Whether you have toddlers who are just crawling around or teenagers having friends over, finding kid friendly (and kid tough) flooring is a must.  Carpet is a great choice, but there are other options out there besides traditional wall-to-wall carpet.  If you do choose wall-to-wall, make sure you are getting something that is not only soft underfoot but also durable and most importantly, stain resistant.

Wool carpeting is naturally stain resistant and durable. Wool carpet, like in this kid’s room, has a great texture but is also soft on feet. Cotton area rugs have the bonus of being washable (if they are not too big) in the machine or spot cleaned.  Carpets with patterns are also a good choice.  There are many pattern choices these days, ranging from modern to traditional and antique patterns.  These can be found in both area rugs and wall-to-wall.

If you have wall-to-wall carpet that you want to protect from little feet or messy teenagers, placing an area rug over the high traffic area or middle of the room is a smart, and stylish, addition to the floor.

Hardwood is durable, but can be slippery or tough on little ones. A natural wool or cotton area rug is a good way to make hardwood, or any hard surface flooring, more kid friendly.

Carpet squares make a smart choice for kid friendly floors. If a stain should occur, simply swap out the tile for a new one.  Cork is also a soft and natural flooring choice.

This cool bathroom was designed by Sarah Richardson’s show, Sarah’s House. It has a lot of wonderful and stylish design elements that all come together to make it feel polished and styled. Let’s take a look at the major elements of the bathroom.

Use of natural stone. Both the floor and counter top are white marble with gray veining. This is a classic choice of hard surface for bathrooms. Using the marble on both the floor and the counter helps unify the design in a relatively small space.

The glass shower enclosure also helps the small space feel bigger. A shower curtain would close off the space and make the shower feel smaller. The glass opens up the shower space and lets it flow with the rest of the room.

Small tiles are used in an interesting way. Creating stripes of color with small square tiles makes a bigger impact than using all one color or even having a random mosaic pattern. Horizontal stripes help to widen the feeling of the room. The tile is also a nice way to introduce color into the room.

A non-traditional bathroom mirror over the vanity is a nice way to add style to a small bathroom. The round mirror also echoes the round vessel sinks. Both circles break up all the linear shapes of the room.

Silvery sconces complement the silver frame of the mirror as well as the nickel bathroom fixtures, including the faucet and shower head.

In a small space, such as a bathroom, all design elements need to be well thought out to make the room feel bigger than its small footprint.

If your child is starting to outgrow a menagerie of stuffed friends, this approach can keep them out of the way without having them totally disappear. Or maybe you have a collection of old friends that you are not quite willing to tuck into a closet but would like to keep under better management.

One appealing solution is to create a set of boxes that permit arranging the stuffed crew in an inviting and imaginative way. Here we have about 22 animals living in peace while looking more interesting and appealing than they would scattered throughout a room

This multiple-space shadow box is the work of an afternoon for someone handy with basic carpentry. To dress it up you could add a back and some wallpaper or contrasting paint inside each area.

The secret to the charm of this display comes from the casual display of various toys, combining some open space with piles of different creatures. You can make the same magic in any room by breaking the balance rule a bit. Maybe you have a side table just perfect for a bowl filled with old coins, or a corner of your kitchen where all of your favorite cookie cutters just fit on one wall. Some small shelves and a few nails and you are reminded of cookies every time you glance that way.

The white paint on these shelves allow virtually any flooring choice, but you may want to go with wood stain instead if you have wood flooring and want to make the two pieces connect. You have unlimited choices if you’ll just think outside the box when deciding how to display treasured possessions.

If you are like most of us you may have hung your outdoor Christmas decorations over Thanksgiving weekend. Or maybe you didn’t. Maybe you put it off until now because you didn’t want to deal with the ladder, the weather and untangling the mess of lights from last year.  There is no time like the present to overcome all of those obstacles and get the outside of your home looking perfect for the season.

Gather all the items you will need to begin your outdoor lighting project. The ladder, extension cords, timers, clips, hooks and clamps, power stakes, work gloves and a few basic tools like a hammer, a screwdriver and some pliers. It’s also a great idea to measure everything you want to adorn with lights. Also measure the distance to each power source. It’s a pain, but so worth it.

Decide where you want to hang your lights. Some of the most popular spots to hang lights are on the eaves of your home, or along your roofline. Atop bushes, hedges and trees. On pillars, posts and railings. Around windows and doorframes. Near driveways and pathways.

Unwrap all lights and untangle cords. Swear to yourself that this year you will put them away neatly. Test each light strand before you hang it. Replace burned out or missing bulbs. Toss any light strand with fraying cords. Hang your lights during the day as climbing a ladder in the dark is not very safe. If you can, bribe someone to be your partner. Hanging lights goes much faster with a buddy.

The rule of thumb for how many lights you need is 100 lights for every foot and a half that you want to cover. A 6-foot tree would therefore need 400 lights for the basic lighting. If you want to get a little more ‘blingy” you can double or even triple the amount of lights you use.

Should you need to purchase additional lights for you project make sure you pick outdoor lights, as indoor lights are not meant for the elements. If you can spring for LED lights you should. LEDs are more costly to purchase, but they’ll save you money in the long run. They’re 90% more energy-efficient and last thousands of hours longer than comparable incandescent bulbs. Icicle lights are great for rooflines and eaves. Net and blanket lights make it easy to cover bushes and shrubs.

Start high and work your way down. For safety reasons never connect more than three light strands together. After you’ve hung your third strand go back to your power source for your next set of lights.  Use clips to attach lights whenever possible. Please don’t hammer or staple through cords as this can cause damage to the light strand.

And viola – you are no longer the only Grinch on the block without Christmas lights. Take your buddy out for a beer and breath of relief that your holiday decorating project is done.

There is a big trend in design right now that you’ve probably seen. Mixing up different design styles in one room for an eclectic look that when it works feels very personal.  While using just one style, like traditional or Mediterranean, is still popular in new home construction and decorating, we’re seeing more and more eclectic interiors in the shelter magazines and on design blogs. What do you think? Is this a trend you are following?

This picture is a good example of eclectic style working well in a room.  The room and chair are traditional in style, and in the classic neutral color palette.  A club chair like this one can work in many different style interiors and is a great basic chair. The woven pouf, or table, feels much more contemporary and handcrafted.  It is clearly not the same style as the club chair yet works well with the chair and the room. A single piece that stands out can become the focal point. This table almost feels like a piece of sculpture in the neutral space.

By keeping the floor neutral works, the room feels like a cohesive space. A traditional rug or contemporary rug would be too much.  A simple woven rug or natural jute area rug would work best in this space, keeping things neutral.

When mixing styles, keep your eye on line and color to create an eclectic space that feels sophisticated, not just a hodgepodge of found furnishings. Mix in smaller accents from another style and see how they work with your existing pieces until you achieve a look you love.

This room takes advantage of a number of international elements while still providing a comfortable contemporary space. If you’re fortunate enough to have travelled and collected art and other items from a number of countries, take the opportunity to use them to add personality and your own touch to your home.

The wood floor and cream walls provide a good base for the variety of colors and textures featured in this room. Simple architectural elements such as the black molding and the wood surround on the door provide additional charm without distracting from the rich selection of international elements. The straightforward sofa, coffee table and ottoman also work well as a backdrop to the more design-rich pieces.

Let’s start with the light fixture. Most people wouldn’t think of buying a light as a souvenir from another country, but this unique look helps to set the stage for the room’s design.

Give up the idea of having elements match each other. When you purchase international goods, everything will be different, so celebrate that. Take a look at the two candlesticks on the coffee table. On the left an old carved wood carries a red taper that sets off the rich patina of weathered wood. On the right an intricate brass candlestick carries a warm cream candle. Similarities come from the rounded shapes and heights, but the differences work.

The throw pillows are in basic domestic fabrics, but they provide an opportunity to bring in textiles from other countries in the future. A rich area rug could be purchased here in the U.S. or possibly selected from a Turkish bazaar. When you begin with a good basic look of wood floor and earth-tone furniture, you can add those exciting international elements and make your home intriguingly yours.

Beyond the welcome mat at the front door, the foyer or entry hall is the first room in your house guests will see.  For most of us, the foyer is not a huge space and that can make it more difficult to decorate.  The small space needs to be welcoming, functional and stylish.  One way to add style and a welcoming feel to this greeting area is pattern on the floor.

Putting pattern on the floor, while keeping the rest of the space simple and neutral, creates balance. Letting the patterned floor set the colors for the foyer’s color palette will create a unified and stylish looking space to greet your guests.  Installing a pattern floor, like this black and white harlequin pattern, is something best left to professionals. The intricate pattern with a border of smaller diamonds and then a black border feels almost like an area rug, another great choice to add pattern to a foyer.

Area rugs or runners are an easy way to add pattern to the foyer or hall floor.  Stripes running the length of the runner will expand the feeling of the space; horizontal stripes will help widen the space.  Florals, traditional Persian patterns, geometrics—all work as pattern for a foyer floor.

You could also do an inlaid wood floor, a painted floor or a brightly patterned Moroccan tile floor in the foyer. Whatever you choose, make sure it is durable to withstand heavy foot traffic.

Color blocking is a big trend in fashion right now. Creating big areas of color in an outfit in contrasting colors is a look we saw on the runways and city streets this spring. Interior design and fashion influence one another so it is no surprise we are also seeing color blocking in decorating.

Color blocking on walls works well in large spaces like this open concept loft space.  Each block of color denotes a different function in the room: blue for home office; red for dining; yellow for living.  The yellow on the column is a nice pop of bright color against the deeper shades of blue and red.

For other spaces where three different primary or bold colors would be too much on the walls, color blocking can be done on the floor with area rugs.  Using a colorful area rug in the living room to center the seating area and a contrasting color rug in the dining room would create the look of color blocking without being overwhelming.

Adding color blocks in accents is another way to bring this fashion look into your décor.  Choose a throw blanket in one color and add accent pillows in a contrasting color on a neutral sofa.  You can group accessories, like colored glass vases, together into blocks of color.  In the bathroom, arrange towels in groups of two and three colors that really pop.

No matter how you interpret the color blocking trend, bringing color into your space is always a good idea.

This photo shows how well light wood flooring looks against the rich variety of colors provided by the holiday tree. If you have darker wood floors, you get to look forward to the reflection of the trees lights in the glossy finish, adding to the charm of the room

But today we’re focusing on the cake in the foreground, to help you ensure that your holiday entertainment features desserts that are dressed for the season.

There are those people who bake their own cookies and cakes from scratch and pull out icing bags to decorate them in festive ways. But if you’re not one of those people, you can still create an appealing holiday look with your desserts.

This cake involves a couple of small artificial trees, some star twist in silver – available where gift wrap is sold – and three simply-decorated holiday cookies. The process is simple and fast but the result has pizazz.

Another option is to decorate the plate and leave the treats alone. Take a look at these cookies. They are simple iced sugar cookies and shortbread, but adding a sprig of holly turns them into holiday treats. You could also use pine or other holiday greenery – not miseltoe though – the berries are poisonous.

Here’s another cake that benefits from some holiday touches. Instead of inedible decorations, this cake has fresh raspberries and mint to mimic holly and berries. A bit of gold wire running around the cake matches the gold rim of the plate. The biggest advantage to these choices comes from taste. Both raspberries and mint complement the taste of chocolate, so you have decorations that also add to the flavor of the dessert. With little effort, these options make your desserts reflect the holidays.

A bedroom should be a calm oasis to restore your spirit at the end of a day and greet your eyes with harmony in the morning. This traditional style bedroom is awash with calm colors in antique white, grey and soft blues. All the colors fall within a similar range of hues, giving the room an almost monochrome palette punctuated with a few deeper accents.

When laying out a bedroom, find a focal point for the bed to face. This may be a window or fireplace. Often the bed is centered on the longest wall, but you can always center it between two windows. If you have more than one focal point, pick one and be sure to highlight the other. In this room, the beautiful windows have grey shades and cream curtains that frame them and create a focal point. Hanging the television above the fireplace keeps the focus on the fireplace rather than detracts from it.

Flooring in the bedroom should be visually pleasing but also pleasing to bare feet. Hardwood floors with a large area rug or wall to wall carpeting both work well in a bedroom.

Matching wall color, curtain fabric and carpet gives a room a polished monochrome look that can also be soothing if the colors are in cool neutrals. Using neutrals as the base colors allows for easy changes in accessories seasonally or as your taste changes. A neutral upholstered headboard can also be accessorized with a throw or slip cover.