It's good to be...Nina Garcia

Nina Garcia, the editor of Marie Claire magazine and formidable judge from Project Runway, recently had her beautiful New York apartment published in Architectural Digest. I love the soft subtle color palette, the clean lines, and elegant furnishings. It's as fashionable as she is.

To Beam or not to Beam

 Huestis Tucker Architects

Several years ago when we designed the Family Room above, knowing that we wanted a high cathedral ceiling, we looked at lots of images of rooms with and without beams.  In the end we decided on attached beams.  Currently we are in the midst of designing another family room with high ceilings.  So we're going back to some of the images we looked at previously and some new images to determine what's best for this  situation.  Although I really like the rooms below with rustic wood beams, I think this house calls for a simpler, cleaner look. What's your favorite look?

Huestis Tucker Architects

 

Anderson Studio of Architecture and Design

 Crisp Architects

 Garrison Hullinger

 James Traynor

Austin Patterson Disston

Edinburgh Entries: Doorways of Georgian New Town

 While I was in Scotland last year I spent an afternoon in the Georgian section of Edinburgh.  While I appreciate the Medieval "old town" section of Edinburgh, I particularly love the Georgian architecture of New Town.  There blocks of gorgeous cut limestone buildings which are decorated  with classical detailing and accented with small pops of color.  Unlike our tradition of front porches, most of these buildings have little interior vestibules.  Fan lights and sidelights add a sense of decoration and offer a way to bring light into the space without sacrificing privacy.  Below were some of my favorite.

DIY: 5 Great "do-it-yourself" decorating projects

5 Great Home Decoration Tutorials

The trouble with looking for ideas for home decoration is, once you start browsing through blogs, or leafing through home décor magazines, you can’t stop. People are amazingly creative and there are just so many ideas that you want to steal. But, of course, you can’t apply everything you see in your home. You have to decide what matches your home’s style. 

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So, let’s cover five simple decoration ideas today. You are allowed to modify each of them to suit your needs.

Easy vintage table design

Vintage furniture is very popular nowadays, so it’s fortunate that anyone with some craftsmanship skills, creativity and enthusiasm can make it. You’ll need an old wooden table you want to transform, paint stripper gel, stripping knife, sanding tool and spray paint.

1) Remove the table’s original paint using stripper gel and stripping knife. You might want to wait a few hours upon gel application, so that it penetrates the paint completely.
2) When the paint has been removed, sand off the table to make it smooth.
3) Clean it using wet cloth.
4) Spray paint the table with white paint. Let it dry, then apply another layer.
5) When the paint is dry, sand off the top surface so that the wood shows through. You can do it completely, as in the picture, or just a little, so that we’ll only see glimpses of the first layer.

Lampshade makeover from scratch

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If you’re not happy with your ordinary white lamp, you don’t need to spend money buying a new one. You can simply “dress it up”. You’ll need a new piece of fabric (you can use an old dress, bed sheets, or any cheap fabric from a thrift store), black marker, fabric glue and scissors.

1) Remove the lampshade from the lamp stand and put it on the fabric you are planning to use.
2) Align one side of the lamp’s edges with one side of the fabric, and use a black sharpie to mark the line of the other side. That’s where you will cut the fabric to match the lampshade’s size.
3) Use fabric glue to stick the fabric to the lampshade.
4) Use scissors to cut any fabric sticking over the lamp’s edges.

Artsy living room decoration
The following tutorial is image-based and very straightforward. You can use it to create beautiful living room or bedroom paintings:

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Animate your garden with unusual flower arrangements

If you plan to entertain guests in your garden, these exquisite, unusual details will definitely charm them all.

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Simply gather a few old light bulbs, make an opening on one side, as in the photo, and pick flowers tiny enough to be able to fit inside the light bulb vase.

Vintage photo frame and a Photoshoped picture

1) Buy an ordinary wooden photo frame in a thrift shop
2) Spray the frame with primer
3) After the primer has dried, spray the frame with white paint
4) Then, spray it with another colour (for example, black)
5) Finally, sand off random spots on the frame using sandpaper, so that the white paint shows through
6) Of course, you can use any other colours instead of white and black

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7) Choose a photo, and put it through appropriate filters in Photoshop or any other program you like for editing photos
8) Place the photo inside your vintage frame, and you’re all done!

Hopefully these short tutorials will help you brighten up your home!

Author Bio: The guest post is contributed by Stacy Watts who is a writer for Memory Foam Express that is an online resource for quality memory foams and mattresses. Please visit website.

10 Great Stone Mantels to warm up to

Victoria Hagan

Stone mantels can run the gamut from simple rustic limestone to fancy, intricately carved marble. 

Huestis Tucker Architects

This French limestone mante has a matching over mantel.

This carved marble manel looks really beautiful set against the dark wod paneling.

This looks like a mantel from the English company Chesney's. One of my favorite mantlels, it's classic unfussy elegance.

This oversized rustic limestone mantel looks great in it's surroundings.

Beautiful English!  Love the fireplace fenders.

This traditional, clean-lined mantel looks good in a modern setting.

I think this is a nice look, fieldstone with a wood cap amd paneling above

The stone is great against the log cabin look.

This carved Victorian mantel is a nice focal point in this light sunny room.