The economy may be in the crapper but in stressful times our haven becomes that much more important. Here are some more quick changes that can be done for less than $50.
*Change your shower curtain. The freshness will make an amazing difference.
*Replace your towels with new pure white ones.
*Blow up and frame a photograph. Make it from a happy memory and smile every time you look at it.
*Fill your best bowl with fruit and place it on the coffee table. An added bonus: you will remember to eat healthy!
*Change the knobs on a cabinet or dresser.
*Rearrange the furniture. It is good exercise and it’s free!
Small changes can have a big impact. A tweak or two can pull together a design plan. These 4 ideas can be done for under $50.
*Change globes on a light fixture for a fast and easy way to update. Lowe’s and Home Depot sell decorative glass globes for less than $10 each.
*Paint an accent wall. Be bold and change it for the season. Use a fresh bright in summer and a deep earth tone in fall. A gallon of paint is $30 and you will have plenty left over for other projects.
*Buy new pillows for the sofa. Pier 1 and Target have wonderful, inexpensive options.
*Throw away all dusty old fake plants. Replace with real branches in a large ginger jar.
Even though I am not generating a lot of comments, I am seeing evidence other than my web stats that Design Strategies is being read. Today my client pointed to her arrangement of art and said, “I know you hate staggered pictures.” Which was a little surprising to me, since we had just met face to face about 10 minutes earlier.
Well, I am not so terrible of a person to begin to tell a brand new client what was wrong with her home, and I really didn’t need to. I hope I assured her that although the art was staggered, the GROUP, when viewed as a whole, was not.
Notice in the photo I took: the sconce determines the placement. The art is hung in accordance, and the lamp shade actually serves to balance the three objects and create a unified square. Notice here how I have framed it out.
Monday was the autumnal equinox. From this point forward we lose 3 minutes of sunlight every day.
There is only one way I can combat the urge to pitch it all and move to the equator. I decorate for fall. Now is the time to transition from impatiens to pansies. It’s not too early to buy a pumpkin. Last weekend I made a spontaneous purchase of a mum at Trader Joe’s because it looked more like summer daisies than that dreaded representation of Fall.
Macintosh apples. Concord grapes. The riot of color on the trees. Warm days and cool nights. Well, I guess I can deal, as long as I don’t think about Old Man Winter lurking in the corner…
I should have known better than to purchase this book on the first day of fall. Not surprising, this book is filled with fantasies. Homes on beaches across the country, one more fabulous than the next.
None of the seventeen beach houses presented are too kitschy, and only one has a heavy nautical motif. Fun sidebars include non-decorating themes such as beach reads or favorite beach tunes. Interestingly, two of the homes showcased are in Galveston. I can’t help wonder how they stood up to Hurricane Ike.
The winter will be long. Escape into this book and remember the smell of the salt water.
I have been with Dee over two years now. But recently we have taken our designs to a whole new level. My clients are in the middle of construction on a new home.
A fresh start requires a new design plan. Dee and I met for lunch this summer and we discussed, we dreamed and we visualized the outcome together. We talked about specifics as well as the less tangible environment she and her family desired. This meeting proved fruitful. We now have a concept to build upon, making precise decisions easier.
Sunday we made part of our first purchase. The Family Room furniture was chosen first as it will be the most important room for the family. A comfy slip covered sofa and two chairs all in coordinating washable cotton, perfect for relaxing times together.
Matchy Matchy Syndrome
Spend some time reading a decorating book or flip through the pages of a shelter magazine. Now walk into the average American furniture store. Do you see a difference?Furniture stores love to sell items in groups. One big collection means one big sale. It is easy for the salesperson to suggest the matching loveseat and chair when it is displayed right there with the sofa in the store. And when all the furniture exactly matches, there is no stress for the buyer. A few fluffs of the pillow and it is on the cash register…
Though this is an easy method to decorating, it can be disaster in your home. Matchy Matchy furniture is BORING. Devoid of personality, but perfect for the showroom floor. Now let’s go back to the books and magazines and television shows. Look! The sofa and the chair are in different fabrics! The end tables are completely different, and the coffee table is actually a bench!
A well designed home coordinates and harmonizes. It doesn’t match. This needn’t be scary. Use these tips and become picture perfect:
*Use a solid print on the sofa, a small print on a loveseat and a bold pattern on a chair, all in the same color scheme.
*Match fabric weight but play with textures.
*Choose two tones of woods. They can contrast or be close in color. Natural cherry looks wonderful with black. Birch and white are fresh and fun.
*Find a unifying factor. Perhaps different tables will all have a flared leg style. Or the sofa and chairs have rolled arms. Keeping back heights equal prevents the space from looking too messy.
Pillows add personality. Throw the ones that came with the furniture away!
This weekend is the biannual Occoquan Event that has been a part of Eastern Prince William County for 25 years. The Occoquan Arts & Craft Show closes the streets of this historic town so that hundreds of white tents can overrun the streets. Inside these shelters are some of the region’s best artisans. Glass, jewelry, pottery, art as well as fabric crafts can be purchased Saturday from 10-6 and Sunday from 10-5.
Visit the website to find the most convenient parking at one of four commuter lots. Take a shuttle for $4 and enter worry free. I will be there all weekend in front of Mom’s Apple Pie, where the shuttle buses arrive. No, I haven’t entered the craft market. And no, I am not selling wallpaper or some such thing. I am chaperoning high school students…Oh dear!
Copper Pumpkins from Crate and Barrel, Harvest Pumpkin Cheesecake from Horchow, Hand-blown Glass Pumpkins from Gump’s, Assorted Set of Three White Pumpkins from Ballard Designs, Pumpkin Truffles from Dean & DeLuca, Lidded Pumpkin Serving Bowls from William Sonoma Home, Mexican Pumpkin Mottled Candles from World Market, Pumpkins 8 X 10 Photographic Print from Jaimee McClellan Modern Classic available at Etsy
Football Duvet Cover from Pottery Barn Kids, Sports Lamp from Shades of Light, Football Throw Pillows from Land of Nod, Football Players Vinyl Wall Decal from WallWords, Two Minute Warning Play Clock from Land of Nod, Vintage Canvas Reproduction from Posh Tots, Poster Play from Land of Nod, Football Iron Bed from Posh Tots, Football Top Load Scrapbook from Target