{Giveaway} Shabby Chic accent table worth $180

LEAVE A COMMENT 2011 October 20

FOF Rachel Ashwell is giving away a Shabby Chic® distressed hand painted accent table from her new QVC ‘Treasures’ line launching October 26th. To enter, tell us in the comments below: What is your decorating style?

Shabby Chic® Queen Rachel Ashwell is at it again! Her new line, “Treasures by Shabby Chic® for QVC” inspired by her favorite flea market finds, launches next week.

Known for her deliberately distressed, mismatched and imperfect furniture, bedding and fabrics, Rachel got her start as a Hollywood movie set designer and stylist more than twenty years ago.

In 1989, Rachel dreamed of opening a small shop where she could sell “pretty things,” without spending much time away from her children. Her first shop in Santa Monica, California, became the cornerstone of her “Shabby Chic” empire. Today her products and textiles can be found in Target, Michaels, and most recently QVC, and the term Shabby Chic®, is used to refer to an entire style of decorating. Rachel has written half a dozen books on decorating in her Shabby Chic® style.

‘Treasure” hunting is in Rachel’s blood. Her mother was a restorer and seller of antique dolls, and her father was a rare book dealer. They introduced Rachel to flea markets and antique stores at a young age. Her all-time favorite finds were the inspiration for her newest collection and book, Shabby Chic Inspirations and Beautiful Spaces.

Enter to win a shabby chic accent table from Rachel Ashwell’s new “Treasures” collection for QVC by telling us in the comments below: What is you decorating style?

(See all our past winners. See official rules. See QVC’s official rules. One winner is chosen at random from all those commenters who answer the question. Contest closes October 27, 2011.)

Thank you for entering. This contest is now closed.

{Interiors} 6 sites interior designers love that you never knew about

LEAVE A COMMENT 2011 October 20

Our brilliant FOF Interior Design gurus reveal their sources for great finds online.

Gdchome.com (recommended by FOF interior design guru Helen Kenney Poore, retail store owner and home design enthusiast). This home-goods mecca is located on over 100,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor space near Charleston, South Carolina. Known for their incredible fabrics and upholstery services as well as antiques, imports and more, GDC boasts in-house designers and an inspiring blog packed with home-decor before-and-afters.

Jaysonhomeandgarden.com (recommended by FOF interior design guru, CathyBall). Chicago’s destination for one-of-a-kind home goods, Jayson Home & Garden, also hosts an annual Fall Flea Market with the company’s largest collection of vintage and antique furniture. This year’s focus is on the flea markets of Paris and Provence, and it’s all available online.

Jossandmain.com (recommended by by FOF interior design guru, Shellrobin).
Joss & Main is a members-only site that offers private, limited-time sale events on carefully curated home brands. Each day, Members receive an email invitation to exclusive sale events at prices up to 70% off retail.

Frenchgardenhouse.com (recommended by FOF interior design guru, grnwillow).
If your tastes run towards Shabby Chic, the Paris Apartment and Provence Country, this is your place. An online treasure trove of vintage antiques and imports.

Fab.com (recommended by FOF interior design guru, RonniWhitman, ASID).
The latest in a wave of daily-deal sites, Fab.com is actually worth a subscription. With items in all price points, the selection of home goods is carefully chosen with an eye toward, modern, fundtional design. If you lust over the pages of Dwell magazine, don’t miss this site.

Tonichome.com (recommended by FOF interior design guru, Corky).
The brainchild of Linda Hayes of Rocky River, Ohio, Tonic Home combines traditional pieces with bold, modern accents, colors and statement pieces. Plus, their blog offers plenty of unique design inspiration.

{Interiors} Your home is out-of-date if…

LEAVE A COMMENT 2011 October 20

By the time Cathy Hobbs was called in to help stage one Columbia, M.D., home, it had already been on the market for a year. The FOF owner had been looking at her surroundings for so long, she didn’t realize her home had many out-of-date elements. Cathy, a New York-based certified home stager and HGTV “Design Star” finalist, helped bring the FOF’s home into the 21st century. Five weeks later, it sold. “I tell my clients, you need to neutralize, declutter and depersonalize your home before you can sell it.”

Even if you aren’t selling your home anytime soon, keeping it fresh can help you feel renewed and help simplify your lifestyle. “The current economic climate has led us to simplified, uncluttered and organic themes in home design, in direct contrast to the busy and bold decor of days-gone-by,”  says FOF interior design guru and New York-based designer Julia Vosler.

Use this checklist to help determine if your home is out-of-date, then read ideas for quick fixes from real FOF designers.

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{Interiors} One FOF’s living room makeover on a $350 budget

LEAVE A COMMENT 2011 July 20

FOF Lauri Ward built her business, Use What You Have Interiors, on the theory that anyone, on any budget, can have a beautiful home using the furnishings they already own. A few months ago we put her theory to the test!

The challenge: Help FOF Marcia Robinson by making over her entire living room in three hours… with a $350 budget. Did she do it?

“Tired and uninspiring,” is how FOF Marcia Robinson described her living room when she entered our room makeover contest in January. Marcia has lived in her one-bedroom, Manhattan apartment for 25-years. Ten years ago she attempted to furnish it in one-fell-swoop with pieces she loved. “Everything went wrong,” says Marcia. “The glass came cracked on the coffee table, the wall unit was too small. It was a big hassle.” Frustrated, Marcia took to decorating the apartment piecemeal over the years. However, her mother’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis, and a forced-retirement from her job at a management consulting firm, has put a hold on any recent updates to Marcia’s living room.

And as for the actual “living” that goes on in this room…there’s not much. “I spend most of my time in my bedroom where my computer is,” says Marcia. Lauri says the room’s “visual chaos,” is why Marcia might not find it relaxing. “When I look around, there’s no blank space to rest my eye,” says Lauri. “The good news,” she tells Marcia, “is that by correcting a few common design mistakes that most people make, you can update your living room without buying all new furniture. Your home should look as up-to-date as you do.”

Read on and discover the mistakes and quick fixes Lauri found for Marcia’s living room.

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“You can never have two many pairs,” says Lauri, who swapped Marcia’s mismatched lamps for a pair of lamps from IKEA ($69.99 each). She also added two IKEA throw pillows ($14.99 each) to the couch. “The more pairs you put in a room, the better it looks. You need the balance.”

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“The couches were set up in an L configuration with two chairs in the corner. This is probably the worst setup there is for comfortable conversation,” says Lauri. “Plus, the chairs were too far from the coffee table.”


“We took away one couch, and set up the furniture in a U-shape. Now, everyone can sit and face each other. You can put out hors d’oeurves on the coffee table and everyone can comfortably reach.”

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“You collect so much stuff over a lifetime,” says Lauri. “It’s nice to have all these things, but you need to edit what you own and accessorize effectively.”

“Reevaluate what you have,” says Lauri. “Keep the pieces you love. Donate everything else to charity and get a write off.”  She grouped similar accessories together to create collections and got rid of pieces that were misfits. Marcia’s plants are important to her, but the mismatched pots weren’t working. Lauri moved the plants into window boxes to conceal the pots and repositioned them under the coffee table creating an terrarium-like effect.

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“People think they should hang art at eye level,” says Lauri. “There’s no such thing as eye level since we are all different heights.”


“Follow the three inch rule,” says Lauri. “Hold art up where you think it should go, then lower it three inches.” By swapping the chaotic gallery wall for one striking picture, Lauri says the viewer’s eyes can focus.

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“Before, the rug was distracting and competing with the fabric on the sofa,” says Lauri. “This rug introduces a color that’s in the sofa’s fabric. When you have a patterned sofa you want to look for solids for everything else.”

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Mission accomplished! The result? A living room that Marcia can live in! “Now, you can sit in here and read,” says Lauri. “You’ll finally be comfortable.” What does Marcia think? “It’s quite a change!… I like it.”

IKEA shopping list: Two “Dagny” cushions ($14.99 each), Vejen rug ($89.99), Hosto flower box ($14.99), Felicia throw ($9.99), Vilshult picture ($59.99), Two Jonsbo Barby table lamps ($59.99 each)

Grand Total: $324.92

{Interiors} Old memories, new home…

LEAVE A COMMENT 2011 July 20

When you’re FOF, moving means taking a lifetime of memories and trying to work them into a completely new space–while simplifying of course. We spoke to one FOF who downsized when her children left the nest, but managed to make her new house a home….

FOF Kathy McPherson and her husband Tom moved from the D.C. suburbs to the historical village of Pinehurst, North Carolina, where they constructed their 6,000 sq. ft. empty-nest “cottage” just last year. They chose a lot on Pinehurst No. 2, a history-rich golf course, to build their new digs.

“I wanted to create a place where old and new collide and past and future generations meet,” says Kathy.

In each room of the house, old and new live seamlessly side by side. For instance, Kathy designed the kitchen with a brand-new GE range alongside an antique butter churn passed down from her grandmother.

A carefully-edited collection of relics, such as a Barbie doll from Kathy’s childhood, manage to impart nostalgia without clutter. “I couldn’t imagine parting with any family heirlooms,” says Kathy. Anything Kathy didn’t have room for, she found a way to keep in the family. Her son, Richmond, got antique bedroom furniture passed down from his grandmother, and Kathy put other meaningful pieces in storage for when her daughter, Katherine, has more room. “I did give away furniture, artwork, toys… things that didn’t have sentimental value,” says Kathy. “That was easy.”

A history fanatic, Kathy throws annual birthday parties for Winston Churchill, (“We do Churchill trivia, serve all his favorite foods and hand out chocolate cigars as favors.”) loves to visit historical towns and shop at antique stores. But she also scores big at Pottery Barn.

And while Kathy and her husband expect to spend their twilight years in this house, they’ve built it with future generations in mind; a “bunk room” for grandchildren is on the second floor, and their dining room was built to accommodate 50 guests. They hosted their daughter’s wedding rehearsal dinner there last March.

“Our hope is that, just like the Pinehurst cottages of the 1800s, this home will still be serving a family 100 years from now, and it will be admired for the way it integrates into the village,” says Kathy. “As future generations of golfers pass by, I hope they look at our home and say, ‘Gee, that looks like a neat place to be.”



Images by Katherine Miles Jones

{Giveaway} “Reinvent Your Room” Makeover + $250 Ikea gift card

LEAVE A COMMENT 2011 January 20

Whether you are starting a new business, sending your kids off to college or hosting an aging parent, there’s no better time than now to reinvent a room to suit your new FOF life. FOF Founder Geri Brin recently converted her bedroom into a walk-in closet/office. Now it’s your turn….

We’ve partnered with IKEA: The Life Improvement Store and Use What You Have Interiors® to bring you the ultimate FOF room-reinvention giveaway. FOF Lauri Ward, founder of “Use What You Have Interiors” or one of the members of her network of decorators (the Interior Redecorators Network®) will provide a room re-design consultation to the winner.

IKEA Design Spokesperson Janice Simonsen is giving a $250 gift certificate to IKEA to help you fill in any “holes,” further reinvent your space and better your FOF life.

To enter to win the Reinvent Your Room makeover with a Use What You Have® decorator plus a $250 gift card to IKEA: The Life Improvement Store, comment below and answer: What room would you reinvent and how would it improve your life?

(See all our past winners, here.)

Contest closes Thursday, January 27, 2011.

Thank you for entering. This contest is now closed.

[click here to find out more about Lauri Ward of Use What You Have Interiors® and Janice Simonsen of IKEA: The Life Improvement Store]

More about the designer:

In 1981, FOF Lauri Ward decided she wasn’t happy working in “conventional interior designer mode.”

“I didn’t feel comfortable telling my clients they had to buy expensive things to make their homes look beautiful,” says Lauri. She started her company, Use What You Have Interiors® and developed her own system of decorating, to help clients use what they already have in their home to create a fresher, updated and more elegant look for a starting flat fee of just $350 per room.

Over the past three decades, she’s trained hundreds of decorators and has formed a worldwide network called the Interior Redecorators Network®.

“Anybody should be able to have a beautiful home, not just wealthy people,” says Lauri.

The concept is simple but the instant gratification that a one-day room makeover delivers is what Lauri says has garnered major media attention (including Oprah, The Today Show, The New York Times and House Beautiful Magazine) and kept her company thriving for three decades.

“The comment we hear from everyone is ‘Gee, I never would have thought of that. I’ve tried this 10 different ways and none of it worked,” says Lauri. “We show them the 11th way.”

More about IKEA’s FOF design spokesperson, Janice Simonsen:

FOF Janice Simonsen, design spokesperson for IKEA “reinvented” herself many times throughout her career. She started out as a graphic designer, owned a successful interior design business and then transitioned into a position as design spokesperson for IKEA U.S. where she lends her interior design expertise to any topic ranging from small space living to designing a dream kitchen.

IKEA – The Life Improvement Store – understands your life at home and designs products to meet your needs, and make your life better. It’s important to have your home work for your lifestyle – and sometimes that calls for “reinvention” as we go through different stages our lives. Whether you are transforming a bedroom into an office, or making room for a new addition at home, IKEA offers well-designed products that suit every style (and budget!) to help you improve your space, and your everyday life at home.

{Interiors} An “Empty Nest” NYC Apartment Makeover

LEAVE A COMMENT 2011 January 18

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When we put a call out this past August for an FOF in need of a home makeover, we got hundreds of responses. But the message from Sharon Nord was particularly compelling:

“I recently followed my grown children to The Big Apple. I brought two end tables and some pictures with me,” wrote Sharon. “I am completely changing my style, my address and my attitude. Please help me be FOF and not BOF (boring over fifty).”

We were curious as to what precipitated this major move. Turns out, four years ago, Sharon and her husband separated. “It wasn’t in my plans, it was a total life change,” says Sharon.

Sharon moved from an 11,000-square-foot house in Atlanta, Georgia, to an 1,100 square foot apartment in New York City’s Wall Street neighborhood.

“I really loved Atlanta, but I really wanted to be near my family. That’s more important than a big house and lots of furniture,” says Sharon. “It was a huge adjustment especially at my age (us FOFs are not so into adjusting) but I’m really learning to love it.”

This empty-nester’s new nest, a 2-bedroom apartment, was in fact… empty. The rental had beautiful views of the Financial District but looked more like a sterile office space than an inviting FOF home. Interior designer Jennifer Levy, of CAVDesign and The One-Day Design Solution™, helped Sharon warm up her downtown digs in a way that suited Sharon’s personality and new lifestyle.

“Using a palette of citrus, eggplant and mixed materials such as wood and marble, we created a comfortable, homey feel,” says Jennifer.




“My life has changed. I’m single, and I’ve never done something like this by myself or for myself,” says Sharon. “But I love what Jennifer did, all the clean lines and no-fuss decorations. I’ll go to unpack a box of stuff from my old life and then put it away saying, ‘No, no, I don’t need the clutter.’”

Resources

Images by Jennifer Levy

{Business} Meet FOF Lauri Ward, founder of Use What You Have Interiors

LEAVE A COMMENT 2011 January 3

In 1981, FOF Lauri Ward decided she wasn’t happy working in “conventional interior designer mode.”

“I didn’t feel comfortable telling my clients they had to buy expensive things to make their homes look beautiful,” says Lauri. She started her company, Use What You Have® and developed her own system of decorating, to help clients use what they already have in their home to create a fresher, updated and more elegant look for a starting flat fee of just $350 per room.

Over the past three decades, she’s trained hundreds of decorators and has formed a worldwide network called the Interior Redecorators Network®.

“Anybody should be able to have a beautiful home, not just wealthy people,” says Lauri.

The concept is simple but the instant gratification that a one-day room makeover delivers is what Lauri says has garnered major media attention (including Oprah, The Today Show, The New York Times and House Beautiful Magazine) and kept her company thriving for three decades.

“The comment we hear from everyone is ‘Gee, I never would have thought of that. I’ve tried this 10 different ways and none of it worked,” says Lauri. “We show them the 11th way.”

To enter to win the Reinvent Your Room makeover with a Use What You Have® decorator plus a $250 gift card to IKEA: The Life Improvement Store, click here.

Thank you for entering. This contest is now closed.

{Makeovers} Out-of-control closet makeover

LEAVE A COMMENT 2010 December 22

Compulsive hoarding may affect up to 2 million people in the United States according to an article from WebMD.

And while not everyone qualifies as a hoarder, many FOFs admit to having pack-rat tendencies. A few months ago, when FOF ran a closet makeover giveaway, we got hundreds of responses from members who were desperate to clear the clutter.

FOF Myra Garber won the closet edit with style expert and organizer extraordinaire, Ali Barry. Here’s her winning response to our question: “What is one item from your closet you can’t part with?”

“I can’t part with an orange/yellow harlequin sweater that my grandmother made for me when I was 12. When I wear it, I remember her.” Myra’s winning response was one many FOFs can relate to, the difficulty of parting with an item that is attached to significant memories or an important person in their lives.

When Alli visited Myra’s home in Wantagh, N.Y., she still hadn’t parted with the sentimental harlequin sweater she wrote about… and 50 other sweaters that spanned three decades.

“I probably have sweaters I could get rid of,” said Myra. “I recently retired from my full-time job as a teacher, but I still have theme sweaters I wore with the kids. I have ones with animals, figures, a Halloween sweater, and one with bears I wore when we took the students on a nature trip upstate. It’s probably time to get rid of some.”

Alli and Myra conquered her closet with this 5-step plan that Alli says will work for even the most persevering pack-rat.

*To find an organizer in your area, visit the National Association of Professional Organizers’ (NAPO) website.

Take a look at a few of the sweaters Myra and Alli sorted through. Tell us, would you keep, donate or re-purpose each? Then see what Alli and Myra decided.

Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.

What Alli and Myra decided: Re-purpose them. Myra hadn’t worn these sweaters in years, but thought maybe she’d wear them when visiting her grandchildren. “You’re crafty and like to knit,” Alli said to Myra. “Why not cut out the mermaids, starfish buttons and other embellishments and re-purpose them into gloves or a scarf for your grandchildren? This way they won’t take up valuable real estate in your closet if you aren’t wearing them.”
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Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.

Alli and Myra’s decision: Donate it. “The arms were too big, pattern is a bit dated, and the color didn’t do much for her,” says Alli.
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Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.

Ali and Myrna’s decision: Keep it. “It fit her well and the color is neutral. It would go well with jeans, black pants or leggings,” says Alli.
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{Interiors} Catherine Del Spina’s Westchester Home Tour

LEAVE A COMMENT 2010 October 6

At FOF Catherine Del Spina’s Westchester, N.Y., “Apple Hill” residence, the basement is where the magic happens. Furniture, relics and other treasures arrive tattered and worn but leave in pristine condition.

“Here is my latest project,” Catherine says, pointing to an assortment of freshly-painted white chairs and tables.

“I found them at a fire department tag sale. The table looked like crap, the chairs were filthy and broken. One was marked 1909,” she says. “But they were asking $250 for six chairs, a Duncan Phyfe two-leaf dining room table, two wool hooked rugs, two cocktail tables with burl inlay and a large mirror. I said to them ‘It’s not enough, I have to pay you more… so I paid $350.’”

Catherine relishes most what other people have given up on. In her career, her home and her personal life she succeeds because of her ability to see things with different eyes than everyone else. “The Marketing Optometrist,” she calls herself, because during the week she consults with companies like Whole Foods and Walmart helping them obtain “better marketing through sharper vision.”

Then she spends her weekends using that same sharp eye to troll estate sales, world bazaars, markets and antique stores for new treasures to adorn her home.

“How do I find this stuff? I look at it and say ‘Okay, I can fix that!’” Last year, Catherine recovered two “junky, creepy” chairs from a tag sale. “I thought they had good bones,” she says. “I fixed them up and instead of $2,000 per chair I spent a total of $500.”

Even the house itself, built in 1850 and purchased in 1995, is one of Catherine’s rescue missions. “When we bought it, it was completely run-down. There was nothing to it,” she says. Fifteen years and multiple renovations later the house is 2,000 sq. ft. larger than when it was purchased (totaling over 5,000 sq. ft.) and on the market for $2.2 million.

“It’s too big for two people and so much to upkeep,” says Catherine. She’s not sure yet where her next home will be, but says she may start from scratch decorating her new digs.

“I love to do it. But it’s hard… it’s all a part of me,” she says.

Images by Katherine McPherson for FabOverFifty.com