Time to Start Thinking About the Holidays!

Fall is the perfect time to give your interior décor a face lift. Outdoor living is coming to an end and the holidays are fast approaching. We all want our homes to be in tip top shape when our friends and families arrive for holiday visits.

Here are a few suggestions for some quick, inexpensive changes that may provide just the spark you are looking for without breaking the bank.

Glass Fitter Shades: One of the easiest ways I’ve found to give a bathroom a new look is to change the globes on the light fixtures. Chances are if your light fixtures have been in place as long as mine, they could use a little updating. If money is no option you might want to go out and buy a whole new fixture, but it really isn’t necessary. Take a look at the variety of glass fitter shades available and see if buying a few of those won’t just do the trick!

Drop Bedskirt: Recently I realized that my guest bedroom needed some sprucing up. It just looked ordinary and I wanted it to be more inviting. My sister will be coming for the holidays and I wanted to create a bed & breakfast atmosphere for her so she would feel like she was on a mini-vacation. Adding a drop bedskirt was exactly what was needed to warm up the room and hide the junk under the bed!

European Style Couch:  If a new couch is in your budget you will want to check out these charming and affordable options. Create your dream living room at a price you can afford. There is no doubt your holiday visitors will be totally swept away by your sense of style! (They don’t have to know how much you saved creating it!)  

Time to Update the Kitchen

We bought our house about fifteen years ago and at the time it was definitely what most people would call a "fixer upper". In fact, our real estate agent kept trying to talk us out of buying the house and just succumbed to stunned silence as we continued to move forward with the purchase. She didn't see what we saw...potential! To my wife and I it was a project that just fired us up. Back to the kitchen.

At the time we purchased the house, we updated and remodeled from top to bottom, including all new appliances in the kitchen. Now, fifteen years later one by one it's once again time to update. At the top of my list is a new stove because I'm the cook in the family and I've been itching for new top-of-line model with all the bells and whistles.

I began shopping online last week to see what is out there. (If the truth be told ever time I go into Sears or Lowes I look and see what's new.) Now, however, it's time to get serious. I thought I'd share with you what I find as I go along and maybe give you some ideas if you're looking. favorites as I go along in case you're looking too.

Yesterday I stumbled across this little gem: Whirlpool Stainless Steel 30" Smooth-top Self Cleaning F/S Electric Range, model # YWFE381LVS.  I'm not sure what I like best about it, the rapid boil element, the convection cooking system or the fact that it's stainless steel and black and fits perfectly into my dream kitchen. So for today, this particular range is on the top of my shopping list. I'll keep you posted.

 

 

Decorating with a Low Coffee Table

I love the wonderful clean lines of modern furniture and the simple elegance of a low coffee table can instantly create a calm environment for any living room. Placed centrally, it invites us to toss aside the demands of the day and it is a perfect purchase to begin to reshape an outdated living room into a modern showcase.

We are all longing to do away with clutter in our homes and modern decor urges us to follow this dictate. A beautiful modern coffee table needs very little added to it. A collection of mini glass vases, placed artfully atop the table, is all that is needed to gently soften the lines of a modern coffee table. In fact glass vases of any kind are a perfect companion to the angular lines of this type of decor.

Continue the minimalist approach and rid your living room of extraneous furniture. Choose a couch or collection of chairs that follow the same design lines as the coffee table. Add contrasting softness in the finishing touches, a bouquet of flowers, a garden painting. If you are trying to simplify your life and bring your home into current times, modern decor can quickly help you accomplish your goal.

Create an Outdoor Living Space with Contemporary Furniture

Summer is the time to get outside with friends and family and enjoy! Creating an outdoor living space is easy to do and an endeavor that is well worth the effort. Contemporary furniture companies are manufacturing outdoor furniture that looks and feel exactly like what you have in your living room but is constructed to hold up under outdoor weather conditions.

The clean lines of contemporary furniture lend themselves well to so many different settings. For a look of understated elegance you may enjoy Amalfi Garden Armchair that when grouped together with a couch and table creates an instant outdoor living room for your patio or deck. Or for an entirely different look you may enjoy a rattan chair and foot stool such as the one in the picture above. It's perfect for a quiet little corner for relaxing or reading. Add a few flowering plants and you've just created an inviting outdoor living space!

To create an outdoor living room take a look around your yard, deck or patio and select an area about the size of a small room. It should have easy access but not be directly in the middle of a heavily traveled area. Then go to town creating edges with plants, screens, fences and attractive structures, leaving sufficient room for the furniture. You may want to select your furniture first to make sure it will fit when you buy it. Shopping online for contemporary furniture will help get the ideas flowing!

Alex's New Digs

Guest post by Alonso Kramer

When my son Alex told us he was buying a house, we were overjoyed. We thought it was a great sign that he was maturing and that his job was going well – not to mention the tax creditshe was going to be getting! When he showed us the actual house he was buying, we were…worried. It was a bit of a fixer upper and though it was huge, it was in a transitional area. The first thing we did was go to www.allhomesecurity.com for a security system – I don’t want him being unsafe in his own home. Then I came down for a week and helped Alex get the thing in shape. We worked with a contractor who fixed all the obvious stuff and made it livable and now it’s nearly ready for decorating. I plan on coming back down to help with that aspect since Alex isn’t exactly known for his great taste, and once it’s all done it will truly be his dream house!