The easiest, most cost effective way to change your decor for spring is PILLOWS. Oh how I love pillows !

They lighten brighten and freshen the room for around $20. Love them!

Here is one of my favorite pillows by Pier 1

How are you going to lighten up for spring?

Yesterday  my  "Arts & Crafts Style on the Cheap" was held at the Roycroft Copper Shop. It was a great morning. Attendees came from the Buffalo area but also from Washington DC and Canada’s Niagara-on-the-Lake.

Attendees learned lots of tips for developing the mission or arts & crafts style for their homes. One section was about "if you can only afford one item for that room" what should that be. Sound like a presentation you would like? Stay tuned for when this class is offered next.

I hope this long winter has you dreaming and planning of a sunny vacation spot. If you are lucky enough to go someplace warm this winter, be sure to bring back seashells or seaglass. These treasures make excellent decorating  pieces. They help to personalize your home and they are free!

I am excited to announce I will be teaching a class in a couple weeks called Arts and Crafts Style on the Cheap.

It will be held Saturday morning February 27, 2010 at the Roycroft Campus, East Aurora NY (about 20 miles outside of Buffalo, NY)

You will learn the elements of the Arts & Crafts style including color palette, furniture details, and how to accessorize. Because this can be an expensive style to decorate in, I will show you tricks to get a love mission styled home without  spending a lot.

Reservation are required. For more information and to register for the class go to: Roycroft Campus

I can’t wait to see you there. Be sure to bring your questions and photos of your room in progress

Did you know that they last Monday in January is said to be the most depressing day of the year?

Need a lift?

Go and splurge on fresh flowers! It instantly makes the room feel bright and cheery. It will help chase the winter blahs away!

A week or two before Christmas, The Buffalo News published a great article on the latest trend in wall art. Vinyl graphics easily peel and stick and are a fun way to add punch to your home but can be peel off too.

In this article Home & Style editor Susan Martin quoted The Home Stylist.  Ms. Martin mentioned the last Junior League Decorators House where I had decorating a teen room using vinyl frames too.

Here are two rooms where I have used vinyl graphics:
 

 http://www.thehomestylist.com/slider-2/

http://www.thehomestylist.com/slider-3/

 Here is the article:

Just Peel and Stick

by Susan Martin, Buffalo News (12/11/09)

Remember when your mom yelled at you for plastering your walls, windows and possibly the living-room furniture with tiny superhero stickers?

Sticky, stubborn, unable-to-remove stickers?

Well, welcome to a very different world of creative wall art, where peel-and-stick and other wall graphics make decorating a snap and changing your mind even easier.While you can still have your superhero — a 5-foot-10 Spider- Man from Fathead, for example — today’s vinyl wall options range from sassy to sophisticated, and everything in-between.From wall decals to life-size graphics, these products offer an alternative to traditional wallpaper, faux finishes and stencils for jazzing up your walls.

The benefits?

*They are removable, with many repositionable and even reusable.

*They are designed to not damage walls (good for dorm rooms and rentals).

*They’re good for kids, who can help with the design. And since many decals and large graphics are relatively inexpensive, parents won’t mind replacing them when a child has outgrown them.

Local interior designer Sandy Nelson is a big fan.”I love them. There are so many designs and styles you can use. What I like about them is that you can make a space your own very easily,” said Nelson, who runs Designs of the Times.Cable home shows often feature vinyl wall art, and it has been spotted in magazines such as Dwell and Metropolitan Home.And no wonder.

“People have been getting into a more modern, architectural design style. They are getting away from the overdone, overly ornate,” Nelson said.

“People are so busy, they really need to simplify. They like to be surrounded by a clean, serene atmosphere. These vinyl wall graphics are wonderful because one big graphic can create a focal point and make a strong statement — relatively inexpensively. And you can change it up,” she said.

In addition to patterns, lettering and words also are available, so you can create any phrase or poem on a wall, added Nelson, citing www.wallwords.com and www.wonderfulgraffiti.com as two online resources.Dry-erase and chalkboard peel-and-stick sheets and panels are other popular options — especially for playrooms or kitchens.

Locally, Julie Dana also sees a place for these products in today’s home.

“They are great for placing art where you don’t have a lot of physical room, such as a hallway. They don’t take up a lot of room, like a frame would,” said Dana, owner of the Home Stylist and an interior “redesigner.”

“They also are removable so you can use holiday ones this time of year and then take them off,” she said.

Some are reusable; some are not, Dana noted, so it pays to read the directions.

(At Decorators’ Show House 2009 last spring — E.B. Green’s Wallace Estate in Eggertsville — Dana covered the walls of the Teen Girl’s Bedroom with vinyl picture frames she made herself, using a crafting machine called the Cricut, which is manufactured by Provo Craft. Like many other other vinyl wall products, the frames were repositionable.)

“The trend, for the most part, is the bigger the better,” Dana said. “Small little doodads can look like clutter, but a big, statement-making piece can bring the room together,” she said.

To apply, a clean, dry and smooth wall is recommended,but depending on the size and design, vinyls also can be applied to furniture and ceilings.

A peek at what’s out there:

*WallPops, a popular line of peel-and-stick wall art from Brewster Home Fashions, includes dots, stripes, paisleys, hearts and zoo animals in its collection. Dry-erase sheets also are available. Check it out at www.wall-pops.com, where you will find retailers from whom you can buy or order.

*Target sells packages of self-adhesive, removable and repositionable wall decals for children’s rooms that coordinate with its bedding, priced $12.99 to $14.99 for a package of about 50 decals (hearts, flowers, robots, etc.).

*Jo-Ann fabric and craft stores and its Web site sells a line of “Hip in a Hurry” vinyl wall graphics in an assortment of sizes and designs, including words and phrases. A 35-inch high faux chandelier is regularly priced at $39.99. A 4 1/2-inch butterfly is less that $3.

Michael’s, A.C. Moore, Hobby Lobby, college bookstores and other retailers sell various products as well.

Besides stores, there are many, many online resources for vinyl wall decals and graphics.

Photo wall murals are another option. You can see photomurals, which you paste on walls, at www.brewsterhomefashions.com, for example.

Another Web site to check out: www.muralsyourway.com, which sells vinyl or canvas photo murals in various sizes, priced per square foot. Prices begin at about $175 for a 4-foot by 6-foot vinyl mural.

Especially popular for 2010, according to one trend forecast: bold geometric patterns, edgy, urban graphics and Asian-inspired prints, as well as nature and travel scenes.

Still curious?

Here are some other Web sites to check out for wall graphics: www.whatisblik.com (billed as “wall graphics for the commitment- phobic,” also sold online at Barnes & Noble, Urban Outfitters and elsewhere); fermlivingshop.us (options include big wall stickers designed to look like a bar code, housefly or fingerprint — and that’s just for starters); www.pbteen.com; www.urbanoutfitters.com (decals and murals as well as cloth tapestries, etc., with some sold in stores as well).

Other sites worth checking out include www.mycurlycue.com, where you will find stickers and graphics for kids, college students and others, and www.fathead.com, a popular line of vinyl life-size sports stars and superheroes.

But the options go beyond that.

You have to love the faux fireplace from Fathead, which you just peel off the sheet and stick on the wall. Write the folks at Fathead: “The visual warmth of this fire will be the focal point of any room. You can get the beauty of a fire without all the work and mess!”

Again, you can even move it and reuse it. Way to confuse your guests!