment to set it up.

Ask the Washington Post Home staff -- about these and anything and everything related to home and garden.

The transcript follows.

Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.

Post Home staff: Hello everyone. We're here to talk Kips Bay, fabric measurements, upholstering and the NSO sale tomorrow.
And anything else you want to talk about.

Washington, D.C.: My husband and I recently bought our first house. It's a 1950s era brick rambler, with a small galley-style kitchen. I definitely want to renovate the entire kitchen, but all the home decor magazines I pick up deal with kitchens easily three or four times the size of mine. Do you have any recommendations for a magazine that shows real-life small kitchens and what can be done to maximize space?

Post Home staff: There are no special magazines for small homes and small kitchens that we know of. They are all showing us trophy kitchens so we can live a fantasy world. Every once in a while there are articles about how to maximize space in small kitchens. Kitchen planners are used to dealing with these problems and can outfit your kitchen with the best stuff. Jura has a very small kichen which she redid two years ago and she says the best thing she did is do a mirrored backsplash. It makes the room sparkle, makes it look larger and is sophisticated looking. We may have a book to suggest later this broadcast!!! We are looking up a book on small spaces that we like.

Greensboro, N.C.: I need a summertime floor covering to go over a linoleum floor in a sunroom/den. I take up the heavy area rugs in the hot weather. The walls are gray and the other colors in the room are burgundy, some dark green and a little black. Floor is white with some black - any ideas?

Post Home staff: Have you thought of leaving the floor bare? We saw a lot of bare floors at the Kips Bay show house and whether wood, linleum or tile they look fresh and cool in the summer. Sisal is of course the inexpensive rug of choice for the summer but it doesn't hold up all that well in highly used areas. Stores like Ikea, Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel and Target have inxpensive cotton rugs in various colors that might work for you.

Post Home staff: Hi - back to the small kitchen question. We found the author of the series of books on small spaces. She is architect Sarah Susanka and her main book is The Not So Big House. She also has a website www.notsobighouse.com. She is very well respected in this field and has some great ideas. She is cerebral about small spaces so you might not get exactly the nuts and bolts answers you are seeking. But check it out.

Bethesda, Md.: Hi

We recently renovated our kitchen and had Corian countertops installed. Boy, do they scratch easily!! We have several small scratches that I'd like to buff out, but I'm afraid that the plastic pads provided for this purpose will only scratch more.

Any suggestions?

Post Home staff: We are throwing this question out to you in cyberland. The two of us here have either Formica or granite counters and have no experience with Corian. Anyone have any tips for Bethesda?

Falls Church, Va.: I have a painting question. I'd like to use navy paint in my son's room (to coordinate with his curtains and quilt). I wouldn't paint the entire room navy, but I'm worried that painting the trim only may break up the room too much. The other idea I had was to paint the lower third navy, but without chair rail molding, will this look odd? Any other ideas? Thanks!

Post Home staff: Have you thought of a wallpaper border? What a stripe? We all agree that painting the lower third navy would look odd without the chair rail molding or a border. We also feel that navy is a very dark color, especially for a child's room. Is there another color in the curtains you could pick up?

Bethesda, Md.: For the small kitchen renovator: Home Depot has a magazine right now on its stands about small kitchen renovations. And the latest issue of This Old House magazine covers small kitchens as well.

Post Home staff: Thanks for sharing.

Alexandria, Va: Bought a new townhouse 5 months ago. Now I'm considering having it painted. Should I wait longer (for any more nail pops, etc.), or is it safe to go ahead?

Also, if I'm hiring a painter, do I go ahead and pick out my colors, or will they go over that with me?

Post Home staff: The Eye says wait one year to prevent nail pops from ruining a new paint job. Hairline cracks may develop in the ceiling and walls also so give it a year to be sure. About paint colors, its up to you. You should look at books and magazines featuring homes of various style and colors and see what you like. If you want professional help, ask your painter but come prepared. Many paint stores offer great paint chip cards of coordinating colors. Also paint stores often have employees on hand to help you with suggested combinations. We have heard of one paint store in McLean called Color Wheel that has staff designers who are licensed interior designers on staff.
Monarch Paints in D.C. is one place you can get advice - one of our staff members says they suggested half strength colors to her which really worked in her home.

Vienna, Va.: Regarding upholstery -- not including fabric -- how, exactly, do labor costs for upholstery compare to buying new? Thanks so much for your help.

Post Home staff: This is a question with no definitive answer. THere is a huge range in prices in ready made upholstered sofas and in fabric costs. One consideration is - how much did your original sofa cost and what quality is it? A top quality upholstery job on a sofa can cost $800 to $2500 just for the labor. There are many considerations like whether you have down or feathers , how many dressmaker details you have etc. Your sofa should be in pretty good condition to warrant major reupholstering expense both in fabric and labor. When you talk to upholsterers, ask what they would do inside - springs, cushions, arms, etc. - to rebiult your sofa. And would you just be happier having a new one shipped from a furniture store?

E. Falls Church: What do you think about painting a small room (9X10) taupe? We use it for an office/guest BR. It has windows but isn't that bright. Do you think such a dark color would make the room seem too small/dark? I'm aiming more for a cozy, library effect. Thanks!

Post Home staff: We think taupe is a great choice. Taupe can be light or dark. A small room can be wonderful dark. Taupe can be very cozy, especially if its a warm shade. Try a few squares of diffrent taupe paints on your wall and see what you think.

Bethesda, Md.: Hi Home staff,
Thanks for the story on reupholstering today. I'm thinking of reupholstering two pieces -- a three-cushion, skirted sofa and a recliner, but have questions about whether it is worth it in terms of the cost. I didn't see in your article any price comparison between buying new and reupholstering, although you did say sometimes its not worth it to reupholster, price-wise. Can you give me some guidance? Fabric costs aside, how does reupholstering compare with buying new?
Thanks for your help.

Post Home staff: As you can see from our article, you need a lot of fabric to reupholster a sofa - from 12-19 yards. If you got a $30 a yard fabric for your 84 inch sofa - and $30 is a standard upholstery weight fabric price - that would cost about $600 for fabric alone. Labor would be certainly over $600 and probably more - so you are up to $1200. For $1200, you can buy a pretty decent sofa, not the best, but certainly one with a nice fabric and frame. Doing it yourself gives you the chance to create a sofa that you really like that matches your room.

Arlington, Va.: A paint question: we are painting our basement which is 1/2 paneled (medium shade, real wood) and has a chair rail at the top of the paneling. We're painting the walls flat white. What color should we paint the trim? I want to do it in a glossy cream to accentuate the trim, but would white make more sense (be less busy)?

Post Home staff: We think cream sounds nice. There are some schools of thought that its not a crime to paint the wood too!!!

Greensboro, N.C.: I have a half bath off of a bedroom - the bedroom is painted a Duke blue (not as dark as navy). The bath has various shades of Carolina blue (sky colored) tile on floor and halfway up the wall. Walls currently painted a peachy band-aid color. Need some direction on colors to paint the walls to either subdue the blue tile or to enhance it. Was thinking something in the yellow family?

Post Home staff: Go Devils. Blue and peach can be a dated combination. We are thinking about a wallpaper with stripes or geometrics in blue and white. Or just painting the walls white and going with blue and white as a color scheme for accessories and fabrics.

Bethesda, Md.: My question is not related to today's discussion, but the home magazine once wrote up a story about a store on Rockville Pike in Maryland that featured items from store displays or promotions. I do not remember the exact name or address of the store and I wonder if you could send it to me. I am not sure the store is still open. I appreciate a reply. Email to Nihalumni.yahoo.com.
Thanks

Post Home staff: We're not sure it's still open either. But its still listed in information. The store is called Showcase at 11712 Parklawn Drive, Rockville, Md. The phone number is 301 770-3009. But just now, we could not get through either.
Let us know.

E.Falls Church: Thanks for answering my question regarding taupe paint. Would you suggest buying several small cans of paint in a range of colors, then? Do paint stores sell "sample" amounts to help you choose a color? Thank you.

Post Home staff: They should sell samples. But unfortunately, samples are quart sized cans. Start with three cans after consulting with a paint specialist at the store. Paint big wide swaths on the wall and look at it day and night under different lights.

Fairfax, Va.: We are in the process of building a house. It is an open floor plan, with the kitchen opening into the family room. I would like the have the family room painted in a warm hue, like taupe. But I am trying to decide between white and maple cabinetry. I have white cabinets now (in a small kitchen) and love how they make the space so bright, but I fear white will clash with the warm tones in the family room. Any advice?

Post Home staff: How formal is your family room and how pretty do you want your cabinets? If you want the cabinets to have a furniture look, choose maple.

Greensboro, N.C.: Half bath again (Go Heels) - If the walls were white, should they be glossy or flat or what I understand is called egg shell. Will it make the blue tiles too loud? Wallpaper is not something I want to tackle. Would a buttery yellow or a semi-bright yellow be too much? Thanks.

Post Home staff: We suggest egg shell or semi-gloss. Even high-gloss is sometimes appropriate, if you have really smooth walls.
We still don't really like the idea of yellow. But its your bathroom.

Arlington, Va: I first want to thank you for your earlier suggestion to bleach grout in my bathroom with a mix of bleach and water. I found however, that it has not helped, and the grout remains black/grey. Could I go full strength? Or would this damage it?

Thanks!

Post Home staff: How about Tilex?

Arlington, Va.: The show house your story featured seemed to be VERY colorful and bright. It seems to me that living in such a vibrant environment would ultimately be jarring. In my own home I tend to stick to safer pastels and calm colors. What do you think?

Post Home staff: The monochromatic look - if you keep the tones the same - such colorful rooms can be very soothing. The relative value of the colors if they are all the same can create a very warm environment.

Arlington, Va.: Do you recommend painting first and then matching accessories to the paint, or buying accessories first and matching the paint to them? (Does that make sense?)

Post Home staff: We can't believe you don't have any accessories. We seem to have tons of them. If objects aren't so important to you, then choose the paint first. Are you talking about pillows and rugs or about bowls and lamps?

Alexandria, Virginia: My wife and I have a putty-colored sofa we bought in 1998 from a well-known local retailer. Now that we have bought a house with more space than our 1-bedroom apartment, we want to buy the matching love seat and/or chairs. The problem: We took a pillow to match the fabric color on the love seat featured on the store's showroom floor, only to discover that the dye lots have changed, and that the new "putty" is more green than the old one. It's too much of a contrast to make it work. The retailer said the 1998 model is no longer available anywhere in the dye lot to match ours. Any suggestions about how to find suitable love seat or chairs in other colors to finish furnishing our cavernous living room? Thanks!

Post Home staff: Forget trying to match something three years old. The color on your sofa has already faded in the three years you have owned it, even if you don't see that. How about a coordinating stripe on the love seat and chairs or some sort of a print fabric. You might try a similar color in a different textured fabric like chenille or velvet and use throw pillows or throws to fool the eye.

DMM in DC: For the person with the small kitchen: HGTV has a show called "this small space". If you go to their website, hgtv.com, look and see if thier are archives or resources under that shows page.

Post Home staff: Thanks a lot.

Bethesda, Md.: Hi Home Staff -- I would like to redecorate a couple of rooms in my house (painting, wallpapering and rugs) and would like the help of a reasonably priced interior decorator. Could you please give me any suggestions? Thank you!

Post Home staff: Dear Bethesda:The Washington Design Center at 300 D St. SW has a room full of panels showing the work of local designers and their design philosophies. You might try calling the local office of ASID for ideas. What is your budget? You should determine that in advance. Rememeber also that some furniture stores and small decorating shops have designers on staff. Think about shops that you like - shops that you like to browse in - dont' go to a store for design help if you don't love their stuff.

Post Home staff: Here is a bit more information for the person looking for an interior designer. Call the Washington Metropolitan Chapter of ASID at 202 488-4100 or email Lbeasiddc@aol.com. We have heard that next month they are offering a initial consultation at a reduced rate to help consumers find a decorator. There is a limited number available.

Post Home staff: And now, for the person who inquired about Showcase, our intrepid Finds reporter Kathleen Stanley has just checked in to tell us the sad news that Showcase has gone out of business.

Virginia: I didn't know it's recommended to wait a year to paint in a new home because of the nail pops. If you don't wait, how difficult is it to fix? Could you just spackle/paint over? Does it look bad/is it very obvious?

Post Home staff: Yes it does look bad. Painters spackle over it when they originally paint. But those pops keep coming up in the first year. Spackling is tedious and messy. Your patience will be rewarded. Spackling is no fun.

Chevy Chase, Md.: I noticed in the Kips Bay Showhouse that the floor of the dining room (or was it the living room) was stained an ebony color. Are dark floors popular now or was this just a design statement in your opinion. I am asking because my tudor has dark floors throughout and I am wondering if I should lighten them to freshen things up a bit and make the home more marketable should I sell it.

Post Home staff: Thanks for reading us. Yes, dark floors are in at this minute, and we've written about them several times, including a recent Eye on Design column. However, dark floors are high maintenance. If you are talking about market value in a dark Tudor and you want to lighten them up to help sell it, do so. The integrity of the style of the house does sound like like it calls out for baronial dark floors.

Re: navy room: I painted 2 walls in my bedroom navy and everyone in my family thought I was crazy and now they love it. The two walls are opposite each other and they are the walls with the windows and doors in them, so it's not as much navy as it would be if I did the other 2 walls instead. The trim and doors are white and nothing else in the room is particularly dark. So, my advice - if the kid likes navy use some navy, but I would be careful about making the whole room so dark.

Post Home staff: For our Carolina questioner: Here's another opinion on navy!!

Wheaton, Md.: Showcase is no longer open. the owner decided to retire about a year (or more) ago and she had a great close-out sale. At that time, she was planning on still doing some interior decorating work, but had found out that the time necessary to run the store was too tiring and did not give her any time to interior decorate.

Post Home staff: Great to hear the real story.

Bethedsa, Md.: Hello!
My family room is a dessert/coral color and my dining room is a light blue. My kitchen is right between them and needs to be painted. There are no half walls or open spaces so you can only see a little bit of each room on either side of the kitchen. My question, I was thinking of painting it a moss green, but will this look crazy? My mom says it is called color sculpting and will look good. My husband is not convinced. How about wallpaper with the colors from each room (I do have a chir rail). Thanks for any suggestions!

Post Home staff: Boy Bethesda! You have a lot of ideas already. And lots of colors. Lets see a coral family room and a light blue dining room. If you can find a moss green in the same color values as the other two colors it could be a nice bridge.

Washington DC: Hey Guys...simply love your suggestions..but guess what?

I got in a lot of trouble with my apartment owner...I asked last week about painting a grid which was where steam arrives to warm my apartment. Yes, its an old building and you were right I do have thick walls but I was almost remove.

Is there something I should do before doing any major work in my apartment next time?

Thanks again?

Post Home staff: We think a few words dropped off your question. Please resubmit.

Post Home staff: We are signing off. Thanks for your questions. And we will gather together two weeks from today!

Re picking paint or accessories first: I have found that it's better to pick accessories first, such as rugs and curtains. It's far easier to tweak a paint color a shade or two to match a fabric.

Post Home staff: Okay a last word...

washingtonpost.com:

That was our last question today. Thanks to everyone who joined the discussion.

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