Blog by Beebe Cline, PREC*

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20 Festive Christmas Decorating Essentials Made Easy

November 24th, 2023
Dust off your twinkle lights and pull out that box of Christmas decor. It’s time to get decorating, and we have 20 beautiful and easy ideas to fire up your festive style at home. Better yet, all are quick, simple and designed to get the holiday spirit flowing. 1. Hang a Wreath There’s something about a wreath on the front door that kindles a festive feeling. Christmas crafters might prefer t ...

10 Ways to Enjoy Your Yard More This Holiday Season

November 20th, 2023
Colder weather and shorter days tend to make us feel like hunkering down indoors, but a dose of fresh air can be just what we need this season. Whether you’re looking for ways to get your family outside or would like to escape the house for a bit of peace and quiet yourself, here are 10 ideas for getting out in the garden soon. 1. Cozy Up Around a Fire Pit Step outside before a holiday meal ...

10 Ways to Shower Your Home With Gratitude

November 15th, 2023
Don’t leave your house out of your Thanksgiving celebrations! Here are 10 creative and thoughtful ways to express your gratitude for your home — now and throughout the year. 1. Throw a party. Whether you think of it as a no-gift housewarming or home blessing, having a party to welcome friends and family into your home is a meaningful event. If you never got around to throwing a first party in ...

How to Relax and Put Housework in Its Place

November 10th, 2023
Do you sometimes feel as though you’re losing the battle to keep your home as organized as you would like? As Benjamin Franklin so pithily put it, death and taxes are the only certainties in the world. But Ben forgot about housework. It’s repetitive, physical, relentless and (I can hear my mother here) thankless, and that will probably never change. But maybe the remedy for housework-generate ...

15 Things to Do on a Cozy Holiday Weekend at Home

November 6th, 2023
The feel of flannel sheets, the sound of stories told aloud, the scent of something delicious baking in the oven — as the Thanksgiving weekend stretches out ahead, plan on nestling with family and friends in the warm embrace of your home. Whether your idea of cozy quality time is sipping cider or making wreaths,   1. Wrap Up in Blankets and Sit Outside Take a cue from luxe ski chalets and pa ...

10 Tasks to Tackle in Your Late-Fall Garden

October 30th, 2023
Crisp temperatures and a kaleidoscope of colors make fall the perfect time to enjoy being in the garden. You might want to do some lingering tasks before winter sets in, or you might simply want to relax and enjoy the end of gardening season. 1. Embrace Nature Resist the impulse to cut everything back in fall, shutting the garden down completely. Let your plants, especially the native speci ...

15 Essential Tabletop Items for Entertaining

October 27th, 2023
Whether you’re setting up your first home, downsizing or just hoping to streamline that overstuffed china cabinet, this guide can help you begin. With the 15 items on this list, you’ll be in good shape to host dinner parties and family gatherings with ease. What you won’t find here: holiday-themed dishes, oyster forks, martini glasses or any highly specialized items. Instead the focus is on v ...

How to Get Your Furniture Arrangement Right

October 20th, 2023
Like a blank page or canvas, an empty room can be either an opportunity or a challenge. With so many ways to fill it, how do you know where to start? I’ve taken some of the basic rules of furniture arrangement and distilled them into 10 simple tips. They’ll help you work with your interior designer to determine where to put things, where not to put things and how to prioritize the choices you ...

4 Surprising Things You Can — and Should — Leave in Your Garden

October 13th, 2023
Old logs, branches, weeds and rubble all can mount up in the yard. But before you toss out everything in the trash, it might be time to rethink what you consider garbage. The Royal Horticultural Society hosts flower shows around England, with London’s Chelsea Flower Show being the most well known in the U.S., and its shows earlier this year offered plenty of ideas for using waste materials t ...

Why Fall Is a Good Time to Start Planning Your Landscape Redesign

October 11th, 2023
Many people start thinking about redesigning their yards and gardens in spring, but it’s better to kick things off in the autumn or winter, the landscape design experts we spoke with say. By planning early, you can get around the issues of bad weather and seasonal planting, and book good local contractors ahead of time. We asked the pros about timing and other aspects of getting a new landsca ...
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