3 Top Ways to Get the Most Out of a Cabinet Maker

Give me a great custom cabinet maker any day. Expect higher costs than you would encounter with a semi custom group, sure. But you will never hear the words, “This doesn’t come in that size or that color.” Rather, the world is your oyster. To get the most out of working with a top quality…

How To (Im)Politely Decline to Lift Furniture

Recently, during a furniture delivery and installation for a great guy and favorite client, he overheard me say to one of my staffers, “We’ll need to move that dining table (meaning the moving guys) so the crew can have an easier path for the furniture load in.” Before I could blink, my helpful client asked…

The Perils of Upholstery Fabric

How is your fabric vocab? Falling in love with a smokin’ hot fabric for your new sofa (or to reupholster your old one) is great. However, it can get you into hot water if you don’t know the following tidbits to keep you out of the sharky, snarky waters called “Putting The Wrong Fabric on…

Best Houseplants for Your Home

Ever notice the greenery and flora in those fabulous rooms you’re lusting after on your Pinterest pinboards and in your HOUZZ idea books? Well, my decorating lover, the first thing to know is this: They’re flora real! That’s because nothing says cheesy “economy motel lobby” quite the way a fake potted plant does, other than,…

Decorating During Life Crisis – A Bad Move

If you are contemplating a decorating project while also dealing with a high stress life situation, I want you to Stop and Back Away from the Fabric Deck. Let’s face, for most of us, sometimes Life hands you a load of lemons in a big carton labeled “This cycle is going to suck, but you…

Bad Idea: Working with an Interior Designer in Secret

I had an interesting, “teaching moment” phone call from a prospective client that made me think: “Blog post!” This lovely person called and complimented me, saying she had seen me give a design trend presentation and was “very excited to work with me.” How lovely. Then she let slip that her project would be “a…

Screwed By Your Sofa

Haveyou ever purchased a piece of furniture that – after a few years of wear – or maybe less, just completely tanked on you? The finish chipped. The doors or drawers stopped working right, or never did in the first place. The upholstery seams opened up. The leather flaked. The cushions flattened into sad looking…

Dumb Interior Design

Ok, listen girls. You are too smart to do Dumb Design. You are a decorating lover, a design watcher, a DIY-er type or a Hire-A-Designer gal. You are a smart cookie in all areas of your Life, so why throw that away in an HGTV-Blog-a-liscious-HOUZZ-delighted stuper? I saY YES to HGTV and I say YES…

Unable to Make Decorating Decisions?

So listen, this post could also have been titled, “’Blank’ or Get Off the Sofa.” I keep hearing people complain about “Taking 6 months to pick out a rug” (it shouldn’t) or “2 years to pick out a sofa” (Holy Cow) or “Staying up at night vacillating over paint colors” (Please no!). I’m here to…

Are People Bothered By Their Homes and Furnishings?

Investing wisely in your home’s design and in the furnishings you purchase for that home should not be negotiable. Design is a gift when done wisely and well, yet the losses are great when it is not. Protecting and guiding design clients and design consumers everywhere is not just a passion for me – it’s…