It's All In the Details...Ideas for Entertaining

This is the time to be creative.  Look around you and feel free to think of items in a different way.  How about the tea cups that have been on the shelf gathering dust? Try some of these ideas:

-Gather violets or small branches of flowering shrubs or a daffodil and put one or more in the tea cup or two for a colorful arrangement on a side table

- Align flower filled teacups down the center of your dining table

- Alternate cups with votive holders or tall glass tapers using small bouquets of baby's breath

- Float a small bloom in a cup at each setting at the table

- A small group of blooms in a cup on your nightstand gives you a great feeling of all is right with the world

Also try these ideas for entertaining:

- Use colorful glass bowls or wide champagne glasses for a mousse or sorbet

- Take some sturdy mugs and use them for presenting utensils at a buffet

Let me know what other great ideas you might have.

Appliance Update

April is the month for new appliance debuts.  Yale Appliance recently featured a few new items that might be on your wish list. Thermador has a new 48 inch professional range with a steam oven and a warming drawer in the smaller oven.  A steam oven is certainly great for cooking healthy these days.  Bosch's newest is a semi integrated dishwasher with the controls on the top of the door instead of on the front.  Induction cooking is also a great feature to have.  It is faster to boil, simmers instantly, is less heat retentive and is almost child proof.  A Frigidaire convection range with two induction burners is $1699 and a GE 36 inch cook top with induction burners is $1549.  As for grills other than the high end names, Weber has the bulk of the market.  Weber's are durable, have decent features and are affordable.  The model you might choose is dependent on construction, size of cooking area and BTU output. Look at the Weber website for options.

Secrets of an Interior Designer.....Color

 This month's category is color.  Color brings a room to life, presents your personality to the world and creates the atmosphere you want to live in.  "We all have a visceral, emotional reaction to color; certain shades feel soothing and familiar, others sensuous and romantic, still others traditional and elegant."  As a designer, I will often begin in a room with the furnishings and fabrics depending on the family's favorite colors and way of living.  The color for the walls is usually the last thing that is selected and that also takes into consideration the color palette for the whole house.  The color might relate to a favorite picture or to a fabric selected for the room.  We also look at colors that would be deeper or lighter than the first selection.  Then all these considerations are studied in the actual room itself as light and position of a room in a house plays a very strong role.  Too often light and shadow, night and day, will change a color that looked perfect in my office or together with the other items in the room.  We spend a lot of time over color selection and pay attention to how the particular room "fits" with its neighbor. "A room with a distinctive color palette has clearly been designed for or by it owner".

Quotes taken from The Language of Interior Design by Alexa Hampton

More details on these topics can be found on the Abbott Interiors Facebook page . This will be updated frequently and include additional items.  Please contact me with any questions or if you would like to get together for a consultation.