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What does your home and your entertaining style say about you? Take a rainy day to think about what you love, and incorporate that into your home and entertaining style. Are you more casual in the way you approach life or when you entertain do the white linens and best china come out?

My four-legged family dictates the way I live and entertain and that is definitely reflected in my home. Gone are any good rugs - I’m now enjoying hardwood floors with area rugs I just change out when I get bored with them. Furniture is sturdy and made to stand up to dogs on the sofas and cats scratching - I refuse to declaw them and just bought appropriate items that they can’t destroy.

Art is a very important part of my life, and  my collections are lovingly shown throughout the house. I buy / collect items that have a story with them - a special vacation, the artist is a friend or I purchased it at an important time in my life. It may not all “match” or coordinate, but its’ me.

If you are overwhelmed by the idea of making changes to your life or style, start by choosing one item you love that can be the inspiration for your entire project. Inspiration can come from anywhere - a sunset, a shell from the beach you took your favorite vacation at, your pets… what’s important is that it’s something that will help make your house a home.

In this house it was the sectional sofa - it’s colors set the theme for the entire house. Whenever I needed to make a decision about anything going into the home I would bring out one of the sofa pillows and hold it up to whatever I was working on. If it’s too difficult to carry around the object of your inspiration just take a photo of it to remind you what you are working around and towards.

Be careful to stay true to your course - it’s easy to get distracted by pretty items that might be fine by themselves but will leave you with a look that doesn’t work together in the end.

With gas prices what they are, why not invest your vacation dollars into your own backyard? Prices have dropped on many items that can make your own home into a resort, and it’s a vacation your family can then enjoy all year long.

This home features a spectacular indoor / outdoor fireplace that is beautiful as well as functional. By screening in the porch area and using pavers for the flooring this will end up being one of the most used rooms in the house. The furniture was a vintage set that was taken to an auto body company and painted using auto paint. The result is one that will last for years and is very cost-effective. To tie into current color trends we went to Pier1 Imports and found some great colorful cushions and an outdoor area rug to complete the look.

Manufactured Housing is also tapping into the outdoor living trend, and Patriot Homes now offers some new models that come complete with outdoor areas that are ready to go as soon as the homes are delivered. Patriot Homes of Alabama showcased two homes at the Tunica show this year - one with a screened porch area that was large enough to house a bar and seating area, and another with a built-in sink and prep area, covered porch and optional grill. This area could have an additional deck area added on-site, but as offered there is lots of room for even the largest parties.

When considering an outdoor oasis of your own, keep in mind the following considerations:
*Utilities: Be sure that you have adequate water, electrical and gas if you’ll need it for your new area. If this is something you’ll have to add it can really drive up the costs.
*Screening: If you are in an area that tends to have lots of bugs you may want to think about screening in your new area to make it more comfortable all year long.
*Size Matters: Be sure when you are planing your space that there is room for whatever seating you plan on using as well as room to walk around. One of the mistakes I see the most is porches that aren’t wide enough when you add traditional seating.

Sadly traveling especially flying is no longer the enjoyable experience it used to be, so relieve the stress and enjoy your own back yard.

Great design isn’t about how much you spend but how you spend it. Sometimes the best ideas don’t even cost a dime, but by re-purposing items that you already have or digging thru those storage containers you have in the basement you can come up with a completely different look.

We just finished a really innovative home in Rochester, NY that was a show house for @Home Builders and The Ronald McDonald House. What truly made the home unique was that it was completely merchandised with furniture, artwork and accessories that had been donated to The Ronald McDonald House for their ABC Sale that is help annually. I was able to dig thru the warehouse that stored these treasures and come up with a complete home that ended up being the crowd favorite at the 2008 Homearama that is sponsored by the Rochester Home Builders Association. To get more information on the home and the process we have a separate Lifestylist site.

This home was also a great chance for us to “practice what we preach” and to show how it can come together. We have come up with 12 different ways you can use the Lifestylist® philosophy and live your own life with style.

Sometimes it really pays off to keep an open mind. I had the manager of the Rochester Country Curtains call me about the Ronald McDonald Homearama House I’m doing with @Home Builders and express an interest in being included in the home. The name scared me because the home is anything but country, but I told them to send me a catalog and I’d take a look.

What a pleasant surprise! The colors were right on trend, the styling was beautiful and the prices were great. They have been an absolute delight to deal with as well, and I’m looking forward to seeing everything installed.

I’m in Rochester! It’s finally time to put the items we want for the Ronald McDonald Showhouse on the truck and make some magic happen! I think everyone will be surprised at what we have come up with and how all of it will flow together. I know that some of the volunteers that I worked with today were scratching their heads trying to understand my vision.

Most of my day was spent digging through boxes, containers, and piles of goodies looking for the buried treasure that I knew was there and it was. Wait until you see the aqua typewriter I found in perfect condition! I want to buy the entire study just so I can own that gem.

Making a house or room come together is about being flexible and being willing to step away from an idea if it just isn’t coming together. Today we had to make some tough choices, but I feel that we made the right ones and we are going in the right direction.

Tomorrow is moving day and I finally get to see the items in the house. All of the items will be sold by an online auction that will be up shortly. As soon as I have all of the information I’ll post it here.

I’m so excited - only one week until I head to Rochester to start installing the Homearama showhouse with the Ronald McDonald House! Pete, the super-fantastic contractor on the job had the house not only done on time but it was done early. @Home Builders has a great area on the website that shows the house coming together. They were having a volunteer meeting at the home tonight and I can’t wait to hear all of the comments.

Donations are still pouring in and the Rochester community has been very generous. Ronald McDonald House is an amazing organization and this has been a great opportunity to help them. We now have two incredible artists that are donating their time, The Ronald McDonald House volunteers have hundreds of hours logged picking up and renovating the donations, and Realtor® Lorelei Smith is ready to help the lucky owner of this wonderful home sign the papers to make it theirs.

This is a recent donation that was just meant to be. The chaise is covered in original vintage handpainted velvet with spectacular fringe at the bottom, and the best part is whoever is the lucky bidder on the master bedroom is going to get to own this beautiful vintage jewel!

Another wonderful item that will be in the master bedroom is the armoire that has been lovingly restored. One of the things that makes it unique is all of the organizing areas in it that I’ve never seen before in an older piece.

I’m counting the days until I can start putting everything together and share the progress with you.

Happy Memorial Day! This was a wonderful family filled one for me - I drove up to Oklahoma City to spend the day with my parents, sisters, and their families.

This month I’ve been very busy doing model homes across the country for Patriot, and also working on my new Lifestylist Design products that will be launching in January. It’s been really exciting to see the Lifestylist program come full circle, and to see how people have embraced the concept and made it their own.

My sister is the perfect example of what Lifestylist Design is all about. It should be about you - your life, your loves, your discoveries, not some designer or other persons interpretation of how they think you should live. I was finally able to get up here to see the new home that she and her family have been working on, and it’s spectacular! And the best thing about it is that when I walk in the home, or even when I drive up to the home there is no question that this is an active outgoing family who loves life and are individuals. From the start my sister refused to get “typecast” into a specific style or theme. Instead she incorporated things that they saw on various trips, items that were gifts on very special occasions, and was wise enough to encourage her subcontractors to be partners with her on this journey. The result is a marriage of craftsmanship and character that will never be replicated the same way again, just as my sister is a one of a kind.

“Rules” are meant to be broken, especially in the design world. The next time someone tells you what you can or can’t do with your home tell them that you practice the Lifestylist Design philosophy where what you love is never put in question.

Summer is here, and with it come all of the housekeeping that has been neglected that can’t be ignored anymore. My garden is in, the windows have been washed, and finally the pool is painted (again). I can’t wait to take advantage of all of the outdoor areas here at The Home Idea Factory and continue my quest to have my home live up to it’s potential. One of the things that attracted me to my home is that it needed so much work I knew I’d never run out of projects!

After living in Tucson for 10 years I was anxious to give my green thumb a try and see if I could replicate some of the gardens that my grandmother was known for. She was a huge influence on me, and some of my fondest memories are of Silva working on our vegetable gardens at the lake that we planted Memorial Day weekend or her cutting gardens that were as unconventional as she was. On some of my visits back to the family farm in Erie, Pennsylvania I dug up some roots of her plants and brought them back to Texas to see if they would grow, and some of them have done well. Unfortunately the raspberry bushes that we used to spend hours in the middle of eating to our hearts content didn’t like the clay soil in this area and didn’t make it. But the hostas are thriving and the seeds that I gathered from her hollyhocks have helped me establish the garden that I’ve always hoped for.

The front garden that used to be a weed patch now boasts a riot of colors and includes hollyhocks and sunflowers that reach to the sky. Our latest patch of feral kittens uses it as a safe haven and I love watching them play hide and seek in the hostas.

I hope that you all are enjoying a beautiful Memorial Day!

Western New York is such a unique part of the country and is rich in history, especially in the Rochester area. It’s absolutely beautiful almost any time of year but I have to admit my favorite times are lilac and corn seasons.

Rochester is also the home of the Kodak corporation and camera junkie that I am when I’m in that area I try to go to as many flea markets and thrift shops as I can to find the perfect addition to my growing collection. At one time my collection was over 400 still and movie cameras but I’ve thinned it out a little and some of my very lucky builders got some very cool cameras in the theming of their model homes.

I’ve been keeping in touch with the wonderful Ronald McDonald House volunteers that have been gathering goodies for our Homearama house by @Home Builders and as luck would have it a wonderful woman donated a large collection of cameras and Kodak memorabilia that had belonged to her late husband Leonard Coleman.

When I collect I try to learn as much as I can about where the items came from or who they belonged to so when we were able to learn about Mr. Coleman I was thrilled.

Leonard Coleman was an avid collector and had a life-long love affair with photography. His collection had included over 2,000 cameras, most manufactured by Eastman Kodak and some manufactured as early as 1890. Mr. Coleman started his career with Eastman Kodak in 1948 as a messenger when he was 17 years old. He worked his way up through the company and retired as a vice-president in 1990.

Mrs. Coleman has been very generous with sharing the amazing collection that her husband had put together. Much of the collection was donated to the George Eastman House, and thankfully she has also decided to share some of the collection with The Ronald McDonald House ABC Sale and with us!

If you love photography and cameras as much as I do, the home and the fall sale will be one that you won’t want to miss. All of the collection will be either be included in the rooms that are auctioned after Homearama or in the ABC Sale. As soon as I have more information how you can bid on these items I’ll share it here.