Libby Langdon's Rhode Island Waterfront Design Project & A Cute Centerpiece

Cute Centerpiece And Party Activity

Check out this cute holiday centerpiece - and cute party activity. From Libby Langdon, the designer says these wine charms can be made using medium size hoop earrings with small kids beads and the hoops placed at the base of the wine glass stem so everyone knows whose glass it is by the different charm dangling. It is a pretty presentation and interactive!

Langdon is a highly successful designer as well as an actress and entertainer with some of her recipes having been featured in Bon Appetite Magazine. For more entertaining, food ideas and party secrets, go to her website Food And Entertainment Ideas.

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Rhode Island Design Job

Designer Libby Langdon recently finished an interior design project involving an 8,000 square feet new construction home situated on three acres of waterfront property in Rhode Island. She says that when the family built the house their style was very traditional and the house was intended to have a Mediterranean feel, but that upon completion a more modern look was discovered.

Her challenge was combining modern taste with traditional style, mixing existing pieces with new furniture and creating a warm, inviting, functional home for a very busy family.

Langdon states that the family loves to entertain so she used lots of outdoor black wicker furniture to create an outdoor living space for them on their big terraces; the cushions are a mix of rich neutrals that will be luxurious but weather resistant. In their formal living room the designer used a creamy palette and incorporated ebony items from the Hickory White "Skyloft" collection to keep the look modern and elegant. Their family room was reworked providing more "lounge space" for everyone and adding little bits of color here and there to keep it comfortable and uncluttered.

To read more about this significant design project, click here.

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About Interior Designer Libby Langdon:

Libby Langdon is an interior designer and expert commentator on HGTV’s hit show “Small Space, Big Style.” She offers insights, techniques and tips to help viewers make the most of their own small space. Previously, Libby hosted and was the lead designer on the FOX makeover TV show, “Design Invasion.”
Libby founded “Libby Interiors” in 2003 and has completed numerous commercial and residential design projects all over the country.
Libby Langdon has a just recently released book, "Small Space Solutions," and is available from Amazon.Com.

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Libby Interiors is included in our Directory of Designers, under New York. If you are in need of an interior designer, check it out.

Create Bathrooms With Distinct Style And Great Functionality

The above photo showing the Asian-influenced style bathroom is super chic but more importantly, it also seems to work well.

Bathrooms are typically smaller spaces and that makes them great canvases for unleashing creativity. You can go bold using great paint colors or alternatively, enjoy subtle tones; you can emphasize textures such as rough-hewen granite and smooth marble or choose to enliven with color through decorative tiles and tiled-framed mirrors.

But bathrooms are also much-used rooms and a practical approach is necessary. In the Oriental style bathroom above, there is a beautiful and well placed storage cabinet, a floor basket which holds neatly rolled extra towels and the decorative wall hook adds to this bathroom's ability to function well. It feels like it works; it feels good.

I am so over the towel racks with their exquisitely-folded stacks of towels. It is a tired look and just not user friendly. I would encourage you to choose great style but choose a look that works.

Following are some storage ideas for extra towels and toiletries that have style and are friendly and have high-functioning approaches.

Beautiful Home Offices And Ideas For Creating A Successful Work Area

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Helen Ballard Weeks who's work area is shown above is the founder and creative force behind the Atlanta-based Ballard Designs . Weeks says she cherishes her office and it is a revolving work site which resonates with salvage finds, ribbons, paintings, masks, fabrics, and urns that inspire her collections.

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Beautiful work areas are like stylish nests for us to work. Beautiful work spaces spur creativity. If you are considering establishing a home work space a few initial decisions will help assure that it is productive.

A work space needs to be inviting and it also needs to be efficient. Deciding what furniture and equipment you'll need and where to locate this space is important - you'll want it to blend into your surroundings without allowing it to be swallowed up. If you plan to use modern technology and storage, that may not fit in with your classic style home interiors.

Plan for the following:

* Lighting (light the desk with a directional task light and sufficient general light elsewhere in the work area; avoid positioning the computer or lighting so that there is glare on the screen)

* Computer

* Printer

* Phone/Fax

* Stereo

* Heater/electric fan

* Desk

* Comfortable and ergonomic chair

* Storage

* Work tools (stationery, pens and pencils, diskettes, reference books, phone directory, calendar, bulletin board, work samples, trash can and paper recyclying bin)

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Before Sheila Bridges was known as the designer to former President Bill Clinton, she was (just) working with bankers, music moguls and movie producers and for years her living room and dining room table areas served as her office. Over time, still in her home she turned a storage room previously packed with inventory into an office and this antique painted Provencal desk started her design scheme.

In this new workplace, Bridges reports that when clients or friends visited she would turn her cane-backed desk chair to face the day bed. Otherwise, for serious solo work, she plugged in her laptop and worked at this antique desk.

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I originally saw this home/workshop in Apartment Therapy, featuring residents Tricia and Peter of San Francisco in their 600 sf place. (They've since moved but I liked the examples of home/workplace storage ideas. )

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If you are in need of an interior designer, our Directory of Designers can help you locate a professional in your area. Working with an interior designer helps assure you get the look you desire while helping eliminate costly mistakes.

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