Guest Rooms

Updated on November 15, 2009 by Design2Share

Updated on November 15, 2009 by Design2Share

Updated on November 15, 2009 by Design2Share

If we listen to the angel on our left shoulder, we definitely want to make guests feel welcome and stay with us in our apartment or house. But pay attention to the devil on our right shoulder, and we come up with designer Irwin Weiner's tip for keeping visitors from wearing out their welcomes. He and fellow designer Nicola Chernicoff pour themselves some wine, relax in a great toile-covered guest room, and share their advice for how to add fine hotel amenities to your guest room, why pillows can be a problem, how to experiment with color when decorating small rooms, the valuable no-wrinkle sheet tip, Nicola's advice for maximizing guest room sleeping comfort, and Irwin's unique design for squeezing ample bed space into a tiny guest room. And, of course, you'll get his devilish tip for unwelcoming house guests!

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Outdoor Spaces

Updated on March 15, 2010 by Design2Share

Updated on April 14, 2010 by Design2Share

It's a distinct home design trend today to set up "outdoor rooms." This podcast episode explores the huge movement to bring the indoors outside and to colonize lawns, gardens, and yards with additional living and entertaining space. Nicola and Irwin, our Design2Share Q&A co-hosts, offer their usual nuggets of wisdom and opinionated barbs as they tackle how to determine the function of different outdoor spaces, how to define outdoor rooms with a variety of landscaping and hardscaping materials, what furniture and features define today's outdoor spaces, how to accessorize the great outdoors, tips on when and where to shop for good outdoor buys, and the importance of outdoor lighting and other details. And there's even a tip on decorating with mosquito netting!

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Choosing Colors

Updated on November 15, 2009 by Design2Share

If you're looking for a magical color palette, forget about it. Everyone gets tired of the colors of their clothes, and some people weary of their hair color. That's only natural. So the bottom line is: decorating with color isn't rocket science. You're going to change it around frequently, so you might as well have fun with your color choices, and even risk choosing brave and bold schemes. In this Design2Share Q&A episode, Irwin and Nicola look at classic and monochromatic room schemes, ways to choose color schemes that inspire different moods (uplifting, dramatic, romantic, etc.), how to paint your home's architectural details, finding color inspiration from different countries, how to pick up on color trends, ways to use contrasting colors in a room, and a host of additional hints and tips surrounding decorating and color selection.

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First Impressions

Updated on March 24, 2010 by Design2Share

Updated on March 24, 2010 by Design2Share

For many homes, the foyer is the first interior space you see after coming through the front door. It's a crucial transition point from the outside to your indoor environment, and our show hosts Nicola and Irwin discuss ways to make a memorable first impression when decorating a foyer. Their tips and advice will help you create a dramatic, inviting, and entertaining space that will greet you when you come home and welcome all visitors. This episode covers the origins of the foyer in the French theater, color hierarchies for foyers and adjoining rooms, creating a sense of drama, adding functional and convenient features, the importance of lighting (and why many foyers have lanterns hanging down from the ceiling), dramatic and inviting themed displays, and how to welcome guests when you're throwing a party. And we tell you how lice became one of the most important factors in designing the features of early foyers!

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