How to accessorize in your home's high places

One important but often overlooked spot to accessorize in your home is the space up high — on a bookcase, above the kitchen cabinets or on a ledge. Putting just the right accents in these out-of-the-way areas lends visual interest to your decor, giving it a bit more warmth and charm. Here are some tips for adding some beauty up high. Mary Carol Garrity, Scripps Howard News Service

Add flair to furniture tops: So many homes now have very tall ceilings, which opens up a world of possibilities if you want to position accents on the top of tall pieces of furniture like bookcases, secretaries, hutches and armoires. Becky, one of the designers at Nell Hill's Briarcliff, has come up with a treatment I absolutely love. She gathers together three or four different-sized pieces of artwork. Starting with the largest piece in back, she rests the artwork on the top of the furniture and props it against the wall, layering the pieces forward to create a visually interesting grouping.

Another fun way to bring interest and whimsy to furniture tops is to brighten them with seasonal decor. Start with a great receptacle, like an old wooden dough bowl or a willow basket, then add seasonal accents. For spring, let an assortment of faux blooming branches cascade out of the bowl or basket. In summer, fill it with wicker-covered bottles or wicker balls. For fall, add a mixed-up grouping of pumpkins and gourds. In winter, dress it up with pine boughs and ornaments.

Get cooking above your kitchen cabinets: After deciding what to make for dinner each night, the second-hardest thing you'll do in your kitchen is to figure out how to decorate the space above your cabinets. We used to preach filling in with tons of accents. But not anymore. Now we're going for a simpler, cleaner look, picking just a few pieces to create a more powerful display overall. For instance, I've dotted a ledge in my kitchen with a monochromatic display of creamware dishes, like pitchers, bowls and platters.

Above your cabinets, fashion a few groupings from interesting objects that are similar in nature, such as a collection of pitchers, antique baskets, trays or lanterns. When picking pieces, go for those that are larger in scale because smaller accents get lost when they are up high and make the display feel cluttered. Be sure to leave plenty of open space between each cluster so you have enough negative space for the eye to rest.

A decorating edge for your ledge: Lots of newer homes have been built with two-story entries that feature open ledges for decorating. While it's fun to think about adding accents to your foyer, these lofty spaces can be a challenge to decorate. My advice is to perk them up with a few large, simple pieces you can leave up year-round. How about some oversized pottery? Opt for larger pieces than you think you need because everything shrinks visually when placed in a high spot.

Another great solution is to place a sizable piece of artwork on the ledge, leaning it against the wall behind it. Then layer the display by positioning some large pottery next to the painting, or use Becky's trick of resting several pieces of art atop one another.

Mary Carol Garrity is the proprietor of three home-furnishings stores and is the author of several books on home decorating.