Marjorie Dorfman, Author at Shakadoo

Installing Window Shades or Blinds: Mission Possible!

Windows and how they are covered (treated) can make or break the appearance of any room in your home. They not only render light, but also create mood and the illusion of space. Decorating windows is a very specific art and one that doesn’t have to cost that much, especially if you decide to install them yourself.

Today there are many options for shades and blinds, which were once considered unglamorous and useless. For larger windows, a light and airy look can be created by the use of vertical fabric blinds, which can be easily rotated for privacy. Venetian blinds can be opened at various angles to allow light in. Mini blinds are inexpensive and come in a wide variety of colors. They are especially appealing for children’s rooms and other places where a casual look is called for.

Wooden blinds and their wider slats have a more sophisticated appeal. When combined with a valance, the top of the blind and its hardware remain hidden, rendering a clean natural look. Shades can be made to complement any décor and there are many designs to choose from. One of the most popular is the balloon shade, which is designed in billows and folds.

Whatever your choice, if you are going to install the shades or blinds in your home, the most important factor concerns the accurate measurement of the window in question. Use a steel tape measure and avoid those cloth ones. Shades may be installed with inside mounts, which are surprisingly found inside the window frame or outside mounts, which cover the window.

Have faith. You can do it!

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Decorate Your Home For Spring With…Your Groceries?

by Marjorie Dorfman Leave a Comment

According to a recent article in Good Housekeeping, the most surprising and beautiful spring blooms may not be those growing in your garden or on sale at the local florist. The article stresses instead the idea of utilizing supermarket items as decorative objects, combining form, function and vegetable in a new and different way. (Frank Lloyd Wright, be quiet. It’s time.)

Think of how this will change your shopping attitude, technique and not to mention use of coupons! Walk down that produce aisle and consider everything you see like splatters of paint on a palette, all rendering different decorating options. Fill your basket with double your usual choice of vegetables, the logic being that one is for your mouth and the other is for… well, possibly your walls tables and/or patios.

You can create a vegetable world at your feet. Consider lemon topiary, or an asparagus-as-vase arrangement. If you really feel over the top, how about some parrot tulips in a vase of citrus fruits?

The ingredients are as follows:

• 1 large glass vase,
• 8 oranges
• 6 lemons
• 6 limes
• and tulips

Instructions are to fill the vase about ¾ to the top with whole oranges, lemons and limes. Then fill the vase with water and place the stems of the tulips in the center of the vase. Asylum officials assure in whispered tones that this will help anchor the flowers.

What’s next, folks? Perhaps orange rinds and potato peels?

What do YOU think about this? Please share.

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Roman Shades: Do They Conquer?

by Marjorie Dorfman Leave a Comment

How are Roman shades different from other types? To say that they block out the sun and shade a room hardly makes them unique, and yet they are. Roman shades stack up in evenly sized panels when the shade is lifted. When the shade is in a lowered state, they create a relatively smooth appearance. Roman shades are versatile and can also be created to reveal a somewhat “hobbled” look, with the vertical panels still showing when the shade is closed.

The raising and lowering of the shades is achieved through a cord system. The cord can be pulled until they reach the desired height, allowing portions of the window to be exposed while blocking out other areas. In this case, the top portion of the roman shades is stacked, while the bottom portion remains extended in the same way it would be if the shade were completely closed.

Roman shades not only come in a wide range of materials and colors, they can also be made with a design, picture or secret message that is revealed once the shade is lowered. Start your own secret DaVinci Code! They can be bought or made in colors to match any room’s décor or any pieces within it, such as tablecloths, pillowcases or upholstery.

Roman shades can be made from many different materials, including wood or fabric. Even within the many choices there are more options, as the type of wood is varied as well. Common possibilities include reed and bamboo, but in reality they are as vast as that old Cole Porter tune, “Anything Goes.” Wood is a very popular material because it creates a natural look as well as providing a touch of genuine warmth.

Roman shades can also be woven by using different materials together. Rattan, reeds, bamboo, jute and other types of wood weave well together and create a unique look. Fabrics can be used in a similar fashion.

So have fun in creating your unique set of roman shades. They are sure to conquer, if not invading cities like the people they are named after, at least the rapt attention of anyone entering the room.

Happy Shades!

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Installing a Skylight Without Seeing Stars

by Marjorie Dorfman Leave a Comment

Have you ever installed a skylight in your home? Did you live to tell the tale? Would you do it again yourself or seek professional help (for your brain as well as the skylight)? Here are some thoughts on the matter.

Skylights work wonders for any room, giving the illusion of more open space and reducing the need for electric lighting while providing solar heat. Skylights can also serve as egress to the roof, should a quick escape be somehow necessary.

According to most home improvement experts, you should think twice (and even thrice) before installing your own skylight. One of the major problems is leaking and that rarely happens when a skylight is installed professionally. If you think you might save money by buying a cheaper skylight and going with a professional installer, think twice about that too. Many professional roofers won’t touch a budget skylight because they are almost destined to have problems of leakage.

If you have a skylight that you want removed, forget about doing that yourself and remember that many pros will offer this service when they install the new ones.

Unless you really know what you are doing, don’t try this one alone!

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The Toaster In Your Home: Do You Know Where It Came From?

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In the days of the Roman gladiators, toasting bread was a way to prolong its life (not the gladiator’s; the bread). In fact, the word “tostum,” from which toast derives, is actually Latin for scorching or burning. (In my house, the word would be synonomous with ironing, but that’s another blog entirely.) In their conquests, the Romans took their love of toast with them and spread the custom as far away as Britain.

Following the Roman tradition, English colonists brought the toast tradition to the New World. In pre-electric times, there were a variety of methods employed to make toast. They ranged from using a hot hearthstone to putting bread on toasting forks and holding it over a fire and fancy bread holders that could be attached to the side of a fireplace and rotated into the flame.

Crompton and Company invented the first electric toaster in England in 1893. In 1909, it was developed in the United States. It was labor-intensive however, as it required someone to manually turn the toaster off when the toast was done and it also only toasted one side of the bread. In 1919, the pop-up toaster as we know it today was invented by Charles Strite.

The popularity of the toaster spread even further with the invention of pre-sliced bread in 1928 by Otto Frederick Rohwedder. When Wonder Bread introduced pre-sliced bread back in 1930, the toaster became the coolest thing since…well…since sliced bread!

Happy toasting!

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Organizing the Pantry? Is it Possible?

by Marjorie Dorfman Leave a Comment

While the old mission impossible might have been the name of a now defunct television show, one of the new mission impossibles if you are anything like me, is the organization of the kitchen pantry!

What do I mean by this, those of you organized people out there in blogger land might ask, and well… the question deserves an answer.

Let’s talk about spices first. Are you alphabetical or random? If you are not sure, consider how you organize your address book. If for example, you list your cat’s vet as “Fluffy’s Friend” rather than by the vet’s last name, you are in the functions (or should I say dysfunctional) category. If you are there, don’t despair, for even though that rhymes, I am there too!

I try to alphabetize; I really do. Curry, cardamom etc etc. The problem is that once I use something, I never put it back where it was before. Why, you ask? Well, how else can I keep myself on my own toes?

How about oils and international condiments? Shouldn’t they be in their own special place in the pantry? Of course, you say and you are right. The rule, as I said before, is that once I use it, I kind of forget where it was before, which means the next time I need it, it will be the same race for the cure as to its exact location.

I can’t speak for you, but it’s clear to me that I am beyond help.

What do YOU think about pantries? Please share unless, that is, you equate them with belfries and the bats that may live therein!

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Feng Shui and Clutter

by Marjorie Dorfman 1 Comment

Feng Shui concerns the harmonious relationship between humans and natural objects. To the Chinese, human power follows the understanding of Heaven-Earth-Humanity and is exerted via subtle landscape preferences and a respect for nature. Nature created itself and should therefore be venerated as the source of life. The Oriental path is clear: respect experiences, discern the truth by studying the past, stand between science and theology, and combine ethics with esthetics.

Feng Shui and clutter are two powerful counter forces because there really is no “should do” when it comes to cleaning out clutter. To live in a house divided against itself (that cannot multiply, much less divide) is and can only be a personal choice. One room, one corner, or one closet at a time is the best way to tackle the heap before your tired eyes. Alternatives of garage sales and “I’ll figure it out tomorrow” really don’t work unless you are Scarlett O’Hara because they do not settle the issue. They only help to postpone it to another cluttered time and place.

Some people cannot bear to see others have their things or haggle over prices. I’ve heard of cases where people have bought their own things back because of that. The good news is that much of clutter is created because it has no place to live. Find a home for it; a way to keep or display that which you love, and it is no longer clutter. (Keep spouses, pets and children out of this type of arrangement.)

How do YOU deal with the clutter in your home? Please share.

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Feng Shui in Your Bedroom: Some Thoughts

by Marjorie Dorfman Leave a Comment

Feng Shui, once it is understood, is invisible but everywhere around us like air, whether we want it to be or not. The bedroom is the most important room in any house and is crucial to the flow of energy (chi) throughout the home. Beds have power positions as well. Did you know that the energy of anyone who ever slept in your bed leaves a residue? (Not just cracker crumbs, mind you, but energy!) For optimum Feng Hhui, the bed should be situated in the opposite corner from the door. There should be a clear view of the door from the sleeping position, and if there isn’t, place a mirror in such away so that it will reflect the door. This will restore feng shui.

Did you know that your bed has a power position? Did you also know that everyone who ever slept in your bed has left some of his or her energy there? (Not just cracker crumbs mind you, but energy. And what does this mean to all those places that claim that “George Washington slept here”?) Perhaps it’s all about t seeing what’s coming (like not closing the shower curtain all the way in order to catch the first glimpse of Norman Bates in gingham lurking somewhere nearby.

According to the principles of Feng Shui, the farther away the bed is from the door and the more of the room you can see while in bed, the more control you will have over your environment and your life. It should not be in a direct line with the doorway. It is said that a bed thus situated can create illness or break a relationship. (That’s difficult to deal with, considering how difficult relationships are on the tangible, non-Feng Shui plane alone.) By far, however, the very worst position for the bed is with your feet pointing directly towards the door. If this cannot be avoided, the rushing chi can be deflected by the sound of hanging a metal wind chime halfway between the door and the bed. A faceted crystal over the foot of the bed will work as well.

So if your house is anything like mine, we have a lot to do to create ultimate Feng Shui. I will return after I have had a serious discussion under the covers with chi, yin and yang.

Do YOU have Feng Shui in YOUR bedroom? Please share.

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Feng Shui: What is It Exactly?

by Marjorie Dorfman Leave a Comment

The Oriental concept of Feng Shui translates into the English words “wind and water” and concerns itself with an intangible energy known as chi, which has both positive and negative effects. Feng Shui must be experienced before it can be truly understood. The power of chi is everywhere in the universe betraying itself in our attitudes about life and landscape, which is the frame, either conscious or unconscious, that we place around our lives.

Feng Shui demands the placement of objects, especially graves, buildings and furniture in patterns of yin and yang and the flow of chi. The concept rests on the belief that there are five basic elements, some combinations of which create a positive cycle and some which are destructive. For optimum Feng Shui, any given room in a home should have an equal balance of all five elements: water, wood, fire earth and metal; none of them, however, being too overpowering

For optimum Feng Shui, all five elements must be present, none of them too intense. For example, a room dominated by metal elements can be counter-balanced by wood elements like leafy green plants or fire elements such as red throw pillows or even candles. Natural things fare well in implementing Feng Shui design in one’s home. The dual aspects of yin and yang always reign supreme with Feng Shui, as the ultimate goal is the harmonious balance between humans and natural objects.

There is much to say about Feng Shui and much more will follow in the next few blogs.

What do YOU think about Feng Shui for your home?

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Do You Keep Losing The Keys To Your Kingdom? (Or At Least The Kingdom Which Is Your House?)

by Marjorie Dorfman Leave a Comment

If you are anything like me, your keys must drive you nuts. Every time I enter my house, I vow to put them in the same place all the time. No matter how hard I try, they seem to have a mind of their own, which tells them to play hide and seek with me on most days of the week!

I have tried hooks, counters, special dishes, duplicate sets of keys and absolutely nothing works. Duplicate sets present other problems; namely the issue of not being able to find them as well. I am a hopeless case! Worse, there are several sets of different keys to contend with. The entire matter presents significant justification for entry into any one of the world’s most popular insane asylums!

Do you have this problem?

If you don’t, can you
HELP ME?

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