Although for many on the East Coast and the Midwest, spring seems a long way off, here in California we are already experiencing warmer days, more sunshine and “spring fever”. I know I’m ready to pull up the blinds and open the windows and let the light and fresh air in.

Your home may also feel that it’s tired of winter and wants to breath. Now is the time to look at ways to add freshness and vigor to your rooms and embrace the change of seasons.  Here are 3 great ideas that will chase away winter and get your home ready:

1) Put away that old heavy comforter and invest in a brightly colored throw or coverlet for the bed. This season I’m seeing a whole new approach to prints and patterns. Stripes are always easy to mix and match with solid sheets and fun flower patterns reminiscent of the 1970’s are crazy fun and will add a smile to your face.

2) Pull out glass containers, vases and bowls. Here again, color is what’s happening. Don’t be afraid to experiment. In a garden window mix canary yellow, apple green and melon orange glass objects in different sizes.  Don’t worry yet about adding flowers or fruit to the bowls and vases, let their color and shape alone be the interest factor.

3) One of my new passions are picture frames. So many of us put a photo from a holiday or vacation in a frame and there it sits, growing stale, for years and years.  Take a good look at your frames, whether they are on a shelf or the piano.  Discard dark colors and heavy woods and replace them with shell borders, glass on glass and brightly hued plastics. Not only will you see those photos in a new light, but the patterns and colors will brighten up the whole room.

It’s almost February….  Can you see and feel the smell in the air?  Spring is right around the corner, and you’ll be ready!

It’s easy to say that inspiration is all around us, and of course it is. But often we may find it hard to translate that into our living environment. We look at our home and don’t know where to start. It’s important to find that something special that speaks to us and our vision and complete the interior we desire.

Everything in your home can be a source of inspiration. The idea for a room often begins with a single object: a family heirloom, a framed photo, a piece of fabric, that Merlot in your glass. Start from that single element that you love and watch the space take shape.

Even beyond that, inspiration can often be more obvious than you realize. That vacation you took last year to the beach or a visit to your local museum. The color of the sky or the leaves on a tree. Smell and sound can bring an idea to your mind. Music can inspire you visually. A song can bring the power to energize your space or be soothing and peaceful, and your home will reflect this.

I have helped clients create children’s rooms inspired by fairy tales or sports teams. We have painted stars and moons on ceilings of nurseries. A master suite enveloped in fabric can be a Moroccan fantasy and a South Seas paradise can be achieved by finding that right shade of blue you saw in Tahiti.  Anything is possible and the possibilities are endless.

Once you have landed on your inspiration, don’t feel pressured to move quickly. Let a room take shape naturally. It may take time for the elements to fuse together. Don’t be disillusioned or frustrated just because you have the perfect red pillow but aren’t finding the sofa fabric to go with it. Keep an open mind, let the inspiration flow and allow the space to speak to you.

Finally, don’t be afraid to do the unexpected. It’s OK to take risks. Keep an open mind about your room and what it may be saying to you. Discover the hidden texture or spot of brilliance in your personal inspiration. Don’t be boxed in my convention!

I always try to help clients move just a bit further from their comfort zone. A home should be a personal statement.  Your finished space, if you let it, will spring from your inspiration and may just be the impetus for someone else’s imagination.

For a few years now I’ve been saying that Mid Century Modern is over. The look that took Palm Springs and the rest of the country by storm may finally be breathing its last breath. And as far as I’m concerned it’s time.

In the last decade, interior designers, architects and the public found that the style and character of design from the middle of the 20th century was being lost or ignored. Some great furniture and buildings were forgotten and sadly, in disrepair. A few brave souls brought this to our attention, especially in southern California where the look was born and bred. Suddenly, everyone got on board. Homes from the 1960s began selling like hotcakes. Eames and other furniture designers were finally getting their due respect and it was a great thing. Mad Men came along, and BAM!… the nation was hooked and addicted.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen a style move through the population with such a vengeance!

But we are a fickle people, and fads come and go, especially those that become overworked and overdone, like this has. When was the last time you saw an original take on this classic style? Walking the streets of Palm Springs, California or going into the many shops and stores that have fed into the frenzy, it suddenly become refreshing to see a front door that isn’t painted orange, or a living room without a white shag rug and satellite shaped clock on the wall. Is it some kind of longing for our childhood? I think it’s time for us to just say “no”, let the 1960s go and move on.

Its become, in the words of Antiques dealer Richard Shapiro ” the monotony of one mid-century room after another, predictable, gratuitous, with gimmicky accessories.” Have we forgotten to embrace that wonderful concept “eclectic”? I believe we have forsaken the pedigree found in the best of Mid Century Design and lost ourselves in the trend. Will we look back soon and laugh at ourselves and our homes like we do now with the Santa Fe or Tuscan look we once latched on to, much to our embarrassment?

I know that I will now be an outcast in Palm Springs..  I might need to keep an eye on my back. But, I am hoping that we soon start to cut back on this look. Use it sparingly. Remember the great bones of Mid Century design but stop romanticizing it. Everything in moderation, my friends. Love it, use it, but maybe give it a much deserved rest?

I’m downsizing from a large home to a condo. HELP!

In the recent economic turn down, it became more common for people to scale back their lifestyles and for many this meant a smaller space. Empty-nesters also face the issue of how to adjust from a five bedroom home to a condo. The first thing to do is be very honest with your self. What do you have to keep and what can go? Many of us become pack rats after many years of living in a large home. Do you really need that much stuff?

Measure your existing furniture, using only what you are sure fits in the new rooms. Purchase sofas that are sized for this kind of space. Many manufacturers make “apartment” or “mid-size” sofas. Buy upholstered pieces with a narrower silhouette, not big rolled arms. You’d be amazed how often you can actually achieve MORE sitting area in the same footprint by using English or track arm sofas that have a width of about four inches. I also always like to use rolling ottomans and stools. They can go anywhere for extra seating and when not in use store under a console or cocktail table.

Use every available space!  Open up under stairwells for storage. Build shelves to the ceiling.  In bathrooms, cut out niches in the walls and in the shower area for display of soaps, candles and towels. Beds with built in drawers saves space when there isn’t room tof it in a dresser.

Use less furniture but make it work harder. Look at drop leaf dining room tables that seat four daily, but can open up to accommodate more on special occasions. Use the center island as a buffet. The second bedroom in a condo can do triple duty as a den/guest room/office. Don’t be boxed in by rules. Rooms don’t need labels. This is where the old adage “less is more” comes in. Make it your motto!

There are many great books on the subject as well as a renewed interest today in building smaller houses and how to live in 100-200 square feet.  With a little ingenuity and creativity it can be fun!

Do you ever look at a house on TV and wish it was yours? Do you want to decorate your home to look like one you saw on the small screen? How we see others live on television shapes how we see our own homes, what we aspire to and offers a possible blueprint for perfect living.

In the 1950’s, no longer did we have to leave the comfort of our own easy chairs to get a peek at the neighbors. We could compare and contrast our spaces with other families, from Ozzie and Harriet to The Dick Van Dyke Show. The middle class was in, family and suburban life was on the rise. We moved from more formal homes to tract houses and twin beds.

The mid-60’s even reinforced the concept that we want what we see on TV with Bewitched and the nosy neighbor Gladys Kravitz.  Samantha and Darrin were modern, fun and seemed to live in the perfect house.

In the 70s, The Brady Bunch was the epitome of upscale California suburban living. Arguably the most recognizable house on TV, the stone planter, open stairway and orange laminate counters were mimicked by builders and designers for years.

By the 80s, shows like Dallas, Falcon Crest and Dynasty depicted a more opulent lifestyle, while The Golden Girls put hip Florida senior living on the map.

In the 2000’s, Mad Men about the advertising industry in the 1960s, brings us back to Mid-Century modern decor. They do a remarkable job of re-creating the time and romanticizing days gone by. By enjoying these interiors, we see a strong example of how trends and styles recycle. We’ve gone full circle from the 60’s back to todays home.

Over the years, interiors on TV have shown us simplicity, glamour and reality as well as iconic rooms and design disasters. We have been given rooms to admire, color palettes to copy and the diversity of our own lives. Our homes and lifestyle has been reflected through the lens in subliminal messages of how we should live.

Television has given us many memorable rooms from The Mary Tyler Moore Show single woman apartment, to the mess of Rosanne to the grandeur of Downton Abbey.

So whether you are a Don Draper, miss your Brady Bunch childhood or still like to fantasize about the homes of the uber-rich, the line between our lives and the media has shrunk.