The Vineyard

Well, I didn't do that farm fluff; had too much fun catching up on old times and the weather didn't cooperate -- it was beautiful. We did spend a couple evenings at one of my favorite places: The Harborview Hotel. We always sit in the wooden rockers on the huge wrap-around porch and enjoy the view of the Edgartown Lighthouse. Sailboats, both small and large, usually are coming in off the ocean for the day. The gardens at the hotel are always beautiful and lush. I could sit there for days.

A Fluff Encounter on Martha's Vineyard

I'm on my way soon to Martha's Vineyard to see family and catch up on some reading on "The Back Porch" -- which is less than 20 feet from the water on a huge harbor. We sleep in a room that has windows on three sides, so when the wind blows at night and the water is even closer with the tide in you feel like you're on a boat. Love that breeze -- it also keeps away the noseeums, those pesky little creatures that can even make it through the screens. Haven't figured out what their purpose is on Earth, but they must be food for some other creatures. And, as I always tell my favorite person, their mothers love them. I digress. I'm hearing from my friend, PT, who is quite a trip in her own rite (she sells flowers from her farm by the roadside and raises goats) (we went to high school together in State College, PA -- could NEVER stop laughing when we shared classes together, all I had to do was look at her, what an awesome laugh she had and still does -- even better now with that rasp that comes with living life. One time our friend, J, got stung on her face by a bee and her entire head blew up to the size of a large balloon. PT drove her all over town, including to the swimming pool, so everyone could see her. SO funny. (J's fine, by the way.) Oh, yes, I'm hearing from PT that it's supposed to rain all week on the island -- arg on so many levels -- so she wants me to come fluff her farm. HA! A FARM FLUFF!!! I sent her the link to BullyHill (bullyhill.com) that was on my favorite blog, My Notting Hill, and she's already ordered two great goat posters for her family room. I'll let you know how it goes and if she'll let me, I'll send you a picture.

Wow -- check this out: a whole new room!

Remember the room I fluffed? (Look below if you don't.) Here is the same room "Beyond the Fluff." It really looks great and it's the SAME stuff! OMG! (Which is worse, OMG or "like-speak?) Anyway, my lovely client added a beeaauuutEful sofa and we had the other stuff reupholstered. Did I tell you that it really looks great? They will be sitting in front of the fireplace this winter or I will . . . .

Pillows, pillows, pillows

Who doesn't like pillows? I design my own and occasionally I make them for friends. As far as I'm concerned, you cannot have a room without pillows -- they enhance the room's personality and make it welcoming. My dog even likes my pillows!!! . . . . In fact, she's sleeping behind one on the sofa as I write this. Well, maybe that's not such a good thing . . . . I was looking on one of my favorite blogs, My Notting Hill, and she has this great pillow site, blissstudio.com. Wow -- nice stuff. They have some other stuff, too; like iron bed frames. Anyway, my mom was "chair-bound" for years and needlepoint was her hobby -- thank goodness for needlepoint, it helped her so much -- and we all were the beneficiaries of her hobby, because we all have some very cool pillows. I have about five needlepoint pillows started . . . . . My "regular" pillows are just assortments of fabric and trim, but it's fun to put them together with "pieces" of a room -- they pull it all together. Just those little square things -- they pull a whole room together. As the Barefoot Contessa says, "How cool is that?"

Help Our Animal Buddies!

I was watching the news tonight and saw a story about a young girl who is trying to make sure all the abandoned pets from the home foreclosures are taken care of. All you have to do is go to freekibble.com and play Bow-Wow and Meow Trivia!

A Gem of a Place

Have you ever been to Del Ray in Alexandria, VA? It is one of those great areas that still has that small community charm and homey little stores that many of us crave. If you really want to make your house your home, you need to get off the beaten path and support some of these little gems. I've been spending some time there lately and recently had coffee with my CASA buddy, MB. She's just finished renovating a Del Ray bungalow -- wow, I can't wait to see it. Anyway, she tells me that Del Ray will not allow any big chain stores. I've been to St. Elmo's coffee house a couple times now and it's all about the local community. Anyway, if you want to spend a little time slowing down and enjoying life, spend a couple hours cruising Mt. Vernon Avenue in Del Ray.

Have you ever happened upon a great store...

and not realized it's been there, under your nose, for years??? I was in Old Town Alexandria over the weekend with my daughter and she suggested we go into this great looking "new" store. Wow -- it was beautiful and so much fun. I bought a couple fun items for my business and asked the person helping me when the store opened, to which she replied that they'd been there 14 years. All the stuff I missed over those years! Anyway, if you live in the Metro DC area, you should check it out. It's called Decorium Home and it's on King Street.

Thanks, T, for making the find!

OK -- So I know you're dying to know what a Stuff Fluffer is???

A Stuff Fluffer, according to me, is a person of many talents and who has an obsession for design, decorating, organizing, decluttering, staging, and just making people happy in their own surroundings -- or, if your trying to sell your own surroundings, staging is making sure someone else wants to be happy in your soon-to-be-former surroundings. In my case, a Stuff Fluffer is a person who didn't want to go back to the office after taking some time off for "life stuff" -- and realized, it's now or never. So I put my proverbial Nike's on and just did it. (I also love to decorate and redecorate my own house, and there's only so much of that one can do.) If you REALLY want to know what a Stuff Fluffer does, go to my web site: FluffThyStuff.com.

The accidental room.

I love red rooms -- I know a lot of people may be getting tired of red, but not me. This room was wallpapered (yes, I love wallpaper, too). It was a deep red background with a small pattern that reminded me of a tie my grandmother would have chosen for my grandfather to go with his tweed sport coat. He was a professor at Penn State; very dignified -- and could drink any student under the table given the opportunity. I do believe my love of dark rooms comes from them. Anyway, back to the point at hand. I had no intention of giving up my deep red wallpaper until I hired an electrician to check some of our over-50-year-old wiring. Some plaster needed to be repaired, then the wallpaper had to be stripped, then the walls repaired and skimmed, and then the ceiling needed to be replaced -- hence, my new favorite room. I did it around a zebra plate I bought for way too much money a couple years ago . . . yes, a couple years ago . . . and now zebras are everywhere. Oh, well, I still love my new favorite room AND my new zebra sheets.

My dining room used to be red -- I know a lot of people have red dining rooms, and I love them! But, I needed a change . . . so I painted it black and I love it even more. It doesn't even have windows!!!

I own an interior redesign and staging business in Northern Virginia called Fluff Thy Stuff (FluffThyStuff.com). I guess that makes me a Stuff Fluffer. I've been through so much stuff lately, you can't believe it. But, it's great helping people get organized and lighten their loads -- too many over-loaded people these days, don't you think?