With a resolution like ‘Learn More‘ you can be sure I didn’t pass up the opportunity to tune in each day as my fellow experts shared their resolutions and tips.  Are you curious about what I learned from ten experts in ten days when I turned the table and became the student rather than the teacher?

Here are my top ‘take aways’ — one from each expert:

Day One: Have Fun ~ Jamie Drake, Interior Designer to Michael Bloomberg and Madonna

When I saw ‘Have Fun’ and Jamie Drake in the same sentence I knew I was in for a treat.  Jamie delivered and before I even finished listening to the interview and reading his tips my mind was sparking with new ideas.  The one that I want to put into action immediately is this tip but with my own little tweak:

Make a bold and dramatic statement with your children’s artwork. Use eight pieces of artwork—all on the same size paper—and frame in all the same frames. Hang in two rows of four, spaced one-inch apart.

I have several of my son’s early drawings that I framed with identical mats and frame and I still love them.  But why let the kids have all of the fun?

In the room shown above, Jamie chose works of art rather than a child’s artwork but it got me thinking.  Why not just get out some paper and expressively paint stripes, blocks or swirls of color?  I’m bound to come up with a few paintings that I like as a set.

Why don’t you give it a try, too.  No need to paint as well as a great artist only as well as you did when you were four years old.  Most of all don’t forget Jamie’s resolution and have fun!

Day Two: Learn From the Past ~ Judith Miller, International Antiques Authority and BBC’s Antiques Roadshow Expert

Like Judith I enjoy mixing antiques and contemporary pieces and agree that things with great design go together very easily.  I loved the tip about buying singles and learned how this is a great acquisition strategy for the budget-minded.  It is also great for those of us who love mixing rather than matching styles.

Buying single chairs is an incredibly good way to get good bargains. If you like a certain style, choose that style and go and buy that single style. If you like the styles of a period, for example late Eighteenth Century, you can go and buy different chairs from that one time period.

This idea can work for buying new chairs as well old.

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I used this same strategy to buy my ‘mixed pattern’ set of sterling flatware one piece at a time. I love that every piece came from a different place and try to imagine what hands might have held each piece before it found its way into my home.

Day Three: Get Organized ~ Clay Ide, Creative Director, Pottery Barn

I was doing a lot of head nodding while reading Clay’s tips.  It seems we are of like minds because so much of what he suggested are things I already do.   I learned from Clay’s tips that I’m on the right track so I’m going to mention the tip that I think is the most valuable for you to learn:

Letting Go Decide what you must keep and let go of the rest. Reading is my rejuvenation, so I’ve selected my favorite books to keep on display at home, but I make it a point to share, donate, and trade everything else.

Coincidentally, I saw a related tip on Writer in Waiting that I think is a one of the best ways I’ve heard of to get the entire family involved in simplifying and decluttering the house as a weekly event.  I love the fun and simple 13 Thursdays approach.

13 Thursdays Each member of my household must bring me 13 objects every Wednesday, things such as their ‘toys,’ clothing etc … items which they no longer use, preferably their ‘wants’ not ‘needs’. No whining allowed. It is then separated into two piles; donations and trash, then donated or put out to trash Thursday morning.

Day Four: Improve Your Relationship ~ Kenneth Brown, Celebrity Interior Designer, HGTV and TLC Television Host

When it comes to creating an inviting bedroom Kenneth suggested engaging the senses and feeling stress-free.  I compared his tips to my own bedroom design.  Lighting, check.  Color, check.  Flowers, candles, bedding, rugs, all checked.  No TV, laptop or work stuff, uhhh…check. (Working in bed on a really cold January evening doesn’t count, does it?)

But then I read one tip I hadn’t thought about.  Family photos.

Keep your in-laws and ex’s out of your bedroom. Remove any framed pictures of your parents, in-laws, ex’s and even children.  Your romantic bedroom should only have pictures of you and your partner framed in a simple frame next to the bed.  You don’t want to stare at your mother-in-law while feeling romantic.

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I see your point Kenneth.  Those few pictures of my son on the night stand will now be enjoyed in the family room and I’m ready for a little ‘unobserved’ relationship building.

Day Five: Exercise More ~ Ramona Braganza, Fitness Expert to the Stars

No convincing needed here.  It took years for me to find a routine that would motivate me enough to take the time to exercise regularly.  Now that I have, exercising has gone from a nagging item on my ‘to-do’ list to a treat.

Ramona gave lots of great suggestions but what I especially appreciated wasn’t one of her tips per se but her over-arching philosophy about the workout environment.

Overall, think of a workout like any other experience.  It’s enhanced when you engage all your senses. Sight, Sound, Smell, Touch, and Taste can motivate you to Exercise More!

That was an ah-ha moment.  I don’t have a workout room at home but color maven Kiki does and as you can see she has incorporated all of the elements Ramona mentioned.  I thought it was just her desire to have the workout room look as stylish as the rest of her home.  Now I know there might have been more to it.  No wonder she and her hubby are always so motivated to workout.

Day Six: Be More Green, Save Green ~ Kelly Van Patter, Awarding-Winning Production Designer for Survivor and The Apprentice

The first thing I learned is that while Kelly proactively has focused on going green I arrived at many of the same ideas when I challenged myself to live with less ’stuff’ and to spend my money more wisely.  It was a bonus to learn that my approach gets the thumbs up for being environmentally friendly.

One thing that Kelly mentioned that I had never thought about in terms of being green was the value of editing.  This tip made me pause and think.

Take All Of The Furniture Out Of The Room And Start Over. Learn the art of editing EVERYTHING in your home. We all have a tendency to collect things over time, so it’s imperative that we assess our collections each year and get rid of unnecessary pieces. It’s easy to overlook things that serve no purpose, have been taking up space and collecting dust for years. One easy way to completely change a room is to just streamline all the items in it. Remove all the furniture from a room and piece by piece, bring only the necessary items back into the room. Take the other items to the Goodwill, Salvation Army, shelters or some other place that will give it to people that desperately need the items. That way they can be reused and aren’t being sent to a landfill. Then you are left with a less cluttered, new room for virtually NO money. Plus it is so liberating to get rid of all the clutter and have a clean canvas to work with.

Day Eight: Make Time for Family & Friends ~ Jenn Sbranti, Entertaining Guru, Hostesswiththemostess.com

Jenn’s tips were all about entertaining as a way to engage in conversation, activities and simply being together.  She inspired me to take an ‘entertaining’ approach to spending more time with my friends and family.

Serve a Signature Drink This is such an easy idea that’s always so well received at parties. Create a fun cocktail or mocktail, come up with a clever name for the drink that coordinates with your theme, and add a fun edible garnish and/or creative cocktail pick.

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I’ve come up with signature cocktails for events but never at home.  I’m not sure why I never thought to do this from my own little gathering.  You can be sure next time I’m having folks over I will be concocting something colorful to drink.

Day Nine: Expand Your Horizons ~ Michael Green, Wine & Spirits Consultant and Educator

What I learned from Michael is that there is no need to feel guilty about buying wine by design.

Choose bottles by their label design to add surprise. When you’re lost in the aisles of your favorite wine and spirits shop, try something new by design. Look for the most interesting bottle or the most outrageous label and enjoy the surprise that may await you inside the bottle, too.

Sure I’ve bought wine just because the label caught my eye but my secret desire to be more of a wine aficionado would scold me for being sucked in by good design.  Not any more, thanks to Michael.  Now when I’m smitten with a bottle of wine strictly based on its great label I’m going to buy it without hesitation and enjoy discovering if the wine inside is as satisfying as the design on the outside.

Day Ten: Each of Us Can Make an Impact Through the Power of Giving ~ You!

The final design day was all about giving back and it was a good reminder to me that–

Giving back is a personal thing; we all have good reasons to support the charitable organizations that we do.

Readers shared their stories, showed their support and had a chance to influence which organization was going to receive a contribution thanks to a generous donation from Benjamin Moore.

I learned about several charities that were new to me and also discovered a brilliant way to wrap up a successful online event.

Day Seven: Learn More ~Kate Smith, Color Expert and Forecaster

Yep, that’s me and here’s what else I learned from participating in Ten Design Days.

All of my fellow experts were excellent and gave great suggestions.  What I noticed as I was picking out the ideas that most resonated with me was that each one touched upon some aspect of life that is important to me right now.  What I learned:

What we learn is influenced by our current world view.

This reminded me of the quote Julie include in Colorful Insights And Inspirations — “When the student is ready, the master appears.”  Could it be that the I was simply ready to learn these particular things?

In my tips I said, “There will always be areas to explore, ideas to captivate, and connections to discover, there will always be something new and exciting to learn.” Now let me add “and this is true even if you think you’ve heard it all before.”

We change.  Things around us change.   And with each change comes the opportunity for a fresh perspective and for our minds to be opened to seeing and hearing thing differently than we have in the past.  Isn’t that really what learning is all about?

So what have you learned lately?

Kate was thrilled when Sonu and Kathy asked her to join in their line up of amazingly talented peeps all talking “resolutions for the new year”.

Since Kate loves nothing more than sharing her love and knowledge of color with others, it seemed only fitting that her resolution for the new year would be to Learn More.  She has put together a fantastic list of ways that you can (as LIFC writer April might say) get your “color on”!

While we were batting around ideas to include in Kate’s top 10 tips, I realized just how important “learning more” is in my own life.  New places, new people and new ideas are really what drives me- they have no doubt, driven me to write this blog.  While curiosity may have killed the cat, being curious is what keeps this colorful kitty feeling very much alive.

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There is a Buddhist Proverb that I love, it says- “When the student is ready, the master appears.”

I take much comfort in this thought. If you say to the world (or even if you just whisper to yourself) that you want to learn more, no matter what the subject, the means and the opportunity will present themselves to you.

If  learning more about color is something that interests you in this new year, which we hope it is, then you’ve come to the right place(s).  Sonu Matthew’s Living In Color With Sonu is a stylish walk through a world of color, Kathy Barlow’s HomeWorkshop.com is a bevy of color filled design inspirations and  us…well we do what we can to spread the word that colorful knowledge is king!

Best part- once you begin to learn more about color, I guarantee the world around you will become a much more colorful place.

Suddenly you’ll begin to notice things- a dress that inspires the perfect mood for a bedroom palette, an awareness of why the colors on a box may make you pick one product over another at the grocery store, even how come that house on the end of your street always catches your eye (ahh, it’s that perfect shade of red paired against its complimentary sage green of the siding that gives the front door such visual impact!- see you’re already a color genius!!!)

For me this is when the fun of color really begins.

I loved this dress when I spotted it in a mag- the next day
I noticed a very similar palette on a line of fabrics from Calico Corner-
the inspiration for my dream modern bohemian bedroom-found!

Like Kate says in her tips, there are many simple ways you can get started to learn more about color this year. Since I’m more of a ‘do-er’ when it comes to learning, I figured I would share with you one of my favorite ways that I’ve learned more about color over the past few years.

It’s an exercise I like to call ‘color field work’.  All it requires of you is to simply open your eyes-fabulous explorer garb and binoculars are completely optional.

Designers, merchandisers, artists; examples of their talented use of color surrounds us everyday. Taking a color lesson is as easy as strolling your local mall or walking the aisles of your favorite fabric or stationary store. A trip to an art museum becomes a completely different experience when you begin to focus on how a painter washes their canvas with color. A few moments in front of a Matisse- priceless!

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Stationary stores are among my favorite of all places to
discover new combinations and to test my mad color wheel skills

A trip to the mall had Kate discovering a secret palette
on the inside of this JCrew coat-there are no boundaries
when it comes to smart design and beautiful color

Remember, this exercise isn’t just about discovering what you like. Recognizing what you don’t can be just as important. Like Kate mentioned in her tips, our reactions to color come from deep inside us. There really isn’t any set color rules of “right or wrong”, in the case of color-beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder.

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I love this dining room by Jonathan Adler, but the memory of a bright yellow shirt your mother
forced you to wear for your 5th grade school picture may have you running for the hills at even
the thought of ever using this hue in your own home (emotional impact perhaps? Told you it’s true.)

When we recognize our own unique tastes the answers to some puzzling questions like- why don’t I love my living room or how come I never wear that shirt that I love so much on the hanger- start to become clear.

Then we can begin to use our new found knowledge to “right” all of our “colorful wrongs”!

We realize what the perfect color to freshen up the walls could be, how changing out the rug could change the room’s mood, how adding that perfect shade of well-placed accessories would be like giving the space a breath of fresh air: why adding a colorful piece of jewelry or a unexpected shade of shoes suddenly makes that unworn shirt our newest staple-I’m telling you, colorful ideas start showing up to save the day and hopefully in the end saving you some ‘greens’, to boot.

So take the time in 2010 to Learn More. Pick a subject and expand your mind, carve out time to pursue a passion, gather tools and become more self-sufficient- surround yourself with those that can teach you and those that you can teach right back.

Make Buddha proud.

Check out this update: Kate posted a fun wrap up of Ten Design Days with ‘What I Learned From Ten Experts in Ten Days.”

How very fitting, right ladies- it’s always what they say and how they move-not how they look that ultimately keeps us hooked!

Well regardless of why the peacock has such a spectacular showing of feathers, one thing is for sure their beauty has inspired countless artists and designers through the centuries.

Peacocks are spoken of in Ancient Mythology, The Bible and the Hindu religion. They are often used symbolically in literature and in folk art, often being depicted as looking back at their tails ( signifying renewal, since they drop and replace their feathers yearly).

Personally peacocks feathers always make me think of a time when Art Nouveau was actually ‘nouveau’ and of  lovely heroines caught up in some wonderfully heart wrenching Edith Warton plot.

can’t you just imagine using this Preening Pen ($20 from Anthropolgie) to scratch off a calling card to your family matriarch or passionately write prose dedicated to a secret lover!

This year peacock plumes are inspiring everything from evening gowns to eclectic bedding. A peacock inspired palette is one of the most vibrant themes happening in wedding trends as well.

Peacock plate by John Derian, Giambattista Valli gown from Fall 09, Matthew Williamson’s spring collection for H&M was influenced by peacock hues, a vintage peacock inspired umbrella, peacock top from Forever 21, art nouveau peacock slip on sneakers, peacock bedding from Target

Martha’s saying Peacock wedding hues is a ‘good thing’ this year

For home the colors inspired by the blues, greens and golden tones of peacock plumes have always been considered dramatic.

Whistler and the birth of the ‘Decorating Diva’ syndrome

My favorite is the very famous Peacock Dining Room, designed by the artist James McNeill Whistler for the art collector Frederick Leyland’s London home.  The story goes that Leyland intended to hang Whistler’s painting “The Princess From The Land Of Porcelain” in the room and asked the artist for a suggestion on what other colors to paint the rest of the room.

Leyland, away during the renovation was completely unaware that Whistler- unhappy with the way the room’s colors were clashing with his artwork – had taken it upon himself to paint every square inch of the space in gold and peacock blue ( it even has peacock feathers patterns on the ceiling).  When Leyland returned he was shocked to find his room had become a rhapsody in blue and gold.

He refused to pay Whistler the entire amount billed for the artist’s time spent as’ interior decorator’- Whistler later painted an image of two squabbling peacocks on one of the room’s walls depicting the conflict that ensued.  The room now resides in Washington D.C.’s Freer Gallery Of Art.

A brilliant blue peacock palette can also go a bit modern when combined with bright colors and white.  Kiki has a really great post about the trend of blues going green over on our blog Color For Your Home.

Her example of this bedroom by Kendall Wilkinson Design is my dream!

Overall though my favorite way to be inspired by a peacock’s colors for home is to simply look directly at the bird for color clues.  Multiple shades of brilliant blues and greens mixed with a little iridescent shimmer accented by shades of drab golds, browns and inky blacks.

If you have a room that basically browns and blues ( we all loved the choc-aqua trend), then an addition of another blue and some greens with golden accessories might be a great way to opulant- up the room’s overall look!

Or if you want to go very adventurous ( I know I do) then peacock blue walls with a metallic wash ceiling could result in a jewel box of a space! Doesn’t that sound so good- guest room redo, here I come!

swatch source House Beautiful

Benjamin Moore’s Baltic Blue, Mills Spring Blue, Hague Blue and Farrow and Ball’s Pelt all make an interesting foil to Benjamin Moore’s Paddington Blue ( a real peacock blue designer Robin Bell tells House Beautiful).

A quick palette just to get you inspired…now shake a tail feather and get styling!

She used vibrant, “splashy” colors in never-before-seen combinations and one of her favorite combinations was “dull” white and “shiny” black.

The colors she used were considered quite outlandish by many and while the colors she used are bold they aren’t that unusual by today’s standards so you think?

See more about the colors and other elements that created her signature style…

A cook’s favorite spring green? Tarragon.

Its fresh green color and delicate leaves are the essence of spring. It conjures up tender young shoots pushing up through the earth. Since spring is a time of renewal, why not consider sprucing up your nest with a coat of green paint? Tarragon’s soft green is a great start for any color scheme.

Consider Benjamin Moore’s ‘Liberty Park’ or ‘Shades of Spring’. They are neutral back drops for every color on the wheel, from pastels to brights, as all of spring’s blossoms will attest.

The light licorice flavor has just enough bite to chase away winter’s last chill. Tarragon Chicken is a delicious way to use this herb:

Tarragon Chicken

Preparation – 10 minutes Marinate – 2 hours Cook – 20 minutes

1 tbsp. olive oil
½ sweet white onion
¼ cup fresh tarragon leaves (or 2 tsp. dried)
1 tsp. kosher salt
6 limes (or ½ cup bottled key lime juice)
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Lightly grease a 9 x 12, oven-proof, baking dish with 1 tbsp. olive oil.

Coarsely chop ½ of a sweet white onion.

Cut fresh tarragon into slivers to loosely fill a ¼ cup.

Toss chopped onion and slivered tarragon leaves with 1 tsp. kosher salt, in greased baking dish.

Squeeze the juice from 6 limes into a separate bowl.

Pour lime juice over the onions and tarragon making sure to strain out any seeds.

Add 1 tbsp. olive oil and stir.

Submerge the 6 chicken breasts in the lime juice mixture.

Cover the dish and marinate in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

Set the oven to 500 degrees.

Remove the chicken from the refrigerator.

Let stand for 5 minutes while the oven warms up and the oven-proof dish comes up to room temperature.

Bake chicken, in marinade, for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes the chicken will be tender and the marinade will have thickened slightly to form a fragrant, flavorful sauce. I like to serve Tarragon Chicken on a bed of brown rice to absorb the tangy sauce spooned over the top. A crisp salad or steamed green vegetable rounds out this simple, yet elegant meal.

What dish signifies spring to you?