Here’s a real, live, high-end design for less.

We got fantastic feedback on the story about Marsh & Clark’s elegant and contemporary powder room design for the 2009 San Francisco Decorator Showcase.

I was thrilled when Stephanie Marsh Fillbrandt wrote me about another version of the room they recently completed. Here’s the new room:

Photographs by Elisabeth Fall

As you’ll recall, the original room featured an incredible stone [...] Read more »

Quilts are in style.

I’m glad because truth is for me, they never went out. Quilt designs are a comforting link with our past, and today’s quilt artists are incredible. (If you ever get the chance — drop in on one of the large quilt shows like Pacific International and you’ll see what I mean — awesome artistry and craftsmanship.)

I’m especially smitten with the bold, [...] Read more »

Challenge Update

Hey Design Junkies — Have you been over to our RoomsByYou Custom Home Textiles Challenge yet? Just a couple days left and someone’s going to run away with a great prize of custom, print-on-demand bedroom textiles.

So give it a whirl — click and drag designer patterns and colors to create a virtual room for the teen in your life. (And don’t worry if [...] Read more »

#IDzinechat is Born

Last night there was a bit of a party. A fascinating, chatty, colorful party. And this Design Junkie attended in her pajamas.

You may know that besides producing HomeWorkshop.com, I report on interior design and decorating on Twitter (my Twitter name is @HomeWorkshop). It’s been an incredible venue to meet other design-crazed homeowners and design professionals.

Now back to last night.

Two women planned [...] Read more »

There’s a buzz in Carlisle, England around the bold DIY makeover of its railway station, finished late last week for the filming of a Homebase TV commercial.

Painted bridge photographs by Martin Armstrong

Production designer Darrell Cooke and designer Kate McConnell created the metamorphosis of the station for the home improvement giant’s advert. Purple damask wallpaper, comfy couches and floor lamps adorn one platform, and even kitchen [...] Read more »

When interior designer Debbie Wiener makes over a room, her goal is twofold: 1) To create a beautiful environment that people are pleased to be in and 2) To “Slobproof” it. Debbie coined the term Slobproof to describe her philosophy of designing with families and pets in mind.

Here’s a living room that Debbie recently decorated. The room before was bland and lacked the warmth of [...] Read more »

Here’s a creative use of space, that an adventurous entrepreneur might appreciate.

WaterSpace in the UK has come up with the H2Office — a floating office space designed to fit perfectly into an unused marina slip. Take a look:

According to WaterSpace, the H2Office includes:

Space for one or two people to work

A “breakout” area (perhaps for small meetings, meals etc.)

An external sun deck

A kitchenette

A pull-out berth [...] Read more »

by Leona Gaita

Today we are joined by Leona Gaita, HomeWorkshop.com Interior Design Expert and Contributor. Leona shares with us her inspiring ideas and advice to help us enrich our homes and lives with beauty and elegance.

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If you get the urge for a fresh little warming up for your windows, but you don’t know your way around a sewing machine, here’s a very simple but elegant [...] Read more »

I’m in the mood for some life stories. If you’re anything like me—and I know you are—you’ve been pouring through design magazines and books since you were little.

I remember when I planned the decor of my first room. As a teen, for the first time, Mom and Dad actually let me take charge of what my room would look like.

This was unreal.

I dove [...] Read more »

Renovation of a 1940’s Kitchen

What happens when you’re born to cook, but your kitchen isn’t? That was the case for the woman who hangs her apron in this beautiful Southern California, Spanish Colonial Revival home.

The existing kitchen had vintage 40’s charm—but its style was not in keeping with the home’s architecture or with its rich color palette.

And it was far from convenient for a [...] Read more »

Design Junkies, get your right brains on — it’s time to click and create. This is a Prize Challenge and somebody’s going to win up to $350 worth of gorgeous, customized home textiles!

On the Web today with just a few clicks of the mouse, we have incredible design and decorating power to help us produce stylish, individualized spaces.

Case in point? RoomsByYou. It’s a cutting-edge [...] Read more »

by Regina Garay

Today let’s talk color with our Decorative Painting and Surface Design Expert, and Contributor Regina Garay. Regina blogs about her creative work and inspiration

at Fauxology.

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You would think that since color is such a personal choice for many of us, that the yearly color trends would not make a ripple at all.  We like what we like, correct? 

However, color is a monumental business [...] Read more »

Social Furniture — It’s Here!

Yesterday marked the U.S. launch of Berlin, Germany’s Fashion4Home, and the stateside beginning of “social furniture.”

One of Fashion4Home’s exclusive designers, Logan Komorowski, with a model from his line of furniture from sustainable bamboo.

Sure, Fashion4Home is an online-only furniture retailer that says it offers products at “50-70% less than traditional retail prices,” but that’s not the coolest thing about it.

Here it is: [...] Read more »

Here’s the deal. You can put an outfit together, right? So why not apply some of that knowhow when it comes to outfitting your home?

That’s Annette Tatum’s approach in The Well-Dressed Home, Fashionable Design Inspired by Your Personal Style (Clarkson Potter, 2009). Here’s Tatum’s theory: You’ve taken the time to choose styles, colors and textures you love for your clothes. Use that inspiration you have [...] Read more »

You know those ‘Wish I’d thought of that’ moments? I had one the other day when I read Kate Smith’s blog post over at Live in Full Color.

Kate wrote an excellent wrap-up to my and Sonu’s online special event, ten with “What I Learned from Ten Experts in Ten Days.”

We must be on the same wavelength, because Kate—a renowned color educator and also our expert [...] Read more »