Coastal Christmas on Canal Street

Dress Your Office for Success

Whether it is a desk, cubicle or large office, be sure your decor is saying what you want it say about you as an employee. Every detail is a reflection of your personality & professional competency.



Here are a few tips you may consider.

Don't display too many awards or certificates - you want to look professional, not pretentious.

Too many family photos may send the wrong message about your priorites.

Too much clutter does not make you appear busy, it makes you appear unorganized.

You should never have food items sitting around on your desk. If you need to lure people into your office, a small candy dish can be used strategically.

A live plant brings the outdoors in and absorbs the air pollutants in your office.

Family Tree - Updated

I saw this on http://www.designsponge/ and thought it was a very unique family tree!

Enoy the Holidays

Window Fashion Vision - Runway Model Project (Blue Dress)

Window Fashion Vision - Runway Model Project (Blue Dress)

Shared via AddThis

Great Use of an Old Window

from designspongeonline.com

Making the Most of Small Spaces

Furniture Store Fire

Exactly 2 years ago today my furniture store at 428 Canal Street was totally destroyed by a fire. I received numerous phone calls and cards from friends and customers showing their support. One of my favorite cards was this one....

"Success consists of getting up once oftener than you fall down"

Socail Media Marketing

I just finished a webinar "Capitalizing on the Conversation" presented by Social Media Magic. Very informative, I have many things to learn.....

Check out their web site. isithomeyet.com

For decades the American furniture business has been based in High Point, North Carolina, where much of it was once (but no longer) manufactured. But over the past four years the momentum has shifted to the flamboyant World Market Center (above), a 1.3-million-square-foot showroom and exhibition space in Las Vegas. The Las Vegas group commissioned the ad campaign, which amounts to a declaration that it now speaks for the industry. "None of the individual companies has the ability to do something like this on their own so Las Vegas just stepped up and did it," Shoulberg said. "They're clearly trying to one-up High Point with this."

Decor vs Diamonds!

Decor or diamonds? StarTribune.com
Source: www.startribune.com
Who said that diamonds are a girl's best friend?According to results of its fifth annual Kilz Roller Report survey, 85 percent of women would prefer a $5,000 home makeover to a pair of diamond earrings of the same value

Beach Condo - Before & After

Before After

My client purchased a condo on the beach but it was dark and cluttered. Everything was beige and the verticals were dingy and did not work very well.
Her husband wanted a surfer & nascar theme! We chose bright surfer prints for the pillows, bar stools and fabric ties on the woven wood valance

Design Your Own Fabric!

Check out KarmaKraft.com. It is a digital fabric printing company that lets you upload your own fabric design online. You can create your own fabric for pillows, wall art, bedding, table linens, etc. They use reactive dyes for their cotton, linen and silk qualities and disperse dyes for the polyester, making the fabric vivid and washable.

There are no set-up fees or minimums. They even offer cut & sew services. Custom fabrics range from $20 to $32 per yard and the cut & sew services range from $10 to $18. Pretty cool!

While I was in Atlanta for the Window Fashions Expo I had a chance to listen to Suze speak. She was great...interesting & funny. She is much better live than on TV.

Of course, I had to buy her book and have her sign it!

Make a Room Feel Larger

Everyone wants their home to feel warm and inviting but we also want the room to appear larger. As a rule, we recommend mounting window treatments several inches above the window. For example, say you have an 8' ceiling height and you mount your window treatment under your crown molding or just below the ceiling, not only will the room appear larger but the ceiling height will appear taller as well.Another mistake a homeowner might make would be to add a cornice with a straight bottom and then mount that cornice at the top of the window. Below I have created a rendering with our "Minutes Matter Studio" graphic design software to illustrate the different look achieved when the cornice is mounted near the crown molding or ceiling opposed to mounting at the top of the window. See how much taller the ceiling height appears and how much larger the room looks.


Here is another design tip when trying to make a ceiling look higher. Add a shape to the bottom of the cornice. By adding movement to the bottom of the cornice it can trick the eye into moving up and down so the eye does not stop at the longest point of the cornice.

You could also accomplish extra height with drapery panels and a decorative rod. Notice the difference when you mount the drapery rod at the top of the window or when you mount the rod under the crown molding or near the ceiling.


We recommend giving every room that extra lift! Would you like to see how new window treatments could change your room? As part of our service we create renderings to help our clients visualize how new window treatments will look on their windows.