Author: By Marni Jameson
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At Home: What’s cooking in kitchens? Open floorplans and bigger islands, study finds
I know we’re not supposed to care, but don’t we kind of want to know what’s going on in other people’s houses? As least decorwise? Last week, the 2024 Houzz Kitchen Trends Study came out, and I was eager to peek. I wanted to know what was cooking in kitchens not only because I like…
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At Home: Want the next generation to embrace old furniture? Try paint
At every talk I give on downsizing, the subject of handing furniture off to grown kids comes up. And every time I deliver the bad news: The kids don’t want your stuff. Invariably, parents moan and adult children cheer. “Don’t believe me?” I ask. “Just walk through any secondhand furniture store or visit Facebook Marketplace.…
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At Home: Best-selling novelist’s homes are the stuff of fiction
Walking into Breeze Inn or Ebbtide, two vacation rental cottages on Georgia’s Tybee Island, is like stepping into one of Mary Kay Andrews’ popular beach reads. And that is exactly what the New York Times bestselling author of 32 books intends. Literally the stuff of fiction, Breeze Inn is named after a hotel in her…
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At Home: Expert offers tips for how to choose a faucet
Every home has one. Many have several. You touch it every day. It promotes hygiene and hydration. Yet how many know what goes into making and, more important, choosing a bathroom faucet? Curious, I decided to get a better handle on these hardworking household fixtures and called Noah Taft, co-owner of California Faucets, the company…
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At Home: Where do you live and why? Is this the year for change?
A new year brings a clean slate, a fresh start and a sobering perspective: The gluttony has ended. The blooms are off the poinsettias. The holiday lights suddenly look stupid. And the number on the scale is real. What better time to take a wide-eyed inventory of, well, everything in our lives — our finances,…
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At Home: What to consider before taking the second-home plunge
The no-going-back moment is forever etched in my memory. My husband, DC, and I were standing in the kitchen when our real-estate agent, Saint Bob, called. I put him on speaker. After four months of looking at beach condos, of flirting on and off with the idea of a buying a getaway that we could…
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At Home: Memories, friends, timing drive wish for second home
The beach-condo pipe dream traces to June, but really to my childhood, a big idea with a miniscule chance. Though I tried to snuff the daydream of buying a coastal getaway, the whale of an idea kept surfacing. What was I thinking? Second homes are for other people. One home is more than I can…
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At Home: Get a better look in less time with these 7 holiday decorating tips
I have this vision of how holiday decorating is supposed to be, probably because I’ve watched too many Hallmark movies. It features a happy family putting up the tree, while the good dog sleeps by the fire. The room smells of hot cider and popcorn and Nat King Cole croons carols in the background as…
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At Home: 10 tips for November to getting organized before the holidays
Here they come again. The holidays are here along with the gift buying, home decorating, present wrapping, card sending, cookie baking, guest hosting, year-end tipping, party going, and all else that accompanies the holiday hustle. As I have learned the hard way, if you’re not on top of the season, falalala quickly becomes bah-humbug. See,…
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At Home: New redecorating book opens a new can of paint
Because I always have redecorating on my mind, when offered an advance review copy of “How to Redecorate,” a book just out from Farrow & Ball, the venerable English maker of high-end paints and wallpaper, I raised my hand. While I expected a book on, well, how to redecorate, as in refresh rooms in your…