April 1999

In this Issue

• Create a Focal Point

• Follow Through!

• Window Treatment Chat...

• Patterned Fabric Tips

• Buying Ready-Made Window Treatments

• Where Do You Find Artwork?

• Special Artwork

• Accessorizing Ledges

It’s Spring!!  Time to spruce up your home and garden.  Actually right now, I’d rather be in the garden.  How about you?  Gardening is a natural hobby of mine, the desire to create something beautiful, applies to both inside and out.  The choice of flower colors, using the skills of scale and balance, all add to the beauty of the garden as well as the home interior.  This week, I was quite pleased with myself!  I reused an old pedestal table, I bought at a garage sale last spring, to sit a potted plant on. After a year in the weather the round top was rotten, which made the table unusable.  I pulled it off, trashed the rotten top and painted the pedestal to match a birdhouse, then attached the two together.  It’s adorable!  This is an example of how to refurbish something old, creating a new decorating element.  I would always encourage you to look around your home, for that item which can be reused, with a little paint and attention.

Florida is beautiful this time of year, but will soon be too hot.  Usually by May the temperatures are reaching 90 degrees and climbing.  That’s when I loose interest outside and turn my attention to the inside of my home.  I have many of the same problems you may have in your home.  Often, it’s lack of time.  I know what to do, but don’t always have the time to do it, which can be frustrating too!  After decorating everyone else’s home, sometimes you hardly care about your own.  I truly do understand the feelings of being overwhelmed by decorating decisions, and the desire to make the most cost-effective choices for your home.  I’ve had lots of experience working with people trying to do the best they can with their home and decorating dilemmas.    

I’m going to share some information and professional tricks of the trade, which will help you gain confidence in your decorating skills, so I hope you enjoy and learn a few things from the April newsletter.  Thank you for your interest in Decorator Secrets.

HAPPY DECORATING!

A focal point is quite often the first thing someone sees when entering a room.  It commands attention and screams personality and style.    It could be a curio cabinet loaded with collectibles, that special antique that belonged to your grandmother, a fireplace, a large painting, a piano, a television, media center or a beautiful view through the window. Their location in the room obviously is determined by the Item itself.  You might already own the perfect piece for the focal point of your room and not realize it. 

The important thing to remember while decorating is to follow through with the remaining design elements in your room.   The best looking sofa and loveseat will be boring and your room will look incomplete without rugs, drapes, accessories, lighting, artwork and plants.  Rely on the Color Scheme Guides as a tool to help you stay focused and decoratively confident about your choices.  Therefore, whatever you choose can be beautiful if you just keep your color scheme consistent, balancing color and pattern throughout the room and completing the design concept with all the other essential components.  You will be amazed at the results! 

Beyond the practical functions they provide, curtains, draperies and valances are beautiful ways to frame your windows.  They add a great amount of color, design and style to your room.  There are literally innumerable different ways to create window treatment styles and effects.

In each style imaginable, fabric choices and trims add thousands of different looks and possibilities.   Patterned fabric, solids, textures, stripes, plaids, sheers, semi-sheers all can become the most dazzling window treatment or treatments.    Your taste, style, color scheme and function required are the variables that should be considered before you decide what type of window treatment you want to have for your home.  I have provided several pages of ideas for window treatments you could use or adapt to your room or home in my workbook, “Secrets to a Beautiful Home.”

Let me provide you some decorator secrets for your tip files.  Most patterned fabrics are 54” wide and are sold by the yard.  The cost per yard will vary according to the quality, manufacturer and retail store. “Pattern repeats” are a part of any kind of patterned fabrics.  This repeat must be taken into consideration when estimating the fabric quantity needed for a project.

Sometimes a patterned fabric may be railroaded, which means the pattern repeat is not strong or large enough to dictate using the fabric in traditional widths.  If the fabric you want is railroaded, your project will require less fabric.  This means you’ll be saving money.  We all love that!  If you are having a drapery workroom make your treatments, discuss this option before your fabric is ordered.  Certain styles of treatments and valances are more conducive to this than others. 

If you find a pattern that you fall in love with and would like to make curtains from it, gather it in your hands and bunch it up a little.  If the fabric still looks as good to you gathered, you would probably be very happy with the end result.  The same is true when working with sheers and semi sheers, scrunch them up, to get a truer reflection of the exact color.  It will look different than it did as one open layer.  Make sure the color is right for your room - both ways.

An important tip to remember whether or not you are buying ready-made window treatments or making them yourself is to always use a three-to-one fabric ratio on shirred styles.   This would also include bed-skirts, table skirts, pillow ruffles or any item that has shirring to it.  

Let’s put it into a typical situation.  If your project is 36” wide, you will need (36 x 3) 108 inches of total width.  This is a decorator tip that can keep a store bought ready-made treatment from looking like it was store bought and make it appear to be custom made.  Although it will be impossible to buy ready-made bed-skirts, shams, and table skirts with this ratio, you can usually buy enough ready-made pieces or panels for windows to achieve this goal.

Artwork, framed or unframed, is a picture of objects, scenes, landscapes, people, animals, etc. that you enjoy looking at.  It can be found everywhere and anywhere!  The challenge of finding just the right thing can be a fun adventure.  Don’t rule out any possible source. I have seen wonderful art at hardware stores, garage sales, auctions, flea markets and in local bed and bath shops.  Look everywhere!  The obvious places to look are art galleries, furniture stores, home decorating specialty stores, craft stores, antique shops and accessory stores.   Don’t forget to check your Grandmothers attic!

Special artwork is that picture or handmade object you already have.  You don’t need to buy it.  It could be an art project your child painted, or a crocheted heirloom your grandmother made.  Pictures of your family, and three-dimensional objects (like baby shoes, hats, etc.) are all marvelous ways to decorate your walls.  Each family will have its own treasures that can be framed or transformed into the most wonderful art wall imaginable!  No matter what the object is, if you think you’d like to see it hanging on your wall, then my advice is GO FOR IT!

Many of today’s newer homes have pot shelves or ledges, which are very high and difficult for many of you to decorate.  I have accessorized many of these areas for clients and in model homes.  Here are a few tips to consider when you are accessorizing these shelves.

• Use large items, such as vases, baskets, birdcages and greenery that provides height and spill over.  Tiny objects will get lost up there.

• Work in groups of three or any odd number, combining staggered height objects. 

• Allow some space between groupings, unless you prefer a cluttered, full look.

• Try to introduce color and personality to the shelves using anything imaginable.

Please feel free to pass this newsletter along to your friends and family.  Remember to bookmark our site as it will be updated regularly and is currently being rebuilt.  If you really want to make your color and selection choices easy, we have the answers available to you with the Decorator Secrets System kit.