Just~One~Donna

Are you contemplating painting a room or two in your home?  Recently, I went through the process of selecting paint for an entire house.  It felt like an overwhelming decision at first, so I thought I'd share some of my experience to help you when faced with making paint decisions. How to Select Paint Colors for Your Home The Beach-My Color Inspiration Step One:  Look to Your Favorite Things for Inspiration One of the first steps in the paint selection process is to decide on the color pallet you will be working with.  If you have existing furniture that you will be integrating into the room you'll want to use colors from the furniture to guide your selection.  In my case, I was starting with empty rooms, so I looked to some of my favorite things for inspiration. Step Two:  Find Inspiration Rooms The next step for me was looking for other rooms that were decorated using the same colors.  One of the first places I look for decorating inspiration these days is ww

Have you selected paint to redecorate a room in your house lately?  My goodness, it sure can be overwhelming!  Just take a look in the paint section of your local paint store.  The array of colors to choose from seems endless.  How do you start?  It is even harder when you are thinking about painting multiple rooms at one time.  Coordinating a number of room colors just multiplies the complexity.   Where to Find Paint Color Inspiration Recently, I was faced with the challenge of selecting a color palette for our new vacation home.  The house was painted throughout in a peach tone, which just didn't float my boat. Peach Walls Throughout Start with things you love.  As you may know, I'm a beach lover and with this home being located near the beach I decided first to look to the beach for inspiration. My Favorite Beach Pull inspiration from the colors that evoke the feelings you want in your home.  The stone colored tones in the sand and the complex array of blue

For the past two months I've been immersed in a decorating dilemma.  After all the excitement of finding and buying our vacation home, the next step was to begin the decorating.  Some of you might find this to be a fun, creative challenge, but for me decorating is more often an overwhelming challenge.  That's especially true when the space I am decorating is new to me. Seven Steps to Guide Home Decorating Living Room-Before Decorating is easier for me when I know the space.  I like to have a sense of how the rooms will be used.  Where will we hang out most?  How will the light from outside fill the space?  Which cabinets will house the plates?  Which drawers are best for the utensils?  What direction should the beds face? How will the storage spaces the organized?  Can I imagine family and friends filling the rooms with conversation and laughter? Dining Room-Before It may seem strange, but one of the things I like to do when faced with decorating a new space is

A few weekends ago, four friends from my college days and I got together for a couple of days of great talk, good food, and fun times.  We spent one of our amazing days together in New York City seeing some of the sites.  We got to New York City by boat, first on a NY Waterway ferry from Weehawken , New Jersey and then a Hop on-Hop Off water taxi. Touring New York City by Water Taxi New York City from the Hudson River If you are looking for a stress-free way to spend a day in New York City, the water taxi is the way to travel. For just $26.00 (in 2012) per person, we were able to stop at multiple destinations.  The day we visited New York City was hot, about 90 degrees, and the water taxi was comfortable and dependable.  You can choose to ride the water taxi either inside, or outside.  Outside was lovely on a hot, summer day. A View from the Water Taxi We visited the beautiful 9-11 Memorial. The 9-11 Memorial If you plan to visit the Memorial you'll want to re

I'm in overdrive these days, working to make our vacation getaway feel like a home away from home in just a few, short weeks.   With a number of pricey changes underway in this new-to-us home, prioritizing expenditures is important.  So, instead of replacing the existing gold toned bathroom light fixtures, I decided to try to make them tolerable for a period of time. A Budget Friendly Way to Update Light Fixtures Using Metallic Paint Dated Light Fixtures I remembered the transformation a metallic glaze made to some old, brass urns I had purchased years ago,  Perhaps the same paint would transform the light fixture for me?  Well, it was worth a try.  The existing light fixtures were a ghastly brassy-gold color that needed to be toned down a bit. The light fixture makeover was an easy, four step process: Step One :  Remove the fixtures from the wall. Step Two:  Clean the Fixtures. Step Three:  Apply the metallic paint and let it dry.  I used a Coffee Glaze,