These houses are for the birds!

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Photo of artist's creative birdhouseLong before I was an interior decorator I loved houses.
 
It was always so interesting to me to see how they were decorated, how the furniture was arranged and how the owner lived. I have collected small houses for years and have them displayed on a antique post office where I can study them with all of their little details.
 
And I have been collecting birdhouses for the past few years.  I find them to be very sweet and the perfect accessory for almost any style home or outdoor space. I find them at flea markets and I even journeyed to North Carolina where I found a birdhouse builder with acres and acres of these miniature homes.  I returned home with a car full.
 
But as a believer in using what you have whenever possible, and in repurposing when it makes sense, I especially love birdhouses that use local materials that mean something. And as a southwest Florida interior decorator, I am surrounded by beautiful driftwood, shells, treasures that wash up on the beaches and  more.

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Downsize and live well with less

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Downsize and live well with less

If you are thinking about downsizing or just want to live a simplier life, check out these tips in today's Home Inspirations column.

Wrenda Goodwyn • Home Inspirations • Fort Myers News-Press • March 2, 2013

Downsizing.

Whether it is to your dream vacation home, a condo, an apartment or maybe staying in your current home but living with less, many homeowners are freeing themselves of huge homes and possessions to live a life with less. Many find it liberating. Goodbye McMansions. There will be time to travel. Relax and not have to think about maintenance issues. Less for some, means more. But it can be overwhelming and emotional.

Unless you plan ahead.

Photo of seagrass sofa from Pottery BarnSeagrass five-piece sectional is from Pottery Barn's small spaces line.

Transform smaller spaces with a thoughtful plan

So you have decided to sell your home and have found a smaller space and want to turn it into a jewel box with everything you have always desired but could not afford in a large home.

Don't show up at your new and smaller home with all of your furniture and other possessions from your large home assuming that you can squeeze them into the smaller space. It will not work and you will be very unhappy!

It takes a lot of thoughtful consideration way before moving day.

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Always in Style: Stickley furniture offers history lessons

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Wrenda Goodwyn • special to the Fort Myers News-Press• Feb. 23. 2013 

For many, it is an acquired taste.

But homeowners who love Stickley furniture are addicted to its style, design and quality. Collectors search in earnest for antiques — early Stickley pieces are recognized as gems of the American Arts & Crafts movement — and can add new pieces because the furniture is still made today, in the company’s factory in Manlius, N.Y.

Photo of Stickley Furniture Mission Dining CollectionMission Dining Collection.“The quality of construction is amazing. Each piece is built when it is ordered ... the name of the customer is on the piece and remains on it as it progresses down the assembly line,” said Larry Norris, founder and president of Norris Home Furnishings, Southwest Florida’s exclusive Stickley dealer.

“And Stickley is delivered on its own truck. When you purchase a piece of Stickley, you are buying a collectible of tomorrow.”

Stickley furniture is known for its hand-finished, solid wood furniture in styles including Mission, Traditional and Metropolitan. Founded in Fayettesville, N.Y., in 1900 by Gustav Stickley — considered to be one of the country’s most legendary furniture makers — Stickley is seen in museums from the Metropolitan to the Museum of Fine Arts.

Today, Stickley has more than 1,600 employees and produces furniture collections ranging from the company’s early Mission Oak and Cherry to Classics, Modern, John Widdicomb, St. Croix and more.

Photo of Stickley Furnitiure Willow Bed Willow Bed: From the modern collection, the willow bed is part of the Edinburgh line. This beautiful bed was inspired by the Willow Tea Room in Sauchehall Street in Glasgow.

The company burst into international prominence in the early 20th century with its Craftsman/Mission Oak designs. These were based on the notion that furniture should be “honest” — a reaction against the fake joinery, unnecessary gaudiness and shoddy workmanship of many of the pieces created in the early days of industrial furniture making.

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Tips for filling home sweet home with happiness

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Wrenda Goodwyn • Home Inspirations • special to the Fort Myers News-Press• Feb. 2, 2013
 

Let’s face it. We are all on decorating overload. HGTV. Pinterest. Facebook. RSS feeds. Blogs. Magazines.... and the list goes on and on and on.

Create a new color palette as shown in this bathroom featuring Benjamin Moore's Sea Star (lower wall) and Lime Sickle (upper walls). Visit benjaminmoore.com for more ideas. / Photo courtesy of Benjamin MooreWe are constantly being told what to do, how to do it, the best way to do it, what color to do it and where to go to purchase what we need to do it. All good information but it is easy to focus on what you would like to have rather than what you do have.

And I feel your pain. Imagine being a southwest Florida interior decorator — we are exposed to the most beautiful of everything that can possibly go into a home. The result: We are in a constant state of wanting to redo our own homes (speaking for myself of course).

So my suggestion is this: If you have not done your 2013 decorating resolutions yet (anyone?), take a deep breath (or a time out) and think about what is most important to you.

For example, rather than throwing out all of your furniture and purchasing new, think about what is in your home that makes you happy. What do you love? Make a list and start from there.

Maybe rather than redoing your kitchen, you should think about painting the walls, adding some new hardware and purchasing a beautiful light fixture. My favorite four changes for the most impact: paint color, crown molding, new switch plates and new door knobs.

Remember: Decorating is all about happiness in your home. It is not about what is in or out. It’s about what makes you happy.

Try this exercise: Pretend you are selling your home. Take an imaginary prospective buyer room-to-room. Point out the best features of each room. Make a list.

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Back from the past: restored 1890's ice box is ready for its closeup

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It may come from the fact that I was born and raised in Virginia's Peninsula area. Surrounded by the history of Yorktown and Williamsburg. The ghosts from our country's past were everywhere.

I've always held a fascination and wonder for antiques from the past – primitive furniture mostly – that was used by our ancestors in their homes, shops and workplaces. From dry sinks to pie safes, from step back cupboards to wooden iceboxes and farm tables and beyond, their faded paint, worn patina, scrapes and knife cuts almost speak out loud their past and individual stories. And as a Fort Myers interior decorator, I love working vintage pieces into the beach houses, traditional and contemporary homes where a little wow is needed.

In fact, with a little imagination, sometimes one discovers a piece that almost cries out to you, “Look at me…if you only knew the history I have been through…the people who have used me in their daily lives…the conversations that I have heard from owners long-since gone.  And while my looks have long since diminished, I am still standing.”

Such has been the case with much of the antique furniture I have found and collected over the years, one-of-a-kind pieces that I will always treasure. And up until recently, I thought I’d seen just about every antique that could possibly take my breath away.  I was wrong.

Last summer, on a website of a well-known architectural salvage firm in Roanoke Virginia, I stumbled upon an offering of what can only be called the “mother of all ice boxes.”

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