The kiddos will soon be out of school & begging to play in the pool all day everyday to beat the heat.  If you’re looking for inspiration for your home’s color palette, why not consider a few sizzling summer colors?  Last week on GMT, we chatted about one of my all time favorite color combinations ~ Turquoise & Tangerine.  It sounds so chic just rolling off your tongue, but when you combine the two hues with crisp whites or other neutrals it instantly satisfies your need for exceptional eye candy.  Whenever I’m around the powerful color duo, I dream of sitting on a beach in the Caribbean drinking a Hibiscus Martini.

Watch the segment here to get a few ideas on incorporating these summer inspired colors into your home.

Did you know that you can get up to a $1500 tax credit on your 2010 tax return just for adding shutters to your home?  Shutters qualify as adding additional insulation to the exterior windows of the home.  The tax credit is thirty percent up to a maximum credit amount of $1500.  Plantation shutters are a wonderful solution for windows in your home.  They offer privacy, extra insulation & not to mention added value to your home.  If you are contemplating about covering your windows with them, now is the time to do it.  Take advantage of the tax credit & be eco chic at the same time!  Contact an IBB designer for more information.

The Hibiscus are blooming in my backyard right now & it makes me want to just sit on the patio & gaze at them for hours.  Their bright hues of pink make me so  happy.  And what’s better than sitting on the patio with friends & enjoying a fun cocktail?  This recipe is perfect for a spring or summer soiree.  I recently enjoyed this cool, sweet & refreshing beverage at a tweet up I hosted with Global Views in North Carolina.

Ingredients:

2 ounces Chopin vodka
1/2 ounce Grand Marnier
1 ounce Fresh squeezed lime juice
3/4 ounce Hibiscus syrup*

Preparation:

If you have yet to be informed, let me dazzle you with some exciting news… Wallpaper is back & with a vengeance I must say!  I asked my good friend Shelly Rosenberg to give us her take on some simply stylish wall coverings.

Shelly’s take:
I have always had a soft spot for anything Asian. And now, I have discovered the best reason to fawn…the Chinese invented wallpaper!  The first rice wallpapers go back as far as 200 BC!!  The Orient has a unique form of ornamentation. The motifs are often serene and organic. I especially love the subtle suggestion of movement in the two modern patterns below.

In honor of our 2010 Color of the Year’ and this month’s feature, I will delight you with a bit more of turquoise and her cousins… Any powder room becomes exquisite wrapped in a Tiffany-box blue floral like this one above. And can you imagine the pleasure this dogwood  scene would give guests in your dining room?

As much as I adore the traditional elegance of a tried-and-true paper, there is much fun to be had in this medium. Choose any era in modern history and you can have a paper that speaks its language! I grew up with a very chic mother who had our entire home wrapped in the ever-popular 1980s flamestitch! And it’s still HOT!

I take great interest in watching as we, designers, evolve our past into exciting new movements. Take a traditional and fancy object, break it down into its most simple form, and voila! You have a paper that exemplifies our yearning for simplicity.  Is there a more endearing silhouette than the chandelier?!

Many of you are nervous to commit, I know, but the pleasure is so beyond what the hesitation is worth! Why wallpaper? It can anchor an entire design scheme- take a little piece that makes you swoon and have your designer build a room around it! Have an architectural element that has you baffled? Disguise it! If you just cannot use the paste, frame a fabulous find and stare at its beauty! Search the web for examples of designer wall coverings, like I did for these photos. But, find the best and most unique eye candy through your favorite interior designer. Delicious.

Wishing all of my mommy friends a wonderful Mother’s Day.  I hope your day is sweet, that you get pampered & you get spoiled beyond belief with lots of extra hugs & kisses.  Butterfly kisses with my little princess are my favorite!  I read earlier this week that the most requested Mother’s Day gift was to get a nap.  Sounds good to me!  Here’s to some R & R and quality time for yourself as well as with your loved ones.

Hello design friends!  I apologize for being MIA over the last week or so.   After I returned from furniture market in North Carolina, I hopped right back on a plane to go install my client’s home in California.  I’m back in Dallas now (at least for the time being) & wouldn’t you know it ~ I got a terrible sinus infection in the midst of trying to play catch up back at our showroom.  So, please excuse my tardiness in sharing all of my exciting adventures & finds with you.

I have so much to catch you all up on, but it will have to wait for now.  I need to follow up on current projects  & put the finishing touches on an event we’re hosting here at IBB for STAR Children’s Charities next week.   So exciting!  Don’t go far though, because next week will be full of lots of fun on my blog including a guest post from my fabulous friend Shelly Rosenberg.

So, for the time being I will leave you with a little teaser to entice you to come back & read up on my latest adventures…

No, this is not something I normally keep in my designer’s tool kit.  However, I did use this ever-so- handy forklift to get my client’s absolutely favorite piece into his home during my installation in California.  It’s never a dull day in the design world!  Stay tuned for details…