A Tennessee Vintage Christmas

Tennessee homeowner Genia Gilchrist shares her tips for decorating a Southern home for the holidays in the latest edition of Southern Living. I hope you enjoy some of her wonderful decorating ideas.

For more pictures go to Southern Living Magazine.

A smart, sophisticated apartment remodel

The last time the century-old apartment in the heart of downtown Chicago had been updated was in the 1970s. "It wasn't exactly a dump, but it needed a lot of work," says interior designer Eva Quateman, Read more about this remodel in Traditional Home Magazine.

Dining room before:

Dining room after:

Kitchen before:

Kitchen after:

Breakfast room before:

Breakfast room after:

Master bedroom before:

Master bedroom after:

Make it flow.

That's Eva's No. 1 rule in decorating. "One room should flow into the next unobtrusively. The design should sing the same song as it progresses along from space to space," she insists. Even houses with a lot of different colors in the palette should have continuity. "If green and orange are in one room, then maybe it's green and red in the next. The idea is that some elements of color should segue from one room to the next so the spaces flow."

Photos and information from Tradtional Home Magazine.

A Traditional Home kitchen remodel

Creating an eat-in kitchen was Joan Pluck’s main impetus for renovating her family’s New Canaan, Connecticut, home, but there were other issues. She wanted more light, more space and a more comfortable and inviting gathering area. Joan Pluck consulted an architectural designer with one-of-a-kind insights into the family’s needs—her sister, Louise Brooks. Together they created this traditional dream kitchen.

Read more about the remodel in Traditional Home.

White - minimalist, magical or a little of both?

Is white a real color or not? Some designers wouldn't think of creating a room without colors. Others use it as a foolproof mechanism for sophistication. In bedrooms, white and variations of it create a restful space. Dining rooms with white as their palettes sing in refinement and class. Teamed with black, and high-glass elements, the color reads glamorous and seductive. White is also the perfect backdrop for a shabby chic room. Whatever your taste, white can be the color to choose.

Enjoy these colorless treats from showhouses across the country. Photos from Traditional Homes, Coastal Living and Architectural Digest.

Southern Living 2009 Texas Idea House

This Port Aransas Idea House on the Texas Gulf Coast is a light and airy beach retreat with lots of room for family and friends.

Interior designer Paige Schnell of Tracery Interiors was inspired by the sunset and the water when she chose her color palette for the family room: aqua, persimmon, saffron, and white.

A window-filled alcove functions like a dining room with a casual table, two slipcovered end chairs, and a pillow-topped banquette. The built-in bench and wall of windows make this small space seem much larger.

“We created a stadium effect by raising the kitchen one step up,” explains architect Louis Nequette. The counters in the kitchen are standard height, but because of the elevation change, they reach bar height from the opposite side of the island in the family room.

Paige designed a custom antiqued mirror backsplash for the stove. It reflects light and gives the cook a glimpse of the room behind her, or the guests seated at the bar.

Paige balanced beauty and utility with her countertop choices―Calcutta marble on the island, and maple butcher block on either side of the stove. “The extra-large piece of white marble lightens up the space and is beautiful on top of the espresso-colored cabinets,” she says.

The third-floor loft opens over the family room. Industrial-style stools line up along the kitchen bar.

The downstairs Master Bedroom has been opened up with a wall of glass.

Instead of a basic doorway between the downstairs bedroom and bath, the architects designed a glass wall as a divider, with grommeted curtain panels that can be pulled for privacy.

The glass wall visually enlarges the space and adds a sense of calm to the dramatically stenciled room. The large floating bathtub invites relaxation and serenity.

Feminine accessories, such as the shell-encrusted mirror, add softness to the sleek marble bath.

Upstairs Master Bedroom in saffron and grey.

The designer created a architectural headboard by building a wall along the back of the upstairs bedroom. To fill out the eclectic look, she stacked books and leaned artwork atop the ledge.

The upstairs master suite showcases a modern barn door, which slides along a track to close off the bath. The bright saffron color ties in with the saffron-and-gray bedding and updates the look.

The children's playroom has been livened up by a horizontal stripe pattern on the walls. Tip: Use painter’s tape, a level, and lots of patience to get this look―you must wait for each row to dry before you move on to the next.

Influenced by train bunks, the architects designed a row of three built-in beds on the third floor loft, each lit with a marine-style sconce and closed off with curtains. Storage areas for the bunks line up across the hall, with a cubby and a drawer for each bed.

Several porches around the house open up to the beautiful scenery.

Built-in benches with hooks above them turn this entry hall into a useful mudroom.

With rigs to hang kayaks and a sink to clean freshly caught fish, this hardworking garage takes beach storage to new heights.

See more from this home at SouthernLiving.com