I made up the word, Christmasizing, it’s true, but you knew what it meant right away, didn’t you?  We love the holidays, and it seems we are transforming our homes into winter wonderlands earlier and earlier each year.  We had barely cleared the turkey platter from the dining room table this year when my married daughter began streaming garland down her banisters.  So in the spirit of this wonderful season, here are some quick-pick ideas to add the
”festive” to your festivities….

Colors of the season are no longer just red and green.  The seasonal colors for Christmas 2011 include silver, pastel blue, cobalt blue, deep purple and gold.  All are on-trend for this year’s holiday palette. Sparkle is hot, so sprinkle it generously throughout your decorating.  Tiny twinkling white lights on your mantle, crystal-laden branches in elegant tall vases, mirrored trays with flickering candles, all add enchanting sparkle.

Do you have an entry accent table or credenza in your foyer?  Drape it in silver or gold yard goods (you can buy it by the yard at any fabric store).  Add champagne flutes interspersed with flickering votive candles, and you have a stunning “welcome” awaiting your holiday visitors.  Fill the glasses before they arrive and get the party started at the front door!

Floating ornaments always delight guests (and, no, I haven’t been hitting the spiked eggnog as I’m writing).  Dress the chandelier in your entry or over the dining room table to become a holiday focal point.  I love to buy different crystal ornaments and hang them on fine-gauge fishing line from the arms of the light fixture.  They appear to be floating and the prismatic effect radiates sparkle throughout the room.  If you are a very generous hostess, you can give them away at the end of the evening as a holiday memento for your guests.  I did just that, and my dinner guests absolutely loved the unexpected gift.

I am shocked at what florists and craft stores charge for Christmas centerpieces.  You really can create your own and save about $100.  Floral design has evolved to become less static and rigid.  Clear vases in different sizes and shapes lend themselves to creativity.  Cluster three or five in varying heights (always group in odd numbers) and add fresh flowers.  Mixing it up will add interest:  white and red roses, sprigs of pine and wispy baby’s breath–all mix to create an ethereal arrangement at a fraction of the cost a florist would charge.  And experimenting is half the fun!

Have you discovered the oversized-Christmas ball ornaments available at the big box stores?  These colorful ornaments are 12” in diameter and come six to a package.  If you have a covered front porch, you can attach each one to decorative ribbon and tack them at various heights.  This same idea would work great for a patio cover as well.

Indoors, there are some easy (and economical) ways to usher in the season.  A holiday welcome mat in bright colors sets the stage at your front door.  Candy-colored accent pillows on a sofa, flameless candlesticks on every windowsill, a colorful room-sized area rug in the colors of Christmas—all of these ideas bring joyful spirit to your rooms.

As you Christmasize your home, be attentive to sense appeal.  Taste, touch, smell, sight and sound complete the sense appeal package.  Steep your interiors in sensory-rich touches, mix well with friends and family, then step back and enjoy this recipe for magic.

Best wishes to all…..

Annette

It’s official.  I am married to a man who is addicted to the DIY Channel.  I enjoy the how-to programs, but on a limited basis. He (on the other hand) is under its spell and can watch for hours at a time.  For any professional designer watching, it’s impossible not to critique the finished interiors we are force-fed.  Most of the time, the designs are creative and spot-on as to good design theory.  But (someone has to say it) there are times when the finished design is a swing and a miss.

I can hear the DIY disciples screaming, “You can’t be serious.  That’s not possible.  It’s on TV after all, so it has to be good design.” All I can say is be wise and understand that it’s inevitable that everybody misses now and then.  I’ve seen model homes that also went too far in an effort to be creative. When you push color harmonies and design principles beyond the limits, that’s a recipe for bad design.

My fellow-ASID designers said it quite well — “DIY is creating unrealistic expectations from clients.  They see an entire design (and sometimes an entire house) come together in a week or less, so why can’t real-life designers do that?  Maybe because we don’t have a crew of 100 people off-camera working to get it done.  Maybe because manufacturers are stocking less inventory in these tough times, and back-orders are inevitable.  Maybe because we are dealing with real life and don’t have the advantage of “cut and edit” to make the design appear to be moving seamlessly.  And that’s just one angle that makes TV design pure fiction.

The other part of this is that these amazing TV shows make design look effortless, something that anyone can put together.  I assure you that there will be a difference between the DIY room designs you attempt on your own and the designs put together by a professional who has studied color and design principles for two, four, and in some cases five years.  It’s an intricate profession that takes knowledge, hard work, intense task management and thorough follow-up.  By the time I have completed just one design, I have a 4” binder notebook (tabs for each room) filled to capacity with sketches, specification sheets, vendor P.O.’s, and of course a master schedule to get things done IN SEQUENCE and efficiently.  Your professional designer already has a credible cache of craftsmen to call on to implement every facet of your design.  And THAT is why it’s not so easy to DIY.

I cannot give you specific numbers, but every designer I know has been on the receiving end of a call from a frustrated customer who gave the DIY method an honest try.  After creating a mess and spending too much time and $$$, they make the call for professional help.  My advice to wfca.org readers would be this— if you are in need of a big design plan—one for your whole house—you will end up saving yourself time, money (truly) and throwing tools at your spouse, if you enlist the help of a professional designer.  Trying to take design too far all by yourself is treacherous territory.  Design should be an exciting and fun process, and the right “guide” will get you exactly where you want to go.

For more information on flooring visit the World Floor Covering Association’s Consumer Carpet & Flooring Guide.

Kane Carpet Mills has demonstrated a flair for international design and color when it comes to three new introductions they’ve launched.  Strongly colorful and a bit shocking, here are three choices that will make you take a second look.

Action Packed I is definitely not easy to describe, so I am posting a picture with this blog and daring you to put it into your own words–if you can.  Tell me what comes to mind at first sight and leave me a comment on this blog site (just click on “comment”) so we all can enjoy your interpretation.  One of the great color drivers of the next few years is going to be medical science and health influences.  Well what I see in this design is a stylized cellular structure (as if under a microscope), with bold sweeps of circular color.  It’s playful and energetic and would create a memorable area rug, bordered inset, or broadloom application.

The flip side to this display board is Action Packed II.  Prismatic, dynamic and geometric—just looking at this pattern makes you happy.  Kane has definitely taken an artist’s approach to these designs and each pattern is truly unique. 

The third pattern I chose to highlight is called Escape.  Zebra stripes with a large pattern repeat bring an exotic touch to this carpet.  While animal prints have been hugely popular for the last few years, Escape is a fresh take on the theme.  The colors are “out of the box”, so to speak, a favorite being black stripes on a purple background.  If you want to create a magnetic focal point for any room AND you happen to love purple, here’s your carpet. 

Each one of these stand-out styles features 100% Ultra-fine Heat-set Eurolon™, which is a solution-dyed polypropylene fiber.  That means the carpets are colorfast and easily cleanable.  Woven in 13’ widths, some rooms can be done with no seams at all.  High-contrast consumers—you’re going to love all three of these styles.  Kane Carpet has been manufacturing in the United States since 1947, and in a recent retailer survey, was voted “one of the top five U.S.A. carpet manufacturers for design”.  Now that’s something to be proud of.  For more information about their rug and broadloom collections, visit www.KaneCarpet.com.

For more information on flooring visit the World Floor Covering Association’s Consumer Carpet & Flooring Guide.

Sometimes combining two classics brings to life an amazing new entity.  Chocolate and peanut butter certainly hit the jackpot as a combo in the candy world.  Wine and cheese seemed to produce a great marriage of tastes as well.  And now I’m seeing home goods manufacturers pairing up to help you with your interior decorating.  It was inevitable that creative forces would merge their talents and products to give consumers a fresh new take on design.

That’s exactly why Robert Allen fabrics and Sherwin-Williams Paints teamed up.  The Robert Allen group is a leading designer and marketer of decorative fabrics to the design trade.  As of May of this year, they are featuring a suggested palette of wall colors (from Sherwin-Williams) to be included in their fabric collection sample books. What a brilliant, useful combination of products!  Individually, these companies are leaders in color trends.  Together, their collaboration on trends and colors is going to be a great asset for designers as well as consumers.  For professional designers, it’s a time saver to have two key elements of a potential design specified together.  For consumers, it takes some of the guesswork out of matching and coordinating color.  Designers make color coordination look like an easy task, but it takes a well-trained professional to put colors and patterns together successfully.  Having some of the color coordination already done is a great benefit.  You can have a sneak peek at these beautiful color and fabric combo cards at sherwin-williams.com/robertallen.

Wouldn’t it be nice if floor covering manufacturers would offer a similar collaboration on interior products?  Well they have.  Shaw/Tuftex and Anderson Hardwood have announced the launch of a novel dual-display system—the Color Coordinates display. The concept is brilliant as consumers are able to visualize carpet and hardwood floor coordinates side-by-side, all put together by professional designers. Choosing floor coverings is important.  It’s the foundation for your whole design and a big investment as well.  So many consumers put off new floor covering choices because they don’t want to make a mistake.  They can’t afford to make a mistake in this area, so sometimes years go by and they still haven’t gotten the new floor coverings they really want.  Well now some of the guesswork is taken out of the equation for you.  Remember, these carpet and hardwood combinations were put together by designers, so you know they work–not only in the showroom–but in your home!  Look for a Shaw Design Center Retailer in your area to see this very helpful selection system. 

Well that’s the scoop on some pretty interesting new “marriages”.  These intriguing collaborations are just the start of more to come.  Manufacturers want to showcase their products in the best way possible, and make coordination and selection easier for the consumer.  I believe we will see a multitude of product manufacturers merging their creative talents to bring the best of product and color harmonies directly to you in the future.

For more information on flooring visit the World Floor Covering Association’s Consumer Carpet & Flooring Guide.

Finally, it’s Spring! It was a long, color-sparse winter no matter what part of the country you live in. Having spent my first twenty years living in upstate New York, I know a thing or two about harsh winters. If you lived in a single story house, it was quite possible that it could snow long enough and hard enough to cover everything but the roof. The first snowfall was always magical and pristine. But as the months wore on, the ever present blanket of white became monotonous. White, to this day, is not one of my favorite colors. But I have the antidote to the winter blahs, and it’s COLOR! Let’s talk about the hot colors for Spring and Summer. They are in full bloom and bursting with fresh appeal.

RIO-STAT – This color walks the line between red and orange, but in a comfortable, toned-down way. Think of sun-baked terracotta pots and you’ll have the visual of this warm red. Fabric companies are pairing it with charcoal and Oldensage for interesting contrasts.

RASPLENDENT – Hot pink is going to carry us through the summer in fashion and interiors. Even electronics have borrowed the color for everything from laptops to digital cameras. We are recession-weary and craving colors that speak of fun and optimism.

X-HALE – Borrowed from authentic 1957 Chevy colors, this true blue-green is retro, fresh and energetic. Consumers are finally seeing some encouraging signs of an economic turn-around, and with that comes a deep breath and a long, comforting exhale.

LIMONCELLO – Yellow is turning up in the most unusual items: wall coverings, fabrics and upholstery, porcelain tile, and even broadloom carpet. The Europeans are calling it “double line yellow” which everyone can relate to universally. It’s vibrant and in some ways retro, which is exactly why it appeals to so many people.

 BON NOIR, STRATUS, BAR HARBOR – Pure matte black is back (Bon Noir). Of course it is, because it’s the perfect counterpart to Limoncello and Rasplendent. Add to that Stratus which is a true neutral gray and Bar Harbor which is a blue-gray, and the neutrals are complete.

OLDENSAGE – Gray, green, and brown combine to produce this complex taupe-y color with strong undertones of green. This color has a timeless quality to it and floor covering manufacturers love it. Carpet, wood floors, luxury vinyl tile, ceramic—all materials wear it well.

GOTHAM – Purple has gone deeper and richer with brown undertones, and although this color will reach its height of popularity more towards the end of 2011, it is appearing in the Spring/Summer palette for home interiors.

I love where the direction of color is leading us. Put the winter doldrums behind you, because there is a burst of exciting hues leading the way for the rest of the year. Now that you know the color leaders, be on the watch for them in home interior goods, and especially how well they integrate with new floor coverings.

For more information on flooring visit the World Floor Covering Association’s Consumer Carpet & Flooring Guide.