Soft sheer shades fit the language of design promoted by designer Alexa Hampton

New York interior designer Alexa Hampton is convinced that interior decorating has its own language.


"In fact, when you look at a room, you're reading it," she told the Hartford Courant. "It's a vocabulary that you can learn."


In her new book, The Language of Interior Design, the newspaper reports that Hampton offers advice on room plans and furniture placement, lighting, fabrics and seating. But the heart of the book is the design language that is broken down into four categories - contrast, proportion, color and balance.


Contrast is like a verb, conveying the action that keeps a person's attention traveling throughout a room, she told the newspaper. Proportion is the grammar, which creates spacial relationships in a room. Color serves as the descriptive adjective, and balance gives relevance to the overall design by making connections between colors and textures, old and new, formality and comfort.


A window treatment that offers both functionality and style fits into Hampton's idea of design language. Soft sheer shades are a good example because they are durable, but have an elegant look. While they allow filtered light to enter a room, they also maintain visibility of outside views.