Eleanor Marsh

Interiors & Decor WriterColor, Materials & Room Design

Eleanor Marsh covers interiors and decor for Room Almanac, with a focus on color, materials, lighting, and the decisions that make a room feel coherent. Her guides look closely at proportion, finish, undertone, and how individual choices work together in a finished space.

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Latest from Eleanor

A wide cased opening from a pale blue gray hall into a slate blue living room, with warm white woodwork, a camel leather sofa, and the ink blue dining room visible through a second doorway.

Color

Where One Paint Color Ends and the Next Begins

Choose colors for rooms seen together as a group, in one undertone family, with one trim color through…

October 21, 2026 6 min read

A rectangular oak-framed mirror above a fluted pale ash console in a hall with burnt orange limewashed walls, reflecting a bright window across the hall.

Decor & Accessories

Hang a Mirror for What It Will Reflect

Start a mirror where art goes, then check what it shows from where people stand. Over furniture, leave…

October 20, 2026 6 min read

A nursery with lilac limewashed walls, a bare cherry spindle crib with a white fitted sheet, a rust corduroy glider, and a linen shade on the window across the room.

Bedrooms

Nursery Ideas With Nothing in the Crib but the Baby

Fourteen nursery ideas that leave the crib bare and put the color and comfort into the walls, the…

October 20, 2026 11 min read

A straight staircase seen from the hall, with tomato red balusters, newel post, and stringer, oak treads, and a cream wool runner held by brass rods.

Entryways

Staircase Ideas Worth Looking Up At

Sixteen ideas for a staircase, from two colors of paint on the steps to a pendant hung down…

October 19, 2026 12 min read

A black kitchen at dusk with light under the wall cabinets shining on a cream tiled wall, and two white glass pendants lit over a travertine island.

Kitchens

Kitchen Lighting Ideas That Start at the Counter

Light for the counter first, then the shelves, the sink, the island, the ceiling, the table, and the…

October 15, 2026 13 min read

A narrow hallway with mulberry painted paneling below cream walls, a black and white mosaic tile floor, and a glazed door letting in daylight at the far end.

Entryways

Hallway Ideas for a Space Nobody Sits In

Paint, pattern, light, pictures, and storage for a hallway, chosen for a space people walk through and never…

October 14, 2026 11 min read

Two brass wall sconces with small pleated shades on a pale blue wall, one on each side of a framed painting above a cream sofa.

Lighting

Wall Sconce Height Depends on Whether You Sit or Stand Beside It

The standard height for a wall sconce, why it changes beside a bed or sofa, and how the…

October 13, 2026 6 min read

A cobalt blue armchair in an alcove painted ochre yellow, with bookshelves on both sides and a brass wall light above the chair.

Furniture

A Reading Nook Carved Out of an Ordinary Room

Twelve ways to make a place to read, from a chair turned toward the window to a closet…

October 13, 2026 8 min read

A living room with caramel brown walls in the evening, lit by six small recessed lights in two rows in a white ceiling.

Lighting

How Far Apart to Space Recessed Lights

How far apart to space recessed lights and how far from the walls, with a worked room and…

October 8, 2026 5 min read

A black painted brick fireplace with a wood fire burning, in a white room with a leather sling chair and a pale oak floor.

Living Rooms

27 Fireplace Ideas, Working or Not

Twenty-seven ways to change a fireplace, grouped by the part they touch: the surround, the hearth, the alcoves,…

October 7, 2026 13 min read

A fireplace with dark soapstone around the opening and a white wood mantel, in a room with lilac walls.

Living Rooms

How Low Can a Fireplace Mantel Go?

How close a wood mantel can come to a fireplace opening, how depth changes that, and where the…

October 7, 2026 4 min read

Nine framed pieces in black and oak frames arranged as one rectangle above an ochre velvet sofa.

Decor & Accessories

How to Lay Out a Gallery Wall Before the First Nail

How to plan a gallery wall on the floor and in paper, with the gap between frames, the…

October 7, 2026 5 min read