Houzz

Four Tips for Creating a Kids' Craft Space (9 photos)

I was woken up this morning by my three year old using me as a shelf for his pipe cleaner collection. Right now, he mostly uses the pipe cleaners to make letter shapes and simple animals, like fish, but he's getting more advanced. And messier.Crafts have been hot here at our house for the past couple...

What's In Your Wine Cellar? (12 photos)

When I first joined Houzz, way back in November 2008, I was trying to figure out how to organize and decorate a tiny wine cellar my husband built in a part of our basement that's the size of a large closet. After spending a lot of time with the photos, I decided to take a route I hadn't seen anywhere....

Bringing the Citrus for Spring (11 photos)

It is rainy and gray and totally dreary on the East Coast right now (at least where I am) - so I really need a jolt of energy and springtime. Enter citrus colors. Bright yellows, greens, and oranges never fail to make me smile. They have the same effect on the end of winter that juicy oranges, lemons,...

Bring On the Green: Decorating with Indoor Plants (9 photos)

March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb and all that - and I feel comfortable speaking for most of the East Coast when I say that I'm ready for a little more lamb! That sentiment sent me in search of rooms with a green thumb. Even if it's still a little chilly (and rainy, but hopefully...

Tips for Designing a Great Shared Kids' Room (10 photos)

The other day I got an email from my old friend Shelley, who has a dilemma. She has two little kids - a boy and a girl - and she's recently moved them into the same bedroom. Here's what she had to say:"I know there's got to be some designer out there who can make a shared kids rooms look good, not...

Making Maximalism Work (13 photos)

The other day, Becky posted an ideabook all about totally uncluttered, modern living rooms. That is, actually, my style - I like a nice clean room - but it also made me go in...

6 Steps to Getting Kate & Andy Spade's Preppy Look (13 photos)

Last week, New York magazine ran an article on the current activities of handbag and accessories giants Kate & Andy Spade. I have a weakness for the Spade aesthetic, so I was thrilled with even the tiny glimpse inside...

How 5 Spring 2010 Fashion Trends Work in the Home (10 photos)

Over the weekend, as I was browsing through the March 2010 issue of In Style magazine, I couldn't help but notice that a lot of this season's trends work equally well on the body or in the home. OK, so "formal shorts" don't easily translate to decorating, but trends about color and texture switch from...

Ode to the Barcelona Chair (10 photos)

The Barcelona Chair. It's a favorite of modernist designers and just about anybody who gets Dwell magazine. Simple, comfortable, neutral - it's a fantastic piece of furniture that deserves its iconic status.Now known as one of the leading architects of the modern movement, Ludwig Mies Van de Rohe...

7 Tips for Creating a Cool, Inspiring Home Office (11 photos)

I work from home. On most days, that means I'm working in the kitchen, with my papers spread all over the island and my laptop sharing space with drying dishes and mail.I have a dedicated office in my house, but it's somehow evolved into a catch-all storage space. Not exactly prime creative space....

Design Trends for 2010: "Harvest" (9 photos)

This is the second in a series of ideabooks in which I go into more detail about trends I highlighted in an earlier ideabook called 10 big design trends for 2010. After commenter stacystyle...

Design Trends for 2010: The Rise of Texture (9 photos)

Last week I wrote an ideabook summarizing 10 big design trends for 2010. Commenter stacystyle mentioned that she'd like to see more images and commentary about each trend. I had so much fun...

Starting Fresh: Designs for a New Year (9 photos)

Happy New Year to everyone in Houzzland!Whether its January 1st or the start of the school year in September, I love new beginnings and the opportunities they offer. There's no better time to clean out the closets and the pantries and start fresh.Here's a little fresh, clean, refreshing eye...

A Little Love for the Shower Stall (10 photos)

In a world where the clawfoot tub is king, shower stalls get very little respect. Admit it - when you think "shower," your mind goes to cramped spaces, weird mold smells, and damp dorm bathrooms that you'd never venture into without flip-flops.That's not really fair, though. When my husband and I...

10 More Design Trends for 2010 (10 photos)

I'm a sucker for predictions and trends, and I'm also a sucker for lists, so the end of the year is one of my favorite times. I've already looked at two big trends for next year -

Sparkly, White and Pretty (9 photos)

I'm feeling kind of poetic today - probably because Baltimore had a big, unexpected snow yesterday and this morning, the sun is shining and it's cold and the icy snow in my yard is sparkling like diamonds. It's dangerous as anything to walk on, but so pretty to look at from my nice, warm kitchen.And...

Where Would You Put the Tree? (11 photos)

It's that time again - Christmas decorating time. The part of the year when we rearrange all our furniture, for just a few weeks, to add a big, messy, tree into the mix.Fortunately, at my house, I only have a minimum of rearranging to do, and my tree is in a prime spot both for the neighbors and...

Decorating with Dishes (10 photos)

Sometimes it seems that every woman my mom's age has a collection of Royal Copenhagen dessert plates - the blue ones, issued on Mother's Day and Christmas each year. And all of those women, like my mom, have hung them as a border around their kitchen.Even though my taste is a little more modern,...

The Magic of Accessorizing (11 photos)

I don't love the term "home accessory," but I can't find one that's more descriptive, one that better describes something in the home that really serves no purpose other than to, well, accessorize.Despite my distaste for the name, I definitely like the effect achieved when a homeowner finds one really...

15 Popular Design Trends on Houzz (16 photos)

Checking out the "most popular" photos on Houzz is a fun way to lose a few hours (or more...be careful). I know what I like, but it's always interesting to see what everyone else adds to their ideabooks, too. Not surprisingly, when you spend some time with the photos, a few real trends emerge. Every...

Throw Pillows that Make Me Smile (12 photos)

The other day I had to give up and toss out my last cheapie IKEA throw pillow. It started out as a pretty green silk(ish) fabric, but ended up covered in water stains and unidentifiable spots. As a result, my sofa looks naked.But not for long. Inspired by

DIY Projects: Winterizing Your Home (9 photos)

"Spring cleaning" gets an awful lot of buzz, but the rest of the year often gets neglected. It shouldn't. As the weather starts to chill, it's the perfect opportunity to do some preparation for winter - some mild winterizing.A good, full-on house-cleaning is a great idea at this time of year, when...

Any Given Sunday: Perfect Football Setups (10 photos)

When I was a kid, Sundays in the fall meant one thing: Redskins football. My dad and brother are diehard fans, so every week that they didn't make it to the stadium, they turned our living room into their own private, encosed tailgate. My mom would cook soup or chili, so the whole house smelled great...

7 Things that Make a Room Made for a Man, but Livable for a Woman (10 photos)

I like to think of this ideabook as a guide to making a home "manageably masculine." A lot of the design I notice in shelter mags and online has a distinctly feminine touch. Even if the rooms aren't all ruffles and cotton candy pink, they've got a girly vibe that's hard to deny. They're pretty rooms...

5 Design Lessons from Restaurants (11 photos)

The other night, while out to dinner, I spent some time looking very carefully around the restaurant. It was a small chain and had obviously been carefully designed to evoke a certain feeling and to make the most of diner experiences (also, I'm guessing, to make the most MONEY off diner experiences)....

Cool Spaces (71 photos)

10 Tips for Making a Teeny-Tiny Home Office Work (11 photos)

Thanks to the snowstorm of historic proportions (aka snowpacolypse, snowmaggedon, SNOMG, and my favorite, Snowtorious B.I.G.), a lot of people who usually work in an office have had to work from home this week. As a result, a lot of people are probably also rethinking their current home office situation.Working...

10 Ways to Add Chocolate to Your Life (10 photos)

It's almost Valentine's Day...and that means chocolate. Lots and lots of red heart-boxed chocolate.Chocolate is delicious in the box, and it's amazing in the home, too. It's a rich color, with depth and sophistication, and works in a lot of ways.As an aside, several of these rooms were designed...

For the Love of Planks (12 photos)

The other day, I watched an episode of Renovation Realities or $10 Grand in Your Hand or Sweat Equity (or one of those DIY shows) in which the happy renovating couple blew their budget on restored random-width wood floors. Normally, when people on those shows make an outrageously expensive design...

Kitchen Design: To Hood or Not to Hood? (12 photos)

When we renovated our kitchen, one of our bigger decisions was how to handle the vent over our stove. We ended up going with a super cool stainless steel chimney hood. Aesthetically, it was an easy decision - it just looks right in our modern space.Financially, though, it hurt a little - even with...