My secret weapon...BABY WIPES!!!

Ok, you might think that this is a totally random post.  However, part of designing a beautiful home is maintaining a beautiful home.  The little wipes that keep my two year old squeaky clean are also my little trick for keeping lots of things clean around the house!

A couple of weeks ago my five year old was running from her bathroom to my bathroom with a toothbrush loaded with bright aqua toothpaste.  Well guess what managed to find its way onto on my white silk draperies that are hung in the bedroom next to the bathroom?  You guessed it- toothpaste!  I looked at the dime sized spot in horror and then sprung into action.  I pulled the excess off with toilet paper and then ran to my son's room to get a packet of wipes.  After just a few seconds of rubbing with a wipe I could see that the aqua colored stain was lightening.  The real test was if it was going to dry with a wet water ring.  I grabbed my blow dryer and dried the spot quickly.  I couldn't believe that it came out almost perfect!  A few years ago I had gotten some water on the same material in another room and it left terrible water marks on the bottom hem- makes me wish that I had tried my wipes instead of taking them to the dry cleaner who couldn't do anything for the spots.

Besides saving my draperies I have used baby wipes to spot clean rugs, clothes, handbags and wallets and my car upholstery.  No special brand, but I generally use the least expensive unscented, sensitive skin variety available to me.

So fear not!  You can be a mommy and have your white silk too!!!

The simple, but well dressed bed! How many pillows are enough?

For a Master Bedroom king sized bed:  One long custom kimono inspired pillow with contrasting velvet pleats and decorative frog closures and two custom silk king sized pillow shams stacked in front of the off-the-rack Bloomingdales linens.

I have worked with a number of clients who are still carrying the 80's and 90's mentality that more is more when discussing bed pillows.  I admit, In my career I have designed upwards of 12 decorative pillows on one bed!  Who the heck has the time to take off and put on that many pillows each day?!  Not me, that's for darn sure.  So in the last few years I started streamlining the pillow schemes that I designed for my clients.  I try to keep it to 3 decorative pillows (plus sleeping pillows) or less.  I find that one larger pillow has more impact than several small pillows and helps to keep bed-making easy.  Take a look at the photos to see how this method can be translated in several different styles. 

For a Master Bedroom king sized bed:  One custom, long embroidered pillow with box-pleat edge stacked in front of two custom blue silk king shams with flat flange stacked on stock West Elm linens.

For a boy's full sized bed:  One large decorative pillow with self welting with one decorative square throw pillow in front of Bed Bath and Beyond linens.