Designers use hot neutral as background in DreamHome

The hot decor color is gray - from platinum to charcoal, but you need to spice it up.

One way to choose accent colors is to start with a focal point, such as the abstract painting that Grace Sielaff of M. Grace Designs Inc. in Hinsdale found for the living room of DreamHome, a series of high-style rooms on the first floor of the Merchandise Mart in Chicago.

Then she put spare touches of these colors throughout her space of gray, chocolate and ivory.

"Everyone wants to cleanse their palette with gray or black or deep, rich colors," said Darl Grooters of Palos Park, who took on the dining room. "We've had so many wild oranges and rusts and lime greens."

Anne Coyle of Chicago always uses gray in rooms she designs, calling it an elegant background that goes well with any other color and elevates the room. She was in charge of the bedroom.

Here's what we like in the DreamHome:

Living room: The framed panels of mother-of-pearl wall covering from Maya Romanoff that add subtle glimmer and texture retail for less than $100 a yard.

Tip: Sielaff used books in the right accent shades as one method of spreading color around the room.

Home office: Different patterns of red wallpaper hang side-by-side covering one wall in the dramatic room by Carlos Martinez and Kate Davis of Gensler in Chicago.

Bedroom: The tufted silk velvet lavender headboard that retails for about $6,500 from Sommerville provides a feminine touch, toned down by the more gender-neutral bedside cabinets lacquered in dusty celadon. Designer Coyle has these custom made and sells them for $1,250 each.

Tip: All the artwork pieces above the bed are abstract designs. A large piece is metal, and others are framed in metal. Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" running on a television provides one piece of colorful, period art on the opposite wall. Coyle added a colored picture above it, but most of the works here are black and white to make sure the movie is the focus.

Dining room: Grooters almost did away with the design rule that prefers an odd number of accessories. Four handblown Murano crystal candle sticks in two heights provide symmetry on the table, but this even number works because they flank a platter, which becomes the fifth element.

Tip: Grooters thinks the polished nickel nailheads on the chairs are important to reflect the sparkle from the chandelier.

Kitchen: A wall of white plates with black decoupage silhouette profiles was inspired by a scene Joan Craig of Lichten Craig in Chicago and New York saw in a French chateau.

Library: The copper wallpaper named Chantilly from Cole & Son with outlines of black flowers and leaves is stunning. Its wholesale price is $160 a roll. Scott Arthur Yerkey of Chicago used the color throughout the room to achieve the warmth and richness of mahogany or cherry without paneling the space in wood.

Tip: Nailheads shine again on the open-back dining-type Perry chair that Yerkey designed and covered with leathers in a color that's rich and delectable even though it's called swamp. The award-winning Biedermeier-inspired chair costs $2,800 plus fabric.