1. Choose a Theme An easy way to make your home design unified is to have a common theme throughout. Is it modern or traditional? Earthy or industrial? Do you love nature motifs? Vintage accessories? The look of farmhouse style? What about nautical pieces? This room perfectly captures a nautical sensibility with pale ocean blues, sea glass, and a weathered anchor on the mantel without going (dare we say it) overboard....

Pottery Barn is known for releasing a variety of timeless pieces and more modern ones, too. With ideas for every room in the house (plus the front porch!), we expect to see these trends all over as peak holiday season quickly approaches. This is why we expect to see a move toward faux wreaths and garlands. No cleanup is required, and to make matters even easier, many wreaths, garland, and other greenery from Pottery Barn come pre-lit....

Luckily, there are simple ways to disguise your laundry baskets, allowing you to keep things tidy and avoid visual clutter. Use our best laundry basket storage ideas in your household to get organized between wash days. 1. Conceal in a Cabinet One of the best ways to camouflage baskets is by using cabinets in your laundry room. If you’re designing a laundry room from scratch, consider asking your contractor to include this with the design....

In fact, we covered the trend in the May 1972 issue of Better Homes & Gardens. With its distinctive shape and high-shine finish, the chrome lamp in this retro bedroom is a focal point, even next to a bold coverlet and matching painted mural. Nearly 50 years later, mushroom lamps are back in the spotlight. According to Etsy’s 2021 report on home decor trends, searches for mushroom lamps have ballooned 371% in the past three months, compared to the same time last year....

Plant This Instead: Though its flowers aren’t fragrant, ajuga also can grow in shady spots similar to lily-of-the-valley, but won’t take over the garden. Plant This Instead: For early summer color, plant well-behaved, pollinator favorite penstemon instead of perennial bachelor’s button. Plant This Instead: There are many other well-behaved groundcover plants like creeping thyme, oregano, or barrenwort that won’t give you a decade-long headache like chameleon plant will. Plant This Instead: If you want early color with a more pleasing scent, opt for the delightful perfume of miniature daffodils....

To see how these plants actually do in practice, the Colorado State University’s (CSU) Flower Trial Garden puts them to the test over a two-year period, and each year, it picks out a few outstanding varieties. It named these six perennials as top performers, and you can bet that if these plants can stand up to Colorado’s high altitude, large temperature swings, and even punishing hailstorms with minimal care, they truly are tough beauties worth adding to your garden....

A charming facade doesn’t require a full-out facelift. Utilize the weekend to carry out one or all of the key details featured in this home’s front yard. Stone pillars anchor a winding walkway that leads to an updated front door. Tailored landscaping provides the perfect setting for custom trim and a classic color palette. How to Make a Paver Walkway How to Paint an Exterior Door Get the Cedar Shutter How-to Here...

A recent study from Improve Net asked 2,000 homeowners about DIY home improvement projects that didn’t go quite as planned. Of those polled, 63% said they regretted doing a project and 33% had to hire a professional to fix their work. Below are the top 7 DIY home projects homeowners say they regret doing. See what went wrong for and what you can do to avoid their mistakes. 7. Refinish Cabinetry If you think refinishing your cabinetry is as simple as painting a wall, think again....

So what food choices can help you ward off inflammation and the chronic diseases it may lead to? Here are some of the best anti-inflammatory foods you should consider adding to your diet now. 1. Berries Blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and even the Thanksgiving favorite, cranberries, have been shown to help decrease risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Inflammation and high blood pressures are key risk factors of CVD. Berries also contain hard-to-pronounce but oh-so-good-for-you anti-inflammatory compounds like anthocyanins and ellagitannins....

Throw on your jersey, whip up a batch of buffalo dip, and queue up the pre-game show, because these at-home tailgate ideas are the next best thing to actually being at the stadium.

What is straw? Straw is the dried stems left after wheat or oats (or other grains) have been harvested. Once the grain is removed, the dried stalks are bundled into bales. Ideally there will be very few seeds or weeds in the straw bale. (Pine straw is simply baled pine needles and is a good option for mulching ornamental beds.) Benefits of Mulching with Straw Straw mulch not only suppresses weed growth, but moderates fluctuations in soil temperature and moisture....

Name: Platycerium bifurcatum Growing Conditions: medium to bright light and high humidity Size: to 3 feet tall and wide Name: Adiantum raddianum Growing Conditions: medium to bright light and high humidity Size: to 2 feet tall and wide Name: Nephrolepis cordifolia ‘Lemon Button’ Growing Conditions: medium to bright light and high humidity Size: to 3 feet tall and 4 feet wide Buy It: Potted 4-inch, $7, Walmart Name: Microsorium diversifolium Growing Conditions: medium to bright light and average humidity Size: to 2 feet tall and wide Name: Microsorium musifolium ‘Crocodyllus’ Growing Conditions: medium to low light and high humidity Size: to 3 feet tall and wide Name: Humata tyermanii Growing Conditions: medium to bright light and high humidity Size: to 2 feet tall and wide Name: Asplenium nidus Growing Conditions: medium to bright light and high humidity Size: to 5 feet tall and wide (but usually 1-2 feet indoors) Name: Pteris cretica ‘Mayi’ Growing Conditions: medium to bright light and high humidity Size: to 2 feet tall and wide Name: Nephrolepis exaltata ‘Cotton Candy’ Growing Conditions: medium to bright light and average humidity Size: to 1 foot tall and wide

1. Create Contrast Contrast is one of the defining characteristics of modern kitchens. According to the National Kitchen and Bath Association (NKBA), cabinets, countertops, appliances, and lighting have the most visual impact in a modern kitchen. Consider these areas when looking to add contrast. “The most common colors for kitchens are a neutral with contrast,” says Vancouver-based designer Corey Klassen. “For example, white cabinets with dark counters, Hale Navy cabinets with white counters, or a vertical grain rift-cut oak in a light-tinted stain and a gray counter....

To help inspire your Halloween decor this year, we’ve rounded up some of our favorite bright and bold pumpkin decorating trends. Put down the carving tools, pick up a paintbrush, and start decorating! Geometric Pumpkins These neat and tidy ribbons of color are wonderfully at odds with the pumpkin’s irregular contours. We traced the circle with a bowl and used electrical tape ($3, Target) to block out the stripes since the tape’s elasticity lends itself to working around curves....

Building codes control the dimensions of treads and risers. Treads are typically 10 to 11-1/2 inches deep; the deeper the tread, the more comfortable the climb. Risers are generally no more than 7-3/4 inches tall. If the dimensions of your stairs are not within these guidelines, you’ll need to rebuild them for safety. Stairways get heavy wear, especially along the tread nosing, so choose a durable and easy-to-clean carpet. A carpet with an attached padded backing is easier to put down, but installing carpeting on stairs with this type of product isn’t recommended, as they tend to wear quickly....

I was scouring the BHG archives one day looking for vintage shots of mushroom lamps (a day in the life of a market editor) when I found myself staring at my own living room. Some things looked different: The carpeted floors are now hardwood, and the original tongue-and-groove ceilings are painted white. But it was unmistakably ours—documented in the prime of its groovy ’70s phase. Take one look at the house now and you can probably tell my husband, Chris, and I are very much into the era—the fashion, the decor, the music—so stumbling upon the 1974 feature shortly after moving in was like finding a ready-made mood board filled with inspiration....

Journalist and graphic designerGraduate of Drake University’s journalism programFormer food writer for Better Homes & Gardens magazineCopywriter and project manager