DOES THIS SOFA GO WITH MY MONET?

When decorating one's home, which comes first: the art or the room?

- Ted Loos

It's no secret that fine art is an essential element in a well-decorated room. "It's that final cherry on top that's just crucial," says New York-based ELLE DECOR A-List designer Danielle Colding. But an artwork has a different emotional and intellectual power than a sofa or a paint job they are not the same. So the task is how to orchestrate a delicate dance between the two.

As Billy Cotton of the eponymous ELLE DECOR A-List design firm puts it: "Art is so personal. It really doesn't have any function aside from beauty." Cotton's method- let's call it respectful distance being wary of designing around it too closely. "That turns the art into decoration," he says.

The solution for some big collectors is what Cotton calls billionaire beige, which recedes completely to let trophy paintings shine. "I tend not to take that approach," he says. "The furniture can be quieter, not trying to be the loudest object, but that doesn't mean it can't be a color."