Organizing Idea

In choosing which furniture to feature in our organizing idea issue this month, we looked for furniture that ranked in the top tier for creating order and ease in our increasingly informal, yet chaotic lives. (It also had to look good!)

Our choice? Napa, by aspenhome®. Inspired by California's wine country inns and antiques, there’s a lot to like about this collection’s style. But Napa also reflects exciting advances in furniture functionality.

Check out the organization features we liked most in our Napa RoomCue. We also included do-it-yourself decorating ideas to recreate the beautiful interiors seen in this collection's photos (... wall paint colors, accessory ideas, samples of the collection's wood finish, hardware and fabrics and more). 

You can see more of Napa's family room designs, bedroom design pictures, home office design pictures and dining room design ideas in this month's roomplanners magazine... along with lots of other clever furniture and closet organization ideas.

If you'd like to receive our free online magazine each month, please subscribe here.

• Whenever you stay at a hotel, take the tiny shampoos and soaps home with you. Don’t use them, just hoard them in your bathroom.
• If someone offers to give you something you don’t really need, like an extra set of dishes, say yes. 
• Don’t weed out clothing when you buy new... and keep clothing in a wide range of sizes in case you shrink or expand.
• Subscribe to half a dozen weekly magazines and a couple of newspapers. Refuse to get rid of anything until you’ve read it.
• If you have a yard sale, put everything you can’t sell back in the basement instead of donating it. Repeat annually.

If you agree that understanding what causes clutter will help conquer it, read on. Here's the complete list of hoarding habits, compliments of TimesUnion blogs..
http://blog.customclosetsdirect.com/tidy-tips/how-to-create-clutter-in-your-home/

Also, check out the organization articles in our home decorating magazine this month. (To receive roomplanners free online magazine each month, please subscribe here).

Whether a simple coat tree, a console table or a wall of built-in cubbies, every home needs a landing pad near the door for all that stuff that comes in (and goes out) of our home every day!

Enter the drop zone, a new term for the wise, old practice of providing a place to put down, store and organize the portable things of our lives... coats, gloves, keys, handbags, cell phones, backpacks and more.

A little effort and planning goes a long way when it comes to furniture placement and storage inside this hard working area of our home. Even when space is tight (...especially when space is tight), an efficient place to transition from indoor to outdoor spaces can dramatically decrease our stress and increase our efficiency.

Check out our home decorating magazine this month - we’ve included some clever small room furniture solutions and a great organization idea or two to help clear the clutter and make the most of the drop zones at your public and private entrances.

To receive our free magazine issue each month (filled with house decorating ideas and photos!) please subscribe here.

Perhaps the most coveted clothing quarters of all time, Carrie Bradshaw’s closets are worth probing for great ideas (and a great organizing idea or two) you could model in your own home.

Get a close-up view (and see all the fabulous details!) of the closets featured in both Sex and the City movies - inside the recent issue of our decorating magazine. 

Our special organization issue includes smart closet master bedroom decorating ideas from the experts, 7 deadly closet planning mistakes to avoid... plus organization ideas for your entry areas and kitchen.

To receive every issue of roomplanners free magazine, subscribe here!

When thinking about organizing in grid style, here's some important height dimensions to keep in mind:
Shoes - 6" / Boots - 15"-18" / Hanging pants - 30" / Suits, skirts, shirts - 36"-38" / Dresses, robes, coats - 58"-64".

For many more ideas on closet planning, check out the special organization issue of our roomplanners home decorating magazine. It includes the 7 deadly closet mistakes, closet tips from professional room designers... and photos of Carrie Bradshaw's famous closets from the movie set design on Sex and the City.

When it comes to making food taste good, our mind plays as big a role as our mouth! Imagine if your next steak were blue! Our minds lock in memories of how colors taste… so fresh, abundant or organic will colors will bring out those qualities in our room moods and food!

A room painted anything but white casts a colored light on our food. So the best wall paint colors enhance food’s natural color. In fact, color can increase or decrease our appetite. (Filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock's allegedly used blue light in his dining room interior, a trick that cast a grayish haze over the food and made his guests qweezy!) 

The warm side of the paint color wheel is most popular for dining room interior design… since most of the foods we eat have a ripe, sun-washed warmth and we eat them warmed up. That makes oranges, yellows and warm neutral paint colors ideal, especially earthy, organic tones that evoke spices, fresh bread, pasta, fall vegetables and well-cooked meals. Browns inspired by café au lait and chocolate work well in contemporary rooms.

Reds with a yellow cast (tomato) rather than a blue cast (raspberry) are more appetizing. Deep wine and burgundy hues work well in traditional dining rooms.

To complement warm wood tones, green is a good choice. Choose a green hue that simulates food… duller rather than brighter and with yellow (rather than blue) undertones.

Few colors are as chic as white, but as a dining room wall color, it can look stark. Food companies have long struggled with white packaging—it looks tasteless… the same problem can occur in a white dining room!

On the cool side of the color wheel, blues and purples work best for dishes or placemats rather than wall paint colors, unless dark or dull. They offer a good contrast against warm food colors.

As a rule, the brighter the color, the more efficient rather than relaxed it makes us. Fast food restaurants used bright orange for years because it’s friendly, makes us chew faster and vacate our table quicker! But orange is an efficient color only when it’s bright; muted oranges feel appetizing and warm (see dining room picture above,Cross Island by Ashley Furniture). So reserve bright hues for a modern chairs reakfast table or other modern kitchen color ideas, at best!

Still not sure which wall paint color to choose? Pick the hue of your favorite food—you’ll instantly love it!

Unless your living or family room design has an obvious focal point (a large fireplace, unusual windows, etc.), you’ll need to create one. How? Select an object that promotes the room’s main activity. A handsome TV cabinet will make TV-watching easier... or a unique area rug under a sofa and chairs will invite togetherness.

According to professional room designers, the perfect focal point meets eight criteria…

#1. Nice to look at.  Being the center of attention, a handsome design and quality construction are must-haves!

#2. Well lit. Accent lighting aimed at the focal point (or inside of it) adds art gallery-like drama.

#3. Personal. Adding books, pictures or favorite objects above or inside a focal point adds personalized, unique details to a room. Adjustable shelves inside a cabinet helps customize your display (they're also a helpful organizing idea).

#4. Useful. A focal point that's also functional does double duty! A fireplace adds warmth. Furniture with drawers add storage. A cabinet with glass doors keeps TV and stereo components dust-free and the remote control working!

#5. Without a bad side!  If the sides or top of a piece of furniture are visible (even from a balcony), they must be as well designed and finished as the front!

#6. Next to seating. Whether a fireplace, window or TV wall, a focal point is best accompanied by a comfortable living room furniture arrangement right next to it.

#7. Scaled for the room.  In living or family room designs with a high ceiling, a tall fireplace or furniture cabinet will look more proportionate. In a small room or one with low-ceilings, a low mantel or a wide cabinet will look more proprotionate (and make the ceilings look higher!)

#8. Unlike the wall behind it. Focal points that contrast the color or texture of the wall behind it stand out. Objects with sculptural, or three-dimensional qualities add extra drama.

In most living and family rooms, watching TV is the main activity! A  grand cabinet, like the Napa grand wall (above) houses a large TV without making the TV the focus of the room.

The movie set design of It’s Complicated (Universal Pictures, 2009) revealed some casually elegant style trends for home. The look is inspired by a blend of American and European gourmet and wine country influences, a desire for quieter homes and for more organic materials.

Writer and director of It’s Complicated, Nancy Meyers is already well-known for her portrayal of women as strong and independent; she’s becoming as well-known for the trend-setting house decorating ideas she packs into her leading lady’s home. The movie set design of her latest movie follows on the heels of another memorable movie home in Something’s Gotta Give (Columbia Pictures, 2003). And if the influence of her most recent set decor on interior design is anything like the last one, it’s likely to inspire more than a few home makeovers!

Jane (played by Meryl Streep) owns a Spanish ranch in southern California that blends Italian, French and California country styles. In a nutshell, the home's interior design style is sophisticated without being fancy. Terracotta-colored accents look inspired by surrounding Santa Barbara rooftops. Antiques mix with high-end furnishings. Belgian linen pillows and cashmere throws are tossed over French chairs and slip-covered sofas. A  gourmet influence (Streep’s character loves to cook and owns a bakery) is seen in a charming, though slightly makeshift kitchen. (See kitchen photo, left).

Meyers went after “a quiet palette” and the home is certainly serene, with even Streep’s ex-husband Jake (Alex Baldwin) commenting on how ‘quiet it is here’.

For a closer look at how the set room designers pulled off one of the most exciting movie homes we’ve seen in quite a while, check out our March 2010 issue below.

Check out a few other articles about the It’s Complicated movie interiors… from Remodelista and Traditional Home.