Jewel Tones in the Home

Whenever I wear a magenta, red or royal blue top I tend to receive a lot of compliments. Jewel tones are a fair-skinned girl's best friend. But they aren't just for wearing, they make a huge impact in the home or when decorating for a special event.

This mostly white bedroom is accented with just a touch of jewel tones.

Love the look but don't want to commit to royal purple or emerald for your wall color or large furniture pieces? Try accessorizing in the same shade as your favorite gems. A few pillows, a throw or even a stack of books covered in jewel toned papers can make a big impact.

Check vintage and thrift shops for glass pieces or perfume bottles in jewel tones to create beautiful vignettes.

Bring in these bright hues through art work like this banana leaf print from Etsy, $30.

With the official start of fall just weeks away adding a touch of jewel tones to your home is the ideal way to transition into the season in style.

Top Five Tips for a Successful Garage Sale

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If you are a neat freak like me who can't relax in a disorganized house then having a garage or yard sale is a good solution for disposing of the clutter and making a few bucks at the same time. Organizing a garage sale can be very time consuming so you want to be sure that you take the necessary steps to make certain that you are rewarded for your trouble. Here are my top five steps to making your sale as pain-free and lucrative as possible.

Tip#1: Keep sorting on your mind

Even if you don't plan to have a garage sale until next spring do yourself a favor and don't wait until a week before to start cleaning out your closets and storage spaces looking for items that should be sold. Instead, keep a couple of cardboard boxes on hand and every time you come across an item that you don't use toss it in the box. See a purse in your closet that you never carry, toss it in. That tacky Christmas gift you received from your crazy Aunt Sally last year, one man's trash is another man's treasure, throw it in the box. Sort now, save time later.

Tip #2: Price as you go

Next to sorting through your house for merchandise the next most time consuming part of having a garage or yard sale is putting prices on each item. Do yourself a huge favor and before you toss an item into the "sell" box (see tip #1!) put a price label on it. Hit your local drug store and get a package of pre-printed price stickers to keep in your "sell" box so that you don't have to hunt for them each time you add another item to the container.

Tip #3 Bigger is always better

Your chances of selling your unwanted sale items is much greater with each new body that walks through the garage door. One of the best ways to bring potential buyers to your sale is to arrange for a neighborhood sale. People who love garage sale shopping prefer to hit all the sales in one area before moving on. Everyone knows the good stuff gets sold early so having several sales open in close proximity means less driving time for them and more opportunity for you to make a sale. If you don't belong to a neighborhood association that organizes an annual sale, create a flier and distribute it to your neighbors. Everyone can share the cost of the advertising the sale.

If arranging a neighborhood sale is more work than you want to take on, invite your friends and family to sell their cast off items at your sale and advertise a multi-family sale. Again, fans of garage sale shopping know that bigger is better.

Tip #4: Arrange like items together

Many garage sale shoppers are looking for specific items and don't want to waste time hunting through mounds of miscellaneous items to find what they are looking for. Take a cue from your favorite department store and separate like with like. Use separate tables for each type of merchandise whenever possible. The easier you make it for your potential buyers the more likely you are to make a sale. Remember, time lost at one sale cuts down on the customer's ability to hit the sales early when the best merchandise is available.

Tip #5 Presentation is everything

Borrow a couple of your interior tables to create attractive presentations

I once went to a garage sale with my mom and sister where the first thing we saw was a cardboard box of used, yellowed bras sitting on a plastic chair. (Did I mention that it looked like she hadn't swept her garage in a couple of years?) While there's no way anyone in her right mind would buy a nasty used bra at a garage sale, you'd be surprised what a person might buy if it's presented in its best light. Plain and simple, merchandise your merchandise. Like I mentioned in tip #4, take a cue from your favorite department store when it comes to arranging your merchandise. Borrow racks and shelves from your house to display your items to their full advantage. Here are a few ideas to get you started.

Make sure that everything is clean!

Use tablecloths on your tables.

Hang clothes on a rack rather than laying them on a table

Use old jewelry boxes for small items

Indicate the size of items on things like rugs or window treatments

Create levels on your tables with stacking small boxes then covering them with a second table cloth.


While having garage sale can be time consuming, putting a little thought into the organization of one can yield you a tidy profit. Now wish me luck, I'm having a sale this Friday!

I can't wait to clear this out of my basement!

Love Your Furniture Arrangement

The way you arrange your furniture can be the difference between a comfortable, finished look or one that just doesn't measure up. Too often furniture is pressed up against the perimeter of a room like a group of thirteen-year-olds at their first junior high dance. Boring! But according to the pros at My Design Guide, finding the right arrangement for your furniture is no problem if you remember a simple mnemonic device, the first letter in the phrase " I Love You".

Your arrangement will be successful if you determine the focal point of your room and place your furniture pieces around it in one of three ways, two "I" shapes, an "L" or a "U" shape.

The "I's" Have It

Here two identical sofas create the double I arrangement.

Get the same effect by replacing one sofa with two chairs.

Take the "L"

When space is limited or a room needs to function for several activities, an "L" shaped sectional sofa is a good space-saving option. Arrange sections of the room using the I Love You method. The sectional sofa could be used in a corner to create a cozy spot for relaxing.

Make a "U" Turn


U shaped furniture arrangements are your ideal choice for creating conversation areas.

Rearranging your existing furniture is a no-cost way to get a new look for any room in your home in a matter of minutes. Pull that furniture away from the walls and float it in a shape that will make you say "I Love You".

*Images via Pinterest

Join Me in Problem Solving 101

Before I begin the post, please let me apologize for my lack of posts lately. Bad blogger, bad, bad blogger! I've been spending an inordinate amount of time organizing and purging around the old abode. I don't know about you, but I get an irrational amount of satisfaction from having organized spaces. I hope to be more consistent with my blogging once my kids are both back in school in a couple weeks. That said, now on t the real post...

Like most bloggers I routinely check my stats. They are a great tool for showing you what days of the week your blog receives the most traffic, the types of posts that get the most attention and from what sites readers are referred. Recently while analyzing my stats I noticed a trend, posts that solve a problem are some of the most popular ones on my blog. Makes sense right? I'm drawn to posts that give me solutions to common problems of all varieties.

If you are a blogger who has written a post that solves a common design or home improvement related problem let me know and I'll share it in a future post. Email me with a link to your post at: karen.evans@bex.net.


While you're waiting for the post, take a peek at one of the most read problem solving posts from my blog, a guest post from Carol Smyth of The Design Pages entitled "Decorating Long Narrow Rooms."

Enjoy your weekend!

A Blogiversary Celebration

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It's August 9th, the second anniversary of my first blog post! It's been so much fun to have an outlet for discussing my favorite subject, decorating and design. Blogging has been my opportunity to explore my obsession without the need to bore my friends to tears. Meeting so many like-minded ladies (and a few gentlemen) is by far the best part about blogging to me.

So raise a glass (or your morning cup of coffee) and join me in a celebration of two years of blogging.

Guest Posting

Calling all spray paint addicts, stop by Living Savvy where I'm joining the ranks of Spray Painter's Anonymous.

"Pinning" for Autumn

Did you think I meant pining for autumn? No, I really meant pinning for autumn. That's what I was doing this weekend, pinning ideas for autumn decorating and entertaining on Pinterest. While it may be 90 degrees and muggy in my area I found plenty of inspiration pictures to get me excited about the transition from summer to fall. Have a looky at what I spotted on Pinterest

It's just a few short weeks until September rolls around and that's a good time to start slowly transitioning into a more fall-like look in your home. Keeping the white accessories you used during the warm summer months and adding a few fall touches is a good way to seamlessly transition into the season.




The same principle can be applied to early fall entertaining. Using silver and white as the base of your tablescape is a cost effective way to decorate when entertaining. Napkins and a few accessories are the only changes that need to be made. Picture this table with floral napkins in a summer hue and soft pink peonies replacing the pinecones.




As the season progresses you can add small autumnal touches here and there.

Tuck fall items among your books on shelves

A silver bowl filled with juicy red apples would be a nice touch on an entry table or kitchen counter.

Once the temperature drops and the leaves start to change it's perfectly acceptable to take your fall decorating to the next level.

A vase filled with fall branches is a no cost fall update.

As the evenings get cooler it's time to pull out your throw blankets and swap out your summer pillow covers with ones in rich shades that make your rooms feel cozy.



By the end of September those pots of summer flowers that looked so lush just weeks earlier start to droop and fade. Now is the time to give your front porch a fall makeover. It may take an entire weekend to paint a room inside your house or refinish a piece of furniture, but decorating a porch can be accomplished in minutes flat.


A couple pots of mums and a few pumpkins, all of which can be picked up on your weekly trip to the grocery store, add seasonal color and curb appeal to your home. Instant gratification!



If you're planning a weekend party or bonfire, don't forget to add a few fall touches to your backyard as well. I'd love to look out my kitchen window and see this bench all decked out in autumn splendor.





All of the sudden I'm craving a cappuccino topped with cinnamon.



Are you ready for fall or still enjoying these long summer days?