• A tiki bar for your basement — three mood boards

    mid mod mad mood board monday

    We decorate therefore we am. Yes: Pam and I have been having such fun creating mood boards for our Retro Design Dilemma series that we came up with another excuse to make more. So today we present our first Mid Mod Mad Mood Board Mondays. We invite you to say that three times fast. After a [...]

    135 photos of tiki bar decor in readers’ homes

    tiki decor image

    So why is it that we all love tiki bar decor so much? It’s really quite ridiculous. I think it’s because we Americans just lurve to dress up. Halloween, for example, seems to be so much more popular here in the U.S. than anywhere else. The rest of the world watches our Halloween craziness and [...]

    Vintage style needlework kits now available from Betty Crafter

    vintage crewel kit

    Yes: Happiness is Homemade You know what maybe gets me most excited of all, vetting stories for the blog these days: When I see other people — longtime “friends of the retro and vintage”– take their design passions to a whole new level. I’ve known Betty Crafter since pretty much the start — she’s been [...]

    Tiki style fabric from Tommy Bahama

    Tommy-Bahama-Aquatic-Allure-Henna-tiki-fabric

    If you’ve been on the hunt for the perfect fabric for your tiki lounge — Tommy Bahama has some terrific options for your upholstery, drapes, pillows, bar cushions — all with a healthy dose of island flair. These patterns are bold, colorful and fun — all the things that should be present in a tiki [...]

    Runtal electric baseboard heater: Review

    runtal heater

    Disclosure: Runtal gave me a discount on the retail price of this baseboard heater. Last summer, the impetus for my office remodel was to make it warmer in the winter. My office is in basement — it’s a walk-out basement — and my office is on the corner, two walls to the outside. In the [...]

    Decorating a fireplace — 180+ photos from readers’ homes

    decorating a fireplace

    Uploader now closed, thanks for all the photos, everyone! When Peter asked for ideas about decorating the beautiful stone fireplace in his 1957 house, we promised to power up the uploader so that readers could show how they have decorated their fireplaces.  Above: A lovely, glowy fireplace perfectly punctuated by a mysterious, smallish, painting — [...]

    Got Snow? Clean your rya rug in the snow — and make “snowtini’s” when you’re through!

    clean rya rugs in snow

    The whole East Coast is a buzzing about the snow — so I’m jumping on the snowwagon — remembering my story all about rya rugs, which I posted two years ago. The story included a delightful video by rugmaker Melinda Byrd, and I remembered didn’t she talk about cleaning rya rugs in the snow? Yes! [...]

    Flower power kids furniture — Moda from Room and Board

    modern crib

    Oh, this makes me want to be a kid again. A kid with rich parents. Reader Gerry saw my luv for Broyhill Premier Chapter One Furniture… the inspiration for my 2013 Color of the Year, Flower Power Lime Green… and pointed me at Room and Board’s Moda line of modern style children’s bedroom furniture. The [...]