914Inc Magazine has selected 28 women entrepreneurs in Westchester county, including Chris Madden, C.E.O. of Chris Madden Inc., and will honor all of them this Thursday at the first annual AWE awards ceremony, where Chris will be the keynote speaker!
Chris’ advice to up and coming entrepreneurs? “I can tell you because it happened to me…a lot of people will say no it can’t be done…but you can’t accept no ever.”
See 914Inc’s interview with Chris and read about all the honorees here:
I love the wallpaper pattern in this powder room - treillage and teahouses. It adds whimsy to a room that had previously been too dark!
A few weeks ago I wrote about adding color into our homes – especially during these potentially dull winter months. I mentioned that a powder room is the perfect place to experiment with colors that you might want to use in other rooms, and it reminded me how much fun it can be to decorate these rooms. They’re the perfect spot to embellish with personality, whimsy and charm. For me, it was important that our master bath be a serene room – with mostly neutral colorings and harmonious music and lightly scented candles. But I feel the powder rooms downstairs were the ideal locations to have fun with colors, textures and unexpected accessories. Here’s how I transformed these rooms into adventurous and unique spaces.
The first idea was in our more ‘formal’ entryway. I decided to make it very romantic – almost baroque. I mentioned in another blog that the firey-red walls were inspired by a paper hand towel, and I built up from there. I put matching red shades with a tasseled braid on the pre-existing candle scones. Both beautiful and, I think, practical, a venetian-inspired silk brocade made a skirt under the sink (attached with Velcro!) – it’s the perfect place to store any extras we may need. There’s a window, where I hung a roman shade using the same fabric, with a deep ledge where I put a small silver tray with a collection of perfume bottles, which I know my female friends love!
The second powder room is right off our kitchen. All the fixtures were already black, so being on a budget, I hung a chic black and yellow trellis-like wallpaper with matching fabric curtains. A mixture of black toile, solid yellow and white and yellow hand towels tie it all together. I had paper hand towels made by artist Ginny Bauer (see more of her work here: – http://www.ginnyspaperlinen.com/) to match the wallpaper’s circular motif.
Remember – you don’t need to make extensive changes to update your powder room! My updates were nearly all simple, cosmetic changes. A change of paint color, an unexpected accessory, or fresh new towels will give the room a new feel. Here are a few quick and inexpensive ways to freshen up your bathroom –
What’s most important about updating a powder room is that it appeals to you. It should go beyond just the functional purpose and be a room of style and comfort where you and your guests can indulge all 5 of your senses – sight, scent, sound, touch & taste.
Winter is the perfect time to test out adventurous decor - whether exotic animal prints or deep reds, blues, greens, & golds, these colors and patterns are sure to cure your winter blues.
Our holidays that just passed were a time of celebrations and bright colors. During the first few weeks of winter, many hang their brightly colored lights and break out festive flatware with pride. Once the holidays are over, however, we often lose a lot of these bright and cheery colors, at a time when many of us (especially here in the north east!) need them most.
Too often during the winter the view outside in our northeast is shrouded in fog, with muddy brown-grey lawns and bare trees under a gray sky. If that’s what you see when you look outside – it’s the perfect time to put some color inside your home. Sometimes, we’re all afraid to add those splashes of color indoors. I’ve had a number of people tell me that they’d like to paint their family room apple green or their bathroom a deep red, but something seems to always hold them back – whether it’s a skeptical family, a fear of mis-matched fabric, or the feeling the new shade may quickly lose its appeal. I’ve been there too, so here are some of my tips and tricks to getting used to some new and vibrant colors.
A bit of help to get over your color-phobia, start small to comfortably commit to splashes of hues and paints that will transform and otherwise ‘blah’ space. If your home feels drab in those post-holiday winter months, dare to do something about it. You’ll enjoy and, hopefully, love it!
