Looking for a few 1-2
hour projects to tackle this weekend to create a custom look for your outdoor
space? Check out the ideas below for fab
ways to jumpstart your outdoor look as we finally spring into Spring!

So, ladies and gentlemen, it has been a cold winter. Fun for skiing and sledding, occasionally
pretty to look at, but I think we all can agree that it is time winter has left
the region. For me, the official close
to our arctic temperatures and icy walks is not the moment I put away the snow
shovel, but instead, the reappearance of our front porch, open for
business. But what if the grand opening
of this seasonal room feels a little, shall we say, lack-luster?

As most of my loyal blog followers know, I am a bit obsessed
with our front porch. For years while
travelling as a military family I had grand fantasies about having a front
porch to call my own, and then of course we moved to Saratoga, the Porch
Capital of the Universe, and those dreams became a reality in the form of our
new old house. I have done posts on the
renovation of our porch in the past, and I stand by all of those decisions and
designs, but the one thing I’ve found with a seasonal space that reappears
after hibernating in the basement for the winter season is that sometimes some
sprucing up is in order. When you pull
out the Christmas decorations, don’t you add a new ornament or two for a little
fun? When planning your summer
barbeques, don’t you find a few new recipes to spice things up? In the same
manner, your outdoor space benefits from a little nip and tuck each season to
keep it fresh and interesting. Also, smaller projects that only take a few hours at best can be fun and instantly
gratifying, so it is definitely worth it to carve a little time out of your
busy weekend to add the icing to your porch/deck/patio cake. Below are a few such projects to
tackle…simple, straightforward, and just what the season ordered .

Start a love affair
with spray paint. Outdoor furniture takes quite a beating from the
elements, so sometimes the best place to start is by sprucing up your existing
pieces with a little dose of spray paint.
I love my black faux wicker couch and chaise, as well as our
end-of-season clearance metal bistro set, but everything does look a bit dingy
when it comes out to play each spring.
To combat this, I wiped them down with a damp cloth, then spray a light
coat of black paint over everything and suddenly it feels bright and new. A few
tips to keep in mind–make sure the paint you use is the same style finish as
your original paint (this is in a matte sheen), and be sure to look at your
finished piece after it dries from several angles to make sure the new coat is even and blends. This is the type of touch-up that most of
your guests won’t notice right away, but it will enhance the entire look you
have put together.

If you are in the mood for a more involved project, swing by
your neighborhood yard sales this spring and look for easily paintable pieces
that will compliment your design to add new interest to your space. Our porch has always needed a few more
surfaces that could be easily moved around for drinks, to set a book down,
etc., so these nesting tables, $9.00 each, looked shabby in their original
state but definitely fit the bill. After
several light coats of fire engine red enamel, they take on new life and look
like something that has always graced our outdoor space -just a little addition
for a big impact.

Customize your floor
coverings to suit your style. Ever
buy the plain rug/decorative item because it was less expensive, but really
want the more custom/pricey piece instead?
Purchasing a neutral option doesn’t always have to feel like settling–especially
when it comes to area rugs and door mats for your outdoor oasis. Floor coverings, from wool tufted pieces to
sisal surfaces, take latex paint very well and therefore can be customized to
suit whatever color palette you might envision when you walk out your
door. This area rug was originally a
very simple rectangular design in a natural woven tone with a black outline,
but by simply adding a red line into the border, it all of a sudden feels like
a custom item to fit this space. The
door mat is a beloved new home gift, but over the past few years, the monogram
had faded to a rather unattractive gray lavender color. By covering the faded tone with the signature
red we’ve incorporated on the front porch, this high traffic area is given new
life. A few tips to keep in mind…always
test your paint in an obscure area or on the back of the rug to make sure it
won’t bleed when you apply it, and if your floor covering is a few years old,
avoid an overly bright shade of the accent color you are adding–if your color
is too bright, it will be obvious that your just tacked it on after the fact.

Delete from your
color palette instead of adding. We often see design gurus instruct the
rest of us wannabes to add a new color to your design to give it fresh life, but
what if this time you instead deleted a color or two? Minimizing your color
palette is a really cool way of sharpening the hues you have left. Even though I had already introduced red ,
black , and white to our front porch, I also had a smathering of navy blue in
the mix, and the occasional spring green accent, thinking it would make the
space feel homey and comfortable. By disciplining my choices and adding
interest through pattern and texture instead of additional colors this season,
I find I really like the crispness of these three colors playing off each
other. It is also very striking from
the street, which is an important element to decorating an outdoor space that
we all sometimes forget. So for this
project, my best suggestion would be to add and delete until you get the tight
color scheme you like while standing in the middle of your space, then observe
it from the sidewalk or the yard, a distance away, and see if you still like
the statement you are making!

Take a new trend and
make it your own. Every few months, a new trend or two will emerge in
fashion or design, and let’s face it, we all want to give something a try to
keep our vision interesting. One such
trend is color blocking, where a few strong colors are used next to one another
in a simple style to contrast starkly with one another. In home décor, this has resulted in lots of silhouettes
on pillows, artwork, fabric–often featuring birds, coral, and other natural
items. So how do you take these designs
and make them unique to where you live and what you like? For me, being in the center of horse and
track country, the obvious choice was to go equine, and with an inexpensive
wool blanket, felt, embroidery floss, and some fabric paint, a great project
emerged, low on sweat equity and high on style. Of course the possibilities here are
endless…what would you like to see featured in your outdoor space? Whatever it might be, give this one a try and
see what subject you can come up with!

Everything old can be
new again…with just a little imagination. Remember what I mentioned above
about fun trends? Well, the one downside to trends is they tend to fade away as quickly as they have arrived. So how do you reinvent an item you like into
something that still works now that a new season has begun? This project is a great example of how a
little imagination and a few scrap materials can result in a great new piece.

This tray and these coasters began life as functional photo
frames, but then after a while it seemed like everyone had them and they were
no longer interesting and unique (kinda like those collage photo frames from
college…). By mounting several of the
fabrics from the pillows on the porch inside the mat, the notion of the photo
display has been altered to something fresh and new. For the coasters, a cropped notecard and a
vintage postcard from a local tag sale give these staples from the past few
years new life. Success!

So there you have it–a few projects to experiment with that just
might make your porch shine as you start spring.
What other things do you do to freshen up your outdoor space each
season? Please use the comment area to
share your ideas! J

Many times when I discuss renovating a room or making a home
décor change with a friend who is not as addicted to DIY as I am, the conversation
sets course for the concept of visualizing a final product. “You are so lucky–I just can’t picture how it
will look” or something similar is a phrase I have often heard. Some people are a whiz with numbers (I won’t
be doing our family taxes any time soon), or have a photographic memory (did I
mention the “forgot password?” function on every website was probably created
because of me?), but my minor superpower is that I can take a look at a piece
of fabric and a couple of paint samples and picture in my head how it is all
going to come together. This skill isn’t
going to cure any diseases or create world peace, unless the United Nations needs
a makeover of course, but it does come in handy when decorating a room. Most of the time, that is.

The point of contention with such a characteristic is
sometimes when you have a picture in your mind of the fabulous magazine layout
your room is about to become, it is difficult to switch gears when your plan
goes woefully awry. Being highly
invested in the outcome in your head takes commitment, but what if you
committed to the wrong thing? Can you
divorce your original plan in favor of a new one without regrets or a need for
therapy?

With that in mind, when we last left our fireplace makeover
the brassy firebox and nasty brick had been replaced with a classic black box
and a crisp white painted brick front, which had gone a long way to turning
this eyesore into a positive focal point in our living room. Painting the brick felt huge, so I thought
the tough stuff on this project had been tackled, and the beautiful Carrera marble
subway tiles and metallic accent wallpaper would be the easy icing on this
design cake. I started with the
wallpaper, the one material of the two that I had previous experience with, and
was sure it would be a two-hour task that would result in something fabulous. It was four pieces of wallpaper…how hard
could it be?

Wallpaper makes a lot of people nervous, and I can
understand why. It can be a bit pricey
and tricky, but the projects I had done in the past had taught me that as long
as you took wallpapering step-by-step and didn’t panic, you usually ended up with a great looking
final product. Bubbles can be smoothed,
seams can be flattened, and there is quite a bit of play once you get a piece
up on the wall, so it has been my experience that it can be more forgiving than
it appears. This time I underestimated
one facet of my material though that I thought would be an asset, but instead
became its downfall–the shiny factor.

Flat finish paint exists because the less shiny a surface
is, the harder it is to see all the imperfections. The reflectiveness of a surface can even
change the color of an object depending on the lighting in the room as
well. These facts created the perfect
storm with my exciting accent paper–not only did every seam and ripple stand
out like a sore thumb, but the fact that the lighting in the room was shining
upward at the surface, the beautiful design I had been so attracted to was
completely washed out. It didn’t matter
whether the sunlight was coming in the windows on one side, or the lamps in the
room were giving off a warm glow at a lower level…the results I had so etched
as a success in my brain were disastrous in real life.

So what’s a girl to do when her wallpaper fails her? Although the thought made me a bit sick to my
stomach, I knew what had to happen–the offending element had to come down. Luckily, my lovely children thought ripping
wallpaper off a wall sounded like an awesome afternoon task, so in no time it
all, my lovely metallic medallion paper sat in a damp heap on the living room
floor.

I still wanted a little Liberace above the hearth though, so
it was time to dust myself off, put on my big girl panties and search for another
solution. So I bought myself a latte and spent an hour up at the Wilton Home
Depot in the paint aisle, ending up where I always do when a truly challenging
design dilemma presents itself…in front of the Martha Stewart section. As I have said before, she may have served
time, but she knows her home décor. I
settled on two different elements to create the look I was hoping for–a quart
of flat slate gray paint, and a small jar of metallic accent paint that would
normally be used for a piece of furniture, etc.
The combination of the two colors and a vertical dry-brush technique
(essentially painting the flat base coat, then using a large brush with a small
amount of metallic accent paint on it that I dragged in straight lines from top
to bottom) resulted in the look of distressed metal, which gives me the shine I
was hoping for, as well as an interesting texture that gives whatever is
displayed on the mantel a significant presence it didn’t have before when the
plaster wall was simply white. Also, it
feels a tad bit modern compared to the wood built-ins on either side and the
coffered ceiling up above, creating that eclectic combination of old and new that
is our style throughout the house.

And what about those lovely Carrera tiles? Compared to the wallpaper they ended up being
an easy embellishment to add, although I will say that picking a vertical
tiling project as my first foray into floaters and grout may have been a bit
ambitious. Luckily it was a small space
to cover and the sheets of tile I used required very little cutting, so with
the help of online instructions and my very patient neighborhood mason friend,
I ended up with just the touch of tile I was looking for, and with the hints of
gray throughout, they tied the decorative metallic paint into a completed
project I am now very proud to have as part of our home.

So is change hard?
Definitely. Worthwhile? Absolutely.
And in the end, after all that was involved with this fireplace
makeover, did I stay true to the character of the house, the needs of our
family, and the flavor of the vision I had at the very beginning of this
makeover? I’d like to think so. Or maybe, in the end, when you take the time
to analyze what works and what definitely doesn’t, you might end up with
something even better than you could have imagined. J

So there is a reason you have never seen a blog post from me
that details the renovation of our living room.
Sure, pillows have been highlighted, shelf displays have been explained,
but there has never been a full-fledged, all-and-out feature on the room we
probably spend most of our time in (except for the kitchen, which you won’t see
for a while until I can get rid of that darn off-white oven…!). And the reason why? Our awful, dated fireplace.

At first, we were just excited to have a fireplace at
all. It had been years since we had
enjoyed evenings by a warm fire, and we were thrilled to finally have the
opportunity to enjoy such an occasion again.
However, after the original
honeymoon phase of acquiring our hearth, we found ourselves looking a little
more closely at what we had and realizing that it wasn’t all that…well…attractive. We had gotten rid of the pink accent wall
that originally highlighted the upper portion of the wall, but the mantle still
felt insignificant, the firebox still occasionally leaked smoke, and the brick
was just plain ugly.

So many things were going right in our living room…but even the most interesting accessories couldn’t keep our fireplace from being totally wrong. Years of smoke staining couldn’t be removed, and the brass was just plain bad!

At one point, soon after we had moved into our imperfectly
perfect old house, I remember standing out in the front yard and gazing
lovingly up at the brick facade of our home, wishing that willpower alone would
turn the brick surrounding the fireplace inside into a similar aged stone beauty…but
to no avail. Wiping, brushing, and
scrubbing using a variety of masonry cleaning products also did not make a
difference at all, so I resigned myself to a life of fireplace dissatisfaction
until the budget fairy might come and visit.
That is, until the brassy-metal firebox fell out of the fireplace and
nearly broke my husband’s foot.

It is said that necessity is the mother of invention, and in
the world of home décor addiction that I inhabit, this takes on a slightly new
twist…because nothing moves a potential design project to the top of the priority
list like a major repair or replacement (hmmm…that gives me a few ideas about
that oven…). So once it became painfully
(no pun intended, honey) clear that we needed a new metal box and door set, my
mind began to work as how to make this replacement a mini-renovation. First, a mental obstacle to overcome–it was
time to take a risk and make a big change as far as the brick, without breaking
the budget and as all my fellow decorators know, the best way to do so is with
a can of paint.

While this seemed like a simple and obvious choice, the
psychological challenge was being okay with painting a natural element. Ever hear the gasp most people make when you
mention painting wood molding white? The
same goes for stone and brick. In a
perfect world, every brick wall would be classic and beautiful, every stone façade
would be perfect in its natural state of being…but this is the real world, and
our brick was just plain nasty looking.
In order to make the painting feel like less of a mortal sin, I went
with a classic white. Not only was the
process a very easy one (make sure the surface is nice and clean, use a
not-so-expensive brush so you can smush it into all of the corners and crevices
without worry, and assume you will need at least two coats), but the results were better than expected. The dull, stained brick was a distant memory,
and the new crisp, white surface helped lighten a major wall in the room
tremendously. I also had a very generous
and talented masonry friend help me use concrete to smooth out the surface of a
small inset in the brick to prep it for a tile installation just below the
mantle, which I was sure would also add interest and sparkle to my makeover.

As far as the new firebox, gone was the dated brass monster
that harkened back to the days of Dynasty and Dallas (old one, not the new
one), and in its place we opted for a flat finish black front that feels
timeless. The bronze finishes were
interesting since chocolate brown is an accent in the room, and brushed nickel
is always a go-to in my book, but I like that this finish feels like it has
longevity while the others might tend to be trends the tire quickly for
something as significant as a fireplace.
We also added a fire back–a heavy metal sheet that leans against the
back of the fireplace behind where the fire burns and helps push the heat into
the room–which not only looks great with a vintage design engraved on it, but
also adds a functional bonus to the makeover.

Of course I was at this point flying high on my successes so
far. The paint looked great, the firebox
fantastic…so where to go from here? I
created a design plan that felt foolproof.
A little Carrera marble, a beautifully designed metallic wallpaper for
an unexpected accent, and a mid-winter school break to make it all come
together. And did it? Tune in next time to find out! J

Are you a furniture hoarder?
Sounds rather severe and the potential topic of a cable reality show,
but that really describes any of us (and I could be the president of this
club!) that see a piece of furniture that might be a no-longer-needed, hand-me-down,
yard sale find/side-of-the-road treasure and scoops it up like a winning
lottery ticket, knowing that with a little creativity, whatever has been
discovered can become a home décor gem.

One thing I would like to point out is that to enjoy this
type of hoarding, you need to know your own potential for furniture makeovers. For example, I consider myself to be somewhat
handy when it comes to basic carpentry and hardware, but I am well aware that
if a dumpster delight is not sturdy/stable, there is not much I can do for
it. I can use a mitre saw, a staple gun,
and a screwdriver, but don’t know enough about furniture construction to make
major additions and alterations to a piece for secure structural soundness
(although I do have a fabulous neighbor who happens to be an architect/middle
school tech-shop teacher who stills takes my calls, so that’s something to
consider…J). My meaning is that when you look at a potential
project, evaluate your vision: is it
cosmetic, structural, or a little or a lot of both? Whatever the answer might be, make sure you
have the knowledge and skills, the resources(personal or professional), and/or
the budget to make this piece a success before you put it into the back of your
car.

Sometimes this hobby/obsession can result in basements and
garages overflowing with “unlimited potential” (much to the chagrin of your
spouse who might not share your vision), but the upshot of such endeavors could
be a wonderful, unique piece that gives your house interest and identity. To that point, here are a few of my own
furniture projects that highlight different ways to use your energy and
materials to get the look you want:

Use Paint…This desk started out life as my husband’s childhood
bedroom desk, and it had all of the 70’/early 80’s woodgrain flair of the era
to go along with it. At first I thought
that it might be a bit of a dated lost cause, but then I realized that the main
elements that made it 80’s chic were the shape of the handles and the front
panels of the drawers. By painting the
entire piece a bright turquoise to match my middle school daughters’ room and
using fabric covered and padded foam core board panels to cover the diagonal
woodgrain, this desk went from sad to sassy with just the cost of a can of
paint and a few leftover scraps from other projects. And sandpaper…because the main priority to
consider when you are evaluating an item for a paint makeover is that it has type
of finish that paint will play nice with.
Because of this, when I get the hankering to paint, I eliminate any
furniture that has a high gloss finish, sticking to metal (to spray paint) or
wood (to brush paint) pieces that can handle a layer of paint and look good for
the foreseeable future when finished.

Use Wallpaper…This table was actually brand-new when I found it
(a $ 29.00 Ikea staple) but had no personality to speak of. It was unfinished pine so I sanded it lightly
and used a solid black stain to cover the top and legs, then found a
discontinued roll of black and white wallpaper to jazz up the front panel. Decoupage glue provided the right adhesion
(and a coat on top of the paper sealed it from stains, etc.), and by wrapping
the wallpaper around the bottom lip of the board it covers , there isn’t any
seam that can be seen for the outside.
This type of treatment could be created using fabric, scrapbook paper…whatever
has a pattern that can provide interest and be securely adhered. And a little tip: use kraft paper or newspaper to make a
template of the surface you want to cover before cutting into your pretty
wallpaper…it will definitely make things easier and cut out the waste you will
incur if you go rogue with the good stuff.
Also, when you need to cover a rounded
edge or surface, make a series of small cuts in your paper before gluing so
that you can get a tight wrap around your surface and the paper can slightly
overlap itself so there aren’t any ripples or bubbles that can be seen after
you are finished with your masterpiece.

Use Fabric…Upholstery can sometimes be intimidating, but it is
a great solution for a piece of furniture with great lines but an undesirable finish. This wingback chair had been in my parents’
living room for a decade before it came to my house, and although it was
covered in a solid light blue fabric, which is relatively neutral, it was badly
in need of a punch of pattern. In this
case I had a seamstress help me out with a new cover, but it is definitely
doable to attempt a simple slipcover on your own–simply pin your fabric around
the curves of your piece inside out, then carefully slip the fabric off your
subject and sew everything together along the seams your pins have
created. Once you flip everything
inside-out and fit it back on, you can even use a staple gun to wrap the edges
around to the bottom of your chair, ottoman, etc. for a more defined look–this makes
it difficult to remove the cover for washing, but makes for a great final
finish.

Use a Professional…Along the same lines of knowing your
limitations when delving into a furniture makeover, it is important to know
when to call a professional to make your dream a reality. In the case of this beautiful dining room
table, it was a priority for my husband and I not to take any chances when
looking to transport this heirloom piece to its former, non-greenish glory
because it belonged to his grandmother.
It is important to note that professional furniture refinishing is not
an inexpensive option…this item ended up having a several thousand dollar price
tag…but when it comes to antiques and family treasures, it is worth the
effort. Be sure to get
references before commissioning such a project, and to tell the refinisher what
you plan to use the finished piece for and how durable it might need to be. In our case, in a household with three
children, a dog, and multiple uses for the dining room table, we requested a
strong sealant over the refinishing work to stand up to the demands of our
daily life!

So, now that you’ve heard and seen the low-down on
transforming furniture into a showpiece for your home, it’s time to find a
project of your own to experiment on. Best of luck with your hoarded soon-to-be
treasures…be fearless, and have fun!

Sometimes going a
little more old than new during the holiday season is a perfect fit for your
historical home…

Let’s make one thing perfectly clear–I really like things
that are sparkly and shiny (and that’s not even a thinly veiled hint about what
I’d like for Christmas!). Usually my
Christmas stamp includes glittery glass ornaments in containers of all sizes, a
mixture of shiny metals, white pillar candles flickering throughout, and lots
and lots of stars. And while the inside
of our perfectly imperfect Saratoga home includes all of these elements that
have evolved into what Christmas looks like for our family, this year I felt a
strong urge to bring a little history and vintage charm to our holiday décor,
and the front porch seemed to be the perfect place to try a little something
new with a little something old.

Changing your holiday style, even within the confines of
just one part of your home, can be a somewhat challenging. Whether we consciously realize it or not, I
think most of us have a strong sense of attachment to the traditions we have
developed over the years, and although it is fun to mix things up, it takes a
certain amount of discipline to create a new look. By editing what you have, being creative with
what you use, and focusing your efforts on a series of visual vignettes in your
space, you may find that the challenge is worth the effort it takes to go out
on a limb and take a risk.

Edit, Edit, Edit. One of the first steps in trying a new
look is deciding that it is okay to take some of your tried and
true decorations and embellishments and put them back in storage for next year.
If you are really trying to sell a style
in a place like your front entryway, it is important to stick to one theme to
make it work, but don’t be surprised if someone in your house has a hard time setting some of the favorites aside
for the season in pursuit of your new vision. In my house, some of my harshest critics of
this type of “editing” are my children, who, as hoarders-in-training, often can’t
bear to not be surrounded by every single decoration they find in the numerous
storage bins labeled “Christmas” that take over our basement. Keeping my new vision to just one section of
the house such as the front porch appears to appease them, and then I also often
compromise by letting them use some of my sidelined decorations to decorate
their bedrooms as well…and since this keeps them busy while I putter around outside
with my new project, everybody wins!

Use What You Have. Once everyone is settled down and willing to
accept that Mom is messing around with the decorations again for the hundredth time,
it is time to get down to work. When I
approach seasonal decorating, especially vintage, nostalgic décor, I tend not
to buy too much new, or rely on items that specifically scream yuletide…
instead I go shopping at home to find antiquey pieces that will come together
to create the look I’m after. This year,
I started with a cream and red plaid wool horse blanket I came across at the
Washington County Antique Fair and Flea Market back in August. Hand appliqued with the name “Lucky” on each
side, it looks great on the bed in our guest room the rest of the year, but for
December, it seemed like a perfect vintage fit for the red rocking chair next
to our front door. An old, outgrown pair
of ice skates (found in the garage) slung over it on one side of the chair also
brings age and authenticity to the scene, and then this pairing is balanced by
the vintage Speedway sled that my parents found at a yard sale ages ago for me.

Make a Series of Small
Scenes that Work Together. Next, I
wanted to tackle the porch swing, which isn’t used for seating much this time
of year due to the chilly weather. Because of this, I covered it with greenery
(two big bunches from Bob’s Trees did the trick for this area as well as the
other touches of greenery on the porch), then set out the antique horn that my grandfather
hung over his fireplace for years that my Dad had recently given me. I loved
the look but wanted a little color to make it pop, so I weighted down a few
boxes with leftover bricks and wrapped them with classic black, white, red, and
brown papers, setting them on the swing as if someone had just stopped by to
drop off a present or two, and that was just enough to make this area feel
finished.

My next “vignette” occurred by the milk box–I used the
vintage bottle holder I bought my husband on ebay for toting beer to
neighborhood gatherings and set mini wine carafes inside it filled with faux
snow to look like old milk bottles. Set
on a bed of greenery, it was just enough to give a classic touch to a
functional fixture. Galvanized buckets
with more greenery and the lighted branches from our backyard pizza fundraiser
added to the rustic-ness of the design.

To finish everything off I added a plain tree to the porch
with a canvas drop cloth as a tree skirt–no ornaments, just white lights–to carry
the simple yet classic design across the entire space. With more white lights hanging off the porch
roof and in the buckets flanking the steps, the vintage winter scene felt
complete (now if only we had a little snow…).

So with some careful editing, use of found items, and a
series of visual vignettes to set the stage, I feel like this take on a holiday
with history is a success. Ever try a
new theme or style in your home holiday décor?
It is worth the effort and the risk to keep your home feeling fresh,
interesting, and in my case, a little new with a pleasing punch of old. And that shiny and sparkly that I naturally gravitate
to? Well, white lights are pretty bright
and twinkly, so…Happy Holidays! J

Sure, the food and company are important, but…let’s make it look pretty, too!

So this Thanksgiving, I issued a little challenge to my
friends and family: in the midst of guests coming and going, turkeys roasting
and potatoes mashing, while everyone in the living room is hopefully minimizing
the holiday drama, take a few moments and snap a shot or two of your table
centerpiece, then forward your fabulousness along to yours truly.

This may sound like a simple task, but considering all of
the hubbub a holiday can involve, I wasn’t sure how many would actually have a
chance to honor my request, but I will say, the responses I did receive made me
pretty impressed with the company I keep (if I do say so myself!). One of the great things about what I have to
share with you is that the lessons learned from these creations do not only
apply to the lovely holiday of Thanksgiving, but also can be used as we prepare
for the many decorating challenges found in the month of December. So without further ado…a few things to keep
in mind when staging a special occasion table that sparkles…

Form versus function…maintaining the balance. Ever attend a formal event and gasp at the
humongously gorgeous centerpieces found at each table, then spend the rest of
the night unable to talk to the guest seated across from you because you can’t
even see who it is? Centerpieces can be
lovely and creative, but if they hinder conversation or do not leave you with
enough room for, I dunno, food on your table, they aren’t successful. The solution is either to go high but
clear/transparent so everyone can still converse, low so no one’s view is
obstructed (perfectly exemplified with my brother and sister-in-law’s colorful
mini vases), or, the way I usually choose, do something big and bodacious, then
remove part of it for the actual meal. A
bit of the best of both worlds!

Give tradition a twist.
These days, there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to holiday
decorating. Open any home magazine currently being sold by the checkout counter
and you will find holiday design that reaches far beyond the limits of
tradition décor…Thanksgiving isn’t confined to mums and pumpkins, just like
Christmas beauty can go well past red and green, and sometimes a simple twist
on tradition is just what’s needed to keep your celebration fresh and
interesting. My fab friend Heidi proves
this with her centerpiece, which doesn’t involve any rust or orange, but
instead pulls on different shades of olive green and dusty pink to create a
Fall feel. Not sure you want to completely
throw tradition aside this year? There’s
no need to…just introduce one new color or texture and see how everything
evolves.

Reflect who you are in what you create. This is of course the addendum to trying
something new…while that philosophy is all well and good, don’t go so far in
one direction that your decorating no longer reflects who you are and how you live. One year I decided to try completely changing
my look, table and beyond, for Christmas, and went strictly with a blue, cream,
and brown color scheme, with ocean and seashell accents. I boxed up half my holiday décor, and even
went religiously through the ornaments and picked out only the ones that made
the cut with my new plan. What did I end
up with? A lovely design, but also small
children crying over their red reindeer ornaments being banned from the tree
and a house that didn’t really look like ours.
So, what was the solution? The next year my dining room was a beautiful
sea of brown and blue, while the rest of the house was a compromise of old and
new…think red shiny balls next to white starfish–and it still changed things
up, looked great and most importantly, no one cried.

Take a chance and visit the world beyond flowers. What are some of the most memorable table
displays you have ever seen? Chances are
they involved something other than flowers.
My creative friend Lori had a flowery wreath surrounding her main
display this year, but the items that really catch your eye are the mason jars
filled with candy corn and candles, which completely suit her vintage, cottagey
style. In the same way, this year I went
for rectangular plates of moss and fruit, metallic cups filled with berries and
herbs, and in the center, a matted frame surrounding a quote from Charlie Brown’s Thanksgiving special. Different? Sure. Something that made me smile that I will do
again? Definitely!

So hopefully this little sharing lesson gives you a chance
to think about your own tablescapes for the coming season. Once you consider your needs, have a little
fun within your comfort zone, and introduce some unique materials to your
holiday décor. With a little ingenuity,
you too can have a show-and-tell-worthy display to call your own. J

What would ever persuade
you to host a party in a week for over 100 guests? Good friends and a great cause…and here’s how
we did it!

For the record, this week’s post was going to be about my
son’s bedroom makeover. Or how to
decorate the perfect Thanksgiving table for your guests. Or the 10 don’ts when
it comes to decorating. Never in a
million years did I expect this week’s addition to Designing Saratoga to be
last-minute party planning for guests in the triple-digits. So how in the world did it end up being just
that?

It all began with a text from close neighborhood friends of
ours who have hearts of gold and a firm foundation from being brought up in New
Jersey. Like so many of us, they were seeing the footage and news reports out
of New York City and New Jersey and hearing horror stories from friends and
relatives in the area about just how bad the conditions were south of us after Hurricane
Sandy. In light of everything that has
been taking place, Dil and Sherri wanted to do something to help those who had lost
everything…they just needed a place to do it. And our deceptively big backyard
ended up being just the spot.

Like most endeavors, it didn’t start out on a grand
scale. Originally I think we all thought
this would end up being a group of friends getting together on a Saturday night
and enjoying good company for a great purpose.
Once things began rolling though, it turned into an all-out celebration
that raised over $3,000 for our NJ/NY neighbors. So how did we get our act together to make it
all happen? Here’s a few of the
highlights:

Use Our Age of
Technology to get the Word Out. Many
of us shudder at the way social networking sites and electronic messaging have
taken over our lives to a certain extent, but in this case, we used Facebook,
Twitter, email, and everything in between to get the word out for our
event. Holding it outside also made this
realistically possible because we could handle a large crowd without worry , so
mass marketing didn’t backfire on us.

Our setting…two yards made cozy with firepits and casual seating, most of which came in the form of our collective porch furniture that was simply moved out back for everyone to enjoy.

Provide Everyone with
Options for How to Help. Since we knew we were putting our event out to
everyone on short notice, it was important to give our target audience options
for how to participate. In light of
this, if friends wanted to participate but couldn’t get a sitter, or had other
plans for the evening, they could swing by the hour before the party and pick
up a pre-ordered cheese or pepperoni pizza to go. Others who couldn’t attend
offered random donations, which we enthusiastically accepted. By being flexible, we gave everyone
interested a way to be a part of what we were planning.

Decorating wasn’t fancy, but rather fun–readily available pumpkins were carved to suit the occasion, and paper bag luminaries lined the driveways to let everyone know where to go to join the party. Since everything was last-minute, a running list of local business donors by the sign-in table let everyone know who was involved.

Don’t be Afraid to
ask for Help. One of the biggest
lessons we all learned from this endeavor is that sometimes when you need help,
all you have to do is ask. Once we
started to talk to local businesses about what we had in mind, they jumped at
the chance to help out with our event.
Donations came in the form of pizza ingredients, ice, additional
refreshments, even a port-a-john (it was 100 people after all!)…and not only
did business owners rise to the occasion to help us out, but gave us more than what
we asked for in most cases once they heard about our plans. The other group of individuals that were
integral to this successful celebration were our neighbors, who immediately
offered contributions at every level.
Before we knew it the party had been extended gladly into the backyard
next door, we had five firepits arranged for everyone to enjoy,the pizza was
complimented by sides and salads, a lavish dessert table was put together for
our guests, we had staff in the form of volunteer bartenders, pizza runners, and
check-in table personnel, a drop-off for needed supplies was arranged for those
who wanted to donate items as well as cash…every avenue was covered by our dear
friends and neighbors who didn’t hesitate to jump in and make this event a
memorable one.

The dessert table, a big hit. Decorating was simple, in the form of numerous white candles, more carved pumpkins, and branches anchored in clear glass vases filled with sand and kosher salt. Fresh flowers would have wilted in the cold air, so branches collected for backyards and leaf piles in the neighborhood were combined with faux LED-lit branches purchased at Target, giving the tables both height and extra light.

Some of the stars of the show–the firepits our neighbors graciously lent us for the evening. A great place to congregate, they also provided needed warmth on our chilly but clear November evening.

Having an event involving so many people meant making it easy for everyone to come in and join the party. A welcome table gave guests an opportunity to make their donations when they first arrived. This guest registry created by Sherri gave us a chance to make a record of everyone who came and went.

So there you have it…a 100-guest event in 7 days. Whew. So, along with everything else that was
involved, we of course needed to add a little décor and design to the mix to
add the jewelry to an already sparkling evening, which I hope you will enjoy as
well. But the moral of this week-long
tale might be that with a bit of effort, and a lot of help, if you plan it,
they will come. What a wonderful
testament to who we all are in the world…that in giving to others, we receive
more than we could ever ask for. J

Does hosting a kid’s
Halloween party scare the pants off of you? Here’s a few tricks to turn your
celebration into a spookily good time for everyone involved!

I have a bit of a mom secret I won’t admit to just anyone on
the sidelines of the playground: I
actually like having at-home kid parties.
That’s right…while most of my parenting compadres avoid on-premise kid
parties like the plague, I actually look forward to the planning and execution
of such celebrations. It’s not because I
have more patience (hardly!), or am clinically insane (well…possibly), but more
so that over the years I have picked up a few tricks of the trade that, when employed,
seem to make a kid event actually enjoyable for party planners and partygoers
alike.

So when my 8-year old son decided that he wanted to have a
Halloween party to celebrate his fall birthday this year, I took on this party challenge
with the same gusto I like to implement when I tackle a room makeover, and
falling back on my bag of tricks from previous parties, I have to say that I’m
pretty pleased with the ghoulish results.
So what do I keep in mind to make an occasion fun for everyone from 8 to
adult? Here’s a few things to consider:

Involve the whole
family (and the neighborhood!) in your efforts. While it’s fun to come up with creative decorations,
activities, and treats on your own for a special occasion, there really is no
reason to do all of the work yourself.
When you take a risk and ask for help, you often times end up with
resources for your event that you might never have imagined were
available. Who knew our Boy Scout
leaders had a fog machine we could borrow?
Or our neighborhood friends would be willing to lend us their animated
Dracula and their middle schooler for
the afternoon? Or that my husband does a
fantastic mad scientist impression? So,
in light of this, party sanity tip #1 is to outsource!

Know your
limitations, and stick to them. When
planning a party for a group of 8-year olds, it is important to recognize that
everyone has a different comfort level that early on needs to be seriously
considered. Does your sanity only stay
intact if your adult/kid ratio stays low?
Do you need to make your guest list only girls or only boys? Can you handle one hour of festivities, or
two? Whatever your answer to these questions might be, put those parameters in
place and don’t adjust them. For me, I
can handle 15 guests, but they can’t invade my entire house without me losing
my mind. Because of this, our party was
restricted to the back yard, the basement, and a portion of the main floor of
the house…dicely because it means being a bit weather-reliant, but I was
willing to take that risk!

Plan your activities…then
add one more. Whether in a classroom
or our backyard, I always plan a party where I have a new activity every 10-15
minutes. This might seem like a lot, but
you really can never be sure how long or short a time something might hold your
pint-sized guests’ attention, and the last thing you want is to run out of to-dos
to keep the group occupied for the duration of your event. In light of this, our party schedule consisted
of a candy jar guessing game, goody bag decorating, pumpkin leaf bag relay
races, a skeleton scavenger hunt, a Halloween-themed lunch, the spooky science
lab, an eyeball egg toss, “The Wanna-Be Werewolf” puppet show, and crazy
costume awards. And our back-up
addition? Toilet paper wrapped mummies!

Keep things simple. Even though you might have a lot to do on
your list of party activities, everything you prepare does not have to be
complicated… in fact, sometimes, the simpler the prep, the more the kids enjoy
what takes place. For example, everyone
got out tons of energy out during the pumpkin leaf bag relay races, but the
only preparation involved was purchasing 5 orange trash bags from Price Chopper
and then raking leaves for 20 minutes to fill the bags the day before our party
(and let’s face it…the leaves had to be raked anyway, so might as well put them
to good use!!). Same for the mad
scientist lab–using the already spooky ambiance of our 86-year old basement and
an assortment of different sized glass jars, food coloring, and dollar store
items, we created a scientific laboratory with very little effort. Another simple addition that added tons of
impact? Green party light bulbs…everything
looks more Halloweeny when it’s green like a goblin!

Little details make a
big difference. Sometimes the best
party planning doesn’t cost a ton, or
take an extreme amount of time to employ…it’s the little touches that let our
guests (even the 2^nd grade ones!) know that we are glad they took
the time to celebrate with us. Look at
the little details as the bouquet of flowers on the nightside table, or the
handmade soaps in the hall bath–things that make those we welcome into our home
feel just that bit more special. In this
case, that might be the individually labeled, Halloween-themed items throughout
the party space (our pet rabbit isn’t really possessed, but it sure was a topic
of conversation among our guests!), the thank you included on the back of the simply
made but distinctively different costume awards that were handed out before
everyone went home, or the fun and festive marshmallow/pretzel skeletons used
as centerpieces on the party tables.
Some might think these details might be lost on a group of 8-year olds,
but I assure you that they notice almost everything…as
does the guest of honor, and imagine how special that makes him (or her) feel, knowing
that you would go the extra mile to make this party creative, unique, and just
plain fun. J

So set aside your fear and give an at-home kid party a try…it
just might be a treat that everyone will enjoy…especially you!

You have an old, not-so-attractive shed…your kids need a
place to hang out…combine the two and everyone wins!

We had only lived in our house for a week before the view
off the back porch began to irk me. The
bright green of the lawn, the classic picket fence, the aged patina of the brick
carriage house turned garage…and the previous owner’s shabby, not-so-chic
storage shed. While the rest of our house
had an aged, nostalgic quality I had already fallen in love with, the shed felt
as original and unique as any of the other storage units that line the parking
lot at the local Home Depot do.

Sheds are a tough home element to get excited about, because
unless you would like to spend your life savings, they usually are about as
utilitarian as it gets. On top of that,
if it is an old shed, but not a super-old shed, it has the unattractive
wear-and tear of 10 years of service as opposed to the charming rustic nature
of one that has been around since the Kennedy administration. The middle ground between customly built new and
charmingly quaint old is a no man’s land of design, and with all of the other
projects already mounting, the shed felt like a makeover indulgence I didn’t
have the time to tackle.

Then came a request from child #2. “The shed out back next to
the garage…can I have it?” Hmmm…an interesting notion…between the garage and
the basement we already (theoretically) had more than enough storage, the kids
could use a hangout spot (the graduation from a playhouse of their younger
years) and a project to work on, and I would be justified in “helping” and
improving my back yard view at the same time.
With this in mind, work began.

Initial improvements were made by my pint-sized project
manager and my father–roped in via email to come visit and add windows on
either side and to turn one of the two double doors into a dutch door. She also requested a clock, air conditioning,
and an under-the-counter refrigerator, but quickly reality set in and these
lofty goals were minimized. A random assortment of yard sale items were
collected and one afternoon of sibling painting crew effort resulted in some
progress, but the inside still felt a bit dark and dreary, and the outside a
little barn gone bad. And then the snow
came…and 4 months later, the view was unfortunately still…unfortunate.

As Spring emerged, there came a magical week at the end of
June where my teaching for the year ended and my children’s school calendar
still had a week to go, and I decided then and there to halt the wallpaper
removal in two rooms in the main house and abandon the trim painting on the
second floor to make this outbuilding overhaul a reality. The base had been built, so now it was time
to solve a few nagging problems and make everything pretty.

I started with the interior–whitewashed the walls to bring
light into the space, and painted the plywood floor gray to hide years of wear
and tear. Using wood crates and leftover
plywood from a previous project, I built a bench along the back wall that could
be used for seating or as a work/eating surface (not a fridge, but at least
refreshments from the main house had a place to sit!). A narrow shelf on one side was also
whitewashed and then the lower half of it curtained off to add color, softness,
and a place to hide toys, games, and occasionally a neighborhood child during a
game of hide-n-seek. Air conditioning
wasn’t an option, but the previous owner had wired for electricity, so a fan,
clock, and lighting were all installed.

When it came to color, the brighter the better, so three
Target shower curtains hide a multitude of sins and added pattern, and pillows
made out of beach towels and outdoor tablecloths brought comfort and
durability. The ceiling was dressed up simply with disposable plastic
tablecloths (in shades of blue to reflect the sky and make the ceiling feel
higher) and Japanese lanterns from the dollar store, and prints from old
calendars and posters were decoupaged onto canvas boards to serve as artwork.
On the floor we settled on a remnant of bright artificial grass that was soft
enough to flop on for a board game but durable enough to handle whatever might
be tracked in from the back yard.

More storage was added in the form of French buckets and a
store display shelf that was picked up for a song at a yard sale years ago, and
the added bonus was that the majority of the kid paraphernalia from the garage
now had a home in what was deemed “the clubhouse”.

Then it was time to have a little fun on the outside. I
decided to take my own advice from many blog posts ago and try out the house
colors I thought I might employ on the main house once our budget was ready, so
we used a deep gray for the siding and black for the trim, the result of which
I have fallen in love with. Using the
existing panel in the left side of the double door, I created a faux window
with paint, then used lathing strips for a window grid. Flower buckets, a hand-painted sign, metal
star, and coordinating landscaping completed the look, which for a simple shed
might have felt too fussy, but for the clubhouse, seems to fit.

So a year after my children claimed ownership, the clubhouse
had now become a group endeavor that has surpassed our expectations. I love my view, my children and their friends
love their privacy, and a lesson has been learned–even the simplest, saddest structure, with a bit of effort, can feel
pretty, charming, and personal. J