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Greetings!
This months's issue is devoted to Holiday
Preparations-Redesigning for holiday
gatherings and visitors, planning and
outfitting a guest room or area. Our
talented interior redesigners have come up
with some helpful tips that are sure to make
your holiday season joyous!
Have Fun,
Lori
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A Perfect Holiday Decoration |
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Describe the perfect holiday
decoration-one that is personal,
timeless, goes with any decor, is
adaptable to any room or any space,
can be a backdrop or a feature,
takes up almost no room and is easy
to store if needed. What would it
be?
It would be Wonderful Graffiti,
hundreds of quotations, words and
phrases that, when applied to a
wall, create unique focal points in
a room, as illustrated in the photo
above. The ultra thin pieces of
vinyl have a matte finish that gives
the impression of hand lettering.
Seven collections include Holidays,
Weddings, and classics for all areas
of the home-or office. Select from
the extensive choices available in
26 colors or the company will create
a custom design for you.
Mary McPhail, creator and
owner of Wonderful Graffiti
has a clever tip for using her
innovative products-place them where
a mirror or artwork will cover them
the rest of the year. Now that's
an Interior Redesign!
And what to do about the hanger
when the mirror or artwork is
removed? How about a sprig of
mistletoe and holly? Visit
Wonderful Graffiti on the web
for more ideas and inspiration.
~ Pam Faulkner
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A Quote for November |
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Forever on Thanksgiving Day, the
heart will find the pathway home.
~Wilbur D. Nesbit
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Book Review: Elegant Napkins |
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5 - minute ideas to transform
your table
To make your Holiday table look
polished pick up this handy 63 page
little book from Barnes and Noble by
Leebena Ishaque.
In it are 25 simple napkin
folding ideas for traditional to
contemporary tables as well as
fabric choices, colors, adding
decorations and some napkin FYI.
~Marleen Prater
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Before and After |
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This room belongs to a busy
family of five, whose priority is
spending quality time together. The
living room was packed with
furniture, as well as the dining
room, creating an uncomfortable
atmosphere.
The challenge was working around
the huge coffee table which is the
center of all activities. We solved
the problem by opening up the room,
creating a more calming, relaxed
environment to enjoy family time
together.
-- Barbi Ford
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Sell your home while you decorate
for the holidays! |
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The way we decorate for the
holidays is a perfect example of how
we should approch staging our homes
for sale. The holidays bring the
feelings of warmth and cozyness and
welcomes family and friends. The
very same feelings we want to evoke
when we are trying to sell our
homes.
Just by hanging a simple wreath
on a fence or your front door
welcomes family as well as potential
buyers. Add a few baskets of mums
for color that is lacking this time
of year. And finally a new doormat
with fall colors finishes off the
look.
Your dining room and kitchen are
the perfect places to bring in a
feeling of home during the holiday
season. Remember the days when you
were a kid going to grandma's house
for Thanksgiving; the smells, the
delicious home cooked meals, the
warm quilts you snuggled up in after
dinner. Use these memories to help
sell your home. Bring back those
feelings for your potential buyer by
setting the table for an elegant
dinner, simmer some cinnimon on the
stove or bake some pies or cookies
to set out just before open house,
bring in a touch of outdoors with
flowers, twigs and berries.
The bedroom can also be a place
to stage for that "comming home for
the holidays" feeling. Think of a
bed and breakfast in the country and
mimic that look. Make the room
function well with a very comfy bed
and an antique dresser for storage.
Keep it simple but add touches of
luxury with lots of throw pillows,
and set out thick, thirsty towels on
the dresser. An old storage truck
set on a luggage rack as a bedside
table with a lamp and an open book
just calls you in.
Every room can be staged for the
holidays and to sell your home. Just
remember these simple tips:
- Keep it simple, take out
what your not using.
- Make it function, rethink
your furniture arrangement.
- Make it welcoming, add
simple touches of warmth.
- Bring in color, use flowers,
wreaths, berries, etc.
- Use all five senses: sight,
sound, smell, touch, and taste.
Have a very welcoming
Thanksgiving holiday. And best of
luck selling your home.
Lori Brasseur
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Fall Decorating and Entertaining
Ideas |
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The Fall is such a wonderful time
of year to decorate our homes and
celebrate this colorful season.
There are several quick and easy
decorating ideas that can be done to
bring this season alive in your
home.
Take a walk in your neighborhood
and collect some of your beautiful
fall leaves that have fallen to the
ground and use on some on your
tables to bring some wonderful
colors into your home.
Buy some Granny Smith green
apples and use them to bring the
wonderful color of chartreuse into
your homes. You can display them a
couple of different ways. They can
be displayed in some beautiful
simple hurricane tall vases. Or put
them in a large glass salad bowl.
Put a soda can in the middle or
candle holder to elevate a matching
green candle that can go in the
middle of the bowl and hide the
apples. Another natural decorating
idea is to gather or buy some
pinecones and glue on some ribbon or
cord that matches your decor and use
for either a napkin rings on your
table or attach to the back of your
chairs for a festive touch to your
holiday table.
Another idea is get a rectangular
serving colored dish. Put a row of
yellow squash in a row in the middle
of your dish. Then buy some silk
burgundy mums and cut the tops and
surround the squash with this
beautiful contrasting color.
There are some beautiful twigs
and branches that you can cut and
bring indoors and use throughout
your home. If you do not have any
branches then buy some beautiful
single branches in the craft store
and use them with some pebbles or
rocks in a clear vase. This is a
striking way to bring the outdoors
in with simplicity.
If you do not have any natural
colored items you can always go to
the craft store and do any of these
ideas or adapt to fit your colors
and style in similar store bought
items. Do not let this season
pass you buy with some very easy and
simple ways of enjoying this season!
~ Irene Woodworth, One Day
Redesigns, Inc.
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LB DESIGNS IS GROWING AND WE NEED
YOUR HELP! |
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I have some really cool ideas for
opening a commercial space for all
of our do-it-yourselfers out there
and I need to know just what kinds
of services and products you would
be interested in.
Please, please, please, click on
the link below to go to a marketing
questionaire I have on my web site.
I want this place to be everything
you want, and need, but in order to
do that I need your imput.
Everything is completely
confidential so please fill out
everything you feel comfortable with
and leave blank anything you wish.
Your comments are greatly
appreciated so feel free to add your
own words also.
Thank you so much for your time
and interest. I will keep you posted
on the progress.
I can't wait to tell you whats
happening!!! :)
Lori ~ LB Designs
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Calendar Update~ LB Designs writes
articles for "The Town Common"
newspaper |
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For those of you who are
not familiar with "The
Town Common" weekly
community newspaper that
covers the Triton
Regional district, you
must pick one up.
It covers all of the fun
community news that we never
really get to read about. It
has a calendar of events,
covers school news, local
sports, and has various
articles from local
professionals on health,
business and finance,
computers, and of course
your local decorating
professional, me!
Please grab one at many
of our local restaurants and
stores now or get a
subscription at their web
site . http://www.thetowncommon.com/
To go to The Town Common
click here |
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A Few Tips to Make Your Holiday
Season More Relaxing
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Now is the time to start planning
and organizing for the holidays.
Here are just a few tips to help
make the holidays a bit less
stressful and a lot more enjoyable.
One of the most important things to remember is you can’t do
everything. If you are hosting
holiday dinners or parties at your
home ask for others to bring a side
dish or dessert. Your guests will
feel good about helping out, you
will have less to plan, prepare and
clean up.
Shift your holiday meal to
earlier or later in the day to
be able to volunteer at a shelter
for the hungry. This will help the
whole family put things in
perspective.
Make a list of everyone you will
buy gifts for and any ideas you
have for them. Get your shopping
done now. Go to the stores at off
times; during the week when the
stores first open or late at night
for the ones that are open 24 hours.
And there is always the internet.
Shop first for presents that need
to be sent out of town. Mail
them early to avoid having to pay
higher postage to make sure they
arrive on time.
It may be too early to mail
Christmas cards but it isn’t too
early to write in them and address
them. If holiday stamps aren’t
available yet don’t let that stop
you. You can buy the stamps in a
couple of weeks.
Set up a gift wrapping area.
This might mean setting up a card
table in a bedroom. Make sure you
keep your paper, tags, and bows
organized. There are many wrapping
paper storage tubs available at
discount stores. Buy one or two and
keep everything together, including
tape, scissors, and pen. Play music
while wrapping to get you through
this chore and have the kids help.
Remember to mark off each person so
you don’t think you still have to
buy for them.
Buy food supplies now for baking
and entertaining. Many items
used in holiday baking are non
perishable. Stock up now. It will
reduce the stress on your pocketbook
as well as your time by spreading it
out over a few weeks. Before you go
to the store make a list of what you
want to make, then figure out what
you need to buy.
When everything is decorated the
way you want it take pictures.
Put these in the plastic tub with
the decorations when you put them
away. Next year you can decorate in
half the time.
Keep a calendar for the whole
family for November and
December. Write down the routine
events and the seasonal ones as you
are invited. Keep this current and
no overbooking should happen.
Decorate a little at a time.
Have the decorations out of the
attic and put them up over a couple
of weeks. It doesn’t have to be done
in a day or a weekend. Assign
certain areas or tasks to each
child. Do the same when taking them
down.
Family time is a big part of the
holidays. Since you have your
cards and shopping done early you
now have time to enjoy other things.
Take an evening or Saturday to make
cookies or a pie with your children.
It might be messy but those are
memories that can be relived every
year.
When the holidays are over
pack up your decorations the right
way. Use colored plastic tubs for
each holiday: orange for fall –
Halloween, Thanksgiving; green for
Christmas; red for Valentine’s Day;
blue for patriotic holidays; etc.
This will make it easy when you are
looking for them in the attic next
time. Wrap fragile items in bubble
wrap. Label boxes clearly. Remember
to keep candles out of hot attics.
Shop after-holiday-sales. You
can save money but only buy items
you will use. Store these with other
holiday items.
Shop for gifts all year. If
you see items that are just what
someone on your list would like buy
it. Keep all gifts together in a
closet or trunk. Keep a list with
you of things you have purchased and
a list of things people would like.
Following these few tips should
help make this holiday season and
future holiday seasons more
enjoyable.
Nancy Faust
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