Pamela Sandall Interior Design

Yellow reminds me of sunflowers, which, if you planted them at the beginning of summer could be towering above your head right now! My son's birthday is in September (he'll be eighteen this year...gulp). My husband is great at bringing flowers to everyone for their birthday. My son always gets sunflowers. I love that they are the last bright spot of the summer bloom cycle and they get so big and so proud...as if to say "See! Look how impressive I am!"

YELLOW - Yellow people are highly original, love novelty and challenge and are reliable friends. You are very generous, forthright and open with people. You are a perfectionist.

White to me says clean and fresh and new. May feels kind of like that. It's not yet summer, but the promise of the gentle summer months are ahead...like an artists canvas ready to be painted on. A white picket fence feels like summer to me. Everyone is out readying their gardens, exchanging stories and feeling that sense of aniticipation...especially here in Oregon! Yes, I know it's still raining, but the days are warmer and longer and occasionally we get a really fantastic day!

The color white in decor feels like that as well. If we have white on our walls, it means that whatever is sitting on those walls has the ultimate importance. If you have a beautiful and valuable art piece, you can certainly put it on a painted wall, but to display it on a plain, white background can make it doubly important.

White slipcovers over your sofas can summerize and freshen up your home. The soft whites of a shabby chic room are so comfortable and white paired with any cool pastel colors feels fresh and clean.

WHITE - Neat, self-sufficient, yearn for simplicity. You love your home, a cautious buyer and a shrewd trader .

...for Every Room In the House


For the bedroom, think of calming, peaceful colors such as blues and greens. Spiritual and romantic colors such as purple also work well in the bedroom retreat. Neutrals are always a safe and soothing choice in the bedroom.

For the Living Room, neutral colors such as beige and browns for walls, sofas, and chairs are safe and easy choices for the living room, but accent with colors to suit your family and/or enviroment in either warm or cool colors. Cooler colors work well for living and family rooms that will be used for downtime and reading, and warmer colors for living and family rooms will promote cozying up and conversation.

For the Dining Room or Eating Area, warmer colors will stimulate the appetite and conversation. Even if you go neutral, think a warm neutral! Shades of apricot and orange (but don't let ORANGE scare you...think about earthy terra cottas). They will evoke enthusiasm and excitement without being overpowering.

For Hallways and Entryways, neutral colors work to transition the space as it leads to other areas of the home. The also don't promote themselves! If you are using lots of colors in the various rooms, the hallways in their neutrals can bridge the gap between a various bright or bold color choices.

For the Bathroom or Spa-type area, a cool, tranquil, healing color such as green is perfect. White is often used in bathroom areas because it makes small spaces seem larger and symbolizes cleanliness. I LOVE to use white towels. They look fresh and clean and as a bonus...you can get them REALLY clean with bleach.

SPLURGE: Toss out and donate ALL old towels and spring for new, all white bath and hand towells, and wash cloths!

For a child’s room using cool colors (blues, greens) will soothe and relax your little beasites. Warm colors (reds, oranges)are great and stimulating for playtime. Avoid bright yellow in large quantities as it can cause siblings to fight more easily and babies to cry more frequently. Bright pinks are wonderful to stimulate the imagination, but very light shades can cause sleepiness or even laziness (not conducive to “cleaning your room" and we really want them stimulated for THIS task!).

On Saturday I'm doing a 2 demos on the stage at the Providence Festival of Trees. The first is 3 10 minute decorating ideas that anyone can do with a limited budget and no crafting tools!


1) Decorative Stockings - for your doors, cabinets, fireplace, anywhere in your home you need a little personality. This is a great place to use old stockings if you went out and purchased matching for everyone in your family OR a way to utilize stockings you were given as a gift if you're a traditionalist who is still using the first stocking Santa brought when you were still in diapers!


2) Glam up your table with lights - set an extra special table for a dinner party or cocktail party without worrying about candles. This low lying centerpiece won't interfere with eye contact and conversation, but WILL stimulate a little of both!


3) Mini themed trees - if one tree just isn't enough, small trees decorated by theme, color, style or collection is a great addition to your holiday decor.

We all have those little treasures in our home. The little items. Beloved. Reverred. Well, sometimes we don't love it, but it's staying. It was the husband's mother's favorite aunt's __________ and it's staying. Many times it's a treasure we picked up together on a trip or a piece of furniture lovingly restored together or given as a gift. Do you have one of these?


Sweet story...I have a client that had a table. The husband had built this little table for his wife as the two of them like to play cribbage together. He made it years ago with wood from his family's farm and burned the cribbage board right into the top. I heard about it when we were looking at the need for small furniture pieces in their family room. They were willing to hide the table in the garage, but I could tell from the way they looked at each other that this was significant for them. The 'design' solution? Re-work the table to be more functional in the room, but definitely keep it in the room.


We had frame made for the table top and built more solid legs. A drawer was added to store cribbage pins and playing cards and a bottom shelf was installed for magazines, remotes and the like. We even used re-claimed wood for the job. I think they're pretty happy with the results.


Do you have a cribbage table lurking in your life? Don't hide your memories away in the garage: embrace them. recycle them. promote them. You'll be happier for it.

Last night was the third week of my design series at PCC. It's one of my favorite classes - Color! A little can of paint, an interesting piece of fabric, a fantastic collectible in your favorite color can ALL make such an impact on your space.





A few useful tips to consider:

• Use a strong color on one wall to balance a heavy piece of furniture (eg: piano, large armoire)

• Think in terms of threes: if you bring in an item that is a distinctly different color than the rest of the space, make it work by adding in at least three items in that color.

• Play the percentages: Think of your colors in the ratio of 60/30/10. 60% is the color you want to see the most of, 30% is your second choice and 10% is the accent color that gives your space the personality.

Today I had the dubious responsibility of camping out at my child's high school to secure a position in a Scholar's program. As I'm kind of a comfort gal (as should be obvious by my chosen profession), I was a little leery of sitting outside for two days. So, I brought my two seat (loveseat!) folding chair, bottled water, snacks, a radio, paperbacks, magazines (decorating, of course), and The Laptop.

I fully expected to feel silly with all my creature comforts, but the nesting going on even here was astonishing. Chairs, portable recliners, tables, laptops, iPods, even a coffee maker...all for us nesters who can't leave home with the comforts that goes with it.

It makes me appreciate what I do for my clients. The goal when designing a great space differs for each client. In some households, a family room is all about the TV. The bigger, the better. In others, the TV is an afterthought...perhaps only for a single morning cartoon on PBS and the evening news. I have one such client where she brought me in to pull 'the look' together, but what was most helpful was to bring the family together by bringing the furniture off the walls, Dad's computer into the space and family photos to support the concept of family room.

In your bedroom do you long for rest, relaxation and romance?? Don't put a desk in the space!

Is your family room located too far away from the family hub for family activities? Re-think your spaces. We're not staging our homes, we're living in them. A dining room can become a family room.

What are YOUR creature comforts?