Using what you have, Part 2

The first thing I did at the house with the blue carpeting was to rearrange the rattan sofa and love seat with the palm leaf pattern fabric on it. The short sofa should always go on the shortest wall; I put the longer sofa under the living room window, which was also the longest wall. I moved the largest end table in the corner between the sofa and love seat. The smaller one went on the other side of the love seat.
An interesting exercise that is good to take when consulting about what to put where, is to do a walk through. The lady of the house and I went into every room, especially the 4 bedrooms and their closets upstairs. I found at least a dozen accessories, including a couple of lamps and pictures that would enhance the living/dining area. Some things came out of the closets and random pictures, hung without thought, came off the walls. Everything I wanted was carted downstairs to show off properly.
The family had a very nice piano, again on the wrong wall, so we moved it to the inside wall next to the entry and put a wonderful lamp on it that I found in one of the closets upstairs. An extra chair that did not match the rattan furniture went near the piano and we made a small sitting area next to a small table.
Next to the end table by the love seat before entering the dining room, we purchased a tall plant that gave the room a focal point rather than focusing on the junked up china cabinet.
Because there were curtains behind the long sofa, we used the wall over the love seat and hung a large picture of a water lily, framed nicely in wood that looked like rattan.
On the coffee table in front of the sofa, we placed a low, round, white bowl filled with blue and green glass balls.
As for the china cabinet, I helped the lady of the house go through her 'treasures' and convinced her to store in the attic those things she couldn't bear to part with. Then we arranged the inside of the cabinet so that the best of her mother's collections showed off to their advantage, and voila, the clutter disappeared. Her husband was thrilled.
When the family first walked into their beautiful re-decorated living area, they could not believe how great it looked and marveled at how the blue carpeting seemed to disappear. Thank you Flair and Dare they said.

Using what you have, Part 1

It is Flair and Dare's philosophy to help you incorporate what you already have without having to make purchases. That does not mean that you may not have to pick up a few things, such as a plant, or a pillow, or perhaps you need a lot of things. Generally, if this is the case with your home, you can make your place look wonderful without spending a lot of money; you can learn balance and color and where to buy things on the cheap.
One of my first consulting jobs was for a home that had an ugly blue wall to wall carpet. The house had the typical L shaped living room/dining room combination and when you walked in it was the first thing you saw, that and the atrocious blue carpet.
The lady of the house complained that she and her husband could not afford to replace the blue carpeting and she hoped I could help them work around it. I have to say that the woman had a genuine complaint because her rattan furniture had large green palm leaves on it, as if from the tropics, though not nearly as elegant.
In addition the room had no style at all and the furniture arrangements made no sense. The piano and the sofa and love seat were on the wrong walls; her accessories were poorly chosen, as well as, like the furniture, placed helter-skelter.
Her dining room china cabinet, which you could see from the entry was packed, more like over stuffed with 'treasures' from her mother that she could not bear to part with. The cabinet looked like a junk store window that had not been cleaned out in years.
The lighting in the living room was dim at best, and the lamps that did not do the job were boring and old fashioned. Lighting is a very important aspect for a room.
We all know what it is like to walk into a house that has never been thought out as far as decorating is concerned. Nevertheless, we accept our friends as they are, and usually when someone lives in a cluttered home, they are oblivious to it, or at least they do little about it because they say they don't care, but it may be more like they don't try or want to know how to have lovely surroundings.

Back to Picture Hanging

Hanging small pictures; you can do a grouping for several hangings of two or more. One thing to look for when you wonder if something works is to bring out a color say from a certain color in a throw pillow, or other accessory; the color can be in the picture, even if it is only a small splash. Subject matter doesn't always matter as much as does the color, of course discretion in subject and objects may be needed to some degree.
Once again, I will emphasize that trying to hang pictures that are directly lined up with each other is much harder than staggering them. Evenly lined can be done, especially if you don't mind extra nail holes.
Pictures should face each other, if you have two pictures each with a person in them, the people should be hung so they face one another. Balance is important, if you hang a picture of a person near the corner of the wall, you don't want the person in the painting to face the corner, put it on a wall where they are looking into the room. Any painting or picture will have a scene or object on one part that is off center; that object, the tallest one, should go toward the corner so that the room is kept in balance.

Charity Affair, Part 2

The bags came in; the overflow went out, bag after bag: some to the Goodwill, some to our church’s homeless dinner, and some to Teen Challenge. We went through her closet several times, over the videos and books more the 3 or 4 times, each time convincing Rose that she could not possibly need what she hadn’t worn, watched, or read in years.
On Rose’s behalf, she did a good job, and after much agonizing she parted with what she did not need. When I felt the apartment was probably in the best condition that it could be, we began to look at furniture. The large wheelchair is still in the living room, but it is not obtrusive, it is just another place to sit.
We bought a wonderful, perfect sized loveseat to place in front of 3 book cases, the cabinets had been removed. The off-white loveseat came with 3 throw-type back pillows in reddish/burgundy and black and white plaid. Burgundy is her main color with accents of black and off whites. We purchased, along with the sofa from Salvation Army, a small size wing back chair, just right, for her tiny living room, With that and the sofa we bought one black and one burgundy throw blanked - black for the chair and the other for the loveseat.
For the windows, accessories and a nifty table-lamp (two purposes in one for the small room) we found great deals at Wal-Mart. The windows we covered with burgundy side panels, sheers in the middle and a burgundy sway valance. I gave her two brass, with sunflower design, tie backs that attach to the wall. Along with the table lamp, we purchased a beautiful floor lamp, as lighting was a problem, she didn’t have enough, For the cleaned up desk area, we bought an inexpensive floor lamp and picked up a new bookcase from a garage sale.
We moved the rickety TV case with the wobbly rabbit ears up against the wall near the desk, visible from the sofa, of course. We cleaned off the kitchen counter that faced the front door and put a small artificial plant there, with a couple of candles.
Several small bouquets of red, as well as white, roses went on the counter and the lamp table. Rose had a few nice pictures, but nothing large enough for the wall opposite the bookcases. I surprised her with a 3 x 5’ picture of an Italian street scene to hang on the empty wall, and the colorful image brought the room together and made it look stunning.
This project took from July to December, and when finished it looked beautiful. Rose cried when she told someone about how perfectly it turned out. Her mother loved it, her friends envied her, and Rose, herself, confessed that she never believed her home could be so lovely. One of her friends told me that she had tried to get Rose to clean the clutter out her house many times, but she never did. Rose needed some like me, who she calls her ‘Warring Angel’, to coax her into giving things away. Working with Rose and becoming her friend has been a unique experience, and I feel blessed to have had the opportunity.

Charity Affair, Part 1

A Flair and Dare to remember
I thought I would change the pace here and write a two-part Flair and Dare decorating job I did for a young woman from my Bible Study group. I helped her tidy up her 1 bedroom apartment where she has lived for the past 8 years. First, a little about this person, I will call her Rose, because she is like a Rose in a garden of thorns. Rose, has an atrocious background, which she has overcome beautifully. I won’t dwell on things but feel it is important to let you know a little about her.
As a child, abused and used by her father, Rose became a homeless drug addict. Despite such a horrid upbringing, after some time, she overcame her difficulties and eventually found a home in Section 8 housing. She is also slightly disabled, but does not always need her wheel chair. The good news is that Rose, is a licensed beautician, sells Avon, writes music and love to read, particularly the Bible.
Now let’s talk about her home. When I first walked in, I could see that Rose liked to have STUFF around her. Her apartment could have passed the test for the Messiest House award found on the MyStyle TV Channel. Her place appeared to be the biggest confusion of clutter and jumble I had ever walked into.
Upon entering the living room, one can see ahead a cubicle for a kitchen and a counter full of plants, candles, and almost anything you can name. Near the ceiling, you see paper bags overflowing from the corner between a small cupboard and the refrigerator. Beneath the kitchen counter facing the living room sat a homemade desk, stacked with papers and books; next to this stood a bookcase with a piece of gold lame fabric tacked to a shelf hung to hide the things behind it.
In front of this bookcase and desk was a gigantic wheel chair. That is where I sat for my first consultation with Rose. She sat across from me in the only piece of furniture, besides a large dining table – a huge, ugly, brown, broken recliner; Rose is a big girl. In front of her in the middle of the room was a rickety TV Cabinet with a computer and other paraphernalia crammed into it and on it a pair of wobbly rabbit ears. Behind the rickety, rackety recliner you could see an old china cabinet whose glass door windows had Christmas stickers on it. Next to the cabinet were two more bookcases, packed full of everything. On the floor sat a box for another bookcase, where Rose intended to put more stuff.
Next to the bookcases, sat the oversized table with a sewing machine on top, next came stacking baskets and another non-descript cabinet full of hair care, manicure, and other instruments and bottles needed for her profession. Imagine if you will a space of perhaps 300 sq ft encompassing all this. We won’t even mention the carpeting or the cat – oh yes – a cat.
At the end of the crowded hall was a bedroom full of containers that held Rose’s workout -clothes, pants, shirts, etc, all gathered from friends, thrift stores, and anyplace she could find to collect her things. Rose clearly represented what a once homeless person-- fearful of never having anything and going without-- looked like.
I had to twist Rose’s arm to get her to agree to give away lots of her stuff, such as clothes, books, more books, videos, clothes, stuff and more stuff. I reminded her that she need not fear being without and that there were plenty of people who could benefit from her generosity. I also I reminded her that Neatness and Orderliness (Cleanliness) is next to Godliness. I have to say that her home, chaotic as it was, was clean
Enter – Flair and Dare with a Costco box of 33 gallon bags. This box contained 2 rolls with 44 bags in each roll.
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Hanging pictures perfectly

Hanging pictures can be hard work, my husband used to say whenever we moved, which was often, that he didn't want me to hang any pictures until he could help. Well, that was all well and good, but his sense of of timing did not coincide with mine; invariable I hung them myself long before he thought of his plan to help. He was only worried about holes in the wall. He is a perfectionist and always wants the fewest holes possible.
So here is a little story that illustrates why pictures may never get hung in a home. On our last move, the focal point in our living room was over the sofa - which by the way should always go on the longest wall, not the shortest. Anyway, these two large pictures needed to be hung, not staggered as I suggested earlier, but right at the same level next to each other.
So my husband gets to it right away, knowing if he doesn't I will. He pulls out the leveler, the long tape measure, hammer and nails, and a pencil to mark the wall!!#$% no holes mind you, but lots of pencil marks. At any rate, he seems unable to measure it correctly, has several holes and a half hour later, the pictures are still on the floor.
I finally told him to move over and took two nails, hammered them into the wall where I thought they should go and hung the pictures. OK, they were not perfect, but only off a very slight bit. I took one down, moved the nail and voila - they were hung.
Needless to say, my husband put his hands up in the air, trying to hide his surprise and admiration that I accomplished the task efficiently and perfectly, put his tools back and never asked to help again. So hang those pictures at all costs, if you need to move them, you can always make another hole.

Picture Hanging

Good morning - I want to start off by saying that I do not profess to be everyone’s cup of tea when it comes to decorating, but I happen to be very good with color and balance. 2 very important things when it comes to putting things in order.
As for picture hanging, it is a good idea to frame pictures before hanging them on the wall - and as I said before, don't worry about nail holes, you can usually cover them up with the picture. When it is time to take the pictures down, put a little putty over the hole - I have even heard people say toothpaste works, of course that depends on the color of your wall.
You can buy frames cheap, small ones at the $1.00 store, or at Wal-mart, K-Mart, Target or a Michaels or some other craft store...Frames can be pricey and if you have the money, a valuable picture can be worth the effort, otherwise buy a ready made frame.
When you want to hang two pictures together, try staggering them, it is easier than lining them up. Take your biggest picture and hang it on a large wall, but remember it does not have to always be in the center of the wall. It should be centered over the piece of furniture.
You might ask should I hang pictures before the room is complete.
Generally we assume that you have furniture (I will talk about placing furniture soon) and things, and if not, take every picture you want to hang (give away the ones you don't like) and stack them on the floor according to size so that when you are ready to hang them, you know what you want and pretty much know where you want them.
If you are not sure where to hang them, have someone help you by holding up the pictures with you standing back and telling them where to place it.
Often, though not if you are a minimalist - one picture, unless it is very large, should have another to go with it, or some object that enhances it (color wise or subject wise). There is more to say about pictures, but for now that is enough. Thanks for visiting this blog. If you have a question, please email me at priscillasflair@gmail.com

On first sight -

SOME DECORATING ADVICE - Are you pleased with your surroundings, do you walk into your living room and declare how much you like where everything is. If you answer yes then you may not care about this blog. I hope to offer advice on how to decorate your home using what you already have.
Today I want to talk about pictures - are yours framed? Are they tacked on the wall with nails or are they sitting on the floor waiting to be placed on the wall. Believe it or not, lots of people are afraid of nail holes and never hang a picture. How silly is that? .A nail hole can be patched and pictures, if they are not right can be re-hung. My motto is "Have Hammer, Will Travel".
However, since this is a blog, I will have to have discussions, not travel. If anyone reads this, and has a question, please email me at priscillasflair@gmail.com.