Get A Goode Start Decorating

Do you want to change your home's ambiance for the least amount of money before the Holidays? If your answer is, yes - here's how: Paint!  And Fall is a great time of year to paint your home.  The weather is cooler, and it is easier to air out your house to let the paint dry faster. Changing the color of a room can transform the overall feeling of a room. First, you need to decide on a new color. I'd like to suggest a couple of options: 1. Before you buy the paint color that you have selected, I recommend that you purchase a sample in order to paint it on your wall to see if you like it. Most brands of paint these days have samples available for purchase. This is a good idea because you'll get to see the color on the wall in your room in different lighting - morning, afternoon and evening light. Paint colors can change according to the light in the room, and you can make sure that you like the way the new paint looks during the different times of day. 2. If yo...

Autumn is time for changes – the leaves are turning, the kids are back in school, football games are on TV, and you start looking toward the upcoming holidays – which will be here before we know it! If your house needs a little TLC before the fall football get-togethers and the holiday season begins, here are a few ideas to help you: 1. Begin your task with one room at a time – so you do not feel so overwhelmed. 2. Identify the problem area(s). And ask yourself - are there too many books, magazines, dishes, knick-knacks, blankets, toys, etc. around? Does something need to be repaired or fixed before you can start organizing? If so, try your hand at the repair, hire someone or bribe your significant other to help you. 3. Next, start looking for some storage solutions to organize your belongings. This could range from bookshelves with canvas or wicker baskets to under-the-bed storage containers (I bought lifts at Bed, Bath and Beyond for my bed so I could squeeze some storage ...

Here are more decorating tips for your outdoor room.   Lighting can be very important – especially if you want to enjoy your outdoor space at twilight and after dark.   The lighting aspect of your outdoor room can also be taken care of in an affordable yet stylish manner. Use candles or torches for that elegant and peaceful atmosphere and if you are worried about safety you can go for solar lamps. If you want to create a festive mood, hang some holiday lights over the porch beam or on a nearby tree. You can even make luminaries by dropping a candle in a punched recycled can. My personal preferences are inexpensive, decorative paper lanterns with battery-powered lights that are sold at stores like Pier One. They add a calming, relaxing ambiance.   I’m also seeing more and more lamps that can withstand outdoor use – both floor lamps and table lamps. I’ve even seen outdoor chandeliers! I can’t confirm how good these “outdoor” lights work without problems   – so I ...

Tips for Decorating Your “Outdoor Room” – Part 2 Happy July and Independence Day!   Time to enjoy the beautiful weather and think about extending our living spaces to our decks and porches. One of the considerations in setting up your outdoor room is privacy. If this is one of your concerns, here are some ways you can do so. If you’re one of those lucky homeowners whose deck or outdoor patio is protected by a wall or a fence on at least one side, you’re probably not as concerned about privacy. If you do want to add some privacy, you can use a trellis on one or more of the other sides. For additional privacy you can plant a vine that is fast growing, on the base of the trellis. We made our own trellis with a sheet of lattice set inside a wooden frame with a T-base for ground support. To make your trellis portable, you can anchor them in a planter and move it however you want them to be placed. If your outdoor room is protected from the weather by a roof, like the ...

If the temperature is any indication, Summer has finally arrived! And it’s time for enjoying the great outdoors, entertaining and celebrating the beautiful weather. If you love relaxing on your deck or porch like I do, here are some ideas for decorating your outdoor space. Since outdoor rooms are very popular now, there are many more options to the homeowner. Your outdoor room can be an extension of your home and you can personalize it with some exterior decorating ideas.   Selecting outdoor furniture which suits your personal taste and style may be challenging. Prices range from the inexpensive (resin or aluminum) to the more expensive (wrought iron or wooden) – for example. You can choose from many different styles and colors to meet your needs. And there are many bright new colored accessories (pillows, cushions, umbrellas) featured this year! If you’re on a budget, discount stores usually have less expensive outdoor furniture available or you can pick up an Adirondac...

Well, it’s finally nice weather and the Spring race to buy a new home is on! If you're a home buyer, you definitely are on a house-hunting mission! If you and your real estate agent do "drive bys," you've probably eliminated a few properties based on their exterior appearance - including broken railings, children's toys in the yard or an unmowed lawn.Curb appeal is so important to the prospective home buyer since it is the FIRST impression a prospective buyer will have.     It could mean the difference between a "sale" and "no sale." If you are the home seller, here are some recommendations to keep your home in pristine condition and appeal to the prospective home buyers "drive by": 1. Make sure that your lawn is freshly cut and that leaves in your lawn are raked. If winter has set in, please make sure that the snow has been shoveled in the driveway and on walk-ways and sidewalks. 2. Your home's entryway should be attract...

As an interior decorator for 25 years, I’ve helped my clients hang many pictures in their homes, so I wanted to share some of my tips with you. If you have a large empty wall where you’d like to hang lots of pictures, I’d like to suggest that you arrange the artwork on the floor first.   Then, measure how far they need to be from one another (each picture should be the same distance from the other, vertically and horizontally).   Next, take one at a time and put them on the wall.   I usually start from the center point and work on each side. Another option would be to make a template of each picture and adhere it to the wall gently using a re-useable adhesive, which looks a little bit like putty, but it won’t tear pieces from the wall or the paper patterns. For a grouping, consider a grouping of four of the same-size pictures, together like a four-square to give the illusion of a larger picture.   I’d like to recommend that the pictures have a unifying the...