Treasure Hill Cottage

With autumn coming and the temperature dropping, the opportunities to plant and cultivate a garden are dwindling. In the fall and winter it can be a challenge for gardeners to find ways to practice their hobby. Keeping small potted plants or an herb garden inside are great ways to continue growing foliage even when it is freezing outside. There are also ways to keep your outside garden aesthetically pleasing all year round.

Make sure that your garden is stocked with a good mix of perennial plants that keep their color all year, like shrubs and evergreens. Adding a variety of garden statues and decorations is essential to ensuring your garden has a personal touch all year. Birdhouses and feeders, sundials and ornate fencing are easy ways to add personality to your garden that will endure through every season.

Many people have impressive collections of crystal, China and other knickknacks, but what good are they if no one can see them? Having a beautiful piece of display furniture is almost as important as the items you put in it. The best way to ensure your keepsakes are protected, while still being visible, is in a sturdy piece of furniture with glass doors. There are many viable options for display, including a classic China cabinet and all glass display cases, but most of these pieces of furniture are bulky and take up most of the space in a room.

If size is a concern, look for furniture that doesn’t have to be the focal point of the room, such as a corner curio cabinet or mounted shelving. These small pieces of furniture are a classy way to flaunt your possessions while allowing space for a dining room table or other piece of larger furniture. Not only will this take up less space, but it is also a cheaper alternative to expensive, traditional display cases, giving you more money to spend on the treasure to put inside. 

Living out in the countryside brings you to a harmonious peace with nature. A city girl most of my life, my husband and I retired to the outskirts of Knoxville, Tennessee. We wanted to escape the traffic and the pollution that accompanies it, the racing noises and the, as we call it, concrete jungle. Far away from everything we’d ever known, we made a tiny, yet cozy, home for ourselves.

My favorite aspect of our roost is the elongated, wraparound porch that stretches from our red front door to the sunroom located around back. At dusk we rest in our patio furniture out back and sip red wine as we discuss our post-retirement goals in life. And as we relax I can hear the gentle tweets of local birds as they snack on their dinner from our Victorian birdhouse. Life is good!

People who decorate their homes in ultra modern designs make me cringe. There’s nothing appealing about primary-colored tones used to accent large geometric shapes – and to call any of this art is just wrong. Not to mention that the furniture and fixtures that accompany this genre are flat out repulsive. There’s nothing warm or inviting about short-legged, wide-spread coffee tables or a want-to-be chandelier composed of a single stainless-steel beam and a light bulb.

The way a living space is decorated says a lot about the person who dwells there. And the last thing I want my home to say is frigid, dull and tasteless. I prefer to embrace a variety of styles and cultures in my home décor. One of my favorites is British Colonial décor because it’s easy to find and offers a sophisticated, yet rustic, appearance. Every room in my home is equally intriguing as it is inviting, and that’s the way I like it!

If you’re ready to redecorate your home or simply start decorating a new one, you’re probably trying to decide which style to pursue. There are so many styles to choose from: contemporary, rustic, countryside, shabby chic, colonial – how can anyone decide? If you’re a hopeless romantic and you want your home to reflect that same sense of romance, there’s no better style to pursue than old French decor. You can model your home after a French castle or winery, adding exquisite details to elevate the look of the decor.

Look for elegant grapevine details and wrought iron pieces for your French home decor. Soft, curved lines rather than harsh corners are essential for achieving a romantic look and feel for your home. If you’re not looking to give your home decor a complete overhaul – let’s say you want to keep your current furniture, for example – but still want to make it look more romantic, you can add subtle accessories to achieve a French look. Detailed wall sconces, candlestick holders, wine racks, picture frames and mirrors can all help you make your home look more elegant on a smaller budget.

If you’re a wine enthusiast and like to collect any interesting wines that you come across, you need a place to store all those bottles. Why hide them away in a dark cabinet? Put them on display and make them a chic part of your home decor. You can do this with an metal and wood wine rack. Place it in your kitchen or dining room for easy access during dinner or parties.

For extra function and fashion, look for a wine rack that features a hanging wine glass rack. You can use it to hang several wine glasses upside down so the insides don’t get dusty when they’re not in use. Plus, it’s a great way to display your collection of glasses that you picked up at various wineries and tastings. Never scramble to find your favorite Shiraz or Cabernet Sauvignon again! Organize and display all your wines and glasses with a chic, functional wine rack.

There are a number of simple steps that any homeowner can take to update their bathroom. Not all bathrooms require new cabinets, a Jacuzzi tub, and a retiled floor to be appealing (though these additions help!). The simple steps that homeowners can take to improve the appeal of their bathroom include painting the walls and cabinets, updating the knobs and pulls for drawers or cabinets, purchasing new bath towel hangers, and getting a new mirror.

Paint is one of the cheapest and most efficient ways to update any room. For the average size bathroom, about one to two buckets of paint will be necessary to paint the walls, while cabinets will depend on their own size. The best part is, this amount of paint often costs under thirty dollars. Updating the knobs and pulls on cabinets is also a simple way to update the bathroom, as there are several distinctive styles of knobs and pulls. Bath towel hangers are another feature that can make a bathroom look newer or older without a lot of effort on the part of the homeowner. A new mirror would be the most expensive option, but a more contemporary updated mirror or vanity can make an old bathroom look fresh and modern.

There’s nothing worse than having precious possessions knocked from a mantle, table, or countertop. But it’s simple to protect even the most fragile possessions with a curio cabinet or china cabinet. Cabinets have existed for centuries as a means to store and display our most precious valuables. When storing fragile items inside a cabinet, it’s a good idea to secure the items to cabinet with a product like quake gel. This gel rubs off in an instant, and causes no lasting marks or damage to the object. But when it hardens, it becomes quite solid and is capable of sticking other objects even on a vertical surface. It’s best to secure precious possessions displayed in a curio cabinet or china cabinet with this gel to ensure they are not knocked over. It’s still important for the objects to be inside the cabinet to prevent exposure to dust and other factors which could cause damage.

There are hundreds of different curio and china cabinets available at furniture stores around the world. Whether looking for a wood, metal, or even corkboard cabinet, there are sure to be several options to choose from.

Let’s face it, selling a home isn’t what it used to be, and sellers need to use all the tools at their disposal to market their home to potential buyers. When it comes to rooms and living areas, the homebuyers can often see past poor choices of lighting, flooring, and paint, but updating a bathroom or kitchen can seem insurmountable. The fact is, no one wants a home with a bathroom or kitchen that looks like it belongs at grandma and grandpa’s house. It’s important for sellers to recognize that the bathrooms and kitchen are the two most important areas to market to buyers. This might include some expensive renovations like updating the countertops and appliances, but the investment will be returned to the seller, in addition to an offer on the home. When it comes to bathrooms and kitchens, the newest fad is granite slab countertops and stainless steel appliances. Homebuyers that see a home with these kinds of updates will have a whole different outlook.

It’s also a good idea to add some simple bathroom décor and kitchen décor to both spaces, as this will make the areas seem more livable, like a home rather than a house that could be a home.

You can decorate with a summer theme such as fruit (apples, strawberries, grapes), flowers (roses, carnations, daisies), or seaside nautical in addition to following some of the ideas listed below.

Add summer accessories around your home such as birdhouses, sea shells, bowls of fruits or vegetables, and summer reading materials.

If you have dark lampshades, replace them with lighter ones.

Repaint a dark hallway in your favorite hue such as buttery yellow, a creamy tan, or a fresh apple green.

Display a grouping of floral plates on a wall, hutch, or fireplace mantle.

Clean out the ashes in your fireplace and fill the firebox with a large artificial fern or a basket of colorful flowers.

Place twigs in tall vases and set on each side of the fireplace mantle.

To add summer whimsy to your bathrooms, hang lightweight fabric shower curtains printed with ladybugs, bees, flowers, or palm trees. Display matching hand towels and rugs to continue the summer theme.

Change the layout of your furniture to give your rooms a fresh, new look.

As you can see from the ideas listed above, a new lamp shade, adding new fabrics, or changing the paint color of a room can breathe new life into your interior design. So, have fun and use your imagination to bring some fresh new looks into your home for the summer season.