As for those brown spots, we had a very dry spell this late winter- early spring. When grass is weak, mites can damage it. The grass then “appears” to have been killed by lack of water. However, if you have mites, you can ONLY kill them in winter!

Weeds are always an eyesore; healthy grass tends to prevent weeds. Here’s a few pointers on keeping that grass healthy—–

1) Cut grass before it needs it; you may have to do so more than once a week.                                                                                              

2) Cut no more than 1/3 of grass blade height per mow.                                                                                                                                          

3) Keep that mower blade sharp (sharpen  often)                                                                                                                                                          

 4) Aerate your lawn both spring & fall.                                                                                                                                                                            

5) Fall fertilization is a must; spring is also recommended.                                                                                                                                      

6) Organic fertilizers are great, but need to be applied more often than others.                                                                                           

 7) Water during winter to prevent winterkill.                                                                                                                                                               

Don’t collect grass clippings unless they are thick and killing the yard.                                                                                                       

9)Don’t “dethatch” or power rake a Colorado yard; we need thatch to hold moisture.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Are you laying in a new lawn? Next blog we’ll discuss whether to seed or sod, and talk a bit about types of grass for Colorado. After all, your spaces need to fit you like your favorite shoe fits. Ask yourself……Does the Shoe FIT? If not, give us a call, Breay Design is known for helping people with the spaces and looks of their home, both inside and outside.

Other furniture to consider are storage items. A well planned storage area is a wonderful element for baby’s room. It keeps the area visually tidy and makes cleaning less time consuming.  You’ll need a changing table, as well. Add a clothes hamper, and diaper pail.

Although Baby is a bit young to learn computer usage, electronic items will help YOU. Consider an infant monitor, you will feel so much more secure knowing you can hear (and see) baby.  A CD player allows soft music for you both to enjoy during the night and at naptime. A night-light allows you to find your way through the room to check on baby at night without disturbing him/her.  And a lamp is always softer than an overhead light.

Careful planning of the nursery will save you time and energy. To get ideas for decorating it, refer to our previous blog posted March 30, 2012.

Remember, your spaces need to fit the user like a favorite shoe. Ask yourself, “DOES the shoe fit?” If you think you need some help, contact us. We’ve given hundreds of clients personalized solutions to their design dilemmas.

Consider how old the baby will be before you wish to change the basic theme of the room. Little boys and big boys (up to 85 years of age) never tire of their wheeled toys! Traditional little girls rooms are in pink with lace and flowers. Disney characters work for either boys or girls, as can a 4-season approach. Use tackboards and shelves to display objects of the season.

Wallpapers offer a wide assortment of motifs, colors, and textures. Get non-toxic wallcoverings and paint, and use a material that is easy to clean off  things as crayon or pencil marks, scuffs, etc. Wall murals are always fun and give you all sorts of accompanying element ideas. Smaller than the murals are stencils and wall decals. Both can be applied to furniture as well for a fresh look.

Although natural light is good, there are times when light needs to be controlled. Beware of blinds with cords, as they are a safety hazard. If you simply use blinds, add a valance or side panel to soften the effect.

Carpeting is the more sound-absorbent floor covering, and will soften falls, but it can have dust mites. Wood is easier to clean up spills, but is a harder surface for falls. Area rugs can be used over either floor covering to brighten the floor.

Next blog, we’ll give some thought to furnishings for this “wee wone’s woom.”  Until then, remember, your spaces need to fit the user like a favorite shoe. Ask yourself, “Does the Shoe FIT?” If not, contact us, we have created hundreds of individually unique spaces to our clients’ delight.

Or simply start with a piece of plywood. Cover it with cotton battng to create the padding. Then wrap your favorite fabric on it. You can add decorative touches like tailors’ tacks, covered buttons, etc.

When you are done, mount the boaard to your wall, and the project is complete!

One woman I know had her husband build a box with one side slanted, so she could use that as a headboard to place a pillow against and sit up and read comfortably. She used decorative molding and her son’s woodburning kit to make the front look very custom. Then she stained it to match the bedroom furniture.

Rather buy something pre-made? The internet has a large number of companies that do just that. Want someone to design it for you and then have it fabricated? We have done several, as have many other designers.

Remember, your surroundings need to fit you like your favorite shoe. Ask yourself, “Does the Shoe…..FIT?” If you need help, contact us. We love to work with our readers to help make their homes custom-fit.

     Philodendrons (there are many varieties) are attractive plants that will       tolerate shady places in your home, vs. sitting in front of a window. They will also grow in diffused light (light coming through sheer window treatments or blinds).  Water once a week. Fertilize with a plant fertilizer once a season, or every 3-4 months if you remember to. There are sizes to fit nicely on a table or hearth or mantle, or climbing varieties, or small varieties for dish gardens in small places.

Ferns are not too fussy, either, particularly Asparagus Fern, pictured to our right. This is a plant for hanging baskets. It’s airy billows of soft green on arching and cascading stems is always attractive. It likes light, but not bright light. Rather than by a sunny window, think of giving it north light. Water once a week to keep soil moist, but not soppy. Fertilize every 3-4 months if you remember to. Ferns love to be sprayed with water once in a while.

An AloeVera (or True Vera), to your left, will actually tolerate your forgetting it for a week or so. These plants like bright light and fertilizer every 3-4 months if you remember. It has rosettes of dagger-like leaves that are very wonderful to split and apply the pulp to skin burns. However, if you do so, you take away a leaf; you might not do this until it is a big strong plant, and then only take off a corner of the leaf.

There are many, many more easy to grow plants, but these three are starters. For decorating, one plant in proportion to its surroundings is always a welcome sight. Or, make a grouping of plants that have the same light requirements. In the grouping have different foliage shapes, sizes, or colors, or have one variety of flowering plant, with each plant giving a different colored flower. In the grouping, have various heights by different size plants or by putting some on a “lift,” that you have contrived or purchased.  

Remember your home should fit you like your favorite shoe. DOES the shoe fit? If you need help give us a jingle. We are the interior & exterior design firm known for making spaces fit their owners.

If you are a Pink Thumb,–know you are one in hundreds of thousands! I give programs about the extreme challenges of western gardens–but inside our homes, it isn’t any easier to raise a plant. Here are the biggest reasons most westerners (and easterners) have trouble raising houseplants:

1) Our homes are BONE dry inside (jusy dry if you live in the eastern US). Yet many houseplants on the market are tropical plants! (Think:  Rainforest)  (And perhaps your bathroom!)

2) Plants need light. Yet our window ledges at this time of year can be frigid, as is the floor and air next to a tall window.

3) Again–Plants need light.  But often, when we give them western or southern light, they BAKE in the west. The strong southern sunlight is exemplified through our glass windows.

4) Let’s admit it–We forget to water them!  Best way to handle this, is to set a certain day of the week to water them. Maybe for you, it’s early Sunday morning, or perhaps, when you do some weekly chore that seems somewhat related. (For me, it’s on the week-end, because generally, I do “some” cleaning on the week-end, to make the house look nice, and plants are a part of that overall look. A half-dead plant does not contribute to the overall look.)

There ARE plants that are extremely easy to grow in your home. (I know, you’ve heard this before—) In order to keep this blog to a typical blog size, I’ll continue next blog with easy to grow plants for pink thumbs.  Why make this a big challenge, if it needn’t be?

Remember, our homes must fit us like our favorite shoes! Ask yourself,…..”Does the Shoe FIT?” If not contact us. We help people create attractive, up-to-date, functional, and easily maintained homes that fit them perfectly.

See you back February 15th! (And remember, plants make excellent gifts!)

Water-jet technology cuts precise shapes with a single blade, twice the thickness of a human hair. We can use it for floor design, mural design, and backsplashes–shapes and patterns that would be unthinkable with a traditional cutting tool. Yet it is cost competitive with other cutting techniques, and often able to cut designs not otherwise economically achievable.

Like most computer-generated design, you get a representative drawing before creating the real thing. Is it for your next project? If you think you may be relocating in 5-7 years, create a general enough pattern that other’s can live with the design as well. (Vs. your family crest!)

Remember, your home needs to fit YOU and YOUR living style, like your favorite shoe fits. Ask yourself, “Does the Shoe …..FIT?” If not, contact us. We help you create the environment that says who you are, not what magazines currently feature that may NOT be your living style!

        ***Sorry I missed you the end of December; I unexpectantly had to go back in the hospital, but am now looking toward a GREAT 2012 for us all!!–Sharon

Well, those instructions I’ve written are NOT accurate–but who can get them accurate? If we hide the poinsettia in some dark place, how do we remember to water it at all? And since it’s out of sight, I’m positive we’ll remember to put it in the light 6 months from now, and keep an accurate record of the increased time it has light. Suuuurrrrreee we will!

I say, “Phooey” to all this winter-over plant information. When the pointsettia loses it’s red, or pink, or burgundy, or white blossoms, put it in a sunny window and water it with your other plants. By summer it will be a nicely rounded out plant…..Particularly if you’ve taken it off that dinky little 1.5 -2 inch mesh plant starting ball from its roots, and allow it’s roots to grow in some good potting soil .

Put it out on the deck this summer, in semi-shade (yes, our western sun is MUCH brighter than tropical climates with huge shrub shade all around and frequent rain showers.

Next fall, you will be rewarded with a lovely green leafy plant for your home–and you’ll have it for several years. It “may” still bloom for you again, even with these conditions; I’ve had them do so a few times–in July! (really, haha) But why should I take such a lovely plant and subject it to my forgetfulness when I could just let it become a healthy, green plant for year round?

Our homes need to fit us like our favorite shoes in order to be both functional, and fun (as well as lovely). Ask yourself, “Does the Shoe….FIT?” If not, give us a call. We are the interior design and yard design specialists (even if not the botanical experts that cause poinsettias to rebloom every December). Life, and Homes should be enjoyed!

Well, we all like festive lighting, but this certainly didn’t sound too environmentally based. ….Until he told us the entire lighting cost would only be a fraction of last years’ cost!  HOW?

They switched for the holidays! Today’s LED Holiday lights are reliable, fairly inexpensive and EXTREMELY economical to use. They will pay for themselves in a very short time, and continue to be economical to use for a long, long time, because they last much longer than any of our bulbs. Besides–there are no bulbs to break or go out.

L.E.D. stands for light emitting diodes; they are not bulbs at all, but produce a good white light (the current ones, not the earlier ones).

Although LEDs began being marketed about ten years ago, they were mainly used as novelty accent lighting for commercial buildings. As technology has progressed, LEDs are moving into offices and are just beginning to be seen in our homes. Recessed lighting seems to be the best interior method of handling LEDs at this point….in addition to strings  of light. They are the new lightinhg technology. Isnt it time to switch?

Remember your interior and exterior surroundings need to fit YOU like your favorite shoe fits you, in order to be functional and attractive. Ask yourself…..”Does the Shoe FIT?” If not, contact us; we are the experts in interior spaces and yard space. You’ll be glad you called or wrote us.

Home technology automation does that and so much more. Televisions, high-tech home theatres, inercom, security systems, lighting and electronic shades can all be fully automated for us users.

Rather than looking like an afterthought, Mark Wagner of Wagner Home Systems suggest this technology be incorporated into the planning stages of your renovation, remodel, or build-new.  He says, “Electronics can blend in so much that if you didn’t know where to look for them, you wouldn’t realize they were there.”

Think of having a whole house audio system with access to your music library from anywhere in the home. Think of a sprinkler system that can be accessed remotely, so you don’t sprinkle the lawn while it’s raining.

Remember, our homes must fit us like our favorite shoe. Ask yourself—”Does the Shoe,,,FIT?” Need a little help? Just call us. We are here for you.