When I mentioned to my partner Matt Fox that I wanted to add drama to one of our projects, he immediately began looking through some of the old plays he’d been involved in while studying theater in college. Much to his chagrin, that wasn’t the type of drama I was talking about.

I was yearning for the “wow” factor. You’ve seen it before. You walk into a designer show house, a design studio or maybe even a friend’s home, and you let out a breathy “wow.” The room is so amazing, so inspiring that you just can’t take your eyes off it.

Hoping to achieve that effect, Matt and I worked to inject drama in a living-room project. Here’s what we did:

We started with an incredible inspiration piece. Every dynamic room starts with something fabulous. Our something fabulous was a striking 5-by-8-foot area rug. It was covered with very large pansies, in rich plums, greens and golds. We placed it in the center of the living room, not square with the walls, but on an angle, askew, to draw even more attention to it.

The next step was the walls. Rare colors and finishes help make a room unique, and our use of Ralph Lauren’s Duchess Satin paint in a gold finish added instant drama. The walls were so high in the room we added a chair rail, and painted the lower wall area in a plum to pick up the colors in the area rug.

On the upper wall, we taped off panels that looked like strips of wall covering, and worked in one panel at a time. We rolled the gold paint into the panel, then rolled over the panel with a paint roller covered with chamois cloth squares that pulled off some of the gold paint, leaving a crushed-velvet texture on the walls.

The gold paint glistened like real gold, and changed with the light in the room to alter the mood. Once the walls were complete, we moved onto the windows.

A full wall of windows is dramatic enough on its own, but the addition of a satin-and-crepe-finished fabric in just the same colors as the area rug went a long way to dress the windows even more.

The simple no-sew swag that extended past the height of the French doors and surrounded the large transom window above drew the eyes upwards, accentuating the height of the room.

We added pleated shades and shirrs to the windows and doors to provide some level of privacy in the evening.

With the backgrounds in shape, Matt moved in the furniture. Most living rooms have some combination of a sofa and chairs, with a love seat thrown in every once in a while. But since we didn’t want our to be like “most” rooms, we opted for four very stylish off-white recliners. We placed them so they faced each other in pairs with matching side tables between them.

They lined up beautifully along our inspiration piece. Then we accessorized, bringing the next layer of drama to the room.

Artwork on the walls was very important because there was so much “wall” in the room. By hanging theme-oriented pieces in a collage, we filled the large wall space nicely. We added silk greenery in the form of tall trees and low baskets to balance the addition of a leafy green. Gold-based lamps added to the sparkle, and my favorite addition, four completely different accessory pillows, adorned each of the four off-white chairs.

They brought a touch of personality to the matched chairs.

Shari Hiller writes this column with Matt Fox. They also co-host the Home & Garden Television show “room by room.”