Finding Spring

The calendar says it is spring but I have to look very hard for signs of the season. To bring the freshness of spring into my home, I have tried a few tricks to speed up the process and cure my spring fever.

I begin with small changes – switching out my accessories for more colorful, seasonally appropriate items.

• My wooden bowl collection gets packed away and baskets and white pottery take its place.
• Brass and silver candlesticks get traded for clear glass and the candles are in softer colors – warm yellows, spring green or just simple white.
• I always use white dinnerware for the simple reason that it can have a very different look against any color background. My tablecloths are lighter and brighter and a simple white pitcher of yellow tulips make a great centerpiece.
• My coffee table now shows off gardening books, or beautiful editions of great travel locations.

As the weather begins to warm up I exchange some of my fabric choices.

• A knitted afghan is put away until the fall and replaced with a cotton throw.
• Dark sofa pillows are changed to light pillow covers in colorful floral or striped fabrics.
• Area rugs in wools can be traded for cotton or sisal rugs or eliminated all together to feel the bare floor underneath your feet.
• Heavy draperies make way for sheers or lace that billow in a warm breeze.

I don’t want to forget the walls.

• Replace winter landscapes with spring and summer scenes. To add a quick touch of color – I put postcards or greeting cards on a small tabletop easel and place on the kitchen counter for an unexpected view.
• Paint the back of a bookcase or an accent wall in a contrasting color. It will showcase your books and accessories on the shelves or give a punch of color to a room.
• Calendars often have wonderful photography or artwork. Place in a frame and change out with the season for an inexpensive solution for bare walls.

Bring in the outdoors.

• Cut branches from a backyard bush (forsythia, pussy willows and others) and force them to bloom in about 2 weeks for a jump on spring.
• Outdoor furniture and small tables add a different texture and feel to your living spaces.
• Bowls of fruit and vases of cut flowers are always in season.
• I bring the outside in with birdhouses, nests, bird or garden statuary on side tables or gracing the mantel.

Look around your space and take note of what says “spring” to you. Eventually spring will find you but why wait?

Pamela Hartz-Miller – www.HartzandHomes.com

Emotional Insurance for You and Your Home

This week has been unusually busy for me; I have felt like I was chasing the train, instead of sitting in a comfy seat traveling to my favorite destination. Not someone who thrives on feeling over-scheduled, I found myself dreaming of bed-time, or, at the very least, walking through the front door, and into my home.

I know I’ve said this before, but when you come home, it should be somewhere that makes you feel comfortable. It should welcome you in; your home should be your refuge, not a place that makes you roll your eyes as you turn the key.

One of the simplest ways to do this, is by placing some tangibles around your home that will make you feel happy straight away, with barely any effort at all.

When I come home, I look forward to seeing my pink geraniums, the daybed with my Union Jack pillow on it, and no dishes in the sink. These small things instantly remind me of life, family, and how grateful I am to have a dishwasher. (In my perfect life, there would also be dinner cooking, and a fire lit). Making sure I have these things,  is like giving myself a little bit of emotional insurance.

Have you ever wondered what would give you a bit of emotional insurance when you walk in the door? Would it be:

-   To see all the coats and scarves neatly hanging on hooks?
-   A clutter free entryway, with all coats and shoes hidden from view.
-   Seeing a favorite photograph before you even take off your coat?
-   A vase of flowers, or a plant, on the table?
-   A neat pile of books waiting to be read?
-   A big basket for whatever you wanted to put in it until later?
-   Having the coffee maker set, so all you have to do is press the button?
-   Knowing your favorite comfy chair is free of stuff, so that you can have a sit down?

Write to me, I’d love to know what is on your emotional insurance list…..

Wendy E. Wrzos http://wendyandthebluegiraffe.blogspot.com/

(Squishy, comfy, patchwork chair from: Couch in England)

A Space for Children to Call Their Own

I visited an Art room at school yesterday, and I didn’t want to leave; it was joyfully cluttered, over-flowing with activity, and it smelled of warm crayons. The Art teacher looked so comfortable in her paint-splattered smock, and she welcomed me with such a big smile, that it made me feel like a child again.

Our children’s lives are far more controlled now; school days start at 7:58am (not 7:59am, or you’ll get a tardy slip), they are allowed exactly 1 1/2 minutes to go to the bathroom, and they are driven to sports activities that mandate entire days to practice for a game that is, well, just a game…So, when I walked into this colorful room, it really made me smile.

Don’t get me wrong, I know that we all do our best, and we need rules, but we also need permission to be ourselves, at our own pace. The Art room is that place in school; a perfect oasis of mess, in a ridiculously formal environment.

It’s not just about creativity, it’s about having the freedom to discover what makes you tick, and not to be controlled all of the time. Children need to figure out who they are in-between the activities. Some crave organization, with straight, printed labels, and a place for everything, while others like to grow a mountain of stuff that crawls towards you when you open the door. Many want their favorite color from top to bottom, and others just want a place to play with toys or listen to music. (Strangely enough, they all seem to know where everything is).

I am a firm believer in…(click here to keep reading)

 

Wendy E. Wrzos http://www.thebluegiraffe.com

Photograph of a Girl on a Swing, by the talented designer, Kate Jackson

Staging Your Home For Sale

I don’t often write a lot about staging homes here on my blog. I’ve asked myself why dozens of times and I think I realized it’s because a lot of solid design strategies just naturally work when staging a home. But then I realized maybe some of you may not realize that. So… if you read my design and decorating tips, and you’re thinking of selling your home, ask yourself what would you do differently if the room you’ve now decorated needed to be staged. Sometimes it’s just a matter of editing the room’s contents, refining the layout or floor plan, and playing with placement and color. And sometimes it’s a whole lot more.

Color has a major impact on selling a home. But what color do you choose? You want a color that highlights the architecture, wraps the room in warmth, and invites you in. These shades from Benjamin Moore are some of our favorites and should make a prospective buyer linger a while longer.

Color Inspiration

Manchester Tan HC-81, Monroe Bisque HC-26, Camoflage 2143-40, Carrington Beige HC-93, Shaker Beige HC-45, Nantucket Gray HC-111

Kim Merritt – http://beautifullivingstyle.blogspot.com/2013/03/colors-for-staging-your-home-for-sale.html

Images via bhg.com and benjaminmoore.com

The Ick Factor

My kitchen garbage is almost overflowing this morning, but I don’t mind. It is tucked away in a vintage cupboard, and no-one can see it. Of course, I will empty it soon, but if I had to look at it, out in the open, I would be mortified. And, I admit, it would cause me a wee bit of stress.

Having a lovely home is personal, and we all have different styles, but no matter how much we love our home, we still have to deal with the ick factor. Sometimes, it’s the utilitarian things that distract us the most, creating the biggest impression in the worst kind of way. Sadly, a beautiful room can be quickly undone, if we choose to ignore the things we don’t like.

Useful things are the warhorses of our homes; they do so much, work very hard, and we need them.

Garbage Cans and Toilet Brush Holders are two of the worst design offenders. Even the words make us cringe, but every home has them, and just because we don’t like them doesn’t mean that their ugliness becomes invisible. We all use them, so why not give ourselves another excuse to decorate, and accept the ick factor on our own terms? Here are three easy ways to get you started…..

• Treat them as an accessory – a decorative feature that goes with your room. Be adventurous in your choice of texture, size, shape etc. Ignore convention in favor of good design.
• Make them invisible – blend them into your home decor. Buy subtle colors (or ones that coordinate with your room) and stay with low profile, classic, simple designs.
• Keep them hidden – store in a cupboard, or under a sink. Losing one cupboard to a garbage can may be worth it to you.

Think of useful things as just another creative opportunity (or, a reason to go shopping). Either way, here are a few photographs for you to look at (while I go and empty my own garbage…….)

Wendy E. Wrzos http://wendyandthebluegiraffe.blogspot.com/

Photographs borrowed from…..
Trash Bucket (Urban Outfitters)  Simply Human Cream Garbage Can (Amazon)
Flower Bucket and Brush (Remodelista)  Red Kitchen Cart (Wayfair)
Wicker Basket (BasketLady)  Under Cabinet (Cliqstudios)
Red and White Striped Can (Sears)  Green Retro (Rayfei)

French Living (in New Jersey)

I am not French, but I do have a tendency to drool over shows that have that “C’est la vie” type of vibe to them. I know it’s not real life, but I find it relaxing, and I love to watch someone take hours to cook a meal (then spend several more hours eating it on a sunny terrace, with lots of wine and seventeen of their closest friends).

After watching too many episodes of “French Cooking at Home”, I decided that I would move to France, have a blue kitchen with copper pots, and grow lots of herbs on the window-sill.

In the meantime, before I got to France, I would pretend; I would pretty up the inside of my refrigerator, find a copper pot, and store my milk in beautiful glass bottles.

At a Home store, I found glass bottles with the work “Milk” on the side. Perfect. I took them home, and poured my milk into it (I can feel you rolling your eyes even as I write it – I know, what was I thinking).

This went well for a few days, until the milk began to sour. I didn’t understand why, so I would pour out the spoiled milk, wash the bottle, then pour new milk back in. It would sour again, and I would repeat the process. When I mentioned this to my Mum, she said that I needed to sterilize the bottle before pouring the milk in. (Why I never thought of this, I don’t know; I just continued to create my own little, repetitive bottle of bacteria – proof that Science really was my worst subject in school. Thankfully, no-one got ill during the process). So, I took her advice, boiled the hot water, poured it in, and the bottle shattered all over the kitchen sink. Undeterred, I did it again. Same result.

Not to be discouraged, a few days later I drove to a fancy store that sells milk in bottles. I found the bottles, picked one up, and cut my hand on the side. As it  trickled down my hand, I tried to grab a band-aid from my purse, while trying to (discreetly) wipe the milk bottle. The more I wiped, the more I cut my hand, and the more it started to make a mess of me and the bottle. The more I panicked, the more ridiculous my whole plan was starting to seem. Why had I driven over an hour to buy a bottle for my milk, so that I could pretend to be French? I wasn’t feeling very relaxed, or very smart, at that moment.

Embarrassed, I managed to get the band-aid on, wiped the bottle on my skirt (of course) and took it to Customer Service. I bought two new ones, and took them home. A little stressed, not very clean, but successful.

The next day, I remembered to be French; I reorganized the fridge, put vegetables in pretty bowls and admired my bottles of milk. Was it a little silly? Maybe. Was it worth it? Yes. The (always sterilized) milk bottles are living happily in my fridge, I now have one herb growing on my windowsill, and I still dream of a blue French kitchen…

Wendy E. Wrzos http://wendyandthebluegiraffe.blogspot.com/

Photograph from the delightful Lilla Blanka

Shall We Dine?

Like most homes today, I’ve chosen not to have a formal dining room in my house, and instead, I use the space I’ve been given for other tasks. I don’t believe a dining room should be overly formal, stuffy, or even in a “dining room” to be both functional and beautiful. Here are just a few of my favorite looks and some tips to turn just about any room in your home into a space to dine.

The modern mix above proves that a dining table and chairs need not match. If you’ve been reading the design tips on this blog, you know that I feel very strongly on that subject. Mix it up, bring your own personality into the room. Round tables are so much more friendly and are perfect for small spaces. Sideboards don’t need to match either. The Indonesian-influenced piece above stores a lot of necessities and shows off accessories nicely.

With a nod to Albert Hadley, the look is old-world meets English hunting lodge and pulls together quite nicely. I’m especially fond of banquette seating. Don’t be afraid to push the table toward the wall and adjust the light fixture to match. This is also a great way to squeeze in a dining area into odd-shaped rooms.

This matching table and bench from Pottery Barn would work well in either a country or contemporary setting. The texture of the chairs contrasts nicely with the wood and complements the shades of the pendants above. When in need of a large piece of art, chalkboards (or walls painted with chalkboard paint), although overdone at times, is a great choice for busy families or those who love to entertain. Just write out the night’s menu, your child’s homework schedule and ABC’s, or an inspiring quote or two. It’s art that changes whenever you need it to. (Have you been introduced to chalk ink pens? They’re a great way to add a bit of color to basic black.)

Fabric, and texture in general, is a great way to update your room. From the sisal rug to the inexpensively-clothed table (a great way to hide an imperfections) and velvety French Regency-style chairs, you can’t go wrong. Now splash some of that rich fabric color onto the walls and the room instantly comes together.

Seat cushions can be changed out in a snap. When black, white, and green are no longer in vogue, it’s as easy as reupholstering a few cushions and you’re off. Notice the dark wood table paired with the white chairs. The contrast continues the black and white theme. The bench, covered in a contrasting fabric, keeps things fun and opens up the room to the rest of the home. Pay close attention to details too. The barrel lampshades just melt into the wall color.

Sometimes more is more. If you do have a matching set, show it off by paying attention to the surroundings. Black walls laid out with gallery-style art, rich wood accents, and a beautiful rug give you permission to pile it on. Plaid throws are put into service as tablecloths and draped over chairs to bring some color and pattern up to eye level. It’s Scottish Highlands meets Downton
Abbey.

Images via housebeautiful.com and fabuloushomeblog.com

Kim Merritt - http://beautifullivingstyle.blogspot.com/