- In the dark about illumination? Each square foot of space in a living or dining room should be matched by two watts of incandescent light.

- Mixing and matching dining room furniture? There should be about eight inches between the tabletop and the seat of the dining chair.

- Flowers in a tall arrangement should be two times the height of the vase. But if you're creating a centrepiece, keep the arrangement two inches lower than the eye level of seated guests.

- Multiply the diagonal width of your television screen by three to determine optimal viewing distance.

- Add an extra four inches when measuring a cut of wallpaper; the two additional inches at either end will make for stress-free trimming.

- Multiply a window's width by 2.5 to determine the width of fabric needed for full- looking drapes. For a perfect puddle, add eight extra inches to the length of a drape from rod pocket to floor.

- A drapery rod, track or wire should be mounted at least two inches above the window and six to 16 inches beyond either side.

- Hunting for a stud? Typically, the space between wall studs is 16 inches.

- When arranging your book nook, avoid eye strain by ensuring that the light source from any floor lamp is 20 inches from where you will be holding your latest page-turner.

- A chandelier should hang 30 inches above the dining table in a room with eight-foot ceilings. For each foot higher than that, raise the chandelier an additional three inches. To gauge a desirable diameter for a chandelier, measure the width of the room in feet, double the number and call it inches.

- Make room for grout! When laying a backsplash, tiles are spaced 1 ⁄ 8 of an inch apart. Purchase enough tile to cover 110 percent of the area; this will ensure that you have backup tiles in case of breakage or mistakes.

- Repurposing a table for use in a home office? The typical desk height is 29 inches.

- For functional flow, a person requires 30 inches of space around them for ease of movement. Major traffic paths, such as front walks used at Halloween, should have a clearance of three to six feet.

- Investing in a bigger bed? A standard queen mattress measures 60 inches by 80 inches, while a king is 76 inches by 80 inches; for adequate support, look for 375 coils in a queen and 450 coils in a king.

- Say goodbye to itsy-bitsy dining rooms. The area rug should extend two feet from the edges of the table, so when a chair is pulled out, the front legs remain on the rug. The distance between the dining table and the wall shouldn't be less than three feet, and each person should have 24 to 30 inches of tabletop.

- Keep artwork in proportion to furnishings. Art hanging above a sofa should be two-thirds the full width of the sofa.

- A gallon of latex paint should offer 450 square feet of coverage.

- A bathroom sink should be 34 to 38 inches high for comfort.

- Two people require 12 to 14 cubic feet of fridge storage. Add two cubic feet for each additional housemate.