Tag: planning

Holiday Design: Add a Festive Flair to Your Home this Holiday Season

If you haven’t done so already, it’s time to pull out your collection of holiday décor – the bundles of tangled lights and boxes of ornaments and accessories that have been around longer than you can remember – and adorn your home for the season. This can be daunting I know unless you keep yourself on track and stick to a simple theme.

Accents can be frosty snow with clear sparkle, glittery silver, shimmery gold such as this ornament.

With that in mind, following are some simple decorating tips that can help add a festive flair to your holiday season:

  • Make it fun. Create a party among friends and family and invite them over for cocktails and hors d’oeuvre – let everyone have a hand in transforming your home.
  • Decide on three key elements: a sparkle factor, a color scheme and a theme. Sparkle accents can be frosty snow with clear sparkle, glittery silver, shimmery gold or a colorful sparkle. Next decide on two or three main colors. Lastly, dream up a theme such as “Winter in Montana” or “A Children’s Fantasy” or whatever strikes your fancy. Making these three key decisions in advance will help keep you on track.
  • The front door is an important focal point and, of course, sets the stage. Don’t hesitate to go all out with a beautiful wreath, ribbons, pinecones, garlands and more. This year we are planning to search for small- to medium-sized pinecones and spray them with white glitter. Incorporating pinecones into the bows adds a real sense of depth and a wonderful pine fragrance. In addition, drape a fresh cedar garland around the front door frame and intertwine it with twinkling white lights. When making your wreath be sure to add ribbons and small white lights. And don’t forget to hang mistletoe above the front door for extra fun.
  • Use the ribbon in your front door wreath as a continuing theme throughout your home. For example, last year we glued a 3” wide green and red plain ribbon to a 4” red velvet ribbon. We made up yards and yards of this double layered ribbon, so we had lots on hand as we decorated our home.
  • A wonderful aroma adds to the festive holiday feel. Place scented candles and plenty of potpourri throughout your home. Use lots of candles as they always infuse warmth and sparkle – key holiday elements.
  • Since candles can sometimes be expensive, gather and melt half-way burned candles of the same and re-make them into new holiday candles. I take square milk cartons, fill them with ice and then pour the melted hot wax into the cartons on top of the ice to create interest. Then tape off an inch or more at the base of the candle. Coat with white glue and roll the square candles in gold or silver glitter. Don’t forget to add the wick before you fill the cartons with ice!
Fresh flowers are an important element of your décor at any time of the year, but especially during the holiday season.

 

  • Fresh flowers add so much to any interior – especially during the holiday season. Create beautiful arrangements and centerpieces with roses, poinsettias, white chrysanthemums, tuber roses lilies and more. Always, always arrange with fresh evergreen, pinecones and shiny ornaments from last year’s Christmas tree.
  • Start a collection – e.g. nutcrackers, distinctive candles or Santa figurines and add to it each year. This will create family traditions and memories and enhance your holiday décor. For example, nestle nutcrackers in and among a garland atop your fireplace. Add twinkle lights or battery-operated candles for extra sparkle and shimmer.
A collection, such as nutcrackers or other figurines, adds interest to holiday décor. (Courtesy of The Grand Del Mar)

 

  • Ask those who will gather around your tree this season to write on a card a wish for themselves and for others. Put the cards into two colors of envelopes – one for each type of wish. In addition to ornaments, hang the colorful envelopes on the tree. Make sure each guest will be able to open one each of the colored envelopes. For an even more festive touch, reuse the front of old holiday cards and glue to the front of the colored envelopes.

Over the holidays, people tend to go all out with décor and accessories. I think this is wonderful – decorate for the season and have fun with it! But again, do stick to a singular theme and color scheme. While you want your home to be fun and festive, you don’t want to overwhelm.

 

Ornaments aren’t only for the tree. Try putting an assortment in a bowl or adding to evergreen and garland. (Courtesy of The Grand Del Mar)

What are your favorite holiday traditions, shops and/or decorating tips?  During the holidays, I love to shop at Dandelion on Potrero and Sue Fisher King on Sacramento – both in San Francisco.

I would love to hear from you!  Take pictures please, and post to my Facebook page.

 

 

The Key To Good Design: Find a Fabric You Love!

I’m often asked, “How do you design a room”? or “How do you begin the design process? It seems so difficult!”

It’s really quite simple.

The style of the fabrics is vital to determining the design of the room

 

I begin by finding a “key” fabric I love. I determine if the design theme will be contemporary or traditional, and then work carefully with the fabric’s style and color palette. In essence the “key” fabric becomes the driving force and foundation behind the room’s overall design.

If the fabric is a solid color, I will find other fabrics – solids or patterns – that are complementary, creating a comprehensive color palette that includes two cool colors and one warm color or vice versa. Next, I locate a neutral colored fabric, so I am working with at least three colors and one neutral.

The style of the fabrics I select is vital to determining the design of the room – and whether it will ultimately be contemporary, traditional or transitional.

Begin the design process by finding a key fabric you love

Once the color scheme as a whole is settled, I begin to assemble other complementary fabrics – with an ideal selection of at least three dozen or more fabrics from which to choose. After I have finalized the fabrics, I lay the swatches on a white (so not to confuse or prejudice the coloration for the room) table or large white poster board.

With my color and fabric swatches chosen, it’s time to assign the fabrics to the various furnishings, draperies and other room elements. I write on the back of each fabric swatch clearly identifying where in the room it will be used, avoiding too many of one specific pattern. I like having a nearly equal number of solids, florals, plaids and stripes avoiding an abundance of one particular style.

Now I can bring in wall coverings and carpeting that round out the fabrics I have chosen. Next I am ready to select the various furnishings. Slowly but steadily, the room comes beautifully together.

The lobby at the Grande Colonial Hotel in La Jolla, California

Throughout the design process, I try to avoid frequent starts and stops, so I can maintain the momentum and excitement that comes with designing a space.

When everything is in its place, I fine tune the process by stepping back and looking at each finish, each furnishing and each detail with a critical eye, visualizing where it will lie in relation to everything else in the room. However, whatever finessing or changes I make at this point, I always keep the original foundation fabric in my mind.

And that brings me back to my original point: Choosing a core fabric that you simply love will ideally evoke your personality – and set the entire tone for your design scheme.