home design ideas

Create a bar corner and buy beautiful bar accessories very Nick and Nora Charles. I like the Alvar Aalto Tea Trolley from unicahome.com, or you could just commandeer a console table.

To give your rooms a cohesive, polished look, tell a color story with accessories. Start with the living room and strip out all the bits and pieces. Then choose one color and thread it back into the room with vases, candlesticks, pillows, and throws. Place a lacquered tray in the same color on the coffee table.

I like to do this myself at least once a year. Take every last loose piece on every surface photos, vases, candlesticks, books, magazines whatever is cluttering up your vision and chances are you no longer even see. Put them on a counter in the kitchen, then redeploy in new arrangements. But only use half of them. Put the rest into a closet for a free shopping spree the next time around.

If you have a dining table that stands dormant most of the time, turn it into a library table. Collect beautiful books and create small stacks around the perimeter of the table. Place a large scale object.

I like to make simple slipcovers for the square headboard on my bed. Just get a great piece of fabric, cut out a front and a back, and stitch them together. I might do white linen in the summer, velvet in winter.

The single cheapest makeover I know is a dimmer, a new CD, and some flowers.

If you have a room paneled in new wood that is trying to look old, take a paintbrush and add a thin line of black in the flutes of a column, or along the raised part of a panel. That touch of black will add authenticity.

Treat yourself to throw pillows made of silk velvet. Since theyre expensive, choose a silk damask in the same color for the back side. Dont forget to use an invisible zipper.

Upholster an ordinary hollow core door in leather, or one of the new vinyls that look like leather. If you have the patience, add nailheads in a geometric pattern.

Pick a predominant color from your room and paint the ceiling. It can be done in less than a day, and a can of paint is so cheap!