home design ideas

Turn a closet into a home office. Take off the door. Make a huge bulletin board for the wall. If you can, nudge in the perfect Parsons desk from West Elm. Have fun buying file drawers and desk accessories. Add a little desk lamp for atmosphere.

Buy a piece of marble from a stone yard and have them hone it and make it into a new top for a table you already own. Instant patisserie!

Create a tented effect with Indian fabric. Suspend it from the center of the ceiling to the corners of the room and then drape it down the walls, over horizontal rods mounted just under the ceiling.

I draped a Mongolian lambs wool throw over my lumpy old sofa and suddenly it was luxurious and exotic.

Instead of tiling a whole wall, just pick out a selection of tiles and arrange them on the wall. You can find beautiful old tiles at flea markets or architectural salvage stores.

Line the backs of your shelves with raffia. Phillipjeffries.com has all sorts of colors and weaves. Ive used it in kitchens and bathrooms. It gives a little depth and texture, and anything you put in front of it looks great.

For a quick pick me up, I buy oversize wicker wrapped glass hurricanes from larsbolander.com. Pass the rum punch!

Since darkness comes so early in the winter months and windows look like black holes at night, get handwoven shades from conradshades.com. They will visually warm the room and insulate you from cold drafts.

Upholster an ottoman with carpeting. You could use an old kilim, a striped dhurrie, or something really wild like a David Hicks geometric.

Take a dull set of dining room chairs and spray paint them black. Then splurge on a glorious fabric, perhaps something from Raoul Textiles, to cover the seats. Or what about pink patent leather.