Holiday Guide: 8 Table Setting and Tablescape Ideas
Casa Sugar
“After spending hours cooking the perfect Christmas dinner, you’ll want your table to look the best it possibly can. Luckily a few simple tricks, like lining the table with candles or making festive paper Christmas trees, will bring that extra touch. In this holiday guide, we’ve gathered 10 inspiring table settings that will get you thinking about your own designs. Whether you like bold metallics or understated displays, we made sure there’s something for everyone.”

Surprise Surprise Light
Design Sponge
“This “Surprise Surprise” light at Gretel Home is a fun little spin on a present-topping tradition. Made of Mylar with a white textile cord, it would be a fun piece to mount in a child’s room — or an adult’s room — next to the bed as a more playful nightlight. That corner of your room will always feel festive.”

5 Tips for Cutting Your Own Christmas Tree
Charles & Hudson
Safety first! Charles & Hudson shows you how to safely and effectively cut your own Christmas tree.

How To: Impress Everyone with Perfect Gift Wrapping
Curbly
“Because I became an expert sheet-tucker, I inadvertently became pretty darn good at wrapping presents too- the technique is one in the same.”

Holiday Ornaments: Classic
Apartment Therapy
“The holidays are the perfect time to show off your love of tradition. Even staunch modernists have been known to throw away their minimalist rules for something that reflect fond childhood memories or traditional, cultural designs.”

Today the marketing department at Marvin Windows and Doors had the privilege of hearing Sarah Susanka talk to us about her work. Sarah has been a long-time friend of Marvin and we are huge fans of her. She’s a top architect, designer, author, visionary and all-around good person.

Sarah talked about her new showhouse in Libertyville, Ill., which feature both Marvin and Integrity windows. She shared some of her design tips with us. Here’s a sampling.

• Varied ceiling heights. This makes a room feel cozy instead of stark.
• Aligning the house so that the eye has something to be drawn towards. For instance, Sarah designed the entry of the Libertyville house with a recessed shelf that can hold some artwork or a vase of flowers. You see the focal point as soon as you enter in through the door.
• Walking towards light. As Sarah reminded us, human beings are drawn towards light, so when designing a home, it’s important that we are able to move towards light-filled spaces, whether that is a window, a door, or just a lighted area on a wall.
• Multi-use spaces. Sarah showed us a floor plan that could be switched around to include large gatherings. As she pointed out, in traditional home plans, there are often spaces that get used once or twice a year. Why not design homes to be as flexible as possible?

Learn more about Sarah and her Not So Big philosophy here.

Image courtesy of Susanka.com.

Is there EVER a good time to remodel your kitchen? No matter what, it means major disruption, dirt, dust, inconvenience and expense. The trade off for all this is a beautiful new kitchen at the end that will fit your lifestyle, add value to your house and maybe even save you some money with energy-efficient appliances. But in the meantime, there’s the pain.

Many people prefer to remodel their kitchens in the spring and summer. With the warm weather, it’s easy to grill out and dining out options become a little more numerous with restaurant patios. Plus, if you’re cooking, summer is the perfect time for low-prep salads and other no-heat food.

Winter can be a little bit more of a difficult time to tackle a kitchen remodeling project. Besides the reasons above, there’s the holidays. Coming right after Halloween is Thanksgiving and then Christmas and Hanukkah and New Year’s  and Valentine’s Day…

What do you do when your kitchen consists of a hot plate and a roll of paper towels? Luckily, our friends at CalFinder have a few tips to help you keep your sanity:

• The right contractor is key. Find someone who not only can work within your budget, but who will listen to you and find creative solutions to problems that will inevitably crop up.
• We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Failure to plan is planning to fail. You can save yourself a lot of stress when remodeling you kitchen around the holidays if you have not only carefully planned what you want out of your kitchen, but also planned for the ways it will affect your life.

Check out the rest of the post for more tips and here’s one from us: Make this the year you veer away from tradition. Maybe you always cook a big Thanksgiving dinner. Maybe this year you and your family could volunteer at a food shelter.

If you always host on Christmas Eve, find someone else to take the reins this year. And the Christmas Day turkey might end up being Chinese takeout. Whatever your solution, the holiday when the kitchen is being remodeled will be memorable!

Help this blogger out!

Last night, I had an unexpected visitor of the rodent variety. Unbeknownst to me, a mouse was running around my dining room floor, scurrying into the kitchen upon being noticed. After taking a moment to compose myself, I decided to figure out how to deal with this problem — sadly not uncommon in older apartments and houses, especially as the weather gets colder.

Although I want to rid myself of my mousy friend, I’d rather try some green repellent solutions first before resorting to poison and traps and dealing with mouse corpses.

I started by scrubbing the kitchen down (you could eat off my floor now!) and throwing out my store of paper and plastic bags — less places for the little critter to hide.

Today, after some Internet research, I purchased some Fresh Cab, the only EPA-approved botanical rodent solution (it smells like a Christmas tree!), as well as some devices you plug in that emit a high-pitched noise mice hate (humans can’t hear it).

I’ve also heard a lot about using peppermint essential oil as a mouse repellent; apparently mice can’t stand the smell, but it’s pleasant to people. There are recommendations of using peppermint to keep the rodents away, either by soaking cotton balls in the oil and placing it around your home, or mixing up a solution in a spray bottle of water and peppermint oil and spraying it wherever mice might be.

I hope my mouse will disappear (and my home will smell pleasantly minty), but what else should I be doing? What are some other green tips to drive the mice away without having to trap and dispose of them? Should I replace my lidless trash can under the sink with a lidded one? Does Borax work as a mouse repellent? Would anyone like to lend me a cat or a barn owl? Leave a suggestion in the comments!

Image courtesy of Brian_Kellet on Flickr

We often share videos from Lou Manfredini’s HouseSmartsTV program here on MLuxe. They’re chock-full of great tips and advice for home improvement, household products, working through a remodeling process, and more.

Occasionally, viewers write in to HouseSmarts and have Lou help them with their questions and problems. In this installment of “Ask Lou,” viewers ask about termites, a squeaky dryer and backed-up drains. A little something for everyone!

Be sure to check out the HouseSmartsTV YouTube channel and future MLuxe posts for more tips from Lou.

Many cultures consider hospitality to be a sacred obligation. We all want to treat our guests well, but sometimes things fall through the cracks. It’s especially difficult when you have guests staying overnight or longer.

The ever-helpful House Beautiful offers some tips about “What Your Houseguests Won’t Tell You” that are awesome. Check them out, and here are some more from us.

If there’s anything about your bathroom that your guests need to know, just tell them. There’s no need to be delicate. If you have a septic system that doesn’t allow most things to be flushed, let your guests know. Put up small signs in the bathroom as well — it’s always helpful to have a reminder. Likewise, if the handle needs to be held down until the toilet is done flushing, the bathroom door knob needs to be jiggled to the left to lock, or the shower needs to run for a minute before there’s any kind of water pressure, don’t leave your guests guessing.

Sleep in your guestroom! You can do this when your room is being painted, but you should spend a night in there every so often — at least every six months and preferably quarterly. How else are you to know that the box spring squeaks when you turn over, or the bar on the sofa bed digs into your back, or that the radiator goes crazy at midnight and heats the room to 90 degrees? Don’t depend on your guests telling you; they’ll probably be too polite.

Ask about dietary needs. Providing meals for a vegetarian or someone with a gluten allergy might seem daunting at first, but most people want to help you out with food shopping and prep. And of course, you as a good host don’t want your guests to be hungry. Nothing ruins a visit faster than growling stomachs!

What are your tips for being a good host and making your guests comfortable?

Everyone has certain beliefs about decorating that they’ve heard over and over again and internalized as the truth. Sometimes though, it is good to look at things you thought weren’t the “right” way to decorate.

House Beautiful shared quite a few well-kept decorating secrets. Here are a few of our favorites. Make sure to check out the rest of the post here!

• Don’t be afraid of the dark: A dark paint color can add depth to a small room and make it feel bigger. Not to mention, dark walls can often be quite cozy.
• Wallpaper isn’t just for walls: House Beautiful suggests wallpapering sliding closet doors to give them a new look. Don’t forget about the inside of your closets too! A pop of wallpaper that can be seen as the door opens adds a lot of visual interest.
• Speaking of closets…there isn’t anything worse than feeling around in a dark closet for your clothing. Put a light in there and stretch beyond the usual bare bulb on a string.
• Go green: With plants, that is! A nice, large plant in a room adds a sense of the outdoors.

Display Inspiration: Art in the Bathroom
Apartment Therapy
Prettify your potty with these ideas from Apartment Therapy.

5 Things To Consider When Buying A New Mattress
Charles and Hudson
“Here’s a few tips we picked up during the shopping and purchase process, and I thought I’d share them with you so that you, too, can enjoy a blissful night’s sleep and wake up with the energy to tackle your list of DIY projects.”

Engine Table 
Design Milk
“Currently on display at Decoratum Gallery in London, the Cylinder Radial Engine Table is made from a US Army Boeing-Stearman PT-13 engine acquired from the Canadian Museum of Flight, Langley, British Columbia. Constructed between 1936 and 1938, the innovative piece features a simple clear glass top so you can see through to the complex engine workings below.”

Two Ways to Reinvent a Serving Tray
Shelter Pop
Watch this video about reinventing or creating a serving tray!

DIY: Gemstone Cabinet Knobs
Casa Sugar
“Two decorating secrets in updating a kitchen on a dime are to change the color of the walls with a fresh coat of paint, and swap out dated cabinet knobs with new ones. In my kitchen, you don’t have to do the tedious task of unscrewing each knob to give them a fresh look. Upcycle your old knobs with a colorful collection of geodes, sea glass, or minerals and ultrapowerful glue.”

As summer is winding down, it’s time to start preparing for the fall and winter. One aspect you should focus on is how safe your home is. Small steps can pay big dividends. Here are some suggestions.

Have the right detectors in your home: We all know we should have smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in our homes. What you may not know is that those units should be cleaned with a vacuum every month and replaced every 6-7 years. You should have one unit on every floor of living space in your home. And you should install an explosive-gas detector in the space where your mechanical systems live.

Door locks: Seems simple, but these can be easily opened using a trick called bumping where a special key and a well-placed bump can unlock a door. Look for door locks that have “anti-bump pins” to take away this threat. Consider upgrading to electronic keypad locks to remove the need for keys all together. It’s a great addition if you have children who must come home on their own and are prone to losing their keys. (Oh, wait, those are our kids.)

Security system and security cameras: If you have a security system, start using it. There is a statistic that says less than 50 percent of homes with systems get use those systems on a regular basis. Make sure doors have contacts and that windows are either contacted or there are motion sensors that can see movement. As far as cameras, go you can purchase Internet cameras that work off of your wireless network and allow you to see who is coming and going from your computer or even your smartphone. Those systems start at around $300.

Finally, a safe: You do not need to own the Pink Panther diamond to be in need of a safe in your home. A fire-proof and water-proof safe is a wise investment to hold important documents, passports, extra cash and, yes, jewelry. Just make sure it’s heavy enough and you have it bolted to the floor.

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Everyone has their own personal style, but let’s face it — some people just have a knack for decorating. To give the rest of us an idea of things to avoid, House Beautiful (via MSN Real Estate) has some tips. Here are a few of our favorites. Check out the rest at MSN!

• Overzealous Decorative Painting: Color is great, but be judicious. Remember that you’re not living in a beautiful photograph — this is actually your home. Once the newness of that apple green accent wall wears off, will you really want to look at it every day?
• Furniture Pushed Up Against the Walls: Do you really want to strain to converse with someone who is sitting on a chair huddled against the wall on the other side of the room? MLuxe recommends creating conversation spaces instead.
• A Single Light Source: Unless your room is incredibly small, you’ll need more than one lamp. A single overhead light can be harsh. For activities like reading, you’ll want to have smaller, concentrated lights.