All I wanted for Christmas was a pulled-together house. Normally I am suspicious of domestic perfection, but with the holiday chaos and the unexpected visitors pouring in, it would have been nice not to have had to apologize for the snarled salmagundi of unfinished decorating. "Yes...we just moved...I've been meaning to get a sofa for the living room...let's sit on the floor..."  The Miami Shores home of Beth Arrowood, owner and designer of NIBA Rug Collections, is a gloriously completed project: a precisely composed symphony of color, pattern and proportion, fully installed and finished. I imagine Ms. Arrowood must gaily throw open her doors and offer random holiday drop-ins a refreshing tonic and a thoughtful tour.  Ms. Arrowood has always been a problem-solving perfectionist (in a good way). Starting out as a manager at the high-end, to-the-trade-only Holly Hunt furniture showroom in Miami, she tuned into decorators demands and solution-hunted. Frequently on the day of a big installation, designers would race into Holly Hunt panicked, looking for accessories to finish their clients houses, but only found large-scale pieces like sofas, coffee tables and bookcases.  Spying the hole in the market, Ms. Arrowood conceived of a one-stop-shopping accessories showroom that also carries customizable wool and silk rugs available in thousands of colors and designs. Her floor coverings provided clients with a sophisticated alternative to what she describes as the "Bill Cosby sweater"-looking rugs that proliferated in other showrooms. As demand for the carpets outpaced accessories sales, Ms. Arrowood stumbled onto her life's work: custom rug designing. She travels to India, Nepal and Thailand among other business-friendly outposts, not only to mine for ideas but also to source new factories for NIBA.  With years of experience tweaking rug patterns, she can't help being a rigorous design perfectionist in her own house, where reworking has become requisite. Most of her antiques, bought either in Palm Beach or off 1st Dibs, craved a little Arrowood love. Louis chairs in the living room needed stripping and cerusing, bedroom bureaus required repainting plus more interesting hardware and, in the worst-case scenario, a pair of blue velvet settees apparently meant for very small people had to be copied and rebuilt in a larger scale.  To pull it all together efficiently, Ms. Arrowood stuck to a disciplined palette, and repeated her decorating mantra (which echoes her rug design ethos): Keep it casual, keep it elegant and keep it happy.  IN THE PINK | The rosy interior of a shell inspired the color of the picture matting and the paint shade used inside the bookshelf. The sea-life prints echo actual shells displayed on the shelves below.  "Start with the rug and address the most important room first," advises Beth Arrowood, who began her decorating odyssey in the living room. "The rug is the platform from which to build out all the other colors," she adds. Ms. Arrowood's upholsterer, Regina Suarez, handily made the teal-blue velvet settees.  Sources: Rug: NIBA Rug Collections / Sofa: 1970s Richard Himmel, Assemblage ltd /Silk velvet upholstery: Kravet / Custom wallpaper panel: Gracie / Lacquered side table: C. Bell /Sofa pillows: Raoul Textiles / Urn: 19th-century Chinese porcelain, Revival / Coffee table: Nicos Zographos, Modern Times /Artwork: Antique prints, panteek.com/ Lamps: Heath & Company / Candle holders: Gervasoni Raku ceramic, Imoderni / Porcelain floral topiary: Antiques on 5.  A turquoise and white palette lets visitors know what to expect inside.  "I like small houses that flow thematically," says Ms. Arrowood, whose 1,800-square-foot, renovated 1938 cottage fits that description. For the exterior, she chose a turquoise and white palette that lets visitors know what to expect inside. Ms. Arrowood shares the home with her husband, a structural engineer, and teenage son. "Any couple going through a renovation will tell you there are fights," she laughs, "but in the end, my husband, Connor, said, 'You did such a good job! It all came together!'"  Sources: Tile: coquina stone and sea glass, Bisazza  The walls and console table are painted white, letting the striped hallway get away with being a little playful.  With the stool upholstery and table accessories on color steroids, Ms. Arrowood decided to keep everything else neutral, for visual relief. The walls and demi-lune console table are painted crisp white, letting the striped hallway get away with being a little playful.  Sources: Stool: Pamela Lerner Antiques / Lamp: C. Bell / Accessories: NiBa Home  What might be a chaotic jumble of patterns works because the mix of designs is within the same tonal family.  In the dining room, what might be a chaotic jumble of patterns works because the mix of large, medium and small-scale designs is within the same tonal family. "I like things to be dressy but casual," says Ms. Arrowood, whose dining area perfectly nails that sentiment.  Sources: Rug: NIBA Rug Collections / Chandelier and sconces: Heath & Company / Tablecloth: vintage, Trousseau Fine Vintage Linen/ Pottery: 1960s Dodie Thayer lettuceware / China: "Akiko" pattern, Kenzo / Wallpaper: "San Marco" pattern, Quadrille  Turquoise appears on the countertops and as a border for the shade.  The same shade of turquoise appears on the countertops and as a border for the roman shade, elevating this basic cottage kitchen. Hand-thrown ceramics, framed art and patterned dish towels save the space from homogeneity.  Sources: Shades fabric: LINK Outdoor / Floor tile: Bisazza / Ceiling fixture: Restoration Hardware  Ms. Arrowood was inspired by the look of decorator Tom Scheerer's Lyford Cay Club.  'There's nothing about it I don't love,' said Ms. Arrowood.  The English-beach-cottage-in-the-Bahamas look of decorator Tom Scheerer's Lyford Cay Club was a big inspiration for Ms. Arrowood's bedroom. She admires the club's cheerful preppy-ness, with its palm-tree wallpaper and chinoiserie upholstery in coral, chocolate brown, apple green and shell pink. It's the meridian of chic, comfortable and WASP-y. "That's the energy I wanted," she says, "there is nothing about it I don't love."  Sources: Drapery and headboard fabric: Osborne & Little / Blue vases: Middle Kingdom / Throw pillows and blanket: Jonathan Adler / Ivory-lacquered wood, Steven Sclaroff / Rug: Striped dhurrie with hemp fringe, NIBA Rug Collections / Chest: lacquered Chinese antique, Visiona / Desk: lacquered antique, Sabina Danenberg Antiques / Mirrors: Gilded, from Thailand, Haveli / Gold-Plated Shell: Robert Kuo / Snowball lamp: vintage Curtis Jere
A cheerful color palette and clever custom touches make rug designer Beth Arrowood's beach bungalow a happy home.