TheDesignFile

Add green to your home for St. Pat's Day

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

I spent last night at my friends’ annual St. Pat’s dinner, which was delicious as always and put me in the spirit.

So I thought I’d offer up a few green rooms – and I don’t mean eco-friendly – to get you in the spirit too.

I admit to using very little green in my own home. I have a few green accents in our master bedroom.

But I do love the color – in all its varied shades.

So check out some of these examples of great green rooms.

The room at right is from MyHomeIdeas.com. It is green, green, green – probably too much for most of us!

But I do love those striped chairs, the painted coffee table and the great pink accents. (See that little pink chair there in the back?)

Want a little less green? Check out the room below from Sunset.

A tray, lamp and a few pillows and you’ve got some great touches of green – without going overboard.

I mentioned above how much I like the pink accents in that green room and here’s I’ve got another example of that pretty color combination.

This sweet room is from Southern Living and MyHomeIdeas.com.

My favorite part of this room is that great wallpaper.

I love that it’s so graphic and still sophisticated. Yet, it remains youthful and fun.

I can’t imagine any young girl who wouldn’t love this room – and especially that pink chandelier.

Adorable.

Southern Accents does a far more adult room in green – and still with a canopy – below.

Chandeliers make a statement in bedroom too

Because I’m really all about comfort, my bedroom has a ceiling fan that we run every night – summer or winter.

But when I’m thumbing through magazines and webpages, I’m drawn to bedrooms with chandeliers and pendants.

I love seeing bedrooms that have the kinds of lighting that would normally be seen in a dining room.

I think the crystal and metal chandelier at right looks so pretty in the Better Homes and Gardens room at right.

The room is pretty busy – lots of color and pattern and art and furnishings. But the chandelier still seems like an important part of the room – without adding any chaos.

Chandeliers in bedrooms are often are small versions of their larger, dining room counterparts. They add a romantic touch, as in the rooms below. Check out the BHG examples below.

Sometimes a pendant achieves the same goal.

The faceted star pendant in the BHG room below left is striking. But my favorite is the flat black, modern light hanging above a bedside table in the Coastal Living room below right. So chic.

Do you have a chandelier in your bedroom? A pendant? Or are you a ceiling fan kind of sleeper?

Blue cabinets make for a colorful kitchen

Maybe it’s because I now get Coastal Living magazine, but I seem to be noticing blue painted cabinets in kitchens.

Typically, I’m not a huge fan of blue – particularly not where I’m preparing food.

Still, I kind of like some of these kitchens.

Check the Southern Living kitchen at right (which I saw at MyHomeIdeas.com).

I like the black countertops with the soft blue color, although the floor seems a bit busy for me.

I think the blue kitchens I like best are the ones that are bluish-gray or a sort of aqua color.

I’m particularly drawn to the quaint kitchen below, which I found at Better Homes and Gardens.

I think the pale aqua cabinets with the yellow walls is so happy, especially in a small kitchen.

And although the kitchen below is a little too country-ish for me, I do think the pale blue on the cabinets is pretty. It’s another kitchen from BHG.

I think the blue may be prettiest – to me – when it’s on the lower cabinets only. The helps keep from the color from becoming too much.

Guest post: Create your own craft room

I’m so pleased today to have a guest column from Jennifer Riley Simone, who works with Case Indy, a home remodeling and home design company located in Carmel, Ind.

Today she’s writing about creating a craft room, which is among the valuable advice she offers homeowners about how they can improve the home they live in and love. “It’s great when a neighbor hires a remodeler in Indianapolis and stays right in the neighborhood they love as needs in their existing home changes,” she said.

Create Your Own Craft Room

By Jennifer Riley Simone

If you enjoy crafting, you’ll enjoy a craft room even more. You’ll have a place for all of your essentials and extras plus an area to display what you’ve done.

Go Cheap
Go cheap and save your money for your hobby. Before you spend big money to outfit your area, look at what you already have in the house.

Just like a home office, a craft room needs organizational space but it doesn’t have to be new to be what you need. You may want to shop the classified ads, Craig’s list and yard sales for pieces that can function like you need them to.

Once you have everything you need for your room, you can paint it, paper it or distress as needed. Even a craft room can have some style.

Rehab

Many pieces just need to be rehabilitated to be useful. Make a craft table out of an old countertop, old tabletop or other flat surface You can use matching, sturdy filing cabinets or other shelving units to prop it up. Again, you can paint, paper or distress it. Maximize counter space by keeping out only everyday-use items. Use open containers to keep tools in view.

Take an old TV armoire, one of the easiest items to find in the classifieds. Open it up and add interior shelving using L brackets. Add hooks on the inside of the doors to provide display space or a fun way to arrange small items. Then paint, paper or distress it.

Suddenly the shelves look like a natural part of the furniture. Leave it open or keep it closed. It will look good either way.

(See an example from BHG above right.)

Modern beach house has trendy color scheme

I caught a great slideshow of a modern beach house on the Better Homes and Gardens website today and wanted to share a few of the photos with you.

I absolutely love the color scheme – the pinks, aquas, greens and soft blues.

It’s so beautiful.

In this living room, the pale walls and sofa serve as the backdrop for beautiful accessories.

The vibrant art sets the tone for the gorgeous color scheme and the soft pillows.

I love the pink pillow with the design in the corner. Very inspiring.

The colors remain incredibly soft and pretty in the dining room and kitchen as well.

The colors on the wall provide just enough contrast to help the white trim stand out but they remain neutrals.

And I like the way the tone for the room is set as soon as visitors walk through the door.

The rustic, aqua colored bench – accented with matching pillows and a pink throw – makes a pretty vignette.

Want to see more?

Check out the complete beach cottage slideshow at the BHG website.

Kitchen challenge doesn’t lead to great rooms

A friend of mine said last week how excited she was to see the contestants on this week’s Design Star would be doing kitchens because she loves when the designers have to work for real clients.

Not this year.

The Season 7 kitchen challenge was another white box. As the episode opens, the designers are shuttled off to some kind of studio or warehouse with three boxes, each with three walls.

Each has in it a couple Kohler boxes with sinks and faucets. One kitchen had a modern stainless sink, another a black apron sink and the third had two country-style, painted ceramic sinks.

David tells the designers they will work in pairs, have two days to finish the rooms and the winning space will be featured in HGTV Magazine.

Before I go any further, I should tell you what inspired me about this episode, as I’ve tried to do each week. The truth is, there wasn’t much.

I was reminded how much I like to spaces that appear “collected,” meaning the pieces feel like they’ve been added over time. Also, I love some of the lighting choices, particularly when they are unexpected.

OK. So much for that. Back to the recap.

Because Danielle won last week’s challenge, she gets to pick the teams and then pair them up with the sinks. That may be the most interesting part of the entire episode, although we get nearly no insight into what Danielle was thinking as she makes her decisions.

She chooses to make Britany her own partner because she’s a photographer, which Danielle thinks will be good for the magazine challenge. I would’ve picked Britany just because she’s been doing well in the last few episodes.

They pick the stainless steel sink.

Danielle puts Stanley and Hilari on the same team and gives them the black apron sink. This is a pretty funny pairing. Stanley is a contractor who considers himself an artist. Hilari likes all things gold and flashy.

“Our design styles just don’t work together,” Hilari says in the understatement of the episode.

That leaves Mikel and Rachel to work together using the country sinks. This pairing seems OK, except that Rachel – who started incredibly strong with two consecutive wins – has been sinking fast and has seemed increasingly frustrated.

The guest judges are John and Anthony who star on the HGTV show Kitchen Cousins.

Yellow and gray continues to be a beautiful trend

A good friend showed me a chair this weekend he’d like to have reupholstered and he’s contemplating a gray and yellow fabric.

That instantly made me think of my last visit to Calico Corners where I saw some absolutely gorgeous gray and yellow combinations.

I didn’t take photos that day but it wasn’t hard to track down some inspiration from Calico Corners and several other places.

Check out the Dwell Studio for Robert Allen collection at right, which includes several grays and celadon colors.

I love these yellow and gray combinations. I think it’s because the fabrics still make wonderful neutral but offer some punch of color.

Below are other Calico Corners collections. At left is what the retailer calls a Mellow Yellow collection, a nice modern look. Below right is the Fioretto Fabric Collection, which is a much more subtle, traditional look.

It’s not just Calico Corners that has embraced the yellow and gray trend.

Check out this beautiful, sophisticated space featured at Better Homes and Gardens. The yellows and grays here are so incredibly soft.

As pretty as the above photo is, you can go so much bolder with both the grays and yellows.

Design Star: Quirky designer gets the ax

First, I have to say that I was shocked by the outcome of last night’s Design Star episode on HGTV. The judges sent one of my favorite designers home – something I really didn’t see coming even as she was standing among those with the worst spaces.

That said, I’m not going to reveal which designer went home – or in this case, which designers went home – until the end of this post.

Instead, I’ll focus first on what I found inspiring in Episode 3:

- Great rooms. I actually liked every room. In fact, it was startling how well everything fit together – so surprising that it’s hard for me to believe there wasn’t some behind-the-scenes coordination.

- Beautiful wallpaper. Just when I thought I’d gotten past my desire for some funky, graphic wallpaper, these designers get me all excited about it again.

- Mirrors. The client in this episode loves mirrors and we saw several fun examples of ways to incorporate them in unusual ways.

- Tufted furniture. I know I used this one in a previous post but there were some gorgeous chartreuse tufted pieces in this episode that I loved.

Here’s what I didn’t like:

- Gray walls. I can’t believe I’m going to say this because I have been absolutely digging gray, but this year’s Design Star is quickly becoming the season of GRAY! Come on. There are other hot colors out there! Use them.

On to the recap…

This week, the designers were challenged to create a new office suite for Kris Kardashian Jenner (above) and her family. Jenner explains that she and the reality TV family are going to be moving their office out of their home and into a space that looks like it hasn’t been redecorated since the 1980s.

Enter the contestants. They are paired up and assigned a room in the suite with instructions to make the spaces glamorous.

“I don’t want a corporate feel because we’re all about family,” Jenner tells the designers. “I love blacks, white, grays and maybe pops of color. So it’s just beauty and glamor.”

Twin beds are a great guest room option

I’ve been trying to convince friends who are decorating their new home that they should go with a pair of twin beds in the guest room.

So far, I haven’t been successful.

But I just love this look. It’s so sweet.

Just check out the example at right, which I found at Better Homes and Gardens.

I also just think it’s practical.

It’s easier for unrelated people to stay with you if you have twin beds than if you have just one larger bed.

But couples will use twins beds as well (and might be thrilled to have their own bed for a night).

I love this look so much, I posted about it once before – nearly three years ago. You can see that post here.

I like the crisp, blue and white rooms below. Both are from MyHomeIdeas.com.

With such pretty examples – and all the reasons to go with twin beds – why are my friends ignoring my suggestion? I can’t imagine. So I’ll include a couple more examples that might serve to change their minds.

This first one might not help so much because it’s geared to kids. But this Pottery Barn room is so cute!

But of course, twin beds do not have to like they’re meant just for kids.

Check out this sophisticated space. I saw this bedroom at BHG.

So c’mon guys…how can you resist creating a room so pretty?

I’ll be looking for it next time I come by.

Design Star: White box rooms trip up some

The white box episode might be the most anticipated and popular challenge on the HGTV reality show Design Star and last night’s version did not disappoint.

There were some beautiful rooms and a few disasters – plus lots of rushing around to get these spaces done quickly – so the episode was dramatic and fun.

Plus, Vanilla Ice was the guest judge. I’m a product of the 80s and continue to be fascinated by the transformation of this former rapper’s career, so that made his appearance a bonus.

(When I saw a preview in which Vanilla Ice actually told a designer, “If there’s a problem, you gotta solve it,” – a reference to one of his song lyrics – I actually laughed out loud!)

First, I’ll remind you that I’m personally judging this season at least in part on whether I find ideas that are inspirational. After all, what’s the point of giving a designer his own show if he can’t motivate me to try something new!

In this way, Design Star succeeded for a second straight week. My favorite ideas from last night:

• Amazing, graphic painting – on walls, cabinets and even rugs. These were all things (except maybe some phenomenal hand painting) that most of us could accomplish with a little trial and error.
• Mixed patterns. I love how a great designer can mix different patterns and still make a room feel cohesive. We saw that last night in Rachel’s room.
• Fun light fixtures. My favorite was the chandelier created by Britany (at right) that incorporated a lattice panel, varying lengths of gold chain and an inverted table lamp.
• Rope walls. Actually, I first saw this idea at ModHomeEc studio where I take my upholstery classes (a project featured in so many places, I’ll bet Design Star contestant Mikel got the idea there) but it still looked cool.

OK. On to the competition…

The challenge

This week’s challenge was the traditional white box room. Each contestant gets a 10x10-foot, three-walled room with a sofa, two lattice-sided end tables, rug, a simple white sofa (or maybe loveseat), a table lamp, and three plain cabinets. As you might have guessed, everything is white.

This year there is a little twist. The boxes have been constructed at Union Station in Los Angeles and the public is watching the designers’ progress.

The designers will get $1,000 and an hour to shop at a home improvement store for all the supplies they’ll use for the room.

Former winner David Bromstad – who is dressed in normal fitting clothes, thank goodness – tells the designers that the challenge is not to create a literal living space. They should be more creative.

“You can do anything you want,” he tells them. “It does not have to be functional. But your room should express something about you and your design point of view.” Also, the designers must “transform” something.

Oh! And there’s going to be a camera challenge. I’m thrilled by this news. The winner will, after all, host a TV show.

First comes the shopping and you get the idea that Jordan (at right) is in trouble. He walks around aimlessly without a cart and finally – at the last minute – finds some Japanese-style garden pieces that he buys.

But it’s easy to see right away too that Bex has some interesting ideas for using PVC pipe and Stanley is going to do something innovative with lights.

Hilari had a neat idea to make her space feel like a jewelry box but acknowledges right away she has no idea how to use any tools. Hmm. That doesn’t bode well.

Here’s how everyone does:

Britany: She creates a beautiful space. Before painting the walls a deep blue, Britany uses tape to mask off lines that will look like molding. The finished walls are striking and look like a high-end dining room.

She’s the maker of the interesting chandelier I mentioned earlier with the chains, the inverted lamp and lattice panel. It’s a real focus and also serves as the piece she is transforming in her camera challenge. I love it and so do the judges.

On the back wall, Britany has hung an interesting wooden art piece, although we never get the story of how it’s made. There’s also a red and white striped rug.

Vanilla Ice (I just can’t call him by his real name, Robert Van Winkle) calls it “nautical.”

“My absolute favorite thing in here is the light fixture,” Vern Yipp says. “I love it when someone activates the ceiling.”

The third judge – Genevieve Gorder – says the gold touches make the room.