Tag: home improvement

Living Well

Give Away What You Don’t Love Or Use, But If We MUST Keep, How To Display Your Clutter

Summer is here and I find myself cleaning.  Cleaning out drawers, wiping down drawers, etc…   Makes me happy!

And while I preach to throw away or give away things that you don’t love or are not using, I know there are times when you want to keep certain things just to keep.

I thought I would rerun this post from a few years ago on how to display your clutter  stuff …….      Here goes….

 

Dana

 

The holidays are over, and who isn’t looking for a few ways to declutter their home?   It’s easy to discard the items you don’t use, but what about the knick knacks you love and want to display?

Do your “special” items look like a pile of mess to others?   If so, what should you do?

Create a few vignettes in your home.

Start with your big items, such as the painting, sconces, lamps, and urn in this picture.   Next, stagger your accessories throughout, making sure you balance out each side.  Notice how they did not forget the space under the console.

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http://katie-d-i-d.blogspot.com/

 

What a great job they did of taking family keepsakes, which, after all, make a house a home, and displaying them in a beautiful way.

How about adding in a few of your personal items when entertaining? At this client’s home, instead of just setting out her china and everyday, we decided to mix it up a bit.

Speaking of entertaining……

What do you do for all of the silver and crystal you have crammed into your cabinets?

Display it as we did in this client’s home.   Here, we mixed in some of her silver pieces with her crystal and pottery.  Everything has its place, and it is beautiful!

photo courtesy of jean allsopp

When creating a focal point, whether it is a vignette or glass cabinet, don’t forget to layer and add different textures.

from dana wolter interiors

So, the key is to make the space your own by displaying your items in a neat, organized way.

http://blog.lonnymag.com/

Even when there is a family pet involved- such as the frog for this family- can you display it in a clever way.

Living Well

Southern Living Designer Network is LIVE!

I am excited to share that the Coastal Living / Southern Living Designer Network website has launched.

 

If you remember, I shared a couple of months ago that I was selected by the editors as a member of this designer network for their readers.

 

designernetwork
Image from Southern Living Designer Network

 

 

I am honored to be one of the few from Alabama, and as you can see, I am in great company.     Check out the live site at http://sldesignernetwork.com/ and let me know what you think.

 

Have a great day,

dana

 

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Living Well

To Hide or Not to Hide- That is the TV Question

Is your television in plain view or hidden out of site?
Many times I have clients ask not only where should they place their tv in a room, but how it should be treated within it.
 Not to show my age, but who remembers the bulky TVs with the rabbit ears? There was no hiding those big ‘ole things.  Thankfully, televisions have become much more discreet.
Don’t get me wrong…..   I do not mind a tv in plain sight,  but I do try to tuck them away when possible or make sure they are not a big focal point.  If they are placed as a major focal point wall, it usually calls for me to hide or dramatically soften it.
MonicaStewart13
The picture below is from a client’s living room.  Yes, I said living room, and that is a tv near the piano.   They had this large room with incredible light that was- get this-  pretty much a walk-through room.   They have a large family with a revolving door to family and friends, so it made sense that when we redesigned this room to incorporate a tv in here.
I can’t show you too much of the room right now, but I can say it’s pretty incredible.   We reworked the furniture layout to add more seating.  The room is casual enough to feel comfortable lounging on the sofa, with your feet propped up with a bowl of popcorn, or it can stand formal enough to serve as a living room when having a dinner party.  Either way, it works, and MORE IMPORTANTLY, the space is used by their family.
hidden tvs
Notice how the tv is tucked away into a side wall but is on a bracket to make it easy for viewing?
The picture below shows how I will sometimes try and soften the space around a television.   Make no doubt about it, sometimes a TV needs to stand proudly in a room, ready to serve its purpose, but a little softness never hurts.
hidden tv2
Put careful consideration into whether or not putting the TV about the fireplace is the best option. Most of the time, the TV ends up above eye level, and it is too high for comfortable viewing.
What are your thoughts concerning the tv?   Are you a “let it hang on out there” and serve its purpose or  do you like to tuck it away? I am interested in your thoughts.
Have a great day,
Dana
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Living Well

Five Tips For Prepping Your Garden For Spring

With spring right around the corner, I am ready for my garden to be filled with color and fragrance.

 

Before I go any further, let me assure you that I am no expert when it comes to gardening. I have been doing my homework, though, as I am trying to learn more about what I can do now to make it as pretty as it can be.

 

Below is a picture of my garden last spring.   It’s this time of year mine looks the best, and while I love it, life gets in the way so I do not always nurture it as I should.

 

Dana Wolter Interiors Blog | Thoughts, Tips, and Trends for Today's Design Dana Wolter Interiors
My garden last year. Image from Dana Wolter Interiors

 

I am trying to do better, hence the reading and researching.   Here are a few tips that stood out to me that I thought might be helpful to you as well:

 

1. Create a composting area

This is something I really want to begin doing.    The compost can be a ready-made compost bin or we can build a compost bin using spare bits of wood. Not only will we have somewhere to put  garden waste, but the plants will benefit from the rich compost created when it all breaks down! Make sure you have a good mixture of grass clippings, vegetable peelings, paper and woody prunings. To help the process along, we will have to turn the compost with a garden fork each month to keep it aerated.

 

How To Start a Compost Heap ~ it's really easy, affordable, useful, and sustainable. Composting recycles kitchen and yard waste, diverting up to 30% from the trash and consequently reducing landfill waste. Compost adds nutrients and introduces beneficial organisms to the soil, and helps promote plant growth.
Image from apartmenttherapy.com

 

2. Prep the beds.
Remove winter mulch, leaves and any other debris from your beds. Cut back the old dead growth of deciduous grasses and perennials to make room for the new growth. Any weeds that appear in your garden will be easiest to pull now, as the roots are shallow.  I have done this and am making one more go around this weekend.

 

Gardening Tips for beginners
Image from grit.com

 

3. Fertilize the soil

Now’s the time to make sure your soil is properly balanced and ready for new plants. Once the beds are all cleaned out, it’s time to till the ground. This will help aerate and loosen up soil that has compacted over the winter, which will encourage the soil to absorb nutrients better. It will also make it easier to plant.

 

4. Prune

It’s time to prune back tree or shrub branches have been damaged by the cold, snow, and wind. Make sure to do so before buds begin to break into bloom or you’ll stress the tree and get a tiny crop, if any. Use a handsaw for any tree or hedge larger than ½ inch in diameter. Shaping hedges with hand pruners, rather than electric shears, prevents a thick outer layer of growth that keeps sunlight and air from reaching the shrub’s center.

 

veggie garden with formal hedge edges
Image from paradiseexpress.blogspot.com

 

5. Order bulbs and seeds

Decide now what flowers and plants you want in your summer garden. Order the seeds or the bulbs from a local plant shop like my local favorite Leaf and Petal or online. Hold onto the seeds and bulbs until the warmer weather arrives, but make sure that the seeds and bulbs will not deteriorate or lose quality if they sit for some time.

 

flower garden
Image from howardrice.co.uk

 

 

Let me know how it goes for you, and if my efforts pay off, I will share my progress as well.

 

Happy Gardening,

dana

 

PS If anyone feels extra inspired and wants to come to use these tips on my garden, I will happily welcome you, and I know my garden will too.

 

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