Personalize Your Home

I think graphic lettering is very cool. A quick decorating idea to personalize your home is to display an extra large letter, your initials, or even a short word. How simple is that!

You can find letters at flea markets and even on e-bay. New letters can be easily ordered too.
Have FUN with it...(hey - there is a good word right there - FUN!)

The "Benefit" of Beautiful Art

The above images is actually made up of tiny self portraits. They are placed together in this collage or mosaic. The image is of the Cooper Shop on the Roycroft Campus - a national historic landmark. The art is sold as a fundraiser to help with restoration efforts.

I have a self portrait in this image and so does my oldest son. We spend hours looking at all the great tiny pictures. Did you make a self portrait? Are you in here too?

Here is the link to learn more about this art and purchase a copy:

http://www.facesofbuffalo.com/roycroft.htm

Have warm colors "chilled" ? Are cool colors "hot"?

We have been decorating with warm colors for a few years now. Depending on your area of the country, some color trends change faster than others. Where I live (western new york state), we are still decorating in a warm color palette (tans, beige, golds, sage greens, rusty reds) but I am starting to see signs that warm colors are evolving into cooler colors.

Just recently a client ask me to help them pick out a dusty cool blue paint color. I was showing another couple two different rugs for their living room - one was cool and one was warm. They specifically said "We want the cool colors because we see warm colors everywhere. We want to be different" .





One more sign of change is I just read an article in "House and Garden" about Gwyneth Paltrow's house. In this article Ms. Paltrow states" I like cool, neutral colors. I don't like warm colors for my house. I think a cool palette is more serene"

I'll keep you posted as the trend becomes more fixed.

A realtor that throws up...

OK - he/she did not really vomit but they did just throw up a listing onto the MLS without really caring what it looks like. This person is a lazy realtor. Think how much better the first impression of this house would be if the realtor did not just get up from the table and snap the photos.





And also image how nice this table would look with nothing on it but a simple beautiful centerpiece rather than listing contracts.

Remember first impressions count.