Invisible Paint Touch Ups? Maybe Yes, Maybe No...

Have you ever tried to fill a hole in a wall and touch up the paint, only to have the repair be obvious and look even worse than the hole? It's likely not your fault. Successful paint touch ups can be challenging, and in many cases aren't even feasible. 




Here are some of the areas where things go wrong :

Color 

• Even if you use the same color paint from the same can, the touch up might show. There are several reasons why this happens:
• The paint on the wall has changed color over time.
• The paint in the can has changed color
• If you don't have the original can of paint, try to get the same color, or have it matched. In this case the best solution is to repaint the entire wall from corner to corner, to make any slight difference in color less obvious.

Sheen

• The easiest type of paint to touch up is a flat or matte finish, and, ironically, cheap paint touches up better than high quality paint.
• "Flashing", a noticeable difference in the finish, often occurs if you attempt to touch up a paint with a sheen, even a low sheen. Flashing is most visible when you view the surface from the side, such as when you enter a room or go up or down stairs.
• Paint sheen can change over time too. Even if you have leftover paint from the same can as you used originally, the sheen on the surface or the sheen of the paint in the can could be different when you try to do a touch up. 
• Other reasons for a difference in sheen could be that the temperature or humidity when you did the touch up were considerably different from what they were when the paint originally was applied.
• Satin, eggshell, semi-gloss and gloss paints usually can't be touched up. In these situations, the best approach is to repair and repaint the entire run of trim, or the entire surface, such as a door.

Patching and Priming

• Even if the patching is done reasonably well, if you fail to prime correctly, the patch can show.
• If the patched area is large, don't even try to touch up the paint because the repair will be obvious. It's wiser to repaint the entire wall.
• Always make the repair as small as possible, if you want it to be undetectable. 
• Use the least amount of patch that you need to fill a hole, and feather any patch material outside the hole to blend with the surrounding area. 
• Prime the repaired areas with the correct primer for the surface. Choosing the right primer.

Texture

• Unless patching is done with great skill, the texture of a patch can be obviously difference from the texture on the rest of the wall, or ceiling, especially a popcorn ceiling.  
• If the surface is textured, buy a can of spray texture and practice, or use one of the new drywall texture stencils designed to match fine, medium or heavy texture.  Drywall Repair Tool.  Don't forget to prime before you do the paint touch up. 

Applying the Touch-up Paint

• Use the same method of paint application on the patched area as was used originally, or the difference in texture from the applicator will show. If the paint was applied by roller, use a roller.
• Always use the least amount of paint that you can.
• Use a tiny artist's brush, when possible.
• For larger patches, you can try to apply some of the new paint to the center of the repair and feather it out to blend with the old paint, before you repaint the entire wall.

Now you know why it's not always possible to have invisible paint touch-ups, even when you're careful.


If you have a repair and painting project, such as from fire or water damage, a falling tree, or even a challenging cosmetic repair, Roger can help. Call me for an estimate at 828-692-4355. 

"We had a tree fall on our house last winter. Roger repaired and painted our ceiling and did an incredible job. He has worked on several other projects for us as well, both interior and exterior. Excellent, excellent work each time. If you want it done right at a fair price, call Roger and Sandy."

Hunter Marks

Hendersonville

Beware of Low Bid Pressure-Washing

Damaged Roof Shingles

We get many phone calls every year from people who are unhappy with the way their house was pressure-washed the last time, usually by a company they chose because of a low bid.

What's wrong with a low bid, you may wonder? There are several reasons why choosing a company by price alone can turn out to be a costly mistake.

Some Pitfalls of Low Bid Pressure-Washing

• When pressure-washing isn't priced correctly to cover costs, it's usually because the bidder is an amateur, or doesn't operate as a legitimate business, and doesn't know or care about meeting professional standards. 

• In order to price below market, the company hires people who have little or no training, often students hired for the summer, in the mistaken belief that just about any able-bodied person can do the work. Immaturity, carelessness, inexperience and little training are not the qualities you want in the people you entrust with your home.

Stripped Deck

• Often the equipment isn't professional grade, or even when it is, the workers don't know how to use it properly. They apply excessive pressure, stripping paint and damaging the house and landscaping.

• Amateurs apply chemicals indiscriminately, another common cause of damage to the house and plantings.

• Amateurs use the wrong products, or use them in the wrong way, and the house isn't thoroughly cleaned, or damage occurs.

• The estimate is often verbal, and work customers thought was included, wasn't, after all. Extras raised the final price to more than a legitimate company would have charged.

• Temporary workers are often are paid in cash and are not covered by workers' compensation insurance. Should they be injured at your house, you could be liable.

Damaged Walkway

As you can see, that low bid is low for several reasons, and none of them benefit you! The next time you get a pressure-washing estimate that's too good to be true, it probably is. At least that's what many new clients say. They've learned that it's much better to pay a reasonable price to have the work done by someone you can trust to do it the right way, and who will treat your home and landscaping with the respect and care they deserve.

If your house or decks need to be washed, and you don't want to worry about things going wrong, call me at 828-692-4355 to schedule a free, written estimate with Roger. Take a look at what our clients have said about his work:   Comments from some of our clients

Roger Ness - Sterling Property Services

Make Room for (Real) Books

   "In addition to their own worth, books do a lot of decorating. Old books add the same patina to a room as do good antiques."

David Easton, Charles Faudree Home

I can't imagine living in a house that didn't have lots of books, because they've been an essential part of my life since I learned to read. In this house there are books in nearly every room, and I love many of them for their beauty and history, as much as for the information they contain and lie waiting to share. Although I appreciate the virtues of e-readers, and use one, it will never completely replace what I consider to be the real thing. 

Living With Books

Gardening Books in the Family Room

Over the years I've collected the classics, as well as books on gardening, art, design, travel, poetry, computers, crafts, business and more, and keep them in the room where their presence makes sense, like cookbooks in the kitchen, business books in the office, and the gardening, reference, poetry and children's books at my fingertips in the family room. It also helps me to know where to search when I want a book on a particular topic.

During the year, I bring some books out of their slumber on a shelf to more prominent positions, choosing them because they're appropriate to the season, like the pumpkin cookbook or the Christmas books, or because the cover adds a particular color.  The decorative role of books is well known, and designers often buy libraries of books, or books by the yard, because the bindings are beautiful and they're an essential prop for staging shelves.  

Some Antique Books From My Family

There's a special place in my heart for my small collection of antique books, and I keep them out most of the time for personal and decorative reasons, even though many are in pretty bad condition. Some were birthday presents from my Uncle Bob, who placed an index card in each describing the book and which ancestor it came from. One of the oldest, "Cobb's Spelling Book", belonged to Elizabeth T. Lines of Oxfordshire, England (mother of my great grandmother Medora Warner LeRoy), who signed and dated it in 1833.

"Cobb's Spelling Book" (1832)

The history book below belonged to my great great grandmother, Abigail Carpenter LeRoy, who gave birth to twelve daughters before having a son, whom the jubilant parents named George Washington LeRoy. I can't imagine what it was like for little George to have a dozen sisters...

"History of the United States "(1841)

Although they certainly have the patina of age that David Easton mentions, I don't know that these battered and tattered antique books measure up to the level of quality he had in mind, but it doesn't matter. To me, they're beautiful and I love having them around. Since they're fragile and can't be read very easily, I stack them to create little platforms, and sometimes put something on the top, like a small vase with fresh flowers.

Whether your books are old or new, there are many creative ways to use them in your home, including the simple approach of treating the cover as a work of art by leaning it on the back of a shelf. If you need help, there are books on how to decorate with books, including artistic shelving systems. You also can find inspiring pictures on Pinterest and Houzz. 

Have Your Virtual Books and Real Ones Too

By all means use an e-reader, but appreciate real books too, and bring them out now and then for the pleasure of their company. Be selective about the ones you display. Text books, paperbacks, manuals aren't very decorative.


This quote says it all:

"A room without books is like a body without a soul"

Cicero

If Cicero were alive today, I'm pretty sure he'd still mean it.

**top photo from freshomedesign.com

Paint Color Consultants: What They Do, How They Can Help You

If you’ve struggled with paint color decisions, you have lots of company because color is a tricky subject. It’s very technical and very personal, and when you choose the wrong colors, they can be unattractive and uncomfortable to live with, and expensive to correct.

There’s a good reason why color selection is challenging. Color isn’t the property of an object. Color is light, and it changes all the time. Many things influence these changes, including the time of day, the type of lighting, the effect of neighboring colors and numerous other factors. That’s why the color that you liked in a friend’s house, or on the Internet, or in a magazine, won’t look the same in your house.

For a painting project to be successful, you not only need to find colors that will work in your house, you need to know where to put them. Professional guidance can help you add beauty and value to your house, while avoiding costly color mistakes.

Color Consultants: What They Do and How They Can Help You

When you call a color consultant for an interior or exterior paint color consultation, you're enlisting the help of a professional with a trained eye, knowledge of how to use color effectively and practical experience with what works, and what doesn't. Color consultants have different backgrounds and may not work the same way, but here's a list of the basic things I do:

• Analyze the architecture of your house to determine if a special palette of historic colors is available.

• Analyze the design and layout for the best approach to color selection and placement, including where interior color needs to stop and start in open concept plans.

• Analyze colors in floors, tile, carpeting, counter tops, pre-finished items, stone, etc. to be certain paint colors will harmonize. 

• Analyze the details of the house to determine which should be accented, which should be camouflaged.

• Consider the effects of natural and artificial lighting.

• Determine if color could address design issues.

• Analyze your belongings to be certain the key pieces will coordinate well with the paint colors.

• Recommend a palette of paint colors and sheens.

• Suggest features that could receive special decorative treatment, if desired.

• Recommend additional ways to make your house look its best, including cosmetic repairs.

Many of the items on this list apply to both interior and exterior projects.

What Does it Cost?

I charge $75/hour with a two hour minimum to do an on-site color consultation, and will often be able to help you with other design issues while I'm there. Depending on your location, a travel charge may apply. For an on-line consultation, call or write to me and tell me about your project.

When you consider what it costs to repaint after you pick the wrong color, and still not be sure you've chosen well, a color consultation is a bargain.

Benefits of a Consultation

For a more beautiful home with attractive, harmonious colors, get a paint color consultation. You'll create a space that you'll enjoy living in, and feel proud to share, and you'll add to the value and marketability of the house when it's time to sell.

To Arrange A Consultation with Sandy

Call me:  828-692-4355

Write to me:  Sandy@SterlingPropertyService.com

Diana Vreeland's Bookshelves

Diana Vreeland's Bookshelves

The late, great Diana Vreeland (1903-1989) brought singular style to every aspect of her life.  As the Editor in Chief of Harper's Bazaar from 1936 to 1962, and of Vogue from 1963-1971, then later as the adviser on costumes to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, she lived an exceptionally glamorous life. Her clients ranged from Jacqueline Kennedy who adored her, to major and minor royalty, movie stars and the very wealthy. The surroundings Vreeland created for herself, notably the red living room she described as "a garden in hell", became part of her legend.

This glimpse of her bookshelves that I found on Pinterest* tells you quite a bit about her worldly, creative, complex, rich point of view, and provides a few design lessons, as well. When you study the shelves, you'll notice that they aren't neat and tidy, or obviously styled. Vreeland placed some things with intent, while she placed others just because she found a spot for them. You can tell that she wasn't a design snob, because you see art and treasured photographs, along with quirky mementos. The drawing of her by famed photographer Cecil Beaton is behind the horn on the right side. 

Notice that the basic structure of the shelves didn't limit how she used them.  She hung things on the back and on the outside frame, and she placed some things horizontally and other vertically, with things on top of other things. There was a similarity of hue in the contents overall, but with a pop or two of red, her signature color. Of course there are books, but a couple of books appear to have post-it notes! Diana Vreeland's bookshelves reflected who she was, and they served her well. 

Here's what I learned from Diana Vreeland's bookshelves:

• DO: Use every side of the structure. Don't limit yourself to the shelves.

• DO: Display a variety of objects, but choose ones that relate well to each other.

• DO: Use repetition of color, content, form, etc. to create a cohesive look.

• DO: Make it personal. Choose things that have meaning to you. 

• DON'T: Be too serious. Allow room for a little humor or whimsy.

• DO: Allow more breathing room for the contents of your shelves than Diana did.

DV in her famous red living room. 

In this room, too much wasn't enough, but considering the name she gave it, you know that she was in on the joke. 

*from lucindaville.blogspot.com

"How To Choose Interior Paint Colors" at Isothermal Community College in Columbus

When color decisions are made one room at a time, the overall result often lacks harmony, and the look and value of the house suffers...




Have you ever had trouble finding the perfect color for an interior painting project? Maybe you thought you'd found the right color, but it looked completely different once you painted it on the walls. Or perhaps you're one of the many people who decide to avoid the pitfalls of color selection by painting everything white, plain boring white.  

If any of this sounds familiar, you'll want to mark your calendar to come to my latest course, "How to Choose Interior Paint Colors", being offered at Isothermal Community College in Columbus next month. My special guest is paint expert Tommy Williamson of Williamson's Paint Center in Landrum. 

Learn how to make a fresh start with an overall color plan that works for your house. Here are some of the topics we're going to cover:

April 9, 2013

• Color Basics
• Creating Your Color Plan

April 16, 2013

• Color Schemes
• Enhancing, Re-shaping and Camouflaging with Color
• Choosing the Right Paint
• Hiring a Painting Contractor

Isothermal Community College, Columbus Campus

Tuesday evenings April 9 and 16, 2013, 6:30 to 8:30 pm.

Registration:  FREE, but registration is required.

To register, call Isothermal at 828-894-3092 x10.

For course information, call Sandy LeRoy at 828-692-4355.

Your Fireplace Mantle Is A Little Theater

Family Room Mantle - Winter 2013

There's a two-sided fireplace in our house, with one side in the great room and the other in the family room adjoining the kitchen. I think of them as theatrical opportunities, little stages to celebrate each season and add personality by rotating a changing group of accessories, old and new, fine and funky. Some things are permanent, and some come back at the appropriate time each year, like the stockings that hang at Christmas, but the displays are never exactly the same, and for me, that's part of the fun. I don't strive for design perfection, I care more about associations with people and places that have meaning to us, and things Roger and I simply enjoy.

The family room is a homey space, and the things I place on this side are in casual, asymmetrical arrangements, like the one you see here. There are copper pieces that came from the home of my beloved Uncle Bob and Aunt Joanne, including one that I use as a container for some black pussy willows, two Fitz and Floyd chickens, a picture of a Tiffany window that I had framed years ago and some ivy trailing from a ceramic container. No two items are the same, so I used repetition of color and materials, a variety of shapes and heights, plus a touch of green, to make it look reasonably cohesive, and to coordinate it with the rest of the family room.  For example, the blue mat in the picture is the same blue as in the area rug, and there are other copper pieces and Fitz and Floyd creatures nearby.

On the living room side, it's a different story. The space above the mantle has three permanent occupants, a papier mache carnival mask of the sun and the moon that was a present from Roger the year we happened to be in Venice on my birthday, and two cement sconces filled with silk greenery. The basic arrangement is balanced, making the look more formal. All I do is add a few seasonal items to the sconces, as you see below: 

Great Room Mantle - Autumn 2012

Great Room Mantle - Winter/Holiday 2012

Even though the design on this side is more formal, tweaking the contents of the sconces with the seasons keeps it from looking static, and takes only about ten minutes.

How to Give Your Fireplace Mantle A New Look

If you'd like to update the look of your mantle, here's how to go about it: 

• Decide what approach suits you and the room. If you want a formal, traditional look, consider a symmetrical arrangement with one or more pairs of items, such lamps or candlesticks, placed on either side of a large focal piece, as I did in the great room. If you like informality, create an asymmetrical design, as in the family room. You can still use a pair of items, just don't put them on either side in a mirror image, and use an odd number of things in total.
• Consider what, if anything, will hang above the mantle. Think beyond the expected large mirror or painting. I like maximum flexibility in the family room, so I keep the space open and lean a mirror, tray, plate or painting against the wall, instead of hanging it.  This allows me to use objects in a variety of heights, and easily change them.
• Coordinate the mantle with the rest of the room. It's a good place to repeat color used in furniture or other accent pieces, or to use something from a collection featured elsewhere in the room.
• Use a combination of materials, including metals, glass, ceramics, art, etc. to make the display more lively and interesting. Vary size, height, texture. 
• Include one or more types of organic materials. Place a trailing plant to spill over the edge of the mantle (one of my favorite things to do), and also use something upright, like flowers or branches.  I also use dried grasses sprayed with metallic paint, which makes them last forever. 
• Layer and overlap objects.
• Use "lifts and levels", a merchandising term that refers to placing props in a display to create areas of different heights that add interest and create a focal point. You can use a small stack of books, for example, to do the same thing when your design needs height, or you want a smaller object to be more prominent. 
• Consider scale. Don't use things that are too large or too small for the space. If you want to display smaller items, cluster them so they read as a single, larger object. Placing them in front of a larger object such as a plate helps with the illusion, and is a way to use layering to solve a design problem.
• Repeat color, materials, shapes, etc to create rhythm and build a theme.
• Use contrasting color, materials, shapes, etc. to make individual pieces stand out.  
• Use a variety of textures, rough, smooth, shiny, matte.
• Experiment, but practice a little restraint. A few well-chosen things are preferable to a crowd. When you're shopping in your home or in a store, don't be limited by the original, perhaps utilitarian use of the item. Re-purpose it as decoration. There are no horses in our house, but next to the family room mantle hangs a brass and copper currying comb from England, another gift from Uncle Bob and Aunt Joanne.
• Stand back and check the composition of your design, from time to time. You can't tell how well you've done unless you look at the mantle from a distance. I like to leave the room and do something else for a while so that I have some objectivity when I look at the mantle again. 

Start thinking of your fireplace mantle as a little stage, and see what productions you can create. Have fun with the process and change the display with the season to keep it lively and interesting.

A Funky Old Pre-Raphaelite Screen

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was a group of young artists who worked in England, beginning in the late 1840's. They were rebels, the bohemians of their day, who favored a natural approach, instead of the stiff, formal, artificial look that they said began with Raphael. Their subjects were drawn from poetry, myth and history, and often were placed in natural settings which they detailed with great care. The founding members of the group included Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett Millais and William Holman Hunt, who later were joined by Edward Burne-Jones and others.

It was a work of Burne-Jones, "Love Among the Ruins" based on a poem by Robert Browning, that lead me to discover the Pre-Raphaelites. The painting was used in one of the posters for an exhibition at the National Gallery in Washington, DC on "The Treasure Houses of Britain", that was opened with much fanfare by Prince Charles and Princess Diana.

Because of my interest in British design and art I was desperate to go, but there I was, stuck at the office in San Francisco, or so I thought. Then I had an incredible stroke of luck. Several of my clients were public rail systems, and on occasion I would go with them to the risk management section meeting of their trade group, the America Public Transit Association (APTA). One day I got a notice that the next meeting was going to be in Washington during the time of the Exhibition. So I got my wish and was able to see everything, including "Love Among the Ruins", which is how my love affair with the Pre-Raphaelites began.

Over the next ten years as I made frequent trips to England to find insurance for my rail transit clients, I would add vacation time and explore. I visited as many museums and stately homes as I could manage, and bought postcards of the Pre-Raphaelite paintings I saw. Eventually, it became a large collection, sitting in a box. One day I decided to do something with the postcards so that I could see and enjoy them, so I decoupaged them on to three panels of an old screen that I first covered with wrapping paper in a William Morris design, since he was their frequent collaborator. Then I affixed the postcards with Mod Podge and put the panels back in the wooden frame. The result was my funky Pre-Raphaelite screen, never a great art project, I admit, more of a memento that I kept in my office. When it was time for a change, I removed the Pre-Raphaelite panels, repainted the screen and moved on. Today I still have two of the panels, but they're very much the worse for wear. The other day I found them in the closet under the stairs and decided to bring them out for old times sake. 

For the time being they're in the hallway outside my office, and I'm enjoying them again, funky, old and tattered though they may be.


There's one more chapter to the story of "Love Among the Ruins".  After the Exhibition it went back to Wightwick (pronounced whit tick) Manor in Wolverhampton, home of the Mander family, and now a National Trust property renowned for its Arts and Crafts and Pre-Raphaelite works. I'd always wanted to see the painting in its intended location, so when I was in England about five years ago, I decided to drive up from London. It isn't a long trip as the crow flies, but with the horrible afternoon traffic I wasn't able to do it in a day, and wound up spending the night in Warwick. 

The next morning I got to Wightwick at opening time, only to find out it was closed to the public that day. When I told my sad story to a woman at the gate, she took pity on me and my profound disappointment, and phoned one of the current family occupants of the house, Anthea Mander Lahr, who very kindly gave me a personal, though naturally abbreviated, tour.  The house was breath-taking, and to a pre-Raphaelite aficionado, a mecca because everyone's work is there, including art, stained glass, fabrics, tile, tapestries and more. And there in the Great Parlour was my old friend, "Love Among the Ruins", looking as haunting and beautiful as I remembered, and very much in its rightful place. 

PS- Later I learned that at the time, Anthea was married to John Lahr, son of Bert Lahr, the cowardly lion in the 'Wizard of Oz'. When she died in 2004, she was described in her obituary as "much beloved". If she was as kind to others as she was to me, I can easily understand.

Give Your Hallways The Attention They Deserve

Hallway with a Focal Point

Most of us take pains to create an attractive entryway for our house, but the hallways usually receive much less attention. However, when you consider the importance of hallways in terms of function, as a design element, and especially when you consider how much time we spend going back and forth, they present an opportunity that shouldn't be overlooked. 


Not only does a hallway take us from one space to another, it also can serve as a thread to tie differing elements of the overall design together, while adding personality of its own. One example is a house where every room is a different color. If the hallway is painted in a color that works with all the other colors, it creates a rest for the eye, making it possible to move seamlessly from color to color, creating a coordinated whole, rather than a group of unrelated, or clashing, rooms. 

How to Add Pizzazz to Hallways

Although hallways often lack windows and many aren't wide enough for much, if any, furniture, it's still possible to add considerable pizzazz using paint color, lighting, trim and accessories, all without being a design genius or breaking the budget. 

Study Your Hallway

Begin by studying what you have to work with. 

• What are the dimensions of the space? How long is the hallway, how high is the ceiling? 
• What kind of flooring do you have? Can you add area rugs for color and to break up the perceived length?
• How many openings are there, and where do they lead? 
• Does the hallway have attractive, generously proportioned crown molding and baseboards?
• How many openings are on each side? Is the number fairly even, or are the openings concentrated on one side?
• Is there room for furniture?
• Are there walls with gallery potential on both sides? Find a balanced way to drawn the eye down the full length of the hallway and avoid a lopsided design.
• When you're planning what will go on the side walls, remember that people will seldom stop to appreciate these details, so they should look attractive in passing. 

Plan to treat the wall at one end as the focal point, and make it worthy of the attention. Don't create a focal point at both ends because the result will feel claustrophobic, like being in a box. 

Ways to Add Style Without Bulk:

• Use an accent color on the wall at the end. Not only will the color add spark and interest, a darker color will visually shorten a long hallway and make a narrow hallway seem wider. Repeating a color used elsewhere in the house will help unify your design.
• Study the doors. If there are many doors that open on the hallway, be selective about which ones you treat as trim, particularly when there is significant contrast between the wall and trim colors. I usually recommend accenting only those doors that lead to a space for people, rather than closet doors or furnace doors. 

Wainscoting Transforms a Hallway

• If you want a subtle look, consider painting all the doors in the same color as the walls, but in a satin or semi-gloss enamel, creating texture rather than contrast. This is a good solution for narrow hallways, or hallways where most of the doors are on one side, or for doors of standard or poor quality, so that you don't call attention to them.

• Use a special color on the ceiling.

• Add a medallion to ceiling light fixtures.

• Add a design to the ceiling or walls with stencils or vinyl decals. Visit web sites like wallies, wallsneedlove and dezignwithaz  for inspiration.

• Install trim in the form of crown molding, baseboards, chair rail, wainscoting, etc.

• If the existing trim is skimpy, use tape to extend the size and make it look more generous, or paint it in the wall color to avoid calling attention to it, and to visually heighten the ceiling.

• Use masking tape to add a band in an accent color to the ceiling where it meets the crown molding, or use a stencil. You'll be seeing it from a distance, so don't make it too narrow. Try a few designs on paper and tape them to the ceiling to see how they look before you commit.

Borrowed Light

• Instead of relying solely on ceiling fixtures for light, use wall sconces too. And speaking of light fixtures, flush mounted ones can look institutional, so I often suggest a fixture with a small drop, or a small chandelier or pendant. 

• Install wallpaper, but make sure it's durable, especially if the wall gets a lot of traffic. As an option, paper only the focal wall, or frame wallpaper samples for an inexpensive display. 

• Create art with painted designs on the wall. Draw freehand or create a design with tape. 
• Display art or collections, but avoid two common mistakes: hanging things too high and choosing accessories in the wrong scale, usually too small for the space.

• Use carefully placed mirrors (or mirror decals) to borrow light from adjoining rooms and bring life and sparkle to dark hallways.

• Don't ignore the floor. Add area rugs to break up the runway or bowling alley look and add color and warmth. Be sure they're not going be tripping hazards. 

Display Shelves Are Versatile

• Install narrow display shelves and change the contents with the season, or as inspiration strikes.

• Hang empty frames as another display opportunity. Use removable hangers like Command strips for the display items so there are no holes in the wall and the frames are attractive, even when empty.

• Place a table or narrow bookcase at the end of the hallway and change the display periodically. 

• If you have enough space at the end of the hallway, create a small reading area with a table, lamp and chair.

For more inspiration, visit the hallway section on houzz.com . 

There's a great deal of untapped design potential in most hallways. Analyze the ones in your house and see what you can come up to make them more attractive. The solutions don't have to be expensive.

Adding Texture With Paint and Color

Textured and Glazed Wall

 "The glamour of texture is the invitation to touch...surface texture sings a siren's song."

- Jamie Drake, New American Glamour

What Is Texture?

Texture in design refers to the way a surface feels, or is perceived. Occurring in both man-made and natural objects, texture can be produced by repetition and variation of form, colors, value, patterns of line, etc. All surfaces have texture, whether it's coarse or fine, rough or smooth, shiny or matte. Texture can be used for comfort, beauty and interest, or for practical purposes, like a rough finish on a stone walkway that prevents falls. 

Emotional Impacts of Texture

• Rough texture suggests informal, warm and natural design, and often feels heavier. 
• Smooth and shiny texture suggests more formal, cold, glamorous or modern design, and often feels lighter. 
• Combined coarse and smooth texture, such as a  silk wall covering with coarse slubs, has an edge of heaviness, yet is quite elegant. Texture is versatile.

How Texture Affects Paint Color

Texture isn't limited to fabric, wallpaper or natural materials.  Texture also can be added with your paint and color choices to enhance style and add impact. 

When it comes to paint, texture plays a crucial role because it determines how much light and color is reflected, and how much is absorbed. A color in a high sheen paint (smoother texture) has a greater reflectivity, intensity and richness than the same color in a flat sheen paint (rougher texture). The downside of the higher sheen is that every little surface imperfection is more likely to show.  A flat finish paint absorbs more light, and the remaining light is refracted back in many directions, making the color appear darker. When you have an imperfect surface, a flat finish paint is the best choice because it makes the imperfections less noticeable. 

Adding Texture With Paint Techniques and Color

Here are just a few of the many ways to create texture with paint techniques and/or with the way you use sheen and color. 

• Use a variety of sheens from flat to high gloss. The most common way is by painting the ceiling and walls in a flat paint and using a semi-gloss for the trim.
• Combine sheens to create a decorative finish, such as by painting stripes in a gloss finish (paint or varnish), or using a sponge dipped in a gloss finish, to create a pattern on a matte wall. Use the same color as the base for a more subtle effect. For inspiration,      Striped wall designs on houzz.com 
• Add glaze in layers using one or more coordinating colors. This is especially good for damaged walls because the imperfections become part of the finish, and for cabinets, trim and furniture. 
• Buy ready-made texture paint in a special finish, such as sand, stone, marble, suede, etc. Or, add texture to regular paint.

• Use different colors for the ceiling, walls and trim.
• Use accent colors in special areas, such as the back of bookcases, an accent wall or on a mantle. Depending on the look you want, the colors may, or may not, be subtle.
• Use joint compound with stencils, then paint. 
• Use two or three paint colors with similar Light Reflectance Values (LRV's) to create a subtle texture. 
• Apply any of the hundreds of painted finish techniques, from strie to rag-rolling, color washing, trompe l'oeil, a mural, etc.
• Create your own design with masking tape, stencils, wall art appliques, by drawing, or with a combination of these and other techniques. 

Stenciled lattice

Texture is often overlooked as a component of interior design, but when you consider how much texture adds to the beauty and enjoyment of a space, it's a good idea to be conscious of it, and look for ways to make it work for you. 

A word of caution: if you're an amateur, a subtle and simple approach with low contrast colors is best. There's way too much really bad faux finishing and other misguided efforts out there! You can always add, but it can be much more difficult to subtract if you go too far or do it poorly...

Lady Clare Placemats

Back Yard Birds & Their Nests

Hardboard placemats by the British design firm Lady Clare hang on many walls in our house, inexpensive mementos of visits to England over the years. I have a special fondness for them. The designs range from "Shepherd's London", to "British Backyard Birds and Their Nests", "Pallas Tapestry", "Chinese Flowers" and more. 

Lady Clare has a placemat for every taste, from modern to rustic to traditional to ethnic, making them worth considering for a variety of decorative and practical uses. Because of their beauty, diversity and durability, I loved adding to my collection, preferring Lady Clare to all other placemats, including those by Pimpernel.

History of Lady Clare Placemats

The original place mats were not only a creative solution to a financial problem, they were a design inspiration. 

Pallas Tapestry

"The idea for a placemat decorated with a colored print was born out of the harsh economic climate of the 1930's. Lady Clare Pigott, the original founder of the company, created the first such place mat in Paris in 1932. She had collected antique prints from dealers in Berlin where her husband was attached to the British Embassy. Having to entertain diplomats during their next posting to the Embassy in Paris, Lady Clare became concerned at the laundry bills she was incurring for the starched white table cloths formality required her to use for dinners. As a result she created some place mats from shaped and painted hardboard with a flower print applied to the surface and several coats of lacquer. For her next dinner party she was able to remove the table cloth and lay the table using her placemats. Her friends were most impressed by this simple and attractive way of decorating a dining table. Inevitably the next question was ... can you please make some for me? From these simple origins, a business was born. "

from the

Lady  Clare Website 

In our house the placemats are strictly decorative, but they're also durable, should you want to use them as originally intended. Each is backed with felt and the design is covered with a durable lacquer that's said to be heat-resistant to 212 degrees F. 

Shore Birds

Current Placemat Designs 

Lady Clare still offers many classic designs, but also is keeping up with changing tastes and interests. Some of the designs available in the Traditional Collection include everything from tigers to tall ships, while the Today Collection features French shops, wine, golf and music, etc. etc. etc. There also are solid designs in a variety of colors, so that most people can find something they like.

Shepherd's London

Other Decorative Ways to Use the Placemats

In addition to hanging placemats on your walls, try some of these ideas, or better still, invent your own:

• on a free-standing shelf
• on the mantle
• at the back of a bookcase shelf
• in a stand on a tabletop, bureau or vanity

Lady Clare Placemats Given to Queen Elizabeth

Lady Clare placemats were in the news in December 2012 when the Cabinet chose 60 as a gift for Queen Elizabeth to mark the first time the meeting of senior ministers had been attended by a monarch in more than 230 years.  

The placemats are based on twelve images taken from paintings of state rooms within Buckingham Palace. I wish this picture showed the designs more clearly...

These are the luncheon size, and if we ever get invited to lunch at the Palace, maybe they'll be on the table.

Lady Clare's Diamond Jubilee Gift to the Queen