A LITTLE LIGHT ON THE SUBJECT OF A DESIGN PRO

Choosing a decorator is a lot like choosing a Starbucks:
Double-tall-soy or triple-grande-carmel-mocha ?
Chic, Shabby, Formal or Casual ?
It all depends on your taste. To find a designer that fits the bill, it is important to interview several, ask about their experience, explain your preferences and budget, and tell them exactly what you expect them to do.
Never be pressured into an uncomfortable relationship.
There are the important elements such as space planning, room colors, furniture choices, and a pleasing layout.
But in designing your space it’s the small details that make the statement. Be sure that your interior design professional pays extra attention to coordinating lighting and art and decorative accessories, even down to the smallest items such as clocks, coordination of plant selections and placement of those pieces that make your home a personal statement.

Bluer than Bluuue

The color gurus are at it again.

Pantone has selected blue iris as the favorite color for 2008 - that's a special blue with tones of a "strong soul-searching purple cast."
We know that color can set the mood for any room and the Pantone Color Institute says the new blue iris shade is 'anchoring and meditative with a touch of magic.
Magical it may be--painters such as Georgia O'Keefe and Vincent Van Gogh apparently found the Iris to be one of their favorite flowers- based on the number of paintings they did of this floral variety.
If you can't quite bring yourself to change last year's chili pepper red walls to the new shade,you can certainly be in vogue with a reproduction of the O'Keefe works.
And I take great consolation in the fact that my "Iris Blue" Toyota Celica
is now back in fashion.

Cell phone, lap-top, I-Pod, College Condo ?

It’s a buyer’s market for real estate and some parents of college students are sending their fledgling scholars back to school this coming semester to live in his/her very own .
On the plus side, it can be cheaper than paying board in the dorm, and as a long term investment it may even make some money. Parents can write off mortgage and loan interest costs, too.
The down-side is how to furnish it from a long distance. Not a problem, the answer is just a click away. You don’t even have to move from the Sharper Image massage chair in your family room to set up an entire condo in one evening.

Websites such as House Accents can brighten up that condo with colorful durable area rugs that will survive the most liquid of frat parties or art posters from Peter Max or Andy Warhol to liven up the walls.

Everything from to cover a pre-owned sofa to total rooms-to- go new furniture settings are out there in the webosphere; even talking alarm clocks to help the kids roll out of bed for those early morning classes. When all else fails try e-bay for the small details.

NOT YOUR GRANNY'S TAPESTRY

NOT YOUR GRANNY’S TAPESTRY

Did your grandmother have hanging tapestries in her house? Maybe she used them near the windows to keep out the draft, or in front of the fireplace on a brass display rod as a beautifully woven piece of art.
“Tapestry in the Baroque: Threads of Splendor”, one of the world’s first exhibitions devoted to the golden age of tapestry is now happening at the Metropolitan Museum of Art . It’s an opportunity to see the first comprehensive survey of high-quality European tapestry—a very special medium that was popular from the Middle Ages through the late 18th Century.
Maybe your grandmother’s tapestries did not have such rare significance - and they probably didn’t rival the most ambitious tapestries woven for Louis XIV - but I’ll bet you will recall the aroma of her strudel baking while you walk this exhibit—and you might even find a similar tapestry design in some of the modern Jacquard- loomed looks that are available in the marketplace today.

The exhibit runs through January 6, 2008 in the Tisch Galleries of the Museum.