Is your outdoor dining table in good condition but your chairs have seen better days? Can you keep your table and get new chairs? Is it OK if they don't match? Or, would you like to add another piece of outdoor furniture to the sitting area you have already but it is not the same finish, or even material as the rest of what you own? YES! As a decorator, I am always encouraging my clients to mix and match furniture pieces to create a more personal setting. There are simple ways to handle this. Let's see how some pros mix their outdoor pieces beautifully...more

A splash of sunny yellow in your outdoor space might be just the ticket to lift your mood. This year, the Pantone Color Institute has come out with two selections for their annual Color of the Year: Illuminating, a bright, citrusy yellow, and Ultimate Gray, a neutral granite-gray. While the color combo hasn’t been everyone’s cup of tea for interiors or fashion, it works well for home exteriors and gardens.

Think of a cheerful yellow front door against gray siding, yellow blooms alongside cobblestones, lemons ripening in a gray winter garden or even the flash of a goldfinch flitting through the landscape. Need convincing? Take a look at the following nine ways to adopt this color trend in your garden...more

As 2020 winds down and everyone looks ahead to what the next year will bring, it’s a good time in the home design world to check out paint brands’ picks for 2021 Color — or Colors — of the Year. Pantone recently unveiled its selection, a sunny yellow and mid-gray duo, so let’s see what other colors we might see more of in the coming year...more

What do singer Pharrell Williams, the movie franchise Despicable Me and global color authority Pantone have in common? Well, if you’ve seen the first two films in the series, then you probably know that Williams wrote and sang several tracks for the popular animated flicks (including the toe-tapping, Grammy Award–winning song “Happy” from Despicable Me 2).

But how does Pantone fit into the picture, you ask? Look to the launch of Pantone’s newest color, Minion Yellow, a sunny shade inspired by and named after the lovable, kooky creatures from the series, who will return to the silver screen later this year in a Despicable Me spin-off movie, Minions...more

For only the second time since its first Color of the Year announcement 20 years ago, the color standards management company Pantone Color Institute has unveiled not one but two colors. Illuminating, a bright sunshine yellow, joins forces with neutral, grounding Ultimate Gray as Pantone’s dual selections for 2021 Color of the Year.

Leatrice Eiseman, the institute’s executive director, says Pantone selected these colors to “highlight how different elements come together to express a message of strength and hopefulness that is both enduring and uplifting, conveying the idea that it’s not about one color or one person, it’s about more than one.” ... more

As anyone who has untangled a snarled string of lights or come up 5 feet short on the roof-line can attest, the process of hanging holiday lights is more complicated than it looks. A satisfying result depends both on having the right products on hand as well as proper installation. Let us help take the guesswork out of your holiday light setup this year with tips from lighting professionals, including tricks for hiding cords, the best lights for tree-wrapping and how to evenly hang lights along the eaves of your home...more

Your gatherings this holiday season may be smaller this year, and some of your usual traditions might even be canceled altogether. But each new season in life, even the tough ones, invites us to create something fresh from changed circumstances...more

If living with winter has taught me anything, it’s to savor the warm and cozy aspects of this season. Candles, fairy lights and a roaring fire can do wonders to boost light on short, dark days and (even more important) bolster the spirits. So pour yourself a mug of hot cocoa and get cozy around the fire. Here are nine ideas for boosting light and creating a magical ambience around the house...more

Embracing cozy spots can make us feel good and comfortable as we hunker down for the winter. Check out how Houzz design pros helped their clients achieve a cozy vibe in these rooms around the house...more