Marie C Fields/Shutterstock

1. Choose Your Container. Familiarize yourself with the benefits and disadvantages of each type of pot or alternative container option. Different varieties of containers suit different types of plants.

2. Select Your Soil Mix. Soils for containers must be well drained, have good aeration and retain enough water to maintain good growth. Miracle-Gro Moisture Control Potting Mix contains a polymer that absorbs and stores up to 33 percent more moisture so you don’t have to water as often. If you prefer a traditional soil mix, a 1:1:1 mix can be made. Mix together one part good garden soil, one part peat moss and one part perlite or coarse builders sand.

3. Start Watering. Check containers daily; the amount of water will vary based on size of container, amount of sunlight and type of plant used. Water thoroughly so entire soil ball is moistened. A good sign is when the water is dripping out of the drainage holes at the base of your container.

Read more here.

May 2012

We all do it: Flip through home and design magazines that make us drool over, not only the products that complete a space, but the size of the space itself. But, we all cannot inhabit multi-million dollar homes with acreage upon acreage of space. Most of us (apartment, condo and townhome dwellers, we’re talking to you) have about a balcony-sized space to work with.

Like the saying goes, size doesn’t matter, and we’re here to prove that is definitely the case with small-spaced outdoor living.

First off, anchor the space with an outdoor rug.

Red Barn Mercantile

Diamond Denim/White Indoor/Outdoor Rug, Red Barn Mercantile; $38-$514; www.redbarnmercantile.com

In a small space, you don’t want to squish a lot of people, so opt for a setting for two.

You can focus on dining…

Pier 1 Imports

Stacking Arm Chair (seven available colors), Pier 1 Imports; $69.99; www.pier1.com

CB2

Edgy Round Outdoor Table, CB2; $179; www.cb2.com

Or on relaxing…

Decorium

Marlow Round Ring Accent Table; Decorium; $275; www.decoriumhome.com 

Decorium

Renata Arm Chair with Cushion; Decorium; $338; www.decoriumhome.com 

Don’t have a lot of floor space? No worries; grow your garden up.

West Elm

 Modern Trellis Screen, West Elm, $49.99; www.westelm.com  

Or pack it all in on the ground, making it a garden oasis. 

Pottery Barn

Reclaimed Wood Barrel Planters, Pottery Barn; $129-$229; www.potterybarn.com 

Expand your space but using the trick of mirrors, all while adding some detailed accents.

The Nest Egg

La Soleil Small Wall Mirror, The Nest Egg; $100; www.shopthenestegg.com

It’s the small details that make a place look like a room. Swap out the ugly builder-installed overhead with a gorgeous chandelier.

West Elm

 Organic Blown Glass Pendant, West Elm; $149-$169; www.westelm.com

And as an additional plus for turning your balcony/patio into more than concrete and metal, add some music.

Anthropologie

 Swansea Beach Radio, Anthropologie; $39.99; www.anthropologie.com

Inspiration comes in many forms: a magazine spread, a scene on the screen or a blog. We’re inspired on a daily basis by those who make interior design a lifestyle, and a hobby. Here are just a few of those who are inspiring us through their home and design work.

Lauren Liess of Pure Style Home

Pure Style Home

Lauren Liess at Pure Style Home brings followers on a journey of work for her clients and her own home. With a casual tone, Liess lets us know it is OK to decorate, then redecorate, then redecorate again, changing the interiors of our own home as often as our tastes and the trends change.

Not only does she give a rundown of the things that inspire her, but she also keeps us up to date on the happenings in her own life, making her feel more like a friend that just someone dishing design advice.

Her palate trends along the lines of traditional with a twist—her open-shelved kitchen with chalkboard-painted fridge was the lynchpin in our devoted following—and the casual breeze that her designs show make us want to vacation in any of her designs.

Chalkboard-Painted Fridge (Photo Courtesy of Helen Norman)

Lauren's Home (Photo Courtesy of Helen Norman)

Family Room (Photo Courtesy of Helen Norman)

Office (Photo Courtesy of Helen Norman)

Jennifer Wagner Schmidt of JWS Interiors

JWS Interiors

Jennifer Wagner Schmidt started her blog, JWS Interiors, in October 2011, and has consistently been inspiring homeowners with bold designs that can be incorporated into any design, and she does it in an affordable way.

Her showcase of client projects and celebrity abode peeks, give followers a sense that any whim can become a well-thought out design. Her latest post that had us making a renovate list was her musings on outdoor inspirations. The variety of bohemian backyard paradise to urban-cool hangout, with southern garden gathering in between is giving us some weekend projects to seriously think about.

Katie's Room (Photo Courtesy of JWS Interiors)

Kitchen Design (Photo Courtesy of JWS Interiors)

Rossiter Brigter Room (Photo Courtesy of JWS Interiors)

Stephanie's Living Room (Photo Courtesy of JWS Interiors)

Lauren Clement of Lauren Nicole Designs

Lauren Nicole Designs

“I Listen and Beautiful Happens” is Lauren Clement’s mantra, and boy does she deliver, not only in her one-on-one work with her clients but also through her blog.

What draws us to this site is Clement’s project snapshots—not only of her clients’ homes but her home as well—that show a space that is already set in stone and the ingenious ways of taking it to another level. Simple fixes include dramatically changing the feel of a vanilla hallway into a room of its own, and transforming a backyard full of green into a relaxing retreat.

Another plus, Clement takes readers through the steps not only of the designs, but the relationships that are part of the renovations as well—who hasn’t wanted to take over a husband’s “space” and make it their own?

Dining Room (Photo Courtesy of Lauren Nicole Designs)

Living Room (Photo Courtesy of Lauren Nicole Designs)

Office (Photo Courtesy of Lauren Nicole Designs)

Patio (Photo Courtesy of Lauren Nicole Designs)

Go vertical with your plants in any space you’d like, with any theme you desire.

c.byatt-norman/Shutterstock.com

What you’ll need:

Ladder

Paint (metal or wood specific depending on type of ladder)
Paint brush
Tarp
Chosen planters
Potting soil
Drill or hole puncher
Seeds

What to do:

Decide on the vibe you want to focus on, and choose a paint color that will really pop.

Paint the ladder your desired color (make sure to use appropriate paint for the material of the ladder.)

After choosing the containers for your plants (could be theme-focused: watering cans, vintage tin cans, colorful beach buckets or simple pots), poke or drill holes in the bottom for drainage.

Plant seeds, with potting soil, into containers.

Place ladder in appropriate sunlit/sun-shaded place (per needs of specific plants).

Sit back and watch your artwork grow to life.

After restoring an unorganized friend’s home, Scott Roewer found his calling. Officially launched in January 2004, Solutions by Scott based out of D.C. offers professional organizing, event planning and style consulting services. Roewer shares some of his favorite tips and tricks on how to maintain and organized lifestyle—in both a material and mental state.

Why organizing? What attracted you to this career path?

When a friend who was disorganized went away for the holidays, I recruited some assistance and surprised him with a complete home and office reorganization/redesign. We painted, repaired a hole in the ceiling, organized 10 years worth of papers, bought new furniture and tackled all his closets. After he returned, he said I really changed his life for the better, and he told me people would pay me to do the same. He found me my first client and business took off! 

Chris Rodenberg Photography/Shutterstock.com

What space do clients find to be most difficult to keep organized?

For many clients, I find that any ‘landing zones’ are areas they have a hard time keeping organized. It may be the kitchen counter, the top of a dresser, the entry table, the dining room table, coffee tables, etc.  It’s a large flat surface with no boundaries. I recommend trays to help keep things contained to a smaller area. If it doesn’t fit on the tray, it needs to go somewhere else.  Baskets work for some people, or smaller containers to hold specific things.

It’s often been said, ‘Clutter is a delayed decision.’ You don’t know what you do with a specific item, so you set it down. Second item gets set down in the same spot. That’s the birth of a pile. If you continue to not make decisions about where an item is going to ‘live’ than you have a growing pile of clutter. Stop that nasty cycle by making decisions about everything. Ask yourself, ‘What is it, does it belong somewhere else, do I need it; if so, where does it make sense to keep it/use it/find it, etc?’

What is your advice for clients that have smaller spaces to spread out in?

The most important rule is to ‘go-up.’ People tend to focus on the floor space and end up crowding their living spaces with too many pieces of furniture. Look at your walls and see how you can use them differently. Perhaps you have a piece of furniture that’s not maximizing the space. For example, this week, we worked with a client who had a very low TV stand. We couldn’t put anything on the narrow shelves under the TV. After we edited her belongings, we realized if we hung the TV on the wall, bought a sideboard/credenza to replace the TV stand, we would be able to store all of her music, DVDs, table placemats, napkins, candles and extra office supplies all in one piece of furniture in her studio apartment. She said, “I would have never thought to do that.” Having a fresh set of eyes look at your stuff and how you’re using your space can help rethink and improve the way you’re living. 

When the economy got tough for many, people were moving less, and wanting to make their current residences double as their workplace. That’s when we got really busy. We were able to help people rethink, reuse, redesign, and reorganize their homes—improving the way they lived in their homes, not requiring a bigger space. For many, it isn’t that they didn’t have enough space, it was that they had too much stuff.

Elena Elisseeva/Shutterstock.com

DIY Closet Organization Orientation  

According to Roewer, “The most popular post on our blog, DeclutterYou.com, is one called Organizing Your Closet: A How-To Series. It’s a nine part video blog post on how to organize your closet like a pro.”

Scott also offers five quick  tips to closet organization. Here’s our favorite: “Hang the items backwards. Once you wear the item, return it to the closet forwards. At the end of the season all of the backward hangers are clothes you did not wear.” Seems like an easy way to find out which clothes you don’t need or want anymore.

By Lynn Norusis

Clifton residents Ronald and Cheryl Hubbardhave put their $12.5M home—full of green amenities—on the market. Ronald, president of C&H Associates, who has worked on the design and building of a handful of embassies and high-end homes, designed the home to run as efficiently as possible.

Courtesy of HomeVisit

With Argon low-e windows taking the space of 240 spots, radiant floors for heating and cooling running off three geo-thermal systems, and recycled tires acting as roofing cover, the 27,000-square-foot home runs a monthly heating bill comparable to a home one-tenth its size.

But eco-friendly amenities are not the only thing to love about this home—inspired by European architecture—nestled off Braddock Road. Family was at the forefront in Hubbard’s mind when he began the design in 1998. The home offers four identical levels including seven bedrooms, seven full and two half baths, two full kitchens, three wet bars, an elevator, a sauna, an indoor pool, five fireplaces (with a potential of 13) and an art gallery. Outside, the property has 3,000 feet of space consisting of patios and two ponds (where all the drainage from rains runs) linked by a bridge.

“I wanted to design something that would last forever in both design and look, but also the way it is built,” explains Hubbard. “With contemporary architecture, 10 years from now, people aren’t going to get it. One hundred years from now people will get the intent [of this house].” / www.cliftonchateau.com

By Lynn Norusis

Courtesy of Hollin Hills

Northern Virginia may not be known as one of the hot spots for contemporary, modern architecture when it comes to residential habitats, but a small neighborhood in southern Alexandria is bucking the stereotype of colonial homes.

Hollin Hills, a community consisting of 420 homes built in the 1950s and ‘60s, is showcasing 10-12 of their abodes—designed and built by Charles M. Goodman and Robert C. Davenport, respectively—during their House and Garden Tour April 28.

“[Hollin Hills] is the largest and one of the few modern communities in this area,” says Patricia McCallum, representative for the community. “The architecture and setting lends itself to a stroll of dramatic quality.”

The self-guided tour showcases the neighborhood’s mid-century modern homes decked out in all their floor-to-ceiling windowed glory with accompanying mid-century furnishings and the homes’ environmental accompaniment of the surrounding landscape.

As a supplement to the tour, the Corcoran College of Art + Design is hosting a discussion, “A Community of Vision: Hollin Hills, Modern

Courtesy of Hollin Hills

Then and Now,” April 27, with architect Michael Sorkin, landscape architect Dennis Carmichael and Heidi Nasstrom Evans, Ph.D., leading the discussion of this nationally renowned community. An informal lecture will also be held at Hollin Meadows Elementary School prior to the tour on April 28. / www.hollinhills.net

Tour: April 28 from noon-6 p.m.; $10-$20
Corcoran Panel: April 27 @ 6 p.m.; $10

by Lorin Drinkard

[L] Thanks for agreeing to this interview, Jean. How long have you been using Pinterest?

[J] I’ve been using Pinterest for about one year. Of course I’m a very visual person in a very visual business, so the appeal of virtual bulletin boards with images is great. 

[L] How have you been inspired in the creative process through your use of Pinterest?

[J] I ‘follow’ many boards curated by design folks who I’ve become acquainted with through blogs and other social media. Designers and artists often showcase their work on these boards.

[L] What do you like most about the site?

[J] I love the efficiency and the ease of bookmarking something I see online. I used to drag images into a photo file but would often forget to note the source. Pinterest takes care of that for you.

[L] How can DIYers and home owners/renters use Pinterest to their advantage? What tips can you give for creating moodboards, finding inspiration, etc.?

[J] Imagine you are embarking on a major house remodel. Remember the large accordion folder with files for things like ‘countertops,’ ‘faucets,’ ‘flooring,’ etc.? And those files probably included tear sheets from magazines? Pinterest has replaced that for many and facilitates the easy sharing of ideas. It you scan design blogs and websites and … you can easily organize those ideas and have a visual reference.

[L] What are some ways that our readers who are interested in home design can effectively use Pinterest? Let’s say, for example, that a family is looking to update their living room. Where do they start? What “pins” should they search for?

[J] Pinterest has made this easy. If you don’t know who to ‘follow’ and are new to the process, you can search broad categories like ‘design’ and ‘architecture.’ You can also do a specific search, such as ‘stone fireplace.’ Once you start, it just sort of morphs. It can become addicting!

[L] How often do you use Pinterest?

[J] I use it almost every single day.

[L] Let’s talk about pinning vs. repinning. Do you think it’s important to be producing new pints, not simply reposting things that stick out to you?

[J] I repin a lot. I try to carefully curate, however, I always want nice images of things I love. I’m not particularly concerned with who is following me, though this is becoming another barometer of ‘influence’ online.

[L] For someone who’s just starting to use Pinterest, they may feel a visual overload. What’s an easy way to navigate through the sea of images and find ones that are most appropriate/related to what you’re looking for?

[J] To be honest with you, I rarely sit down at my computer with the intention of pinning and hunting down images. I see things in the course of the day with links from all kinds of social media –Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Tumbler and blogs, and I grab the image if it interests me. By the way, pinning is a great thing to do on an Ipad while watching TV. 

[L] What’s the first thing you do when you open the site? Do you look search under “Everything”? Or under a specific heading? Or by pinners you follow?  

[J] I usually look under a specific heading, such as ‘painted cabinetry.’ However, there are a few prolific pinners out there who do some of the work for me. I often repin them.

[L] Tell me a little bit about “The Painted Room.” How long have you been an architectural color consultant? What type of work do you primarily do for clients?

[J] I’ve been specifying color for interiors and exteriors for over 10 years. I studied color and design while living in Sydney, Australia and just love what I do. It is most certainly a niche business. I work with designers and architects but 90 percent of my business is residential homeowners just frozen in the vortex of color choices.

[L] Do you encourage your clients to use Pinterest? If so, in what way? How can Pinterest assist in the design process?

[J] Most clients have some sort of file of images they have clipped from magazines. This is often where we used to start. I can easily pick up on the atmosphere they are trying to create. Pinterest can replace that.  Instead of physically sitting down with the client, we can communicate online. This is great for remote consults.

For example one client recently was contemplating color for their trim.  I have a board titled ‘Color on Trim.’ Something might catch their eye. My board ‘Gray Walls’ has many images of a range of gray rooms –a client can easily see what rooms feel good to them and what they might want to avoid. Many of these images include the exact paint used. [It’s] a great tool for me.

For more pinning ideas (notice the slight nod to a Charlie Sheen pun), check out Jean’s website at www.paintedroom.com and her Pinterest boards at www.pinterest.com/paintedroom.

by Lorin Drinkard

On April 28^th, Alexandrians will once again have another opportunity to partner with the RTA and touch the lives of fellow community members.

Community members like John*.

Since losing both legs to exposure to Agent Orange during the Vietnam War, he has lived alone in his family home, struggling to meet financial obligations and complete necessary repairs to the establishment. According to RTA, many of the homeowners they serve make less than $22,000 yearly but also live in less efficient homes, making for extremely high monthly bills.

Longtime Alexandrian John pictured in his newly updated home. / Photo courtesy of RTA

When a RTA team installed a new energy-efficient heating system, adding weather stripping, sealed air gaps and outlets, plus provided a tankless water heater in John’s home, he received a warmer, more comfortable abode and is now able to save approximately 40 percent on annual utility bills.

“The repair work and the effort that the volunteers made at my house, who didn’t know me at the beginning of the day, was overwhelming. The day after the weatherization was done, I felt warmer in my home!” says John, an Alexandria resident for almost 60 years.

Previously called Christmas in April, RTA has taken on over 1,300 home projects throughout the city in years past to strive toward its mission: that Alexandria would become “a vibrant community where people of all income groups and cultures live in safe and healthy homes.” This month’s project emphasis is on National Rebuilding Day, a time during which free home repairs will be available to low-income homeowners.

Installing grab bars and wheelchair ramps, patching roofing, painting exterior walls, adding weather stripping, mowing lawns – these are all common housing repairs needs that RTA hopes to fulfill through the upcoming National Rebuilding Day. In the days leading up to the event, estimates and material lists are prepared, and volunteers are organized.

RTA volunteers hard at work at last year’s event. / Photo courtesy of RTA

In 2011 almost 1,000 volunteers donated their time and handyman skills to restore over 100 homes in the City of Alexandria. In 2012 just as many helping hands will be needed. From carpenters, roofers, electricians and plumbers to trade associations, community service organizations, churches and schools, anyone 18-years-old or older is welcome to volunteer.

With the financial sponsorship of numerous foundations, churches, corporations and individuals, RTA continues to enable change and allow Alexandria residents to thrive at home.

To sponsor a home or volunteer for the National Rebuilding Day, call (703) 836-1021.

*RTA does not release complete names of clients.

March 2012

by Lorin Drinkard

1. Alice Supply Co. Garden Tools

Cheery striped trowel and rake include their own picture-labeled drawstring bag. $28.00

2. Eco Watering Spout

Reuse empty plastic bottles with the help of neon colored spouts, turning them into instant watering cans. $15 for 3

3. Nature’s Finest 100% Cotton Canvas Tote bag

Use this organically grown cotton tote to sling around everything from seed packs to tomato plants. $34.95

4. Garden Vegetable Markers

Line your rows of veggies or planters with bright pops of color. $20.31

5. Red Envelope Monogrammed Gardening Gloves

Always know which gloves are yours with this lovely suede monogrammed pair. $29.95

6. V&A Anemone Secateurs

Pruning has never been so much fun with these pretty patterned trimmers. $19.58

March 2012