With the recent holidays of Easter and Passover, we have been striving to dress up our dining room tables. Now comes graduations, reunions, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, Valentine's Day....the cycle of celebrations never end. How to avoid having too many boxes and drawers filled with holiday-specific linens that are never ironed when we need them to be? Restaurant white is an option, but we can also discover the power of red!

It doesn't have to be lipstick red - it can be crimson or red-orange. But a shade of red works with almost every holiday. Valentine's hearts, fall harvest, candy canes, patriotic fever...the common thread is a red one. 

Even for Easter, mix the red with its analogous colors of purple, orange, and yellow, and the table will look like someone had a lot of fun dyeing Easter eggs. By investing in a great, deep crimson table cloth, then buying several set of cloth napkins in many different colors (white for formal, mint green for a modern Christmas, deep blue for Bastille Day), we can have a great holiday table without bothering with linen storage. 

Add some flowers and some holiday-themed candies scattered for effect, and we're ready for the bet part of holidays: the food!

Pottery Barn has some sharp new table linens in the latest shades of red. In particular, take a note of the Jackie Floral http://www.potterybarn.com/products/jackie-floral-table-runner/?pkey=e|jackie%2Bfloral|4|best|0|1|24||4&cm_src=PRODUCTSEARCH||NoFacet-_-NoFacet-_-NoMerchRules-_- ,  and Leila Block-Print tablecloths http://www.potterybarn.com/products/leila-block-print-tablecloths/?pkey=e|leila|6|best|0|1|24||1&cm_src=PRODUCTSEARCH||NoFacet-_-NoFacet-_-NoMerchRules-_- .

Do Clocks Add Stress or Help With It?

We're sure that the first big fight back in the era of cave dwellers was because the hunter gatherer was late for dinner, according to the sundial!  Clocks are a fun decorative item, and they are often well priced, but do they add to the serenity of a home or disturb it?  Especially now that cell phones are the new wrist watch....

We still like to have clocks at the transition points in our homes. It's nice to look up and see how much time you have left to drink your morning coffee and read the paper before you head out the door. (And looking at a clock is more fun than looking at your microwave!)  So here are the places we consider our transition points - yours might be different:
1. Close to where you wake up;
2. Close to where you enter and exit your home;
3. Close to where you eat most of your meals;
4. Close to where you keep your household papers (bills, mail, manuals),
so you can squeeze in a few minutes of checking the mail without stressing about when you have to leave; and
5. In the bathroom where you get ready in the mornings.

With those five spots in mind, here are some of our favorite clocks of the moment, and one hour glass to celebrate the past. To shake things up, play with the scale of the clock. Choose an oversized clock like the Fresh Ink clock from CB2 which at 39" will catch anyone's eye.

http://www.clockstyle.com/wall-clocks/contemporary/franklloydwrightcollectionexhibitioniiclockbybulova.cfm

http://www.dwr.com/product/tools-for-living/clocks/nelson-sunburst-clock.do?sortby=ourPicks

http://www.cb2.com/table-top-decor/accessories/hour-15-minute-glasses/f4108?fromLocation=search

http://www.cb2.com/clocks/accessories/fresh-ink-clock/f6355?fromLocation=search

We are moving from a 1909 apartment with wood moldings to a 1960's "Mad Men" white brick building.  The decorating crisis of the week is what to do with our living room furniture. It's quite pretty, but would Don Draper sit on the classic sofa?  And, of course, we want to spend as little as possible and get the biggest bang for our buck....

This is a classic dilemma for anyone moving from one style home to another: how can I get a big, new look on a small budget?  There are three possible solutions:

1.  Buy new furniture and sell the old on eBay or through the local thrift shop.  PLUS: you get what you want.  MINUS:  upholstered furniture is almost worthless in the resale market.

2.  Reupholster the old furniture in new fabric.  PLUS:  new fabric as fresh as your new paint job.  MINUS: recovering a sofa doesn't turn a Victorian loveseat into a mid-century piece.

3.  Live with the old furniture and buy some new accessories.  PLUS: small budget, less stress during the move.  MINUS:  it will never look the way you pictured it in your mind when you picked your new space.

Three very different routes, which to choose? In our case, we have decided to do all three:  live with the sofa the way it is, because it is in great shape.  New pillows and a throw will freshen it.  Recover the love seats, to bring out the background color in the sofa and create a new feel. Then, add some new chairs and lamps to tie in the '60s sense of the space.  For us, this is a fun challenge to make the new work with the old, and of course, this is what RoomJuice is all about - working out a solution for your space that fits your budget and recognizes your dreams!

Would Don Draper sit on this?