Curb appeal...building it piece by piece.

You hear it all the time, there are shows about it on HGTV and it is the new buzz word for homeowners, home sellers, and realtors. Not only is it vital when selling your home, but it is the least you can do for your home. Just like in life, first impressions do count.

I remember my sister, Wendy, saying that when you pull up to your home you should feel happy. Happy to be home and happy to see your home- similar to the feeling you get when your kids come in the door from school or your spouse gets home from work. This doesn't mean you have to have a mansion or a perfectly groomed home. Perfection is in the eye of the beholder. We should love our homes; but again in the same way we appreciate clean faces on our kids or a nice new shirt on our hubbies, the importance of taking care of our homes appearance is clear. Spring is a great time to take a good, long look at our home and see if it needs a good wash behind the ears, so to speak! Every time I walk up to my front door lately, I am reminded that I need to wash down the siding. It is covered in a season's worth of road and construction grime and it needs some loving care to show off the creamy color that I am so fond of. I have nail holes on the window trim that need filling, and the windows need a good cleaning, too.

When I look at the front of my home, I am glad that I took the time to pick out lights that I love, a mailbox that I splurged on a bit, and my beloved porch swing. These are all necessary features (o.k. I might be pushing it a bit with the swing) but they make me happy to be home. That is when I know that I have paid the proper attention to the exterior of my house. Things like shutters (often referred to as mascara for windows), an inviting front door colour and mat, planters or window boxes with pretty, abundant flowers are all things a homeowner can do to improve the curb appeal of their home. Taking note of the need for paint touch-ups, weeding of flower beds, replacing burnt out bulbs in exterior lights are cheap, easy fixes and add up to style and perhaps even that happy feeling to aim for when you pull into your driveway!

To be continued...next time, I will discuss picking front door colours, exterior lighting and that perfect mailbox!

A pretty pink playroom!

I was asked to decorate a playroom for clients who wanted to surprise their little girls (all four of them) for Christmas. The room was formerly being used as a holding room with a futon, some toys and miscellaneous items...we all can relate! The clients wanted the room to be pretty, represent their daughters' interests, and be different from the typical playroom for kids. Their eldest girl loves horses and was not interested in having too fluffy a room. Horses can present a challenge... they are often brown, big, conjure up cowboy hats and spurs, and do make for a great boys room. Since we were dealing with very pretty, feminine little girls- we had to bend this image and make it work!!

Embracing the brown, we added pink to the mix to pretty things up. The client really wanted to incorporate the girls' tire swing in the shape of a horse so I suggested painting it from black to brown, adding pink crystal knobs for eyes, adding a pink mane and tail and the client found pink tape to hide the rope it was suspended from the ceiling by. The carpenter hung it securely from the ceiling joists and giddy up!! Speaking of Giddy Up, I have a great resource I use for those stick on words/images that are so popular today. They do custom work so we decided on "giddy up" in a rope style font with two horses on each end . We applied this above the chalkboard that the homeowner carefully painted and had the carpenter frame in. A little shelf with a bucket for chalk and we had a great place for the girls to unleash their inner artists!

The two other focal walls were addressed: one wall had shelves hung to display horsey paraphernalia and silhouette pictures that I made for the client. A ballet dress was hung in honour of one of the girls' passion for dance. In the corner, the girls' Dad installed a mini plasma t.v. for them to enjoy with their friends. On the opposite wall I wanted to showcase each girl's hobby: horses, dance, and figure skating. The goal was to hang within their own frames a pair of skates, a pretty cowgirl hat, and a pair of ballet slippers. We had no problem finding a pretty hat or slippers, but the skates weren't pretty enough. I suggested they should be painted pink and relaced with pink ribbon, which the client carefully did ( the things we mothers will do for our children). The result was beautiful even though we were unsuccessful finding the shabby chic frames we wanted. We ended up using the moulding Walmart sells to "make your own wainscotting" - it did the trick! Below this display, we set up a pretty reading nook. This particular client is a great shopper with wonderful taste and searched until she found the perfect chair (pink and white toile) at HomeSense. A leather cube from Superstore to hold toys, a mini apple ladder to hold books and a little reading lamp all added up to a spot where the girls could cozy up and enjoy a good book. The crowning glory to the room was a chandelier with pink crystals. So pretty and the girls were thrilled with their new playroom that reflected all of their tastes!!