Little Girls' Bedrooms

Natasha BaradaranOf course the past few weeks I've been busy collecting inspiration photos of children's rooms. So I thought I might go ahead and post a round-up of some of my favorite rooms: first girls' and then boys' (which, I'll admit, where a lot harder to find!). [Aside: And no, I still don't know what I'm having, but I should when I go to the doctor next on the 20th!] This first room from

Out of the Powder Room and into the Closet...

While browsing Nordstrom's accessories department with my mom and sister yesterday, I spied Kate Spade's cheerful summer bon shopper ($175) with its playful, leaping zebras. If you're as fanatical a reader of shelter magazines as I am, then no doubt you are also struck by the similarity between this print and Scalamandre's popular zebra wallpaper. While the lack of arrows (which I'm not a big fan

Style Essential: Stripes

Mary McDonald As most of you know, I'm a huge fan of using pattern in interior spaces and one of my favorite patterns to use are simple stripes. Sure, bold zig zags or suzanis are wonderful, but stripes are timeless, and a wonderful partner to florals, polka dots, ikats -- and yes, zig zags and suzanis, too. In addition to their ability to seamlessly work with almost any other pattern and in any

Style Essential: Turquoise Lamps

Tobi FairleyI've expressed my love of turquoise on this blog before, but I think one of the easiest ways to bring this bright, fun (and admittedly a bit trendy) hue into your home is through lighting. Prior to becoming an interior design amateur, I readily admit that I frequently ignored lighting. It just didn't seem important. Now though, I'm starting to believe that it might be the single most

Be Bold, Go Blue.

Sherrill CanetThere seems to be a general resistence in the design world to decorating a kitchen in anything other than neutrals or whites -- probably because of the expense and difficulty of overhauling a kitchen should you decide just a few years later that you're no longer so enamored with, say, peach. And that's fair. I, too, eskewed bolder choices in favor of safer, buyer-friendly selections

Trend Alert: Soft or Antiqued Brass

Palmer Weiss A few years ago the very notion of brass fixtures was positively revolting. The polished brass faucets, door knobs and shower enclosures that were all the rage in the late '80s and early '90s had become the ugly duckling of the design world by the late '90s and early 2000s as designers and builders began favoring bronze over brass as the new metal du jour. Despite this fall from

Turquoise is a Neutral

Sean Scherer I know that for a lot of people, color can be a scary thing. Hours can be spent agonizing over a bold color choice for walls or upholstery (or even just a throw pillow): "Will this color work with the other colors in the room?" "What other colors could this work for in the future?" "Am I limiting myself to only working within a narrow range of colors and/or styles?" That sort of

Inspiring Master Bedrooms

Mary McDonaldSo I found out today that the new house should be completed by late July -- about a month earlier than Dave and I had expected. Yikes! Suddenly, there's a renewed urgency in not only selling the current house, but in figuring out what I want to do with the new place. I find the best way to get in decorating mode is to look at beautiful spaces. Fortunately for me, more and more