A new study conducted at OSU compared the impact furniture has on our emotions.  Two rooms contained angular furniture. Two contained rounded furniture. The virtual rooms appeared gray to avoid color and texture influences, and both the angular and curvy furniture was arranged in the same pattern.  Students declared all the sparse rooms boring.  But they rated the two rooms with curvy furniture significantly higher for pleasure and approachability.

Most of us have seen, what I like to call, Joan Rivers houses. They are homes of a certain age with really bad face lifts. The remodeling meant to make them look fresh and new, instead simply looks scary-weird. The Architectural Heritage Center knows all about updating a house while honoring its history. The center hosts its 13th annual Kitchen Revival Tour this Saturday.

This won’t be pretty. You might want to avert your eyes. But I need to confess: I am in love with a sink. Yes, that’s a little sad. It’s an inanimate object made of porcelain. It cannot love me back. But have you seen the graceful curve of it? The way the white ceramic appears to be swimming through water like an exotic sea creature?

Not to turn this into the all-Neil-Kelly-all-the-time place but  .  . just got word worth sharing. The Oregon company recently won two national CotY awards.  Not “Coty” as in fragrance giant, or “COTY” as in the American Fashion Critics’ Award, but C-o-t-capital-Y.  CotY stands for Contractor of the Year and it’s given by NARI or … Read more

In the neighborhood where I grew up, all the houses were identical in layout. That made each the perfect blank canvas for the woman of the house to express herself. (The men were busy doing manly things.)  Each woman just happened to express her unique  individuality in a manner almost identical to her neighbor. They painted … Read more

There are crafty types out there who, with imagination and hot glue gun, can transform a bunch of recyling bin rejects into hip home decor.  I’m not one of them. I wish I were.  Doing old fashion crafts just feels so modern. I want to be that. I love the idea of being crafty so … Read more

Psst, have you considered a makeover?

Never mind your wardrobe, although Spice Girls concert T-shirts make fine window rags, we’re talking home here.  Some brainiacs at Harvard University report that annual remodeling expenditures will likely increase at an inflation-adjusted 3.5 percent in coming years. That may not sound like ground-breaking news until you consider that since its peak in 2007 the remodeling industry was on a double digit decline.