by Jen | Oct 13, 2015 | How To
So if you read me regularly just read this post with your eyes closed. You’ve read my whole decorating and road trip speal before. But for everyone else…Whenever I work with a client I ask them to show me pictures of rooms they like. I tell them it’s like going on a road trip without a map if they don’t have a goal. Yes, you may eventually get to California but after many detours, wasted gas, and extra motel stays. Going to the store and buying things willy nilly without knowing what you really are aiming towards is the same thing. You end up with lamps you don’t really like, a rug that matches everything you hated, and furniture that looked good in the store, but once it came home–wasn’t what you really wanted.
Looking at images of rooms full of things you can’t afford housed inside amazing architecture may feel like a waste of time when your budget is Target and your house is more of a box with windows–but that couldn’t be more wrong. When you really start setting aside pictures of rooms you like–you start to notice trends. Houzz.com is great for this. It has about 8 Million pictures to inspire you (it really does–today it was 8,002,820) and it is free so you don’t need to spend a fortune on magazines. You can make ideabooks and share images with others. You can filter the pictures to just “traditional kitchens” or “green counters” or “white bathrooms. You can filter it by region to see certain architecture styles such as “London exteriors” or “Santa Barbara living rooms”. There is a place where you can just see Contemporary or Eclectic styles. I’m only scratching the surface for all it has to offer but the bottom-line it is a great resource for sorting through what you like, and what you don’t.
As a professional that works with clients–it makes my job easier, and that really is what this is about. How to make life easier for me;) So please–go on Houzz.com, create some ideabooks, call me, and I’ll help you sort through it so you don’t end up in Idaho instead of California.
by Jen | Jul 22, 2015 | How To
Ugly, Unwanted, Overwhelmed and Guilt lurk around every corner…
You have voiced concerns, complaints, and exasperated cries for help:
“What about when I try to kick out the lurking shadows of Ugly and Unwanted and Guilt stands with his arms crossed at my door?” (If you are concerned over what this is about you might want to read the prior two posts: Decorating Rut Part 1, Decorating Rut Part 2.)
“What happens when I get rid of Ugly and Unwanted and realize there is NOTHING left in my house?”
“What do I do when I try to do what you tell me but Overwhelmed kicks the snot out of Guilt and follows me around like a lousy rat?”
“What happens if I get rid of it and then I need it?”
1. Guilt. Put it in perspective. It is STUFF. Yes, I know that it represents in our mind’s eye friends and family and life events. Yes, I know that these things were given to you out of kindness. But it is the act, the person, the memory, the thought, the event that made it important and nothing can change that. If the thing is not causing you any joy when you see it–getting rid of it will not alter the memory–it just means you are making room for new ones.
2. My House Will Be Empty. Really? First of all it might be good to live with less? Second, I think you are being dramatic. Come on.
3. Overwhelmed. Set the timer. 20 minutes a day. That’s it. No interruptions. Just 20 minutes. Keep going. I know you and I know you are strong.
4. What If…? Dude if you are keeping everything because of What If let me know how that works out. When I keep everything for these reasons when the What If happens I can’t find it or forgot I had it. Move on baby cakes.
by Jennifer Farlin | Jul 15, 2015 | How To
Do you dislike your house but are uninspired, broke, and not motivated? Are you using all your energy to schlepp people and stuff to and fro? Do you rent? Are you a military family? Do you have kids that use your furniture as napkins? Do you own a dog that treats your furniture like a towel right out of the shower? Do you live in Northern Virginia on a tight budget? Do you glance at decorating magazines and then chuck them across the room because they are about as realistic as living here:
marketplace.secondlife.com
Well my friend you are not alone. In fact, the people that don’t fall into the above category actually live in that house pictured above. Let’s take a minute and ponder that.
*minute
Yeah, no. I can’t wrap my head around it either.
Ok, let’s put a stop to this nonsense.
Pick up the decorating magazine you tossed across the room and/or go on Houzz.com and figure out what you like. When you go on a road trip you have a destination and a map. So if you want to drive to California from Florida and you have no directions you may end up in North Dakota. It will cost you extra in gas, lodging and stress because of the lack of plan. You need a destination. You need a goal. You need to know where you are trying to go. Otherwise you are just frustrated with a lot of #$%^ in your house that you don’t like that cost you money you didn’t have and is a constant disappointment every time you look at it. I mean, really, who needs that??
Let’s use me as an example. I like these pictures:
wettling architects / jessica helgerson design / this old house
Better Homes and Gardens
apartmentherapy.com
Upon first glance you may say that’s great if you live in an old house full of architectural charm, have lots of money for renovations, have lots of money, and have lots of money.
HOWEVER, I clearly like sunlight, bringing the outside in, lighter colors and a more tranquil feel to my decorating style. So just because the navy velvet floor to ceiling Pottery Barn drapes are on clearance and look amazing in the catalog’s picture doesn’t mean they are a good fit for me. Just because my budget is tight doesn’t mean I can’t open up my shades and maybe buy some plants. And just because my whole house, for example, is in browns, reds, and dark golds doesn’t mean I can’t repaint, or slowly phase these pieces out, or start to save towards something that is more in my taste.
You have to start somewhere but you need to know where you are trying to go—-otherwise you just keep buying more of the same that matches the stuff you hate.
This is the first step. I won’t give you anymore right now because you are probably out of time, someone is calling you to do something, someone needs to be driven somewhere, you need to be somewhere else, or you need to clean something off of something.
by Jennifer Farlin | Apr 16, 2015 | How To
It’s spring. The time of year where the snow has melted and all the garbage underneath is now exposed.
It’s time to get to work.
www.oursouthbay.com
Curb appeal is important not just for selling a house but for all the people who walk their dog. For the love of everything that is good and holy please take a second look at the outside of your home. Do it for all those people who go past your house daily being pulled by a dog. Do it for your neighborhood. Do it to keep up with the Jones. Do it to disguise the fact that your house is a mess inside. And, for Pete’s Sake, do it especially if your house is up for sale.
Research has shown that about 80 percent of all prospective buyers know if a home is right for them within six seconds of stepping inside. Ok, so even if your house is not up for sale you still only have one chance to make a first impression and the same can be said for your home.
I want to help you. As a person who is out there walking a dog–I need to help you.
Here are my top tips:
1. I’m all for originality but your house really should blend with the neighborhood.
Image: Ida Aalen/Flickr
2. Front Door Color. Easy way to add some oomph and originality without doing #1 (above).
Popular Front Door Colors Modern Masters August 2013
Front-Door-Paint-iPhone-App
Front Door Paint is an app that lets you take a picture of your door and then see what it would look like in different colors.
Also check out Kylie M. Interiors–she has a great blog post about which front door colors are best suited for red brick, grey siding, stone, etc…
320 * Sycamore
3. Planters. Bigger is better. Small and teensy usually look busy and lost. If your porch can fit them a matching large pair is the gold standard.
House Beautiful
4. Shutters. To keep this simple stick with black or something neutral/dark with a contrasting front door (See #2). If you have a storm door try to make it blend in with your door color or eliminate it.
The Garden Web
Hello Newmans
Hello Newmans has a blog post about how they made their own shutters. You can find it here.
5. Landscaping. You need it. Curving beds are more interesting to the eye than straight. Bushes—you need them under your windows. Include big things where appropriate. Most of the time, people see your house — and judge its curb appeal — quickly, either on a walk or drive by. So large shapes and masses that are attractive from a distance should be a part of a landscape with curb appeal. There’s nothing worse than a front yard with a whole bunch of little.
BH&G
HGTV
Limit the color palette for more impact.
www.providenceltddesign.com
6. Your Attached Garage. The garage door is NOT suppose to be a focal point. It is suppose to blend in with your home. In the 1950’s owning a car was a status symbol so architects built houses with OBVIOUS garages. This is 2015, unless, you live in my neighborhood where a garage is unheard of, and therefore coveted, we don’t care about your garage. The door should be subtle, not conspicuous, and aesthetically enhance your home.
www.thehandmadehome.com
www.christinefife.com
BHG.com
BHG.com
7. Details matter. A tasteful wreath, nice hardware on your door, and any item that lend interest go a long way.
www.meddiodesign.com
Idaho Botanical Garden
8. Lighting. Most people’s front door lighting is too small. Here are a few rules:
As for the rest of your exterior lighting–landscape, safety, aesthetic etc… That’s Lighting 301 and to be found elsewhere on the world wide web or your favorite home improvement store.
Additionally, I only walk my dog during the day–so for my intents and purposes I’m not interested in your nighttime look, just your day.
So if you don’t care about your exterior–do it for me. Please.
www.thethinkingdog.com
If you liked this post then you will love:
Door to Door, What Door Do You Use?, What Door Do You Use–One Door’s Journey, Or…A Follow-Up
by Jennifer Farlin | Mar 27, 2015 | How To, Interior Decorating
383 out of 705 people have boring walls, according to people. 3 out of 5 people have art that is too small, according to me. 9 out of 10 dentists… Choosy moms choose bare walls over crap on their walls. Let’s stop this madness.
Memorize this last column. These are standard frame sizes that you can buy at Michaels, Hobby Lobby, Ikea and online for “cheap”.
Then buy anything you like that you can fit into these frame sizes. It’s cheaper than buying something that needs to be custom framed. Custom framed means anything that doesn’t fit into the above sizes. Custom framing means hundreds of dollars. You would not believe how much the glass alone costs for large pieces.
I do not want you to buy teeny tiny little pictures that look lost on your wall. Yes, you can make “groupings” that will fill a wall but they are not the easiest thing to pull off and can quickly add a feeling of visual clutter to the wrong room. A room that is busy does not need more busy on the walls.
Pick the biggest piece of furniture in your room and hang one large piece above it. It should be about 2/3 the length of the piece of furniture you are hanging above.
As a general rule, the bottom of your frame should hang 8” to 10” above the back of the sofa.
The center of your artwork should be about eye-height with the average person–this translates to about 57″. So hang your artwork at 57″ on center. This is also a regularly used standard in many museums and galleries when hanging their masterpieces–so it should work just fine in your home when arguing with your husband about where to hang the picture.
Let’s not over think this. Just buy big. Have one big piece over the biggest piece of furniture. Remember the 2/3 proportion. Don’t buy anything that needs custom framing. Think out of the box. Here are some ideas and links.
Poster: 27.5 x 39.5 in ~$18 plus S&H Frame: 27 x 40 in ~$20-30 (Michaels/Amazon/Ikea)
SPA-CITRON
Art Print|By Francois Geo Art.com
Poster: 24″ x 38″ $40 plus 25% and free S&H. 21.5″ x 36″ without border. Frame: Can be “fudged” into a standard 24″ x 36″ frame by trimming with scissors. $20
Poster: 20″ x 28″ $25 plus 25% and free shipping. Frame: 20″ x 28″ standard frame ~$20 (Michaels/Ikea)
1 digital .PDF file (27,5 inches x 39,3 inches) $6.14 Will need to be printed at a copy store. FedEx Kinkos charges 75 cents a square foot to print.
Frame: Standard 27×40 Ikea $25. Found also online by multiple retailers. $20-50.
1 digital .PDF file (27,5 inches x 39,3 inches) $6.14 Will need to be printed at a copy store. FedEx Kinkos charges 75 cents a square foot to print.Frame: Standard 27×40 Ikea $25. Found also online by multiple retailers. $20-50.
Chris Love Julia. HONEY, I BLEW UP THE KIDS | TIPS FOR MAKING ENGINEER PRINTS LOOK THEIR BEST “…I was worried framing a bunch of smaller photos and creating a gallery would be busy and compete with the adjacent wall when we’re done with it, so I went for my favorite–engineer prints. Update: I got these printed at my local Alphagraphics. They are nationwide so maybe you have one near you, too?” She gives a wonderful step by step tutorial on how to make these engineer prints. Basically, you need to edit a black and white photograph with a plain background and take it to a copy store that does engineer prints. It costs less than $5 to print.
18″x24″ $81.00. Pricier but worth a look. Minted.com
Valori Wells Quill Peacock Extract Purple Fabric.com $10/Yard. Runs 44″ wide. For $10 you could get a large, contemporary, and colorful piece of statement art.
This is the fabric I referenced above for $10/yard. I used it for my kitchen window shades. It would look nice framed, yes?
Inexpensive art solutions from my home:
This had a different piece of art. I hated it. I ripped the back apart and duct taped something else in. It doesn’t fit perfectly. Can you tell? Nope.
Poster I bought in NYC. Too short for frame. Custom for this size–way. too. much. See the extra white space at the bottom? Yeah, who cares. I know it looks goooooooood.
This is a decorative paper that cost $3.50. The frame was $3 from a thrift store. Want to read more? —Paper Source, a post from last year.
Thrift store. $20.
Broke my own rules. Bought this poster and it was NOT standard size. Custom was $350 with a flipping sale. I had it dry mounted instead for $20. Done.
Needed something for playroom wall. Had burlap and black spray paint. Done.
What do you got? Let’s do this!
#yourartistoosmall
#saynotoboring
#yougotthis
by Jennifer Farlin | Feb 26, 2015 | How To
I know in theory part of what I write about is design–but only because I really think it is a total downer to be surrounded with a bunch of ugly. Also, it comes fairly easy for me to fix ugliness with minimum effort and expense. This being said I do not love DIY projects. I do them to save money.
I am impatient.
I am way too impatient for Do It Yourself.
I want it done yesterday. If we were in a job interview I would call this “results oriented”.
This blog is so not one of those step by step how to sites. Mostly because I am, 1. See previous paragraph. 2. Not detailed enough (in job interview speak “I focus on big picture”), and 3. I would die of boredom writing it.
However, I am in the midst of painting a piece of furniture. I wanted to title this post (excuse me) #Suck It Chalk Paint but I felt it would be too indelicate for a title. Fourish paragraphs in I felt it was ok. This is NOT the chalkboard paint that you can write with chalk on once it dries but a decorative colored paint–totally different. Chalk paint being made by blending a flat latex paint with plaster of Paris (powdered gypsum), and water. The resulting thick-body paint goes on (and I quote from Lowes) as easy as regular paint, but adds the look of an antique finish. Since we are safely in the fourish paragraph I’d like to subtitle this post #Suck It Lowes. On coat 33 I googled chalk paint blows how to use chalk paint. I was surprised to see there weren’t many hate posts about it. Clearly I am in the minority. I am ok with this, until I start receiving your emails and messages about why I am wrong. It’s ok, we can disagree. It’s only paint.
You see I don’t have 600 hours to paint one piece of furniture. Well actually I do but remember I am “results oriented” and the only results I am getting is my husband saying to me, “You are still painting that?”, and my dog doing this:
Here is what it looked like after 3 coats that felt like 33.
And here we go at 5 coats aka way too many.
This is 6. I call this “Dog Watching Paint Dry.”
I realize I am painting something that was once a light color–a dark color, and that makes this more difficult. But OMG. Another aspect of this is that I have only painted the front and the side….so I STILL have to paint the top, back, and other side. And what I have already painted still needs more coats. And then I am suppose to put a coat of wax over the whole thing.
I don’t know what else to say, except maybe I will just finish the two sides I started and leave the rest unpainted. I will just never move this piece of furniture. No one will know. Except you, gentle reader. And I’m ok with that.
