Colorful Home Promises at www.japanese-home-gardens.com

Wacky, Colorful Home Promises Fun for All Ages With a children's slide shooting down from the attic, a pair of beds that look like space pods, blue rubber floors and pink walls -- not to mention a museum's worth of contemporary art and design -- one easily could mistake the London home of Kenny Schachter and Ilona Rich for an avant-garde playground.

There are some broad guidelines to help you choose color ambinations for your home. For example, to emphasize spacious-ess, choose a limited range of white, pale pastels, or shades of lue. To give a feeling of intimacy, use plenty of deeper tones and old colors in the warm red range; and include lots of colorful atterns and textures.

This was one tour that didn't require guests to take off their shoes, and women in black evening gowns or chiffon pantsuits walked brazenly across the plank hard wood floors. Men decorated their tuxedos with colorful button covers and snappy suspenders. President Charlotte Varner welcomed all 360 guests at the door with a warm and personal greeting and a word of warning: "It's interesting to walk through the house because you see something different every time you walk through. You're going to go home with an idea" for your own homes.