Look with designer eyes.

People often ask me ,"How can I change up my house so I don't get so tired of it or bored with it?" My answer is to look with designer eyes. We all get comfortable with our surroundings and home and don't really sit and look at what is around us. I was doing this in my own home last week and decided it was time to make some changes.



The place to start is to pick one room only. Maybe it's the entry or the living room or kitchen but just pick one. Then when you have 15 extra minutes, sit in your room of choice and just look with designer eyes. Look all around the room. Low and high. The second thing is to ask yourself "what is the first thing you notice?" Then ask yourself if this is a good thing or bad thing. In other words, is what you are noticing what you want to notice first. Let's say you chose the living room and the living room is lovely but the cat has thrown up in the middle of the carpet and the first thing you notice is the cat mess rather than the lovely furnishings. Maybe your sofa is lovely but there is cat hair all over it that takes away from the lovely sofa. When you start really looking through designer eyes , you start to see your space more objectively and more like a guest does when they come into your home.



The third question you should ask yourself is, "Is there anything in this space that does not belong?" If there is something that does not belong for one reason or another, you need to take it out of that room and find a new home for it or retire it. Maybe you hung a picture on the wall when you first moved in and you put it there because there was an existing hook in the wall from the previous owners. Well, it is about time you put the picture where you really would enjoy it instead. Take out what does not belong and put in what you enjoy.



The fourth question is, "Does the room work well for you?" If conversation is awkard or the room is not well balanced it will not work well for you. Ask yourself, " Is there a way to rearrange the room so it will work better for me or be more enjoyable for me?"



The fifth and final question to ask yourself, "How can I put some seasonal accents into this room to make it feel like spring?" It will bring some life to the room and you will feel like spring has arrived at your house, which is always a good feeling. Try these suggestions and if you have any additional questions or problems ,just email me or call and set up a time to get together and we'll play house. Don't forget to put on those designer eyes. Enjoy! Pamela

Amazing Transformation

Have you ever had one of those projects that has been on your "to do list" for a long time and you keep saying this is the week end I 'm going to tackle that project and the week end comes and goes and somehow you never got started on the project?

Well , I finally got a week end after about six months of saying those very words to myself and actually worked on my project. I thought you might enjoy hearing about it also. My project was cleaning my kitchen cabinets. Now I grant you this can be a daunting task but it desperately needed to be done. It was driving me nuts.

I have an older kitchen that gets used alot. Over time and use , the cupboards get grimy and slimy from the oils of your hands and they start feeling nasty to the touch and look unsightly. I have oak cabinets from way back when and short of a new kitchen I wanted to freshen it up. Since oak does not paint well the only option was to work with the existing finish. So that is what I did.

For those of you who have the same issue with wood cupboards, there is a great product for you to know about to come to your rescue. It will work on any wood , not just oak. It was developed by a man in Vancouver, Washington who was a antiques dealer and was looking for a way to refinish the wood antiques without stripping the existing finish off and starting over. It is available only on line or at the home shows. The name of the product is Restorzit. You can find it at http://www.restorzit.com/ .

You will need the cleaner and the product. You first clean the cupboards with the cleaner and let dry . Then take some steel wool to the cupboard especially where your hands have touched the cupboards. Then take the product to the cupboard doors and put an even coat over the whole door. Let dry. You will find your wood cupboards will have a nice soft shine to them and will be recolored in the areas where the finish had come off. Put the hard ware back on and enjoy your new cupboards. Yes it takes time but you will enjoy the finished product and it really will look great without having to strip all the finish off and starting over.

If you don't have knobs and pulls on your cupboards to start with, this is a great way to update your kitchen and protect the cupboards at the same time. There are all kinds of knobs and pulls available today and at all different price points.

So my kitchen looks and feels so much better and as usual I wish I would have done it sooner. But oh well at least it is done so I can enjoy them before the holidays arrive. Enjoy this weather. Pamela

P.S. WE will be having a booth at the convention center September 24-26. If you are in attendance stop by and say hello. If you plan to attend and want to save some money on admissions fee, we have some $2.00 off coupons available. Just call and come by to pick them up.

Playing House Weekend of July 19th,2009

I had a delightful time this weekend playing house in my own house. Bill and I were relaxing and sometimes the way we relax is to go to garage sales or what we call "buming". It is a way for us to not work and be with each other and not spend a lot of money either. Bill usually is looking for books to read (he reads fiction and mysteries) and I just look at everything. I like old dishes and some old antiques. Our granddaughter, Naomi, is one and a half years old now and is having a difficult time sleeping in a porta play pen when they come down to visit us. We stopped at a garage sale in Arranmore and Bill went to browse and I was waiting in the car. While he was looking, I looked over and saw a small bed. I got out of the car to take a closer look and the tag on the bed said,"Toddler bed". Well, I had never heard of a toddler bed before but it was too cute and just the small size we needed for a bed for our granddaughter. So we bought it complete with mattress . It is 55" long and 24" wide. We brought it home and I played house in my first bedroom setting up a small area for Namoi to sleep and sit and read her a book before bed time. As you can see from the pictures, I had fun and it only takes a small amount of space in a room. The bed will be good untill the age of about 6 or 7 depending on the size of the child. So if your looking for a small space for your grand child consider a small corner of a room vs the whole room. The bed cost me $45.oo and the only other thing I had to buy was a sheet. I had everything else . I just repurposed them.

A fun time was had by all. Pamela

Just Finished projects ...

View photos from our newest "just finished" project

Decorating tip of the week.

Welcome to our decorating tip of the week. Here you can read about new ideas you can try in your home.