Top 10 Ways to Add Flourish with Fabric

Decorating with fabric need not be designated to your bed and window treatments. Add some color and texture to your home easily by using fabric in these unexpected ways:

1. Wrap a present and finish it with ribbon.
2. Line a basket for baked goods, teas or those odds and ends too pretty for the junk drawer.
3. As a stylish wine tote you can reuse.
4. Frame colorful fabrics and arrange in a grid.
5. Tie a strip of fabric around a throw pillow to add color.
6. Create sachets filled with lavender or rose potpourri.
7. Cover a corkboard with a vintage pattern for a personalized way to post notes.
8. Knot fabric scraps around drinking glasses for a vintage touch to a brunch or lunch party.
9. Decoupage a lampshade.
10. Create a swag over a standard wall mirror for instant drama.

Photography by Jaimee Itagaki

DIY - How to Create Eye-Catching Autumn Arrangements

Eric Cortina of Roger’s Gardens shares his tips and tricks for unique centerpieces and tablescapes.

1. Group wicker baskets together and fill with blooms or small potted herbs. Choose herbs without strong fragrances that would interfere with dining or the atmosphere.
2. Use fruit for centerpieces. Try grapes and with figs and gather foliage from your garden in similar colors to add.
3. Instead of a single centerpiece, scatter multiple pewter and copper containers down the table and fill them with autumn-colored roses mixed with fall leaves.
4. Use wire baskets to plant small blooming plants such as chrysanthemums or antique pansies. Add in gourds or fall pumpkins for more interest.
5. Embellish centerpieces with folk art such as seasonal ornaments by Bethany Lowe that will add a traditional homey style.
6. Use oranges instead of pumpkins. Bunch orange roses in places to continue the color theme.
7. Arrange several candles together and place in groups on the table. Along with traditional votive candles, mixing in those of different heights and sizes makes the overall look more interesting and exciting.
8. Be eco-friendly and chic by using potted plants and flowers that you can later add to your garden.

These DIY home décor ideas will give your home a refreshing look and make it a Well Styled Home!

Open a New Door

Our new Bedrooms & Baths website is a wonderful way to get in touch with the best comforts of home. 

Reluctant to take expensive resort trips given the economy, we craft spa luxuries where we can or splurge on a great robe to get us in relaxation mode. When you retire to your chambers at the end of a long day, rest yourself on sheets that ease your tired body and soft blankets in colors that reflect your favorite things. I’ve found that it truly doesn’t matter if it’s a grand master suite or a tiny humble room in an old cottage house; these are the places we carefully dress in the kinds of fineries that simply make us happy.

Bedrooms & Baths

With each post, I hope you find something to add to your rooms of contentment: a new accessory to refresh your décor, a simple solution for a certain quandary and at least one little indulgence. I hope you discover new ideas, such as the shed house. When we were children, they were our favorite places: tiny sheds and backyard shacks that felt like secret hideaways and special rooms. Or, for the lucky kids, real tree houses equipped with diminutive chairs and Mom’s kitchen rag fashioned to cover a window. They were for games and play or places to stir our imaginations.

Thanks to good old ingenuity and the spirit of resourcefulness in times of need, these backyard constructions are being re-imagined into useful and beautiful extra rooms for the home. Whether for a home office or guestroom, craft room or nap room, reclaim those sheds (the tools can go elsewhere). Use them—and this special issue—to re-ignite the thrill of carving out your own special havens.