With these versatile serving pieces, the party will follow you! Anticipating and your guests’ needs and making it look effortless are two skills great hosts must possess. Two secrets to “effortless” entertaining are to have as much prepared ahead of time as possible so you can concentrate on your guests, and to remember...

Bring Spring Inside and Give You and Your Interiors a Lift Spring has started to flirt with us here in Michigan. We’ve seen crocuses and daffodils beginning to pop through the soil, the temperatures have been mild to unusually warm, and on certain days, the sunlight has that white brilliance we associate with warm weather. ...

Forget the Hotel, and Have an Adventure Who doesn’t love a great hotel? It can be such a glamorous feeling as you arrive—after watching one episode of Downton Abbey, it can feel so familiar: “staff” opens your car door, you step out, you’re greeted while someone else struggles with your luggage. You walk through...

As an Interior Designer in a cold climate, my clients are often looking for ways to “warm up” their home in the winter months.  In the winter 2011-2012 issue of Detroit Home Magazine, I give some tips on giving your home a sense of warmth and coziness: Paint or Wallcovering: A new paint color is the easiest and most...

Nature’s Influence on Barcelona’s Master Architect I was in Barcelona a couple of weeks ago, and was thrilled to visit some of famed Architect Antoni Gaudi’s  projects.  The work, managing to be both ornate and simple at the same time, immediately struck a chord with me ever since I studied it in college.  This...

Show Your Appreciation for your Host’s Hospitality It’s that time of year when many of us are invited to more parties and events.  As we all know, it takes a lot of time and effort to throw a party, and a little gift is meant to show appreciation for your host’s generosity.  I was taught never to show up...

Spice Up Your Holidays – Bloody Mary’s and Horseradish By now, we’ve all been inundated with Thanksgiving dinner recipes, but no one ever seems to talk about other indulgences to partake in the rest of the long holiday weekend.   While my mother and sisters get some sick thrill by getting up early to brave the throngs...

Store Your Plants In the Winter, And You’ll Be Rewarded Like many of you, I find inspiration in gardens everywhere.  I adore the architectural structure potted topiary provide in the great gardens of France and Italy, and I admire the untamed quality of succulents in the Mediterranean.  Yet, weather conditions do not...

There’s nothing better than European train travel if you want to relax and see the countryside on the way to your destination.  They are extremely efficient and timely (providing there’s not a strike), and the first-class cars are always clean and comfortable. As we approach Halloween, I’ve decided to write about our...

Tips To Make Your Guests Feel Like Royalty How many of us have been relegated to the “guest” room of someone’s home where it was apparent little or no thought was put into the design?  I’ve been there. I’ve stayed in my share of spartan spaces that made me think I was a monk, complete with headboard-less twin beds...