This builtin is not currently supported: Animation
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
- Article Categories
- Book Categories
- Collections
- Custom Solutions
- Log In
- Main Menu
Article Categories
- Main Menu
Book Categories
Katharine Kaye McMillan
Katharine Kaye McMillan, former senior editor of a New York City-based national magazine, is a writer whose work appears regularly in magazines and newspapers. She is a contributing writer to internationally circulated Florida Design Magazine. She is the co-author of several books on decorating and design, including Sun Country Style, which is the basis for licensed signature collections of furniture and accessories by three leading American manufacturers and importers. A graduate of the University of Texas in Austin, she holds a masters degree in psychology and is a doctoral student in psychology at Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida.
Articles & Books From Katharine Kaye McMillan
Cheat Sheet / Updated 11-29-2022
Home decorating draws on your creative side, as well as your inner engineer. Whether you dabble in home decorating or make it a career, you get to play with color, texture, and pattern, in addition to tape measures, graph paper, and paint. Finding the furniture you want is important, and so is doing the planning that makes your decorating a delight.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
The Modern or Contemporary design age in furniture begins roughly with the start of the 20th century. Following are the most popular Contemporary furniture styles created after 1800 — sleek designs that prompted the move from the more ornate Historic style.
Shaker (1830-1850): Shaker furniture designs are plain in appearance, stripped to bare essentials (few turnings, no decorations), featuring natural materials; no ornamentation; strong emphasis on function.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
Curtains and draperies work hard at blocking light, sound, and temperature. In addition to these functions, they’re also extraordinarily decorative, adding enormous personality to a room through color, pattern, and texture.
When choosing a patterned fabric for a curtain, especially an unlined curtain, scrunch the fabric in your hand.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
Shades, blinds, and shutters are hard window treatments, as opposed to curtains, which are soft treatments. When used alone, hard window treatments provide crispness to a Contemporary room. For clarity’s sake, we call the old-fashioned roller type (up and down) shades, and the newer verticals and horizontals (once called Venetians) blinds.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
The bedroom serves many functions — catching alone time, dressing, exercising, reading, sharing intimacy, watching TV, and more. Meeting all these functions within a room’s limited space — most bedrooms average a modest 10 by 12 feet — and making it dreamy can be a tough challenge.
Although storage space for clothing, shoes, accessories, and myriad other things is a necessity in any bedroom, space is usually at a premium given the limited space of most bedrooms and closets.
Article / Updated 12-11-2023
Updating kitchen cabinets make tired drab kitchens look fresh again. Knowing how to update kitchen cabinets, can save you the cost of completely replacing them. Most cabinets, no matter how unattractive or outdated, can be drastically improved by following the tips below.
Clean your cabinets. A good cleaning may bring new luster to tired but handsome wood.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
Color can change a room by creating a mood, disguise flaws, and create illusions. Knowing how to use color in a room reinforces your design ideas.
To make a room look bigger, use light, cool colors to create an atmospheric look. Paint all surfaces the same color and match the upholstery to the flooring. Add interest with contrasting textures.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
Just because you have old tile doesn't mean you have to replace it. If you know how to update old tile you can transform even a powder puff pink bathroom into a modern contemporary spa. Tile is expensive to replace. Fortunately, you have options.
Faux paint. Paint the wall above the tile, using layers of color that relate to the old tile.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
Choosing furniture for large rooms leaves many scratching their heads. Knowing how to choose the right furniture for a large room can keep your wide-open spaces from seeming cavernous.
Rooms with two-story-high ceilings or extra large floor plans need furniture that is in scale with the room’s dimensions. The best choices are substantial items that have visual mass, which makes them have a bigger impression in the eyes of the beholder.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
Understanding how to deal with multiple focal points in a room can be challenging. Where do you look first in a room with focal points like a fireplace and a bay window and a large entertainment center? For a room to feel balanced and well designed, you need one focal point.
The focal point is the central design element that draws the eyes attention.