Lauri’s Blog:

I’m a list maker (isn’t everybody?) and the sort of person who usually must finish my tasks before I can take it easy. The good news is that I accomplish a lot on most days; the bad news is that I don’t relax enough. Fortunately, my husband, Joe, and I work together and he knows when to stop.

Yesterday was an unusually beautiful day in New York: low humidity, bright sunshine and relative quiet because it is the end of August and a lot of people are out of town. As I was working, Joe came into my office and said, “Let’s go for a jog in Central Park and then have an early dinner, it’ll do us both good.” I knew he was right but my list was not complete and I started to decline. Then I remembered a saying I’d heard, “Everybody dies with a full in-box:” It never ends. So, instead, I listened to my smart husband and my heart and left the office early, with my list still unfinished. I made the choice to savor the day with my favorite person.

After we changed into our workout gear, Joe and I walked into Central Park and talked about how important it is to make choices that will allow us to feel as good as possible - every day - since life is short and we never know when it will end.

Joe, wise man, offered an anecdote about a gentleman who had always been afraid of flying: Although the fellow wanted to travel and experience different cultures, his phobia held him back. Finally, one day, a business trip forced him to board an airplane and he found himself sitting next to a Native American. The Native American, seeing how agitated he was, asked the man if he was all right. The fearful flier admitted that he was terrified. The Native American pointed to the window and the clear sky above and said, “What happens is out of our control, sir, but don’t be afraid. Today is not a bad day: It is a beautiful day to die.” The man looked at the sky and at his smiling seatmate and suddenly realized that his traveling companion was right. The Native American had provided him with a totally different and optimistic perspective, one that - with an adjustment - would allow him to live much more fully. And, right there, he made the decision to embrace that positive mindset.

I hope that you, too, when given the choice, will also choose what makes you happiest, today and all days. No matter how long your list.

The scene: An interior redesign consultation (accompanied by decorator trainees).

The clients:  A couple at odds with the way their home was decorated. The wife, pregnant and not working, liked traditional furnishings and was very unhappy with the way the small temporary rental looked with their over-sized furniture brought from their last, much bigger home. The husband, a physician, who preferred modern furnishings did not agree with the need for professional decorating help; he did not want to part with his too-big pieces nor put them in storage.

I sided with the wife because the apartment was completely over-crowded, uncomfortable and did not look good. It had terrible Feng Shui.

Here’s what happened: I offered solutions that would solve most of their problems but the husband would hear none of it. The wife liked my ideas a lot so I tried to reason with her mate. He told me that although I thought he was “just a doctor,” he actually knew a lot about decorating. I decided not to tell him how much I knew about medicine. His wife took me aside and said that she was very sorry and totally mortified by his rude behavior but I assured her that it was not a deterrent (on pages 72-73 in Use What You Have Decorating the issue of some men - okay, many men - and their perspective on decorating is addressed).

I kept my cool even though the doctor tried to goad me into arguing with him (no, I will not divulge the gory details but I will tell you the trainees jumped in to defend me, bless them). After a  “discussion” I got him to agree to the living room and dining room rearrangement and, if he didn’t like it, we would put everything back the way it was, originally. I stipulated that we would only return the pieces after we finished the master bedroom so that he would have sufficient time to adjust to the new arrangement and that he and his wife would, hopefully, rent a storage room for the unused baby grand piano, big glass dining tabletop and several other pieces, until they moved into a house.

The trainees and I proceeded to rearrange both rooms and they looked 100% better. Everything seemed more open, elegant and comfortable. The wife was thrilled. I didn’t ask the husband what he thought. Then the trainees, she and I went to work on the master bedroom. When we finished it looked and functioned better, too. The wife called her husband in to take a peak at everything. As the doctor looked around, he nodded, and shook the decorator’s hand. And then he apologized.

This week I’ve been teaching a class of decorator trainees from all over the U.S., Canada and one lovely lady from Costa Rica. Great group. And, as always, it’s been fun to meet and train people who love interior decorating and who are as passionate about it as I am.

On Tuesday we worked with a woman who had moved into a new coop in New York City a couple of months ago. Although she’s a real original who has marvelous taste that is reflected in her furnishings, art and first-edition books, she was having a hard time making all of the things she’d collected over the years work well in her new space. Each of her treasures had a story and, as we rearranged them, she told us about their provenance - her anecdotes were fascinating.

When we finished, she was very excited by the results and said she could not wait to implement the plan we’d given her for further upgrades. She said that what made the process especially compelling for her was seeing her things displayed in ways she would never have imagined. Her home looked much more pulled together and airy and it felt a lot more comfortable.

So, the client was happy and the trainees were happy to see what they’d accomplished. And me? I just love my work.

Years ago, my husband, Joe, sang the theme song for the classic Arnold Schwarzenegger weight-lifting movie, Pumping Iron, but now, when we hear “pump it up,” we are reminded of how expensive gas has become and how that reality is affecting our lives.

It was the first thing my client, Mrs.Dawson, pointed out last Wednesday when I arrived at her house. “You have no idea how much money I’ve wasted on gasoline over the past year. It’s so upsetting!” She then explained that she has been driving to stores, making purchases, returning home with the pieces, finding that they didn’t work, and then driving back to the stores to return everything; she had done this over and over again. All the back and forth had left her frustrated and, although she has elegant taste and a good eye for design, Mrs. Dawson realized she needed professional decorating help. That’s when she called my office.

Ironically, many of the solutions to her problems were already right there in her home and they required little, if any, new investment. Without turning on her ignition or even spending money online for purchases she was unsure about, all she’d needed to do was remedy several of the 10 Most Common Decorating Mistakes.

So we got to work and in little more than 3 hours we had transformed her entry area, living room and dining room into more balanced, peaceful feeling spaces. When we finished she was surprised and happy to see that a number of things she had been ready to part with had been utilized in completely different ways so that they now looked better and functioned more effectively. (To be honest, whenever I see the results I’m still surprised!)

Therefore, before you go shopping for anything, look around and check to see if you have made any of the 10 Most Common Mistakes, and then correct them. Aside from the aesthetic, functional and monetary benefits you’ll receive, by using what you have, correctly, you’ll save at the pump, too.

Yesterday, as he was cutting my hair, my stylist Jay and I had one of our usual stimulating chats. Jay always seems to have an interesting anecdote or restaurant recommendation but he, instead, shared something that he’d just read: “The difference between having an ordinary life and an extraordinary life is effort.”

We nodded at each other in agreement, in the mirror, and then talked about how that precept applies to business, too: the difference between an ordinary business and an extraordinary business is the effort put into customer service.

A couple of weeks ago I’d ordered a delivery of flowers to be sent to another state, and I’d called days in advance to ensure an on-time delivery.  Well, not only were the flowers delivered 24 hours late, the arrangement was also totally different from the one I’d specified.  To make matters worse, the same thing had happened with my previous order (you know this national company), so I called the customer service number. The recording said the lines were all busy and then it, automatically, disconnected me! That was it. They’d made no effort to get my order right nor deliver it on time nor provide customer service. I would no longer make an effort to give them my business.

Afterward, I heard a funny story that made my experience seem innocuous: A floral arrangement was delivered to a client who had just moved into a new house. The enclosed card read, “Rest in peace.” The client was furious and, realizing it was not the sender’s fault, called the florist to complain. “This is not funny! This is supposed to be a happy occassion - how dare you upset me?” The florist, trying to calm the woman, finally said, ” Mam, I am really sorry about the mistake but keep in mind that the family that just received your flower arrangement at the funeral parlor has a card that reads, “Enjoy your new home!”

It always surprises me when I see how a lot of people make their beds. In most homes, the bedding is pretty, especially in the master bedroom but, usually, the queen or king-sized linens are not elegantly arranged. A comforter is casually flung over the top of the sheets, the pillows are lined up and it’s “done.” Well, not in my book, I mean, bed.

It’s not only because I am an obsessive decorator that I love a beautifully made bed: It is because I know that the bed is always the focal point of that room and it should therefore be attractive, literally. If your bed doesn’t look fresh and crisp and make you want to immediately dive under its covers to snuggle and snooze, it’s not living up to its full potential.

Here are 10 steps to help make your bed look and feel lovelier:

1. Start by removing the pillows and duvet-covered comforter.
2. Lift up one corner of the fitted sheet and give the whole thing several good shakes.
3. Re-tuck the corner back under the mattress so that the fitted sheet is then completely taut.
4. After shaking the top sheet, too, lay it on the fitted sheet and tuck in 3 sides, but not the top.
5. Take the quilt or blanket and shake it a few times to air it out and fluff it.
6. Then lay down the quilt or blanket so that it is smooth and as straight as possible.
7. Now, fold the top of the flat sheet over the top of the duvet or blanket and pull it taut. Fold it back once. (Note: The duvet can cover the whole bed or be folded back several times to lie across the foot of the bed. You may want to do the former in the winter and the latter in the summer.)
8. After shaking the pillows, stand them in a row, against the headboard with the edge of each pillowcase tucked back, behind it. Smooth the front of the case.
9. Place sham-covered king size/European square pillows in front of the pillows that are used for sleeping, to conceal them and make the bed look more appealing. If you use a bed skirt, coordinate the skirt fabric with these pillows.
10. For women only: No matter what your man says, add a pair of standard 18” decorative pillows, a pair of neck rolls or a pair of breakfast pillows - just one pair – in the front for a more finished look.

After you’ve done these things a couple of times, you’ll be able to make your bed look beautiful in just 2-3 minutes each morning. Aside from looking a lot prettier throughout the day, a fresh and fluffy bed will reward you with a more comfortable night’s sleep, too. ‘Sounds dreamy, doesn’t it?

You know who you are: You’re the one leaving Costco with the extra, extra, extra large pack of paper towels and the super-duper triple 2-ply toilet tissue balanced on your cart, not to mention the multi-pack boxes of tissues.

You love paper towels and use lots of them for everything - in the kitchen, around the house, even as a napkin in a pinch. You always have at least one new triple-size roll of toilet paper, prepared, ready-and-waiting, at all times, for the exact moment the present roll is down to its last 10 squares. It’s not quite finished but why wait until the roll is done? Throw out the almost-finished roll and replace it with a nice fat, fresh new roll. It looks better, right? Not!

Whether you like your toilet tissue rolling forward or backward, wasting paper is the wrong direction. Here are 10 easy ways you can be more eco-conscious and save a lot of trees, save a lot of money and cut down on landfill:

1. Buy only recycled paper goods.
2. Buy plain white paper towels and tissues that have no patterns or dyes.
3. Purchase paper towels that have “select-a-size,” and opt to use just half.
4. Reuse paper toweling.
5. Use single-ply toilet tissue, if possible.
6. Finish the entire roll of toilet tissue.
7. Recycle cardboard rolls when finished.
8. Choose small ’boutique’ size tissues instead of big boxes and top each one with a simple metal or wooden cover.
9. Use cloth napkins (monogram with each person’s name or initials to reuse through the day).
10. Wipe up spills with an anti-bacterial sponge and clean the sponge nightly in the dishwasher.

If you are consciously trying to save our planet’s resources and have some useful tips to share, please do.

A couple of years after I opened Use What You Have Interiors, I had the pleasure of working with an amazingly talented singer named Kacey Cisyk. Hers was the original voice behind the song, You Light Up My Life as well as the one heard on hundreds of commercials such as, Have You Driven A Ford Lately? Kacey was an old-fashioned girl, in many ways, yet she always seemed to have a pulse on the latest trends before most people knew about them.

As we worked together on her apartment over-looking Central Park, she said, “Lauri, have you studied Feng Shui?” I replied, “Fung What?” She laughed and said, “Feng Shui (pronounced Fung Shu-way), the Chinese science of placement.  You seem to be using some of the principles. Didn’t they teach you about that in design school?” No, they had not.

Well, Kacey proceeded to send me a copy of a book she’d just read by Sarah Rossbach and Professor Lin Yun: Feng Shui, The Chinese Art of Placement, the first published in the U.S. about the 5,000-year-old practice; as I read it, I experienced déjà vu. Had I been a Chinese decorator thousands of years ago? Probably not, but I had been using some of its principles, innately, because they seemed right: Correcting poor furniture placement that was blocking traffic in a room and, therefore, the flow of energy made sense; bringing balance to a space by using pairs of things, in order to make the place feel more comfortable, felt good - the list went on.

Flash to the future: Now, more than a quarter century later, U.S. booksellers devote entire sections to the subject of Feng Shui (which translates, literally, to mean wind and water). No longer viewed as hocus-pocus by Westerners, it has been embraced by developers, builders and homeowners as its benefits are seen, felt and, yes, experienced in thousands of houses, offices and apartments every year.

Today, whenever I apply Feng Shui principles, I think of Kacey, who succumbed to breast cancer ten years ago at 42. I look up at the sky and envision her as a little angel, singing, and getting a kick out of knowing she was on the cutting edge, again.

The couple I worked with today called me in to help with their living room, dining room and entrance foyer. When I finished they asked if I had time to stay and help them with one more room. They wanted to go over the plans for their kitchen renovation. Good call! As soon as they pulled out the specs I noticed that two of their proposed kitchen counters were going to extend into the traffic pattern and that both had sharp pointy corners! Both big no-nos!

If you are redoing your kitchen, be sure that your new design calls for unobstructed pathways and that any counter that extends beyond a base cabinet has a soft corner, instead of a sharp point. Safety is key in this room, whether the space is sleek modern, carved traditional or cozy country and both of these adjustments will prevent you and your family from getting cuts, bumps and bruises. They will also save you from making two expensive mistakes.

My firm’s website, redecorate.com, has a monthly contest and we normally receive around 250 - 300 entries, from all over. But last month more than twice that number were sent in. Clearly, the subject hit a nerve with a lot of people. The July question was: With the high price of gas, are you spending more time at home and, if so, what are you doing with that time?

The office assistants who read through the responses said that pretty much every entrant related the same sentiment: Because of the high price of gas they were finding themselves at home more now and, as a result, they were finally getting to some of the things they’d been hoping to do, for a while.

Whether they opted to do chores, crafts projects, read, play board games with family members, or try out new recipes, the respondents sounded pleased they had new-found time and surprised by the unexpected benefit.

So, like some situations that seem completely negative, at first, but later reveal a proverbial silver lining, this gain seems to be at least one bright spot shining through the oily mess we are in, here in the U.S.  And, if many of us can commit to driving hybrid cars and installing solar panels on our houses, along with having a renewed appreciation for time spent at home and simple pleasures, what a wonderful world it might be.