What's better than eating candy? Decorating with it, of course

Two purposes for this post:

• To verify that I am still alive. (Just been very busy, so sorry...)
• And to make you hungry.

A local real estate firm hired me and my friend Marianne from Consignments Ltd. to decorate their window for a Holiday Stroll on Main Street (East Greenwich, RI).

The company didn't have a window so much as an entire room, a corner conference room with floor-to-ceiling windows on two sides.

We settled on a red and white theme, with candy, lots and lots of candy. Our theme was Home Sweet Home (get it, real estate company and candy...)

Two reasons to be bummed about this post:

• I don't think the photos do the window justice.
• You can't really drink those candy martinis...

I can move a fridge in like, seconds

A long-distance client needed help figuring the layout of a large room with a few twists and turns in it. (That's the kitchen in the lower right corner. In the sitting area across from it, there's a fireplace.)

She gave me the dimensions of the room and of a few furniture pieces that she wanted to use (the large china cabinet, the dining table and chairs, a curio cabinet, the desk tucked in the lower left and a TV). She also emailed me a video of the room she shot on her cell phone.

The client wanted to imagine ways to lay out the room before she bought some new pieces.

When I re-arrange furniture, I always try a couple of options. You can never truly tell what will look best until you try. For this client, I drew up four options... cause moving furniture online is so much easier than in real life...

I have a favorite plan... but I think any one could work. (By the way, if you'd like an online consultation with a certain interior redesigner you could find out more here.)

Room makeover, a before & after: Making the inside as lovely as the outside

A client recently called me with a challenge: She was tired of the layout of her family room/dining room, which had essentially been the same for 20 years.

The challenge: The room was already quite nice, with beautiful furniture and a fine layout. Its water view along an entire wall didn't hurt either.

But I did see a few ways to improve the room. Notice how boxy and square the furniture arrangements were, both in the living area and the dining area in the "before" photo? I put the dining table at an angle to add some interest.

And I place the sofas opposite one another. This not only adds furniture on the water side (the room was a bit furniture heavy on the non-water side before), but now you get a direct view of the fireplace as you walk in the room.

Overall, the arrangement really opens up the room, giving you an expansive feeling, similar to what you get when you look out the windows at all that water.

The room also felt too brown before. I borrowed red accents and accessories from other rooms to add splashes of color.

Finally, I created a third use for the large room. The table that used to be behind the sofa is now in a corner, where it can serve as a desk or a spot to play a game...or stare at that view...

And she has impeccable fashion sense

There's a new kitten at Casa At Home Redesigns. Her name is Clare and she's about 8 weeks old, a pound kitten with a feisty personality and a need to snuggle.

But how to nuzzle Clare and type? I created the Kitty Sling, using a generous scarf. So I can work at my computer. And it makes breast-feeding easier, too.