Designer Nightmare

Can you say.... EVERYTHING?

Jim and I have had some serious fun looking at the lobbies of various hotels and motels in our travels. I guess when you are into decorating you just tend to notice things more. This is the lobby of a Comfort Inn in Northern CA.

What these people were thinking is beyond me, but I bet it has something to do with an inheritance and trying to save a few bucks on the design features of the inn. This place just screams "ouch" from the minute you lay your eyes on it. Since this is your first impression when you walk in, I think they have some serious welcoming issues. The room we had was 100% better but the lobby and dining room were atrocious.

As we have been thinking about how we can run our decorating business with no overhead we had this idea. Perhaps we could call several hotel and motel establishments along a route we want to travel, offer to come in and redesign their lobbies in exchange for a room? It would only take a short amount of time and then we could be on our way.

Take a look at this picture! First of all, the decor (using the term loosely) does not go with the location and genre of this Comfort Inn at all. Have these people never been to Disneyland? It is all in the details of the land you are trying to create. It is located in a little mountain town near Yosemite. The Lobby is small and the furniture is way too fancy-pants for this place. A hunting lodge theme would work so much better here. A few carved bear accessories, maybe some skis on the wall or a picture of a mountain scene, a couple of nice comfy overstuffed chairs and some hunter plaid would work so much better. I wouldn't sit down on this love seat with a stranger if I was waiting. Would you? No, chairs are better here.

I don't personally like hunting cabin decor, but that is an example of what would work. Something less formal, warm and comfortable would compliment and blend with the location and the exterior of the building. It is like a good hair cut..no one notices it. Blending is important. The current decor is something that rattles your cage and makes you wonder why you came. It should just welcome you in, period.

And then there is scale. The scale is completely wrong. You don't want to put a gianormous, gilded mirror over a small velveteen love set. Yes, it is true the sofa has a gold trim but, people...this does not a match make. Trust your gut on this one. This is painfully wrong.

And you definitely don't want to slide it over towards the window to accommodate the weird ceiling above the love seat. Something that is placed over a sofa is to complement it and should be directly over it. And the phone thingy..I can't go there with this combo!

AND no, a 70's K-Mart ginger jar lamp does not compliment any of it. And hello, check out the height that the picture hanger selected for the rectangular tiny picture? What the...? I could go on about the round ornate gilded, glass top table, but you get the picture and it is worth a thousand words. How does someone unconsciously get it ALL wrong? Multiple choice usually affords one at least some right answers?

This is just too crazy! I'm just sayin'......we have found a need...now maybe we should try to fill it! If they don't have anything good to work with for a redesign, like this place, maybe a night's lodging and a few bucks for a consultation will work? The general public needs to be spared. We volunteer! This would not be a money maker...just a labor of love along the path to our destinations!

Copper Pumpkins

My kind of DIY craft & tutorial!
I'm Hooked!

Go to Walmart
Buy some cheap, fake, ugly, mini pumpkins
for $1.00...near the 47 aisles of costumes and candy.

Go to JoAnn's and buy a can of copper
spray paint behind the locked cabinet doors.

Spray the pumpkins, or better yet
have your awesome hubby do it!

From Crass to Class in 120 seconds!
They really are pretty...

It would be fabulous on walnuts, pods or pine cones also!

Enjoy in numerous ways.

If you want some but don't want to store them...
buy the real mini ones at the grocery store and toss
after the autumn festivities.

They would make great place markers at Thanksgiving.
Just prop a cute little name tag against the stem.

Most of the different shapes they have @Walmart

In case you can stop over for dinner!
Click Click for a closer look...

I promise our walls are NOT lime green,
not sure why they are coming out
this way with our new camera!

******
I am participating in the last Hooked On Houses
posts over at Julia's. Thanks for hosting this blog party for
over a year, Julia! Onward and upward! I am also
posting it on Melissa's Blog Party.

Home Lighting

I think we would all agree that lighting is very important to creating atmosphere or ambiance in a room. I would carry it one step further and say it is the most important aspect of any room. Don't we all look more lovely basking in the glow of candle light as opposed to the harsh glare of florescent lighting? So it is with our homes. In terms of decorating we have basically two types of light. Natural light that enters the windows from the sun and artificial lighting that we get from lamps, etc.

Natural light is so important to the way a home looks and feels and the most important thing regarding that is to keep your blinds and curtains open during the day. I cannot tell you how many homes I have done redesign or staging consultations in that look so uninviting and boring for this reason alone. If privacy is an issue there are several solutions~you just have to have natural light.


As for artificial lighting, it has come a long way in the last several years. If I needed to select one place where people try skimp and save, it's the under utilization of lamps. I have worked in very expensive homes that have the worst lamps imaginable. You do not need to spend a fortune on lamps but you do need to get enough lighting in each room. One of the best places I have found for great and affordable lamps is HomeGoods. They have some very fun and funky lamps with interesting shapes and shades. I love this one. I have gotten some gorgeous lamps for under $70 and most of theirs are under $40.00

They can be functional and fabulous
you don't have to sacrifice one for the other.

The details of your home...all of them, are
what make it interesting.
Think Disneyland~it's all in the details.

I am lovin' the fun shape of this whole lamp and
having two for the price of one by having it in front of
the buffet mirror.

This is our only expense lamp. I have found
that the cheaper pharmacy lamps usually
do not hold the position you
want them in very well over time.
If you want one, get a good one.
This one was $200.00 at Pottery Barn.
The high quality was worth it. It has
been great for several years already.
It is a keeper.

Ambient (which literally means something that surrounds) light or task lighting is important in every home. We need lights to see what we are doing! Examples of this are most overhead lighting, desk lamps, reading lamps, etc. In this definition I would exclude lights that are recessed in the ceiling to give a dramatic look, spot light art, etc. These are more decorative although they can be ambient if placed over a counter or desk, etc.

Lamps are essential to create ambiance or a nice warm cozy feeling in a room. Often people are annoyed that their homes do not have overhead lighting in their bedrooms, this is a good thing. Bedrooms should have lamps to create a nice warm glow, not just stark overhead lighting. Various types of lamps that create ambiance are table lamps, floor lamps, up lights and torchieres and chandeliers. The nice thing about lamps is that you can vary the lighting in various parts of the room by simply switching them on and off or by using dimmers, 3-way bulbs, etc.

This is one of those touch lamps
that has 3 settings
...Love it!

I love the buffet lamps because they are actually taller than regular table lamps which helps with the scale with our bigger, taller furniture and beds. They are great on lower end tables so your light sounce is actually high enough to illuminate the pages of your book.

This is one of the homes we redesigned:
The lamps are too low and too small for this bed.

These are Perfect!
We found them in another area of the home,
not being used.

When you have placed your furniture correctly your lamps should always form either a diagonal line or triangle. What we see so often is a sofa with two end tables and a lamp on each one. This is not correct unless you have another lamp to form a triangle on the opposite side of the room. If you have a lamp on both side of your bed make sure you have another one on your dresser to form a triangle. It does not have to be an equilateral triangle. Two can also work if they are placed on the diagonal (one on the dresser diagonally across from the one near the bed.

It is also fun to have some smaller accent lamps throughout your home to cast some interesting shadows or highlight something special.

This has a sweet little glow at night and illuminates
the naughty and contented cat that ate
the canary in the bird cage.

This tin punched lamp casts a
wonderful fun light on to the wall.
Double click to see the pattern illuminated.

This little fringe lamp adds
a touch of light on top of the armoire.
You all know you can use books to bring
things up to the height you want.

And of course don't forget candles
and oil lamps for a cozy touch.
I will not be using this candle but have
blackened the wick to make it appear that I do.

Just a note on candles. Even if they are just decorative in your home, light the wick briefly to give the appearance that they are used. White wicks just look weird and are most often accompanied by a dusty candle top. Not good.

So invest in some nice pretty lamps and if your lamps are old...get some new ones. Nothing says outdated like a trendy lamp from the distant past. You can always change the shade, add some embellishments, paint it or do something to lighten and liven things up. Let there be light...lots of it.

What Style Home Do You Prefer?

HGTV's Front Door has a great piece today that I wanted to share with you. If you are not sure what style of home is for you, watch these short videos about the history and architecture of the various styles. It is fun and very informative.

Bring On The Bling! Your Closet~ Your Home!

From Blissfully Domestic
(My additions in orange after the article)

"Shoes, handbags, earrings, bracelets, necklaces, scarves. Seriously, I have a teeny bit of an obsession when it comes to the peripheral portion of my closet.

Mainly, because I am cheap. And the thrifty fashionistas secret weapon is understanding that the most frugal way to stay "current" is to let your accessories do all the work. Remember this:

Buy classic clothes that flatter and pair them with trendy accessories for a look that is always in style.

The End."

Unfortunately, while accessories are the easiest way to keep up with the latest fashion trends, they can also be the most overwhelming to figure out. It can be difficult to determine how much is too much, which colors "go" and which ones don't have to.

Everything You Need To Know About Adding Accessories To Your Wardrobe

1. Make A Statement - but just one.

Photo Source

Our grandmothers used to call them "signature pieces". Of course, they usually meant the strand of pearls you never left home without. In today's style world we've moved beyond the classic strand and you now have a wide range of Statement Pieces to choose from.

Experiment with a large attention getting bracelet or a brightly colored necklace. Maybe you'll finally put on those leopard print shoes or chandelier earrings (that I am not giving up no matter what is supposed to be "in").

Whether you're an accessory hog or just learning to be more brave with your style, it's always smart to let one bold piece have center stage.

2. It doesn't have to match - it just has to "go".

Fans of the show What Not To Wear will have heard Stacey London use this phrase over and over again. Because it's true. You aren't limited to your shirt and pants when it comes to picking out colors for your accessories. In fact introducing a new color can be a great way to create a pulled together look.

I find that the easiest way to do this is to start with a fairly neutral outfit. An all black dress or a mainly solid top paired with denim provides the perfect blank canvas for your more colorful shoes or jewelery.

How do you know which colors "go"? Think in terms of color palettes. For visual tips (and new ideas!) you can use an online tool like this one at COLOURlovers.

3. Accentuate The Positives That No One Notices

The most timeless way to use accessories is to pull out a color that is already somewhere in your wardrobe. A slight cautionary note here: this is only a good idea if you are already wearing quite a few colors! A black dress with black shoes, black bag and black jewelry is only appropriate for a funeral. If you're the widow.

A better way to draw from your existing color palette is to match your jewelry (or shoes, or bag or scarf or whatever) to a color that isn't otherwise understated in your outfit. I have a pair of yellow shoes that I absolutely love with what is mostly a burnt orange top. The yellow in the shirt is barely noticeable, but adding the Cannot Be Ignored shoes creates an overall look that is both warm and striking.

As a rule, you don't have to use colors that are exactly the same when you're picking up on details. Keeping it in the family is usually your best bet to make this style tip work.

And that's it.

No - really. That is truly everything you need to know to start playing around in the accessory aisle with confidence. As with almost everything in life, the key is to relax and keep it simple."

I was thinking about this article and the similarities between interior design and fashion are amazing. I am in complete agreement about buying classic and adding the bling. By accessorizing with fun items in both your home and your wardrobe you can really step it up and make your look more unique.

I have a real thing about not having everything match. Matchy ~Matchy is very boring. Too much sameness is ho-hum. Asking yourself if it goes together is a better criterion to use in making your determination if something works, than asking does it match.

To me one of the things that makes something striking is a little element of surprise or whimsy. Change it up a little and you can have a lot of fun, stay relatively current and create your own signature style.

Like the article says, one reason to think this way is that accessories are the least expensive way to decorate anything~your home or yourself!

When you make an effort to look your best~you tend to feel better about yourself too. I like Fly Lady's thing about getting up and getting ready for the day the first thing in the morning. If not, the day tends to slip away from you. When I do that, I feel crummy and out of sync all day long.

The same goes for our homes~a morning routine that spruces things up and sets things in order makes for a better day~everyday.

Just like your home, the way you dress yourself affects how you feel and how you feel affects just about everything in your life. You don't have to be beautiful, or thin, or rich, or exotic looking or young to look good. You just have to make an effort and put some thought into it. Being your best self is an important and fun thing to do.

The same goes for your home. Be it ever so humble~make it beautiful. It doesn't take a lot of money or talent, as much as it requires a desire to live your best life.

Be reasonable though, OK?

Just kidding~If you Like It~

There is Something Good About it!

Claim it and make it YOURS!

Now This is SWEET!

Imagine my surprise today when I received an e-mail advertising Room With A Past's upcoming sale. I blogged about them once before. Each month they send out this e-mail and then they attach some pertinent info.

Apparently they have started a blog themselves. I was reading the second entry on the page and found this post featuring my blog! Whoa, such great advertising for me here in our local area. I love this place, these sweet ladies, and the blogsphere! Such kindnesses as sharing information in our areas of interest and business is simply SWEET! I cannot wait to hop on over there this weekend for their sale. It is a real treasure hunt every time!

If you live locally~
Why not add their blog to your blogroll or reader?

You might also like:

I've Been Tagged

Fun With Photos

Hazie Jo Entertains Herself

LinkWith

Designed to Sell

Some flowers to brighten your day to begin!

In real estate, target marketing is essential. Every house needs to appeal to the highest number of potential buyers but you also have to be aware of what demographic will be looking at your home. Will your buyer be an executive looking to upgrade or relocate to a new area? Will the potential buyer most likely be a family with children? Does your home and area appeal more to a retirement age group, single adults, or first time buyers? When I stage a home I take all of this into consideration before doing my design plan.

This week we did a home in a great location. It is, however, a small condo with a savvy homeowner that wanted to target market to the young upwardly mobile, single person or couple and first time buyer.

I love it when my client does my work for me...I have never had one that knew much about target marketing until this homeowner! This woman was my dream client. She was receptive to all my ideas and direction and did everything I suggested. This was so refreshing and I guarantee it will sell her home much more quickly and for a higher price. A hard working, cooperative client makes all the difference. (Note to self when it is time to sell your home!)


My client wanted me to do a Pottery Barn look as she had actually asked some twenty somethings what they would like to see if they were looking for a home. Brilliant, don't you think?

One thing that made this project so delightful was that it is vacant and empty. Before it was staged the kitchen was remodeled along with both bathrooms. New wood laminate flooring was installed downstairs. Upstairs it has new carpeting and each bathroom has updated flooring, cabinetry, and fixtures as well. This made a tremendous improvement to the property. I assisted my client in selecting some of it including the paint colors, etc. and so when I arrived to stage it ~everything was like new and coordinated and ready to be designed.

This home owner understood one very important element to selling her home. You must invest money in making the best presentation possible, IF you want a short market time and the highest possible selling price. Also she paid attention to the details. The competition out there is fierce.

This client was also willing to rent furniture to make sure everything was good quality and the proper scale and the right style for the look she wanted. I use Cort Furniture for all my clients and I love going down to the showroom and picking out an entire household of furnishings to make it work. The person at Cort that is the most knowledgeable and helpful to me is Iuliana.

The only thing that the client already had and wanted to use was the master bedroom set and since she sells Ralph Lauren bedding online, she wanted me to use the bedding ensemble she had chosen. The bedding is an aqua and cream set so aqua was the color I wanted to feature. When you have a small home keeping the colors consistent makes it flow better and look bigger. So with aqua in mind and PB, I set out to find what could help create a Pottery Barnesque look, in a great neighborhood, for a first time buyer.

I know you like before and after photos but
this house was nearly empty so most of the rooms
looked something like this a few days ago.

Anything would be better than empty, right?
Only 5% of the population can visualize how their furniture
would fit and look when looking at an empty room.
Here is what it looks like now...
Double click the photos to see more details.

The living room has light, neutral, contemporary upholstered furniture. Most of the art work in the house features geometrics. The zany area rug has several colors in it and includes the predominate colors through out of aqua and pumpkin, black and brown. The geometric figure that is most dominate in this room is the circle.

Taken from the stairway landing.

The wall in the living room opposite the front door.
An entry is a great place to put a mirror.
It is said that most people just love
seeing themselves when they walk into a place!
Funny, huh?

I wish you could see this piece better. It has nine drawers and they are painted black and brown and aqua and goes great with the area rug. The silver-toned, round mirror compliments the other round features of the room.

The dining area is connected to the

end of the living room and also the kitchen forming an 'L'.

In the kitchen and dining area I stuck primarily to the aqua and black. I selected this round table for its modern design and it was the smallest table they had at Cort.

This is a small area and is also the walk way to the patio so I had to allow for getting to the slider. Round is better in a situation like this as it prevents possible injuries if you were to accidentally run into the table walking through. Note that the chairs are not placed at 12-3-6-and 9 positions in relationship to the slider, but at 10-2-4 and 8. This gives you a lot more walking room. It also adds interest to the table setting. Try this even with a square table if you have limited space. Angle the table as a diamond instead of a square to your slider or wall. You will be amazed!

I used a mirror to visually enlarge the space and to connect the kitchen and dining area. When staging sometimes it is fun to 'over stage' an area and use a little whimsy. I used the large, wooden, black flower with the bling as the centerpiece on the table~ just to be an eye catcher and to tie into a black charger on the counter that actually has rhinestones around the edge. It adds a little youthfulness and fun.

I kept the kitchen really simple as it is small
and I wanted it to give it an open, airy look.

Upstairs the condo has a master bedroom, one bathroom
and a secondary bedroom which I did as an office.
The home office with faux computer.

In the office the same type of geometric, modern art has
been used along with the black, brown and pumpkin colors.

It is nearly impossible to photograph a small bathroom but I wanted to show you what I came up with for the towels. I found and purchased this art piece and remembered I had some black and white towels in the warehouse with a design very similar to the design at the top of the picture. I thought it might be fun to combine the black and white and orange and this is the result.

Double click to see the pattern on the picture.

Here is the Master Bedroom and the aqua we started with.

The area rug in the living room allowed
me to add in some other colors to the entire condo
and still keep it flowing.

These two photos not the greatest but gives
you an idea of the rest of the master.

I enjoyed this project. Although I have staged lots of condos, I have primarily worked with executive and family home buyers in the past. Having someone request modern design was a new experience. I discovered I had to buy a lot of new things for this home. I haven't had to do that in a long time as I do have tons of inventory...it just was not suited to this house. And on top of that, the last house I did also had a lot of aqua so the accessories I might have been able to use were out.

This project proved to me once again that it doesn't matter so much what you are working with, but rather where you put it, when you are designing a room. It may not be your taste but, with the proper design principles implemented, you can get great results. All I can hope for is my next client to be just like this one!

And now it is Friday and I am beat! I am planning to do some relaxing things today to rest my brain before the weekend. Have a great one!