Home Improvement for Women

Make That Rental Feel Like Home

It’s time to pack your bags and head for the beach, lake, or mountains. Your summer rental might have been secured this past February, or just a week ago – or maybe you’re still hoping to score a last minute deal. One thing is for sure, if you plan on feeling at home in someone else’s pad, and if you want to entertain on summer weekends, you’ve got to personalize the generic décor that characterize many summer homes. The transformation requires you to pack an extra bag of decorating tricks that first weekend (and of course you have to haul it all back with you when the season’s over) but it’s so worth it to rid your rental of that barren feel. Here are ten easy ways to add your own stamp on summer fun, without breaking the terms of your lease. Everything can be picked up for a song at your favorite discount store (and from your own closets and cupboards). With a little pre-planning you’ll feel right at home:

1. Inexpensive throws in summery colors can be tucked into chairs and sofas to create a unified, colorful look.
2. Coordinating pillow covers bring the look together. Both throws and pillow covers protect the owner’s furnishings, and can be washed easily.
3. Scented candles get rid of musty odors and add life to coffee and end tables. Place a couple in bathrooms as well.
4. Dining room slipcovers add a punch of color to dreary mismatched wooden chairs. They pack up flat, are washable, and you can use them for several seasons before they start to wear out. You can even use them at home.
5. Fluffy towels – lots of them – are so much nicer than the scratchy ones the landlord leaves in the linen closet.
6. Dishes, glasses and your own tablecloths and napkins make giving parties more elegant. An acquaintance of mine, Nancy, hauls her Baccarat crystal martini glasses, china decorated with sailboats, and whimsical table linens out to Martha’s Vineyard every year. She serves very stylish meals (and cocktails) with them.
7. Fresh flowers bring some life to dull décor. Always pick up a bouquet on the way out of town – or at the farmer’s market when you arrive at your destination. Bedrooms, bathrooms, and the dining table all deserve to be graced by a few buds. A few potted annuals on the deck bring color outdoors, and are easy to care for.
8. A few current bestsellers stacked up on bedside tables – along with the latest fashion magazines – make guests feel at home.
9. Spa toiletries in pretty containers – luxurious French soaps, sea salt scrubs, and fragrant bubble bath and shower gels – are beautiful and useful.
10.  Chiffon scarves tossed over lampshades in the bedroom and living room adds nighttime ambiance – nothing wrong with that!

Finally, don’t forget to bring your Barbara K! toolkit and barbeque set to make simple repairs and to make flipping burgers fun!

If I Can Do It So Can You!

Happy Summer!

Barbara K

Whether we celebrate summer on a tiny terrace, tar beach or a mega deck in the country or at the beach – we all love the out-of-doors. The top trends for 2008 demonstrate there’s no stopping our love of living – and entertaining – in the fresh air. Here, my five best bets for turning your little patch of sun and sky into a summer oasis.

1. Low maintenance, “native” landscapes and gardens. The number one feature most of us want in our gardens (even if it’s just a clay container on our city terrace) is low maintenance. The best way to achieve that look is by using native plants that don’t require a lot of water. It’s less expensive to care for plants that aren’t thirsty all the time and that are already acclimated to our climate. And yes, many trees, shrubs, perennials and annuals thrive on city stoops, backyards and rooftops. For a list of native beauties, check out a New York-specific list issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation at http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/rdsduse/ny.htm. The Chelsea Garden Center (http://chelseagardencenter.com/), with locations on 11^th Avenue and 44^th Street and on Van Brunt Avenue in Red Hook offer numerous drought tolerant flowers and grasses that are perfect for pots or plots – many for as little at $2 to $5 per plant. The helpful staff will help you put together perfect groupings.

2. Outdoor kitchens. Cooking centers are still popular for outdoor entertaining, but there’s no need to go to the trouble of hiring a contractor to build a palazzo-sized Tuscan pizza factory in your back yard. If your outdoor space is tiny, a compact but fully functional all-in-one outdoor kitchen centers is the modern answer. NexGrill™ Dual Head 4 Burner Grill w/ Refrigerator and Rotisserie Kit comes with a 84,000 total BTU grill and cooking surface, compete with grill top, searing burner and side burner – it’s just $1199 at Costco. 

3. Great room spaces.  Outdoor areas that look like a living/dining room are all the rage. If you want to turn your backyard into a lounge, invest in some outdoor furniture. Even small balconies can mimic the look of indoor rooms with an “easy chair,” rug and reading lamp all created specifically for outdoor use. For instance, homeinfatuation.com’s Optic Rug is a colorful, modern take on a graphic dhurrie style carpet. Its woven polypropylene plastic feels great underfoot, and the reversible pattern is the same on both sides but the colors are reversed. The rugs are resistant to fading and are easy to clean with a brush and hose all for $80!  Home Depot sells an assortment of well-priced outdoor lamps. The Hampton Bay 30-inch table lamp has an antique rosewood finish and a poly resin shade and sells for $79 – and includes free shipping. As for easy chairs, Target’s Sean Conway Tiverton Collection2008 Motion Club Chair is on sale for $139.99. It has a bronze aluminum frame and thick, neutral back and seat cushions.

4. Natural vistas. If you’re stuck in the city this summer, creating a “natural vista” might mean pulling up your chair to the window so you can watch construction workers do their stuff on the new high rise going up next door. But, if you have a garden in the country, the burbs or even in a borough, natural is the way to go – and I mean in the form of gravel or pine mulch covered walking paths, ponds, bamboo fences, and landscapes filled with natural grasses and moss covered boulders. Check Craig’s List for mulch give-aways. Bamboo fencing can transform an ugly chain link fence into a natural looking enclosure for pennies. Wal-mart sells 13-foot by 60-foot rolls of Gardman Bamboo Fencing for about $57 a roll – you can attach it to almost anything with twist ties. As for landscape rocks and boulders – they can be expensive because of transportation and moving costs. However, don’t forget to consider existing natural “hardscaping” elements that might already be in your yard – large rocks can be grouped together for a pleasing effect. Encourage moss and lichen growth on rocks by spreading them with moss spores (available at many garden centers), placing moss on rocks and watering them (and let nature take its course), or just let it happen naturally. Chances are there is moss in your garden (or your neighbors already) and it will find its way to your rocks, especially if you keep the moist.

5. Fire! Fireplaces and fire pits are still popular – and with good reason. They are romantic, warm on a chilly night, and beautiful to look at. Real fire pits are not going to go over well in New York City (and can’t be used on most city terraces) but you may be able to use a real flame, smokeless fire bowl on your patio (check with your building for specific regulations). Natural Flame (http://www.cartridgefireplace.com) offers a copper fire pit with a “permanent log” and fuel cartridge for $99 that is safe even on wooden decks and balconies. If you do have a yard, check out Amazon’s bestselling Landmann Big Sky Stars & Moons Fire Pit, on sale for $135 and free shipping, reduced from $190.  

 If I can do it, so can you!

Peace , Love and Tools

Barbara K

The Top Spring Decorating Trends – Celebrity Style for Less Than $500

Spring issues of celebrity and shelter magazines are brimming with fresh ideas for warm-weather-inspired decorating trends. Some, like surround-sound wired spa tubs and high-speed wall ovens, can cost thousands of dollars. With most of our cash going toward gas, there’s little left over for luxuries like those (and let’s face it – do you really want to wear ear phones in the tub? Must you roast a chicken in 10 minutes, when you can buy a rotisserie bird down the street in 5?). On the other hand, there are plenty of more affordable design details and improvements that will make your house worthy of a red carpet moment. Here’s a look at my top five picks for spring 2008 – these ideas are worth it because their appeal will last for years to come:

1. Mesh wire “fabric.” Add some shimmer and sparkle and soft light diffusion with wire mesh drapes or room dividers. These mesh fabric panels were originally designed for industrial and commercial use, but they look very “right now” for home interiors. They look perfect in an ultra modern setting, but would also give an edge to more traditional interiors. Best of all, wire mesh drapes come in assorted metals: stainless steel, copper, brass and aluminum. Prices are Cascade Coil Drapery start at $6 per square foot. Even cheaper: use lightweight screening, which also comes in a variety of finishes, starting at half that price.
2. Reclaimed wood. Reclaimed barn board has been a trend for sometime, and it continues to be since it’s both beautiful and green – and new sources of wood, like old wine barrels, are being discovered and repurposed all the time. Fontenay Woods sources old wine casks from France and transforms them into countertops and flooring, starting at $32 a square foot, less than the price of granite. Even cheaper: If you’re handy, do some dumpster diving (not hard on the streets of new York) and collect wine crates from liquor stores or wooden palettes from construction sites, and have a carpenter cut planks to size and then sand, stain and protect with wax of polyurethane and use to top off an kitchen island or a coffee table
3. Wallpaper. Wall coverings are hot right now – with interior designers starting their own lines. I’m not talking about fussy floral or boring stripes – but big, bold graphic prints, retro-inspired modern abstract designs, textures like grass cloth, and brushed or soft metallic finishes. If you’re afraid of covering an entire room, paper one feature wall, an entryway or bathroom. Graham & Brown’s Mystique in Avocado would be lovely in a breakfast nook – 50% of the paper comes from recycled sources. $60 per single roll. Twenty2 has several ultra modern designs, including grass cloths. Their Terrace (the Blanche shade is soothing) is a modern take on the traditional trellis pattern and would be perfect in a dining alcove. $149 for a single roll. Even cheaper: Look for vintage examples on auction sites like eBay that often start as low as $10 for single and double rolls.
4. Blue. The Pantone Color Institute has named blue as the color for 2008.  Benjamin Moore (the decorator’s number one brand) has nearly 170 different shades in its new collection. I love Blue Lapis (beach without being a cliché) and Gentleman’s Gray (great for his den!). From $54.00. Farrow & Ball, another designer’s secret, has 24 beautiful blues – their Chinese Blue is especially modern without being cold. From $32.50. Even cheaper: print out a swatch of high end paint – or use a swatch of color from any photo or fabric – and have your local home super store color match it with high quality by much less expensive store brand paint.
5. Accent it. Blue is beautiful – Highlight it with this year’s hottest and anything-but-predictable accent colors and finishes: acid green and eggplant purple or flax and russet red (so much more exciting than last year’s ubiquitous blue-brown-orange combo). Add in a few silvery and Lucite accessories, and mirrored side tables and your room will be ready for its close up!  Uncommon Goods bike chain bowl, $90, offers a smart and sassy place for change and keys on an entryway table. Williams-Sonoma sells a mirrors console table for $1000. Even cheaper: J. C. Penny has a mirrored étagère (perfect for small space storage in a bedroom, or as a bar in a glam living room) for $315. Overstock.com sells a white jade and silver Dragon and Phoenix bowl handcrafted in China for about $30.  

See,  you too can have what any celebrity home has while saving money to buy those great pair of  Jimmy Choo’s!

If I Can Do It So Can You!!

Peace, Love, Tools & Screws

Barbara K