Monthly Archives May 2007

Recycling Fur for Home Decor

I stumbled across a lovely design and decorating blog the other day. The blog is written by Victoria Larsen and one of her posts really struck a chord.

Like Victoria, the idea of killing animals for fashion saddens me and I personally would rather see more use of synthetic furs but sometimes we find ourselves in possession of a fur coat that we would never have purchased (meaning – gifted to us) that we rather not wear. Or what about all those fashion-orphaned furs forgotten with last seasons Prada purses at your local consignment store – should they all be tossed out or is it more sensible to recycle them?

Victoria has a great idea that you can use to recycle either a fur in your possession or one that you can purchase at a consignment store into luxurious and useful decorative pillows and soft, warm throws.

HGTV “Bought & Sold” May 20th Episode

The May 20th “Bought & Sold” episode will feature “home staging” expert Linda Russell who also happens to be a realtor and a member of the “Bought & Sold” cast. I think it would be worth watching for those of you who have homes on the market.

Here’s more info- “Bought & Sold” May 20th show

HGTV’s Bought & Sold

Recently I was contacted by a public relations representative for Home and Garden Television to let me know about their new television show “Bought and Sold”. The ‘Bought and Sold” show for those of you who may be unfamiliar with it is a show which follows the trials and tribulations of realtors. Of course the show isn’t a completely new concept as other “home” networks have created similar type shows with some slight twist but the show’s promos seemed interesting enough so I told the representative that I would record the show since I was going to be out of town and watch it when I returned.

When I returned from my trip I watched the first episode of “Bought and Sold” and found that aside from the brilliant use of creative visual merchandising and marketing by the multi-million dollar listing agent Sam Joseph who had worked as Creative Vice President at Macy’s, the rest of the show was dull, predicatable and dated – showing a market that appears to be pre-housing bubble bust. I had no intention of watching a second episode because the first episode had failed to impress. However, here comes the “big but” I decided to hang in there and watch the second episode in the series – again based on the interesting promo teaser and my husband telling me that I should at least give it a second chance .

I watched the second episode this last weekend and was engaged from the beginning of the show until the very end. I really enjoyed the segments with Joanna and Jodi and their interactions with the soon to be divorced couple that had decided to sell their family home. The show showed it’s heart and I think that if it can continue with another episode consistent with the second one then the show will develop a wonderful following.

“Bought and Sold” can be an entertaing reality realty show (yeah – I know based on one pretty good show and hoping the rest are as interesting…) that helps outsiders get an insiders view of the real estate market, the agents and their interactions with each other as well as their clients. As previously noted, the show is entertaining for a reality show BUT don’t expect to learn many great “Design to Sell” tidbits or home staging tips – I’d stick with The Decorating Diva favorite “Design to Sell” (with the superb Lisa Laporta) or if you’re into house flipping then any of the “Flip this House” shows. I also like “Buy Me” which is the buyers version of “Bought and Sold”.

I will watch upcoming episodes and update my opinion of the show as it progresses.

Quick Side Note: I mentioned earlier that “Bought and Sold” appeared to be dated prior to the housing bust but to be honest almost (probably all realty shows) are now dated. My husband and I joke that once the “house flipping” shows make there way to television then it’s time to sell your flip property fast cause the markets going down. Just an observation

Decorating with Color: Color Theory and the Color Wheel

Definition of Color
To understand color one has to understand how color comes into existence. If you remember your physical science class discussion on light and those fun experiments with prisms you will recall that an object reflects back the color in the light wave that corresponds to itself while absorbing all other colors in the light wave. For example, a red rose absorbs all color waves in the light except for the color red. The color red is BOUNCED back thereby giving the red rose it’s color.

In scientific terms you could say: Light consists of color waves, when we SEE a color we are actually being exposed to the COLOR WAVES not absorbed by the object. Light bounces the color back through reflection.

Color Terminology

DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN YOU WEREN’T AFRAID OF COLOR?
Do you remember the excitement of opening a box of 64 crayons? The heady smell of those wax wonders! You could doodle and color the afternoon away. Color was something to be discovered not feared! So, what if little Suzy thought chartreuse was icky? You didn’t care. Unfortunately, as we grow into adulthood we begin to care about what others think and that’s the beginning of both our fear and inhibition of color. Therefore, it should be no big surprise that there are so many white walls in people’s homes and office’s. Well today, I am giving you permission to embrace color again!

You have probably heard color referred to as hue and vice versa. They are one in the same. You can use the terms interchangeably.