Go ahead, pine for those faux-wood tiles

Samantha Friedman, an interior designer based in Bethesda, Maryland, and a featured designer in the 2015 D.C. Design House, joined staff writer Jura Koncius on the newspaper's Home Front online chat. Here is an edited excerpt.

Q. I have been updating my 45-year-old townhouse. For this year's project I will replace matte green "vintage" honeycomb tile in the foyer and the adjacent powder room. Are the faux-wood porcelain tiles here to stay or a fad? I have medium-dark hardwood throughout the main floor; this is meeting the tile at the dining room and the hall leading to the living room.

A. It's always hard to say what is a fad and what isn't, but personally, I love the faux wood tiles. They are wide planks, and some of them are so great, you would never really know they aren't wood. Just be careful when trying to match up to your other wood floors. You want them to coordinate without being too "match-y."

Q. My master bedroom is painted a maroon color, with Benjamin Moore's Powell Buff on the trim. I'd love to repaint the walls a light blue but don't want to repaint the trim. Can you suggest blues that would work? We get lots of sunlight because there are three large south-facing windows.

A. I love that you painted your trim a color - very bold! If you are looking to go a little darker: Benjamin Moore's Mystic Lake. It's beautiful. So is Slate Blue. For lighter, try Brittany Blue or Yarmouth Blue. All of these are lovely with Powell Buff.

Q. We have a living room about 15 by 14 feet, with French doors to the family room and double wide to the foyer. We're planning to get rid of my husband's bachelor furniture and want to start fresh. We want the space to be traditional and more of a sitting area to entertain or overflow from the family room. We're just having a hard time searching for types of seating that will work with traffic flow.

A. Rooms with two entrances are always tough. If you don't use one of the entrances very often, then don't really worry about putting furniture too close to a door. As long as there is access, I don't worry too much about closing a space off. In terms of where to start, I always like to start with an area rug. It really sets the tone of the space and dictates the formality and color of what goes on top of it. That is actually how my Design House room came together. We just started layering on top of it. If you are nervous about the furniture layout, always start with a few of the larger pieces and work that way. It is easier to add than to subtract.

Q. We are thinking of painting our 4-year-old daughter's room Benjamin Moore's Luscious. We had initially thought we'd do the entire room that color, but it is way too much purple. I think we have decided to do maybe one or two walls that color. I was thinking of keeping the rest of the palette a gray. Any recommendations on the gray? We are thinking of doing the trim Benjamin Moore's White Dove.

A. Something fun to do when you're using a bold color is to do picture-frame panels on one wall with molding panels boxing in the color. You can hang art inside of them. The trim color is fine - I love White Dove. We use it all the time. Benjamin Moore's Silver Chain looks nice with Luscious.

Q. I've always been interested in the process of showhouses and how you secure such fabulous furnishings and accessories. Who did you turn to for your room? What about the other designers?

A. Every designer uses different resources for their spaces. Some use items that they own, some use client purchases, but most borrow items or get donations to fill their spaces. I was lucky enough to have many wonderful showrooms at the D.C. Design Center donate items: Hines, American Eye, Stark and Holland and Sherry to name a few. I know that other vendors lent many items to the house in other spaces, such as Kohler and Potrana Frau. Other vendors, such as Global Views (they have accessories all over the house) sell their products at a deep discount. They provided my two floating consoles. The true grit of the house work is provided by our contractors and Benjamin Moore, though. They donated a lot of amazing paint to the house and we got to sample some of their newer products that we don't always get to use.