I am definitely eclectic. I don't have a kitchen theme because I don't really have a kitchen yet. That said I have a very small house in the woods in Maine with a lot of windows currently looking out at snowy sugar maples, pines and rocks. Because my house has a such collection of mismatched windows I like to keep things simple and functional. I like green, greys and yellows - but I like most other colors too. My family has so many artists that I have quite the collection of art inhabiting my very limited wall space. This thread scared me a bit at first. I was thinking of it being a cooking swap and people were describing their cabinetry - after a moment I realized that the cooking related objects have to fit into someone's decor and it is helpful to know someone hates red frilly flower tablecloths. I am having fun coming up with a gift for a stranger.

Before you pay for a print as large as 16 x 20, make sure that the image file has enough pixels to produce a smooth image. Most point and shoot cameras are set to nominal pixel counts and can not make good photos beyond 8.4 x 11 inches. If the final picture is printed at 200 pixels per inch, then one square inch has 40,000 pixels. A 16 x 20 picture has 320 square inches and at 200 dots (pixels) per inch, it contains 12,800,000 pixels. In base 2, one meg is 1024 x 1024 or 1,048,576. A quantity of 12,800,000 becomes 12.2 megs in base 2. Therefore by this recconing, a 16 x 20 print needs a minimum of 12.2 mega -pixels. The file size is much larger than this because each pixel may use 24 bits to define its color and intensity. At 24 bits, the file size is approximately 307.2 Gigabits or 38.4 Gigabytes. This is an unweidly number. So, how does a large print get made with a reasonable file size? Its done by spreading the available pixels over the print and interpolating between points to create the pixels in between. Loss of fine detail results. From a distance the print looks ok but on close examination, image edges may be blurred and fringing can occur between sharp color changes, e.g., a saturated red leaf against a bright blue autumn sky. If you anticipate printing large photos, set your camera to take the image at its maximum pixel count. A camera with a full size sensor is recommended.

Wow! Sure a lot of people showed up for roll call. Good thing I decided to come back to visit after being absent for a few weeks. Please add me to your (ever-growing) list. Using the tv weathermen's lingo, I'm from SoCal. Thanks Minnie for undertaking this huge task. Kat

interesting topic...i work in several capacities in tv and print production. depending on the budget, i am sometimes styling things. here's my two cents worth: as for tips, there are so many different approaches, depending on what the point of the picture is, but i will do my best to lay out the things we address no matter what. 1)the first thing i think about is color. how can i bring this color all the way through the shot? fresh flowers in colors that pick up your accent colors. books and magazines in your accent colors. 2)lighting-- accent lighting, uplights, dimmers, warm bulbs. the makeover rooms you see on tv are always lit really dramatically, with professional lights. after the crew take the lights down, the room has lost some of its pop. you can recreate this to a degree with careful attention to lighting. 3) dramatic plant (usually palm or bamboo) with uplight for shadows. 4) as someone mentioned here, layers...everything is layered in color and texture. 5) mood. props are chosen to create the overall mood of the room.in our own homes, we live in these rooms so moods/purpose of the room shifts with the needs of the family. 6) large props (such as floral arrangement, bigger is better for drama) or groups of collections cleanly placed, with no surrounding clutter. 7) reflective/glowing surfaces, but no stark white things in foreground. mirrors to reflect light from opposite window or chandelier. 8) in photo shoots and sometimes in tv, we have the luxury of selecting the shot. we have full editorial decision over what angle the viewer will see it from and where we will crop the image, so we can pick the foreground and background carefully. good shot composition has a focal point and leads the eye somewhere definite. color that leads the eye from left to right around the room, landing spots for the eye and an invitation to enter and explore (focal point, obscuring full view but leaving enough to draw eye forward). 9) photoshop a great background out of the windows. take out anything that doesn't work. change rain to sunshine in bg. etc. What is really interesting to me is that i also spent some time as a designer for custom homes (home designs, not interior design) and the same principles were employed in that line of work. Sarah Susankah's books talk a lot about the ideas of light and focal points, but with a practical bent. i find it so amazing that i can see exactly what to do for others or on set, but in my own home, it takes me years to make up my mind about a darn wall color. perhaps that goes to purpose-- at work i know what the point of the shot is, but at home, the point of the room is always changing and i need it to be so much more than perfect at one moment. i also think i get used to seeing things at home and overlook all of the tings that would horrify me if i saw them on set. maybe that is why seeing pictures of our rooms can be so helpful. furniture placement is always the killer for me. it's so much easier on a set, when you have been preparing for one shot for two weeks and you can clear everything that doesn't work out of the room. and you have a talented crew who can make anything you dream up happen!