Ha, ha! I like the last line best . . .

I only got as far as #17, but those are some good ideas.

The one about making a blanket out of your sofa fabric for the dogs to lay on cracked me up. When I think about the price per yard of nice upholstery fabric, I can't imagine making a blanket for the dogs. I can cover the sofa with a sheet if it's that important to protect the upholstery.

totally agree with the all white sheets and towels all the time one, and the one about never putting furniture smack up against a wall.

re. dining chairs or anything for that matter: Yes, you don't want your guests to feel too comfortable in your house.....

Oh,

Can chew on it. Yummy!

there are little gems in there, I bookmarked it !!
thanks for posting it !!

Regarding the leftover sofa fabric for a dog coverlet, my neighbor did that.

I did not know she had a "coverlet" of the same fabric. I was visiting and she was telling me about the wonderful job the upholstery guy had done and how she recommended him since he had done so well on her sofa (she is very particular; this is an inherited 19th century sofa in her formal music room).

When I got up, it seemed the upholstery was moving with me. I am not sure I felt embarrassed for myself having been so rough sitting there having tea or for her, thinking her upholstery guy had done such a lovely job when, I believed, he had ruined her sofa.

I said nothing and went merrily on my way. A few weeks later I had asked her about a fabric color for my sofa and she made a suggestion and told me I need to do what she did, save the leftover fabric and make a coverlet for the dog.

Wow, was I then embarrassed even more, thinking she must have been training me like the shedding dog to sit on her sofa. Oh, well. I am not sure how I feel about that just yet. The coverlet was fairly new as was the upholstery, maybe 2 weeks' old, and as they are select in who they invite....oh, well.

We are what we are and I have thick blond hair (maybe similar to that of a cute dog, which her Yorkies certainly are cute). LOL.

There's an exception for every "always" and "never" stated, and some contradict one another. (Never line drapes in white/always line drapes in white.)

The cowhide, though, has me stumped. Either she's recommending wall-to-wall cowhide, or a very, very well-trained dog who will "stay" on your average-size cowhide rug.

Re: dining chair comfort... I believe that's the church pew theory. None of my dinner guests has ever engaged in conversation so boring that dozing off is a possibility!

We have a pool, and when it's really hot, we lunch inside, so we recovered our dining room chairs with a leather/look vinyl, and the upholsterer gave us the scraps since we had paid for a bolt.

Vinyl can be easily cut and doesnt need hems, so I made about 20 matching place mats for in and outside. Those things are great! Easy to wipe off! Best idea I ever had.

No dogs here, but I'd be tempted to make one of those blankets too!

That is silly!!! Then you have to love it when all of your guests go home and talk about your terrible dining chairs and how uncomfortable they were.

Well, these two designers would likely not get along!

Yes, some super helpful tips. I am bookmarking it as well.

And thisâ¦

Great link! I like this one, and often use 'precious' things in different ways as it adds a unique touch to my decor and makes me smile. Currently I use a vintage white and blue serving bowl from France as a mail catcher.

I think if you are doing a lot of different treatments and live in a typical neighborhood, it probably makes sense to line in white. My mother had a friend whose drapes were all lined in bright teal, but she had a rather plain pale yellow house so it was kind of interesting.

The other thing that can happen with colored linings is, that unless they are also interlined or blackout, the sun shining through a colored lining can do weird things to how the fabric looks inside or the color of the room with the drapes close.

My own decorating tips are: Counter tops the color of ants., Drapes/curtains the color of your cat (just don't get a black cat) and carpeting or floor covering the color of your dog.

That was interesting! I bookmarked it too, haven't gotten to all of them yet. It seemed like after twenty of so, the advice took a turn for crazy/ridiculous/all over the place...

Saying beds should be no more than 23" off the floor got to me. Today's mattresses are so heavy, having to bend down that far and lift a mattress to change the sheets is hard.

hahaha RyseRyse

Really? Sand, dirt and glass together. I don't think so. No, no, no, not so practical!

I dunno, I think this is talking mostly about dress shoes. I bet a lot of her client's dress shoes barely spend any time outside.

My mother's dress shoes went from house to garage (which had a clean mat down the middle) to car, with a brief walk across sidewalk and back onto carpet again. There was no dirt, they barely got wet. Her outerwear, boot type shoes or anything that would get dirty never made it anywhere close to her bedroom closet and if they did they were cleaned off first before being put away.

I think Cullman's clients are mostly urban-based, right into the car or taxi and back out right into an inside space kind of people, where something like this would make a lot of sense.

This is one i strongly agree with, except allowing for minimal " stuff".

Anyone else here go to "charm school"? Dear sweet old Mrs. Reimann taught all of the young ladies how to care for our cuticles (she must be rolling in her grave re mine right now) and that dining tables and chairs are made at that height to encourage proper posture ;)

"Counter tops the color of ants"
noooooooooo!! Last year I had ants all over my kitchen counter. itty bitty tiny ants. could hardly see them (but then I didn't have my glasses on and my eyes are bad)... I would never have seen them if I had a colorful or patterned counter top. Mine is plain white laminate. I'd been planning to replace it maybe this next year. I immediately cancelled that idea! I WANT to be able to see the ants so I can get rid of them. I'm keeping the plain white counter top.

"floor covering the color of your dog" - I did this one. Sort of. My floor isn't the color OF my dog really, it's the color of her undercoat. She's a reddish brown and her undercoat is more a gray/beige - and so is my floor.

I'm about halfway through and pretty much agree with all the statements.

And.....I have blankets on my bedroom sofa that match the upholstery. I wouldn't have thought to do it on my own, but it is a sofa from Ballard upholstered in sage check, a fabric that is only about $35 per yard and wears like iron. I found dog blankets IN THE SAME FABRIC on their website, with the reverse side in faux sheepskin pile! I bought two, which works perfectly since it is a two cushion sofa. People who see it think I am mad.....I used to rush and tell them I did not have the blankets custom made, now I will just say nonchalantly, well, you know Carolyne Roehm does the same.....

Kswl...lol and lucky find on the blankets that matched your sofa color. I often wonder about those designer that show their pooches lounging on their silk covered chairs/sofas in photo shoots. I guess they have the resources to reupholster their pieces as often as necessary.

My floor covering is the color of my dog. Sort of a brown color with lots of white hair everywhere. That's her color and she shares it so well. Over the period of 8 hours, we go from a medium oak plank to a similarly colored border collie look --- she's so good to share the shedding hair.