Make it Easy on the Eye

I think that decorating should be like getting dressed. I love clothes, but I find the longer I take picking clothes out to wear for the day, the more "made up" I feel. And I don't feel comfortable. I love throwing on an outfit-dressy or casual-and looking like I thought about it, but really not putting too much thought into it. It's more "comfortable" that way. The same goes for decorating and designing. I recently had a client who wanted to know why I place one of the pair of lamps in the dining room, and one in the living room. He wondered why I didn't place them on opposite ends of the couch. The dining and living room really flows together, so I told him that it caused your eye to follow around the room because the lamp is such a focal point. Yes, it would have been easy to place them on each end, but to me, it would look too "made up" that way.

Here's another example with pillows. On the window seat with this client, we did some custom pillows that matched some other fabrics in the room, but I also added some store bought (gasp!!) pillows to the mix. This made it look like not too much thought was put into it, and came off better than had they all matched. But, the end result looked fabulous!

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Alternative locations to sale shopping

I may not be one for going shopping at the mad "before Christmas sales" but I do love the "after" Christmas sales. For some reason, the pressure is off, and I can actually start stocking up for gifts for next Christmas! I also love the offbeat stores where people don't always flock to like they do the big box stores. I have found some of my best Christmas treasures at grocery stores if you can believe that! I have this unbelievable three foot tall metal Santa adorned with big round old fashioned colored lights. I saw him at the local grocery store and watched for him to go on sale after Christmas. And voila! I scored Santa at a huge discount. I also got a set of wonderful fall colored stoneware dishes this way from my local grocery store. Often, chain grocery stores will contract with companies that make home products just for them-such as pillows, throws and dishes. They are my favorite dishes, and I watched them until the price dropped to well over half off.

Enjoy those sales!

Simple Changes

As the season changes to the colder winter weather, sometimes it's nice to make small changes to our home to make it feel more cozy and comfotable, but without a major overhaul. Here are a few ideas:

Add a new shower curtain in fall colors in your bathroom if your wall color allows it. For instance, I just changed our blue shower curtain to a 1960's-ish inspired leaf pattern with the golds, browns and yellows. It goes very well with my pale yellow walls, and with the new rug in the same colors, it gives the bathroom a new look.

Another quick update is to purchase new lampshades as long as you like the shape and style of your current lamp. A new lampshade can change the look-by being a different shape, color, or style.

A favorite of mine, and so simple is to bring in some new throw pillows or a seasonal throw. This is very easy to do especially if you have a neutral color couch to begin with.