Bored with your decorating? Make small changes for big impact!

When the owners of this gorgeous home in Wildcat Run in southwest Florida called Spectacular Spaces, they said they were just looking for a few tweaks to their home. When it was built a few years ago, they used the services of a designer and created their near-perfect dream home that is a clever blend of Tuscan, contemporary, Florida traditional and it works beautifully. It is filled with great accessories and collections. The outdoors becomes part of the living area with an infinity pool and views of the most scenic parts of the golf course.

But like all of us do with our homes, they were growing a little bored and just needed to shake things up a bit. That is where our popular service, Shake it up for a change, came in! It is great for those who do not need a total makeover. Just a few changes. Who couldn't use a stroll through our home with a decorator seeing it for the first time and ready to offer suggestions?

The main issue was in the Florida room. The arrangement of two couches facing each other and the two chairs facing the TV was blocking part of the view. They wanted to purchase a new couch anyway so we suggested one couch facing the TV, two chairs facing the view and one chair with its back to the view. Voila! Perfect view of the view!

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Design Notes: Go outdoors for inspiration

This past week (the week after the holidays) I was mostly inside catching up on work and by the time today rolled around, I was in need of the great outdoors.

Whenever I need inspiration, for decorating, writing or anything else, I always look to nature.  And although I spend most weekends combing the beaches of southwest Florida, today I was in need of some "green."

So I headed to a little gem called Audubon Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary.  I was not disappointed.  Mother nature always provides the best palate.  And we cannot go wrong using it in our home environment.  It is healthy and inspiring.

This 11,000-acre ancient forest provides a 2.25-mile raised boardwalk that is a nice walk through four distinct environments: a pine upland, a wet prairie, a cypress forest and a marsh.

Wildlife sightings are plentiful here and vary depending on the time of year and the weather.  Today was gorgeous. We saw lots of birds, a gator, butterflies, mammals, insects, and a variety of native plants including wild orchids.  We did not see the black bear but maybe next time.  We also did not see the gorilla that some jokester wrote on the "today's sightings" board.

The boardwalk is never crowded and the sanctuary's visitors are all very quiet and respectful of the surroundings.  There were a handful of serious nature photographers with amazingly long lens.  And my little point and shoot!

Think about getting outside to celebrate the beginning of a new year.  And remember my mantra for decorating:  Stay close to nature.  You can't go wrong!

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