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Do you remember your first place? When my husband and I first got married, we lived in a one-bedroom apartment that had two closets and a living room so small my husband could stretch out his arms and almost touch both walls. In a word, tiny.

Even though there were times we felt we were tripping over each other, we often got compliments on how nice and (surprise!) even roomy our place looked. It wasn’t until we  crammed in 20 people for parties that our guests would realize they were actually in a crackerbox.

Decorating small spaces isn’t hard, it just takes a bit more strategy. Instead of just making decisions based on what you like, you have to think about how everything will affect the space, meaning how much it looks like there is.

One common thing I see a lot of people do is cram big, bulky furniture into a room that screams for sleek lines. Just because you had two armchairs in your old living room doesn’t mean you need two chairs in your new, smaller one. And if your round dining room table with 8 chairs makes it hard to walk through your dining room, it’s time to pare down to a rectangle table with 4 chairs.

Dark colors are another way to instantly make a room feel smaller. When it comes to creating the illusion of space, it’s all about light. You want light, airy colors on the walls. Window treatments should also be light and airy, to allow more natural light in.

And the easiest way to make a room (any room) look larger? Simplify! That’s means taking a good, hard look at all the things you have in the room and asking yourself if you really need it all. What things are just collecting dust? What things can be better used in another room? The fewer knickknacks and accessories you have, the more open the room will feel.

So even if you don’t have the most space, there are ways to make the most of it, and make your house feel more like a home, less like a shoebox.

Sharing decorating ideas with friends, reading blogs or poring over your decorating magazines are great ways to get home design and decor ideas, but sometimes you need real inspiration. One of my favorite spring and fall events is our local parade of homes. I can’t wait to walk through these showplaces, admiring the lush decorating, fine details and better-than-last-year’s floorplans. What better way to get ideas first hand?

If you’re not familiar with the “Parade” idea, it is generally something like this — builders offer up their model homes to be part of a parade so that potential buyers and looky-loos walk through the homes. The builders only pick their best work for the parade and these homes are decorated to the nines. It is a perfect to way to experience the new trends in decorating and building. Many civic organizations do similar events with home or garden tours for fundraisers throughout the year. Those are also a great way to become inspired.

Here are a list of some parades and tours around the country. I’m sure your area has one, too. Have fun looking and regards!

Central Oklahoma: http://www.paradeofhomesok.com/

Central Pennsylvania: http://www.paparadeofhomes.com/Details.aspx

Dallas: http://www.paradeofhomesdallas.com/

Denver: http://www.paradeofhomesdenver.com/

Kansas City: http://www.kchba.org/shows/shows.shtml

Key West: http://www.oirf.org/events/tours.htm

Minnesota: http://www.paradeofhomes.org/parade-home/parade-home-search.aspx

Northern Virginia: http://www.vaparadeofhomes.com/about_parade.html

Orlando: http://www.paradeofhomesorlando.com/parade.cfm

West Texas: http://www.lubbocknewhomes.com/Parade08/

In today’s housing economy in the United States, many people are being more conservative and opting to remodel their existing home rather than purchase a new home. I know this is definitely true for me. However, if you are like me, the word “remodel” makes me double check my bank account to make sure several thousand dollars are not already being withdrawn by contractors. If you choose to do the work yourself, a remodeling project can be significantly less. Whether you do the work or choose to contract it out, the old saying “failure to plan is planning to fail” rings true. To keep the costs down, you need an effective planning tool. Home design software is the key tool to get your project off to the right start. By working with today’s tools, you can quickly pull your ideas together and view a 3D model of your design as you work. These designs can be shown to your contractor(s) to ensure you get your desired results.

In working with several contractors, numerous customers have told them “I am spending X thousands of dollars on my largest investment, why would I skip the software and cost myself more money?” I am sure you can demonstrate to a contractor what you want done. People do this every day. But, if a picture is worth a thousand words, how much time and money can a simple picture save you.

If you are serious about saving money on your next project, you owe it to your self to at least look at the box tour of the House Beautiful Home Design Suite by clicking here. If you want to see more examples, take a look at some of the pictures in Punch! Software’s gallery at http://store.punchsoftware.com/slideshow. If your contractor still can’t visualize what you want after seeing pictures like this, you may need a new contractor.

Hello all! I am excited to get my blog started to share some of the great items I have found over the years which may help you get started on your next decorating project. I will be covering items inside and outside the house and hopefully providing valuable decor ideas. Some of the upcoming posts will include items such as contemporary kitchen designs, living room decor and even kitchen remodeling. But before I get too far, one of the next posts will hopefully be very valuable to you - a few of the best places to buy high-quality housewares and decor on a budget. I look forward to interacting with the readers of this blog and sharing great ideas.