• And Test it Large! ~ Once you’ve chosen the colors you’d like to sample, purchase a quart-sized can (and Benjamin Moore now offers pint-sized sample cans).  I normally find the smallest wall in the room and paint the whole thing ~ floor to ceiling, and always paint two coats.  This not only gives you an idea of the impact the color will have in the room, but colors also reflect off of each other, and the existing color in the room will reflect onto your small sample, thereby altering its appearance.

• Go Portable ~ The second option I use with clients is to paint a 2’ x 3’ foam core board.  This enables us to move it to various parts of the room to check for appearance in sun, shade, etc., or makes it easier to view if you’re using the same color in multiple rooms.

• Don’t Rush It ~ Once you have your samples done, take some time to live with them, and for at least a 24 hour period.  If you’ve made a dramatic color change, you may love it initially, but then realize after a few days that you don’t want to live with it long term.  Look at your new color during various times of day, at night, and with whatever artificial lighting you have in the room.  If the sky is cloudy that day, give yourself the chance to see the color on a sunny day.  You may discover that what looked like a beautiful gray-taupe in the evening is indeed looking pinkish in the morning sunlight.

I hope you found these tips helpful!  Choosing the right color can be frustrating with the thousands of choices available, so if you need a little guidance, a consultation will sift through the options and get you moving toward your end goal – enjoying it!  Just use the contact form so I can help you choose the perfect color for your home ~ the first time!

Everyone deserves a home they love ~ Inside and Out!

~ Kathy

The rain has passed, and sunshine is out in full force!  Spring is a perfect time of year to take inventory of your home’s condition, on both the interior and exterior.  The cold winter months tend to leave us cuddled by the fireplace, rather than earnestly keeping up with household chores.  So, take that new-found energy of spring, and do a little home maintenance!

• Furnace Filters ~ Though filters should be checked more than once per year, it helps to use spring as a reminder for this basic maintenance.  Your furnace is the blower unit for both your heating AND your air conditioning, so change the filter often for maximum performance and energy efficiency.

• Standing Water ~ The rainy season may not be completely over, but if you have open containers on your property that contain standing water, this is the perfect breeding ground for mosquito larvae.  Mosquito’s love stagnant water for laying their eggs, so get those empty flower pots dumped out (and think about conservation by using the water for your plants!).  If you have a bird bath or fountain, refresh the bath water on a weekly basis, and run your fountain 2-3 times per week.  Not only will you keep the mosquitoes away, but you’ll prevent green algae from forming as well.

• Sprinkler Check ~ Make sure your sprinklers are watering your lawns and planting beds, but not the sidewalk!  Run your sprinkler system through a one-minute check on every station, making adjustments to the heads as necessary.  This is also a good time to ensure the timer is set for the appropriate schedule, based on the warmer weather and lack of rainfall.

• Clear the Debris ~ I’m very certain that no one wants unwelcomed guests, meaning pests and rodents.  Extra clutter around the perimeter of your home is the perfect hiding place to escape the warmer temperatures, as well as overgrown areas of shrubs and weeds.  Get these areas cleaned and trimmed, and ultimately keep shrubs cut above ground level by at least six inches.  Massive areas of ivy are one of the worst for harboring rodents, and believe me, I know this from experience.  Keeping your yard cleared and trimmed will send them packing!

I hope you’ve found these tips helpful!  If Spring has got you thinking about home improvement, or making the exterior of your home more inviting for summer entertaining, a single consultation is a great way to get the ideas and motivation you need to get you started!

Everyone deserves a home they love ~ Inside and Out!

~ Kathy

Have you been on open house tours and seen beautifully decorated homes and thought, I want my house to look like this!?  Many of these homes are staged with furniture and accessories brought in by professional stagers or designers, but some are not.  What they all have in common though, is simple concepts have been used to maximize their appeal, and not with the furnishings alone.  You can have your home looking attractive and inviting, and on a daily basis!

• Clear the Clutter ~  This is the easiest thing you can do, and it doesn’t cost a thing.  Have you ever done the run-through before expecting guests?  Look at your home with that mind-set, and see what functional items can be put away, and display only the decorative ones.  Keep countertops clear of the week’s mail, bedroom floors free of dirty clothes, and bathroom counters clear of toothpaste tubes and hair products.  If storage is an issue, then look for solutions from sources like Organize.com or other retailers.  Clearing the clutter will make your home a more calm and relaxing place to come home to!

• Reduce the Furnishings ~  I see so many homes that simply have too much furniture.  Over-stuffing a house with furniture can greatly reduce the flow of your rooms, meaning there’s not a natural, easy progression as you move through the spaces.  Many of us have pieces we’ve acquired here and there over the years, and it’s tough to part with them.  But, if your house is feeling cramped for space, then maybe it’s time!  Walk through each room in your home and make an honest assessment of every piece of furniture, no matter how small it is.  Are you using it?  Perhaps you are, but is it really necessary?  If you removed it, would the room be more spacious and inviting?

• And the Accessories ~  What applies to furniture, also applies to accessories, and then some!  Less is more ~ so reduce the number of accessories that clutter countertops, dressers and hutches.  If you’re a collector, keep your displays concentrated in one area and make them a focal point.  Remember the rule of odd numbers when putting your displays together, and err on the side of conservative.  Groupings of more than 5 items can get busy and appear like a bunch of clutter, vs. an artistic display.

I hope you’ve found these ideas helpful!  Design should be fun, not stressful, and if you find yourself needing further ideas, just let me know!  A single consultation is a great way to get the inspiration and resources you need to make your home a place you look forward to being in.

Everyone deserves a home they love ~ Inside and Out!

~ Kathy

Spring will officially be here next week, and summer isn’t far off either!  Is your patio ready for entertaining, or simply your own enjoyment?  When I think of accessorizing a home, it doesn’t stop at the front and back doors.  I like to continue it right on to the outside, and this is what makes a seamless transition from your home’s interior to exterior.  If you’re looking for some quick and affordable ways to jazz up your patio, here are a few ideas to make it feel more inviting.

• Pop Some Color ~ Nothing freshens up a space like adding color!  The obvious choice for outdoor patios is with flowers, but another way to bring color to your space is with your patio furniture.  I always suggest a neutral palette on the furniture, but add a punch of color with pillows.  You can change them out for different seasons too, so by keeping the cushions neutral, they’ll go with your brightly colored summer pillows, or the richer tones of fall.

• Lighten Things Up ~ With outdoor lights!  Strings of clear lights aren’t just for the holidays.  They add a warmth and glow that’s very conducive to summer evenings.  String them on a topiary, table umbrella, pergola, or around the ceiling perimeter of an enclosed patio, like I’ve done here.  I also added a floor lamp from Lamps Plus, and it’s an unexpected accent that makes this patio feel like another room.

• Drape It ~  Fabric isn’t just for cushions and pillows!  If you have a covered or enclosed patio, adding draperies to the corners will add softness to the space, as well as bring more color and style.  They don’t have to be large enough to completely close, unless you want them to.  This patio has 3 sides (because it’s attached to the house), so we only needed 6 panels to achieve this look.  This extra accessory really makes this patio feel like an extension of the interior, and because it’s directly off the family room, it draws people right on out!

• Accessorize ~ Don’t think of accessories as strictly interior elements.  Decorate your patio with candles, wall sconces, vases, whatever!  This candle arrangement was easily created with materials from Michaels, and for about $20.

Design should be fun, not stressful, so enjoy the process!  If you find yourself needing further ideas or inspiration, just let me know!  A single consultation is a great way to get your projects started.

Everyone deserves a home they love ~ Inside and Out!

~ Kathy

Spring is a time of renewal and inspiration.  Bright green leaves, flowers bursting with color, and an energy that makes us want to do deep cleaning with the windows open and the warm sun flooding in.  It can also be a time that inspires us to make changes in our home, but maybe you’re struggling with where to start, or feeling like you don’t have an overall plan to work from.

If you’re feeling a bit stuck, my Single Consultations are a great way to give you the ideas and inspiration you need!  We can talk about one room, or the entire house, and you’ll come away with the direction and resources you need to get your projects going.  Whether it be a color palette of paint for your home, ideas for furniture styles and sizes, or inspiration for upgrading your kitchen, we can cover it all!  Just fill out the contact form below, or give me a call, and let me know how I can help you have a fun, not stressful, design experience!

Everyone deserves a home they love ~ Inside and Out!

~ Kathy

Note: Due to difficulties with spam filters, I’ve occasionally been unable to respond to corporate email addresses (they bounce back as undeliverable).  Personal email addresses are preferred, or include a contact phone number ~ Thank you!

Did you know the front of your home can speak volumes about you? We’ve all heard how first impressions can have a lasting impact, and the overall appearance when people arrive at your home can have exactly that. The term “curb appeal” implies the overall appeal of your home when people first approach it, and here are some simple ideas to maximize that appeal.

• Landscaping ~ Are the lawn and plants trimmed and tidy? Are the planting beds free of weeds and debris? Are the sidewalks, driveway and curb areas swept clean? None of these improvements cost anything to do!

• Exterior Paint ~ Is the paint faded, peeling or chipping? If you can’t afford to repaint the whole house, then touch up the areas that are looking tired, especially around the front porch.

• Clutter ~ We all have it to one degree or another, so don’t try to rid yourself completely of items you may have stored around the exterior of your home. That said, keep them in the garage or behind the gates, and away from the view of the street. This also goes for unattractive autos that may be inoperative, and by all means, nothing with a tarp on it!  :-]

• Front Porch ~ Have you considered that this will be the place your visitors will linger? While they’re waiting for you to answer the door, they’re passing the time by looking around. Are there cobwebs in the corners? Are there tears in the screen door? Is the paint and hardware on your door dirty? Are there flower pots with dead plants, or the dried up dirt from last year’s plant? A few flower pots or decorative accessories are very attractive and welcoming, but keep the clutter to a minimum on the front porch, especially if you don’t have much room to begin with.

I hope you’ve found these tips helpful, and I’d love to hear how you’ve maximized the curb appeal of your home!

~ Kathy

Don’t you just love the smell of a fresh Christmas tree in the house?  It’s one of my favorite things about the season, but there’s also no avoiding the fact that it’s going to start drying out, and pretty quickly!  We all know that it’s important to keep the tree supplied with plenty of fresh water, but there are a few more tricks that will keep it looking (and smelling) fresh, just a bit longer.

• Open the Pores ~ The best way for your tree to absorb water is with a fresh cut off the bottom of the trunk.  Most tree lots will do this for you, and it’s important to put the base in water immediately, even if you don’t set it up in your home right away.  Mine sat on my back patio for several days this year, and my husband put another fresh cut on it before bringing it in the house.  Even if you cut your tree from a tree farm, one more fresh cut before you put it in the stand is a good idea.  You will maximize the absorption of water with the freshest cut possible.

• Keep it Cool ~ Don’t put your tree near heat sources such as a fireplace, wood stove or heater register.  The poor little guy has already been cut from its roots, and propping it up near the heat is only going to suck more life out of it!

• Feed It ~ Having been cut from its root system, your tree has lost its food source, and it’s hungry!  Sounds so sad, doesn’t it?  Like Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree, all frail and limp.  BUT, you can still feed and nourish your tree.  I have this ornament book from Christopher Radko, and it contains this great formula to add to your water.  I’ve been using it for years, and it really does help!  I’ve shared it with all my friends and family, and find that I get emails every year … “What was that concoction for my tree water again???”.

1 quart HOT tap water (hot water aids in circulation)

1 tablespoon liquid iron* (keeps the tree green)

2 tablespoons light corn syrup (feeds the tree)

1 tablespoon laundry bleach (fights bacteria and fungi)

*Liquid iron can be found in the garden section of stores

Check the water level daily, especially the first week!

I hope you found this blog helpful!  I always love to get comments and feedback from my readers, so let me know if you have any great holiday tips or tricks, for the Christmas tree, or whatever!

Happy Holidays!

~ Kathy

Everyone deserves a home they love ~ Inside and Out!

The peak entertaining months are upon us! If you want to have parties without stress, it’s all about one word … planning. I’ve thrown countless parties over the years; everything from dinner for four to theme parties for 50, and thorough planning is the only thing that kept me from being a complete wreck one hour before my guests arrived. Here are some guidelines to keep you on track, so you too can actually enjoy your guests too!

Prepare Task Lists ~ Depending on the complexity of your event, you will plan as little as one day ahead, or as far as a year ahead. Regardless of the length of time, task lists are a must to keep you on schedule right up to the time your first guest arrives. Determine what things need to be done, and at what intervals, including everything from shopping for decorations to garnishing your platters. Here’s an example of a list I would have written for one week prior to a cocktail party on a Saturday evening, preparing 10-12 dishes:

• Saturday/Sunday: Make menu selections and plan decorations and serving set-up, prepare lists for food prep throughout the week
• Monday/Tuesday: Shop and/or gather items for decorations and serving set-up
• Wednesday: Grocery shop and begin food prep on dishes that can be refrigerated or frozen ahead of time
• Thursday: Continue food prep, clean house (or splurge on a housekeeper!)
• Friday: Continue food prep, set tables
• Saturday: Final food prep (in your favorite holiday apron!), house touch-up

This is a very generalized list, and my actual lists would have specific food prep for each day, based on the menu items (for example: prepare sauces for crab cakes). If you have several dishes to prepare, look for choices that can be prepared (or partially prepared) ahead of time. This will keep your party day less hectic and assembly to a minimum. Also, have a variety of hot and cold items, and have your cold platters completely prepared and waiting in the fridge. Prepare your uncooked hot items ahead of time (if the recipe allows), and have them waiting in the fridge, right on the baking sheets, and ready to pop in the oven. Of course, this doesn’t work for all dishes, but the more you can have ready and waiting, the smoother your event will go. I even have a little cheat sheet with the temperatures and baking times for my hot items ~ no cookbooks on the counter! With this thorough planning, you too will be able to greet your guests as an organized and relaxed host!

If you have other tips for successful entertaining, please share them, because we can use all the help we can get this time of year!  Here’s a great article from Williams-Sonoma with tips for decorating your buffet table in style, and don’t be afraid to think outside the box.  Anything goes! : )

Happy Holidays!

~ Kathy

Everyone deserves a home they love ~ Inside and Out!

If you’ve ever been faced with the decision of replacing flooring in your home, it can be a bit overwhelming.  Hardwood, carpet, tile, stone, laminate, and I could go on!  What type of flooring should you buy?  What’s going to look best in your house?  Should you use a variety of materials, or just one?  I recently had a reader ask me about replacing her living room carpet, and she and her husband had different opinions about what they should do (Really?  I’ve never heard that!). : )  She asked if there are any design rules about flooring, and the answer is, absolutely!  Here are some guidelines to think about, before making your decision:

• Consider Form AND Function ~ When selecting anything for your home, from flooring to furniture, consider how you need that product to function for you.  It’s important to get the look you want, but even more important that it function the way you need it to.  You may love the look of plush white carpeting, but it definitely won’t function in your family room with sippy cups and puppy paws!

• Maximum of Three ~ When considering how many different flooring materials to have in your home, this is a rule-of-thumb to remember:  While standing in any one place in your home, it’s best to not see more than three different flooring materials within your view.  More than three, and it’s too busy.  That said, I believe less-is-more, and less than three is even better!  Whether it be hardwood, tile, or carpet, try and keep your flooring materials cohesive.  That leads us to …

• Go For the Flow ~ Think of your floors as the “backdrop” of your home.  Ideally, it’s good to have a seamless flow from room-to-room, and having the same flooring throughout the common areas of your home provides that flow.  Common areas would be your main living areas, such as the living room, family room, dining room and hallway.  And, if you can include the kitchen, that much better!  This is the photo that my reader sent of her home, and her question was whether to replace the carpet with the exact same laminate as the adjoining areas, or a different style and color of laminate to separate the spaces.  I think you know what I recommended!  I also gave her the idea of using large area rugs in the living and dining areas, which would give them the definition ofspaces that one of them felt they needed.  One last idea isto do an inset of carpet within the laminate flooring, as shown below.  If it works well with the shape of the room, it’s a nice way to break-up the expanses of hard flooring and provides the same effect as an area rug.  I’ve used this design idea before, and with great results!

• How to Break it Up ~ If you do want to change flooring from room-to-room, the bedrooms and bathrooms are the best choices for mixing things up.  If you like the feel of soft carpeting underfoot when you step out of bed in the morning, then, by all means, put wall-to-wall carpeting in your bedroom!  Tile in the bathrooms?  Or course!  This makes perfect sense, and these are natural areas to break the flow from the common areas.  That said, many people like to have tile or stone flooring in their kitchen, and that’s fine too, IF there are doorways or other areas that create a natural break in the spaces.

I hope you’ve found these flooring tips helpful!  I always enjoy hearing your comments, and questions are always welcome too!  If you have other topics you’d like me to blog about, just send them my way …

~ Kathy

Everyone deserves a home they love ~ Inside and Out!

Oh, how I love the cooler weather!  I look forward to it every year, and can’t wait to nestle in on a rainy day with soups in the slow cooker and wine by the fireplace.  It’s seriously my idea of bliss. : )  But, with the cooler wet weather comes a whole new set of things to think about with regard to home maintenance.  So, jump in and get these chores out of the way now!  A little preparation ahead of time, and you’ll be sitting by the fire too, with peace of mind that your house is ready.

• Dump the Standing Water ~ The rainy season is on its way, so if you have open containers on your property such as flower pots or bird baths, they’re going to fill up.  Do you like slimy, green algae?  I’m thinking the answer is NO.  Keep it from forming by either storing them away, or just do what I do, and turn them upside down!

• Adjust the Sprinklers ~ Save water (and money!) by changing your sprinkler timers. Either reduce the number of days you’re watering, or the amount of time set for each station. By the time winter comes, you should be able to turn them off completely!  This is also a good time to check each sprinkler head and make adjustments on the spray patterns.  This guy’s watering the street as well as his lawn. : /

• Clear the Clutter ~ There’s nothing that annoys me more than pests and rodents around my house.  Rats lurking in the shrubs?  Eeekk!  Extra clutter around the perimeter of your home is the perfect hiding place to escape the colder weather, so get these areas tidied up now.  Trimming shrubs up away from the ground will strongly discourage rodents from camping out on your property.  Tip:  If you have ivy on your property, you might as well put out a welcome mat!  I know this from personal experience, and I was not a happy homeowner!

• Seal the Gaps ~ Bats in your belfry?  Well, maybe not, but you can sure have rats in your attic!  They LOVE to set up house in the insulation, and I’ve had my own personal war with these little vermin.  Trust me – if you get ONE, you’ll have a whole family before you know it.  When I Googled images of rats in the attic there was some pretty nasty stuff, but I opted for this pic, since it’s normally not a good idea to gross out your readers.  But, this guy’s looking at YOU, and letting you know he’s got your address! : )

Walk the perimeter of your home and look for openings that would allow them access, and get them sealed up. Even a quarter-sized opening is large enough for a rat to squeeze through!  Insulating spray foam sealant works great, and is available at any hardware or home improvement store, in a variety of brands.

• Furnace Filter Check ~ Though your filters should be checked more than once per year, it helps to use Fall as a reminder for this basic maintenance. Your furnace is the blower unit for both your heating AND air conditioning, so it’s been cranking away all summer long! Change the filter often for maximum performance and energy efficiency.

I hope you found these tips helpful, and I know there are many other ways to prepare for Fall.  If you want to think ahead to even colder weather, I’ve got some tips on this previous blog post too.  I’d love to hear your comments and ideas!

~ Kathy

Everyone deserves a home they love ~ Inside and Out!