Patricia Hart McMillan

Article / Updated 12-11-2023

Updating kitchen cabinets make tired drab kitchens look fresh again. Knowing how to update kitchen cabinets, can save you the cost of completely replacing them. Most cabinets, no matter how unattractive or outdated, can be drastically improved by following the tips below. Clean your cabinets. A good cleaning may bring new luster to tired but handsome wood. Try TSP to remove grim and grease. Change the hardware. Try something zippy, like bent twig fork handles, hand-painted ceramic knobs, clear glass handles and knobs, or metal pharmacy pulls. For unity, match cabinet hardware and faucet finishes (all brass, copper, steel, iron, or so on). Paint them. A little paint goes a long way. Are you going Contemporary? Paint simple cabinets with a high gloss lacquer-look finish in a zingy new color or colors. For example, paint base cabinets one color and wall-hung cabinets another. Antiqued cabinets in off white, buttery yellow, mellow rose, watermelon red, and apple green add an Old World charm that’s especially comforting. Paint cabinets high-gloss white for an instant Country look. Or stain them a natural, wood color in the Victorian style. Add bead board as a backsplash and paint it a crisp white. Paint your cabinets’ outsides white and the insides a nautical blue for a seaside effect. Relaminate all cabinets in one solid color. Or, for a more Contemporary or Eclectic look, mix and match colors and interesting patterns. For example, keep the cabinet boxes plain and add different colored or patterned doors (or vice versa). Exchange old doors on plain cabinets. Try new fancy doors in the style of your choice. Add classic architectural trims to plain cases. You can include fluted pilasters at the corners, pediments, and crown moldings on top or deep base moldings at the bottom.

Article / Updated 09-05-2023

When you think of children’s bathrooms, primary colors, clown motifs, and other tried-and-true themes may come to mind. If that’s what your child likes, that’s fine, but ask before you decorate. In a child’s bathroom, safety takes center stage. Following are some suggestions that spring from real-life experiences: Avert scalding by installing hot stop valves that prevent a child from turning water on to the highest, hottest temperature. Avoid using slippery area rugs, make sure the tub and floors are skid-proofed, and consider adding child-height grab bars. Check that the glass for the shower or tub doors is tempered so that it doesn’t shatter. Make sure it’s properly installed. Include rocker-type light switches low enough for a child to reach. Install easy-to-maneuver lever faucet handles. Mount them on one side of the sink, near the front edge of the counter, so that a child can reach them without having to climb on top of the vanity. Keep a nightlight on at all times. Lock medicine and cleaning supply cabinet doors. Make sure the shower door opens out so that no child (or adult) can become wedged in. (Make sure doors can swing freely.) Place lever handles on all doors at a child’s height. Prevent a child from locking himself in the bathroom; make sure that you can unlock the exterior door from the outside. Provide a stool that doesn’t tip over for small children to use at the sink. Remove electrically powered radios, hairdryers, and any other small appliances that could be dropped into the tub or sink. Substitute batter-operated products if desired or necessary. Round corners on countertops to prevent injury to tots whose heads may be near the same height. Screw freestanding storage cabinets to the wall so that they don’t tip. Verify that your Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI) works. It shuts off electrical current when an appliance comes in contact with water. When it comes to decorating, if you’re thinking of resale any time in the near future, take a moment before adding, applying, or installing anything that will cost time, effort, and dollars. Consider some temporary ways to bring special colors into your child’s bath with accessories. Colorful accents and fun motifs in towels, bath mats, framed art, soaps, the shower curtain, and so on add fun. Perhaps use some of the new peel-and-stick ceramic tiles to create a border on the sink wall or cabinets. Peel-and-stick wallcovering borders add interest, too, and they’re easy to remove when you’re ready to move.

Article / Updated 09-05-2023

Have you ever noticed how decorations on a wall can look so organized and attractive in some cases and just be a distracting mess in other homes? If you follow these steps, you can create a perfect grouping every time, without making frustrating mistakes: Measure the wall space that you want to fill. Outline that exact size on your floor using masking tape. Arrange the art on the floor within the given area. Doing so enables you to move pieces around until you arrive at the optimum arrangement. After you’re pleased with the grouping, measure and hang. Be prepared for some surprises. You may need to shift pieces from spot to spot, because unusual factors can affect the sense of balance that you’re striving for: Generally, heavier pieces should go below lighter pieces: A large, delicate oil may seem lighter than a smaller, darker, more rustic woodcut. Size alone doesn’t make a picture seem heavier — color does. Ultimately, you’ll have to use your own judgment. Leave several inches of breathing space around each piece: Pieces hung too close together lose any sense of individuality; those hung too far apart don’t look like a group. Use the correct hooks designed to hold the weight of the art you’re hanging. Using two hooks for larger works helps keep them hanging straight. And make sure that the hook you’re using is the right one for your type of walls (plaster or plasterboard). If you’re nailing or screwing a hook into a plaster wall, put a crisscross of adhesive tape on the wall to keep the plaster in place and then drive the nail or screw through the tape. If you’re hanging art on a slanted wall such as a dormer (slanted) ceiling, attach the artwork at the top and bottom of the frame. If you’re creating a precise rectangular or square grouping, secure the pieces at the bottom, too, so that none become crooked. For added excitement, add mirrors, sconces, and brackets with sculpture to your art grouping. Add textural interest with tapestries and quilted, woven, or embroidered wall hangings. You don’t have to hang art to display it: Intersperse paintings with books in a bookshelf. Lean your art on an easel. Easels, large and small, have never gone out of style. Place an array of artfully framed miniatures inside a glass-topped display table, coffee table, or end table, or atop a big round table. Set a large picture on the floor (unless you have small children or pets). Set a small picture on the mantel, place a bunch of pictures atop a bookshelf, or just lean them against the wall. Prop up a plethora of small artwork, including black-and-white photographs, on wooden shelves. This allows for quick and easy changing of your display.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 11-29-2022

Home decorating draws on your creative side, as well as your inner engineer. Whether you dabble in home decorating or make it a career, you get to play with color, texture, and pattern, in addition to tape measures, graph paper, and paint. Finding the furniture you want is important, and so is doing the planning that makes your decorating a delight.

Article / Updated 05-27-2022

The bed is the key piece of furniture in any bedroom, and it naturally becomes the focal point. Bedroom furniture is traditionally arranged according to a few general rules. For the most part based on common sense, here are some general guidelines for you to follow: Credit: ©iStockphoto.com/hikesterson Traditionally, folks tend to place a double, queen-sized, or king-sized bed against the center of the wall opposite the main door to the room. With this arrangement, the headboard is the center of attention as you enter the room. If the dimensions of your room prevent you from positioning your bed on the wall across from the door, other possible choices depend on which walls are long enough to accommodate the bed. Diagonal placement works well when you have the space. Do not place a bed under a window, if the window will frequently be open. Open windows can create uncomfortable drafts. Positioning a bed between two windows, however, works well. If your home is air-conditioned or heated year-round and the windows are seldom open, you may be able to ignore this rule. Do not place the bed where it obstructs a door into the room or a walkway through the room. Consider nontraditional furniture arrangements if doing so will free up space or use space in a more interesting way. For example, a bed may look dramatic placed in front of a secure window; on a diagonal, which takes up extra space; sideways along a wall, to maximize floor space; or in an alcove (a technique called lit clos). If your closet is large enough and you'd like to free-up floor space, put your chest of drawers inside your walk-in closet. Doing this will let you add additional pieces of furniture, such as a writing desk, a seating group, or a big screen TV, to transform any bedroom into a luxury suite. Bedrooms used by a specific group of people have unique needs. Whether you're decorating a master bedroom, a guest room, or a room for children, the following sections provide you with the tips you need. Master bedrooms A master bedroom doesn't have to be huge, but it does need to offer the amenities you need. If your space is less masterful than you'd like, look at some of the following suggestions for decorating your bedroom: Make the bedroom look larger by eliminating clutter. Use only necessary furniture. If you can, push a chest of drawers into a walk-in closet to free up floor space. Keep the bed visually low. Use a headboard, but don't use a footboard, and opt for something other than a four-poster bed, all of which tend to take up space visually, making the room seem smaller. Keep all your furniture — like the rest of your color scheme — light. Light colored furniture, walls, floors, window treatments, and bedding make a room seem bigger. Regardless of the size of your master bedroom, the following tips can help you to make it as comfortable as possible: Add bedside tables that are as big as space will allow. If you read or watch TV in bed, you'll find these tables helpful. You can buy restaurant café tables for very little money and drape them with quilts. Try to make room for at least one comfortable chair. Chairs are great for company on a sick day, for daytime resting, or for reading. Consider carpeting all bedroom floors to reduce noise in the room. Add a lady's desk — a small, delicately proportioned furnishing for writing letters and so forth — if you have room. Teen bedrooms Teenagers usually know what they want in a bedroom and aren't slow to tell you that they need storage for books and music and space for their collections of just about anything you can name. They have firm ideas about style and colors, so ask! And when your son or daughter requests a wild color, do your best to persuade him or her to use it as an accent. More and more activities from surfing the Net to entertaining take place in a teen's room. Extra seating and small tables provide space for visitors. Keep furnishings practical and easy to care for. Children's bedrooms Nurseries must be planned with the child's future years in mind. But from the beginning, make room for a changing table near the crib. As always, keep safety in mind. The following tips will help you do all of these things: Keep cribs away from windows and window blind cords. Make sure cribs and bunk beds meet federal safety standards. Check to see that mattresses fit snugly against the crib's sides. Slats, spindles, rods, and corner posts should be no more than 2-3/8 inches apart from each other. Make sure a child can't release the drop side of a crib. Choose chests and cabinets that can't be tipped over (even when drawers are opened and a child crawls up and into them). This may call for fastening them to the wall for security. Find hardware that's rounded, sanded, and has no sharp edges. Equip all electrical outlets with plastic safeguard plugs. Eliminate any small throw rugs on slippery floors. Make sure all flooring is skidproof. Eliminate dangling cords on window blinds. Choose bunk beds with sturdy ladders, handrails, and safety rails. Make sure you have a guest bed for occasional sleepovers. A trundle bed, which neatly stores a second bed beneath a regular one, is the ideal solution for children's rooms. Guest bedrooms Setting aside a room for guests makes their stay more comfortable not only for them, but also for you. You can furnish the guest room with a marvelous bed and all the necessary furnishings and forget about it. Check out the following suggestions for ways to make your guest room comfortable: Buy a handsome, space-saving daybed or sofa bed that fits smartly against the wall and out of the way. The versatility of these beds makes them a delightful option in a home office or other double-duty room. You may even consider installing a Murphy bed that hides away in a closet. Make sure that your guest has plenty of closet space. Dedicate two sets of sheets, a comforter, special pillows, a duvet cover, and pillow shams to your guest room.

Article / Updated 04-20-2022

Refurbished furniture can add a lot of character to your home. Decorating old or unfinished furniture lets you make a creative statement. Take a look at the following decorating tips. Try some out on your furniture: Consider new uses for old furniture and unique items. Turn an old combination radio/phonograph in a beautifully veneered cabinet into an elegant foyer console. Try using drums as tables; bunch together a trio of drums and use them as individual coffee tables. Discreet furniture never reveals its source (garage sale or heirloom?) but adds to a room’s overall beauty and comfort. Create an instant slipcover by throwing a king-size sheet, quilt, or bedspread over an unsightly sofa. Tie it in place with rope or grosgrain ribbon. Decorate an old chest for a teenage boy’s room with discarded license plates. Garage sales and junk stores are good sources. Just decide where to add them. Nail them into place. Decoupage an old dresser or dressing table with motifs cut from wallpaper. Safeguard with a finishing glaze or coat of polyurethane. Dress up a plain-Jane, upholstered side chair. Get out the trusty hot-glue gun to attach interesting gimp (an ornamental braid or cord), fringe, or other trim along the bottom of the seat. Faux paint old wooden furniture. Paint stores have rows of booklets describing various techniques step by step. They also carry kits. Everything you need is right there in the store. Individualize dining room chairs for your children. Paint mismatched chairs bold colors (all the same or coordinating colors). Stencil your children’s names on the chair backs, or add a motif. Craft shops have small glue-on toys, animals, numbers, and initials. Paint a wooden chair with an interesting shape in different colors and patterns, like a Victorian house. For color combination ideas, pick the colors already in your scheme. Some paint companies put out booklets of historic color combinations; check these out for instant inspiration. Paint vertical stripes on an old dresser or nightstand. All you need is tape (you can buy special masking tape at the paint store), a brilliant color or two, and a very steady hand wielding a paintbrush. Measure off the stripes using a ruler and a pencil to make light marks. Take a tip from Colonial homemakers and cover tables in flat-weave rugs. Dhurries, needlepoints, or chainstitch rugs transform tables into desks and display areas for framed family photos. Use a deep, glass-fronted china cabinet to hold a small TV or serve as a minibar in the living room. Punch a hole in the back to slip through the wires for any appliances. Display glasses and ice buckets. Use pillows to convert lumber into a sofa of sorts outside or inside. Use flatter pillows for seats and backs and fluffier ones for decoration and added comfort.

Article / Updated 12-13-2021

Professional decorators use a long list of traditional rules for displaying art. You’re free to accept or reject experts’ opinions, but it never hurts to consider them. When you hang a large, important picture, repeating some of the dominant colors in other accessories throughout the room is a good idea. Relating the painting to other objects in the room is a kind of bonding that emphasizes unity. A few no-nos Some strong social conventions do exist. Following are a few no-nos: Don’t hang nude paintings in your living room or dining room — it’s inappropriate. Beauties au naturel are naughty-but-nice for bedrooms and bathrooms. Traditionally, fruit or vegetable still lifes are for dining rooms and kitchens not bedrooms or living rooms. Don’t hang family photos or too many wedding photos in the living room. Opt for portraits instead. Never hang religious art in the bathroom; save it for the bedroom or its own niche. Don’t hang small landscape paintings near large still life fruits or vegetables. The disparate scales of the two paintings make both of them look ridiculous. Barnyard scenes are foul in a formal living room, but fair in the den. Don’t hang blood-and-guts war scenes in the dining room. Flowers, landscapes, and seascapes are welcome just about anywhere. Floral subjects are usually considered feminine, boats and seascapes masculine, and whimsical themes childish. Feel free to take advantage of this traditional thinking to make quick, easy, and uncontroversial choices. Ideas for experimenting If you have an educated eye, you may want to go beyond traditional thinking. At least do some experimenting — most shops make that possible by permitting you to return and exchange art that didn’t work out as you thought it would. Discuss the possibility of exchanging your art at the time of purchase, keep your receipt, and return the art by the store’s deadline in like-new condition. Look at how professional curators, interior designers, and others hang various kinds of art. Visit museums, galleries, showcase houses, and furniture and department stores with room settings that include art. Browsing through decorating magazines is an inexpensive and time-saving alternative. Woodcuts, etchings, and lithographs A good starting point when finding the proper setting for your art is to look at what’s worked in the past. For example, each of the various graphic media woodcuts, etchings, and lithographs have characteristics that are compatible with certain decorating periods and styles: Woodcuts have a rustic, naive quality that fits with Renaissance, Gothic, and Early American décor. Some make a nice counterpoint to Contemporary furnishings. Etchings are composed of finely drawn lines that are elegant and get along well in dressy rooms. Lithographs are more painterly and colorful and take on a wide range of looks and styles, ranging from romantically Impressionistic to boldly Modern. Black-and-white photographs look fabulous with just about any period or style of furniture. They breathe fresh air into period rooms and sing the same tune as Contemporary style. Depending on the subject matter (no nudes in the living room, please), black-and-white prints are at home in any room. Reaching for the eclectic Contemporary interiors stress individual approaches to very personal rooms where just about anything goes. Some eclectic ideas follow. Create interest by contrasting a large, important, period-looking artwork with a crisp, modern background. Pit boldly colored, extremely geometric subjects against stark white walls in rooms furnished with wildly colored furniture. Create art walls, which mix a diverse group of works in interiors where all other furnishings are subdued and play second fiddle to the art. None of these three techniques mixes a lot of disparate stuff together — that’s not a style but a hodgepodge. These personal statements require a great deal of taste and a lot of confidence.

Article / Updated 04-19-2017

Maybe your bathroom remodel project budget doesn’t allow enlarging your bathroom, or maybe you aren’t in a position to remodel at all. You can still make your small bathroom seem larger. First, combine smart layouts and small-scale fixtures. Next, consider these suggestions: Add mirrors. They’re great space (and light) expanders when used on opposite walls and even on all four walls. Cover a window in sparkling, colorful glass mosaic for a continuous light show. Increase storage by building recessed shelves between wall studs, so that shelves don’t intrude into the space. Keep accessories to a minimum to avoid clutter and confusion. Keep window treatments simple, and blend blind and fabric colors with the walls’ background color. Make a bathroom appear larger and lighter by using panels of space-expanding transparent glass between fixtures. Replace a hinged door with a pocket door (one that slides back into the wall), which requires no swing space. Store only the essentials in a tiny bathroom. Keep refills and replacements handy in an adjoining room or hallway closet. Use glass tub or shower doors.

Article / Updated 01-24-2017

Curtains and draperies are chameleons. They work hard at blocking light and sound, heat and cold. They're also extraordinarily decorative and add enormous personality to a room. What's the difference between curtains and draperies — and does it even matter? Traditionally, windows were treated to three types of curtains: a sash curtain (to filter light), a draw curtain (to block out light), and an over-drapery (which was purely decorative and is now just called a drapery). In very formal rooms (with sufficiently high ceilings), all of this was topped with a cornice or valance (to hide the hardware). This traditional treatment carries on today in period or very formal or dressy rooms. The modern tendency is to think of curtains as sash curtains (often unlined and in a variety of lengths), and draperies (never drapes) as those that draw, completely closing off the window. Another modern move is to drape and swag fabric loosely over a decorative rod or pole, in a nod to conventional valances and swags. Often, swags serve no function, but earn their keep by looking dramatic. A Contemporary-style swagged window treatment adds to the air of elegant formality. Options Don't waste time getting hung up on the terminology. Consider the tremendous number of window treatment options you may choose from: Hang just curtains of lace, cotton, nylon, silk, or some other sheer fabric. Place a curtain over a blind. Hang a curtain beneath a chintz, silk, velvet, linen, or other draw drapery. Hang draw draperies over blinds or some other shade. Hang draw draperies alone on a decorative pole. Top curtains with short, purely decorative over-draperies known as swags and jabots. Top a blind or shade with swags, which drape over just the top of the window and long or short jabots, which hang on the sides of windows. Top any or all of these window treatments with a cornice or valance. You can see that the variations are practically endless, especially when you combine these elements with more contemporary window blinds and shades that look like accordion-pleated curtains. If you're designing your own window treatments, don't hesitate to do up Country-casual fabrics in a fancy, three-curtain and valance window treatment in a formal Country room. The surprise works magic. And, just to be fair, don't be shy about using a lustrous silk fabric for simple tie-back curtains. This look is especially terrific when the silk is in a pink-and-white gingham check. Lengths How long should curtains or draperies be? Generally, the longer the curtain or drapery, the more dignified, dressy, and formal the look. Shorter lengths always imply a casual, relaxed, and informal mood. The decision is up to you. Take a look at the following guidelines to find the style that's right for you. Dressy or casual, curtain lengths add to the mood of any room. In formal or dressy rooms, curtains should just touch the floor. A romantic room deserves elegant, extra-long curtains that pool or puddle on the floor. Curtains to the sill, or to the bottom of the window trim (called the apron), look great and are practical in a kitchen. Never hang curtains of any length near a stove! Dens or family rooms gain dignity from draw draperies or curtains that reach to the floor. Curtains that stop short of the floor, ending at the top of floor moldings, look awkward. If curtains are hung too high, simply lower them (if possible) to solve the problem. Not all windows are beautiful. Fortunately, draperies can help hide flaws. Here are some ways to make windows more wonderful: Window too short? Attaching rods just below the ceiling molding and hanging long, to-the-floor curtains make the window look longer and more elegant. Window awkwardly long? Add a deep cornice or valance above draperies with a bold horizontal pattern. Create further distraction by adding a horizontal line in the form of a strongly contrasting louvered shutter. Window too narrow? Extend curtain rods beyond the window and hang draperies so that they barely cover the frame, leaving as much glass exposed as possible, all of which makes a narrow window seem wider. Window too wide? A huge window wall can overpower a room. Break up the space by hanging several panels across the window. They can hang straight, or be tied back in pairs. If draperies must be drawn for privacy, let the panels hang straight and rig drawstrings so that the panels close as though they are separate pairs of draperies. Creating special effects If you want privacy but you don't want to cover up your windows, consider the following alternatives to traditional window treatments: Install stained glass. Stained glass provides a sense of privacy, hides ugly views, and gives you something beautiful to look at. Consider etched or frosted glass. This provides a degree of privacy but lets in lots of light. Think about using glass block. The Contemporary alternative to stained, etched, or frosted glass, glass block hides unsightly views and filters light beautifully, while providing a bit of privacy. If privacy is not a problem and all your window needs to do is let the sunshine in, simply hang a grapevine wreath or silk flower garland above it. Instant window treatments Need a window treatment quickly? Try some of the following ideas: Napkin topper: Fold colorful dinner-size napkins in half on the diagonal and drape them, pointed side down, over a fat, stained or painted, wooden pole. (Use enough napkins to cover the width of the pole.) This is a great technique for a kitchen or breakfast nook. Faux balloon: Drape a rectangular tablecloth (folded in half lengthwise) over a fat, decorated pole. Six or more inches from one side of the pole, drape a long folded length of ribbon across the pole with loose ends hanging below the cloth. Gather the ribbon ends and pull them up until the cloth begins to swag, and then tie the ribbon into a bow. Repeat on the opposite side. The result looks like a balloon shade. Lodge-look draperies: Add grommets to one end of a wool plaid blanket. Then run lengths of grosgrain ribbon (long enough to finish in a bow) through the grommets and tie them to a wooden pole or tree branch. Paper café curtains: Fold butcher's paper (which looks like a paper bag) into accordion pleats, punch holes through the pleats (on one end only), and push a curtain rod through, gathering it gracefully as you create a cafécurtain. (You need a length of paper two to three times the width of your window.) See also: Homing in on Hardware for Window Treatments How to Tell Differences among Fabrics and Fabric Blends Making Easy, No-Sew Window Treatments

Article / Updated 04-14-2016

As a home decorator, you never know when you'll need to create some magic. Take a tip from professional home decorators: Pack a portable carry-all filled with all the must-haves of the trade — suggestions are in the following list — and you'll have decorating magic to go! Glue gun: Use this for a variety of decorating and crafts projects. Pins: Keep straight pins and safety pins for draping and shaping. Hammer: Choose one that lets you hammer in nails and pry them up, too. Pick a size that fits comfortably in your hand. Plate hangers: Look for these in different sizes for both small and large plates. Magic Hem: Iron-on Magic Hem creates seams without sewing. It's available at grocery stores and craft or sewing shops. Screwdriver set: Pick a pack that includes several sizes of both standard and Phillips head (cross-shaped head) screwdrivers. Don't use the wrong size or style driver — you'll destroy the screw. Measuring tape: A 25-foot retractable steel tape works best. Screws: Choose a variety pack of styles and sizes. Nail kit: Look for a set that includes a variety of sizes for various jobs. Or assemble your own, including fine nails, long nails, short nails, and finishing nails. Tool kit, tackle box, bucket, or basket: Use this for storing your gear. Keep it handy for quick fix-its and instant decorating. Notebook: Pick one that has unlined sheets (for sketching and note-taking) and is small enough to fit inside your tool kit. Velcro: This comes in handy for making items such as easy-to-remove slipcovers. Picture hangers: Use these to make hanging art easier. Wire: Use wire for hanging, fixing, and holding things.