Live Q&As

I'm looking for a good neutral beige or khaki color (not too dark) for our open area living room/dining room/hall ways. Preferably Benjamin Moore, but Olympic would be okay, too. (We like that their line is No VOC.) I feel like there has to be some standard neutral color preferred by interior decorators, and I would love to know!

Every landscape designer I talk to seems attached to a nursery: The design is "free" as long as you spend a lot of money at their nursery. Is there a way to get reasonable landscape design services without beign tied to a particular nursery, or "design to set fee" services?

Submitting early, but we have an indoor braided rug that we no longer use. We'd like to use it outdoors with our patio set. Is there anything that we can spray on the rug to make it more waterproof to last the season? (I'm not worried about it getting eventually ruined, but don't want it to get moldy or smelly.) Thank you!

I am thinking of refinishing our floors to a dark brown color. They are currently a honey color. The width of each wood plank is on the narrow side, maybe 2-2.5 inches wide. Would a dark color look odd on that width? I've only seen it on the wide planks, but I don't really want to refloor the entire house. Thanks!

Hello Jura, Terri and Wanda! I have a cute yellow farmhouse and I have a question about my four exterior doors (front and back each for two units in the house -- converted to a duplex). I love the yellow shingles with the white trim. But I'm at a loss as to what colors to paint the doors. Should they all be the same color? All different? Currently they are a deep green (original to the 100+ -year-old house) my front door, white (rental unit's front door), oak stain (rental unit's back door), and unfinished, newly installed exterior door that opens into my kitchen. (This is my back door and my primary entrance to my unit.) None of the doors are really visible from the others. I would love a deep French or blueberry blue for my back door. Any ideas you could provide would be greatly appreciated!!!

I have a galley style kitchen and will be doing a complete renovation to include a wall of windows to overlook my garden and breaking through to there dining room where french doors open to a garden. I want a modern, stylish kitchen, but not super trendy so that I'll tire of it. Don't really like shiny granite counters. Big questions are: Rich dark cabinets with white counters or white cabinets to make it brighter? Paneled or not paneled cabinet doors? Counter top suggestions? If I'm going to spend money, I want it to WOW but last. Help! Too many decisions. But, I am enjoying the process and have a wonderful contractor lined up.

I recently bought a new duvet cover that is mainly white with a tiny brown border that replaced a gold, black and white comforter. In my new apartment, the room with the white duvet cover, white night stands, brown dressers and tan walls and carpet looks very boring. I want to bring some color into the room but don't know where to start. Because I rent, I can't paint the walls. Any suggestions?

Matthews House looks beautiful, but for my bedroom I am interested in some Asian style furniture. Any tips on where to find this in the Metro area?

We're doing a little renovation that's going to require painting the foyer in our new house. It's currently a golden mustard color that I don't like. It's too fussy and traditional. The wainscoting and crown molding are glossy white. The floors are honey colored oak. We'll need to paint the stairwell and the landing on the second floor too since they're all mustard now. I want clean, light and modern. My first thought is an icy blue (like Ice Floe by Behr), but I'm open to ideas. Any suggestions?

Hi, Wanda. I love what you did to that church. What was the most difficult part of the renovation?

I love the collection of spoons Wanda has hanging in her store! Where did she find them?

I painted my walls Benjamin Moore Whispering Spring and would like to put up curtain rods. Do you have guidelines re: choosing a metal finish?

Ugh! Does anyone have any ideas about how to organize kitchen equipment/appliances/tools? I feel like we are overflowing with it, but I can't really think about what to get rid of. Does anyone have a list of what a well-stocked but not overflowing kitchen might have? Thanks!

Hi. Thanks for taking my question. My sister and I share a condo, and we both have very different tastes. We are still deciding on lighting for our dining area. It is an open layout condo where you will see the light hanging in the dining area to the left when you walk in, with the living area to the right. She is leaning more towards a chandelier type, with five bulbs, and I think it would look more modern with one big pendant type of light. Any thoughts? We also have cherry hardwood and neutral colored ivory blush toned walls. Also, besides looking at Home Depot catalogs for lighting, do you know of good lighting stores in the Leesburg area? Thanks.

I wasn't able to participate in last week's chat, but I wanted to comment on the topic of what to do with inherited furniture. My brother and I recently had a family meeting with our parents to discuss wills, end-of-life decisions, etc., though our parents are still young and in good health (best time to do it, right?) During our talk, my dad said that there were one or two small items he and mom would be happy to know we kept, but that we shouldn't feel obligated to keep anything we inherited. I thought this was sweet and practical of him to state right out. My mom smiled and nodded, but as dad continued stressing that the furniture etc. would be ours totally and that we shouldn't feel guilty about selling or getting rid of it, mom's smile faded a little. Dad kept on, telling us that if we wanted, we could just cart everything out of the house onto the lawn, stick price tags on it all, and have a yard sale. At this point mom piped up with a quiet, "Yes, although maybe if you put a tag on something really special, we could make the thunder rumble a bit or something." They're so wonderful, and what a special gift they gave us by openly discussing their wishes for when the time comes. I wanted to share the story with you. :)

What about navy? Love navy.

In thinking about a planned kitchen remodel, I've discovered that I really dislike kitchen cabinets and that placing my kitchen items (pots and pans, food, dishes, etc.) on restaurant-quality shelving units that line the walls would be much easier. It seems that, despite good layout and proper lighting, things always seem to get lost in cabinets. My proposed kitchen concept is a wide galley-type design with an island in the middle; only one of the walls (about 12 feet long) would be the shelving, whereas the other wall would be the expected cabinets with countertops. Do you know of a way that I can still have easy access to my kitchen items while providing some degree of discretion of all of my things? [Think of this as a walk-in pantry transformed into a wall o' pantry]. Shoji screen? Barn doors on an overhead track? Hang long curtains on an overhead track that pull back when needed, but yet close shut when necessary? I'm open to any and all suggestions.

I need to replace my current ceiling fan (currently the only light in the 20-by-12 foot bedroom). Generally I find ceiling fan lights very dim. Any suggestions for a ceiling fan (and they are somewhat low ceilings, so it will need to be flush mounted)? Also, I can't install canister lights in the ceiling as the roof space is too thin. Any other suggestions for additional lighting? Thanks.

I put hangers under my cabinets and hang all the pots from there along the back kitchen wall.

Not all granite is flashy. But it IS so easy to keep clean.

We just moved in to a new house, and I really hate the front door, which appears to be fairly new. Since doors are so expensive (and we have tons of things we'd rather buy right now) I'm wondering about painting the door. It appears to be a hardwood oak door with a medium broan stain, and has a large oval paneled window in the middle (as in the window takes up almost the whole middle of the door -- it's huge). We'd love to do a glossy black. Any tips on preparing the door for painting? Do we need to sand off the current finish or can we just prime and paint?

If you are using indoor carpets outside, you should get an aeration mat to put under it that has holes and is usually made of a rubber of plastic material. This way if the carpet gets wet, it will have air above and below to help dry out faster, reduce the growth of mold/mildew and last longer.

Hi, Wanda. I was intirigued by your comment about Virginia being your favorite place in the country to live. In a nutshell, why? I can't wait to take your shopping tour!

Good morning, Wanda. We bought an old mountain home out in Warren County (Front Royal) and are slowly remodelling it, but we would like "real" furniture that we can either rehab or take as is, that would still maintain a nice country feel. Do you know of any good auctions or flea markets in the area?

You can also find antique spoons (and other decorations) on www.etsy.com. Not always as great a deal as eBay, but you can often find items that are not listed on eBay.

I did get rid of a lot of pans when I got new cabinets. I found I use the same four pots and pans all the time and most of the rest were unnecessary duplicates.

Just checked out their site and the stock looks amazing, but do you have an approximate price range for them even on a sale day? I'm on a budget and would prefer not to put myself through the agony of looking and not buying if it's too expensive!

Wanda, I'm obsessed with the lilac topiary you have posted on your blog. Are they hard to find? And are they difficult to grow around here? I don't have the greenest thumb.

We have a major problem: NO ONE wants the stuff! Most antique stores, auction houses, etc. said it was too much trouble or not worth their time although the five bedroom house of my parents is loaded with mid century and art nouveau and art deco furniture: complete bedroom sets, bookcases with glass, lots of antique china, desks, even a piano. We said forget them all and will donate it or give away to charity if no one has a better idea. These places promise the world but you would think they would care and not make us wait or give up on trying to help. I am royally annoyed with most of these dealers in the area. Our stuff is nice but they can not be bothered or want the commission. My two cents.

Hi, Wanda. I just looked at the photos online and I love your taste! Where are your favorite places to shop for yourself? Can't wait to visit your shop.

Hi there. Soon I'll have two little boys, one infant and one toddler. For furniture, we've got a white crib and white dresser from the same furniture line. We'll need another dresser for the baby. Should we stick with that same line of furniture as adding a non-matching piece would be weird since two pieces match already, or no? Thanks!

Also colored lamp bases. You can always paint what you've already got if you don't want to spend lots of money. That way you can nicely coordinate with the other accessories you get.

Currenly banished from our condo while the walls are being painted (pretty much done) and wood floors refinished. Floors will be done Friday and Saturday. Guy doingthe floors says we can walk on them Monday and the smell will be gone, so we could put our three cats in the large kitchen area (and close the door, of course) by Sunday without danger. What do you think? We don't live anywhere near Tracee Hamioton so cannnot leave the cats there.

Hi. We're looking for some colorful artwork/print to hang above the fireplace. Where would you recommend us to browse, both brick & mortar places and online? Recently it seems online places have taken over but we are a little worried about ordering from a small picture. We are looking at more modern/abstract than classic landscape type of art. Thanks.

I wanted something unique yet affordable for my celiing fan lighting. So I bought a basic Hunter ceiling fan from Lowes and upgraded the glass shade from lightingdirect.com.

For the writer thinking of shelves but no cabinets in a kitchen remodel: I agree that it's easier to find things on open shelves, and I like the look. But cabinets protect items from dust, grime and even grease that can migrate around a kitchen. I had a kitchen with open shelving and I had to regularly wash or wipe everything down, which was a real pain. Perhaps glass fronted cabinets might be the answer?

Hello. I'd like to know if bridal registries can include more than just home stuff? For a lot of couples moving in occurs before the wedding. One couple I know has camping stuff on their registry. Is this acceptable? Is this just what people do? Does anyone register for fine china anymore?

For the person having trouble disposing of good furniture: Try taking photos and posting on craiglist. You'd be surprised how often people are looking for good deals on furniture and will come and pick up the pieces. You may not get the best price, but since you were considering donating them to charity, it doesn't seem as if the price is an issue for you.

Wanda, were the floors in your design studio painted white, and if so, did they get a special type of paint that gets rubbed off? It looks slightly pickled? Thanks!

Hi. I am in need of some help deciding a bedroom color for our new house. We are getting a white bed, have honey colored hard wood floors and am looking for some type of relaxing color. My son's room is blue and next door. The rest of the house is pretty neutral.

Is there some clever way to paint my stairwell that doesn't involve scaffolding? If you go halfway up the stairs, you're 15 feet from the ceiling above you, and even further from the far corner of the ceiling. I can't think how to do this without serious heavy equipment. And even then...

A way to split a room for two boys is to have the matching dresser and crib for the baby and get a new/used bed and dresser for the toddler that match. This also helps the toddler know which is "his" and he can have his own style that is separate from his brother's. Kids enjoy having a little something of their own especially when they have to share space.

Corcoran School of Art has student art sales in December and April. Good source for reasonably-priced art. We also found a great tinted photograph from a vendor at Eastern Market.

I also have a galley-ish kitchen. I did silestone countertops, which I love. I agree with the poster about disliking shiny granite. The silestone is a matte neutral color (gray/brown). I have light wood cabinets and a gray tile floor, white appliances (I don't like stainless steel). But the wow factor is the backsplash -- bright green glass tile. Whatever you choose for the cabinets/ counter, I would definitely recommend a pop of color for the backsplash.

My 1926 arts and crafts home has honey oak floors, but the queston abut staining them dark intrigues me. I thought that since the honey oak was original-- and it is all over the house except the kitchen and bathrooms -- I should leave it that color. Would staining it dark be a mistake to the look of the house? Could I just stain one or two rooms?

Behnke's nursery and Merrifield Garden Center both offer landscape design services for a flat fee. I've used both, and I was very happy.

I have to find storage for TWO full sets of dishes? No way. It's hard enough to find room for one full set of dishes. I just make sure it's nice enough for everyday and holiday use, and use select pieces I've inherited to add an elegant air.