Professionally Done

All great rooms, ( this is any room ), need a mixture of finishes.  First there are the woods; they can be painted, antiqued, light woods, dark woods, with glass or marble tops, including faux tops and leather.  I am sure there are many more to choose from as there are many types of wood and shades of stain.  Rooms need wood, and then something metallic, such as: silver or silver leaf, gold or gold leaf, brass, or copper.  There are many shades of all these also.  One more thing to add is ceramic, that can be lamps, vases, pottery pieces or accessories.  These are all secrets of interior designers throughout the world.  It is using these elements that make a room look professionally done.

You may decide this year to unclutter your rooms.  I have heard this lately a lot from my clients.  Perhaps things change with age.  I have always said that you spend the better half of your life collecting things you love and the last part of your life getting rid of all these things.  I find that I am doing that myself.  I like things to be practical, easily accessible, easy to clean and look neat.  That may be a minimal look.

Simple, for the working parent or parents.  This is really to unclutter.  Nothing on  the countertops, hardly anything on table tops, one or two if any, throw pillows.  More straight lines, possibly overstuffed furniture and minimal lighting.

Multifunctional design is what we have been talking about.  A bedroom and office combined, or an office and playroom combined.  An art room and a game room, of which my next focus is going to be.

Renewable design, my favorite.  This is shopping for items at resale shops, garage and estate sales, or on Craig's List.

A Mantra that has been around a long time, "Less is More".  Focus on quality, not quantity when it comes to art, furnishings and rugs or carpeting, tile, or wood flooring.

Again, depending on where you live, sometimes it is better to buy an old piece of furniture and have it reupholstered.  Dollar or dollar, you will have a good piece of furniture.  I wish I still owned pieces from the seventies or before.

Tomorrow, dual purpose rooms again.

A Bit Still on the Pool Bath

Are you tired of bathrooms yet.  I can talk about them forever, as I feel they are the most left out room in the house, yet the most used by everyone.  I also like to have  magazine rack in the bath room, for a little extra reading time.  A basket will do fine and is easy to move from room to room.  Depending on the number of baths you have in your home, and depends on the importance of each one.  If you are starting completely over or remodeling one, or just sprucing one up, all of these hints help.  Yesterday, I showed you a Waterford Orchid in a vase, it had  blue background, here is one with a red background, that I did special and sold it.

 

This one sold because of the red almost immediately. 

 

Just to show you how color can change something immediately.  I love to add paintings to any room as it adds the pizazz I want with a new splash of color.  I believe I told you, I really don't match things to a room, I hang what I like, wherever  I want, whenever I want.  Just another bit of advice, before we get back to bathrooms.  If you have art fairs or art studios in your area, frequent them, or check online, and buy unframed art.  Save it somewhere where it stays safe and dry, never a garage, basement or attic as humidity can ruin them as well as extreme cold, heat or dampness.  This is your art collection.  Go through them every once in a while, and perhaps have one framed and hung to change the look of an area.

 

Let's talk about accessorizing a bathroom.  I will go back to my pool bathroom first and show you how I accessorize. 

 

 

 

I like to use plants and I always put a clock in every bathroom.  Actually, I use clocks in every room as I am so busy, that I need to know what time it is.  If you have a clock in each bathroom, your guests also know what time it is.  It doesn't have to large, and it can be part of another scheme.  Above, I tucked it into the plant (artificial) but it is always there.  Next to it, is a small tray (actually a serving tray) that serves a role to set old perfume bottles on.

 

 

A little blurry but you can see the effect.  Again, see you can use metals, glass and color, on a marble top with a plant.  In this small area, there is color, warmth , and texture.  This is what you must think about.  This is what makes a room.  Here are a few other things that are in this pool bath.  I bet you think that this is a tremendously large room, it is not.  Just done right.  There are those who hate clutter.  To me, it is expression of who I am.  If you hate clutter, then simplify, with maybe just a clock.

 

 

This vase sits opposite the last picture, on the same chest that holds the beach towels, with the marble top, with the brass and enamel light fixture and the mirror, plant, clock and accessories.  Here is as best a picture I could take as this bathroom is narrow.

 

 

 

This shows you a lot of the way I use things.  I may change the whole room around at another time as I have a lot of accessories put away. I have a lot of trouble getting rid of things.

 

I also love to change towels.  Fancy towels just suit my fancy, but are so very impractical, therefore, I use towels that are practical.  My sister, has an assortment of beautiful towels hanging in all her bathrooms.  In the master bathroom, that they just remodeled, she choose copper sinks, which gave the bathroom warmth right away.  I will have to get pictures of that bathroom, as it is fit for a queen.  She matched her bathroom though with a picture.  It is actually a giclee' of one of my paintings.  Here it is and you can see how it picks up the copper fixtures:

 

 

Title: Mom's Bird

Price: Framed  40" Ht. x 34" W.

Price:  $1350.00 framed includes shipping

Original Watercolor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a Sandhill Crane, and when my mom was very ill, she couldn't see the bird as I started working on the feathers first.  After she passed away, I couldn't work on it.  I just put it away.  I really quit painting what I liked.  I still taught watercolors but it was to keep mind active. .A very good friend said paint something you would never paint and it will get you back into painting again.  I did and now, I paint as much as I can.

 

Writing this blog has my heart and soul lately.  It take a lot of planning so my time is even more limited.

 

Tomorrow, continue on baths!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!