Who isn’t interested in picking up a quick tip on how to easily update their home?! Every week our on staff Interior Designer, Sari Pollock, will be giving everyone an design tip right here on Su Casa’s Blog!

Some times all it takes is a little idea to spark a light bulb in us to create something amazing in our homes. Check here every week to see what new and exciting idea she has posted.

Have a comment or great design ideas of your own? Post it on here! Have a design question for Sari? Ask away! She will be able to help you create your own amazing spaces!

6/21/2010 - Sari’s Design Tip of the Week:

Fun Ways to Upgrade Your Bathroom
Easy ideas that will take a bath from chaos and clutter to simple and serene.1. Old wooden crates make smart holders for extra toilet paper and rolled bath towels.

2. A sink skirt hides a multitude of sins. You can easily make a no-sew one from a pretty bedsheet.

 3. When your tub lacks wide ledges where you can stow your bath products, hang a multilevel fruit basket for additional space.

4. Separate cosmetics by category?lip colors, shadows, blushes, etc.?and store them in small drawer organizers that you can easily rearrange.

5. Make a long soak even more luxurious with bath salts, lush towels, and aromatic candles within easy reach.

6. Think of an unused sugar bowl as a decorative container, perfect for cotton balls and Q-tips.

7. Something as simple as an over-the-tub wire rack devoted to bathing goods adds a nice touch (and extra convenience).

8. It is possible to keep toiletries looking neat on a bathroom countertop, with the aid of odds and ends like unused, mismatched serving pieces.

9. A woven basket holds an ample supply of toilet paper, eliminating the need to hunt when you’re down to the end of a roll (your guests will thank you).

10. Another approach: Repurpose a tall cylindrical vase for the job.

11. Bedroom, yes. Living room, of course. But a bouquet of flowers in a bathroom feels especially unexpected. Even a small vase of yard-cut greens adds freshness to the room.

12. A calming color on the walls?like this rich blue-green?gives the room a sense of tranquillity.

13. One lower-cost solution to old bathroom tiles: Blunt the behind-the-times feeling by painting the walls a complimentary color for a cheerful scheme.

14. One attractive option for window treatments is faux-wooden blinds, which offer all the elegance of real wood and none of the worries of water damage or warping.

15. Towel bars have been replaced by hooks next to the shower, eliminating the need for folding and just-so draping. An extra hook installed below gives the bath mat a place to dry.

Who isn’t interested in picking up a quick tip on how to easily update their home?! Every week our on staff Interior Designer, Sari Pollock, will be giving everyone an design tip right here on Su Casa’s Blog!

Some times all it takes is a little idea to spark a light bulb in us to create something amazing in our homes. Check here every week to see what new and exciting idea she has posted.

Have a comment or great design ideas of your own? Post it on here! Have a design question for Sari? Ask away! She will be able to help you create your own amazing spaces!

6/7/2010 - Sari’s Design Tip of the Week:

Easy DIY Home Decor Projects

Hand Painted Multicolor Striped Glass Plates
The great thing about glass plates is that you can decorate their undersides and still eat off of them safely. You can pick them up everywhere, from the thrift store to the Dollar Store, and they make the best craft project. Think about making special plates to match your kitchen or to celebrate a special occasion (e.g. Raven’s logo for football games or Ghosts for Halloween). The possibilities are endless!

You’ll Need:
- 1″ wide blue painter’s tape
- Glass Plates
- Craft Knife
- Krylon Fushion spray pain in at least 6 different shades
- Newspaper
- Minwax Polycrylic Protective finish
- 1″ wide paintbrush

Here’s How:
1. Apply a piece of the painter’s tape all the way across the back of one edge of your plate. Make sure it’s really stuck on there - you don’t want any bubbles.

2. Next to the first piece of tape, and overlapping it a tiny bit, place another piece of tape.

3. Continue this way until you’ve covered the entire plate except for the last little stripe on the opposite edge.

4. Cut off any excess tape around the edge of the plate with the craft knife.

5. Line up your spray paints in the order in which you want the stripes to appear on the plate. Lay the plate, tape side up, on the newspaper.

6. Spray the little uncovered stripe with your first color and wait about five minutes.

7. Remove the first piece of tape, spray another color, and wait about 5 minutes.

8. Remove another piece of tape, spray a third color, and wait another 5 minutes.

9. Continue until the entire place is painted.

10. With your last color, coat the entire back of the plate.

11. When your plate is dry, paint of several coats of the Polycrylic, waiting about 20 minutes between coats, and then let dry for 24 hours.

Enjoy your custom painted plate!

Glass Chip Pendant Lamps
I was in a restaurant once and saw beautiful lamps made of glass chips all over the ceiling. Although they were obviously made in Italy by a glassblower, I was totally inspired to make my own version with the supplies that are readily accessible in the local crafts store. These lamps can be made in different colors, with different shapes of glass chips - whatever you want. Just take your time, and when you’re done, enjoy the beautful light they give!

You’ll Need:
- Tough plastic container (not flexible)
- Heavy duty scissors (optional)
- Drill with a 1/4″ drill bit
- Newspaper
- Rags
- Tons of glass chips in a color you like
- Amzing Goop Household glue
- Transparent tape
- 6′ snap-in sock-and-cord set, with a switch on the cord and a candleabra base
- 15-watt chandelier bulb

Here’s How:
1. If you need to, cut the rim off the plastic container so it has a nice clean edge.

2. Drill a hole in the center of the bottom so you have a place to wire the socket-and-cord set.

3. Lay down newspaper and pile up rags to keep the contained from rolling around while you’re gluing on the glass chips.

4. In groups of five or six, apply glue to the back of each of the glass chips and place it on the plastic.

5. To keep the chips in place until the glue sets, put tape over them for a few minutes.

6. Continue gluing on the glass chips until the entire container is covered. This may take a while since you’ll have to wait until the glue sets each time you put on more chips.

7. Wire the socket set through the hole in the container, following the instructions that come with the set.

8. Screw in the bulb and hang from a hook.

Enjoy and Admire the Beautiful Light!!

Who isn’t interested in picking up a quick tip on how to easily update their home?! Every week our on staff Interior Designer, Sari Pollock, will be giving everyone an design tip right here on Facebook!

Some times all it takes is a little idea to spark a light bulb in us to create something amazing in our homes. Check here every week to see what new and exciting idea she has posted.

Have a comment or great design ideas of your own? Post it on here! Have a design question for Sari? Ask away! She will be able to help you create your own amazing spaces!

5/17/2010 - Sari’s Design Tip of the Week:

Tips for Turning a Child’s Bedroom into a Teenager’s Bedroom
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Any time your teen decides it’s time to do a bedroom makeover, you’ll want to use the experience to teach them decorating and budgeting skills. The time will come, because all children eventually become interested in having a more grown-up space instead of the little kid space they’ve grown up in. Allowing your teen to help with the entire procedure will give them a chance to both express themself, and also to learn responsibility.

When you first sit down to discuss the room with your teen, you’re going to find that they wants more of everything. For instance they’ll want extra seating and sleeping space available for friends. Don’t panic, though. Providing them with what they want doesn’t have to be expensive. By using a bit of ingenuity you can help them create a fantastic teen bedroom without breaking the bank.

1. The first thing you and your teen need to do is come up with some ideas. You may want to have them invite some of her friends to this session. Listen to what they have to say, and don’t just automatically say “no” to their ideas. This is a great time for you to share your thoughts, ideas, desires, and even concerns while both bonding and coming up with a great ideas for her new room that you’ll both love.

2. Determine the things your teen would like to have in their new room. Then try to set up different areas in the room for different functions. Maybe they’d like a vanity where they could do her hair and make-up. How about a study area, an exercise area, or a place to hang out with friends? Make the room as cozy as you can and as multi-functional as possible in the amount of space available.

3. Your teen’s ideas for their new room will undoubtedly include a brand new set of bedroom furniture. You need to explain the money situation with them and help them understand that the responsibility of paying for a lot of the things they want will be up to them. Talk about alternate, less costly ways to update their room, and make sure they participate in everything being done.

4. You might suggest ways that they can redecorate their room while still using the same furniture. Here are a few ideas you may want to give them:
* Suggest painting their furniture either a light color of using creative painting techniques such as sponge-painting or using stencils.
* Take the old storage pieces that were once used for their toys and books and stack them in a more adult way. Then paint the whole new piece one color and add decorative hardware or accent lighting.
* You can update the bed by just buying a more grown-up style of headboard.
* Find new furniture pieces to add to the teen décor by looking through items you are no longer using in the rest of the house, or take a rummage through Grandma’s attic.
* Rearrange the furniture. Sometimes that’s all it takes to give the room a more teen look plus a little paint, new accessories, or funky lighting.
* Go to garage sales, secondhand shops, and flea markets looking for real finds that will look cool but cost very little.

5. Emphasize organization and storage in your teen’s room. When deciding on the things to include in the room include shelves, a bed with storage underneath, ways to maximize the space in the closet, and rolling storage bins that can go under the bed. Get everything organized before starting to decorate.

6. Most teens will have strange (to you) ideas for painting their rooms. Is what they want something you can tolerate in your house? After all, colors can affect moods, and teens already have plenty of those. Go with their preferences if you possibly can, because you can always paint over them later. You might also suggest only using the color on one wall.

7. The best possible accessories for your teen’s room are things they themselves have made. Include items like collages, bulletin boards, and hand-painted items. They will like having these items in evidence to show off their talents and abilities. Also prominently display things like trophies they have won, sports medals, or anything else that shows their accomplishments.

8. For a teen who loves posters, you’ll want to provide bulletin boards, cork strips, or other things that they can hang their posters from without putting tape on newly-painted walls. Another suggestion might be hanging a clothesline or other cord across one end of the room and giving them some clothespins to hang their posters with.

When all is said and done, you’ll find that all of your plans and negotiations have paid off well. And always remember when your mind tells you to censor their ideas, that their ideas are an important part of the person they are becoming. They need opportunities to express their own tastes just like they need a great room of their own to do their dreaming in.