A FREE bi-monthly home decorating ezine!
published by KatieDid Design
March 2000
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KatieDid Design
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February 26, 2000 - March issue
Hello Dear Readers!
How's your decorating going? Well, I hope! Are you starting to look forward to spring? Maybe you’re already getting to enjoy it! Hopefully this past month has seen some progress toward your decorating goals. Please feel free to ask me if you’re looking for any advice or ideas!
I have two announcements this month. The first is that I can now accept credit card payments! I have discovered a wonderful online service that can handle the credit card transactions for me. They are free (so I’m not having to raise my prices), and are also totally secure and guaranteed. If you are interested, please reference the information on my Order page at http://www.katiediddesign.com/order.html .
The second announcement is that I am starting a monthly drawing for all subscribers. The prize for March will be a free Fabric-Covered Fan! (see http://www.katiediddesign.com/curt-bed.html ) I'll even pay for shipping! The winner will get to choose from a variety of fabrics, or send their own! E-mail notification will be sent to the winner in the beginning of April.
And, is there anything specific you'd like to read about? Tell me at katie@katiediddesign.com. Feel free to forward this on to your friends who may enjoy it. On with fun stuff!...
IN THIS ISSUE:
1. THIS MONTH'S SUBSCRIBER'S SPECIAL
- 10% off all orders!
2. TIPS & TRICKS
- Bolster Pillows
3. GUIDELINES AND SUGGESTIONS - FEATURE ARTICLE
- Make your room appear larger
4. CHALLENGE OF THE MONTH
- Your Kitchen!
5. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
- The Subscribers' Section
1. THIS MONTH'S SUBSCRIBER'S SPECIAL - 10% off all orders!
Everything is a special this month for subscribers! Yes, I will be taking 10% off all orders placed before April 1st! This is no April Fool’s either. :-) This includes custom orders also. For custom orders, I will provide the quote according to my usual procedures, then take 10% off! The larger your order, the more you save! Go browse and then tell me what you’d like! www.katiediddesign.com - katie@katiediddesign.com
And don’t forget, there’s a few more days left to take advantage of the February special, the Potpourri-Filled Umbrella, located in the Fabric Accessories section of KatieDid Design. If you order one before March 1st, I'll take $4.00 off! That's only $21.00 if you're sending your own material, or $26.00 if you'd like me to go find one for you! Tell me what you'd like!
These offers are available to anyone who is already a subscriber, or who subscribes when they place their order. Just tell me what you'd like and mention that you're a subscriber!
2. TIPS & TRICKS - Bolster Pillows
This ‘trick’ is really a beautiful accent that serves a great purpose.
You know when you make the bed, and you’re trying to get your pillows propped up in the right position at the head of the bed? Mine are feather pillows, and they always want to sink down, fold in half, or fall over. The solution is a beautiful addition to the bed... a bolster pillow! The one that I fell in love with is like an extra-large neckroll. It was just a solid fabric, but the ends were corded and pleated. It really looked nice gently peeping out from behind the shams. And it made them sit just right! This is now one of the next projects on the list for my home. I think a cheerful gingham would be perfect for my daughter’s bed, and an ivory one would be great for mine.
3. FEATURE ARTICLE - Make your room appear larger
All of us have at least one room that is, shall we say, a little smaller than we’d like. For some of us, our whole house fits this description! Anyway, we can all take advantage of various design concepts that fool the eye and make our rooms seem larger.
The first and foremost guideline is to use light colors. Light colors reflect light, while dark colors absorb light, making the room look and feel smaller. This means to use dark colors sparingly. If your colors are already dark, try to move the darker colors to a ‘background’ role while maximizing your neutral white or ivory. Here’s some examples. For walls, paint the main portions a light shade of one of your colors, and use the dark colors in a border or painted trim. Instead of doing your entire window treatments of dark green, combine the green and ivory equally. For your fabrics, go for prints that use light backgrounds. In the bedroom, use your darker colors for valance, tiebacks, table scarves, accent pillows, and bedskirts; and make the more prominent draperies, comforter, shams, tableskirts, and sheets in your lighter colors.
There’s another trick that has to do with color. Paint your wall trim and moldings a lighter color than your walls. For example, if your like neutral linen-colored walls, paint your trim a tinted ivory. This follows standard 3D rules - lighter objects appear closer while darker or shadowed objects appear further away. When you paint your moldings a lighter color, the wall appears further back - thus making your room appear bigger.
Here’s another very effective strategy to apply to your furniture arranging. Set some of your larger furniture pieces at a diagonal. This works because the longest straight line in any given room is it’s diagonal. When you place your furniture at an angle, it leads the eye along the longer distance, rather than the shorter wall. As an added bonus, you often get some additional storage space behind the piece in the corner, too!
You don’t have to place the furniture at an exact 45 degree angle, often a lesser angle looks best if you can balance the look with another furniture piece. Here’s some ideas...
Pull one end of your sofa about 3 feet away from the wall and angled toward your focal point and center of the room. Place an armoire, arm chair, or other larger furniture piece near the end that is against the wall, to help balance the look.
Angle your bed so that it is coming out of a corner. Usually one of the corners opposite the door is best. This also gives you more available wall space for dressers and bed-side tables.
If you have a corner that your furniture looks lost in, bring it out at an angle. This will help soften the edges of your room and guide the eye around.
This last design technique may sound contradictory, but it works.... Upscale your furnishings! Yes, choose larger. The trick to making this work is to choose fewer also. In other words, instead of choosing a smaller sofa, loveseat, chair, coffee table, and end tables to crowd into your living room, cut back and upscale. Choose a larger set, but use only the sofa, chair, and one end table. Instead off covering the walls with all your pictures, choose a few of the larger pieces or arrangements and arrange them to compliment your furniture placement. Instead of choosing an ordinary window treatment, dramatize your window with floor-to-ceiling draperies that extend beyond the window to make it appear larger. The result will draw pull the attention toward the large furnishings, and away from the actual small size of the room.
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This article Copyright 1999-2003 - Kathleen Peters, KatieDid Design. Reproduced with permission.
Kathleen Peters - 'Katie' - is a custom window treatment and bedding designer, and owner of KatieDid Design, her online shop. She is also the editor-in-chief of Decor, Decorating, and Design, a free bi-monthly ezine filled with articles, tips, and guidelines to help with your home decorating.
http://www.katiediddesign.com
4. CHALLENGE OF THE MONTH - Your Kitchen!
Are you comfortable in your kitchen? Is it pleasing to the eye as well as practical. If not, why not? Wouldn’t it be nice to have a beautiful kitchen? After all, we spend so much time there! Many of us would say too much! :-) So this is my challenge to you this month. Find at least one permanent thing you can do to brighten up your kitchen. Maybe it’s adding a light and airy window treatment. Maybe it’s a new tablecloth for your kitchen table. Maybe it’s a floral arrangement for your counter or wall. Maybe it’s only a decorative vase on the counter that needs some flowers. Just take a few minutes, and look at your kitchen from a fresh perspective. Then let your imagination go! If you’d like something fabric or floral that I can help you with, let me know! You get 10% off this month! katie@katiediddesign.com
5. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS - The Subscribers' Section
This is the place to share YOUR little tips, suggestions and finds with each other! Have you found a neat way to do something? Or perhaps an inexpensive way to get an expensive look? Share it! Just click here to send the e-mail, that way I'll know that you're sending this to share with others! mailto:contact@katiediddesign.com?subject=Share-in-e-Zine
This month’s tip is a favorite of mine. It’s a great way to get inexpensive pictures for your walls. Go to a card shop or stationary store that sells blank card sets. Find some that match your decor. Now go pick out some ready-cut mats and frames and frame them! This especially looks great when you find a set of pictures. I found a set of cards with three different rose prints years ago. I framed them in matching gray marbled mats and while enamel frames. My daughter’s room is decorated with rose fabric, so they gave her room a great touch. Try it!
Well, that's all for this month! :-) Look forward to a great guest article next month! Remember, if your decorating isn't fun, it isn't worth it! So enjoy it!
-Katie <><
KatieDid Design
www.katiediddesign.com
e-mail: katie@katiediddesign.com
Custom Home Decor Design and Giftware
PO Box 381235
Murdock, FL 33938-1235
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