Rehanging pictures
I'm rehanging pictures with gusto. In the living room of a friend, a long, narrow multi-image picture in handsome gold frame now hangs above gold silk curtains. The picture draws the eye upwards--making the curtained window seem taller, more elegant. Above a wide arched doorway into the dining room, we hung a romantic watercolor of a lone cowboy riding across a field of snow toward a rushing waterfall hurtling down a rocky mountain wall. The effect is beautiful. In the dining room, we hung pressed flowers in a handsome dark wooden frame above burnt-bamboo etagere. Charming. At home, I moved a beautiful pencil-signed-by-the-photographer colored photograph of flowering plants growing beside a rock-filled rushing stream on the wall opposite my bed. What a wonderful view fills what had been a blank wall! Hanging art in new places gives us new views inside our private worlds. Happy hanging!
Bouquets
Nothing does more to brighten a room than a bouquet of flowers. While formal arrangements are stunning, they can also be a bit stilted. I prefer the spontaneity of gathered-from-the-garden bouquets. When I have lots of flowers blooming, bouquets get big. Sometimes, I scavage for 1 or 2 tiny stems, which I put in a small perfume bottle. Almost any container stands in for a vase--milk pitcher, beautiful old liquor bottle, teacup, or even the hot pink liquid soap dispenser that I think is too pretty to toss away. Here is a bouquet I arranged for a client's table. I mixed in ivy from a pot on the patio. The container was hiding in the back of a kitchen shelf. I loved the photograph (by Scott Frances for Wilsonart, who published this room in a company magazine) so much that I used it in my book SUN COUNTRY ELEGANT! Wish you could post pictures of your bouquets on this site. Is there a way?.
Slipcovers--quick change artists!
Sofa, chair, ottoman, headboard--all upholstered pieces are candidates for the quick-and-easy change wrought by slipcovers. Want to update an old piece, create a new mood, give a favorite piece an exciting different look, or change the style? Slipcovers can do all these things. I've specified and designed slipcovers for clients for variouis reasons. For the late Frederick Haviland, owner of Haviland Limoges, I slipcovered an old favorite sofa in new pattern and colors to suit his new NYC penthouse (which I also designed). For legendary fashion designer Oleg Cassini, I designed slipcovers for his antique dining chairs--using a Gothic tracery pattern from his own signature "Oleg Cassini Collection" fabric! Practical (a quality appreciated by all my clients, rich and not-so-rich), slipcovers are a wonderful thing. Don't forget to include them in your decorating schemes.
Power of Paint--Transforming the Front Door, Inside and Out
Painted doors like the blog's opening image (from our Sun Country Style, Gibbs Smith Pub., amazon.com, et al) are wonderfully welcoming!
When I was Decorating Editor at 1,001 DECORATING IDEAS Magazine in New York City, the Crafts Editor, Michael Cannarozzi, said, "Pat, you paint everything. You should work for Sherwin Williams." I do consider paint a magic wand, and counted on its magic of paint to transform our front door from dark and dreary to light, bright, and welcoming.
The raised-panel door with decorative glass inserts was handsome--just hard to see from the curb. It was stained a dark Texas-leather brown. The door is also recessed, hidden in shadows cast by the entry-porch roof. There was no sense of what architects call "the sense of arrival."
I love strong color for entry doors. I studied the facade of the antiqued pinkish-beige brick house with light trim and its assymetrical plan. Conclusion: Paint the door the same color as the trim so as not throw the facade off balance. Short of time--meeting yet another editorial deadline--I hired a painter to do the exterior. Cost: $250 for about 2 hours work. Worth it, I decided.
The interior needed attention. A day later, deadline met and bank account considered, I decided to follow our own advice in our "DIY PAINTING FOR DUMMIES" book (with co-author Katharine McMillan), I prepped the surface in surprisingly short time. Then, I painted the door in a color Sherwin Williams technicians (at the store corner Bitters Rd. & Rte. 281 in San Antonio) matched to the pinky-beige wall, blending the busy-work door with busy entry hall architecture. One pint of paint and about 1-1/2 hours transformed tacky to terrific!
Napoleon purportedly said, "Give me enough ribbon and I can conquer the world." I say, "Give me enough paint and I can transform all the ugly doors in the world."
Q: What are you decorating? I would love to hear.
When I was Decorating Editor at 1,001 DECORATING IDEAS Magazine in New York City, the Crafts Editor, Michael Cannarozzi, said, "Pat, you paint everything. You should work for Sherwin Williams." I do consider paint a magic wand, and counted on its magic of paint to transform our front door from dark and dreary to light, bright, and welcoming.
The raised-panel door with decorative glass inserts was handsome--just hard to see from the curb. It was stained a dark Texas-leather brown. The door is also recessed, hidden in shadows cast by the entry-porch roof. There was no sense of what architects call "the sense of arrival."
I love strong color for entry doors. I studied the facade of the antiqued pinkish-beige brick house with light trim and its assymetrical plan. Conclusion: Paint the door the same color as the trim so as not throw the facade off balance. Short of time--meeting yet another editorial deadline--I hired a painter to do the exterior. Cost: $250 for about 2 hours work. Worth it, I decided.
The interior needed attention. A day later, deadline met and bank account considered, I decided to follow our own advice in our "DIY PAINTING FOR DUMMIES" book (with co-author Katharine McMillan), I prepped the surface in surprisingly short time. Then, I painted the door in a color Sherwin Williams technicians (at the store corner Bitters Rd. & Rte. 281 in San Antonio) matched to the pinky-beige wall, blending the busy-work door with busy entry hall architecture. One pint of paint and about 1-1/2 hours transformed tacky to terrific!
Napoleon purportedly said, "Give me enough ribbon and I can conquer the world." I say, "Give me enough paint and I can transform all the ugly doors in the world."
Q: What are you decorating? I would love to hear.
ADDING CASTERS TO COFFEE TABLE!
I was walking through Lowe's and happened to see some very good looking casters. Aha, I thought, just what I need to raise our coffee table to a more comfortable height. (Yes, we eat many meals on our coffee table while watching TV!) It took husband George and me only a few minutes to screw these brass casters onto the four legs of our coffee table. What a tremendous difference! Much greater convenience for pennies and very little time and effort.
THE CASE OF THE AWKWARD FIREPLACE
David Easton told me that the one piece of furniture every living room needs is a fireplace! LOL. And, he's right! The fireplace is the natural focal point. But what if it's ugly? Oh, not at first glance--after all, it's centered on the wall, is imposingly tall, and has a classic Georgian mantel finished in high gloss paint. What's not to like? Let me count the ways in which I see this "builder's special" design as an eyesore.
1. The architectural style of the two-story home in an upscale gated community is commercial Old World, replete with (a) doric columns between the living room cum great room and entry hall, (b) stone-look tile flooring, and (c) an arched-top niche above a fireplace. Problem: The all-too-classic Georgian mantel. Eeek! Why, in heaven's name, did not the builder simply create an Old World mantel/fireplace surround? If I knew who the builder was, I'd ask him! I really cannot tolerate this incompatibility.
2. The fireplace surround and hearth are the same stone-look tile as the floor! What? The builder couldn't afford to use any other material? Oh, I know--he got a huge discount on the tile by buying quantity!
3. The trim on either side of the tile surround is a thin strip of decorative quarter-round! What? Yes! Painted white, to match the mantel. Of course, the walls are a lovely beige textured surface--suitably Old World. So the white too-thin trim stands out like 2 sore thumbs! Does this bug me? YOU BET!
What to do about this eyesore that won't cost me an arm-and-a-leg? (Yes, it's MY fireplace.) After all, I'm hell-bent on investing in gold, not pouring into a house dollars that I may not get back. (You may or may not know that I was Public Relations Counsel to The Nelson Rockefeller Collection. Nelson Rockefeller--not a poor man--commended me on my practicality when I specified foam cups for a Press Party at his NYC store.)
Okay--at least for the short term, here's what I did. I stuccoed over the stone-look ceramic tile and painted tile surround, trim, and mantel the same beige as the wall. SHERWIN WILLIAMS mixed the color perfectly! Now, this eyesore is less blatantly w r o n g. I'll live with it until I'm convinced the economy is moving in the right direction and I'm willing to tear out mantel, trim, and tile and re-design/re-build the fireplace in an architecturally appropriate design! But, for the time-being, looking at it no longer makes me nauseous. Instead, I'm eyeing the back porch.....
HAPPY DECORATING EVERYONE.
1. The architectural style of the two-story home in an upscale gated community is commercial Old World, replete with (a) doric columns between the living room cum great room and entry hall, (b) stone-look tile flooring, and (c) an arched-top niche above a fireplace. Problem: The all-too-classic Georgian mantel. Eeek! Why, in heaven's name, did not the builder simply create an Old World mantel/fireplace surround? If I knew who the builder was, I'd ask him! I really cannot tolerate this incompatibility.
2. The fireplace surround and hearth are the same stone-look tile as the floor! What? The builder couldn't afford to use any other material? Oh, I know--he got a huge discount on the tile by buying quantity!
3. The trim on either side of the tile surround is a thin strip of decorative quarter-round! What? Yes! Painted white, to match the mantel. Of course, the walls are a lovely beige textured surface--suitably Old World. So the white too-thin trim stands out like 2 sore thumbs! Does this bug me? YOU BET!
What to do about this eyesore that won't cost me an arm-and-a-leg? (Yes, it's MY fireplace.) After all, I'm hell-bent on investing in gold, not pouring into a house dollars that I may not get back. (You may or may not know that I was Public Relations Counsel to The Nelson Rockefeller Collection. Nelson Rockefeller--not a poor man--commended me on my practicality when I specified foam cups for a Press Party at his NYC store.)
Okay--at least for the short term, here's what I did. I stuccoed over the stone-look ceramic tile and painted tile surround, trim, and mantel the same beige as the wall. SHERWIN WILLIAMS mixed the color perfectly! Now, this eyesore is less blatantly w r o n g. I'll live with it until I'm convinced the economy is moving in the right direction and I'm willing to tear out mantel, trim, and tile and re-design/re-build the fireplace in an architecturally appropriate design! But, for the time-being, looking at it no longer makes me nauseous. Instead, I'm eyeing the back porch.....
HAPPY DECORATING EVERYONE.
Fixing an Awkward Layout
A couple of weeks ago, I took my first look at a client's new condo. The much-loved overstuffed sofa and loveseat were too large-scaled for the space. What to do? After considering all the possibilities, we decided to move the loveseat into the bay windowed area in the master bedroom where it looks and works great. Next, we moved the big sofa away from the sliding door that leads to an outdoor sitting area. Doing this aligned the sofa with the window behind it in an awkward, un-centered way. Now what? We called on an oldie-but-goodie trick--we hung curtain panels beyond the windows--to make the window look wider and the sofa seems to be in front of the window (not just in front of a part of the window). Chairs replace the loveseat, and open up the space, too! Awkward layout problem solved. Any dummy can do it!!!
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