Wallpaper's on a roll!

Everyone wants a great piece of artwork for their home. Why not choose some really amazing wallpaper instead? Your friends will be admiring not just what's on your wall but the wall itself!

I know what you are thinking- you grew up with wallpaper and now can't stand the site of plastic-looking floral patterns. I get it...but not all wallpaper these days are passe and old-fashioned. In recent years, wallpaper has gone from tacky to chic.

The point of wallpaper is to add texture and depth. It's a cost effective way to get large-scale art work on your walls.

According to Janet Davidson, there are three tips when selecting wallpaper:

1) "Use neutral colors for a classic look that will never go out of style"

2) "If you have a large room, choose a small, subtle pattern to keep it from becoming too overwhelming"

3) "Coordinate painted wall to match the wallpaper"

Fit for Royalty

Blue velvet seems to be this season's big furniture trend!

This luxurious fabric in shades of midnight, indigo, cobalt, and teal add opulence to any room.

Point...Click...Decorate!

I just discovered a great new website called PointClickHome. It was created by eight popular design magazines (two of which are Elle Decor and Metropolitan Home)

It is a great resource for project calculators and virtual room designing.

http://www.sheltertools.com/pointclickdesign/

The link above lets you space plan any room using premade furniture blocks.

http://www.sheltertools.com/pointclickcalculate/

This one helps you calculate how much paint, carpet, tile, or wallpaper you'll need when designing a room.

http://sheltertools.com/pointclickcolor/index.php

This last one lets you use color tools to "paint" any virtual room, adding color to walls, furniture, flooring, cabinets, and countertop. This way you can get an idea of what your finished room will look like.

Then you have the option of printing your layout or emailing it to someone!

Origami Influence

When you think of origami, you probably reminisce to those days when you used to sit in class trying to fold paper into a bird with flapping wings.

These days origami has been taken to a whole new level. Designers have been influenced by this Japanese art and now we are seeing an increasing number of creased and folded materials in things like furniture, fabric, and dishware.

Call of the wild

As you probably know, animal prints are big this fall. We see them EVERYWHERE- leopard, zebra, cheetah patterns- you name it. They are on pillows, rugs, bedding, and window treatments. Another home trend following in the footsteps of fashion.

Something I thought was interesting though, was the fact that exotic reptile motifs are very in right now. You will be seeing snakes, lizards, turtles, alligators, and crocodiles creeping onto everything! And not just the prints- the actual animal might be emroidered on the pillow too!

William Sonoma chose to incorporate two big trends- patent leather AND reptile prints into one pillow.

This set of pillows from William Sonoma gets not one, but two different prints on each pillow- ostrich and croc!

Shiny Objects

Crate and Barrel is having their once a year Custom Upholstery Sale. It ends 10/14! I was actually very pleasantly surprised when I went into C&B the other day to pick from their custom upholstery. They have tons of really great fabric options to choose from!

Below are a few vintage lamps from C&B's new lighting collection that just came out.
Brass, copper, silver, and gold seem to be all the rage in tabletop accessories. Some of these lamps are a little pricier than their normal ones , but well worth the buy!

Lamps are not the only metallic home accessory you will see this fall. Be on the lookout for more shimmer in wallcoverings, paint, tile, and upholstery. Silver, platinum, champagne, gold, aluminum, mercury, copper, and nickel will be everywhere just as they were (and still are) everywhere in apparel.

Mirror, mirror, on the wall...

Just a few of the mirrors I can't resist!

Sleek and Chic- Black Glassware

Crate and Barrel Stemless Wine Glasses

Love it or hate it?

This 70's influenced opaque stemware has made its comeback!

The elegant, dramatic, and mysterious onyx glassware doesn't go great with a lot of other tints, but seems to be popping up with white on tabletops.

FALL COLOR TRENDS

Since home decor mimics fashion trends, here is a list of new colors for Fall 2007. Colors this year tend to be more inviting, exotic, unusual and rich, but we love them!

Neutrals are pushed to the wayside and grey seems to be the new black. Greys have been seen as the fresh new neutral on walls and is used with decorative colors to contrast it. The grey trend is said to be "the backlash to years of taupe"!

Plum/ Wine colors are also huge as is Carafe, a deep espresso color.

Colors from nature are big as well: green moss (more on the yellow side), shale green (blue/grey), burnt ochre (fall's new orange), and star gazer (the new turqoise).

My absolute favorite are all the jewel tones- especially the emerald green!