So Many Keys, So Little Doors: Getting Rid of Weight

Everything we carry adds weight to our lives. Today, take a moment to eliminate unused keys from your key chain. You know, those keys that “might” go to something important but you haven’t actually used in years, even decades? If you’re extra motivated, pull the mystery keys out of your junk drawer, too. Give yourself 15 minutes to run around the house and try to figure out what they go to, then pitch them. Afraid some enterprising person might dig through your trash and use the key nefariously? Assuming you just checked to make sure they don’t open the doors to your home, trust me, no thief is likely to figure out what they go to, either. 

Feel bad throwing all those keys away? You have options! There are online organizations that will collect your keys, melt them down for scrap metal, and donate the profits to charity — check out Key For Hope and Keys For Kindness. You might also consider giving or selling them to an etsy artist who uses keys in their artwork, like the amazing work by Michael seen at https://www.etsy.com/shop/Moerkey. Check out his key bowls - they are amazing!  

Ready For Some Deep Cleaning?: Carpet Cleaners to the Rescue

Whether it’s time for spring cleaning or your dog just had an unfortunate accident, having a good carpet cleaner is important to the long-term maintenance and appearance of your home. No matter how good your vacuum may be, sometimes life calls for a deep cleaning. Here in the Seattle area we have three folks we love to recommend. 

Restore One and Nelson Carpet Cleaning are both small, family run businesses that both myself and my contractor-husband refer out all the time. We love having personal relationships with our subs and contractors, because we know they’ll go the extra mile for our customers. 

Mario at Restore One will also restretch your existing carpet if it’s buckling and needs some coaxing to lay flat again. (Note, buckled carpet is not just an eye sore, it’s also a safety hazard, especially in homes with folks who have reduced mobility or failing eyesight. Be sure to get that fixed - it doesn’t require having to get all new carpet!) I have also had him clean upholstered furniture I got off Craigslist - making my $50 steal of a chair worth hundreds once he did his magic.

Another fantastic resource is Alpine Specialty Cleaning. They are larger company but still provided exceptional service. They also offer a broader service list, and they are my go-to provider for drapery cleaning. 

So stop looking at the spills from the holidays, forgive your cat or dog its transgressions, and get your home ready for a wonderful year by having one of these carpet cleaning companies come out to your home. You might just be amazed at how new your home can feel!

Want To Use A Bright Paint Color On Your Wall? Learn From This Home Depot Ad

Flipping through decor magazines is a great way to find inspiration for your next room makeover, and the ads can be as illuminating as the articles. 

This Home Depot ad shows a great example of a successful way to use a bright color on your wall (here, a clear Caribbean-style teal) without having an over-powering room. 

The key? Nearly every other element in the room is neutral. Natural woven blinds, pale grey couch, Sisal rug, white trim, brown and gold tables… Aside from the couch pillows that tie directly to the wall color, even the accessories are gentler, more muted versions of the bright teal wall color. 

Understanding this balance is useful in two ways: If you are burdened with a bunch of beige furniture that you didn’t really want, using a vivid wall color is a great way to create a lively room without investing in new furniture. Or if you are starting from scratch in a room, you know that you can choose basic, neutral furniture and pair it with a personality-filled wall color that you can easily change down the road with the times, or your mood.

Have fun decorating, and here’s to being happy at home!

What To Learn From High End Design: It’s Okay To Swag Your Chandelier

If you live in a home where the right spot for your dining table is unfortunately not centered underneath the location for your ceiling fixture, you don’t necessarily have to pay for an electrician, drywaller,  and painter to come move it. As seen in the Dec/Jan issue of Gray Magazine, even in high-end design it’s okay to choose a light fixture with a cord or chain and swag it to meet your needs. 

A lot of my clients really worry that it will look cheap, messy, or half-done, but I have found that once the room is complete, there is enough to enjoy in the room that that extra bit of cord or chain is the last place your eye will look. 

The only limitation is that you’ll need to choose a fixture that hangs from a cord or chain, not fixed stems, and then you’ll have to make sure you anchor the hook or other swag system well into your ceiling to carry the weight of the fixture. Other than that, you have a faster, less-expensive solution that will leave you flexibility in the future if you decide to change up the room again, or stage it in a different way to sell.

Have fun choosing your new fixture, and here’s to being happy at home!

Give The Gift Of Getting Things Done!

This December, Blue City Monthly will be publishing a handy and timely article for this festive gift-giving season written by yours truly. We love getting to write about things we care about, and we love thoughtful gift-giving.

For those of you who are chomping at the bit to check a few gifts off your shopping list NOW, we decided to give you sneak peak - a teaser, if you will - of what you'll be able to find in Blue City Monthly's December issue. 

If you're ready to give thoughtful gifts that are personalized, clutter-free and can even reduce stress for the recipient, here are a few ideas to get your gift-giving juices flowing. Renters and homeowners alike have hefty to-do lists for their home. Why not choose holiday gifts that will help make that list easier to conquer for your loved ones? 

Idea #1: Gift Certificates to Home Improvement Stores

Know someone planning to retile their bathroom? Put a 10lb bag of grout in a gift bag (along with a return receipt) with a gift certificate to your local big box store to help fund the DIY project. The big bag of heavy grout will make them wonder until they open the gift, and the money will be well spent.

Idea #2: Window Cleaning

This is a favorite gift given by real estate agents to new homebuyers, and often that first year of homeownership was the last time the windows were professionally cleaned. A gift like professional window cleaning is exactly the kind of thing people won’t get themselves which makes it a luxury. Find a picture frame that looks like a window, tuck the gift certificate inside the frame for a clever presentation.

Bonus Idea #3: Chopped Wood
This one isn't even in the upcoming article, but came up while we were prepping this blog for you. Our fabulous intern mentioned the idea of having a cord of chopped wood delivered to your family members who might be a bit tired of prepping their own winter fire supplies - what an unexpected and lovely idea this might be for your snow-bound family! Want to see an amazingly efficient way to chop wood? Check out this video!

Any of these gifts can be services you offer yourself if you are handy and have the time. That makes the gift that much more personal and saves money, too. So, whether you find great professionals for these or offer yourself as the “honey-doer” for the day, think outside the gift of stuff this year, and help create happier, less stressful lives for those you love this holiday season.

For more gift ideas, check out Blue City Monthly or like them on Facebook.  

Happy gift-giving!

Claim Your Spot In The Sun: How Your Home Can Help You

A recent Tumblr image of "men taking up too much space on a train" caught my eye...  two men on a subway train, legs splayed out, penning in a tightly compressed, contained woman. I think it struck me as extra funny because I've had that "overflowing" experience with my husband on plane trips, his body spilling freely past his seat, me politely contained in my spot. I (affectionately) call him "Mr. Elbows". But aside from making me identify a cultural curiosity within my own marriage, that image also got me thinking about myself as a woman and how I make myself be seen and heard in the world.

Then, last week, enjoying my morning walk on a local trail, I noticed a similar male vs female phenomena as I passed other walkers on the path. As men approached other walkers they stayed center to the trail, while nearly every woman moved aside. The men greeted each passerby with confident "good mornings," while women spoke it more gently, often in response to someone else saying it first, and also frequently with a rather apologetic smile. I became hyper-aware of my own greetings. Did I greet first? Second? Did I use a quiet, timid voice or a confident, assertive voice? Did I move aside, or did we equally share the trail? 

[Photo from Tumblr]

Of course that made me wonder, as an interior designer, how can my work help women (or introverted men) be seen and heard?

For me, my home is an integral part to how I begin my day. When I wake up in my home, I smile as I look around my bedroom. It is tidy, sensual, and looks onto my beautiful woodsy yard. From the moment I wake, I feel supported, present, affirmed, clear about who I am. 

By feeling supported at home, I leave the house with my head higher, shoulders back, and then speak to strangers, colleagues and clients with more confidence. My clothes and colors, the cleanliness of my car, my smile, they all remind me that I'm Rebecca West and I have a place in this world. I have every right to every inch of my plane seat, to an equal share of the trail. I have a right to be seen and heard.

On the other hand, if you wake up to a home that looks like it belongs to someone else, or to a room that is stuck in a moment in your history that is past or hurtful, or to a place that is falling apart and speaks of failure and not success, you will, naturally, start your day off in a very different place and have to work harder to hold those shoulders back and demand your place in the sunshine. That's not to say it can't be done - people do it every day - but why not start your day off in a place of support and love?

In the end, I don't want anyone, male or female, to diminish their power. There is room enough for all of us to be confident, and each of us have the responsibility to speak up and take up a good chunk of space in this world. I mean, if you don't take the space, someone else probably will. Why not make the moment yours? And in a world where every magazine cover would have you believe you're not tall enough, sexy enough, or smart enough, you have to create spaces that smile back at you, that say YOU ARE ENOUGH! - spaces that encourage you to stake a claim in your life. Whether that starts at home, in your closet, or in your cubicle, it's time to be seen and heard. No apologies. 

I may not be the next "Ms. Elbows," but plan to share the road (or trail) with me!

Can Color Increase Satisfaction in the Bedroom?

Since we are embarking on our honeymoon as this is published I have travel on the brain, so I thought I’d share a little bit about what I look for when I am booking a hotel, and how it relates to how I think about bedroom design. 

My most favorite hotel that I have ever stayed in is the Opus Hotel in Vancouver, BC. It is gorgeous! The rooms, instead of being boring hotel beige, are painted colors like luscious reds, electric ocean blues, and deep, sexy charcoal grays. I walk into those rooms and automatically feel sexy - waaaay sexier - than I do in a boring beige room. Seriously, check out their rooms - yum!

What is amazing to me is that more hotels don’t choose to use vibrant color on their walls - it’s just paint, and nearly everything else in the Opus rooms are more standard hotel choices. 

What’s even more amazing to me is that so few people take the time to make their own master bedrooms sensual retreats. Even folks who spend time and money creating welcoming living rooms, inviting guest rooms, and adorable kids' rooms often neglect their own bedrooms.

That is so silly because of all the places in our home, the bedroom more that any other rooms sets the tone for our days. We wake up every day in our bedroom, finish every day there, too - it is an integral part of our daily experience of life. In that space we love our partners, wrestle with our kids, cuddle with the dog… why not make it an embracing, comforting, sensual space instead of a plain white box filled with junk mail, laundry, and unread magazines?

So join me in the spirit of romance. I’ve chosen all my hotels in Italy for our honeymoon with excitement and romance in mind, why not make sure it’s at home in our everyday spaces, too?

Here’s to a romantic season of love, no matter what the calendar says!