Top Tools, Tips & Trends

The latest must-haves for your home.

Story by Berit Thorkelson

Kids Create Rooms

When it comes to your children’s spaces, why not let them in on the fun? “It teaches them visual self-expression and gives them a source of pride,” says Suzanne Morrissey, Editor of Find It! Source Book for Parents and Baby Décor magazines. Suzanne offers the following tips for decorating a room together:

Ask your children to pick favorite photos, toys or other colorful items that will be part of their finished rooms. Take your children with you to your local home or paint store, explain about color matching and show them how to select complementary paint hues to match the items.
Designate part of a room as a mini gallery, where your children can display masterpieces. It can be as fancy as a grouping of frames, or as simple as a row of colorful plastic clothespins clipped along a wire.
Show your children magazines and catalogs, and ask them to circle the room scenes they like. (Make sure they understand; you won’t buy everything!) Share scenes that reflect your taste and style, and ask them to talk about their choices.
If your children are crazy for a theme you can’t stomach, allow it in impermanent doses such as framed posters or pillowcases. Decorate around a theme in colors that work for you. Bonus: You won’t need a big redo once a certain cartoon character is no longer cool.

Stow it in Style

Innovative Space-Saving Ideas for the Garage.

Your garage needn’t be a cluttered, crowded mess. The goal, says Donna Smallin, author of The One-Minute Organizer, is that absolutely everything has a home off the floor. Donna offers
these ideas:

Look up. Overhead garage organizers are great for long-term storage. They’re economical and hold up to 600 pounds. Some even have lowering mechanisms.
Embrace wall space. Plenty of wall organization systems include specialized units for sporting goods, tools, gardening equipment and more. You can also use tried-and-true items like rubberized hooks, wire shelving and pegboards.
Think outside the box. Cardboard doesn’t offer foolproof protection against insects, rodents and moisture. Donna recommends transferring everything to plastic bins with snap-on lids. Buy different-colored bins for different types of items (red for holiday, for example). Don’t forget to clearly label each bin.

What’s Your Style?

Take this quiz to find out.

1. What type of art most likely adorns your walls?

A. Garden prints
B. Black-and-white cityscapes
C. A velvet Elvis
D. A seasonal landscape

2. Cleaning out the garage, you discover a slightly rusty old-fashioned watering can. You:

A. Use it as a decorative planter
B. Toss it—immediately
C. Add it to the collection of old-fashioned watering
cans in your bathroom
D. Use it to water things

3. You finally find the perfect end table. It’s made of:

A. Distressed wood salvaged from
an old barn
B. Glass and polished metal
C. Hubcaps
D. Medium-stained oak

4. On vacation, you’d most likely stay at:

A. An adorable B&B
B. An upscale full-service hotel
C. A funky boutique motel
D. Anything with the four Cs: clean, convenient, comfortable and a complimentary breakfast

5. Great chair, but it needs reupholstering. You choose:

A. A pretty blue-and-cream toile
B. Sleek black leather
C. Vintage crushed velvet
D. A durable microfiber

RESULTS

Mostly A’s: Cottage. You’re all about shabby chic—updated old-fashioned and smartly mismatched.
Mostly B’s: Contemporary. You go for stylish and sleek, with natural elements.
Mostly C’s: Vintage/Eclectic. Your thrill is in the hunt, and almost anything goes!
Mostly D’s: Traditional. You lean toward timeless, gracious and practical.

Decorating with Pets

You wouldn’t trade them for anything, but Fido and Fluffy sure can do a number on the furniture. To keep you from barking, consider these:

The Big Cover-Up. Washable cotton or linen slipcovers keep things clean and fresh.
Perfect Match. If shedding is an issue, your best bets are patterns or solid colors that match your pet’s coat.
Superfantastic. Check out the new wonder textile called Crypton (cryptonfabric.com). Ultra-suede and some microfibers are washable, comfortable and resist odors and hair.
Good Fit. Consider pretty furniture just for pets. Visit everydaystudio.com, pamperedpuppy.com and catnapstore.com for ideas.

Foliar Fantasies

Containers offer the ultimate in lovely, low-maintenance gardening. “They make it almost a no-brainer,” says Charlie Nardozzi, Senior Horticulturist at the National Gardening Association. “You can just go out, buy the stuff and there you go.” His top tips:

Plants: Go with new-breed self-cleaning annuals. They offer great color and bloom all season, without deadheading. Calibrochoa resemble little petunias, cascade over container edges and don’t require much water. The teeny, delicate flowers of Diascia fill out your container well. Celosia add height and intense color.
Containers: The bigger the better. “The larger you go, the less often you have to worry about watering and fertilizing,” Nardozzi says. With so many styles and colors, it’s easy to show your personality. Remember, drainage holes are a must.
Soil: Skip the heavy garden soil in favor of regular potting soil, with fertilizer added. Or create your own with equal parts peat moss, garden loam and sand, plus a slow-release fertilizer.
Water: Try self-watering containers with a reservoir and a wick system. Drip-irrigation systems help, too. Some even have timers.

Gadgets for comfort and convenience

No more worries about losing, copying or rummaging around for your house keys, thanks to Schlage’s new Electronic Keypad Locks and Deadbolts. Just punch a four-digit code into the illuminated keypad. It installs with nothing but a screwdriver, and comes in eight finishes to match any decor. A keyhole is built in for those who prefer a traditional entry method, or in the event that you forget your pass code. $119 to $139 at home improvement stores.

Link your iPod® to as many as four speakers—even through walls—with Eos, the very first digital wireless home-audio speaker system for iPod. The sound-enhancing technology in the CD-quality system’s dock makes your iPod sound even better while linking wirelessly up to 150 feet. Comes in black or white. $299 for the core system (dock plus one speaker), $129 for each additional speaker.

With increased food-safety concerns, the sniff-test no longer hacks it. Hold the toothbrush-size SensorfreshQ™ just above your raw meat or poultry, push the button and within seconds, an easy-to-read sensor gives you a range of advice, from totally safe to toss it. $89.95 (replacement sensor cards, good for 200 uses, $9.95 per two-pack). You can find it at Sharper Image and sensorfreshq.com.

Berit Thorkelson dons construction earmuffs to tune out the renovation noise while she writes from her 1890s farmhouse in Saint Paul, MN. She doesn’t yet have a velvet Elvis, but her walls do hold art that features dogs wearing clothes.