5 Ways to Create a Spa-like Master Bath

Visiting a spa is very much a sensory experience. Don’t you love the feeling of tranquility and relaxation that you get when visiting a spa? Much of this experience comes from the environment of the spa – the wall colors, flooring, natural materials, furnishings, fixtures, layout, and lighting all contribute to a Zen like atmosphere. Wouldn’t you love to have this feeling in your own master bath? Well, you can. Whether you completely remodel your bathroom or just update it, depending on your budget, you can create a feeling of calm and peacefulness. Here are some suggestions -
1 – Choose a Color Palette of Warm, Calming, Neutral Colors – Soothing, calming colors will help to create a restful sanctuary. Include neutrals such as soft buttery yellows, pale aquas, or warm shades of biscuit, cream, fawn, or sand.
2 – Bring in Natural Light – If you are remodeling your bath, try to include some larger windows. Top-down shades can be used for privacy when needed. If windows aren’t an option, try to include a skylight to increase the amount of natural light. Everyone looks and feels better when bathed in natural sunlight. Include lighting fixtures with clean lines over sinks, and be sure that there is plenty of light. Including dimmers will allow you to change the mood as you desire.
3 – Use Natural Materials – Natural finished woods and natural stones like marble or granite will add to the Zen-like feel of your bath. Lighter colored woods and stone will not only make your bath feel more spacious, but will also help to create a calming feeling.

4 – Upgrade Your Shower and Tub – If the budget allows, consider a jetted tub and luxurious shower. There are so many options available now.  If you don’t have room for a tub and separate shower, consider just having a large shower with massage jets, rain showerheads, and even steam nozzles. Use natural stone or stone-like tiles. The addition of glass decorative tiles will add a soft, calming feeling. Be sure to include a clear glass, frameless shower enclosure to add to the open feeling.

5 – Accessorize & Personalize Your Spa Bath – Add accessory pieces that make you feel warm and relaxed. Scented candles, river rocks, glass vases, bamboo, and seashells will all add to the serene and peaceful feeling. But don’t get carried away. You don’t want it to look cluttered. Include luxurious towels that will add to your enjoyment as you use your new spa bath.
By following these suggestions and guidelines you can create a relaxing, stress-relieving environment in your own home that will provide you with enjoyment for years to come. If you’d like some professional help in creating your spa-like bath, just let me know. I’d love to help.

On the Lookout for the Latest in Designer Home Accessories & Furniture

My office manager, Barbara, and I are busy getting ready for the Winter Home Furnishings Market in Las Vegas next week. We always have a blast going from showroom to showroom checking out all of the new offerings, seeing the new trends, and eating and drinking our way through the most beautiful showrooms for furniture, lamps, lighting fixtures, area rugs, and home accessories. We’ll be checking out the new offerings, and looking especially for new pieces to put on our home accessories online shopping boutique. I personally look at each piece before it goes on our site, and it has to pass my strict requirements for beautiful design, excellent quality, and great value. I also include suggestions for complementary pieces to make it easier for you to select pieces that work well together.
Here’s a sampling of some of my favorites.  Click on any photo to see the beautiful, intricate detail.

These beautiful hand-painted wall plaques will look great hung horizontally, vertically, or as shown. The rich colors and textures make them especially nice.

The burnt sienna color and textures in the glass on this lamp are just gorgeous.

I love the clean lines and striking design of this beautiful mirror.  It’s perfect for over an entry console table or in a powder room or master bath.

Our home accessories shopping site now features the most competitive pricing and free shipping on all orders.  Do some exploring . . .hope you find something special.

Interior Design is a Lot Like Dancing!

My husband and I have been taking ballroom dance classes off and on for over 16 years.  Lately we’re back “on” again and enjoying it very much.  We have wonderful instructors who have taught and performed ballroom dancing for many years.  As we were driving to our class last night to continue learning salsa, I started thinking how we need to build on steps, from basic steps to more complex steps.  As we become more and more comfortable with the steps, we learn new ones.  But then we forget some of the steps we already learned!  So it’s a continual learning process.  If we didn’t have our patient instructors to again teach us what we’ve forgotten, we’d probably just stop dancing altogether!
Learning to dance without a good teacher is a little like trying to design the interior of your home without a good designer.  Sure you can look around at different stores, watch shows on HGTV, and look through lots of home magazines, but figuring out what your personal style looks like and trying to create it in your home is not easy.  As an interior designer, I really listen to my clients, ask them lots of questions, and look at lots of photos together so that I have a very good idea of their needs and desires.  I also find out how their family functions and what their passions and lifestyle are like. Then I take measurements and start creating a master plan for them.  Because of my education and 25 years of experience, not to mention some intuition and talent, I am able to create a design that they love.  Sometimes it requires a few tweaks, but in the end my clients have been astonished at how well I know what they’re going to like, and am able to find just the right pieces, fabrics, and colors.  When I create a design I start with layout and elevation drawings.  Then I select the basic pieces and build on the design, layering in accent pieces, lighting, area rugs, window treatments, artwork, plants, and accessories.  By the time I present the design to my clients, it’s usually almost exactly what they we’re hoping for.  Then we fine tune it and get everything ordered, delivered, and installed.  It’s a fun and fairly stress-free process for my clients, and the best part for me is seeing their smiles when they see their transformed home.
If you think you might like some assistance designing your home interior, please call or email me. I’d love to help you.  If you’re outside the greater Los Angeles area, I can still give you some guidance.  Just go to “Personalized Design Advice” and tell me about your design dilemma. You can come home every night to a place you love.  After all, home is not just where you live – it’s where you come alive.

Using Mirrors to Visually Enlarge Your Home

Using mirrors is one of my favorite ways to lighten and brighten your home interior. Mirrors reflect light into a space to visually expand and enliven the decor. They are extremely versatile and can be used in just about every room in your home. Well-placed mirrors will visually increase the size of your home, making it feel larger than it really is.
Add mirrors to any room you want to visually expand. To make a room feel larger, place a mirror opposite a window wall. The mirror will multiply the view, creating the effect of another window. Be sure that the view the mirror is reflecting is a pleasant one that you want to see more of. For example, a colorful view from your yard will add color, beauty and light when reflected in a mirror.

Entries and foyers are a great place to add a mirror. This is the first place that guests see when they enter your home, so it’s a great place to set a warm and inviting tone. Adding a mirror above a console table or chest will brighten your entry by reflecting light. A beautifully framed mirror will create a focal point in your entry, as well as a welcoming feeling. Add a buffet lamp for additional light, a vase of flowers for color, and a candle for atmosphere, and your guests will feel welcome the minute they enter your home. It’s also a great place to give yourself a final check just before leaving home.

Bathrooms are another great place to use mirrors. A beautifully framed mirror will add personality and drama to your powder room. The powder room is often used by guests, and they will surely notice a mirror with a unique and stylish frame. You can use a bold and gorgeous mirror to create a focal point in your powder room or guest bath. Other bathrooms in the house will also benefit from the use of framed mirrors. The function of a mirror in a bathroom is to accurately show your reflection. Why not use that mirror to create a statement at the same time? And don’t limit your thinking to rectangular shaped mirrors. Mirrors are available in many beautiful shapes including round, square, oval, hexagonal, and arched, to name a few. Just make sure that the mirrors you select complement your decor and are proportional to the space.

Hallways can definitely benefit from the addition of mirrors. Long hallways are often dark and visually boring. Groupings of mirrors help to distract the eye and brighten the darkness. Since these mirrors aren’t needed to functionally show your reflection, think of them as art, and use smaller mirrors in groupings that have unique and unusual frames.

Another method of using mirrors is called fragmentation. You can place several long, narrow mirrors side by side, each separated by a couple of inches. This comforting repetition is pleasing to the eye and adds interest. Reflections in the mirrors won’t capture a continuous view of an interior, but rather fragments of it, creating a unique effect. By using different shapes of mirrors dramatic effects can be accomplished.

Start by adding mirrors to one area of your home and continue from there. You’ll be thrilled to see how much a few mirrors can do to add to the warmth and brightness in your home.
If you’re looking for unique and beautiful mirrors that will add beauty to your home, take a look at the large selection of mirrors on our Innovations Home Decor website. I’ve personally selected each and every one. There are traditional, contemporary, rustic, and whimsical pieces to choose from – something for everyone.

Easy & Creative Holiday Decorating Ideas

Most everyone loves to decorate for the holidays.  It gives you a chance to change up your decor and add a new twist during the month of December.  Here are some fun and easy creative ideas to add some pizzazz to your home, especially great for entertaining.

• Create Memorable Place Settings – Attach personalized ornaments to a colorful ribbon, and tie around the napkin at each place setting.  Fill clear glass orbs, available at craft stores, with glittery garland, pine needles, or special trinkets.

• Cast the Perfect Glow – To create soft, flickering light for a mantel or a table in a dark corner, group inexpensive frosted-glass vases of different sizes, add tealights, and enjoy the glow.

• Fill a Wreath with Wishes – Hang an unadorned twig wreath in a spot where guests can’t miss it. Set out red magic markers and small white cards on a table next to it. Post a little sign asking visitors to scribble a greeting or a wish for the upcoming New Year, along with their names, and have them slip the notes into the wreath.

• Personalize Your Stemware – Use leftover ribbon to tie around the stems of your champagne flutes or wine glasses for an extra bit of festivity.   Choosing a different color for every glass will help guests keep track of their drinks.

I hope that you get inspired by some of these ideas. If you try any of them, or come up with some of your own, please drop me a line and let me know what you did and how it turned out.
May your home be filled with joy and love now and throughout the coming year.

Candleholders – Five Ways to Bring Autumn into Your Home

At this time of year as darkness comes earlier, I love to light candles. There’s nothing like the glow of candlelight to add drama and fragrance to your home. Here are some tips for bringing the warmth and beauty of autumn into your home.
1. Get some scented candles. Scents like vanilla bean and pumpkin clove smell wonderful at this time of year, and will fill your home with a lovely fragrance.
2. Add a candleholder that holds multiple candles to your kitchen island or dining table. It will add a warm glow, and with scented candles will fill the air with the spicy notes of this season.

3. A hurricane candleholder looks great on a coffee table or entry table. Try something that pulls in the autumn colors of rusts, greens, and creams.

4. If you like a more contemporary look, try using mirrored candleholders. Mirrored accessories are very popular right now, and when paired with candles, they add drama and beauty to your home.

5.  Wall sconces are another way to create a beautiful glow and warm fragrance in your home. Try putting them on either side of a mirror in your entry. They’ll create a welcoming feeling for your guests.

You’ll be amazed by the difference a few beautiful candleholders will make in the ambience of your home when paired with scented candles.  You can find all of these candleholders and more on our online boutique, Innovations Home Decor.  I’ve personally selected each piece, and every one is uniquely beautiful and charming.  For this autumn season, my readers can receive a 20% discount off your purchase of candleholders.  Just enter AUTUMN in the coupon code area when you checkout.

Have a wonderful autumn season.  Enjoy Thanksgiving, and let us be grateful for all of our blessings.
Until next time,
Pamela

Five Ways to Add Color & Personality to Your Home with Artwork & Wall Decor

seems like the hardest thing for most people to do in their homes is to place art on their walls.  While most people can place a sofa and loveseat or a dining table and chairs, it’s the vertical surfaces that seem to be the greatest challenge.  In 25 years of doing interior design work, I’ve seen and heard just about every problem that people encounter in placing art on their walls.  Here are some pointers for making your home the place you most want to be by filling it with your passions and your personality.
1.  Don’t wait to find the perfect piece of art.  You may look forever, and there will never be anything on your walls.  When you find something that makes you smile, buy it and find a spot for it in your home.  It will bring you joy until you find something you like better. If you have photographs that you’ve taken that you love, enlarge them, frame them, and find a place for them in your home.
2.  Artwork needs to relate to the wall on which it’s hung in size and scale.  Don’t hang a small piece in the middle of a large wall.  It will look lost.  As a rule of thumb, place your artwork no more than 6 to 12  inches above a sofa, buffet, mantel,  headboard, or other large piece of furniture.  The art will be anchored by the furniture and will create a pleasant feeling.

3.  Place small pieces of artwork on small walls.  Narrow walls are great for those small pieces that look lost on a large wall.  For more impact, place 2 pieces vertically, one above the other.  Small pieces can also be placed in a grouping.  When creating a grouping, the pieces must relate to each other in subject or color and must be balanced.  Use newspaper to cut out patterns the sizes of your art and place them on the floor.  Move them around until you’re happy with the grouping.  Then tape the patterns to the wall before proceeding to hang your art.

4.  On very large walls, like hallways, you may create groupings or use large pieces, and space them along the wall.  It’s great to place art opposite doorways, because you see the art as you leave a room.  The end of a hallway is also a great place to hang art.
5.  Hang your artwork at eye level.  This is the biggest mistake that people make.  They almost always hang it too high.  Five feet is a good rule of thumb for the average eye level.  Place the piece so that the top third is above five feet and the bottom two-thirds is below.
If you just haven’t found any artwork that speaks to you, inspires you, or makes you smile, take a look at the selection of artwork on our Innovations Home Decor Online Boutique for Home Accessories.   I’ve personally selected each and every piece.  There are hand-painted pieces, art prints, mixed media pieces, and sets of pieces that can be hung in a grouping.  Each piece has my suggestion for other art pieces that are complementary.  There are traditional, contemporary, ethnic, rustic, Asian, and whimsical pieces to choose from – something for everyone.  I hope you find something that makes you smile.  Start with one room, and add  your personality.