It was a simple post on my Facebook page yesterday:

"Finish this sentence: "I wish someone would come and take care of ...
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I guess it should come as little suprise that the responses were many and varied. Much of what was posted though was in line with things I hear from clients all the time: the painting, my floors, cleaning, workload, living room, yardwork, grocery shopping, organization and interior design [ok, that one is obvious], and on Twitter a couple added, "my banking" and "my morning workout".

So a few of these are beyond my ability to help ..... aching muscles, a book report and golf swing, for example. Though I did manage to find a great site offering tutorials on improving your golf swing after a quick google search!!

Everything else mentioned, are common to many a "to-do-list" so I thought it would be fun to elaborate with some quick tips over here on the blog.

We can't really control the number of hours we are given each day, but we can control our productivity, through planning. How do we do that? One step at a time!!

So here is Tip #1: a great place to start your spring cleaning....

According to Feng Shui expert, Natalia Kaylin, highlighted here in the past,

"the sector of the home that relates to wealth in Feng Shui is the southeast. The southeast is where we experience the most beautiful part of the day; where chi is rising and this is exactly how we want our wealth to do. We want our wealth to grow."

So with the weekend in front of you, the southeast corner of your home awaits your attention!

Have fun!

Sarah

The Interest in Pinterest and Olioboard!

I'm pretty sure by now, that most of you have heard of Pinterest. What is it you ask? Well, essentially, it is your old traditional bookmarking, mulitplied to infinity. Back in the day, we would find something online we liked and click, "add to favorites". Before we knew it, we'd end up with a long list of hyperlinks and no idea of what they went to. The thought of clicking through to find out, too much work.

Pinterest is essentially the same thing, with two exceptions: (1) it's visual and (2) it's public. Now what I "bookmark" or "pin" is easier for me to recall because I have an image and is also shared for the rest of the world to see. Have a quick peek!

Here is a snip from my "Crisp, Clear Color" inspiration board:

Here, a snapshot from my "Stripes" inspired board:

Here a quick peek at my "Pinks & Berries" board:

You might be asking yourself "why?" about right now. I hear you. For myself, being in design, I think its obvious that these boards are useful not only for me, but for my clients. It provides a place for them to search for inspiration and/or a place for me to create inspiration boards specifically for them.

It's not just for designers and artisans though. It's truly amazing how many industries are finding Pinterest helpful. Infographics, for example, provide useful, factual and/or tutorial-type information:

The AARP displays boards that illustrate the retirement "lifestyle" and of course draw viewers back to their site and organization:

So, whether you are a dance studio, an educator, a graphic designer or an engineer, chances are, there are real value and productive ways that you can benefit from Pinterest. It's not all just time wasted or fluff, unless of course that is what you want.

But, maybe, just maybe having all your "stuff" out there in the public is not what your after. You want to collaborate with clients privately as you work together on a project. Olioboard offers you that. Olioboard is a social commerce site and currently boasts a record 60,000 active users in it's impressive 2-year life cycle.

What is truly amazing to me, is that Olioboard does not limit you to what you can upload Though they are an affiliate site, you are free to create sets (collections, if you will) of your own, from anywhere on the web or from your harddrive- and this is true for their free accounts, as well as their Pro plan.  You always have the control whether to keep these items and the boards you create public or private.

I can see potential for quilters, landscape designers, event planners, cake decorators, cabinet makers. Olioboard offers a quick way to create great looking marketing materials as well (web-use; resolution not high enough for print). A good example of this is for a muscian/band. Quickly upload pics from the last gig, along with pictures of the venue, logo and performance dates and voila... export to a jpeg file and you have a great looking photo to upload and share on your Facebook page, blog, twitter, Pinterest, etc.

There are so many ways to use these two sites together and so many benefits that many do not realize. That being said, I invite you to join me on Friday as I discuss the benefits, cautions and value of Pinterest and Olioboard as I see it and some creative ways you can use them in your business.

Hope you can make it!

Las Vegas Market: Was it an Epic Fail?

Well, for my feet it definitely was! As for the show itself, not at all!!

I wore flats, specifically chosen for comfort potential + style - Naturalizers as a matter of fact- but still, after only a few hours on the first day, I was literally close to tears with how badly my feet hurt. When it comes to pain, my feet have a very low tolerance! Darn good thing I didn't wear these...almost grabbed a pair over at Caeser's Palace!

I had so many plans I had hoped to cross off my list on this, my first visit to the Las Vegas Market, but alas, my feet ruled the day and as such, I was forced to leave a bit early on day-one. I returned for day-two though, refreshed and renewed; and wearing sneakers, of course! No, not a fashion statement, but productivity was the priority of the day so fashion had to be pushed aside.

What was FANTASIC at the show, you ask? To see so many on the packed shuttles to the center, seeing so many in showrooms writing business and experiencing the general mood which, in my translation, was positive, upbeat and collectively ready to do some business!

What did  I LOVE?

This chair......

... give me a jingle and we will order one of these straight away for you!

This bedding......

This mirror.....

What KEPT ME GOING?

Scores... when I found specific items for a client; the mirror below satisfied one of those searches.

Unexpected Inpirations.....

Time to raise the level of elegance in your office environment? Don't you think you'd just automatically sit up taller at this desk?

What SURPRISED ME?

This lamp.....

...........yes, you heard read that correctly, this is a lamp, seen in the Priscilla Presley showroom.

I was surprised I did not see more tangerine, being one of my favorite colors and the 2012 Pantone color of the year. I saw very little. The color I saw over and over was green and a fair amount of purple still showing strong. It was a HUGE market though and I wasn't able to visit every single showroom. I would love to know if others who attended thought the same.

What TEMPTED ME?

Fabric! Of course fabric always wants to steal my undivided attention. I did well though. I was on a mission for rugs, mirrors, lamps and art, so though I wanted to dive in to every fabric showroom there, I knew I really would have suffered a time sink so I resisted. I did allow myself a quick gander through JAB though.

There was no shortage of fantastic pillows to admire, with this one below from Palecek receiving my vote for Best-in-show. [The picture does not capture it's true beauty; trust me, it is amazing!]

What DO I REGRET?

I never made it to the #Withit panel discussions, therefore missed out big-time on meeting some of the amazing, energetic women, such as Julia Rosien, I've been following and dying to meet and Dana, aka @MrsHelm, who was so helpful in answering some of my show questions on Twitter. Huge regrets, wish I could fly-back and/or have a shoe do-over!! Next time!

What DO I RECOMMEND?
Planning on attending a big show yourself? Highpoint is not too far away. If it's your first time headed to a new show you are unfamiliar with, I want to share a few tips:

• Plan ahead, but even at that, realize your plans may go askew! I had the floor plans, showrooms I wanted to visit listed and lined up but even with all that, though I made it to a lot, there was still some I did not get to.
• If it's your first visit, plan one more day than you are inclined to.
• Go with or meet a "veteran" show-goer if you can to help you get a hang of the layout and make the best use of your time.
• Bring time-tested comfortable shoes and don't be afraid to wear sneakers!
• Have fun!

I have more to share but it will have to wait for another post! Stay tuned!

~ thanks for stopping by, Sarah

Please, share any comments or questions
by clicking the image below.

Good, Better, Best: 3 Ways to Dress a Window

We all have different needs, desires and budgets when it comes to any purchase we make, particularly with luxury items.



The above are all lovelies for sure, but the reality is, most of us are not driving a Porsche, will never wear Christian Lecroix - though, I must pause: ...can you stand that skirt detail? Starting my career in fashion and apparel, I literally skip a breath every time I look at it - and we probably will never even see Christopher Michael Shellis' diamond-studded sandals, let alone wear them.

I'm not sure about you, but I'm ok with that! I drive an SUV, don't have anywhere to go to wear the dress and at 5'10", with a size-11 foot, I'm pretty confident I wouldn't do those sandals justice, aesthetically or functionally. This does not mean I must forgo lovelies all together though. A good-looking car, beautiful dress and great shoes still fit in to my life, just from a different vantage and budget point.

GO NAKED?
Your home is much the same. Great design, home decor and window dressings have a definite element of luxury, in addition to their place in the functional+neccesity category. Too many times though, I see homeowners qualifying purchases of furniture, home accessories and window treatments in the luxury category only - aka, "I can push this off", causing them to do nothing.

Why is this so? I think it's because it's easy to fall to the thought, "who has the time?".  Purchasing window treatments, thinking about working with a designer or decorator, knowing where to buy quality furniture - let alone WHAT to buy and HOW to select pieces that will "play nice" together - are illusive to most. Because these are purchases that homeowners rarely make, occurring only once a decade for many [sadly]; people feel they just don't the time or energy to invest in making sure change happens.

The result: naked windows, or even worse, windows dressed for the sake of dressing them! Remember my window contest? That is what I'm talking about!

CAN YOU COMPROMISE?

There are often two things needed when making any big investment: flexibility and compromise! Good design can be achieved within any budget but you have to understand at the start that - as with any investment worth making - some things may have to be put off, substituted or forgone completely.

When your looking at a new car and you ask if they can drop the payments, what happens? That's right, there goes the leather interior, the sunroof and the heated seats.  You can still get a great car though, you just have to compromise.

The same is true for your window treatments. You may already know what you want but you just don't feel you can get there, on your own. The most common thing I hear from clients is that they, "have no idea what window treatments even cost." That is no surprise because the answer is not a simple one. Window treatments can really vary, depending on the size, function and design you need and like, the materials chosen to fabricate with and the hardware of choice.

BALLPARKING
On average, I tell clients that an average size window [less than 40" wide] of average height [84" length from top to floor] can realistically be ball-parked at $1,500 to $2,000 a window. Yes, it can go higher and it also can go lower. Either progression, up or down, results from a change in materials or design.

Let me show you  how a window can be dressed on any budget! I'm starting with the inspiration image from Fabricut, [drapes only]. It's close, client loves the scale of the pattern and the coloring generally, though wishes for a warmer gold (not so yellow) and does not want any birds in the print.

via

Best: Maxwell/Telafina, Topanga, Azure, 100% Silk Taffeta  

Better: Corbin, Opal, 100% Cotton Damask 

Good: Mingei, Bristol, 100% Cotton, Screen print on 7oz. cotton

HARDWARE
I never recommend skimping on hardware, you have to maintain a level of quality because (1) you want the hardware to be substantial enough to hold up the weight of your treatments and (2) hardware is an investment that often times can become an additional architectural element in a room. It would be a rare, rare day for me to ever recommend you purchase off-the-rack hardware from a Home Depot or Lowes. If that must ocur, I strongly suggest the use of more substantial brackets and better quality screws.

Best: Helser Brothers [please excuse the mis-match; showing as sample only]
Helser Brothers makes beautiful hand-forged iron hardware. Their "workhorse" Artigiani collection has a great 1-3/4" smooth pole, with exceptional feature that it can go 108" wide without a center support. It's that durable! That, to me, is worth it's weight in gold!

Better: Kirsch[please excuse the mis-match; showing as sample only] 
Kirsch has been around a long, long time and I always feel confident suggesting and using their product. I love their wrought iron collection for quality, price and style. A couple drawbacks: the rods only come 4, 6 and 8 ft. in length so a splice is often necessary. I don't mind the center support, but I don't love to have to splice a rod in the center.

Good: House Parts  [please excuse the mis-match; showing as sample only] 
House Parts really has a lot to offer for the price point they fit in. If I am working on a project with budget concerns, they offer some pieces I've had some luck with.

WHERE DOES THIS LEAVE YOU?
There are ways to get the look you want, you just have to figure out where you can, and are, willing to compromise. Everyone should look forward to going home; it should be the place that brings you beauty, security, rest and comfort.

I've already talked about many facets of design: bringing harmony into your home, tips for furniture selection and important elements of Feng shui to ensure relaxing and healthy environments. Today, I want you to look at your windows. How do they make you feel?

I have provided the scenarios in this post to illustrate the many variables that contribute to the cost of custom window treatments. Each are based on a 38" - 40" window with single-width drapery panels at approximately 84" in length.

Please, keep in mind, that I'm not in any way saying that the "Best" and the "Good" category will give you the same exact look; they will not. No matter how well I fabricate, I can never get a 7oz. cotton to drape the same as a beautifully lined and interlined silk panel. Likewise, the damask also has a softer hand which will show in the draping of the fabric. Compromise is exactly that, compromise!

You will decide what is right for you and what look you ultimately would like to have, but isn't it nice to know there are options?

I hope this has helped you to think about how you can be creative with your interiors and has you ready to get started creating the Style Your Home Deserves!

Please, share any comments or questions
by clicking the image below.

Go ahead, get started! If your not sure what you want, head on over to my Pinterest boards for a little inspiration, here, here and here.

Thank you for stopping by! ~ Sarah
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Want to talk linings, drapery style and fullness? Yes indeed, all important, but I don't want your head spinning so I'll be dishing those out to you in a future post!**

Bubble-Wrap Window Treatments? Let's Talk!

Ok, peeps, fess up, where have you seen something like this before? Gotta admit, I find it hysterical... for a comic strip that is. I would not find it amusing if I actually saw it hanging in someones house.

My guess is this is a concept born out of a frat house. You agree?

Tomorrow morning we will be talking about Budget Creativity for Window Treatments. I promise you though, we will not be recommending you string together bottlecaps, braid old cassette-tape ribbon or using bubble wrap in lieu of sheers. All novel concepts but just not the look any of us should be going for.

Please share with me here, in the comments below, the most ingenious window treatments you have ever seen and join us tomorrow morning (1/23/12), and every Monday, on Twitter so we can share great ideas for creativity with others!

See you then!