Home Decorating Ideas

CRAVING COOL....




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Looking through Traditional Home and House Beautiful magazines this weekend, I was struck by the 'cool' palette nearly all the rooms were sporting on their walls.  From the barest hint of cool beige to light grays and deeper hues of blue gray, all were in the cooler palette.  That is not to say that the rooms were cold, or even
 cool.  Grays pair beautifully with so

 GIVE ME A GRAY.....





Gray.  It's a popular color in design, and not going away anytime soon.  In rooms filled with light, high ceilings, lots of white wood trim - it's beautiful and fresh.  But what about a small room, with low ceilings?  Can gray work here?


READER QUESTION:
Love your website - you are incredibly generous to share all this information! What would be the best gray color

COLOR FOR NATURAL STONE FIREPLACE



House and Home





IN EVERY HOME there are elements we can't change - at least not right away.  There are things we need to live with - maybe its a previous owners stone or tile selections, or wood cabinet or floor colors,
but whatever the item - there is a way to live with it if you get a little creative.   Leah was faced with a wall of outdated paneling, a

WELCOME SPRING


The Foo Dog Ate My Homework

Blue and White has always been a favorite combination.Add a little greenery, and it feels like SpringA seagrass rug brings it down a notch from being too formalLivable, fresh, crisp, clean, lightA classic.


Time for a reader question:

We are gut renovating our house and I need your help. Our house is long and narrow like a brownstone without

DESPERATE SEARCH...


The Bastille, Paris
CBID Design

 
I recently joined the ranks of they who love Paris.  It was inevitable, really.  Everyone loves Paris.  I liked the people, too.  I like that they look you in the eye as you pass them on the street.  (Londoners are discreetly aloof.)  I like the wide boulevards and the Housmanian architecture, the elaborate monuments and expansive


STILL LOVING GRAY....


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WARM Gray?  It sounds like an oximoron.  There is the stereotype gray - that color we made by adding white to black in grade school.  Some people feel its a little boring... or depressing.... or dull...  I think it depends on how you use it, but for those of you who think gray is all the negative adjectives - meet WARM gray.  What?, you say.  Yes, add a little brown

EXPLORING PAINT COLOR:  BLUES AND NEUTRALS



Nature is amazing.  It is a color magician, putting colors together with expert eye.  I love the collection of eggs above for that very reason.  Speckled gray, cream, beige, brown and that perfect color - robins egg blue.   Now, if I could only find paint in that color .... Oh, wait... I can!



I'm helping a reader find a color she recently saw in

Keep Calm and Carry On .... turned out to be good advice.  Our first day in London I injured my knee.  The question became: stay there injured or go home...?  We applied ice packs, Advil, and anti-inflammatory medication - and prayer - and decided to stay.  We rented a wheelchair and changed a few plans.  My DH was amazing - pushing me all around London, which is not that wheelchair friendly

So I answered.....



Taking a little vacation....









Back soon!

I hope everyone has bright and shining plans for Spring. 




If you are like me, you have some plans for freshening up your home decor this season, and possibly some larger projects in mind.



And also, if you are like me, you are looking to REFRESH for less $$$.

Paint is the answer to making the biggest change for the least amount of moolah ($$).   

A change of color may be just the ticket

NOT AFRAID OF COLOR???


Bring Mae Flowers


I have the perfect remedy to a gray day - it's raining here in So. Calif. - and to be honest, I'm not entirely sure this next question is real.... two came in from the same person but were signed with different names, but it is so entertaining - I just had to answer!  




Dear Claudine, I just had my husband paint our laundry room orange. Not just "

BUCKSKIN... WARM TAN





I like it when I get questions about a specific color.  No second guessing - they already know the color they want to use, just need a little help with the rest of the palette.  I received just such a question from this reader:



What would be the best ceiling and trim color to go with Dunn Edwards Buckskin Claudine?


Dunn Edwards, Buckskin


 


Dunn Edwards,