Celerie Kemble has followed in her mother's footsteps – or should we say, high heels – in venturing into the rarified world of society decorating.

She typically deals with custom colours, custom upholstery and custom price tags. But she has plenty of priceless advice in her new book, "Celerie Kemble: To Your Taste" (Clarkson Potter, $45).

Some of the best has to do with the perils of the world where most of us shop: catalogues. Her problem with glossy arbiters of mass-market style is that the pages are glossy, the lighting is perfect and the accessories colour-coordinated. If the room has any flaws, you'll never know because your eye is distracted by the text and headlines.

"The familiar small, framed black-and-white photograph hanging above the beige sofa never looks boring or cold," Kemble says. She warns that the modern alarm clock, the clever fireplace basket or the accessory you think you must have will be "ubiquitous" in two years' time.

"Don't fall for it," she insists. "Shake your head and remind yourself that you are reading the photo and the page layout, not the room." Catalogs, she says, are "the stylistic version of fast food."

These are strong words that would be difficult to print in home decor magazines for fear of offending advertisers. And bravo to Kemble for saying them out loud.

Since her childhood in Palm Beach, Florida, where her very chic mother, Mimi McMakin, founded Kemble Interiors, Celerie Kemble has understood what taste means.

Now that she runs Kemble Interiors in both New York City and Palm Beach, the world is very different. Taste no longer belongs to a select segment of society. It is mass-marketed through lines of furniture, fabrics and accessories created by high-end designers – including Kemble.

This means, Kemble says, that "the distinction between highbrow and lowbrow has been eradicated."

Taste, quite simply, is no longer expensive. But acquiring it, even with the help of a decorator, requires breaking from the pack and expressing a deep and very personal style.

Beautiful rooms take time. They also take a commitment to quality and a resistance to temptation, whether it comes in the form of a catalog or a supposedly good buy.

"Hold out for love," Kemble insists. If you need a quick shopping fix, she advises hitting the sales, thrift stores, flea markets, Craigslist or eBay.

For bigger-ticket items, consider reproductions. After all, how many antiques are there in the world? The trick is to find pieces that are "more than just an obvious knockoff." For off-the-beaten-path sources, she checks out these design blogs: www.apartmenttherapy.com, www.thenestmaker.com and http://allthebest2007blogspot.com.

Other websites she likes include www.demolitiondepot.com, which rescues items from construction and demolition projects in New York and Connecticut; www.lahardware.com for antique and reproduction hardware; and www.oldegoodthings.com for new furniture made from salvaged pieces.

While you're shopping, pay attention to what tunes colors play in your head. Kemble warns that certain combinations are repeated like "a catchy song on the Top 40 rotation" across mass-market America.

Perhaps you've noticed that pale blue and brown are everywhere. Or that sea-grass green is being paired with cream and chocolate brown with burnt orange accents.

White, thankfully, is still all right. In fact, it's what Kemble recommends if you're in a pinch, either in terms of time or money. A coat of white paint will unify diverse styles of furniture, while white slipcovers, made from denim, canvas, ticking, linen or upholstery-weight cotton, will give mismatched upholstery automatic style.

One word of caution: "In a white room," Kemble says, "anything that is not white will steal the show." That includes plants, art and wooden floors – things the eye normally passes over.

If you're looking for a softer scheme, don't be seduced by beige, which Kemble calls "an absence of risk". If you need a neutral that's really fresh, try grey.

She uses tones of grey ranging from "charcoal to palest dove gray that looks almost lilac" and pairs them with purples such as plum aubergine and raisin and, for a strong contrast, sharp yellows and jewel tones.

"I'm willing to bet," says Kemble, "gray is, for the next decade, what brown was for the last."

After you read her book, you'll be willing to bet she's right.