The foot-friendly furry rug makes the floor exciting. (Money-saving tip: Use a large, inexpensive sisal rug as a base, and layer it with a small version of the pricier rug you love.) Windows with wow factor: Embroidered Roman shades add warmth and contrast and function as art against understated blue walls.

CNN: Amazing room makeovers

One carpet, the size of a prayer rug, lay in the center of the tiled floor as if concealing an imperfection or some secret passage.

NEWYORKER: Naima

His personal study, which was designed to house a 17-by-28-foot Persian rug from the late 1800s, is filled from floor to ceiling with valuables, ranging from gilded fore-edge books to war memorabilia, a brandy bottle left in his guest house by Kennedy Onassis, and even what he says is Sitting Bull's pipe.

NPR: 'I Love Mysteries,' Says Man Claiming Hidden Gold