5 Recession-Proof Decorating Tips

For this months newsletter, I have researched the back issues of my favourite magazines to find you some creative and fun ways to perk up your space—and just in time for Christmas!  You can save them for January too as the living room will be looking lonely after the lights and glitter from the holiday get packed away!

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This list will be in my December newsletter coming to you at the end of this week.  Click here to subscribe.  You will instantly receive my special report, the 3 biggest Mistakes Homeowners make and how to avoid them in addition to my favourite go-to colours. You will also have access to a years worth of special articles available to subscribers only. Articles such as ‘Embrace the Dark Side of your House; Lighting 101’ and ‘How to Inject Unexpected Style in Your Home’.  Thanks for being a subscriber!

Do you have your Tree up yet?

If you would like your home to fill you with happiness every time you walk in, contact me for on-line or in-person decorating and colour.

Related posts:

Sexy Red Velvet Drapery

All about Hermes Orange

10 Ways to make your Home look more Expensive

New to this Blog? Click here ; Subscribe to my free Monthly Newsletter; Become a True Colour Expert

Unexpected Uses for Rope

I know I have showed you some of these before but they are so good they deserve a second viewing.

And what inspired this post.....this is a new restaurant in Beaufort, SC called Wren Bistro. It is hard to see and I would scan in the pic from Southern Living but my scanner is being a P.I.L.L. But the columns are wrapped in nautical rope.

Still hard to see...

And this is what you do with the leftover rope.

A Happy Sherwin Williams On-Line Consultation; Before & After

Calm and the right colours go together :) source

A few days ago, I received this email from a client I had consulted with in early October from Kent, Michigan. One of the comments she made during the consultation was that she had come to the conclusion that if you make one small mistake at the beginning of a decorating project, you end up building on the mistake and then you don’t get the result you’re after.

On-line consultations with me are done one-on-one live and on the phone (I have an unlimited plan or overseas we can use Skype). We each have the same fan deck and I suggest colours as if I was in your house. That way you can give me immediate feedback on your likes and dislikes . We also ‘walk’ through your home and discuss your updates (if necessary) in addition you can get as much decorating advice as you need or want.  A good colour expert should also be a decorator or designer as you must be able to assess the room in terms of how to pull it together with the right colour drapery, upholstery, flooring, etc.

The following is the most amazing thank you I have received in a long time.  Thanks Bobbie for taking the time to write it!

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Dear Maria,
I have never been more excited to say thank you.  You have stopped my merry-go-round of colors, accessories, wasted time and careless spending.  A calmness has entered my home and my personal insanity has ceased.  Yesterday I put the last piece of hardware on my cabinets and I am calling my project ‘done’. I have been in my garage sanding and painting for three weeks and have completely painted my home with the colors you have chosen. 


We stood in the kitchen and laughed, not because anything was funny, but because of your expertise and knowledge to do something like this over the phone. You said it wasn’t green, it was grey.  Even though I failed to come close to finding it in the green section of the color fan, I was still floored when you had me put it next to the greys.  We laugh because now, next to the Silver Strand it looks gorgeous.  Almost like we bought it to match the cupboards!  What was the ugliest part of my kitchen is perhaps now my favorite. Wow.


I never thought 3 simple names; [Sherwin Williams] Kilim Beige, Toque White & Silver Strand, would bring me so much joy. It’s crazy. The new curtains are speechless. By the way, the ones you recommended from IKEA are discontinued.  I purchased these from JC Penny.  I am glad I spent the extra money. They are lined and just better made.  But you must know, your IKEA suggestion gave you brownie points with my husband who made me promise to hire you when we move in a couple of years. He loves and appreciates it as much as I do. He sees the torment I put upon myself.


I am still on the hunt for a couple of things, maybe some art for the kitchen and for a few other suggestions that you gave me for the living room. Maybe a little hesitant too, the last thing I want to do is make more mistakes :).  I had the matching end table down stairs still in the box and purchased a matching lamp.  Why didn’t I have room for it before?? The colors you chose for me softened and warmed my home.  The outdated permanent fixtures (and pricey permanent mistakes) are now not as offensive. I put together a power point slide show, I hope you are able to open and view it. You did such a great job. I can’t thank you enough for coming to work everyday and sharing your talents. I will be calling on you again in 2 years.  Sincerely, Bobbie D. and family


Bobbie wanted help with choosing a white to paint her oak kitchen cabinets in addition to new colours in her living and dining room.  She realized that the accent wall in the dining room wasn’t right and the existing pale blue gray colour was not doing anything for her living room. The issue here was that the accent wall did not relate to anything in the room and especially with the existing carpeting (which was staying).

Before

After

Same with the rusty drapes and red cushions. The shiny satin of the pillows did not work for the casual feeling living room, and again, we had the issue of the bossy carpet.  When your broadloom is this dark, it is soooo not neutral anymore, it becomes a fixed colour that you must consider when choosing other pieces and colours for the room.  You could certainly layer another carpet over this one but it’s still too strong to ignore. I loved her lamp and suggested a rectangular coffee table with another end table on the other side of the sofa.  I also recommended that she repeat the white sofa in curtains and install the rod as close to the ceiling as possible.

Before

I suggested SW Kilim Beige because other than the white sofa the carpet was the next largest, fixed element in the room.

After

Then we got to her kitchen.  Bobbie said the green countertop really bothered her as well as the accent tile in the backsplash. I suggested a greeny gray shade SW Silver Strand for the bottom of the cabinets to relate to the countertops because if we had stuck to white for the whole kitchen it would have been too much with the whitish gray 90’s tile.

Before

Her backsplash tile also had to go, so we painted it out! This is also the reason I always counsel my clients to keep it simple!

After

We painted the walls in the kitchen the same colour. The floorplan was open from the dining to the kitchen and there was no other colour in the living room that we could draw upon to create flow, so in this case the same colour was the way to go.

Before                                                   After

What a difference white paint on dated oak cabinets makes!  Thanks Bobbie for showing us the after photos!

If you would like your home to fill you with happiness every time you walk in, contact me for on-line or in-person decorating and colour.


Related posts:
Colour & Condoms
White Kitchen Cabinets
A Something’s Gotta Give Kitchen Cabinet Dilemma
How to Update an 80’s Kitchen with Colour
New to this Blog? Click here ; Subscribe to my free Monthly Newsletter; Become a True Colour Expert

Savannah, Georgia

My dad and I went to Savannah last week to do a little shopping. It has become a bit of a tradition for us at Thanksgiving...a lil' father/daughter bonding. We hit up antique malls and some of the home decor shops. It's great, my dad follows me around and asks "What is that? Where would you use that? What are you buying that for?" It cracks me up but if I didn't love him so much it might put me over the edge. We laugh at all the "tourists" in line to eat at Paula Deen's restaurant then we stop for some lunch at Soho, a restaurant/art gallery that has the best grilled cheese sandwich I have ever had (and I am quite the grilled cheese connoisseur!).

The Paris Flea Market

A great shop that has country French inspired items and one-of-a-kind flea market finds. Also a great place to pick up design books. And this time of year it is fun to see how they take their style and decorate for Christmas!

I love the deer antler wreath!

SCAD Shop

A shop filled with student's art and creations from Savannah College of Art and Design. They have everything from oil paintings to dog clothes to organic soaps. I love seeing what creative minds come up with!

In typical Sidney fashion, I got a migraine so we had to cut the trip short however we did get to hit up a few of the main stops like Jere's Antiques a HUGE warehouse, I am talking 33,000 square feet HUGE, filled with antiques as well as a few other antique places along the river. All in all, it was fun and I bought some stuff that will be for sale on my new online shop, Eclectic Finds, debuting in January!

It’s In The Mail – The Gift of Designing Christmas Greetings!

Now that Thanksgiving dinner has settled, one of the first things I like to address . . . no pun intended . . . is the stack of greeting cards I’ve carefully selected to send to family, friends, and clients.  I don’t have a one-size-fits-all approach as to how I design an interior, so selecting cards shouldn’t be any different.  I’ve got a mad passion for beautiful paper, patterns, and lettering.  Email cards can be fun and fast but I love to send salutations which can be held in the hand.  (It’s one of the reasons, if it were up to me, bookstores would still be thriving, too.)

If you need inspiration for your Christmas card list, all you have to do is log-on to the website, Etsy.  I could spend hours searching through all of the designs!  There is something to fit everyone.

Sweet Letter Press displays a peaceful image in current colors.  There is a fab fabric from Lee Jofa and designer, Eric Cohler, which captures a similar, graphic aesthetic.

A fresh interpretation of the lodge look.  I keep hoping to use one of these patterns for a client!

This fun card, from dodeline design, brought to mind a fabulous wall display I saw, below, in the Halo Styles Showroom at the High Point Market. 

Almost hard to believe they all didn’t end up in the landfill!  (Image courtesy of the Kandrac and Kole blog.)

Sentiments expressed, en Francais, always take on certain je ne sais quoi .  I have a wish to someday make it to the Maison & Objet, in Paris, the city of lights.  It’s a trade show of magnifique proportions.  (Wonder what the French would think of my southern accent?)

One Etsy vendor, petitepear, enthralled me with breadth of her designs.  I especially heart her gift tags, as shown below:

When I saw the fine examples of papeterie, above, it reminded me of tagging along with Eddie Ross, during one of our recent antiques’ shows.  He shared a great tidbit about silver in the video I recorded, below:

A friend of mine, Beth Swanson, has a darling antiques shop, Olde Tyme Marketplace, located in the old mercantile building where the “The Color Purple” was filmed, in Marshville, NC.  These gift cards would be right up her store’s alley!

Beth is the consummate recycler.  Just look at what she’s done to this old pail!

The dog lover couldn’t help but to be won over by the little black pup with the wreath collar.  Another friend, Tammy Taylor, is “owned” by her sweet black lab, Reagan.  I just know she would share a big “AW!” if she opened this card.

Tammy is also a talented interior designer in the Charlotte area.  She just recently created a room at the Southern Christmas show.  She was recommended, by the folks at the show, to appear on a “Charlotte Today” segment.  (Smart people, they are!) Tammy was so calm and cool and offered a lot of great tips for trimming the tree!

Any Eames enthusiast would be gaga over the “tree” of DCW plywood chairs!  Santa can still get these from your Herman Miller dealer. 

A design classic!

The card above, is reminiscent of English Transferware.  It’s done in letterpress printed on antique presses using soy-based ink and 100 percent cotton paper - tree free and made from recycled fibers.  Wouldn’t it be a lovely accompaniment to this? . . . .

The relief pattern, around the border of this charger, makes it extra special.  At under $60, I think it’s a gorgeous buy!

Yes, I could find a whole universe of cards for, well, the whole universe on Etsy! . . . 

Let’s hope you’re on a first name basis, if you decide to try the magic powers of the Mistletoe card!  (Smile!)

I live not too far from the barbeque capitol of North Carolina - Lexington.  As long-winded as we southerners can sometimes be, when we’re spinning a tale, we can also oddly enough assign a short nickname to a food which requires hours of cooking over a hot pit! 

I hope you’ve had fun with me while browsing through the “card section” on Etsy!  By now you might be able to tell, I love connecting the dots of design.  A card is not just a card.  It’s about the detail and thought which went into the design.  It’s about the unique quality being shared with an individual.  It’s about a gift from the heart!

From my heart to yours . . . All my best! ~ Wanda

Final Contest Alert!  I’ll be giving away an autographed copy of Vicente Wolf’s “Lifting the Curtain On Design”!  All you have to do to enter is to leave a comment on any two of my posts, beginning with the 2010 High Point Furniture Finds – Post 1 thru November 30th – Ends November 30, 2010.

I’ll announce the winner the first week of December 2010.  I hope you’ll enjoy a festive month!

4 Interior Design Blogs I wish You would Write

You know what they say, if you want to have a blog that people will read, you need to write passionately about what you know and inside of that, find your niche. So, if you are still looking for yours, the following have my vote:

1. Tile
I’m a Decorator, not a renovator. I help clients choose their finishes because that falls into the realm of undertones and colour but there are so many weird angles and problems that come up in installations, I would devotedly read a blog that addressed those issues.

 

2. Window Coverings
I do a lot of drapery but if you look at my website, most of them are straight panels, simple boxed pleat valances, roman blinds, etc but generally very clean and simple. The West coast is very different from the East.  We don’t do a lot of traditional swags, cornice’s and formal, fancy applications, but I would be fascinated by a blog that taught me about those things.

3. Provenance
I’m totally embarrassed to admit this (don't tell anyone), but I only just discovered what this word meant about 3 months ago, so if you wrote a blog dedicated to the history of furniture (but not so it sounded like a professor was writing it), I would subscribe immediately. When I wrote this post just last week, I had to do some heavy googling before I discovered that the chairs in my clients vignette were ‘Regency Style’.

 Above Images and Photography by Jeremy Samuelson

4. Art
I would love to read a blog that taught me about Art. I did not grow up around it, am intimidated by it, and would love to sound more intelligent when discussing it.  If you could do this for me, I would love you forever!

Well those are the top 4 on my list. What are yours?  Which design blog would you love to read that you can’t find?

If you would like your home to fill you with happiness every time you walk in, contact me for on-line or in-person decorating and colour.


Related posts:

Your Christmas Tree is You (maybe)
9 Lessons from a 2 Year Old Blogger
5 New Ways of Looking at Colour; From the Experts

New to this Blog? Click here ; Subscribe to my free Monthly Newsletter; Become a True Colour Expert