HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2012-10-18, Page 21THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2012. PAGE 21. How to paint and decorate to refresh a home for fall
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While refreshing a home for thefall months can be tough on the
pocket book and on those making the
improvements, many changes can be
made inexpensively that can bring
new life to a house according to Patti
Robertson of Classic Interiors of
Wingham.
“The very first thing and the least
expensive change you can make is to
paint a room and change the colour of
it,” says the columnist from The
Rural Voice, The Citizen’s sister
publication.
Which colours work and which
ones are hot? Well Robertson said
that, for 2012, some trends from 30
years ago are making a comeback.
“What’s good for 2012? Well I’m
seeing that there are a lot of greys
coming back, but they’re being used
differently than they used to be,” she
said. “The greys from the 1980s are
being paired with rusts and bright
greens and turquoise to punch them
up.
“That’s maybe the newest things
but, for the last few years, colours
have been all over the map,” she said,
indicating that urban, natural and sky
pallettes are also popular now.
“Pretty much any colour except pink
is in right now unless you’re painting
a room for a little girl.”Getting away from painting,Robertson said that window dressingscan make for a quick and easy way tochange a window and thus change the
room.
“Look at your windows and change
how the curtains and draperies are
tied back,” she said. “Change things
by tying them back if they aren’t, or
letting them hang loose if they are.
You can also change the style of tie or
replace ties with metal hold backs.”
Other methods of bringing colour
into rooms are also good, according
to Robertson, who said that you can
change the feel of a room by
replacing or adding things that
complement the existing colour
scheme.
“Change your towels in the
bathroom, the toss-cushions in the
family and living room, change the
tea-towels in the kitchen and scatter
mats in front of your sinks and
doors,” she said. “Change the colour
of things and you can change the way
the room looks.”
Scatter mats are smaller mats that
are approximately two by three feet
that don’t fall under the rug category.
As far as using fall accents to make
your home match the feel of the
season, Robertson says she like using
twigs and branches.
“Bring in some fall branches and, if
you can find them, branches withberries on them,” she said.“Bittersweet branches are lovely thistime of the year, the leaves go and theberries remain. Mountain ash is
another good one and dogwood looks
great with the red colour.”
Robertson said that branches and
twigs should be bunched up and put
in interesting containers.
“You can use a canning jar, a tin
can, something with an old
advertisement or logo on it, maybe
some kind of an old bucket or other
things like that,” she said. “Try and
change them up as time goes by as
well. In the winter you can add some
seasonal items like Italian lights and
artificial snow. I reinvent mine that
way to keep them looking fresh.”
As far as existing accents goes,
Robertson said that it was time to do
away with the “old flowers”.
“Things are changing and people
are getting away from old baskets and
artifical flowers with newer style
artifical grasses,” she said. “Grasses
are in now and any kind of old
flowers, like silk flowers or dried
flowers are out.”
She also said that succulents,
particularly hens and chicks, are in.
“There are gorgeous succulents on
the market now that you can mix or
match,” she said.Another simple way to change upthe feeling of a room, specifically abedroom, is to change the way thebed is dressed.
“Changing the way the bed is made
can change how a room feels,” she
said. “Fold down the blankets so it
looks more inviting, add toss
cushions to it and add nice afghans or
blankets to the bottom of the bed so it
looks more inviting for those cold
nights.”
A good way to change the feelings
of rooms in general is to change the
artwork and wall groupings in the
room, according to Robertson, aswell as changing the ornaments in thespace.“Reorganize things in aninteresting way and it can feel like a
whole new room” she said.
The one rule to follow, both for
reorganizing and all the changes, is to
keep the new colours, patterns and
textures in line with the room as it is.
“Make sure things work with the
room or else you’ll completely ruin
whatever effect you’re aiming for,”
she said.
As far as things to avoid when
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Farming couple keeps it
simple to limit problems
Continued from page 16
to keep things simple.
“The more moving parts you have
on a farm, the more things can go
wrong,” Blair said.
As for why they went down this
unique building path, Jessica said it
was all about the environment.
“It all goes back to being
environmentally conscience and
being sustainable,” she said. “We
want to leave the farm better than it
was when we got it.”
She also said that she felt the
decisions they made were forward
thinking, not abstract. She said that
she thinks people are moving to
these building techniques and power
generating models, not away from
them.
The couple has also noticed that
they have received a lot of support
from the build, and are pleased with
how interested people are.
“The reactions we’re getting are
just fantastic,” Jessica said. “People
hear about the straw house, and they
think the only people that live there
could be hippies, but we’re not,
we’re not that out there. They see
that and they see the house and it
looks like any other house.”
Their farm, Whitefield Farm,
follows the green model as well as
they’ve tried to naturalize the land
and, recently, taken over the
Community Share Agriculture
program previously run by Blair’s
parents.
“We do vegetable boxes, meat
shares, chicken shares and all the
animals are pastured and free
range,” Jessica said. “It all
fits in with the idea of
sustainability.”
For more information about the
farm, visit their website at
www.whitefieldfarm.com
Continued on page 22