The End of Summer

I know I was watching, but it still feels as though Summer ended when I wasn't looking in the right direction....

Recently, I was a guest blogger for a friend, Sue West (an Organizer and Life Coach) I talked about the changing seasons, and what they meant to me...

Growing up in a warmer climate, I never understood what seasonal decorating was. We didn’t even own coats, so to change our surroundings to suit the weather, was not something I could relate to. Now, I live in a four season world, and as well as the constant excuse to go shopping, I look forward to the surprises that each month can bring.

Soon, it will be Fall, and after the brutally hot Summer we have had, I find myself craving the cold nights and the warmer colors. A quick look outside will tell you that Mother Nature is starting to adjust her settings; the lush greens of Spring are giving way to fallen leaves, and the flowers are taller, their colors more saturated and bold. Always a good teacher, I take my cue from her, and I start to go through my own transformation.

• I tidy up the garden, and bring in plants that I want to nurture through till next year. I stop at farm markets to buy pumpkins and gourds; arranging them onto my front step, and piling them into the gaps of my faded windowbox.
• Inside my home, I start to look through my linen closet for blankets to toss on the sofa and chairs. I am already anticipating the first cold night, and the mis-matched textures make me feel warmer already. A bowl of seashells is put away, and I bring out a large collection of buttons instead – collected over many years, they make me think of late night sewing and heavy, woolen coats that need to be repaired.
• I also put away some decorative glass pieces, and replace them with accessories that feel less harsh, and more organic. A wooden bowl is filled with pinecones, a bunch of twigs is arranged on the table and a favorite photograph (sans frame) leans against a pile of books.

Whenever you want to decorate, think of the four seasons as a wonderful game of opposites. If it is cold outside, make your home warm by using soft edges, organic elements and saturated colors. Conversely, when it is hot, cool down with simple shapes, lighter colors and fewer layers.

Thanks to Vicki Horton for the gorgeous Volkswagen bug photograph.

For more information on Sue West, go to: http://organizenh.com/

Luxury Living (at Home)

I think I need to get out more. A recent design conference had me staying in a hotel that I absolutely fell in love with. From the minute I walked through the door, I didn't want to leave. The lobby felt like an entrance to one of those lovely, old fashioned department stores; a warm type of quiet that felt elegant without being stuffy, and a feeling that it had been designed but not overdone. I (almost) tip-toed over to the front desk.

Once inside, my beautiful room made me hesitate to throw down my well-worn suitcase. But that didn't last for long; within minutes, I had plopped onto the squishy pillows, kicked off my shoes, and dreamed of ordering cake for dinner - it felt like I was on vacation.

Hotels always used to be a luxury, somewhere that you stayed for a special occasion. Now, we visit them more often, and most of them, quite frankly, have become a necessary, money-draining, evil part of our lives. (OK, so maybe that is a slight exaggeration, but you know what I mean). We pay a couple of hundred dollars for a bad night's sleep, and are ridiculously grateful if we have a new roll of toilet paper and a television that actually works.

So, it was with a welcome surprise that I stayed in a place that really did care about the happiness of their  customer. They actually wanted us to have a nice time, not just provide an old bed and ask us for our credit card on the way out. What they did, was remind me that luxury is not always about the amount of money that we spend, but the feeling that can be created with a few, well-chosen ideas:

Bed Linens and Towels:  If in doubt, buy white (clean and classic).
Color:  Add warm, saturated colors (dark red, navy, gold, green, purple) to your walls, floors and accessories for a more opulent feel.
Real Materials:  Use wood (preferably dark), metal and glass instead of plastic.
Lighting:  Vary the style, shape and height of light fixtures. Use dimmers as much as possible.
Pillows:  Buy the pillow that will give you the best nights sleep (then buy a couple more...).

A luxurious life is not such a bad thing, so go ahead, spoil yourself!

Thanks to Gaynor Alder for the fun photograph, the Renaissance Providence for the squishy pillows, and the amazing ADE (Association of Design Education) for the wonderful women.

Thinking Outside the (Money) Box

We’ve all done it; needed a repair, or wanted to make a small improvement, then, before we know it we are surrounded by contractors and applying for another line of credit. The possibility of what we could have, has steamrollered over what we originally needed, and our heads are filled with dizzying thoughts of how we can finally create the home of our dreams.

Lucky for me, this is often where my job begins; another opinion is needed, and the homeowner wants to talk through all of the options before they go ahead. I would never tell anyone not to spend their money, but I do believe in considering every possibility before going ahead with a project.

Recently, I was asked about a Bathroom; it was leaking into the room underneath, and the tiled shower floor needed to be replaced. The discussion quickly went from repairing the floor (which was over 20 years old, and would be difficult to match) to redoing most of the bathroom.

The quotes started to come in, and, like many of us, the thought of a new bathroom suddenly sounded better and better. But, as the changes started to add up, it became clear that it would cost far more than anyone anticipated.

After a lot of consideration, the homeowner decided to go ahead with the repair, and asked me if I could help her choose some new tiles to coordinate with the old. Adding to the challenge was that the shower also had a stone bench, and the bottom eight inches of the wall had to be replaced. I knew I couldn’t match the tile, but my goal was to make it look like it was deliberately designed that way, instead of a quick repair to a leaky shower floor.

So, armed with some colored photographs of her the shower, we met at the tile store on a Saturday morning. Still not sure how, but within forty-five minutes I had found a subway tile that was almost the same color as the existing wall, and a multicolored one for the floor that coordinated with the wall and the bench. A week or two later I got this email:  “It’s done, Wendy. I can’t use it till next weekend. Nonetheless it is done and looks beautiful.  Thank you Wendy”.

What I love about this story is, unless we had told you, you would never even know that this shower had been repaired...

Before                                                                       After 

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