home decor

When I'm planning a redesign, I want to know how clients want their space to feel. Many people don't think about that aspect of space planning while others are quick to elaborate on the topic. Words like peaceful, restful, and tranquil are showing up more and more in decorating conversations. People want to escape from the frantic pace of life to a calm environment. Remove "clutter" and visually open the space   Pinterest There isn't one "look" for a calm decor but there are guidelines/principles that can help you achieve a quieter environment in your own home.   Minimalism and Zen come to mind immediately when you use the words serene and calm because  both aesthetics translate into living with less of everything- colour, objects, furniture, etc. It's about selected focus and getting rid of what is meaningless. Ask yourself what is absolutely essential and remove the rest.  It's liberating!  Rather than a gallery wall of art use one well

 In my last post I presented my problem dining  room. I feel I've put the space on the road to salvation.  Here's the update so far.  I have more ideas, but they require a lot of elbow grease and won't happen before Christmas.  I think it's looking more spacious and welcoming. Before  After   I moved  the furniture, placing the  buffets along the kitchen wall. and set the table up vertically in the space.   That allowed me to hang floor length draperies; these are temporary until  my custom ones are ready. My new ones will be off white and hung higher.  Yes, I do know these are too short!   The strong vertical of the draperies plays nicely against the railing and breaks up the horizontal lines.  I have a new light fixture which is larger in scale and hung a little lower, but not so low that  my tall family will bang into it! I still want to see the art work over the buffets while seated in the living room. I always choose function over anything else. I also like the fa

We all have them, those rooms that defy all you know about design, and just continue to go about their merry way creating problems no matter what you do with them. I managed to create a monster a quarter of a century ago right  in the middle of my house because  my mind was focused on other things at the time. I've spent the intervening  years trying to make my dining room "right" by my standards - I haven't achieved that yet.  No one has ever walked into my house and said "OMG, what a mess this dining room is."  So what's wrong with it  in my eyes? Location:   When you're standing in my entry  you look directly into the dining room.  The archway frames the table and the window.  It is also a walk through space from the living room  on the right  to the kitchen which is to the left.   There is an alternate hallway beside the stairs, but we never go that way. My dining room is the room in the middle with no identity. Because the walkway needs to be ma

Fall and Thanksgiving were heralded for the past month on various blogs and Pinterest. How much effort and expense are involved in your seasonal decorations?  My holiday tables always  give a gentle nod to  the season rather than a yell.  Usually I find things to combine from  my garden or my accessory  shelf in my storage room.  It is so much more fun to be thrifty and it stretches you to be creative with less.  In that vein, perhaps these ideas will get you thinking about how  to use what you already have.  A few twigs from the garden and several small pumpkins in a large vase.  Simple and beautiful.  No pumpkins?  A trip to the Dollar store is in order for fake fall leaves (or the real thing) or spray paint assorted nuts gold and use those to anchor the twigs.  Scoop  out a pumpkin just deep enough to place a candle in it and decorate the edges with faux leaves, twigs and berries.  Collect all t he large clear vases you have, place a white pillar candle in each and decorate with nut