MANN REPORT: October 2008

Bring nature indoors
Cool ideas for October in the home

By Jill Vegas
Jill Vegas LLC

Baby, it's getting cold outside. But inside is warm and fuzzy. This October, let nature be your guide on things you can do to spruce up your home.

Step outside your door and think of things that inspire you. You can find ways to bring some of those elements indoors.

Here are ideas, room by room. And if you are working on a budget, there's plenty you can do to freshen up your living space. Most of these ideas cost less than $25:

  • In the bedroom, buy some flowers, and place them on the nightstand.
  • In the dining room, buy some edible nasturtiums. They're beautiful, and liven up a salad with vibrant orange and succulent red.
  • In the foyer, light a candle.
  • In the kitchen, keep a bowl of fresh fruit handy both for decoration and for your health. It's an affordable and edible way to keep your house looking fresh. Fill your kitchen with edible bouquets of herbs —rosemary, basil and parsley all make lovely bouquets.
  • In the living room, invest in one vase that you love. Each week, fill it with flowers. You'll thank yourself again and again.
  • In the home office, buy new inspiring books to stack next to the bed. I recommend hitting The Strand used book store. They've got everything, including some beautiful hardbacks at wholesale prices. You can't go wrong with Walt Whitman (a Brooklynite), or Blake.

Candelabras are a dramatic, romantic and stylish way to liven up a room this fall. You can get some really elegant, amazing lighting fixtures at the Cooper Hewitt Museum Design Shop, or at Moss in Soho. Right now, Moss is featuring some amazing candelabras made with metal and Swarovski crystal. If that doesn't light up a room, nothing will.

If you've got a fireplace, clean it, stack some wood, and light it. Nothing brings warmth to a home like a crackling hearth.

If you can't get the inspiration to attack your interior space, maybe you need a spirit lifter. Here's one I like to use, to get myself feeling refreshed and positive: Buy a new cookbook, and pick a recipe that looks great. Invite some friends over to share your new creation.

Or, head to a local farmers' market or gourmet grocery. Buy some fruits and veggies that inspire you. Look them up online and find some fun recipes to make with them.

Recently I bought some purple artichokes. They were so gorgeous. I put them in a nice bowl for display, and then at the end of the week, figured out how to steam them. My husband and I loved them.

Here's another fun discovery: garlic scapes. They're deep green and gorgeous, the stringy young tops of the garlic plant on sale in some markets. They look so cool, like medusa hair, in a vase. After a few days, you can chop them up and make a pesto with cashews, for dipping shrimp, or throw them into an omelette---now if that doesn't get your inspirational spirits flowing, nothing will!

At Jill Vegas, we've staged nearly $200 million in real estate. We are now offering a Virtual Magic Wand Service, to magically transform your apartment or house from a seller's nightmare to a broker's dream. For appointments, call 212-627-9402 or email me at jill@jillvegas.com to book your appointment.

Jill Vegas
212-627-9402
jill@jillvegas.com
 

©2009 Jill Vegas LLC