Category: Design

  • Laura Ashley Update-Get the Look

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    jdemontravel
    in

    For a girl who came of age in the 80s sleeping within walls papered with Laura Ashley’s signature pink rosebuds was a right of passage, like sipping wine coolers and flirting with the cute exchange student in class but less rebellious. Some of those pieces made it to your college dorm or the plush towels…

  • Making A Home Homey, Not Cutesy

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    jdemontravel
    in ,

    On a two-lane street seamed with cheerful homes America happens. The road is graffitied with chunky chalk drawings. Bicycles swirl by in lazy speeds. A neighbor returns a muffin pan. This is the avenue of our home, which was built when young men were shipped overseas to serve their country in The Great War. It is a…

  • No Fuss Fall Porch Ideas

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    jdemontravel
    in

    Once the first orange leaf hits the ground you’d think we lived in a Tim Burton movie. There are inflatable ghosts dancing on the front lawn, glittery spiders crawling up homes, garlands of leaves snaking up posts, bushels of hay seating friendly scarecrows and unnaturally large pumpkins and pots of mums in galvanized buckets. For the same reasons why I…

  • How to Create a Cabinet Display

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    jdemontravel
    in ,

    You’d think my cupboard had a celebrity colorist considering all the colors it has been, which is  currently painted in Windy Sky. It has been in my former living area and son’s room, displayed children’s books, beach artifacts, linens and currently showcases kitchenware. But how do you master the art of a display? Thoughtful Displays of Affection: Consider the Space: With…

  • Parlor Room Ideas

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    jdemontravel
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    While the idea of a front parlor room where you can make embroidered cushions and read letters delivered on silver platters is quaint, we had uncertainty if the original room would make sense in our modern lifestyle. After giving the home a few test months, we valued the separation of the front and back sections of the…

  • Home in Hanoi

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    jdemontravel
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    If you want to find inspiration from a home with worldly tastes plan a visit to Hanoi, Vietnam. American designer Amelia Fendell, founder of Chez M’Lain, is mother to 18-year old son Nico (who has the good looks and enough passports to pin him as a young gentleman spy–he may very well be a young gentleman spy) and…

  • Designing a Sunroom

    Designing a Sunroom

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    jdemontravel
    in

    It’s the sunroom a gardening editor would create–cheerful with bursts of summer colors and a lot of twee. This is the room for playing card games, drinking cocktails spiked with celery, followed by lazy mornings until the sun recovers your original spirit. To design your own either enlist a decorator with the nickname of an animal or flower or…

  • How to Make An Entrance – Design Tips

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    jdemontravel
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    First impressions is not exclusive to good shoes and handshakes–they matter in a home. With only so many New England months to tackle the exterior we’ve been focusing our attention to lightening the color scheme and adding the right details. The flow of what outwardly appears continues to the #entryway. Design techniques used on the front entrance…

  • Doormats – Step On It

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    jdemontravel
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    The trend of the summer is doormats made from recycled lobster rope. Their color, durability and eco-friendly design is stomp worthy. Bluestone/taupe Shoreline 5 stripe doormat. 2. Colors of Maine doormat in large

  • Exterior Makeover – Shop the Look

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    jdemontravel
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    Add the details for an instant exterior makeover without a major overhaul. Light Yellow by Benjamin Moore. 2. Schoodic rope doormat 3. Dancing Elephant pillow 4. Silver sand dollar door knocker 5. Pollywood Adirondack chair 6. Floating house numbers 7. Front door light