by GraceAnn Simoni

It’s that time again parents; and here’s some great advice to set your kids up for success, 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.

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The kids are going back in school and the homework is starting. Have you [...] Read more »

I am thrilled to be able to share this with you as the first item in my OpenSky Shop.

It’s a creative person’s dream wallpaper, Graham & Brown’s “Frames” by Artists

Taylor & Wood.

This is such a fun idea, and those of you who have followed HomeWorkshop.com for some time might remember I posted about this fabulous paper before. The empty frames design (below left) is [...] 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 Sherri Blum

Today we wander into the land of imagination, as we explore kids play spaces with our Nursery and Kids Room Design Expert and Contributor, Sherri Blum. A pioneer specialist for children’s-room interior design, Sherri’s designs for celebrities, and for the baby

next door.

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One of the things I love most about summer is the opportunity to be a kid again with my children. Making firefly [...] Read more »

From the Archives: Deck out your Independence Day table with flair, when you whip up a batch of our Patriotic Peeps Placemats – personalized for the family!

It’s a fun DIY project! Click here for complete instructions. Read more »

Here’s a practical project that adds a touch of whimsy to your couch.

“Where’s the remote, Mom? Hey!! Have you seen the remote?”

The interrogation and cushion tossing begins in family rooms across the country. You’d better hope we can find the remote before the opening face-off of The Sharks game.

The solution? A Pocket Pillow to hold the remote. And this one’s extra-special, crafted from recycled denim [...] Read more »

by Steve & Cathy Lambert

Swing open the doors and skip down the steps! Today it is my pleasure to introduce you to Steve and Cathy Lambert, HomeWorkshop.com’s Garden and Landscape Design Experts, and our newest Contributors. I can’t wait for you to read the fabulous ideas and advice Steve and Cathy have planned for you and your outdoor spaces.

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Whether you’re starting from scratch, re-landscaping or [...] Read more »

RoomsByYou Custom Home Textiles Challenge

You all started with a blank slate like this room. You clicked and dragged, mixed and matched. And because you created some well-designed, colorful teen rooms, the decision was not easy.

But, it is time to call this Challenge. I am so glad the winner was chosen by our

expert judges:

Jon Leafstedt, founder of RoomsByYou and in the past, part of leadership [...] 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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »

Sometimes colorful design inspiration is right in front of you. Like at your kid’s elementary school, for example. Seriously, have you seen some of the art projects that come out of fourth grade? Simple. Colorful. Whipped out with fearless abandon.

Or the cooperative creations auctioned off for school fundraisers? Splashy quilts of scanned watercolors, storage chests bedecked in original hand-painted tiles. Yummy.

Children are amazing, and elementary [...] 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 GraceAnn Simoni

Once again, today we are joined by Contributor GraceAnn Simoni, 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.

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The holidays are fast approaching. Is your guest room ready or has it become the place where everything that does not have a home lands? Assuming [...] Read more »