Healdsburg designer Ben Dhong shares simple ways to add flair to tract home

Interior designer Ben Dhong bought a plain vanilla 1980s tract home in Healdsburg, then went to work customizing it.

Except for the brown wood shingles, the outside still resembles others on his Healdsburg block, but inside, it wears an unexpected glamour.

Here are Dhong’s tricks for adding flair.

Find vintage or flea market pieces and repaint them: Think beyond the usual “shabby chic.” Inexpensive imported furnishings from IKEA or World Market and vintage woods and rattans from the ‘60s and ‘70s can be upcycled with lighter paint.

Add Texture: Adding wood to your ceilings or walls gives an instant sense of architecture to a plain box of a room. You don’t have to panel a whole room. Do just one wall and you’ll transform the look of a room.

Avoid playing “color roulette” in your house with every room a different color: Keeping walls within a similar palette will make your house look more put together, larger and more open.

There’s a reason magicians use mirrors: They can trick the eye. On your walls, mirrors will make a room seem bigger. Look for unusual mirrors that can serve as inexpensive art.

Steal the view by taking down your fence: Not everyone can do this. But if the view beyond your fence is better than what’s behind it and it doesn’t leave you too exposed, consider expanding your vista. Discrete plantings - trees and shrubs - can add a little privacy without taking away the view.

Furniture over cabinet: A large free-standing hutch or cabinet can offer storage space in a kitchen in a much more interesting, and potentially less expensive way, than regular kitchen cabinets.