Decorating Hints & Tips

If you have any little hints or tips to help with decorating, please share them with us here!

You're probably all familiar with stenciling a border or design on a wall, but how about giving your own personal touch to other items around your house?

For instance, you could doctor up a "blah" lampshade with some stenciling, and maybe a fringe around the bottom. How about giving your child's room (or your's!) a little extra color by stenciling various shapes on the window blinds? Dress up a plain tablecloth with a stenciled design around the edge. (Just make sure to use washable fabric paint or iron-on fabric.) This same concept could apply to a book bag or tote bag.

This centerpiece is very simple, inexpensive, yet classy. You will need 3 clear glass containers of various heights, sizes, and shapes. You can probably find several around your home. You will also need several kinds of pasta. I suggest using unusual kinds such as, bow ties, tortellini, spirals, shells, and wagon wheels. The tri-color kinds are especially nice.
Place a different kind of pasta in each container. Then arrange them in the center of the table.
This looks especially neat when you're serving an Italian meal.

This tip came from the Sept./Oct. 1999 issue of Quick Cooking magazine.

Is your fridge covered with your child's artwork? I have an idea that will make your child feel special, preserve his/her best work, AND clean up your fridge!

Have your child pick out some of his/her best work, or have them draw something new and special. Then chose coordinating colors of construction paper to create a matting for the pictures. The final touch is a frame. You can purchase a brightly colored frame, or have your child paint one in coordinating colors.

If you have an empty hallway, you could make that your "art gallary," or you could hang them in your child's room to brighten things up. Wherever they are, they will make your child feel very important! Both of you will treasure them for years to come!

Candles provide a finishing touch to ANY room! I'm going to give you a few tips for using them to their fullest potential.

1.) Try placing your candles on mirrored coasters, or in front of a mirror (such as mirrored sconces). This will reflect the light and create a warm ambiance. Example: If you like candles on the mantle, try hanging a large mirror above the mantle.

2.) Avoid mixing colors or fragrances in a single arrangement. This will help avoid "nasal confusion!"

3.) Place your candles on varying heights. This will help to create a sense of fullness to your arrangement. If you do not have candlesticks or a candlebra with varying heights, try using small boxes of different sizes. Drape a cloth in matching color over the boxes. This can be a dinner napkin, tablecloth, table runner, scarf, etc. depending on the size of your arrangement. Then place your candles, whether they be pillars or tapers in candlesticks, on the various boxes.

4.) For a final touch to your arrangement, weave a floral swag around the candles, and drape a string of beads in a constrasting color around the swag. At Christmas time I like to use evergreen boughs instead of the floral. And instead of beads, I insert bright, shiny Christmas ornaments and a string of white twinkle lights into the boughs.

I hope these tips will give you some great ideas for your home decor!

Here are some tips for hanging framed art. Balance and scale are two of the most important keys. The print, group of prints, and companion wall mounted accessories such as shelves and sconces, need to be appropriate for the scale of the space and furniture you're accessorizing. It will all need to visually fit together to form a grouping.

Begin by "eyeballing" the space. Prints or groupings generally are placed so that they are at "eye level" when standing in front of them. What that means is, generally, the center of the items hanging will be placed somewhere around 58 inches (the standard height for "eye level") from the floor. This rule works well for larger prints or groupings, but smaller prints can look stranded there by themselves. It is common practice to hang some items, particularly smaller ones, below standing eye level. In those cases, items are hung at a seated "eye level." The most common mistake in hanging framed art is placing it too high on the wall.

Think of the furniture as part of the overall visual grouping. Do not hang items either too far away or too close to furniture. Roughly, plan to include a space between 5-9 inches (at least a hand's width) above furniture. When hanging items side by side, the general rule is to place them a hand's width apart, although it is common for people to "cheat" a bit with this rule if the pictures to be hung need to be placed farther apart for the scale of the grouping to look right.

For easier planning, measure the space on the wall and mark off the same amount of space on the floor by placing some objects at the corners to represent the boundaries. Within that space, lay out the items you wish to hang into different configurations until you find the one that looks best. Finally, hang the grouping on the wall. (The center of the entire grouping should be somewhere around 58 inches from the floor.)

Here's a inexpensive tip for giving pillar candles an extra "punch."

The only materials you need are pillar candles and sturdy pins or tack with decorative heads. Pins with colored, metallic, or pearlized heads can be found at fabric and craft stores and also in the sewing or craft departments of department and discount stores. Look for heavier pins that aren't likely to bend or break when being pushed into the candle.

Next, determine the design you'd like on your candle, such as straight rows, zig-zags, a star, or diamonds. (If it helps, outline your design with pencil.)

Once you've chosen a pattern, carefully insert the pins into the candle. If the pins are difficult to push in all the way, you might need to use a thimble.

This tip came from the Nov./Dec. issue of Quick Cooking magazine.