Enzo Dining Collection

The first thing that always catches my eye is the contrasting white of the modern padded side chairs and table top against the cherry veneers. It’s a look that really makes an impressive statement.

The sleek side chairs are sure to give your dining room a contemporary “pop” with their clean-lined silhouettes. They’re incredibly comfortable, covered in a super soft white simulated leather. They can also make great accent chairs around the house.

The solid hardwood table has a glass top that extends to up to 78″ with an extension—perfect for entertaining lots of guests.

You can also have a lot of fun decorating a room with the Enzo. Here it’s shown with light green walls and a multi-colored area rug with minimal, brightly colored accessories. White allows for a choice of almost any accent color. Get creative and use your imagination!!

There’s also a matching Enzo bedroom that looks equally beautiful.

Happy Decorating!!

- Stefanie Venter, Accessory Buyer and Visual Merchandising Manager

Have you ever noticed that when people are visiting your home—especially for the holidays, they tend to stay in or around the kitchen? Perhaps that’s because that area is where many of us nurture and connect with our families, and it’s a good place to bond with guests and family members as well.

Eating together is a way that many of us feel close to our loved ones, so it’s important that our dining spaces foster that kind of intimacy. Whether you have a casual or formal dining space, Jerome’s can help you create a space to connect with those you care about most.

Monte Carlo Dining Collection

1. Soften the mood with color

To keep your dining room from feeling too formal, create a more intimate setting with a soft foundation of color. Warm colors tend to stimulate conversation, and shades of reds are a popular choice for dining rooms because the color represents passion and a healthy appetite. If your space is dark or small, use color subtly. It may be more effective to paint or wallpaper one wall red, or simply hang a large, red-based painting. Or, you may want to paint three walls one color and use a complementary color on the fourth wall to create a focal point.

Other colors that foster warmth and intimacy are yellows and oranges — keep them light and soft for an airy feel. Some color experts say that pinks and purples have a sedative affect, so they’re not ideal for dining rooms. However, greens and blues are relatively neutral and can look very fresh and inviting, especially when paired with white.

Whatever color you choose, try something that complements your furniture and style — as long as you love it, that’s all that matters!

Colors can dramatically change the mood in your dining space

2. Choose furnishings that fit

Furniture should make a room more functional, not overwhelm the space. The table should fit comfortably, and there should be room to move the chairs back without banging into another piece of furniture. Ideally, you want to have at least three feet of space around the table to be about to pull out chairs and get around the table comfortably while people are seated.

Save-saving design fits rooms with limited space.

The right table – centered on a vibrant area rug – will anchor your dining space. The shape of the table depends on the size/shape of your room (and personal preference, of course).

A round table is popular for more intimate settings and allows for easy conversation — it can soften a boxy room, too. A small square table also does well in tight quarters, while long rectangular tables work best in bigger rooms. You might opt for a smaller table that comes with one or two extension leaves — this will give you more space for everyday use throughout the year, while keeping the option of entertaining more guests when the need arises.

A pub or bistro table with counter stools, swivel chairs or barstools can be a great addition for a small dining nook or a corner of a kitchen. When people are sitting at bistro tables they are almost on the same eye level as someone who may be standing nearby, which encourages conversation.

Choose your dining room chairs according to the wear and tear you expect them to have. If you have small children or pets who like to climb/claw, it’s probably not wise to cover your chairs in silk. A good alternative to plain wooden seats is to buy leather chairs — leather is very durable and easy to clean, and it will maintain its looks over many years of use.

Try a bench for a different seating surface. Also opt for padded chairs.

Even in today’s more formal dining spaces, the chairs don’t all have to be the same. If you have a rectangle table with eight chairs, consider getting different chairs for the two end chairs, three side chairs in X-back style, and the last three in a simple micro-suede fabric — then stagger the styles around the table. Or, if you have a round pedestal table with four chairs, you might place two leather armchairs across from each other and two upholstered fabric chairs opposite each other. The idea is to have a common theme — if your chairs are different shapes, use a coordinating fabric. Or for different fabric patterns, keep the same wood stain or chair shape.

The result will be a personal reflection of your style with all the function of everyday furniture.

3. Accessorize to set the mood

Change up your table decorations so that they don’t seem stale and stuffy. Add some fresh flowers every now and then, or feature collections of the season’s colors. For example, in autumn month, display a collection of fallen leaves, pine cones, sprigs of evergreen, and tiny pumpkins or gourds.

Use mirrors to brighten and open up your room. A large mirror is a nice addition to any wall, but it can really help to make a small space seem larger, and the light it reflects from your chandelier, candles or other lighting will enhance the mood of the room even more.

Alternatively, a large piece of artwork or a tapestry can serve as a great way to bring the colors of your room together and can serve as an interesting conversation piece as well.

Adding warm color and visual interest with accessories will help you create a dining space that is full of personality and ready for entertaining family and friends.

You can visit a special website devoted to the home and home furnishings here. You’ll find tips and tricks from professionals to help you get the home you have dreamed of.

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The sofa’s curved frame, rolled arms and wooden, spool feet give it all the elements of a traditionally classic piece.  Combined with nail head trim and mixed printed accent pillows in modern colors, the outcome is something truly stunning and unique!

The best part is that whether you have a traditional, contemporary, or eclectic home, this sofa will fit in flawlessly.  The Westport Heights sofa gives an extremely high-end, sophisticated look for an extraordinary value!  It is definitely a “must see” when you visit Jerome’s!

We are honored to have received this year’s award and would just like to say, Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!

Here is a complete list of this year’s winners.

2. Move the furniture around to accommodate for entertaining. The best part of summer is the time we spend with our friends and family. So arrange the sofas and chairs to face each other instead of facing the fireplace. And replace all those warm and cozy throw blankets for chic serving trays that are great for décor and practical for entertaining.

3. Go sheer. Take down all the heavy draperies and replace them with softer sheer fabric panels in summer inspired colors. Doing this will not only make the room feel more summer inspired, but it will also keep the room cooler in those hot months because the softer fabrics will let the air breeze through.

4. Slip a cover over it. Covering your furniture—such as your sofa and dinning room chairs—with softer or brighter summer colors is the easiest way to give the room a major summer facelift without spending big bucks on new furniture. You can also use small swatches of fresh colored fabrics as runners for coffee tables and side tables in order to lighten up the color of dark wood furniture.

5. Set the table for summer. Changing out the dinning room table setting is a very simple way to throw in inspirations for each season. A great summer inspired table setting can include some of the refreshing citrus fruits we all love during the summer, such as lemons, limes, and oranges. You can find a faux centerpiece that is already arranged and most home décor stores, or you can be creative and make your own.

6. Create a beach cottage. Nothing feels more like summer than a day at the beach and during the summer, it is very easy to find a ton of beach cottage décor to bring that feeling into the home. You can do a beach cottage on a small or large scale. On a small scale, you can incorporate some simple sea shells as décor throughout the house or in just one room. And on a large scale, you can add white washed furniture and seascape artwork. White wicker furniture also can be used to help create a beach cottage feel.

7. Pick up the heavy rugs. Put all those heavy accent rugs away for the season. Not only do they make the room look warmer, they really do make the room feel warmer. This is true especially if you have hardwood floors; leaving the floors bare can cool down a hot room.

8. Make the bed for summer. Take off all those heavy comforters and thick flannel sheets, and replace with lighter cotton sheets and a simple throw blanket. You don’t need those heavy fabrics on those hot nights anyway. You can also add light or bright colored pillows and floral fabrics to make the look more summer inspired.

9. Frame your summer adventures. Take all those pictures of you and your family on your summer vacations out of those boxes and off of your hard drive and frame them. Seeing pictures of summer fun makes the room feel more like summer.

10. Flower up the room. The easiest way to add a little summer to your home is to bring home some fresh flowers. And with all the summer farmers markets, finding fresh flowers is easy and will get you out of the house to enjoy that nice summer weather.

The traditional styled room is very calm, classic and predictable with a collection of bedroom and living room furniture pieces that are all consistent in their design and color, often times matching. Furniture is very organized and is staged in a conventional way. This is the look you will find on many showroom floors. The overall feel from a traditional room is homey and comfortable with soft colors, floral fabrics, and dark wood.

Contemporary

The contemporary style room is very modern with the focus being on the space of the room not the things filling the room. The bare space on the walls and on the floor is strategic in that it means just as much as the furniture placed in the room. This design keeps things simple by using neutrals, black and white as main colors and sleek, modern furniture and then accents with bright, bold colored pieces. The furniture and décor you find in a contemporary room are meant to make statements and the basic idea behind this design style is the idea that less is more.

Rustic

The rustic room brings the outside in by bringing in a variety of lavishly creative woods, such as logs and twigs, to create a natural outdoorsy feel. The look of the room is what you would find in an old log cabin. The ambiance is very dark with dark furniture, fabrics, and wall colors. Often times, there are large leather furniture pieces or furniture made from log materials and a warm cozy fireplace with a comfy throw blanket.

Shabby Chic

The shabby chic room has a French cottage feel with the overall look being vintage antique. You will find white distressed furniture that is either bought new with the look of being old and worn or is actually antique, painted white, and sanded gently to show the undercoats and/or wood underneath. Romantic décor such as roses, soft colors such as pastels, and fancy fabrics such as linens are used to create a very a soft feminine look.

Tuscan

The Tuscan room is inspired by the country villa living of central Italy where you are meant to feel like you are on the hillside enjoying your leisure away from the city. The look is very comforting and warm with very rustic, natural materials. Tuscan homes are built of sandstone or limestone so this look is often mimicked with faux painting. Marble is another material often found in a Tuscan home; therefore, it is often a material used when designing in this style. Other components often found in Tuscan styles are wrought iron accessories, pillars, and arches. A Tuscan style design is meant to feel sturdy, but yet relaxing.

Retro

The retro style is the epitome of trendy. If it happened and it was trendy in the past, it belongs in a retro designed room. With that said, however, a retro style room will often times draw from the 50s, 60s, and 70s with funky being the word of choice. This room really does have an anything-goes kind of way to it and often times the person pulling off a design in this style has a very retro style of their own. You will often find many unique accent pieces and in a retro style room creating a very fun, upbeat atmosphere. The colors and textures can be mixed-matched; it is almost like the more mixed-matched the room is, the more matched it becomes for the retro style design.

Designing a kid’s bedroom can be both a fun and challenging task. Between the ages of six and eleven, kids go through what in the field of psychology is known as a “latency period”. This is the time between early childhood and adolescence, when kids, no longer restricted by the helplessness of infancy and not yet burdened with the stress that comes at the onset of their teenage years, are eagerly and freely discovering the world around them as well as their own potential. Creating a bedroom that stimulates their imagination and helps them grow and develop their interests can be an enriching experience, both for them and for you as a parent or caregiver.

A kid’s bedroom must serve two general purposes. The first is to provide enough space and safety for the kid to play. Grade-schoolers enjoy physical play as much as they enjoy sitting down and working on a jigsaw puzzle. So plenty of floor room and a minimum of breakable decorations are a good idea. Grade-schoolers also have homework, however, so a good desk and a comfortable chair are also a must.

Decorating

When decorating, get as much input from your child as you can. At this stage in their lives, kids usually have their own hobbies, talents and interests. Whether it is baseball, space, dinosaurs, or the latest urban fantasy series, cater the bedroom’s design to your kid’s interests. This will cultivate their growth. Also, if kids have a say in the design of their own bedroom, they will feel more attached to it and will likely take better care of it.

Now, catering to their interest does not mean painting the walls, say, in a tiger-stripe pattern for a child who likes tigers. Rather than going overboard, paint the walls a light hue and use posters and pieces of accent furniture to bring together the room’s theme. Clear, solid colors are usually the best way to go, as they can match a wide variety of themes, whereas deep or bright colors often clash. If your kid wants bright, vivid red or green for the room, you can accommodate them by using these colors in the lamps, desks, drawers, chairs and other pieces of accent furniture.

Simple and Functional

Another thing to keep in mind: don’t get so elaborate that you end up cluttering the room. Your kid will do the cluttering for you soon enough. Homework, toys, books and clothes will take up a lot of space, so keep the initial design simple. As was mentioned before, plenty of floor space and room to maneuver and play are the most important part of a kid’s bedroom, along with a suitable desk and study area.

A good approach is to come up with a color scheme involving two or three hues and to stick to this scheme when you go out to buy furniture. You can implement the scheme into youth bedroom furniture pieces you already have. For example if you can paint a piece one color and add doors and knobs which you can then paint another color. Use the lighter hues for background items, like the comforter, and brighter hues for accent items, like pillows. The advantage of having a two or three color scheme is that you can swap one accent color for another if it happens that your child’s tastes or interests change.

And remember that your child’s room design ideas might involve colors that clash dramatically. If this happens, try to look beyond conventional design ideas and see what happens when you try to get their ideas to work. You might be pleasantly surprised by the results and, ultimately, what matters is that they get a chance to express themselves.

Buying a new mattress is one the most important investments you can make. You will be sleeping on your new mattress for years to come, so you should make sure you are truly happy with it before you make the final purchase. Going from store to store in search of the right mattress can be stressful, but these simple tips should be of help when you go in search of it.

What to notice

When you lay down to test a new mattress, pay attention to how your shoulders, hips and lower back feel. See how the mattress responds to the shape of your body at these key points. Keep your arms at your sides and relax. Remember: don’t be shy about taking over a mattress for a few minutes.

The 15-minute trial

Once you’ve narrowed down your choices, lie down on the mattress you’re thinking of buying for a full 15 minutes. During this time, get as comfortable as you can. Lie down just as you would at home. A 15-minute, in-store trial will give you a pretty accurate prediction of what the mattress’s long-term performance will be.

Bring your own pillow

If you have a particular pillow that you like sleeping with, don’t be afraid to bring it along and test it out on the mattresses you’re considering. Making sure that you are absolutely comfortable is key to finding the perfect mattress.

Shop for mattress AND box spring

Try not to shop for the mattress and the box spring (or foundation) separately. Mattresses are usually built to fit with specific box springs. This method of engineering is used to ensure optimal comfort and support for the duration of the mattress’s lifespan.

By the largest size you can

Always go for the largest size mattress that can fit in your room. The size of a mattress is directly proportional to its comfort level. Couples especially should settle for nothing smaller than a king or queen sized bed. It’s also a good idea for couples to shop for mattresses together so they can see exactly how they fit together on a particular mattress.

Measure your current headboard

Measure your current headboard and the height of your current mattress. Bring these measurements to the store so you can better select a mattress that will fit your current headboard. If you want to get a thicker mattress, you should buy one with a low box spring, so that your headboard stays visible.

The most important feature of a productive home office is functionality. This means having clear, uncluttered spaces in which to work. But it is easy to let our offices get crammed with supplies, paperwork and equipment. The following is a quick guide that will help you organize and maintain a professional home office in which to do your job well and stay on task.

1. Keep paths clear

Being able to move from one work station to the next, or simply being able to walk comfortably in and out of your home office requires clear pathways. Coffee tables and other such pieces of extra furniture can be cumbersome and hazardous if placed in the middle of your office. Move them out of the way or get rid of them entirely, and you will find that you are left with a lot more breathing room and a less cumbersome office that you can move through freely.

2. Make it a “business only” space

One of the most important things for creating an efficient workspace is to get rid of any objects that could prove potentially distracting. Your home office must be in a separate room in your house dedicated to matters of business only, which means no personal items allowed. Televisions, fridges, radios, home sofas or anything that might detract from a professional environment should be kept out of your office.

3. Clean up your desktop

Having a clear desk space is essential to a productive work environment. If your current desk is too small to hold all of your essential equipment (phone, computer, etc.) and still leave you with a comfortable space to jot down notes or do paperwork, consider purchasing a more spacious desk.

The next step is to clear your desktop completely. Much of the objects that accumulate on our desktops are things that don’t really need to be there. Take all of the stuff on your desktop down and then go through all of it one by one to see if it really needs to be there or if you can discard it.

Your computer, your phone and your pen-holder are probably going to stay. But do you really need that high-school football trophy taking up space? Go through all of the paperwork and objects on your desk and figure out which ones you need and which ones you don’t. You will be surprised at how much more workspace you will be left with once you de-clutter your desktop.

4. Give big equipment its own space

One of the best ways to make your home office into a more efficient work space is to give your essential pieces of big equipment their own area. Your printer and multifunction copier as well as your fax machine should have their own stand or storage space. Keep them at an easily-accessible distance from your desk.

Placing an additional, small table next to your existing desk is a great way to add working space to your office. You can put equipment or supplies there without encroaching on your actual desktop.

5. Use caddies and trays

There are all kinds of trays and caddies to choose from at your local office supply store, some that are specifically designed to fit drawers and other unique desk and office spaces. Compartmentalizing your workstation so that you have designated spaces in which to put your pens, letters, thumb tacks, paper clips, and other supplies will streamline your home office and make looking for a particular item quick and much less stressful.

6. Good decorating

The Canadian Center for Occupational Health and Safety recommends that every few minutes you look away from your computer and workstations and focus on more distant objects. This helps ease the strain on your eyes and fight fatigue.

Giving your eyes something pleasant to look at while they rest is important to keeping you upbeat and alert as you make your way through your workday. A painting or a poster that you especially like, a corkboard with pictures of family or friends, or (if room and setting allows) a live, indoor plant can do wonders for your home office.

7. Reposition your desk

Your desk is the center of work activity in your home office. Its position determines the entire design of the room. Consider realigning it so that it is as close to a window as possible so it can take advantage of the natural lighting provided by it. Repositioning your desk will also refresh the look of the room, giving you a whole new perspective and re-invigorating your work spirits

8. Paint it a different color

To further help distinguish your home office space from the rest of your house, try painting it a different color. Blue and other light hues are a great option. Go to your local hardware store and shop around for a color that fits your style. Go for something soothing that will keep your office looking light and fresh.

If you take all of the above steps, you will find yourself with a much neater workspace that also feels new. A clean, uncluttered workspace that lets you take care of business efficiently will improve your mood and your overall productivity.