Decorating Dilemmas

I was sitting in Zorn Arena trying to look like I wasn’t sweating through my jacket when my daughter filed in with her high school graduating class. The announcer asked the kids to locate their parents in the audience and wave to them as a way of thanking them for getting them to this day. As my daughter looked up at us with a big smile on her face and waved, it happened. I saw her as a five year old smiling at me and waving goodbye as she entered her kindergarten classroom. I was stunned at how all that …

When you think about love, what images come to mind? For me, above all else it’s the people I love. And with that comes about a bazillion photos of family, friends, places, pets, and so on. So start sorting through those photos, pick out your very favorites, and let’s create a photo wall. The number of photos depends on the space you have and the frames you choose. It’s best to start with fewer photos because you can always add to your wall; it’s much harder to pare down after getting carried away framing 100 of your favorite photos. Start …

Pumpkin spice and everything nice. I love Thanksgiving. It’s the only holiday focused on being thankful and centered around family. The Thanksgiving table full of food—with some dishes made only this one time a year—is the star. Relatives and friends gather sharing memories, laughs, and hugs. Traditions are started at Thanksgiving, sometimes generations in the making. Our family starts the day with the Turkey Trot, followed by the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, with appetizers all day until we sit around the table. Then we take turns sharing what we are thankful for that year. Sometimes after dinner we go to …

We are lucky to live in a part of the country that experiences all the seasons. Summer is so greatly anticipated here and happens so briefly that, if you are anything like me, you want to be outside to enjoy as much of it as possible—which means a lot less time indoors worrying about how the house looks. Labor Day marks the last hooray of summer. Soon the leaves will fall and children will be headed back to school. Life will fall back into a routine. For many of us, part of that routine includes fall decorating. Time to change …

I was flipping through a magazine and came across an article about a landscape designer that transformed her narrow backyard (160 x 24 feet) into a private, lush retreat. The pictures are stunning. Essentially, she has three rooms: a dining area, a living room type area, and a little hideaway area. Her space includes beautiful all-weather furniture and cushions with punchy pillows, perfectly manicured plants and hedges, a gas fire table, outdoor lighting, and even a water feature. So what are we “regular Joes” to do? First, let’s not compare ourselves to a landscape designer with a bottomless budget. Then …

When we think of spring, our thoughts are usually filled with chirping birds, melting snow, digging in the dirt, warmer temperatures, rejuvenation, and HOPE. We hope all that happens, and we hope it happens soon! I am looking forward to opening my windows and getting some fresh air into my house. If you are not a winter person (what are you doing in Wisconsin?), then you have spent a lot of time indoors this winter. Do you ever look around your house and think, “You’re really getting on my nerves. I need a change; but don’t worry, it’s me, not …

Decorating comes easy for some, while others struggle with the basics of furniture placement and color choices. Then there are those of us who just do. I have no formal training—aside from a middle school Home Economics project where we created our dream house complete with carpet samples and a room-by-room floor layout. I loved that project! I would pore over my parents’ copies of Good Housekeeping and even the Sears catalog for inspiration and furniture photos to cut out for my “dream house.” It would be fun to see that project now; all I remember is a canopy bed …