by Mari Robeson

Everyday can be special, when you welcome friends and family around your table.

Mari Robeson—Interior Design expert and Contributor—helps us do so with style and function. Mari takes us inside the world of design, and helps us bring beauty and color to the places we call home.

I love entertaining. The way you set your table and present your entrees can be like a mini [...] Read more »

by Mari Robeson

It’s party time and Mari Robeson has good advice for us. Mari—Interior Design expert and Contributor—takes us inside the world of design, and helps us bring beauty and color to the places we call home.

What a wonderful holiday season it has been and just two days left to say good-bye

to 2010.

No doubt you’ve been invited to numerous New Year’s Eve parties. I [...] Read more »

by Susan Serra, CKD

Yesterday we learned the basics of How to Set a Table. Today its right brain time, when our Kitchen Design Expert and Contributor, Susan Serra, CKD shares some fantastic tabletop decor. Known to many as “The Kitchen Designer” for her popular blog, Susan is an award-winning Certified Kitchen Designer, with a national clientele.

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While a kitchen designer may not be the best one [...] Read more »

The Rules, Straight from the Source

It’s a dirty little secret for many of us. Thanksgiving morning—roast-turkey scent wafting throughout the ground-floor, guests wheels up and on the way—we’re bothered by a nagging uncertainty – the voice in our heads murmering,

Where exactly does the salad fork go?

Mom or Grandma may have clued you in years ago, but the details—mixed with that early glass of merlot—are foggy [...] Read more »

by GraceAnn Simoni

Here’s some great advice for the upcoming holidays, from Contributor GraceAnn Simoni. An Interior Redesign and Staging Specialist and Instructor from the Chicagoland area, GraceAnn shares with us budget tips and advice for decorating with your existing furniture and accessories.

And so it begins….

Can you believe it? Thanksgiving—the first big Holiday of the season—is right around the corner. I love this holiday, [...] Read more »

by Steve & Cathy Lambert

What’s cooking in your backyard? Today we pick up tips for designing outdoor kitchens, from our Garden and Landscape Design Experts and Contributors Steve and Cathy Lambert. Steve and Cathy share with us great advice for creating beautiful gardens and outdoor living spaces.

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Many homeowners view their yards as extensions of their homes, creating separate spaces and rooms for specific purposes. [...] Read more »

By Angela Min

Today our new Kitchen and Bath Design Expert and Contributor—Angela Min—joins us! Happily, the pencil is being tossed only over the kitchen island, as Angela is taking over writing duties for her design co-conspirator at The Kitchen Designer, Susan Serra, CKD.

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Breakfast rooms are often the afterthought of the kitchen, a “leftover” space often neglected by both homeowners and designers alike. But what a [...] Read more »

There’s still time to make Mom smile, when she sees the handmade Mother’s Day gift from you or the kids. We are lucky enough to be enjoying Mom’s company this Mother’s Day, as she has flown in for a visit with the California family.

A quick, fun reuse project is our Sweet Stands. Put some together by Saturday and you can host Mom for a beautiful [...] Read more »

Design Expert: Michael Green

Being in Northern California, I really do need to learn more about wine. To Wine & Spirits Expert and Educator, Michael Green, finding a fine wine can be a parallel journey to finding good design.

Gourmet Magazine’s Wine & Spirits consultant for 19 years, Michael’s knowledge and enthusiasm for the subject is vast. Visit Living in Color With Sonu to watch Michael’s lively [...] Read more »

Design Expert: Jenn Sbranti

Entertaining guru Jennifer Sbranti, Editor-in-Chief of the hip party planning resource, Hostess with the Mostess®, shares with us—in her own words—how to create memorable times with those closest to us, as we Make Time for Family and Friends in the

New Year….

“The idea of “making time for family and friends” seems like something that should be a no-brainer, right? Certainly it’s a different [...] Read more »

by Diana Durkes

Today we beautify a thrift-store find with our furniture and accessories makeover specialist, Contributor Diana Durkes. Diana gives “New Life to the Tossed and Found” at her blog, Fine Diving in Chicago.

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For last month’s makeover, I used a thrift shop resource to turn old sweaters into a throw rug. This month, I thought I’d continue the idea of giving new life to [...] 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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It’s that time of year! Friends and family will be coming over, sharing good food, good cheer and good times… AND THEY’LL BE USING YOUR BATHROOM! Of course you’ll have [...] Read more »

Designer Nancy Van Natta brought a room in the sky back down to earth. Van Natta’s dining room for the Icons of Design at San Francisco’s Millennium Tower is an aerie saturated in comfort.

Other rooms in the space have jaw-dropping views of the San Francisco Bay and surrounding city, but this room is different. “I wanted it to be an intimate and cozy nest in [...] Read more »

What’s one way to add drama to a masculine space? Ground the rooms with graphic area rugs. That’s what Jennifer Jones did with the living and dining rooms she designed for a San Francisco bachelor/CEO.

“Using graphic area rugs in both spaces was a fun way to tie the rooms together conceptually,” said Jones. “They bring pattern and movement to the rooms, creating [...] Read more »

by Susan Serra, CKD

Once again, today we are joined by Kitchen Design Expert and Contributor, Susan Serra, CKD. Known to many as “The Kitchen Designer” for her popular blog, Susan is an award-winning Certified Kitchen Designer, with a national clientele.

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The social kitchen has an important role to play in the home every day, under so many different scenarios. Whether it is two people sitting down [...] Read more »