Signs of Aging. Does your bathroom need rejuvenation? Would de-cluttering help? Aside from a fresh shower curtain and fluffy new towels, where would you begin? Like me, my mirror developed a couple of age spots that need covering! According to popular home and garden designers on T.V., fully mirrored bathroom walls are passé! Buyers prefer older homes that have been remodeled with stylish, individual mirrors above sinks! If your bathroom needs a facelift, you can achieve it without major surgery. Here are three low-cost ideas, two for do-it-yourself folks and one for the DIY-challenged.

Frame It. If your mirror covers part of the wall above your sink, consider framing it. T.V. designers suggest making a frame from wood easily obtained from a lumber supplier, like the Do-It-Center. Quarter round trim may be needed to keep the adhesive from being reflected in the mirror. The supplier might cut the wood for a minimal charge to get 45º angles so that the pieces abut nicely. If you’re going to paint the wood to match your walls, prime it first. Pine doesn’t take stain evenly. Buy better wood trim if you plan to stain and varnish it. Use a strong adhesive to mount the wood directly onto the mirror. Your supplier should know the best type of glue for this purpose.

Conquer and Divide It. An even more involved solution is to remove the mirror from the wall and cut it into one or two mirrors. This way you salvage the size you want. Safe-guard yourself during removal. Generously crisscross-tape and cover the mirror with heavy plastic first, in case it breaks. This is a two person job. Wear protective gloves. The wall may have to be refurbished, if adhesive remains from the mirror’s removal. Cutting the mirror requires care, too. You’ll need a flat surface and a glass cutter. This all sounds too scary to me. The resulting mirror(s) can be framed and hung or mounted on the wall with adhesive. If the mirror breaks, buy a framed mirror from a garage sale, thrift store, or discount home goods store. Chalk it up to experience!

Cover It. Personally, I like a huge mirror in the bathroom. It makes a tiny room look so much bigger! I could save money by not doing anything at all to it! I could also probably live in a tent instead of a house, if I had to! As luck would have it, I found a beautiful image of a lady picking flowers, taken from a wall in an ancient Roman’s home. I loved it at first sight at the garage sale where I bought it for $10. What to do with it? I held it up on my mirror in the bathroom. Perfect! It covers the age spots. It goes with the classical bust and lyre-shaped lamp on the counter. All it took to hang was one of those new “monkey hooks,” shaped like the letter J with a little V at the bottom. You just poke it into the wall and turn it hook-side up. It makes the tiniest hole and holds a lot of weight. Try this solution. Pick a print that really emphasizes the style of your bathroom décor. Hang it over your mirror. The transformation will be uplifting!

Caution: Don’t hang really fine art in a bathroom because moisture can be damaging. Be sure your print is well covered and sealed on the back to prevent condensation under the glass. My guest bathroom gets very little tub use, so I’ve seen no signs of damage.

Pots and Baskets

Create Storage. Not enough room for pots, pans, sieves, and baskets? Look up. French chefs use pot racks. I needed easier access to my cookware than the space under my cook top, which is crowded with venting pipes! Our first solution was to install metal baskets on rollers under the cook top. However, there is only room for cookie sheets, cake racks, muffin tins, roasting pans, perforated BBQ veggie baskets, and an electric frying pan down there! Our next solution was to install a pot rack. However, we could not afford a fancy iron or copper beauty. Here’s how we created one on the cheap.

Pot Rack. You may be blessed or cursed with a huge fluorescent light box above your stove in the kitchen. It’s not my favorite technological wonder. (It helped when we replaced our glary fluorescents with “day light” bulbs.) This box was in the way of hanging a pot rack above the stove. So, my clever husband found a work-around. He mounted eye-hook bolts in the ceiling and then wrapped wire cable through the hooks. He fed the looped cable through slots he sawed into the plastic panels to hang a metal bar. We got the bar and hooks for hanging the pots from Bed, Bath, and Beyond and eye-hooks and cable from the Do-It-Center. As you can see from the photo, it holds a lot of weight! The bar is subtle, somewhat stylish, cost-effective, and definitely useful!

Hanging Baskets. It’s a girl-thing, I think—collecting baskets! Maybe a carry-over from hunter and gatherer days? I find it difficult to pass up a basket at a garage sale. However, I am pretty picky. It can’t cost over $3—usually is $1. It has to be large and intricately wrought, the more unusual, the better. I do use my baskets. I like to see them, have them around me to choose from for the occasion. Hanging them from my light panel not only makes them easy to reach, but also lovely to look at. And, they mask that outdated light panel! We can’t afford to replace the light box with recessed, directional lighting. So, “hiding” it is the next best answer! Nails for hanging the baskets are easily pounded in the seams between the frame and molding.

Pot Lids. One of the best investments we’ve made is in a pot lid holder. You can see it in the photo. It’s hanging on the wall to the left of the refrigerator. It was not too expensive. We found it at Bed, Bath, and Beyond, too. We used our 25% off coupon that comes in the mail every so often. A bit of advice—mount a board on the wall first, then affix the rack to the board. Over time, the lids have rubbed the paint off the wall, exposing the plaster beneath. Not chic.

Handy Tools. I love having my kitchen tools within reach. Ladles, a box cheese grater, spider (webbed Asian strainer), a pressure cooker, long-handled spoons, and a double boiler all hang from my pot rack. Some people like a bare kitchen. I’m inspired by one with everything I need to get right to work being creative. You can have a cook’s kitchen, too. Make use of the space above your stove or sink. Pot rack bars can be mounted on walls, too. Check out all the great solutions at IKEA for not much money. My only caution would be to avoid hanging heavy cast iron cookware overhead!

Seashells-and-Ceramics

Seashells. People have collected shells from time immemorial. Shells hold a fascination for most people. They’ve been used to adorn the human body and decorate everything from boxes to lamps to bottles, bags, clothes, mirrors, bookends, and napkin rings. They whisper of exotic places, vacations, briny havens under the sea, the mystery of life and our possible origins. Summer is the perfect time to haul out your collection of shells and display them in new, beautiful ways. Hopefully, there are still beaches where shells may be freely collected. That is part of their great appeal. They are harder to find and consequently cost more to acquire bagged and even more glued on interesting bases!

Ceramics. My daughter gave me the gift of choosing ceramics for Mother’s Day at Moorpark College’s annual ceramics sale. It is such a wonderful treat to visit the school’s art studio and view their lovely creations. I’ve fallen in love with their green glazes. Lots of beautiful pieces are under $5. This year I chose one a bit more expensive, but still very reasonably priced. That is the extraordinary aqua-green shell-like beauty on the pedestal, functioning as a vase with the seed spray coming out. The obvious play on nature is so striking. I love combining my shells with my ceramics.

“Anthropologie.” The highly creative décor in the clothing and collectibles chain called Anthropologie is changed regularly. It’s an absolute inspiration to browse through their tables and wonder at their walls. Their buyers find an eclectic mix of books, ceramics, scents, fabrics, furniture, and natural artifacts to display from around the world. Creating that same kind of well-traveled look and feel at home is appealing. How can you achieve it? Put out seashells and a seashell guidebook or encyclopedia opened to shells. Collect and display or draw botanicals with pen and ink: fern leaves, palms, orchids, bananas on a stalk. Collect and display seeds, pods, driftwood, pine cones, fronds, and faux mushrooms. At garage sales and flea markets, watch for woven mats, ethnic prints, and carved wooden masks and animals. Check used book stores for large picture books.

Indoor Displays. Martha Stewart’s recent guest on her T.V. show demonstrated how to glue shells onto sconces. He first covered the sconce with white glue and sand. When it was dry, he mounted shells using a tube of glue (527?), rather than a hot glue gun. He mounded sand up against a glued shell to keep it in place while it dried. Mastic and tile grout work, too, showing white between shells. With a hot glue gun, my daughter arranged shells on the back of my terra cotta turtle. The result was beautiful, but difficult to achieve. I cannot bring myself to glue larger shells to a mirror or picture frame or string them together. I do not want to damage them in any way. I love the effect of arranging them on glass or silver trays (like petit fours) for friends to admire and identify.

Outdoor Displays. At a gardening store, I found pot hangers made of ropes of tiny seashells to hang large conch shells in. Lucky me, I snapped up a very large coral specimen (1’ x 1’) for $1 at a garage sale! Mounted on a twig stool by my fountain, birds like to perch on it. Create a fun scene your child, the scientist, would love to explore!

Low-Cost, High Style

Do It Yourself. Wish you could afford an interior decorator? Think again. When you move into a newly constructed home, decorating can seem daunting. What drapes should you choose? Should you go for shutters or blinds instead? Or, maybe Roman shades? What color should the walls be and the flooring? What furniture should you choose? How do you make it all work together? If you have not developed your own style, the decorator may sell you hers or the latest fad. If you are short on money, make the decorating decisions yourself. But, give yourself time. Here are some tips.

Determine Your Style. What’s your preferred style and color palette? Not knowing mine, I hired an interior decorator to help. No sooner had “her” drapes gone up than I knew I’d made a terrible mistake! The effect was cold, dark, and not me. It was a very 1980’s gray and pink color scheme that quickly looked dated. After10+ years, I couldn’t stand them another minute. I bleached the grim gray into a sickly yellow! Yuck! I lived without any wall treatments for a year, loving the light coming in. But, it looked so plain, so I painted the window frames. I cut out a diamond shape stencil on stiff plastic from a gift box with an Exacto knife. Using a pouncing brush, I applied craft, gold paint for a harlequin effect, which I love. From a garage sale, I found old theater drapes and cut them to frame my windows for a jolt of color. Mounting rods from Big Lots were cheap.

Big Commitments. If you watch HGTV shows on cable, you know that they put a lot of emphasis on the “resale value” of decorating. Their advice is not to personalize your own home if you ever want to sell it. However, wouldn’t you feel most comfortable surrounded by a style that delights your personal sensibilities? Go for your own style, but consider 2 bits of advice. 1) If you have really tall ceilings, repainting is costly. Choose a warm, neutral color. 2) Flooring is a major expense. Wood floors or large earthy tiles last much longer than dusty carpeting. Personalize with your style area rugs for warmth.

Packaged vs. Custom. If your budget allows custom drapes and upholstery, you are very lucky! But if it doesn’t, don’t despair. Use packaged drapes and low-cost fabric sources. My decorator had the pink chairs in the photo custom-upholstered for me. But, I have never been happy with the fabric choice I made with her help. And, it would cost a small fortune to have them re-upholstered. Choose furniture wisely: 1) Furniture with separate cushions or without exposed wooden frames can more easily be refreshed with slip-covers. 2) Neutral fabric on big pieces like couches allows greater re-decorating possibilities than patterned fabric. Floral, plaid, or striped fabrics are best left to smaller pieces like chairs and pillows, as they can quickly look dated.

Clip Magazine Photos. How do you determine your style? Check out furniture stores and magazine racks. What style speaks to you: modern, with sleek lines; traditional, with carved wood; craftsman, with lodge/mission oak; shabby-chic, with distressed furniture and country quilts? I finally determined my preferred style is rather ethnic! Make all your decorating choices conform to your preferred style, and it will work.

Free-Standing Kitchen Cabinet

Add Kitchen Storage. Are you in need of a kitchen makeover, especially to add storage? Before there were built-in kitchen cabinets, there were free-standing units. Some of the most glamorous designer kitchens today actually vary built-in cabinet designs to make them look like separates with different colors and counters. “What goes around comes around” is the old saying to mean what was old is new. Here are some ways to “remodel” your kitchen without spending a lot of money.

Acquire Old “Cabinets.” Find useful pieces of furniture at garage and estate sales, flea markets, Craig’s List on-line, and thrift stores. My kitchen is frankly outdated. The honey-colored oak cabinets need a facelift, which I cannot afford. I also needed more storage for my growing used cookbook and pitcher collections. What to do? I have a French theme going on in my kitchen, using black accents. I bought a simple old bureau and painted it black. I replaced the telephone “desk” built-in (a simple, useless shelf) with the bureau. It holds all kinds of odd shaped articles, from placements to buckets! To match this bureau, I painted my oak range island black, too. The effect looks very Parisian!

Repurpose a China Cabinet. My very generous parents gave me the gift of the china cabinet in the photo. It sits against a low wall that separates my kitchen from the family room. I love it for storage and being able to hang a painting on its backside. I can tell that this unit was originally a beautiful cherry wood. But, I bought it because it had been painted black. It really makes the room look elegant. Yet, it is very practical, because I can now easily get to all my cookbooks. I can see my china, which would otherwise be hidden behind the oak built-in cabinet doors. Bookshelves placed on top of a kitchen table can have a similar effect, all painted the same color to look like a cupboard.

Remove Cabinet Doors. This idea may seem extreme, but depending on how tidy you are, it may prove to be lovely! My sister and I painted the interior of our parents’ very dark wooden cabinets a creamy white. We carefully, artfully arranged all the contents back into the cabinets. We liked the new look so well, I tried to persuade my folks to take off the cabinet doors. They declined. So did my husband, when I suggested doing the same at our house. However, you may have noticed that some of the most beautiful kitchen cabinets today are lighted from within through glass doors. Open shelves beautifully arranged look smart, interesting, and inviting, inspiring culinary creativity.

Decorate Shelves. An old country type custom is to edge shelves with real or paper lace trim. Cabinet interiors or exposed shelving painted in brick red or a gray blue or apple green create a gorgeous backdrop to display everyday dishes and glassware. Display the pieces you like to see and close off the ones you don’t want to see. Arrange your cookbooks by color or kind, just like display artists do in gourmet shops like Sur la Table. Mix them in with your china. Put lighting inside or under your cabinets for drama. Think outside the built-in. Include stand-alone units with character in the period you like.

Nook and Cranny Storage

Get Organized. Take a sneak peak at my husband’s office storage solutions. I must commend him for his ability to “pack with a purpose.” He gets top honors for managing all our paperwork, my daughter’s, my parents’, and 2 company’s worth of business records, too. He’s also the home depot for our office supplies. Plus, he’s found room to store an extensive collection of books, magazines, software, and CDs! His collection of computer bags, briefcases, camera bags, and presentation portfolios is also quite formidable! There’s also a “spaceship” type recliner with side table, 2 short file cabinets and 1 tall one, a copy machine, 2 computers, a fax machine, and a printer (and 5 phone books)! His desk is monstrous. All this fits into a 1-window 10’ by 15’ room!

Wrap-Around Bookshelves. The secret to his storage success is a system of very low-cost bookshelves from IKEA. They wrap around 2 ½ walls from floor to ceiling, with adjustable shelf heights. It’s hard to beat IKEA prices for shelving units. They are fairly easy to transport and assemble, too. We colored their cheapest pine units with an IKEA orange stain to give them a bit more character. A long board was separately purchased to fit along the top of the units for additional storage space. We like their uniformity and stability. It’s difficult to get separate bookshelves found at garage sales to fit well together to make the best use of space.

Handy Access. Under my husband’s desk, there is a plastic mat which allows him to roll in his chair from one side of the office to the other behind his desk. Everything he needs most often is within easy reach. That includes 2 short file cabinets placed under the bookshelves, low bookshelves behind him under the window, space under his desk and behind his computer on a shelf to the left of his desk. Items used less often are housed further away, even some in a closet alongside his recliner.

Slots and Caddies. My husband’s office is “his” room, a sanctuary away from the decorating that I undertake in the rest of the house. I always find it interesting to visit him there. I am curious to know what is stored in every little nook and cranny. Notice how his storage boxes fill the bookshelves with a place for everything and everything in its place! Like items are stored together and for common purpose and use.

Office Décor. My one contribution to the office had been the suggestion of a painting to hang beside his window. It was there for quite awhile, until I suggested that he mount another storage unit in its place, one found at a garage sale. It is the dark unit in the photo used to house CDs and small items like his camera, battery charger, postal scale, etc. Do you recognize its original purpose? It was a bathroom storage unit. I thought it might work in my daughter’s apartment, so snatched it up. However, she didn’t need it. It gives my husband’s office a bit more interest, I think, offering a place to store his Tibetan prayer wheel! He generously welcomed the addition into his fold! He’s worked on his office for many years. It’s ever-changing to meet his needs and varied interests. Keep working your office. It’s a perfect reflection of who you are!

Add a Shelf. Here’s how to make more room to display your collections. I love teapots, but they take up lots of room. I started with one that I use on the stove all the time. Then, my father added to my collection on his thrift store forays. The point of a collection is to have it on display to be enjoyed. My solution is a sturdy shelf with supports resting on the top edge of my pantry door. The shelf has slots on the backside that slide down over screws fixed to the wall. It was a garage sale find that I installed myself! Actually, I see such shelves fairly regularly at yard sales for a couple of dollars. I chose one in a wood finish to match my adjacent woodwork, rather than the pantry door. If you want to paint your find a certain color, lightly sand it first, remove grit with a tack cloth, paint with primer, and then paint on your chosen color.

Display Ideas. What would you display? As you can see from the photo, I chose to arrange my teapots to feature both copper and ceramic versions. Contrast is interesting, although all the same finish makes for a more uniform, modern look. Sometimes, instead of displaying the smaller teapots, I put cups and saucers in front of the teapots. The latter makes me nervous, though, that they could slide off in an earthquake. “Stickum” (tape or rubbery adhesive) would be a good idea to protect special treasures. A candlestick collection might work well on such a shelf, too.

Storage Ideas. A pantry door shelf can be used for more practical purposes, as well. If you really need more area to store dry goods, put them in see-through containers or homespun-looking drawstring sacks. A country grocery store shelf look can be quite attractive. Just make sure the shelf is strong enough to support such items. Screw little brass hooks on the shelf on either side of the door for more display/storage. I hung up my copper leaf pastry cutters. I’ve also hung copper ladles and molds, wooden cookie presses and paddles, and a decoratively beaded tea strainer!

Drying Ideas. Through the year, cut whatever flowers are blooming to dry for fall displays. Gather the stems in a bouquet. Turn it upside down and wrap the end with a rubber band. Stretch out a paperclip to make a hook on either end. Fasten one end of paperclip through the rubber band and the other end over the shelf hook. I love the way roses, lavender, baby’s breath, privet berries, hydrangeas, and Hawthorne blossoms look drying. Instantly, my kitchen becomes a florist shop! During winter months, markets feature scented pinecones in mesh bags. Collect, scent, and hang your own. Sprinkle oil and cinnamon on small pine cones and hang in a mesh vegetable bag.

Linen Look. Hardware stores have a useful dishtowel drying gadget that mounts to the wall. It has three thin outstretched metal arms over which to hang wet towels, with a plate that screws into the wall. Such a device mounted just below the pantry shelf on either side of the door would provide a great way to display vintage or collectible dishtowels and pot holders. Although I don’t suggest actually drying your everyday dish towels on public display, it certainly could be done, if they’re pretty!

Winter White. For my readers in snow country, decorating with winter white indoors may be too much of a cold thing! Reds might be the color you need to help warm up the house. Lucky me in Southern California, we drove down by the ocean today, where it was 70º, while the rest of country is frigid with blizzards! Sorry.

Try to think Spring. I did the day after New Year’s Day, when I walked past my pussy willow bush and noticed that its little catkins (kitty toes, I call them) had started to emerge. I decided to cut the bush back, bringing the branches indoors as a harbinger of spring. Flower markets may start featuring them soon, if you don’t want to wait until March to harvest homegrown ones up north and back east.

Pussy Willow Magic. This bush is so easy to grow! If you don’t have a bush and cannot find a neighbor with one to give you a cutting, buy a few branches at a flower market. These can be put into water to root for planting and harvest the next year! If you choose not to plant the cuttings later, just put them into a vase without water. They will last a surprisingly long time. Fresh pussy willow with fully developed catkins can be bundled and wired to a wire form to make a beautiful wreath. If cutting your own branches, cut them at an angle, just above the knobby growth ring where the branch meets its host branch. Bushes can be cut down to 6” tall and grow back denser than ever. Prune them every spring to keep them from growing into their potential 15’-20’ tree height.

Tablescape Design. Coming from the Midwest myself, I remember how sparklingly beautiful ice on branches could be in the sunlight. To try to replicate that scene (without the cold) indoors, I selected mirrors and glass for their icy, reflective surfaces. My lampshade provides the warm, sunny glow. Its bangles remind me of ice sickles. My unfinished ceramic angel looks like she was carved out of snow. By itself, the large vase holding the water and branches seemed a bit plain. Adding the cut-glass punch bowl beneath finished off the sparkling ice-pond effect. The mirror behind and the mirror below the vase multiply the glittery quality of each object on the table.

Other Cuttings. Any type of branch that flowers can be cut and forced to bloom indoors the same way as the pussy willows. Back home in Indiana, we looked forward to the forsythia bush’s bright yellow flowers. Here, I watch for my apricot tree to swell with buds. Before the blossoms open, I cut the apricot tree back and bring in the handsome mahogany branches to display in bundles. Even if you are living in an apartment with no access to even a sunny window to grow a plant, you can still enjoy being close to nature when you bring branches indoors–the taller, the better. It’s akin to bringing a Christmas tree inside–a rather primitive, homey thing to do. Try it.

Christmas Crafts

Buy Now for Best Deals. Take advantage of after-Christmas sales for best buys on cards, bows, wrapping paper, tissue, wreaths, fir and bead garlands, ornaments, cookie tins, and napkins. Smart shoppers comb discounted holiday merchandise now for next year. Savings can range from 50% – 90%! Check out Target, Big Lots, Michaels, and thrift stores. Look for resources that you can combine in beautiful, unexpected ways.

Create a Centerpiece. A very talented decorator, Jena Colletti, gifted our family with a fabulous centerpiece to enjoy through the holidays. Take a look at the photo. She paired a sturdy glass ornament, balanced in a crystalline ring, with fresh flowers and faux berries. Isn’t the result magical? She chose one large white mum and several smaller ones, together with two miniature fresh, pink carnations. Completing the elegant look was a bit of fir, heather, silvered berry clusters, and red berries. It’s such an original and charming display. Be inspired by Jena’s creation to make your own version. You can “Wow” your guests next year, giving your display as a gift. Or, you could use it or several to decorate dining tables for a party. I love the fact that this gift is reusable!

Christmas Décor for Less. How could you approximate Jena’s rich creation on a budget? Check out those after-Christmas sales for small wreaths that could provide the ring on which to balance the ball. Perhaps you could wrap a silver or gold beaded garland around a wire several times for a similar effect. Look for glass balls that are thicker than typical ornaments. Use glue and glitter to dress-up the ball. Find faux berries, fir, and white mums on sale.

Tiny Tree Keepsake. Notice the vintage Christmas tree in the photo. This was a precious gift from my mom, dad, and sister this year. Small faux, “snow-dusted” pine trees, like the ones used to create little train villages, are more prevalent these days in stores. Look for leftovers on the discount shelves. Hot glue on tiny ornaments, like individual beads cut from a garland. Notice that the ornaments are graduated in size, becoming tinier higher on the tree. Decorate a little tree for each of the little people, i.e., children, in your family to remember you by.

Cookie Trays. One of our neighbors gives us homemade cookies for Christmas. She presents a lovely sampling on a small Christmas china plate that we can use again. I have several of theses little plates or trays that circulate around between family and friends. Look for such finds to tuck away for next year—where you’ll be able to find them!

Gift Bags. Other items to look for on sale are gift bags. In addition to regular gift bags, keep an eye out for small cellophane ones and large plastic ones. The small ones make packaging cookies or date nut bread (made in soup cans) very easy. The large plastic ones are great for large, awkward gifts. Of course, you can substitute paper bags that the kids decorate and a bed-sheet wrapped with a bow. But, if the price is right, buy ahead.

Mix Dried and Faux Fruit

Artful Arrangements. Be like the old Dutch Masters, set up a beautiful display, as if you were going to paint it! Your home can take on a decorator look without spending any or very little money. Instead, exert your imagination. Have fun playing with different objects, trying different combinations of things, until you can step back and view the whole with satisfaction. When friends and family notice the result with kudos, you know your art has won critical acclaim.

Where to Start. Choose a table, counter, window ledge, shelf, or bookcase with good lighting. First clear the space to start with a clean palette. Think of a theme or color combination that you’d like to feature. Then, gather objects which carry out that theme or color combo. Put them close by, then one at a time, place them pleasingly in your chosen space. It’s more interesting if there are height variations and textural differences. The space you leave between objects is just as important as the objects, themselves. Arrange and re-arrange, add and subtract, raise and lower, try something unexpected. This is the creative process. Enjoy. How many three-dimensional works of art will you create, one a day? There’s no limit!

Seasonal Inspiration. Take a cue from nature. With the advent of fall, my mind turns toward harvest themes. I begin pulling out dried fruits, my pomegranates, mandarin oranges, and limes. Piled in a punch bowl, they look abundant. With faux or real grape clusters added, the effect is opulent. For a rococo look, the bowl is placed on an equally busy, colorful fruit-patterned cloth next to gilded candlesticks. This autumn theme is enlivened with reds, blues, yellows, and greens. Pumpkins, artichokes, and cranberries also offer amazing decorating possibilities!

Invite Budding Artistry. Children learn by doing, by copying others. Why not invite your kids to take turns in creating visual vignettes? Let them watch how you do it, then clear the space. Ask them to think about a theme and colors, then search for objects around the house to include. Enjoy watching their creativity. Encourage them to arrange and re-arrange, until they decide their masterpiece is done. Be sure to appreciate all the creative choices they made and the resulting beauty their (not your) artistic eye rested upon.

Paint or Photograph? If you like to paint, then, by all means, take out a canvas or watercolor paper to capture the essence of your still-life or your child’s. Your child might also try painting your setting or his/her own. Otherwise, take a photo of your work and your child’s. You can start a portfolio/album of your artistic endeavors. Go a step further and create an artistic album cover together. Who knows where your inspirations will take you? One of my favorite decorating haunts is a local antique and collectibles store, which features large artistic seasonal displays in their giant windows. I asked if they photograph their work. They do and were so sad when, too busy, they forgot to photograph some of their finest displays!