Playrooms can be a tough space to tackle. You want the décor and the walls to be just as fun as all of the wonderful memories your children will make there. But where to start?

The reason playrooms can be so tricky to decorate is that many of we parents don’t know when “too much” is “too much”. To a child, too much is never “too much” . . . the more whimsical touches the more magical the place. If your playroom is “open air” like many are these days, you may struggle with making the room flow with the rest of your home. If this is a problem for you, your playroom space is not closed off, try taking a long curtain rod, and hanging a simple curtain that will match the rest of the house and “conceal” the playroom. Take that curtain’s color and work it into the playroom’s decor in a fun way. Say if you are using a tan curtain, paint the seats of your playroom’s wooden chairs as “tan puppy faces”. You can also sew two pieces of fun fabric together and leave the top open creating a pouch. Adhere them to the sides of the chairs with wood glue and you have “pouches” to hold your children’s remote controls or crayons.

Be sure to paint your playroom in child friendly colors and accent them with fun wall décor. Colorful metal wall art makes wonderful décor for any children’s space. A colorful, modern cat or dog looks adorably fun on any wall. A metal wall art clock also makes a great statement. Be sure to add touches of whimsy to your walls. Make your child’s every glance an adventure. Paint a small “crack” into the corner of a wall and paint a little mouse peeking through it. Craft paints make wonderful accents for your walls as well. These paints are very inexpensive and are easy to paint over and remove if need be.

Kid friendly furniture is also a must. Purchase “child sized” sofas and chairs or paint your own. To save money, visit a thrift store and purchase inexpensive chairs. Don’t worry about color or even scratching in the wood as you can sand over them and start anew. Make sure to use a good clear sealant to ensure that your wood furniture has a long shelf life.

Playroom décor doesn’t have to be tough. Just try putting yourself in your children’s shoes. What would you have liked as a child? It’s a also a great idea to let your children help add their own touches to the room as they will be spending the most time in there. Asking their opinion will also make them fell needed and special.

With as little as a fresh coat of paint, metal wall art décor and a few whimsical touches – you too can create a children’s playroom that will even help the grownups in the house see the world through the eyes of a child.

There is no better time for a party than Halloween, the spookiest, lighthearted holiday of the year. There is just something about this time of year, making even the stuffiest of adults turn into children again. Make this Halloween a holiday to remember. Carve the pumpkins, crank up the tunes, invite all your friends and then, follow our favorite tips of Halloween favorites for a party that is wickedly superb.

Tip One: Here’s Looking at you Glasses

Using sturdy glue, adhere google eyes in different sizes and shapes to the outside of your glasses. Outline the eyes with red fabric paint. It will create a real focal point for the glasses and make them seem to be popping right out of the beverages!

Tip Two: Blooming Pumpkins

Carve out the top of a pumpkin just as you would if you were creating a jack-o-lantern. Hollow out the inside and wash thoroughly. Fill with water and then arrange a bouquet of bright autumn flowers inside for an unexpected touch.

Tip Three: Eerie Glow

Use a bottle of spray on cobwebs to add eerie appeal to everyday items such as candle sconces and lamps. Make sure not to get the cobwebs anywhere a flame might be able to reach. Place a few fuzzy spiders inside for an extra spooky touch!

Tip Four: Haunted Chairs

Purchase several yards of black tulle for each chair in your dining area. Drape the tulle over the chairs and tie on an orange ribbon at the base of the chair’s back to secure the fabric. Place glowing jack-o-lanterns in each seat for a festive touch. These can serve as a party favor for your guests to take home at the end of the night.

Tip Five: Spooky Tablecloths

Save time and money by creating tablecloths from cheesecloth. Simply tear and drape over your table for a look that screams, “Ghosts dine here!”

Tip Six: Crawling With Fun

Create faux black widows with floral foam balls and black paint. Brush on a coat of black paint to a large foam ball and a smaller foam ball. Hot glue the two together to create a head and body. Finish off with large eyes, a red hourglass shape and black pipe cleaners for legs.

Tip Seven: Boo-tiful Entrance Rooms

Stack pumpkins under entrance tables for a nice pop of color that really sets the mood. Paint wooden letters in bright orange and arrange them to read, “Come and sit a spell.” Place a witch’s hat atop the table and an old ratty broom in the corner to add to the enchanting effect of this idea.

Tip Eight: Mood Lighting

Add eerie lighting to your party for the perfect spooky touch. Use yellow glass candle sconces for a haunted glow. Drape a corner in black sheets or drapes and place a strobe light behind them. Place skeletons in front of the strobe light so when the lights go down, the skeletons come out to play.

From simple touches of the whimsical to additions to everyday items, it is easier than ever to create a bash that is sure to be the talk of the block. Add some music and drinks for a monster mash that pleases even your fussiest of guests.

Happy Haunting!

If you are looking to turn your home’s décor into a shabby chic paradise, chances are you already have several pieces that can easily be converted to match. While many magazine spreads that showcase the shabby chic look make it appear rather elaborate, shabby chic is one of the easiest looks to achieve. If you love the look but don’t have the dough to renovate the entire house, try using this look in your favorite room. A bedroom makes the perfect place for this look as it has both peaceful and romantic elements.

An antique pink makes a lovely paint shade will make a lovely shade for your walls. If you have the money, you can also opt for a creamy ivory colored crown molding. Choose antique looking frames for your wall décor and fill them with photos that have been printed using the “sepia” or “black and white” effect. Choose artwork that includes paintings of vintage looking floral arrangements. Hydrangeas are a favorite for achieving this look. Fresh flowers also add a special touch to the room. Small mint colored metal pails make perfect vases and really bring out the color of the antique pink walls.

Fabrics are a very important element in achieving the shabby chic style. They have the power to really soften the look of the room and bring the entire space together. Many designers opt for toile fabrics in white and mint green or pale blues. Quilts are also a lovely addition to the tables in the room, which we will discuss later on. An idea that I really love is taking wrought iron candle sconces and painting them a fresh ivory color. You can also hang “dripping” crystals from their bottoms and create the feeling of a chandelier.

As for those tables we mentioned before, it doesn’t take much to create the perfect one for your room. Just a rummage through the basement or a thrift store will give you just what you need. Simply paint the table white and then sand away at some of the edges to create an “aged” look. You can also buy what is called “antiquing finishes” which can crackle your paint or thin your paint to make the paint look aged. Rocking chairs are also great additions to your room. Simply toss a quilt over your old rocker and you won’t even have to buy an antique one!

When it comes to giving your house the makeover of your dreams, it only takes a bit of elbow grease and mere imagination. The sky is the limit when you are trying to create a vintage look. Everything old is new again  . . ., which will save you a fortune! Remember that no room is complete until you make it your own. Put an unusual twist in the room by adding a favorite modern piece of artwork. Add your own touches to the room, even if you think it breaks the rules. The most interesting rooms are made when both style and creativity collide. 

When it comes to Halloween, not everyone is into black cats and light up skeletons. Thus, many people just skimp out on Halloween decorating because they just don’t know how to make it both festive and classy all at the same time. But – we are here to tell you that with a few classic touches, unexpected elements and accents such as iron wall décor, it is possible to create a space that is classically elegant.

Entryway Spreads: Classy Spins on Classic Halloween

Instead of fat orange pumpkins, choose white. Purchase white pumpkins in various shapes and sizes, tall and skinny, or round and fat. Surround your pumpkins with faux foliage such as sparse twigged foliage with orange berries and autumn leaves. Place a few antiqued gold candlesticks behind your pumpkins and foliage to bring in a warm, fall glow. Finish off your spread by filling a large ivory vase with orange sunflowers and tall foliage.

Elegant Wall Décor

When it comes to holiday wall décor, keep it simple and elegant. Opt for iron wall décor and candle sconces. When you fill your candle sconces, choose white candles or muted oranges. Bright oranges will take away from your décor. Golden oranges tend to work best.

You can also choose to create your own wall décor from deep cheery wood frames. Take a pretty piece of heavy paper and place a leaf in the center with a dab of hot glue. You can also take a quality shadow box and line the backing with a clean striped fabric. Bundle a few same length twigs, tie them together with twine or shimmery gold ribbon, and glue it to the middle.

Bringing in Color

Bring in subtle touches of autumn with solid plush chenille throws. We like deep reds, creamy ivories and golds. Replace throw pillows on your sofas with autumn friendly shades. Fill clear vases with pieces of the season such as mini gourds, pumpkins or yellow apples. We also love wood bowls in deep cherry wood. Fill them with decorative wooden balls made from simple twigs or pretty mosaics in oranges and golds. These are easy to find at any local home décor store or website. Throw down a few accent rugs in chocolate brown to bring autumn warmth to your floors and buy a few yards of fabric to drape across your curtain rods. We like satiny fabrics that shimmer and catch the light.

When it comes to holiday decorating, with just a little imagination you can decorate with class and style. Don’t be limited by the ordinary. Mix classic touches with unexpected items and bring the outdoors in with do it yourself projects made from pretty leaves. From iron wall décor to classic touches of fall, you can turn your space into an elegant autumn wonderland that your whole family can enjoy.

For more great ideas and holiday decorating tips for your home, check out our other articles. They’ll help you keep your house a place that you are happy to call home.

All of we parents with teenage girls know, they are notoriously and rather disapprovingly picky. Whether it be their style of clothes, their hair, what we can and cannot do in front of their friends or their room’s home décor’ – the creatures are just impossible to please! If you are a parent who wants to create the perfect retreat for your teen but just don’t know where to start, here are a few helpful hints for creating a room they not only will love but one that might cause them to actually (gasp!) hug you in public. Another plus? Each idea is budget friendly to the max.

Furniture with Spunk and Spice . . . Minus the Price

How many times has your teen begged for something that was just way out of your budget? If only you had a dime right? By visiting a local second hand store like the Salvation Army or another thrift store in your area, you can purchase great pieces for your home décor and still have money left over for those shoes she’s been eyeing at Macy’s. Don’t pay attention to the color or fading of the piece. All of that will be changed. Simply look at the shape.

Once you find the perfect piece, you’ll need a base color, sand paper, a set of artist quality paintbrushes and accent paint. If you cannot afford several cans of accent paint, opt for acrylic paint instead. If you choose a matte base color this will work fine and not scratch from the surface. For instance if you purchased a dresser, after sanding, you would remove the knobs and paint them separately. You could start with a starch-white base and after drying; begin to build a one-of-a-kind design. By leaving the frame of the dresser white, you can paint each drawer a different color. One could be hot pink with acrylic white polka dots. One could be green with pink stripes and one could even spell out your daughter’s name if you had a well-trained hand. Now for those knobs - Paint them with a color that will pull the piece together. Use green on your pink drawer’s knob and pink on the green drawer’s knob.

One of a Kind Window Treatments

By purchasing a simple, inexpensive curtain rod, you can make it into a piece that looks as though you dished out big bucks. You can choose a simple rod and jazz it up with colorful ends. Opt for wood ends that are easily paintable. Match these to the design of your furniture. For window treatments, you can buy an iridescent fabric by the yards and simply drape it across the rod as a valance.

Wall Art Home Décor

This idea may be perhaps my favorite of all. In my own girls’s rooms, the walls are lined with art frames or mountable blank canvases. When they are feeling artistic, they simply take the frame down from the wall and get to creating. This is a great way for your teen to express their creativity if they like to doodle and it is a way to ensure that they will like the art. This option leaves no chance of a displeased voice calling out “Mom! That’s so lame!”

*Quick Organizing Tip: Clay flowerpots are a great place to store her pens, paintbrushes and school supplies. By painting them with inexpensive acrylic paints, you can create a storage idea that is both functional and fanciful. This would be a great do-together project.

Award Winning Walls

While painting walls isn’t a whole lot of fun, your wall color really is the glue that pulls your room together. If you went with bright pink furniture, choose a bright white for the walls and use colorful frames to avoid sensory overload. If you went with white furniture, go for a bold color that will liven up the look.

Home décor doesn’t have to be a bore . . . nor cause World War III for that matter. With just a little imagination, you can create a teen room that both you and your daughter will be pleased with. No, really  . . . Mom’s Honor.

Make this Halloween a haunt to remember with our top ten favorite ideas for Halloween décor done right. From spooky wrought iron candelabrums to frightful wall décor straight from a haunted house, we have all that you need to turn your space into the things that dreams – or nightmares – are made of! Read on to discover our top six favorite tips for getting your house Halloween ready.

1.     Everything’s Coming Up Pumpkins

Bring touches of outdoor life into home and hearth with our beautiful wrought iron and pumpkin candelabrums. Simply replace each candle with mini pumpkins and place the candelabrum above the fireplace for an instant focal point everyone is sure to love.

2.     Spiders Galore

Make your home crawl with festive charm with our easy black widow spider craft. Purchase large and small floral foam balls. Paint one large foam ball and one small foam ball with black acrylic paint. Allow the paint to dry and then glue the two together to create a spider head and body. Add google eyes, a trademark red hourglass and suspend your spiders from every corner of your home for a spooky look that makes Halloween last all month through.

3.     Smoking Cauldrons

Spook up Monday night dinners with our smoking cauldron that bring magic to the everyday. Purchase a festive cauldron and fill it with punch and food grade dry ice. It will create a beautiful smoke effect that adds a bit of mystery to mealtime.

4.     Mad Science

Fill clear cookie jars with gummy eyeballs, gummy worms and rubber toads. Surround rubber bugs with cobwebs and label them with fun, festive names such as “Eye of Toad” and “Wart of Newt”. Place your jars on a spice rack for all to see and hang a witch’s hat on a nearby hat rack to add to the suspense of your design.

5.     Floral Finds

Update autumn floral arrangements by creating vases from pumpkins. Simply carve off the top of a pumpkin, hollow out the middle and wash out thoroughly. Fill with water and then arrange with pretty fall flowers for an arrangement that is sure to never be forgotten.

6.     Trick or Treat

Save left over candy wrappers from trick or treat to create pretty pails for next year. Use Mod Podge to decorate metal pails with old candy wrappers. Create patterns by making stripes with orange and yellow Starburst wrappers. Use chocolate and cherry Tootsie Pop wrappers to create a checkered fall look perfect for handing out candy to those loot seeking trick or treaters.

From wrought iron candelabrums dressed with bright orange pumpkins to sweet treat pails perfect for ringing in the season, all you need to make your Halloween a memorable one is a little time and imagination. Get creative! Add your own spin to old Halloween favorites and don’t be afraid to experiment. Remember, it’s usually those happy accidents that turn into the most adorable of traditions!

Happy Halloween ghouls and boys from our families to yours!

With Halloween just around the bend, it is the perfect time for bringing the magic of Halloween night into every day of October. If you are ready to give your home a dash of Halloween flare, then read on and find some of our favorite bewitching hints for bringing fun into everyday of the month.

1.     Give Me a Hand Punch

Dress up everyday punch with this simple and easy idea sure to make snack time fun all month long. Taking a clean rubber glove, fill it with water, squeeze in a few drops of your choice food coloring and then, tie the end off like a balloon. Place the glove in the freezer overnight to set. When you are ready to serve your punch, peel the glove away from the ice to reveal a perfectly spooky monster hand to add to your punch bowl!

2.     Easy Spooky Touches

Update everyday items with a touch of the spooky. Use spray on cobwebs to give haunted appeal to wrought iron wall décor. Tie orange ribbons on to chandeliers. Add sprigs of bittersweet to small clear candleholders using floral wire to give small tables a pop of color.

3.     Haunted House Photo Frames

Create spooky haunted mansion style photos with just a printer and a set of google eyes. Search the web for old portraits and print them out in black and white. Add a set of google eyes and mat the picture in an art style frame for an instant spooky photo for the hall.

4.     Pops of Color

Add pops of color to entranceways and corners with bright pumpkins in various sizes. Stack pumpkins below a mission style table in your entranceway or liven up the end of the hall with painted pumpkins. Try mixing white pumpkins with splashes of black. Stencil bats, cats or witches to pumpkins as a safe alternative to using lit jack-o-lanterns around little ones.

5.     Adorable Decorations

Create whimsical décor out of small floral balls and acrylic paint. Use green paint and yarn to create a witch with flaming hair. Add felt wings to a black painted ball to create Halloween bats. Suspend them from the ceiling with clear fishing line.

6.     Upside Down Witch Flowerpots

Bring whimsy to the front porch with these enchanting witch flowerpots. Start out with a simple clay pot. Paint the center of the flowerpot green, the base black and also the rim. Set the pot down on its rim to create a face. Next, glue on raffia for hair. Once your piece is dry, flip the pot upside down. The face should look as though the witch is standing on her head. Finish off with ready-to-plant flowers and long wooden sticks for legs.

From cobwebs dangling from wrought iron chandeliers to pumpkins spooking up the hallway, you too can bring magic into everyday of the season. All you need is a little imagination.

Happy Halloween from our door to yours!

One thing I do to bring a new look is to switch accessories that I have from one room to the other. Just this weekend, I redid my dining room table. I have always loved to have a set table in our formal dining room since we don’t eat in there often, and it just make such a nice focal point in our house. For the fall I had a small 3 candle wrought iron candle stand on the table with orange ginger candles and some beautiful pumpkins spinkled with glitter. It was a lovley table and full of warmth and brought such a crisp change from the warm summer decor. This past week-end though, Thanksgiving was over and the Christmas decor came out. I carefully packed the pumpkins away and my thought of how to change my table became a search for just the right centerpiece. My solution was to pull 3 tall candle holders off of my mantel, top with festive red candles and bring and an entirely new look to my dining room. The new look brought a dramtic and festive feel to my dining room and all I did was change the accessory of my centerpiece.

There are other things you can do to bring change to a room by simply adding to what you already have with a new find. If you have a picture hanging on the wall, one easy way to bring some excitment to the space would be adding a wall vase. Wall vases can be beautiful on each side and look great filled with greenery. I like to put tall grass like greenery in mine just because it adds a lot of height to the vase. Another idea is placing a wrought iron door topper or wall swag over a door or window. This can make a room look taller and adds some style to a room. Wrought iron is a timeless material and can look great in any type of decor. I would also suggest putting a wrought iron piece over a hanging clock or tapestry. It just adds a little something special to whatever piece you already have.

There are so many ways to add a splash of design and change to any room without spending a lot of money. Please feel free to contact me if you ever want to brainstorm some ideas of ways you can bring a little sparkle to some of your rooms.