At Home: 10 steps to the perfect sofa

I still remember my shock and dismay when I realized that sofas had to be bought. Somehow I thought sofas just happened. They always simply showed up in homes, hotels, and offices without explanation or fanfare, like feral kittens or bills.

At Home: Fixin' to Sell

Maybe it’s because I was the youngest in my family. Maybe it’s because I’m five-foot-three and have a voice like snow white, but I lash out like a cornered rattlesnake when someone doesn’t take me seriously.

At Home: If you can dress, you can decorate

I know, I know, to many of you the idea of decorating an empty room feels as horrifying as one of those dreams where you're suddenly in public naked. But I'm going to fix that.

At Home: Turn Your Closet into a Boutique Just for You

Quick: Which room in your house needs attention the most? Kitchen? Bathroom? Garage?

At Home: How to sell what where

The author of "Garage Sale Millionaire" had come to Orlando to visit theme parks with his wife and 3-year-old son. I took it as a sign. Divine deliverance.

At Home: Parents’ possessions put past in perspective

Like my mother, the Roman God Janus — for whom January is named — had eyes in the back of his head. In fact, he had an entire face on the back of his head, so he could look backward and forward at once. This feature earned him the distinction of “god of doors.” He ruled comings and goings.

At Home: Resolving to repurpose

This time of year I always feel a little sick to my stomach, and not just because of those midnight romps at the dessert buffet with the bottomless glass of Prosecco. (Do they make a combo antacid headache tablet?)

At Home: Giving courage to timid DIYers

Those snobs who say there's no reason not to have a good-looking, pulled-together home are just plain wrong — and irritating. I know plenty of reasons.

At Home: Get a whiff of home scent management

Among the first impressions the old house gave off was its smell. The place hadn't been lived in for months, and rather reeked of neglect.

AT HOME: Virtual therapy for home improvers

The pent up emotions were volcanic. It was only a matter of time before the collective angst that builds with home improvement found a virtual outlet. Thus, Hometalk.com, free online therapy for home improvers, erupted on the scene last February.

AT HOME: Lighten up and let go of stuff

If clutter truly is decisions delayed, I'd better start making up my mind. My house is giving me a case of purge fever. I want to go back seven years, to the last time I was in control, that one brief day. I had moved from California to Colorado, and put my house on a major diet. My mover wa…

AT HOME: A fresh editor's fresh ideas for fresh looks

Confessions of a home magazine editor groupie: I have a thing for home magazine editors, probably because I always wanted to be one.

Homeowners renting out houses a hot trend

"We're stuck." That's all my husband, Dan, had to say to get my wheels turning. "How stuck? For how long?" I pester him. "Like most people in this real estate market, we can't afford to move," he says.

AT HOME: Picking the perfect pillow not a fluff job

I'm thinking, as I knead my throbbing temples into pie dough, of how so many things that look easy aren't, like ice skating or making lasagna (those layers!), or, more specifically, picking throw pillows.

At Home: Some design rules need not apply

Just when I thought I had this decorating business down, I find out a basic rule I had relied on – pick your wall color first – is just as wrong as a purple cat. I learned this the same week I learned that a 13th zodiac sign (Ophiuchus) had wedged its way into the cosmic circle, which means …

AT HOME: Quick! Start designing slowly now

When the angels were handing out patience, I was in the thick hair line. I hate to wait. I like fast service, fast thinking, fast computers, fast lanes and fast results. When I was a child, I thought Slow Down was my name.

AT HOME: Stretch your imagination, junk and dollars

Sometimes other people make me feel so dull. I mean, I look at a burned out light bulb or a used subway ticket and see trash. Others see a vase or material for a woven placemat. This feeling of non-cleverness came over me yet again this week as I viewed an online slideshow of the top 20 DIY …

AT HOME: Nip and tuck – for carpets

Ahh, January, the month when people the world over resolve to eat less, exercise more and visit their plastic surgeons. I, for one, was first in line this year with my resolution to get a nip here, a tuck there, eliminate wrinkles and firm things up. And I did all that this week.

Lessons learned from 2010, Part 2

I did not set out to be a home design expert. When I began writing this column seven years ago, I was just another frustrated home improver who wanted a great look on a shoestring budget.

AT HOME: Lessons learned from the first half of 2010

Here's what I love about my job. Not money. What money? Not fame. Who's she? It's access. In the name of American journalism I get to call up the smartest people on a given subject and pick their brains about stuff I want to know, or need to know, or wish I'd known before I'd gotten into som…

AT HOME: How to make a (holiday) scene

I know some of you like to make a scene during the holidays. Not the kind of scene that results in a pink slip after the office party. But the kind that involves Santas and reindeer, snowmen and snowflakes, Christmas trees and presents, and lights all aglow. And I am now qualified to help yo…

Holiday parties: Table the small talk

Last week, while talking to an informed woman about what is wrong with most holiday parties, I had one of those forehead–smacking moments. Dang! That's what's wrong with my parties.

AT HOME: Make your house say hello

Like every kid, when I was a girl, I drew pictures of houses. They always had a pointy roof, two equally spaced windows with four-square panes, and a door smack in the middle. Occasionally, I'd add the obligatory stick-figure family in the yard standing by an apple tree.

AT HOME WITH MARNI JAMESON: When your home needs a quickie (clean up)

A real estate agent I know called last week to ask a favor. She was showing a prospective buyer a home that had the same floor plan as mine, and wanted to bring her client by to see how different decorating styles look in the same model.

Help your household age gracefully

Breaking up may be hard to do, as singer Neil Sedaka melodically pointed out, but not breaking down. No sir, breakdowns are a snap. Just come to my house, and I'll show you. Things are wearing out, breaking down and generally falling apart -- and that's just when I look in the mirror.

AT HOME: If walls could talk, or chairs for that matter

I'm talking to a designer friend about houses that say things; that is, they display actual words. Not predictable words like "Welcome" and "Home Sweet Home" and "Don't Even Think About Parking Here," but inventive expressions of sophistication and style.

Exit strategies ease morning rush hour

An upscale fashion magazine recently asked me to come up with ways readers could streamline their households to get out the door faster. Then the editors decided, nah, they didn't want a home improvement piece, after all. They wanted a fashion piece. So instead of publishing tips about organ…

Hope blooms for this flower bulb poster child

Because of my track record with flower bulbs, which is along the lines of Charlie Brown's record with kicking footballs, the Netherlands Flower Bulbs Information Center has appointed me its poster child. Apparently, my unintentional, yet deadly accurate, blend of ignorance, neglect and circu…

Fame doesn't always bring favors

I've often wondered what it would like to be famous. I fantasize about having doors open for me, being whisked to the front of the line, getting the best table, and having my calls returned promptly, instead of trudging through life like the hoi polloi. But now I doubt whether fame is all that.

Frugal finds: Shop at your own risk

I'm walking down a back alley circling wide around three fierce dogs barking at me through chain-link. I am lost, late for my 8 a.m. meeting, and my cell phone is dead. I summon my nerve to ask the only person in sight -- and a man drinking a Silver Bullet Coors Light from a paper bag - for …

Using the kitchen as command central

Forget the smarmy euphemisms. Home may be where the heart is, but what really draws people home is food. If it weren't for food, I might never see my family.

Layer up for change in seasons

I look at the harvest moon hanging in the sky like a heavy pendant and say wistfully to my girls, "Would you look at the moon?"

Tapestries, not just the stuff of fairytales

Once upon a time there was a little girl who wanted to grow up to be a princess and live in a castle. She dreamed of a large stone dwelling with turrets, strong handsome knights fending off every possible trouble, and ancient hand–woven tapestries gracing the walls.

Pass it on: Hand-me-down design advice

My daughter and I are at the grocery store, and I'm patting watermelons. "This one's good," I say and load it in the cart.

Don't judge me by my curb appeal

I want a T-shirt that reads: "Don't Judge Me by My Curb Appeal." Or maybe a tattoo. I'm tired of making excuses for my front yard.

Anything but another photo wall

I'm lucky to have designer Lisa LaPorta, host of HGTV's "Designed to Sell," working with me to design and decorate a teen bonus room for my two daughters. The plan includes an art wall, which we all agree we want to reflect the girls, who are different as city and country, but that's another…

Goldilocks had the right idea: Furniture should fit

The TV interview is about to start. It's a fireside chat kind of show, where a host interviews authors. The guest before me, a statuesque woman with an imperious air, has finished. It's my turn. I sit in the easy chair across from the interviewer, and it swallows me like the whale swallowed Jonah.

Heat is on hubbies to grill more

If I do the math right, which granted is questionable, my husband, Dan, and I will be able to retire at ages 93.4 and 92.8 respectively, give or take a few months.

Petcentricity hits home in America

"I thought you were planning our vacation?" my husband, Dan, asks looking over my shoulder as I Internet surf.

Add a touch of wild to your kingdom

Be brave. That's always my decorating advice to others - and to myself. Have creative courage. Only problem: My courage runs right out my little toe when I think about introducing a wild animal print into my home. I'm like the cowardly lion: "I'm so afraid."

A how-to guide for houseguests

Of all the things I'm going to miss, I'll miss his cooking most.

Teaching old home new tricks

When the e-mail arrived announcing the debut of "This New House," a new DIY Network TV series, my finger hovered over the delete button. Seriously? I thought. What are they thinking? Who's getting a new house? Nobody I know. We're all, thanks to a market rebounding like quicksand, stuck in t…

HGTV's Lisa LaPorta tackles two tough customers -- my teens

"I like the way the Hogwarts dorms look," the oldest daughter says.

Designer tips for treating collectionitis

Ask interior designers to share their biggest client peeves, and they'll tell you, it's not clients who have lousy taste, nor ones with miniscule budgets, nor those who can't make a decision without asking their mothers. The leading beef among residential designers is clients who have collec…

Use your passion in home decor

"If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins." - Benjamin Franklin

Welcome to the Appliance Testing Lab

Attention home appliance manufacturers: Call off the 300-pound gorillas. Close the test centers. If you want to see whether an appliance will hold up under tough use, send it to my house. We break washers. We wreck ovens. We lose our use-and-care manuals. We exceed all appliance-abuse standards.

Designing homes to be lived in

Finally, welcome news for housebound homeowners. If -- thanks to a housing market that sank like the Titanic - you're underwater with your mortgage, hovering at sea level, or have lost so much equity that moving this decade doesn't make financial sense (and is there anyone left?), here's a p…

Pantry panic attack

The text message read: "I was just in the Rockfords' pantry. It was so fresh and nice smelling. Then I realized -- they don't keep their trash in there!! Fix that!"

Folding fitted sheets and other habits to avoid

When I first heard the title of Lisa Quinn's new book, "Life's Too Short to Fold Fitted Sheets" (Chronicle Books, March 2010), I knew she and I were cut from the same non-Martha-Stewart cookie dough. Usually when I read home design books, they leave me screaming, "How can anyone live like th…

Burned out in the light bulb aisle

I miss those days when you could go to the store, buy a pack of 60- or 100-watt light bulbs in soft white and be done. Now buying a light bulb is harder than picking hair color. The other day I went out for hair color and light bulbs and was gone so long my husband called the National Guard.…