Just like mini-skirts and platform shoes of the 1960s, wallpaper has made a comeback. Retro and geometric styles are once again trendy and there are lots of patterns and colors to choose from.

During the first half of the 20th century, simple floral and heavy flock papers were found in many homes. These styles remained in favor until boldly-colored, shiny Mylar wallpapers, reflecting disco influence, and swirly Art Nouveau patterns popularized by the hippie movement, became de rigueur in modish bathrooms and kitchens across the U.S. during the 1960s and 70s.

In the 1980s, when neutral palettes were embraced, subtle, textured papers such as grass cloth and moiré replaced wallpapers with strong colors and patterns. During the 1990s, as interiors continued to trend towards minimalism and wallpaper lost favor, paint companies, sensing a sea change in the market, began to, instead, offer hundreds of new, more sophisticated colors and even textured paint options. Textile mills, interior designers, and the public embraced sophisticated, tranquil, grayed-down paint shades as the new millennium approached and those easy-to-live-with hues are still popular today.

If you’re interested in using wallpaper in your home, start with a very small project such as a powder room or even an accent wall or door, before you commit to a larger area (check out this cool door wallpaper). Unlike paint, wallpaper requires more time for installation and removal, as well as greater expense.

Here are a few sites that carry a wide assortment of wallpaper:

http://www.grahambrown.com/us/color-white-wallpaper

http://www.designpublic.com/shop/wall-art/wallpaper

http://www.designyourwall.com/store/Modern-wallpaper-c-103.html

Last week I worked with a lovely woman who’d first called for help with her New York City apartment in the early 1980s when she was a new mother and shortly after I opened Use What You Have. After that, she moved to a house in Westchester County where she and her husband raised their two children. Then, two weeks ago the family moved back to the city to a glass-walled, high-rise condominium. We have worked together seven times in all, redecorating her various homes over nearly three decades, and now we have come full circle. Pretty cool.

The next day I worked with an interesting couple who have lived in a pre-war building on Madison Avenue for a number of years. They weren’t sure whether or not they’d be moving to California, until recently when they found they would be staying on the East Coast. They called me in: they were finally ready to commit and redecorate. The woman pole dances. She has her practice pole set up smack in the middle of her kitchen where she can swing around and around without banging into the fridge, counters, table or chairs. The ceilings are quite high so I suggested they hang the chandelier there too (which didn’t look good in the living room) since it would be out of the way and kind of cool with the pole, if you know what I mean.

The following day, a stylish new client greeted me by asking about my daughter’s wedding. When she saw the surprised look on my face, she revealed that she knew about the event from reading this blog and she’d also read all of my books, God bless her. During the course of her consultation – we worked on her living room, dining room, foyer, bedroom and kitchen – we talked about lots of other things besides decorating, too. For example, at one point, she opened her freezer to reveal her secret method for getting beautifully-ironed linens: she rolls up each piece while it’s still damp after laundering and she freezes it until she’s ready to iron. There they were: rows of rolled, frozen linens. This was, literally, beyond cool.

So, I ask you: Aren’t my clients cool?

Imagine walking into a sunny, spacious well-designed residence that has a beautiful view: stylish, comfortable furnishings and fabulous art filling every room. Might this be a place you’d be happy to call home? Probably so, with one caveat: If it smelled good, too. With all of those wonderful features, you probably would not want to live there or anywhere if it smelled badly.

There’s more to creating an inviting home than simply focusing on the things you can see. Every one of your senses needs to be satisfied, especially your strongest faculty: your sense of smell.

Yes, you want textiles and flooring to feel good when you sit or walk on them; you want your rooms to be as quiet and as free from street noise as possible. And, although you want your spaces to smell fresh and clean, sometimes you may not give enough thought to how invisible odors could offend others who are not accustomed to your home’s scent.

Personally, I prefer to use natural things like dry lavender, fresh lemon, pine tree oil – which smells like Christmas trees! – and fragrant flowers instead of chemical sprays to keep my rooms smelling their best. I also try to keep my windows open to fresh breezes as much as possible, all year long. (For a home that is subject to pet odors, strong cooking fumes, messy teenagers, or if someone is unwell, this is especially important. And let’s not even think about having to deal with the smell of cigarettes, mildew or mold…) Baking bread and burning cinnamon sticks are lovely options for making your place smell yummy, too. And, needless to say, giving your house or apartment good weekly cleanings with natural products and vacuuming under everything can work wonders in improving the way it smells also.

Several companies that offer home fragrances are: BathandBodyWorks.com, myClaireBurke.com, Freshbet.com, sensia.com, crabtree-evelyn.com and usa.loccitane.com.

What do you do to make your home smell fresh and clean?

Since I will likely have a number of memorable photographs from my daughter and son-in-law’s recent wedding, a friend just told me about a company that specializes in converting an image into beautiful stretched canvas artwork. The firm, ChicCanvas.com, will even create multiple panels from one photo, large enough to serve as a nice big focal point behind a sofa in a family room, in an entrance foyer or in any space that does not already have a dramatic architectural element, such as a fireplace, or a naturally attractive view. Therefore, I thought you might be interested in learning about them also (I have no ties to the company).

Located in California, the company website states that it takes approximately a week for them to ship the finished canvas, once they receive a JPEG. They will also scan photos, if necessary, and personalize them with dates, among other options.

Overall, it seems like a great idea – and an especially sweet gift – if you have a treasured photo you’d like to turn into a more prominent piece of art. As for me, I simply cannot wait for the wedding photographer to present us with those pictures!

Question: What’s better than a client who loves to use what she has and even enjoys furnishing her rooms with recycled furniture found on Freecycle and Craig’s List? Answer: A client who is also eco-conscious and farms her own produce in her New York City apartment. Yes, in her apartment!

The other day I met such a woman. Her name is Beverly Shutes and her approach to making her home her nest was a revelation. In front of each of her windows over-looking the East River sat long farmhouse tables completely covered with rows of pots of flowering plants, herbs, miniature fruit trees and vegetables. There were rows of trees lining the floor, too. Every room was a veritable garden.

Beverly is discriminating and she has patience. She is willing to wait for fine cherry furniture and unusual plants to find their way to her, no run-of-the-mill cutesy stuff here. Somehow, she gets what she wishes for. People sometimes tell her, “You can’t grow such-and-such in an apartment!” She politely nods, and then proceeds to show them she certainly can.

The minute I walked into her living room and saw her L shaped conversation area with a pair of comfortable club chairs flanking her sofa and surrounding a coffee table, and also noted that all of her plants were in uniform terracotta pots and saucers, it was obvious she’d read Use What You Have Decorating. She also started collecting old fruit crates years ago, too, before Pottery Barn deemed them stylish.

During her decorating consultation, Beverly shared interesting tidbits about her horticultural and furniture finds (a $2000 chair in perfect condition for $30!) and she also spoiled me with a scrumptious organic lunch topped off with homemade blueberry muffins, baked with almond flour rather than wheat. Yum.

We spent the afternoon creating a detailed plan for redecorating her living room, dining room and master bedroom so she now knows exactly what to do and what to look for going forward, to create her dream home. And, like her prodigious indoor garden, no doubt Beverly will eventually have it all.

Do you, like Beverly, love to find recycled treasures or have a special indoor garden?

“I love America, and I love American women. But there is one thing that deeply shocks me – American closets. I cannot believe one can dress well when you have so much.” - Iconic French Designer, Andree Putnam

This summer quite a few of my friends and relatives have been working on clearing the clutter in their closets, drawers, work areas and anywhere else they have too much stuff taking up too much space.
One friend just had her floors grouted and when she had to move her furnishings out of the living room, dining room and kitchen to get the job done, she took the opportunity to go through her tchotchkes and hone them down before putting everything back in place. She’s very proud of herself.
Another friend is working on cleaning out her overstuffed garage in order to make room for at least one of her cars. Until a couple of weeks ago the space looked like a packed consignment store overflowing with family keepsakes as well as treasured bits and pieces she’d collected over the years when traveling and on local junking expeditions. She’s announced that in a few weeks she’ll be ready to drive her car inside for the first time so we’re going to break out the champagne to celebrate the occasion.
My cousin, who downsized a few years ago and is living in half the space she once had, has a terrific ongoing strategy: Every weekend she cleans out one drawer, one cabinet, or one closet – depending on how much time she has available. By routinely putting in a few minutes or an hour and continually rotating her efforts throughout her home, each area has remained clutter-free and organized (she marks her calendar in advance to ensure she does it, unfailingly). Pretty impressive.
If you, too, are interested in doing a little or a lot to clear out and clean up your home this summer, you’re in good shape: it’s only July 15 and there are seven weeks left until Labor Day – plenty of time to lighten your load, improve Feng Shui, and make your place look and feel a lot more open and airy before cooler weather arrives.
To start with, if you need more hanging space, here is the Dublet Adjustable Closet Rod Expander by Umbra which is on sale right now at The Container Store for $12.99 (reg. $19.99).

So, are you in? Are you ready to block a little time here and there in order to clean out your over-stuffed drawers and shelves and make yourself feel better? What would you like to de-clutter? Share, and I’ll help you get through it. Pinky swear.

Last week I attended a luncheon at my friend Isabel’s house where I met a group of her friends including a former model named Samantha. As we all sat around eating, the discussion turned to the benefits of taking something old and giving it a new life, rather than adding to the landfill. My ears perked up.

Samantha brought out a shopping bag and said, “Look at this!” As we all watched, she held up a pair of baggy black cotton harem pants in a Batik print with a matching shawl. She’d had the set for years but hadn’t worn either piece in a long time. Then, she flipped the baggy slacks upside down and showed us where she had opened the center seam running along the crotch. We were fascinated.

Moments later, she pulled the pants over her head using the opening she’d made, put her arms through each “leg,” tightened the drawstring around her waist and wrists, and, voila, she’d created a great looking blouson top! And, with the shawl wrapped sarong-style around her hips, she had a very stylish new outfit. To say we were all impressed by her savvy recycling project is an understatement.

So, I have two questions: Are you, like me, going to look through your closet and hope you’ve, somehow, saved a pair of harem pants? And, have you had any clever recycling ideas of your own or know of someone who has? Do share.

There’s a Restoration Hardware ad in magazines and online now that shows a tranquil-looking monochromatic reading room with two domed chairs, a dramatic mirror and earthy accessories. In the back, in the left and right corners are bookcases filled from top to bottom with volumes covered in oatmeal-colored paper.

I love the room (and Restoration Hardware) but there’s something about the last detail – the books covered in paper – that ruins my reverie about what it would be like to sit and read in that space, if I weren’t using a Kindle. No matter how many times I’ve seen the same technique employed, and no matter how attractive it looks, I can’t seem to embrace it.

Call me silly, but I like my rooms to look good and function well. If I had to pull the books off those shelves and open each one to the title page in order to find a particular volume, it would drive me bonkers.

Yes, the room is beautiful and serene, and would seem much less so with lots of colorful book jackets, yet this approach doesn’t seem to translate into real world living. Shouldn’t well-designed rooms be aesthetically pleasing and functional? What do you think?