I don't like to admit it, but I've blown through a lot of money I really didn't have on not-so-pretty ideas while redoing several apartments and houses. But with age and experience comes wisdom. So while I'm in the thick of redecorating for the zillionth time, I thought I'd share 10 tried-and-true decorating rules that have worked for me in most situations.1. When you just want a room to be "warm white," meaning not too yellow or too peachy or too anything else, then go with Benjamin Moore Ivory White (925). Don't overthink this—I've already done enough agonizing for everyone and can say for sure that it works pretty much anywhere, unless you're going for museum-like sterility, in which case you're reading the wrong magazine.2. When it comes to sofas, you'll never go wrong with these two styles: a square-armed tuxedo or the curvier, more traditional Charles of London. (Google each term with the word "sofa," and lots of images will come up.) I'm issuing a moratorium on gigantic roll arms!3.

If you can't afford the antique Oushak rug of your dreams—it's often a choice between that and, say, a year of college tuition—then embrace the khaki pants of carpets, plain ol' sea grass. Toilet Repair AustraliaAlthough it comes in plenty of standard sizes, it's usually pretty cheap to get a custom fit by the yard. T Shirt Machine Gun Kelly(I got mine from Myers Carpet in Atlanta.) Used Stackable Washer Dryer Combo For SaleOver hardwoods, I suggest leaving a 1-foot-wide border around the room; if you're trying to obliterate some awful tile, make it a 6-inch border. It looks nice when installed wall-to-wall too.4. As your budget allows, you can always soften the sea grass with striped cotton dhurries, flokatis, or wool area rugs.

(For a great look with a cowhide rug over sisal, see this month's cover.)5. Hang your curtain rods about 2 inches or so from the ceiling or bottom of the crown. It will make the room and windows look taller. Adjust your curtains accordingly, letting them hang no more than 1 inch onto the floor—unless you live in New Orleans, where it's perfectly acceptable to let them puddle with abandon.6. It generally looks best to extend your curtain rod 4 inches beyond the outside of the window casing (excluding finials).7. Here's another trick I learned for windows: Hang an outside-mount Roman shade to align with the top of your curtain panel, and close the shade just enough to cover the top of the casing. It gives the whole room a better sense of proportion. This works if you have no more than a foot or two of wall above the window.8. Hang your chandeliers about 33 inches above the table, give or take an inch or two. Everywhere else, just make sure a tall guy can walk under them.9. If you're looking to upgrade your countertops to stone, price the 2-inch-thick slab versus the standard 1¼ inches.

Everyone who sees it in my kitchen flips out.10. I've saved the best for last: a more refined alternative to the ginormous plantation shutters mounted on chunky, clunky frames you see everywhere. , and get them to help you figure it out. They hooked me up with inside-mount 1 7/8-inch-louver cafe shutters for my baths, custom-painting them in their Atlanta workshop to match my trim. A major upgrade for a minor upcharge.That said, I usually advise Southern women, who always have a certain flair, to be bold and take risks. I've learned this, too, from my mistakes: Happy accidents can make the room!As you may have noticed, we are surrounded by beetles that like to eat things that we think are pretty. Wood boring beetles eat our trees. Leaf-eating beetles eat our garden plants. Well, we don’t care so much about them. How about Carpet Beetles? Guess what they eat. They’re really destructive, especially if you don’t take care of the problem quickly. How do I know how destructive they are?

Well, ask any museum curator which beetle they love and fear the most. You see, Carpet Beetles love to eat organic fibers and other organic products. This makes them perfect for cleaning objects that a museum may want to preserve, but if they were ever to get out of that laboratory, you would have one livid curator on your hands. So, there are uses for the Carpet Beetle, but chances are your circumstances are a little different. Carpet beetles will eat just about anything, and I mean anything: carpets, furniture, lint, hair, garments, blankets, pet food, animal nests, animal carcasses (think: dead mice), dead insects, leather, even pollen from those flowers your significant other gave you on a whim. So, let’s talk about getting rid of Carpet Beetles, because if you know you have them in your home, they’re busy eating your stuff right now. There are three primary Carpet Beetle species you should be on the lookout for. Here are some pictures to help you identify your problem:

Identify the source if you want to get rid of carpet beetles. Look for fecal pellets and the shed skins of the larva. Also look for holes in fabrics. Carpet Beetles tend to feed in dark, secluded areas like closets, drawers, basements, in between walls and insulation, attics, and storage boxes. You may want to check under carpets and rugs, pick up couches and large pieces of furniture and inspect those thoroughly as well. If you’ve seen one of the Carpet Beetles shown in the sidebar to your left, search your home up and down until you find the source of the infestation. Immediately and directly remove the carpet beetles with a vacuum. This should be the first thing you do to get rid of Carpet Beetles. Just go ahead and suck those suckers right up. Make sure to get their babies too; they’re the hairy little caterpillar looking type things. The larva are the stage of the Carpet Beetle that is most harmful to fabrics. How do you think they grow up to be such pretty little beetles?

And lordy, they’ll eat. Wash your fabrics in hot, soapy water to make sure you get rid of carpet beetles, their larva, and their eggs. Like many pests that feed on animal waste (by waste, I mean remains), Carpet Beetle eggs are incredibly resilient. You’ll need to get all of the clothes and fabrics you think are infested into hot water and soap right away. Hell, use the pre-wash just to make sure you get everything. If you’re dealing with a rug or a carpet, you’ll want to hire a steam cleaner from your local hardware store or have a professional come in and do the job for you. If you want to kill carpet beetles and keep them out, try dusting with boric acid. Boric acid is great stuff. It kills just about any insect that comes into contact with it, yet it’s almost completely harmless to humans. I wouldn’t eat a spoonful of it to prove my point, but trust me, this is the stuff you want to use if you don’t like chemicals. Boric acid is a naturally occurring compound mined in primarily in the Southwest of the U.S.A.

The only thing you want to watch out for is the possibility that you might end up bleaching the fabrics you’re treating with boric acid. Boric acid makes whites whiter, you know what I’m saying? You can get Borax from Amazon. Carpet treatments that contain chlorpyrifos, bendiocarbs, and allethrin are effective at getting rid of carpet beetles. Let’s just say for the time being that ridding your home of Carpet Beetles and keeping those beetles out is your number one priority. There are a number of Carpet Beetle carpet treatments on the market. Just make sure you find a spray or dust that is explicitly labeled for use against Carpet Beetles. However, don’t be surprised that HAZMAT suits aren’t included with your purchase. We’d suggest trying out the Rentokil Carpet Beetle Killer powder if you go this route. Because the Carpet Beetle is such a resilient pest, especially its eggs, professional removal of a Carpet Beetle infestation may be necessary. I know it sounds easy to get rid of Carpet Beetles if you’ve read all of the steps and suggestions I’ve listed above, but there are times when you simply can’t be relied upon.

You’re the incompetent one. Seriously, though, if you’ve done everything I’ve suggested and you’re still seeing adult Carpet Beetles on your window sills or crawling around in your kitchen, it’s probably time you called a pest control professional. Usually, they’re pretty good at their jobs, but shop around a bit and get some estimates. Don’t forget to get everything down in writing. I’ve heard some legal horror stories relating to pest control professionals. Store clothing and starches in plastic to reduce the chances of attracting carpet beetles. I don’t mean store all of your clothes in plastic bags. If you keep your wardrobe in an open closet that gets at least a little sunlight, those garments should stay relatively untouched. Carpet Beetles eat in the dark. Choose synthetics when shopping for furniture, carpets, and interior fabrics. This is a fairly obvious answer to the Carpet Beetle problem. Since they eat organic products exclusively, it might do you good to choose something that is made from synthetic materials rather than organic materials.