Designer James Farmer insists that incorporating bold patterns like these into one's home is simply a matter of confidence. "Start with a solid base like a sofa and punch it up with patterned pillows," he advises. "Or apply pattern to the wall with a paper but hang a monochromatic piece of contemporary art atop [it]. When the same vein of color and shades are running through [a space], pattern isn't busy but coordinated."

Gleaming white subway tile offers a modern counterpoint to the traditional cabinetry in the functional kitchen Atlanta architect Norman Askins added to the space. Designer James Farmer added subtly cheeky leopard-print fabric on the caned chairs' upholstery to contribute a playful note. A warm traditional runner, in turn, carries the eye beyond the farmhouse sink and the stove into the heart-pine-paneled sitting room beyond them.

Transom windows above exterior doors at the face and back of this Alabama house admit dazzling shafts of sunlight, while corresponding features above interior doors branching from the foyer offer architectural echoes of the intricate furnishings designer James Farmer chose for the home.

Designer James Farmer reached for Farrow & Ball’s dragged wallpaper to swathe this dining room in summery and beautifully textured apricot. Created when a brush is used to pull water-based paint slowly across the paper’s surface, the striated result "creates depth that paint alone cannot create," Farmer says. "[Farrow & Ball use] ink pigments, and their colors have that wonderful aesthetic, especially when applied in the striated fashion. Paint simply applied to sheet rock loses its luster."