When I first purchased my century home I knew it needed a lot of care – but after all the major renovations were done so that the home was updated and structurally sound, I was a bit short on cash for the necessary aesthetic renovations inside. I decided to focus on one room at a time – devoting myself to the easily transitioned renovations such as paint and wall repair rather than refinishing the floors.
For my living room for example – I fixed all the cracks and water marks and painted it a deep bronze with white trim – this allowed more focus on the architectural features. The bronze color complimented a nice textured wall paper I chose for the main wall with the dark marble fireplace and then I focused on bringing the room together with silk drapes and an elegant area rug. This allowed ones attention to be drawn away from the marred floor and onto the beauty of the room.
Think of these quick fixes when sagging and watch my video for more information! Remember paint can do wonders!
Pattern interrupted is a term commonly used when something is done to side track your usual daily routine. With Christmas, pattern interrupted takes on a whole new meaning as your life is riddled with parties, family, shopping, and of course decorating. Obviously as a designer I want to focus on the later. (more…)
This was the first year that I have tried color grouping while decorating for Christmas and I am soooooo excited and satisfied with the result. Now I understand that I am a bit of an Xmas Tinsel Zealot but, I think this would work for everyone in a smaller scale.
I took all of the decorations that I have for the house. I then divided them according to rooms – knowing that while doing this each room was color coordinated. Each room has a tree for a feature point of the color coordination. The dining room is a classic red/gold/silver/burgundy/white room My front Parlor is the peppermint room – red/silver and white. Our Living room is gold/bronze/green/and copper. And the foyer is all white, cream and silver with garlands and lights.
It is important to pick colors that will go well with your natural decor – and that you keep to the theme. Anything that does not match needs to go away. It is painful at first – but I have had more compliments with less decorations than I have ever before. Now my home looks beautiful for the season and not cluttered.
So good luck – and remember – if it doesn’t match your room or tree you can always keep it for a kids tree in the den…….
Well color me red – its Christmas time again! So roll out the gobs of red velvet ribbon, gold tassels and evergreen trims and lets get to deckin that hall already right? But what if you are not into all that jazz and dazzle of the decorating spirit. Maybe you have a phobia of little pointed ear elves, are insulted by the mere thought of red and green pretending to go together or have a bad traumatizing experience with a piece of highly hazardous tinsel ( it can happen). Or may you simply don’t like the muss and the fuss of all those decorating trinkets – well relax cuz status bowls are here to save the day!
The new trend for any house that is a house is having a status bowl. These are bowls which contain the Christmas decorations that you used to place around your home. Sounds simple? It is…… Instead of weaving string around the cards simply place them in a large decorative bowl and place it on a side table. Get a tall glass bowl and place your favourite bulbs in it and voila – you have a charming center piece for your living room. Take it one step further and all those trinkets and bobbles that simply do not have a home and put them in a long wooden tray- place it by the door and offer one to your guests as a parting holiday treat!
So put up the tree, hang the wreaths and light those special holiday candles – but this year instead of cluttering each room with an array of stray decorations – group them up and display them in a status bowl!
If you go to the Debbie Travis site you will find a plethora of photos, comments, and information about each of the shows that have already aired on her new series All For One. Our show in Windsor was of course dedicated to a deck being built for Jack Kelly – a local unsung hero in Windsor. I found this clip on Debbie’s blog page and it is awesome! All of the laughs and good feelings without the drama – take a peek and make a comment! It is also the only record I have of Igor Shamraychuk of Restaurant Makeover saying, “Kelly you are always right”. Thanks Igor!
