Ceramic tiles are the best for bathroom flooring, as they are durable, resistant to wetness, safe to walk on and easy to clean. You can hand paint designs of your choice on individual tiles or the wall itself. This will give a more personalized feel to your bathroom. Consider the size of your bathroom before choosing the color of the tiles. Small bathrooms should have light colored tiles to make them look roomier. Large bathrooms have a better scope to experiment with colors. (more…)
Riva Klein loves it when hotels redecorate, but her thrill has nothing to do with vacations. It involves her West Hollywood house.
A regular shopper at Hotel Surplus Outlet in Van Nuys, Klein, 42, knows what savvy decorators, property stagers and set designers try to keep secret: that a hotel renovation means truckloads of used but often ultra-chic furniture are headed for liquidation.
“I really love a bargain,” Klein said upon discovering a slightly damaged watermelon-colored sleeper sofa for $200 in the outlet’s 15,000-square-foot showroom.
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Patio furniture can be pretty pricey. So can patio cushions. If your outdoor seating is looking a little tired this season, don’t invest in a whole new set of cushions. Spice up what you already have with some decorative throw pillows designed especially to withstand the great outdoors.
“We are seeing an enormous increase in the sale of toss pillows,” says Lynn Franklin, owner of Lynn’s Patio and Casual Furniture in Hendersonville. She attributes the trend to the lower cost of simple accent pillows, but also to the fact that the outdoor industry has become more of a player in the business of looking good. (more…)
The 2006 Historic Homes Tour focuses on Tait Avenue in the Almond Grove, gracious Glen Ridge Avenue, and a home on Hernandez one block from Glen Ridge. Craftsman and Victorian styles are represented, but all six homes have been remodeled and modernized, some more extensively than others. The annual tour offers a peek inside lovely homes, beautifully decorated.
The tour runs through Sunday, November 5, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tickets are $30, available at any of the homes or at the Tait Avenue Museum. The price includes Pat Dunning’s expertly-researched program.
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How do you feel about faux animal stripes underfoot? An Oct. 14 Post article detailed some of the many products sporting the now-hot zebra motif – pillows, towels, martini glasses. The beautiful animals’ mixture of wide and narrow black lines must really look wavy – like they’re moving – to anyone sipping a stout vodka martini from a zebra-striped glass.
Zebra accent rugs have been pictured this year in so many shelter magazines that some designers are stepping out of line, so to speak. Articles quote designers on both sides of the decorating fad: those “so over it” because zebra rugs are too popular, and the other group that values “the instant sophistication” a zebra rug adds to the right room, the element of visual surprise, the touch of fun, the symbol of exotic adventures. Think safari with binoculars only; no zebras have to be shot to fuel this fashion underfoot. Cincinnati’s contemporary furniture showrooms have had for years (they’re not new) those zebra accent rugs made to look real. They’re usually stenciled cowhide, so some unfortunate steer, if not an actual zebra, definitely had to commit to the striped product. I’ve always preferred frankly-fake wool rugs in the zebra pattern, not the cowhide rugs cut in a realistic shape with four extended “zebra legs” flat on the floor. (more…)
