RSS Home & Garden Updated: Saturday, November 7, 2009, 6:47 am PST

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A 'Well-Dressed Home' complements the closet

NEW YORK  — Are you a T-shirt-and-jeans person with a chintz living room, or someone who loves the structure of a suit but wakes up in a shabby chic bedroom?

The decorating world is shifting toward a streamlined look that, at the very least, complements the personal style that people already incorporate into their wardrobes.

“It’s a really modern thing that people look more and more like their houses,” says Stephen Drucker, editor in chief of House Beautiful. “It’s all connected. People used to look the way they thought they were supposed to look and decorated their homes the way they thought they should decorate their homes. But we’ve been moving in the last decade to a ’do-it-your-way’ philosophy.”

It wouldn’t be uncommon to find a 42-inch, flat-screen TV as the centerpiece of a home anymore, Drucker says, and you’d probably assume the person who lives in those surroundings has the casual lifestyle to match it. Twenty years ago, that same person probably would have hidden that TV in a cabinet — and hidden his true, couch-potato self under a suit, he says.

Recent Stories

October 30th, 2009
The nursery gets back to basics

Once upon a time, the ideal for a child’s room was a cozy haven filled with sturdy push-pull toys, handmade dolls and a few baskets of dress-up clothes.

Fall decorating relies on veggies

Fall is a busy time for decorating, second only to Christmas, and the period when vegetables are valued more for their beauty than their flavor.

A 'Well-Dressed Home' complements the closet

NEW YORK  — Are you a T-shirt-and-jeans person with a chintz living room, or someone who loves the structure of a suit but wakes up in a shabby chic bedroom?

October 23rd, 2009
Fake and real crocuses put on an autumn show

Autumn crocus is worth planting if only to startle your neighbors. When they ask why your crocuses are blooming this time of year, just smile and say that perhaps spring has come early in your garden.

More homeowners looking to stoves for heat

For 23 years, Julie Gore has heated her Ada, Ohio, home with a wood-burning stove. When the old one wore out, she didn’t hesitate to buy another for her family room.

October 16th, 2009
Native flowers help birds, insects, ecosystem

Flower fanciers have generally forsaken native plants over the years for the fashionable and the flashy, but the robust perennials are quickly becoming garden chic and the center of an ongoing conservation campaign.

Here comes Halloween's hippest decor

Goth and glitter. Bones and ornaments dusted with lime, ebony, orange or purple sparkle. Startling images on dishware and textiles.

Rates on 30-year loans inch up, to 4.92 percent

WASHINGTON  — Rates for 30-year home loans have inched up, but remained below 5 percent for the third-straight week as government efforts to aid the housing market continued to keep rates low.

Insurers dropping Chinese drywall policies

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.  — James and Maria Ivory’s dreams of a relaxing retirement on Florida’s Gulf Coast were put on hold when they discovered their new home had been built with Chinese drywall that emits sulfuric fumes and corrodes pipes. It got worse when they asked their insurer for help — and not only was their claim denied, but they’ve been told their entire policy won’t be renewed.

September 4th, 2009
Master Gardeners pick volunteer of the year

Oregon State University Master Gardener program has awarded Janne White with the title of Coos County Master Gardener of the Year.

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