Thursday, May 31, 2012
Does your entryway say 'welcome home?' These design tips can help create cheerful greetings.
From your driveway to your walkway to your front door, there are several eye-catching ways to welcome guests, family, and heck, even yourself, in style. I went the Irish route when sprucing up my entryway. If you’ve been to Dublin, you’ve seen the renowned “doors of Dublin,” which pop with pretty and unique colors. I think the Irish would approve of my front door, which is a bright blue, as are my shutters. On a recent trip to Ireland, our guide told us with a wink that legend has it that residents paint their doors a unique color so they can immediately recognize their home when they’ve had one too many pints of Guinness at the local pub. Others told me that actually the Irish tend to paint their doors in pretty colors due to the large …
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Decorators explain a variety of eye-pleasing ways to create a display of memories.
Do you have a pile of black-and-white photos of Great Aunt Mary, that guy you’re related to who fought in the Civil War and classic, timeless photos of your parents on their wedding day? All nice, but where to put them? Beautiful to look at, but how to hang them? Consider a family photo wall. Interior designer Shirley Maddalena of Bloomfield Hills thoroughly enjoyed the recent task of creating a family photo wall for a Birmingham client. “There was an enormous amount of photos,” Maddalena recalled. “It was, quite actually, a really fun and interesting assignment, as there were many sizes and dimensions to work with and fascinating family history." Maddalena and her clients opted to frame the father’s immigration papers, which were mounted…
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Whether you're going for a modern or more classic look, these bands of color are timeless.
Attending a pattern-design demonstration at the Lilly Pulitzer boutique at Troy’s Somerset Collection this past week inspired me to take a closer look at fabric – not only in my closet but around people’s homes, in design studios and in home-interior shops. Paige Smith, the Pulitzer designer (she grew up in Bloomfield Village), talked about how colors and arrangement of graphic elements evoke a certain mood. Indeed, when we see polka dots, we become lighthearted; when we see botanical or organic shapes, we tend to calm down. Geometric designs seem edgy and energetic. A favorite interior-design pattern is stripes, say area homeowners and designers. Seeing stripes, especially when paired with bright-whites, evokes a summery or nautical feel…
Saturday, June 11, 2011
The art of arranging books and accessories is just that: an art.
You page through a Pottery Barn or Crate & Barrel catalog and dream that your rooms could look so inviting. A few vases in various sizes here, pillows with colors that pick up other accent hues there. Cocktail accoutrements gleaming on a side table, coffee tables all cool with a little container of bright-green grass next to some huge moss (not moth) balls that sit cleverly atop a few large books on gardening … Then there are the throws that look so casual and fitting as they drape over a couch arm or enticingly adorn an ottoman. Speaking of ottomans — wow! You could go catalog-chic. Get your feet off the ottoman and scatter on top of it a few trays brimming with all you need for a good party or a quiet read (a jaunty pitcher of lemonade …
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Mark Blackwell
5:59 pm on Monday, September 19, 2011
Most framing shops are just simply cost prohibitive. Maybe not for other folks. Certainly for me. more ›