Straightforward steps to an inviting home
When your home has only one bathroom, it’s the master bath, guest bath, and powder room all rolled into one. Keeping it attractive for guests and functional for you on a daily basis can be a challenge. And many of us don’t really want to stop at merely attractive and functional. What would make the only bath in the house or apartment luxurious? Here are my secrets to making an all-in-one bath overdeliver.
Continue reading “10 Ideas to Make Your Only Bathroom Feel Luxurious”
So far in this Where to Buy Art series, I’ve been talking about different kinds of brick-and-mortar stores where you can buy wall art: home stores, antique stores, and consignment stores. At each of these, you’re likely to find a variety of art styles that are attractive and affordable.
Now let’s explore a different option. If you feel confident about the kind of art you like and are willing to spend more on something original, consider attending an art fair for your next purchase. Some art fairs are free to attend, and others require an admission fee. Even if you don’t buy anything, art fairs are fun to attend! They’re a great way to spend an afternoon outdoors, browsing art by local artists, listening to live music, and enjoying food from local vendors.
Feeling stuck on how to spruce up your bare walls? You can find a lot of inspiration by exploring a variety of places that sell art. Depending on where you go, you’ll see different art styles, and sometimes you’ll also see different ways to display art with furniture and accessories. In this third installment of Where to Buy Art, let’s take a look at consignment stores.
If you’re struggling with what kind of art to put on your walls, I’d suggest that the first step is strategic shopping trips. Depending on where you shop, you’ll find a different subset of all the wall art options to consider. Let’s tailor your shopping excursions to your tastes!
In the first article of this series on Where to Buy Art, I talk about the kinds of art you’re likely to find at a home store. Now let’s talk about antique store art.
A lot of online forum commenters ask, “What do I put on my walls?” While it might be interesting to talk about the different styles of art out there, it probably isn’t a very practical answer to this question. So let’s talk instead about the various places you might go to buy art and what you’re most likely to find there. (You can also have a look at my videos on what to do with empty walls both here and here!)
In this first article, let’s visit the home store. (In subsequent articles, we’ll visit several other places you can shop for art.) This may be a furniture store or a big box store with a furniture section.
A traditional way to treat a bay window seat is with a seating cushion fitted to the bay window shape. But what if you already have plenty of seating and you want to do something different and unexpected with your bay window? Here are some ideas you can use as a springboard for your own brainstorming:
Continue reading “8 Outside-the-Box Ways to Decorate a Bay Window”
Rugs are a great place to start building a room design. They help define conversation areas, they can separate functional areas, and they make open-concept floor plans feel more practical. But what if you’re decorating a casual family room? Won’t a rug make it feel formal? Not necessarily. Let’s look at some casual options.
Note: This list is primarily intended to give you ideas for creating a casual look. It is not intended as a comprehensive discussion of rug types, construction, quality, and care.
Curtains are a great way to introduce color and texture to a room while also giving it more visual height. But what if you’re worried that adding curtains will turn your casual living room into a dark and stuffy Victorian parlor? You also don’t want to fall for the quick fix of putting up cheap, flimsy curtains in a hasty attempt to maintain a casual appearance; this can draw attention to your curtains for all the wrong reasons.
Do you have a dining table that looks ready to host a board room meeting and can’t loosen up for pizza night or a chat over coffee? Here are five simple, affordable ideas to help your dining room look less strait-laced.
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When your home has a dedicated dining room, and you live a casual lifestyle, it can feel detached, like a lost room of sorts. So how can you make your dining room look more integrated with the rest of your home? One option is simply to repurpose your dining room for an entirely different function—as a library or a family game room, for example. You can check out a video I made about that here. But if you’re just looking for ways to make your dining room feel less stiff and intimidating, the answer might be to soften the wall space.
Continue reading “8 Ideas for Casual Dining Room Wall Decor”
