Better And Better

Everyone has their struggles and low points. It is amazing what we can endure. Great and good things happen in small and big ways. It is amazing how we celebrate. Time keeps passing. Years fly by. Time is an equal opportunity experience. No one escapes its passing.

Time to throw out the tree into the recycle truck to pick up

Maybe you are watching football, or cooking black eye pears and greens, or sleeping late after a big night. It is now the New Year, 2013.

I had a swell time last night

Maybe you are taking down the Christmas tree, or cleaning out a closet or two, or packing for a move to a new home.

Gloria Swanson taking down her ornaments - Has time been kind to keeping a memory of her alive?

Whatever you are doing, rejoice in the newness of the year. It's a fresh and fleeting moment that inspires cockeyed optimists to rejoice and go on.

Travel safe

Happy New Year darlings!


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What Are Your Plans?

Who cares about losing weight or getting more exercise or giving up booze or smoking? Home decorators have other plans.

What projects and improvements and purchases do you want to make in the new year? What have you been putting off that you finally want to tackle this year? Are you moving to a new house? Are you renovating your home?

I have resolved to do a few things this year.

Our grass id a FAIL

 I want to clan up my outdoor spaces. The sod we planted two years ago has turned to weeds, and the banana trees we also added are a mess.

We need at least 24 huge ass square pavers

I'm thinking of large square pavers, or maybe extending the river rock into this area. I'd also like to reupholster the patio furniture cushions and paint a chevron pattern on the floor.

And while I'm out there I would love to turn our garage and shed into a dance studio with a bathroom, or turn it into a short term rental for the movie folks working in New Orleans.

I would add French doors to the garage

Inside the house, I need to paint the chimney bump-out in the kitchen. Considering blackboard paint, but am leery of cooking splatters not able to be cleaned off the wall. The kitchen curtains need to be replaced.

Can you clean grease off of blackboard paint?

General paint touch up of all the walls and painted furniture in the house needs to be done.

It's touch-up time

The shame that is our laundry room needs to get finished, which includes putting up the rest of the crown moulding, and putting in a new floor. The master bath adjoins the laundry room and I would love to rip out the bathroom tile floor, and do matching marble subway tiles on both floors, in a herringbone pattern. We have two bathrooms, and both of them need the tubs to be resurfaced by a professional.

I need to clean out my "magic closet" of decorating junk, an armoire filled with office junk, and a space under the built-in "sideboard" in the dining room needs to be cleared out of more office junk.

A decision needs to made about moving my "office" off the breakfast area dining table.

 I always think about painting all the walls in the house white. And the outside of the house black.

Alberto's man cave needs some serious editing, cleaning, and new window treatments and ceiling fans. And Alberto needs a shoe rack in the closet.

What I'd like to do in Alberto's man cave

The Tangoman needs shoe storage

And of course, there are always major things, like a porch roof that needs to be completely redone, an attic window replaced, a new roof, power washing the house, killing weeds that sprout on the brick pathway and in the river rock in the driveway and walkways. I want a screen door on my kitchen door, an old fashion wooden one, and I'd like to cut out a couple of panels in the door and add glass, so I could see the pretty patio. We'd also like to install a tank less water heater, and also get an integrated generator for hurricane season. And also rip the plastic siding off the house and restore the cypress boards. And paint the exterior. And get gas lanterns for the front porch. And maybe restore all the shutters. And put all new wood floors in the whole house. And add a powder room upstairs. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

Maybe it would be better to plan the new year with losing ten pounds, or joining a work out class.

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New Years Eve Decor

Why not host a small New Years Eve supper? Invite a few neighbors or close friends, and sit down to dine and toast the New Year together.

New Years Eve Supper - all photos and styling by Valorie Hart

As an event designer I decorated many huge New Years parties HERE.

One of my favorite event designs was one in a 7000 square foot loft space. I want to show you how you can scale it down for your home.

Valorie Hart Designs - I designed this corporate event in a 7000 square foot loft - This is the inspiration for a New Years supper party you can scale down and recreate at home 

The elements I use are white branches, ribbons, white flowers, gold and silver, and pearls.
You can hop on over to Houzz to see my product guest picks to get some of the things I use. Even if you don't have time to order on the internet for New Years Eve, check out the sites for after holiday sales and stock up for next year. Shop locally too. All the elements are easy to find.

All the elements from the loft party are here in my dining room

Create focal points on your dining room table, the chandelier overhead, the sideboard or buffet, and on any other furniture in the dining room. The whole room will look decorated by decorating three or four places in the room.

My starting off point came by way of a wonderful Christmas gift I got from Mitchell from Optimism and White Paint. It's a "tablet" of 50 paper placements. This design is in black and white, but you can use any color you like.

I was off to the races with these black and white paper placemats, a gift from Mitchell

I basically used all the black and white things I had on hand: black and white plates, white branches, black and white ribbon, black napkins, white flowers, etc.

Black and white dinnerware, black napkins, black and white ribbons enhance the black and white placemats

I placed tall white branches on the chandelier, and made two large bouquets with them in silver vases. Inexpensive curling ribbon was cut to varying lengths and hung from the chandelier and on the branches. It gives the effect that the whole ceiling is decorated with festive New Years Eve streamers.

Tall white branches arranged in vases and placed on the chandelier  festooned with ribbon

Each of the black and white dinner plates has a different animal on them - This is the dog - The under plate is Italian

The rabbit plate - the pattern of the black and white plates is Du Paquier by Mottahedeh

This little guy looks like a weasel, but I call him a monkey

The fourth animal is a boar

I used simple white spray roses and flat leaf eucalyptus in black glass  containers

I took down the Christmas decor in the room that did not have the New Years colors.  I added a silver wreath on the mirror in place of the vintage color one, and removed the tree from the buffet with the vintage color balls, and removed the turquoise ornaments in the hurricanes.

The bar cart and trumeau is another focal point - I changed out the Christmas colors for the white and silver New Years color - I added a tall glass vase filled white branches, a silver wreath on the trumeau, and black and white ribbons hanging from the garland on top of the mirror - I also pinned wide strips of silver lame ribbon to transform the the lamp shade on the plaster Della Robbia lamp

I filled the glass vase with pearls - They are actually Mardi Gras beads

The buffet area - The "Dream" banner used for Christmas decor remained, but all other previous  Christmas decor was removed to keep the color scheme consistent

A large white ironstone platter holds hats and horns - I kept to silver. gold, and black - Sand in the bottom of the  hurricanes replaced the turquoise Christmas ornaments

Cholo loves the New Years Eve supper party decor

I actually styled this table from everything I had on hand, to participate along with the other fabulous tablescapers at Susan's Between Naps On The Porch.

And I am using Mr. Linky at Nitas's Mod Vintage Life to participate in her metamorphosis series. I admire Nita very much for many reasons, and am honored to be included in anything she does.

What are your New Years Eve plans? I hope I inspire you to do a little decorating!

Alberto and I usually stay home on New Years Eve. This year we will be "at home" and inviting people to stop by for a drink on their way to or from a party or whatever their New Years Eve plans are. It is not really a party. It's causal and no pressure, and we will be happy to see who turns up.

photo via Vintaquarian

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Do You Love Your Bed?

The 13th moon is waning.

New Years Eve 2009 going into 2010 via The Huffington Post

The fireworks are over. The old year is gone. Time to take a little break.

Do you love your bed? Do you work on the computer there? Our furnace was out all week, and we barricaded ourselves in the bedroom with a space heater, our lap tops, snacks, and TV. It was great.

Read more about Bryan Batt HERE

Anyway we're all moving forward.

J Lo HERE
Toss me my Louboutins - I feel like dancing!

Wishing you and your loved ones all the best.

Hope to spend time with you in 2010.

Happy New Year.

Nine

Kristin from Discover Interior Design did a great series about design resolutions. She invited several bloggers to participate. I love them all, and it was fun to see how each blogger took on the assignment. One of my favorites is by new blogger Lynda who has new the blog Focal Point (please check out Focal Point and add it to your blog list).

I'm not big on making New Years resolutions, are you? But I took a stab at it, and approached mine in the vein of a dating advice column....

reprint from Discover Interior Design:

Top Nine New Years Decorating Resolutions

Resolution #1: Define what you want in a decor relationship
Before you can find what you want, you first must inventory what you need, so start the New Year off by making a dream list of stuff you want in a potential room and don’t just file it away when you’re done. Keep the list in mind whenever you see a room with potential, instead of solely relying on physical attraction. It doesn’t matter if a room looks like Domino if it doesn’t treat you well.

I have an ongoing master bathroom project for five years now – will I finish it in 2010?

Resolution #2: Assess your baggage
Be honest with yourself; if you have any residual feelings or anger leftover from your last decor project, don’t take it with you into the New Year. See a decor shrink, vent on your blog, whatever you need to do – just get rid of it!

I love big clocks and cow hide rugs – can I live without this baggage in 2010?!

Resolution #3: Get your booty off the couch
The likelihood of decorating the perfect room while you’re parked in front of your TV watching HGTV is miniscule (unless, of course, your mailman or local pizza delivery boy just happens to be a dead ringer for Candice Olson.)

Resolution #4: Get out of your decorating comfort zone
If you are the type of person who has had the same sea grass rug for the past eight years, it’s likely that you’ve been doing the same type of decor for just as long. If your past interior designs haven’t panned out the way you hoped, it may be time to shake some things up in your family room. In 2010, make it your goal to rethink the kind of slipcover you are keeping around and be more open to pursuing new kinds of furniture. For example, if you are a serial online decor blogger, try getting offline. (And vice-versa).

Just do a fabulous 2005 design mash up – It’s so five years ago so who will know in 2010 that you’re off trend.

Resolution #5: Decorate more than one room at a time
Decorating more than one room at a time helps takes that this-has-to-work-out-or-else pressure off of you that can doom many a fledgling project. So while I certainly don’t advocate written-in-stone-projects, until you get serious, try to see at least three different design styles simultaneously in one room. For those of you who are thinking “But it’s so hard to just think of one!” my advice is to stop being so picky.

Open your eyes and design more than one room at a time.

Resolution #6: Stop trying to make lemonade out of bad lemons
You can’t whip your bad furniture into tip-top shape without dumping any lingering baggage, whether it be river rocks, foo dogs, Buddha heads, or any other zen knick-knacks that you can never quite shake. If these so-called decor schemes don’t have the ability to go anywhere, than it’s not worth exerting your creative energy to maintain them. Refrain from dwelling on, or hooking up with yesterday’s bad news and instead re-channel that momentum into getting something new.

Lemonade from lemons – Yes or No?! Discuss!

Resolution #7: Ditch the deadline
Milestone birthdays have the ability to send even the most rational of decorators into a frenzy, so stop comparing yourself to your friends, sisters, and/or bitchy bloggers, and realize, with as much Zen-Chinoiserie-like tranquility as you can muster, that everyone is sitting on their own unique Ghost Chair. When it comes to credenzas, there is no right time for it to happen.

Tick-tock it’s February and you still haven’t taken down the Christmas stuff –
Forget deadlines and relax, recycle, reuse. And reinvent it for Spring.

Resolution #8: Decorate yourself
Remember that the longest relationship you will ever have is with yourself, so be your own interior designer and don’t wait until you’re room is finished to post it on your blog. Give yourself permission to exaggerate on something that’s totally not your idea and reinvent it as your own.

Why wait for fame? Make your own magazine cover HERE

Resolution #9: Enjoy the journey
Decorating is a process, not unlike applying to colleges as a high school senior. Sometimes it can be exciting (OMG, they like me even if that tacky lamp looks bad!) and sometimes disappointing (How could I have picked that fake Ikat pillow from Wal Mart!) but no matter what happens this year, remember that it is only the end-result that matters. Whatever your decor resolutions are, be the boss of them. Go public with them, if need be. You won’t regret it when you are mentioned in a defunct magazine, or get a book deal, or get on a radio show like The Skirted Roundtable, or on everyone’s blog list in 2010.