A teal, rectangular, wide chest of three drawers on slender legs features a lively floral patterned wallpaper on the drawer fronts. The wallpaper features branches of a lemon tree on a white background. In addition to lemons and leaves are turquoise hummingbirds and occasional fantastical stylized flowers. Gold horizontal drawer pulls match the chest's brass rolling feet. A brass swan sits on the chest and is filled with a small topiary plant. A white modern lamp rests on the left side of the chest. To the left is a vintage dining chair over which a softly textured cream-colored throw is draped. The background is a white-painted wood-paneled wall. The floor is covered in grey ceramic tiles with a faux woodgrain finish.
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Off-the-Wall Wallpaper Projects

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Decorative wallpapers can add beauty to your home in a variety of ways. Sure, you can paper a wall with them. But have you considered the other surfaces in your home that would look marvelous covered in fun, elegant, or soothing wallpaper? Here are a few of our favorite off-the-wall wallpaper ideas. Wallpaper the Ceiling […]

A pale blue upholstered sofa with many smallish matching throw pillows. The walls are a darker shade of teal. A black metal round side table is in front. Behind are a minimalist dining table (wood on top on a black metal frame) and gold leather-upholstered dining armchairs. On the dining table is a large amber glass vase filled with long leafy branches. Over the table hangs a chandelier of golden cylinders hanging at varying heights.
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The Best Coastal Style for Your Home

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When you think of coastal homes, what regions and home styles come to mind? There are as many types of coastal home style as there are coastal regions. Take time to consider what seaside settings feel most beautiful and comfortable for you. For example, you might create a relaxed and elegant modern Polynesian, Caribbean, or […]

A little girl with dark hair and a purple dress holds an orange bottle of bubble solution and holds a bubble blowing wand up to her face. She blows into the wand, creating a cloud of bubbles. Behind her is an out-of-focus grassy lawn.
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Is Your Home’s Air Dangerous?

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When we discuss indoor air quality, we usually mean annoyances like pollen, dust, and household chemicals that can irritate our throats or cause runny or stuffy noses. For millions of people with asthma or other respiratory diseases, even minor irritants can lead to significant discomfort or even distress. Pollutants can make breathing more difficult, so […]

A young woman sits on the floor and leans against fuchsia wall looking pensively out her window
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Getting Past the Fear of Change

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Home renovation shows are all about “The Reveal”—that magical last act when home owners see the glorious completed renovation. They laugh, they cry relieved tears, their grinning kids jump for joy. Everybody loves the new furniture, wallpaper, flooring, and windows. They talk about all the fun they’ll have in this shiny new space, and laugh […]

A square patchwork quilt with 25 appliquéd patches featuring flowers, birds, cornucopias, and a ship on a quilted white background. All around the quilt is a zigzagging green leaf and red flower border.
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Decorating with Quilts and Patchwork

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Patchwork is an art form born out of economic necessity. People of many cultures reused fabric scraps to save money and scarce resources. Patched clothing and patchwork quilts provided both warmth and beauty. Nowadays, decorating with quilts and patchwork is more often a style choice than an economic need. Antique and vintage quilts are highly […]

Detail of a traditional Kazakh rug embroidered with stylized floral and leaf patterns in chainstitching. The swirling vines and flowers are stitched in red, yellow, green, white, pink, and blue crewel wool on a black background.
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Decorating with Needlework

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Decorative needlework has been used to add beautiful details to clothing and upholstered furnishings for millennia. Embroidered table and bed linens were de rigueur for fancy folk. Needlepoint or petit point pillows or rugs have long been signifiers of taste, elegance, and wealth. Cross-stitch samplers showed girls’ needlework skills, which made them look refined and […]

A well-dressed woman with carefully curled hair and a lace collar over her yellow dress, focuses on the making of lace. She handles several wooden bobbins of thread over a lace pillow that rests on a wooden stand.
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Decorating with Lace and Macrame

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Lace, a textile used mainly to decorate clothing or home furnishings, was traditionally created by hand by highly skilled girls and women. Technically an openwork fabric, lace was invented around the 15th century in Europe. Though usually considered a clothing adornment, especially for wedding dresses and lingerie, lace often appeared in curtains, on pillows, and […]