Kathy Zengolewicz

I know that the kitchen should remain practical, but there are a few things you can do to make it look as decorated as the rest of the house.

Start by putting up a cheap pair of curtains. They don’t have to have a Christmasy design, you can use a pair of plain white cafe curtains and add a red or green valance. Use some holiday knick knacks, from the dollar store, to line your window sill. Instead of using the window cling ons, this year I found some gel type window decorations and they look great and add just the right amount of color.

Put some greenery, live or fake, around on you kitchen table or countertops. Pick up a poinsettia plant or two and put that on a counter or table for a festive touch. A small live Christmas tree, the plant type, with a small red bow around the base looks great and doesn’t take up a lot of room.

These are just a few ideas for you to help make your surroundings pretty, but won’t put a strain on your wallet. If you find that these tips are a little too much, then opt for placing a few red bows, in strategic places, throughout the kitchen. You may even have a few ideas yourself, if so then go for it.

Take care. I’ll talk to you soon!

Post from: Keeping the Castle

image from bhg

Post from: Keeping the Castle

There’s a quiet revolution apparently going on in the decorating world that some professional decorators aren’t happy about.

Previously exclusive sources of what’s called to-the-trade interior decorating products are opening their doors to the general public. Among these sources are New York’s Decoration & Design Building and the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, California. As long as the “public” can pay for the luxury fabrics, high-end furniture pieces and in-house consultants paid by the hour, interior design licenses aren’t needed to have access to the goods.

The trend is fueled by a growing sophistication in homeowners and the availability of information through magazines, TV programs and the internet.

Everyone is now a self-styled expert, with a sense of entitlement to the resources – Scalamandré silks, Grange furniture, Osborne & Little wallpapers – that were once the sole province of the professional designer.

The phenomenon caters to a whole new group of decorators, unschooled in design but not untalented, people with an innate sense of what works and what doesn’t. It’s that neighbor or fellow mom whose living room is admired by all and whose opinion on paint chips is sought before the first coat is applied. They have the talent, now they can have the vintage pieces too.

I understand why some professional decorators resent this development. It is, in a way, an intrusion into their territory. But I think it’s a good thing. The practice of good interior design shouldn’t be limited only to those who have a degree in the arts. You have the talent, by all means, go ahead and be proud of it, degree or no degree.

Some of the online resources are:

http://decoratorsbest.com/ for fabrics and wallcoverings

http://www.1stdibs.com/ “where you can familiarize yourself with all the great designers”

And, of course, don’t forget the thrift shops and Ebay.

[Source: The New York Times]

Post from: Keeping the Castle