Seven Tips For A Great Guest Bedroom

This topic is so timely because the holidays are just around the corner.  If you will have out of town guests traveling to your place to stay over, then this is the perfect short list of hot tips to make their stay fabulous! 

First, before we go any further, close your eyes and envision walking into your favorite hotel room.  This will be your inspiration for your guest room.

REMEMBER-These tips work whether you have a designated room for out of town guests, or a space that doubles as a spare bedroom.

Seven Top Tips: 

1.Paint Palette - Stick to soft creams, grays, or soothing shades of gray blues and greens to keep the room light and airy.  I love Benjamin Moore's Harbor Gray (AC 25) and Sherwin William's Comfort Gray (SW 6205)

2.Lighting - Take your lighting seriously.  Lack of it leads to a lot of stumbling around in the dark, and poor lighting can make a room look unwelcoming.  Be a good host by placing a lamp near the bedroom door if you do not have overhead lighting, AND set a lamp next to the bed that is easy to reach, and easy to use. 

3.Bedding - An easy way to create a luxurious looking bed is to think white! White is crisp, bright, and easy color to replace! Start with a cotton 250+ thread count matching sheet set.  Next, lay a coverlet or quilt down.  Finally add color through a duvet or comforter.  This last layer should be laid out from the foot of the bed to about mid way then folded over, like this:

Designed by Cardea Building Co. 

From Coastal Living

4.Essential furniture Pieces -  A bedside table and chair are essential pieces.  The chair need not be large with arms.  Try an upholstered parsons chair, or an ottoman!  Another great piece of furniture is a desk.

TIP for small spaces-use a desk as the night stand.  This gives your guests more table top space and allows you to do work on it when no guest stays over.

Designed by JMA Interior Decoration

5.Space For Hanging Clothes - If there is a closet in the room, leave hanging space for guest clothing.  If no closet, no problem! Use a large double hook on the back of the room's door, or place a hook on the closet door.

6.'Mirror Mirror On The Wall' - ALWAYS have a mirror in the room to allow guests to check their appearance.

7.Pamper Guests With 'Must Haves' -

-place extra pillow and blanket close by bed in a closet, or in plain site in a basket.  I have been doing this ever since friends who stayed over told me the room gets cold at night.

-On your bedside table place a book and magazines to read.  This will bring so much pleasure to your guests if there is no television in the room.

-Place a bottle of water, fruit, and snack in the room.  So they won't go roaming around your kitchen at midnight in their skimpy PJs.  Also important for any one who needs to take a pill.

-Place a few essential toiletries in a small tray, bowl, or cute box.  I collect the free mini bottles of hair and body soaps, lotions and even shower caps from each of my hotel stays.  I recycle them by giving them to my overnight guests.  I always get compliments about this!

Just stick to this list and your out of town guests will have a memorable stay at your home!

Check out Shosh share her best guest bedroom ideas and tips with viewers on 69 News 

Bombay Company Is Back Online

Remember the Bombay Company? Their stores used to be everywhere, full of world traveled looking items. Then they shut their doors.  Well they are back and will begin selling a full line of home décor online at www.bombaycompany.com starting in mid-September. The initial launch will include more than 200 new designs as well as best-selling Bombay archival pieces in furniture, decorative accessories, gifts, textiles, seasonal and holiday items. The collection will range in price from $20 for accessories to $1,500 for furniture pieces. 

I am so happy to see this new increase in online presence from some of my favorite decor stores!  First Pier 1, and now Bombay Company!  

Last Minute Decorating Tips

Quick Fix Decorating Favorites From Shosh of Love Your Room

Need a plan of attack for last minute decorating?  We all run into this situation-Last minute guests will be coming in a few hours or a day.  The Love Your Room design team, made up of Shosh, Sara Jane and Jenna, have listed our personal favorites RIGHT HERE!  So watch the video above for some fun talk and visual, and then print out these 12 fave decorating fixes for emergency situations!

Pier 1 Online is Back!

New look and new features

You may already know this, but Pier 1 is now offering their furnishings online again.  Yeah!  I like their products and now I can buy them from home again.  They call it 'Pier 1 To You'.  Just add your items to your basket, pay online, and your new stuff is delivered directly to you.  They also have 'Pier 1 To Go' that will send your new stuff to your local Pier 1 store so you do not have to pay the shipping.  Another great feature they offer is that you can return anything to your local store instead of mailing it back, and that is such a convenience.

This is not a plug for Pier 1, just want to give them 'props' for their great features.  I, for one, appreciate any money saving and convenient advantages retailers can offer.

Happy shopping friends!
.
p.s. CHECK OUT MY RECENTLY COMPLETED RESIDENTIAL DESIGN PROJECTS
-Designed Open Concept Family Room and Living Room
-Infuse Bold Yellow And Red Into Your Backyard
-Allentown Family Room Gets An Updated Look

A Wall Of All That Makes You Happy

My adorable smilin', chicken raising, open minded client, allowed me put holes in her walls!  We recently worked on her family room, addressing the furniture, the window treatments, and now it was time to think about the finer details-creating interest on the walls.  To keep the warm cozy feel we envisioned, we raided her basement and found sentimental artwork.  Why buy art when you have a variety right in your own place!!

I love the eclectic feel of bunching together art pieces that wouldn't necessarily 'strike up a conversation at a dinner party'.   Works that don't just look pretty, but have meaningful history behind them.  You may have some pieces in your own home you can use.  Maybe you just have to look past the current frame and/or matting.  We reframed a few prints, and it made a huge difference!!  It's as easy as 1,2,3,4!!!

This is how we did our wall gallery.........

STEP 1

First we played around with the pieces on the floor until we found a combination that made us smile.  

STEP TWO

We began by finding the center of the wall and sticking a piece of painters tape there.  

STEP THREE

We hung the largest piece of artwork first, right where the center mark was.

STEP FOUR

After that, balanced the smaller pieces on either side.  Add drama and color by adding plates, plaques-any fun 'out of box thinking' decor to spice up your wall gallery!  We used paper mache animal heads from West Elm.

I celebrated the new look and our hard work with iced coffee from Wawa.  

This room will be done soon (still waiting for our end tables and one more picture that is at the framers').

A Peek At Projects In Progress

Back in March I blogged about how to frame fabric and use it as artwork.  Since then, the project I created them for has been completed!  CLICK HERE to see the room and get the details!

Right now I am finishing up a family room and living room makeover where we used a newly published calendar as art! If you are looking to pull color into a space through framed art, try using a white finish for your frames.  This way, the art takes center stage, allowing the color in your print to jump out more in the room! I will have the details of this young and hip home very soon!  Bring on the cool vibe!!

 It's hard to see with this iphone photo, but the back wall of this living room space is wallpapered.  I can't wait to share the finished product because, if you are like me, you may be looking for ideas on how to turn your living room into a space that is more useful.  This will be a chic bar lounge area.


Also, I am so thrilled with the way another project I am working on is coming along that I wanted to share a few pics.......here is a sneak peak as of today!  We mixed a steel gray paint typically used in contemporary spaces, with more traditional wallpaper, and it works so well together! Who knew how much fun you could have mixing up styles!  

"I am crazy for boxes!"

Animal Heads & A Residential Project

Hello home decor lovers!!  

I am rhino'd out today.  Why?? Well a new intern started this morning and she is fab!  Then my twitter account was hacked and that was not fab!  I am now updating all of my accounts online.  So if you received a tweet about how to lose weight fast or regarding someone spreading rumors about you, it is bogus!  

Things are getting hot and heavy in the office.  We have serious projects happening and I am trying, but haven't been able yet, to update my portfolio and blog about projects I have recently completed.  I have some great photos of before and afters, and fun ideas, but I am having a hard time keeping up with it all right now.  I have even taken a vacation from writing for Houzz for a bit until I get back to my normal schedule.  

Here is one project I am finally blogging about.  To see the 'before and afters' just click on the link below.   

See our recent BEFORE AND AFTER photos of a residential project we completed in PA. CLICK HERE.


Also, if your are looking for some cute wall decor, these animal heads might be just the thing to add that funky fun factor.  They have been out there for a while but maybe you have been on the fence about what they really look like.  Well I just received some I am using at a clients' home, and they are so cute!  These are the small versions from West Elm Paper Mache Animal Sculptures.

QUICKLY Change That Rush Bench Seat! DIY Idea

This is a very easy 'cheaters' version of upholstering a rush seat bench quickly using ready-made materials.  It can actually be used for any rush seat chair or stool that has a removable seat.  This project has only SIX steps!

BEFORE AND AFTER

Inspiration for this project: This past weekend I was crushing on this adorable walnut finished bench at TJ Maxx but wasn't feeling the rush seat it had.  So I flipped it over and noticed the seat can be removed.  I  did not have much time for this project so I walked to the bedding area to look for fabric to cover the seat.  I found a pair of quilted shams and thought using the quilted fabric would add softness to the hard feel of the rush.   I took my materials home and completed this project in an hour.

Here is what you need:

-bench or chair with rush seat that can be removed

-1 quilted sham per seat (I used 2 quilted shams but you can head to your local fabric store also and buy enough fabric to cover the seat plus another four inches all around)

-Needle and thread (I used white thread to blend with the fabric)

-Scissors
-Screwdriver

The  shams AND bench both came from TJ Maxx.

Why use quilted fabric?  It is thicker than cotton and because this is a 'quick change' project, I am not using any further padding between the rush seat and the fabric.  The quilting makes it a bit cushier.  

STEPS

1. Turn the bench over and unscrew the seat.  

2. Get your sham out.  It should look this size. 

*Instead of using a sham, you can go to fabric store for your quilted fabric. If you do this, you will need enough fabric to cover the size of your seat plus four extra inches all around.  Follow the same steps below.

3. Lay your sham upside down on a flat surface and tuck your seat inside it.

4. Trim the open side of the pillowcase fabric using your scissors so that there is four inches to fold over the edge (you can throw the excess away).

 5. Fold each side of the fabric toward the center tightly (like wrapping a present) and hand thread each corner in place. 

It will look like this.  Don't worry if it looks messy because it will be hidden underneath the bench.

6. When finished screw the seat back in.

This is how it looks underneath the bench.

This is how it looks flipped right side up!

 Add a cute pillow and you get a simple comfortable welcoming new bench!

So easy!!

DIY: Stencil An Outdoor Planter

Design a unique welcoming planter for your front porch, backyard, or apartment doorway (yes, even if your front door is inside a building you can still make your own statement).  This project is fun, inexpensive, and can make a major impact to your home.

Supplies you will need:

1. Planter

I purchased this 15" high planter from Target.  Home Decorator also carries a nice one in two large sizes and two different finishes.  You can find a wide assortment at your local home improvement store and craft store.

2. painters tape

3. fine tip paint brush

4. wide tip paint brush

5. outdoor acrylic paint (see tips below)

6. paper plate

7. stencil (see tips below)

8. optional accent acrylic paint color

Paint Tips

 You want to use outdoor acrylic paint that is meant for metal, wood, terracotta, concrete and stone.  You can find these paints in your local craft store.  For this project I picked up a Plaid Folk Art Dimensional starter kit that contained six small bottles.  The yellow I used is called 358 Lemon Custard.  For my accent color I used 356 Licorice.  

Stencil Tips

I purchased my Plaid FolkArt bird stencil from AC Moore.  I adore so many of their stencils.  

CLICK HERE to see them all!

Use a stencil that is flexible like this one so you can easily configure it to the object you want to stencil.

Step 1

Find a nice sturdy bright space to do this project.

Using your painters tape, adhere your stencil where you want it on the planter.

Step 2

Squirt some paint onto your paper plate 

(for this project I squirted out a quarter size at a time)

Step 3

Using your fine tip brush, paint around the outer part of the stencil as shown.

Step 4

When paint is dry, peel stencil off.

This is what it will look like.

Step 5

Fill in the outer part you painted using the wider brush.

Let it dry and do another coat.

Stencil is now fully painted!

Embellish It

Add an accent color to bring it to life. 

Using a fine brush and black outdoor paint, I free handed the veins on the leaves.  For the birds eye, I dipped the back of my paint brush in the black paint and softly pressed it onto the painted stencil. 

I love how this came out!  I am going to try it again on a pair of smaller planters for the backyard.  

This is a fun way to give a front or back yard a mini face lift to get it brighter and more welcoming.  Birds are a great theme to use.  There is something so peaceful about the shape of the bird.  The mat is from Target (I couldn't find it on line but it is in the store).


Tip: Red and yellow accents, are two great colors that pair well with all of natures greenery outside.

Adding a graphic to your planters will allow them to stand out more.  You can also stencil on your house number, initials, or a special message if you are really creative!                                                                                      

Optional application: There are many ways you can apply the stencil for this project including using a foam applicator or stencil brush instead of a paint brush (I love using paint brushes best because you have more control around the edges).