home design

Preparing For Thanksgiving

January 31, 2018

preparing-for-thanksgiving

Hosting beloved family and friends at your home on Thanksgiving has such a wonderful, idyllic and dreamy quality to it – until the date is visible on the current calendar page and you realize all of the little bits and bobs that need to come together to make that golden-lit fantasy come true.

7 Tips For the Loveliest Thanksgiving Ever

Never fear, my friends. While a well-set table and beautiful fall decor is a bonus, your guests are primarily focused on the joy of being together (possibly accompanied by a little stress) as well as all that scrumptious food.

The following 7 tips will help to make your upcoming Thanksgiving the loveliest yet – and I vow to make it as stress-free as possible.

Flavor your house with fall. If you’ve yet to decorate for fall, no worries. There are easy ways to add a little fall color to your home in under an hour and without spending very much at all. Colorful pumpkins and gourds abound this time of year and you can add a few autumn-hued pillar and votive candles to the mix as well. They can be used to adorn table tops as centerpieces, the mantel and virtually any surface that needs a little pick me up. Just tuck all the other tchochkes away so your fall harvest decor is the star of the show. Read Taking Your Interiors From Summer to Fall for additional, practical tips.
Do use place settings. Sometimes guests on the Thanksgiving invite list don’t blend together as well as your traditional recipe ingredients do. For this reason, I highly recommend taking 15-minutes out of your life to create a seating arrangement.Plus, there’s something about place cards that makes the event seem a bit more special. Try to balance personalities, interests and the people who make excellent personality buffers (the ones that don’t mind great-aunt Sally telling the same story over and over or who can listen peacefully, unruffled by vehement political/religious views). Place cards can be as simple as a pre-cut, black cardstock rectangles with names written in gold or white script, to whatever clever place card idea you want to incorporate.
Rearrange the furniture. You might find a temporary furniture arrangement makes more sense than your everyday setup. Take the kids play area out of the family room for the day so there’s more space for additional seating (or, perhaps you should add a kids’ play corner to accommodate visiting guests). Think about conversation and body movement, removing any furniture that is superfluous or impedes flow – and adding additional seating from elsewhere in the house if needed.
Remove breakables. The last thing you want is to stress out about heirloom and valuable collector’s’ pieces. Even if they enhance your decor, it’s better to remove them than lose them. With a crowd of house guests, odds are they wouldn’t have been noticed anyway – except by the person who accidentally knocked them over and broke them…
Purchase the non-essentials (or the essentials!). If cooking isn’t your forte, or if you have to work directly before and after the holiday, give yourself a break and fill in the food gaps using pre-made versions from the store, a local bakery, or a restaurant that offers Thanksgiving meal items to order. The turkey and stuffing are easy – and once they’re in the oven – you can enjoy the guests. So consider buying some of the sides and pie (or make the day a potluck) to remove a significant layer of stress.
Sweep the chimney. Here in the Bay Area, fireplaces are often more for looks than use – but it’s so nice to have a fire on Thanksgiving if it’s cool enough. Just make sure you’ve had it looked at – and swept, if need be – so you don’t smoke the guests out of the house.
Set up a Make-Your-Own bar. If your home doesn’t have a bar, use a tea cart, a serving cart or a couple of sturdy TV trays and set up a DIY bar with all the ingredients the typical drinks require. You can use a metal bucket or cooler (draped with a linen table cloth to hide the metal/plastic if you like) filled with ice to chill sodas, white wines, champagne and the like. No need for you to play bartender…and it adds a social flair.
Set the table a couple of days before. If you have a formal dining room, I highly recommend setting the table at least one full day before Thanksgiving. People will tease, but you know what? You won’t care. By having all of your place settings in place ahead of time and the servingware cleaned and ready to go – you’ll save yourself hours of last-minute running around the night before or the day of the meal.

Thanksgiving is a time for practicing gratitude for the abundance in our lives – and that’s much easier to do when things unfold as stress-free and pleasant as possible.

Choosing A Headboard To Match Your Style

January 19, 2018

While the bed frame plays a part in your bed’s style – the headboard is the star of the show. There are as many headboards to choose from as there are mattresses on the planet, it seems like, so choosing the right one for your bedroom can get confusing pretty quickly.

Have you identified your design style? This is one of the simplest ways to narrow your bed design options. If you’re a modernist, you’ll typically be attracted to a different set of headboards than if you’re a traditionalist.

Not quite sure where you fall on the “Design Style o’ Meter?” Read, What’s Your Interior Design Style, and you’ll be pointed in the right direction. Once you’ve determined what you like – and what you aren’t as fond of – it will be easier to do online searches for bed frame images.

Start searching images. Once you’ve narrowed down your preferred style, start using Google images, Houzz or other online interior design platforms to view images of beds with those keywords attached to them. Print out, bookmark or use an online design idea book to save images you like. This will help you to continue whittling the choices.
Think about your bedroom. Often, the size of your bedroom dictates the type of bed frame that will work. If you have a large bedroom, the world is your oyster. However, medium- to smaller-sized bedrooms will want to think about proportion. For example, you may be a traditionalist who loves four-poster beds, but that bed will take over a small room. Then again, this might be something to work with, creating a magical bedroom where the bed is the focus – furnished with comfortable accent pillows, chiffon drapes, etc. – truly a boudoir effect.
How tall are your ceilings? This is Part 2 to Number 2. Using the four-poster example again…a tall headboard will make a low ceiling feel even lower. If you have ceilings that are the standard 8-feet, an interior designer would say to choose a lower-profile headboard. If you are drawn to taller headboards, use other tricks to add height – like mounting window curtains closer to the ceiling so floor-length drapes give the illusion of height.
Think about wear and tear. I once had a lovely wooden headboard with a large rattan insert. It was gorgeous…until about the 10^th time my elbow punched the back while readjusting my reading position. It formed an unmistakable hole that was difficult to hide, even with the pillows set just right. That was an expensive repair, but it was necessary to preserve the look of the headboard. Think about how you use your bed. If you only sleep there – a higher-maintenance material will be fine. If you read or work in bed, propped up on pillows, consider that when choosing the headboard’s materials. For example, upholstered headboards are lovely, and comfortable – but you might need to invest in a steam cleaner to remove oils from hair and hair products that will build up over time.
Comfort level. Continuing with the comfort theme, wrought iron beds are a versatile option, but they aren’t all that comfortable when you want to read or work on your laptop. So that way the headboard will feel when it comes in contact with your head, a hand or an errant arm is definitely a consideration, even if it isn’t a driving force while making your selection.
Is it a feature? Do you want your headboard to be a feature in the room, adding texture, color or depth? Or would you prefer the bedrame to fade into the background, blending with surrounding colors and features? Some headboards are barely there while others scream, “look at me!”

Choosing A Backsplash

January 16, 2018

Backsplashes are more than just an extra layer of protection for your kitchen walls. They are also the means for some serious design impact. Color, mosaic work, continual expanses of natural stone – whatever your tastes, choosing a backsplash for a kitchen remodel should not be a last minute decision.

Standard Backsplash or The Whole Shebang? What Makes the Most Sense?

One of the decisions you’ll have to make in regards to your kitchen backsplash is whether or not you should tile the entire wall or go with a standard height version. Typically, a “standard” backsplash is about 4-inches high, although you are free to go a little higher. Often, clients who opt for this style will use 6-inch or 8-inch high options, so keep those heights in mind when reading “standard” or “partial” in the considerations listed below.

There are a few considerations that come into play when choosing a full or partial backsplash for your kitchen remodel:

Budget. Not surprisingly, the more materials you use in a remodel, the higher the price tag. Thus, a full backsplash will cost more than a partial version. If you have splurged on your cabinet and countertop materials and want to save a little, choosing a partial backsplash will help, especially if you want to match your backsplash to expensive countertop materials. You can meet a little in the middle by putting a full backsplash in a section or two and leaving the rest at standard height (more on that below).

Aesthetics. What look at your going for? If you have a formal kitchen design, or a very modern kitchen design, a full backsplash might be the best look for your overall presentation. It creates a very regal and clean aesthetic, streamlining the finished design.

Kitchen wear and tear. How much do you use your kitchen? Who uses the kitchen and what’s their cooking style? If you have a busy kitchen, filled with boisterous chefs and/or assistants who aren’t always careful about where the sauces, dish water, pot splatter, etc., lands, a full backsplash might be in order – particularly behind the stove top. You will appreciate cleaning last night’s dried marinara sauce off of smooth tile surface rather than a textured wall surface. Plus, you’ll mitigate potential long-term damage to the wall, which may eventually need to be resurfaced or replaced if cumulative damage causes dents or a cave-in.

You can have both! Keep in mind that you don’t have to pick one or the other. In some households, full backsplash areas are installed behind the stove, sink or any major food prep areas where food or liquids are more likely to infiltrate the permeable wall surface. The remainder of the kitchen can have a standard backsplash height.

How often do you change your color palette? This can be an important factor. If you are someone who really enjoys changing your interior color scheme every few years or so, I recommend going with a standard backsplash height. That will allow you the freedom to paint, paper, stencil or generally get creative on the wall space between the countertop and upper cabinetry. This is much, much simpler, not to mention more cost efficient, than ripping out and reinstalling new tile work. It is also preferable to living with tile work you wish you could change.

Working with an professional interior designer ensures you think about every aspect of your interior design – even the seemingly insignificant details – so you can enjoy a completed remodel that balances function and aesthetics for your household.

Do You Really Need A Formal Dining Room?

January 12, 2018

I am a huge fan of the formal dining room. They’re beautiful, elegant and they create a separate space for intimate gatherings or fun, frivolous celebrations. They can provide a moment of Zen in a busy day and – like a formal living room – they’re often one of the only spaces in the house that remain free of clutter and full of high-quality furniture and furnishings.

On the flip side, a formal dining room can be a huge waste of space. Some families only use theirs a handful of times (if that) per year. Because the room sits largely unused, it winds up becoming a catch-all and hoarders delight, filled with all the projects, boxes, paperwork and crafting ideas you plan to get to some dreamy “Someday”

Ways to re-think the formal dining room

So which is it for you? Are you someone who adores the formal dining room space but wishes it were used more frequently? Or are you someone who adores their formal dining room but is ready to re-think it’s under-used square footage, in the hopes that it might be more useful in another configuration?

Here are some ideas for making the most of your formal dining room space – or eliminating it altogether – depending on what you decide.

How often do you use it?

If your answer is less than four times per year – or even six times a year – I highly recommend you brainstorm ways to make better use of valuable living space. If you just cringed reading those words because they resonated with you, then start using your dining room more.

You don’t have to have formal dinner parties to use a dining room. Maybe it’s time to have some Friday happy hour socials with neighbors and friends. What about making it a priority to have a phone-free, weekend brunch with the family every weekend – Saturday or Sunday – depending on the household’s weekend schedule? Even end-of-the-week pizza nights or taco bar dinners can take place on the ample dining table while giving the meal a more “connected” vibe. Who says it has to be formal? Altogether, used and enjoyed is just fine.

Expand into an open floor plan

If you’re planning an upcoming remodel, think about whether or not an open floor plan might be more your style. Older homes are often compartmentalized and they were built that way for coal/wood heat conserving reasons. Now that homes are air-tight and more efficient, it’s economical to have a more open floor plan – and homeowners appreciate the larger and more spacious feel. Also, those interested in creating more senior-friendly or accessible designs are beginning to appreciate the mobile-friendly aspects of open designs.

If you’re feeling cramped in your current, compartmentalized floor plan, it’s time to work with an interior designer and envision the more open possibilities. And, don’t give up on a formal living area, even if it isn’t a designated room. Pony walls can go a long way towards dividing spaces while maintaining the open feel. Similarly, dine-in spots on one side of the kitchen can be separate from a larger dining table in the open living space. The former might be the “everyday” eating spot, while the latter remains the choice spot for special gatherings. Even in an open floor plan, you can find plenty of ways to create a warm and inviting dining room space.

If you do go this route, with separate eat-in kitchen and formal dining area, be mindful of clutter, which accumulates quickly on a big, accessible table. Families might want to invest in high-quality custom cabinetry and/or shelving specifically designed to house and organize items that might wind up on the dining room table otherwise.

Create a new space altogether

So you don’t eat in the dining room more than once a year, but the whole family uses it as art central on a weekly basis. Or the kids practice their musical instruments in there because it’s quiet. Maybe you’ve shoved the dining room table against the wall in order to make way for all the toys and games so the kids have a play space separate from yours. Are you scrapbooking? Knitting? Embroidering? Doing yoga on a daily basis along with a little stationary biking or treadmilling?

In that case, your household might benefit from treating the former dining room as an empty spare room, for which the possibilities are endless.

Are you struggling to find the right balance between formal dining room and wasted living space? It’s not a comfortable place to be. Contact the nearest interior designer and brainstorm a solution that makes perfect sense most of the time, rather than three nights per year…

Falling For Fall

January 9, 2018

I’m certainly falling for fall – are you? This time a year I get absolutely giddy. Why? Because autumn is on its way. Fall is my favorite season and I think that’s the case for many interior designers. It’s a season where we can make the most of both the indoor and outdoor living spaces, and the colors are so rich and vibrant.

How Can I Transition my Summer Interiors to Fall Decor?

Transitioning your summer interiors to fall decor is easy with a few simple updates. Swap out lightweight fabrics and bright colors for cozy textiles in warm tones, like burnt orange and deep burgundy. Add touches of fall style with throw pillows, blankets, and seasonal accessories, such as pumpkins and foliage-inspired accents. Embrace the change of seasons by incorporating rich textures and earthy hues into your home.

Fall Decorations For Every Living Space in Your Home

When I work with clients, transitioning their homes from summer to fall, I like to make it a tangible experience from start to finish – or from the front door to the patio– to be precise. Here is a glimpse into how I tackle the transition of seasons in just about every living space in the house.

Transform your porch into an autumnal ambassador

Start sharing your warm autumn glow by decorating the porch and front walkway. At the very simplest, an autumn wreath on the door will due. If you want to get more involved with fall-inspired porch design, use colorful dried corn cobs to create a fall garland. While pumpkins are nice, I like connecting with local farmers at the season’s farmer’s markets to find out who has the most interesting gourds – and then striking up a deal. There are some seriously crazy-looking heirloom gourds at there and you can get them for a song. Best of all, gourds last all season and can be used indoors and out.

Welcome guests in from a chilly fall evening with a warm, inviting entryway

Your entryway is the gateway to your home, and yet it’s so often overlooked these days. I think the penchant for attached garages, which we use as our family’s day-to-day entrance and exit, is part of the reason we forget what in impact entryways have on our family and friends. Your entryway a great place to house a few pumpkin-spiced candles, to hang seasonal hats and scarfs, or to adorn a hall tree mirror with a garland of autumn leaves – real and pressed or silk and reusable.

Create your dining table centerpiece

Why wait for the week before Thanksgiving to plan your holiday centerpiece? I prefer to use these months prior to the Big Day to get that fun task out of the way. In fact, it will truly be fun if you do it now – rather than becoming a last-minute stress during the week of Thanksgiving. Plus, creating a beautiful centerpiece now means you will enjoy it for a full month or so, rather than for a few short days, after which it’s all disassembled to make way for the winter holidays.

Cultivate a cozy ambiance in your living and family rooms

The first thing I do in my own home is to air out our family’s favorite afghans, wraps and throws. You just never know what a fall day will bring. Warm sunny days often turn into chilly afternoons and evenings, and late-fall predictably brings brisk winds and the first real rainy days. Make sure your living room and family room spaces are prepared for cozy fires, warm movie nights and weekend afternoons spent lounging about with a book and a mug of tea or hot cider. Again, you can’t go wrong with candles in pumpkins, spice, fig or other fall-oriented scents. Additions of crimson, brown and gold accents will further lend the essence of fall to your living spaces.

Prepare your patio spaces for the ‘tween months

When it comes to outdoor living and patio spaces, we consider these the ‘tween months because they are nestled right between the hot summer and the cold winter. Some days feel as if summer will never end – so keep your grilling equipment at the ready; others are on the brisker side, so decorate your patio along the same vein as you decorate your porch. I like to add a couple of well-placed outdoor heaters, stacked firewood for the fire pit, flower pots laden with fall colored blooms, and plenty of blankets and throws for star gazing.