Entertaining & Style

Elements of A Garden

By Susie Coelho

A garden that’s nothing more than a grouping of plants seems dull because it lacks balance—add the soothing sound of trickling water, the warm glow of a well-placed lantern, a cheerful flag waving in the breeze, or a pathway tempting you forward, and you create life by generating an interplay of different elements. When I style the garden, I always try to complement the plants using wood with the other elements of earth, wind, fire and water. Create this elemental balance in your garden and see how every space now not only delights the eye, but also pleases all senses.  Read More

Welcoming Romance

By Susie Coelho

February is the month of romance. So, have romance be your style this month!  Pick your color palette, and then start styling! I have decided to use shades of pink and white as my accent color. I love to honor Valentines Day, but don’t feel the need to overdue it. I will pick elements that represent love and romance and place them throughout the house.

I’ll concentrate on styling the key areas of my home: front door, entryway table, mantle and dining room table. I don’t always style all of them at the same time, but these are the key focal points in my home. Read More

'Tis the Season

By Susie Coelho

Over the years, I’ve had a lot of Christmas trees, and most of the time all is fine.  One year I decided to get my Christmas tree at the end of November. I bought a Douglas Fir because I found one that was unusually full. I was so excited to get it up early so that I could enjoy it for the entire month of December. The day after I bought it, I the Today show called and asked me to come to NYC to do a style segment. After four days, I returned home, and I was shocked to find my magnificent tree on its last leg! The sun had come in through the windows and skylights and dried my tree out! I had to get creative, so I went into my studio and pulled out grapevines, fresh seeded eucalyptus, silver dollar eucalyptus, ribbon, cinnamon sticks, pinecones, and gold bulbs and a masterpiece out of my mishap! Read more

A Time to Gather Friends and Family Together

By SUSIE COELHO

Can you believe that the Holidays are just around the corner and the season is underway! Everyone is looking ahead and making decisions about how they want to spend this holiday season.  Will it be the same as last year?  A fresh approach?  A more simple celebration?  A return to tradition or just a fun day to spend with loved ones with minimal hoopla and fanfare!  What is it for you? Read more

Ghost in the Graveyard

By SUSIE COELHO

By now, summer is officially over. The kids are back in school and temperatures are beginning to drop. This only means one thing – Halloween is right around the corner! I love decorating the outside of the house for Halloween. It’s a wonderful feeling seeing the kids walk up to ring your doorbell and get distracted by the décor outside. The economy has many of us brainstorming ideas for decorations that make the house look extra Boo-licious while keeping it low-budget. What could be more fitting than turning your yard into a graveyard? That’s right, a graveyard! Read more

Back To School

By Susie Coelho

Summer is coming to an end and the kids are heading back to school. Often this is a time to buy more things, but for my family, this is the perfect time to get rid of items and look towards the months ahead. The idea is to simplify and get rid of “stuff” that is collecting dust in the corner of the kids’ bedrooms or closets. Read more

Create a Private Retreat

By Susie Coelho

August is a great month for projects around the exterior of the house.  This year I am doing an entire re-fresh of my outside areas—from painting to cleaning up the wrought iron balcony—to re-landscaping and redoing the planters and flower beds.  I am also creating more walls! Read more

Light up your Fourth of July

By Susie Coelho

I love the month of July as the sun is shining and the nights are warm. My family and I love to barbeque in the evenings. I have so many fond memories of summer nights with friends and family. Read more

Creating an Outdoor Room

By Susie Coelho

What does it mean to create an outdoor room? I always start with choosing a style.  Then I choose the color palette.  These choices will guide all of your decisions and your style as you create your outdoor room. Read more

Step Into Spring

By Susie Coelho

A doorway is a transition between dimensions. Closed, an external door is a barrier against the outside world; open, it invites the outside in. Styled with harmony in mind, the doorway can unite these two spaces by expressing the energy of both. All you have to do is let the season be your guide. Read more

Spring Beauty

By Susie Coelho

Spring is such a beautiful time of the year. This is the one time I actually will deviate from my neutral/warm color theme and start inviting some cheerful pastels into my styling. Read more

Oscar Party Fun

By Susie Coelho

Who doesn’t love a good movie! There is nothing better than curling up on your favorite couch with a huge bowl of popcorn, some pillows and a fuzzy blanket, close friends or family, and a great movie. Well, this month, why not take things up a notch and host an Oscar movie night? Read more

Take Time to Honor and Appreciate the Ones We Love

By Susie Coelho

Valentines Day has been getting a bit of a bad rap lately.  Recently the naysayers have been complaining that it's a superficial holiday promoted by the florist and greeting card industry. I beg to differ. Any day designed to remind us to take time to honor and appreciate the ones we love, is a very worthwhile holiday in my book! Read more

Happy New Year!

By Susie Coelho

I always enter the New Year feeling invigorated, filled with a sense of excitement and many new goals and plans laid out for the year to come. Instead of creating a list of New Year’s resolutions I first like to review the past year.  I look at all the things that I have accomplished; all of the successful actions that I implemented that furthered my goals and all of the new people whose lives I touched in some little way.  I also re-assess those things that did not go the way I wanted or could have been better and try and understand how I would do things differently if faced with the same obstacle again.  Then I let it all go and I focus on the positive new goals and all the new creations for the future. Read more

Keeping the Holidays Simple

By Susie Coelho

This December I am keeping things simple!  One of my New Years resolutions last year was to get rid of all of that “stuff” that had piled up over the year.  It feels great and now coming into the holiday season I am all about simplicity and ease. I am experiencing a new joy creating with all of the things that I have found during the process. Read more

A Harvest of Style

By Susie Coelho

I have to say, fall is my favorite time of the year. It boasts all my signature colors of burnt oranges, mustard yellows, chocolate browns and rusty reds. Yummy! Read more

A Spirited Evening

By Susie Coelho

Halloween is a special time in my neighborhood as many of our neighbors are in the television industry and some work for special effects companies. Each house goes all out, from animated graveyards, to re-enactments of scenes from scary movies, to full on replicas of haunted ships on the front lawn. It’s quite a spectacle…or spooktacle? People from all over town come to trick-or-treat in this neighborhood, just to catch a glimpse of the Halloween spirit. It really inspires me! This is the one time of the year when grown men and women can step out of their routine day to day selves, and be imaginative and creative, just as they did when they were growing up. Read more

Wedding Style

By Susie Coelho

Having been raised with East Indian heritage, I have always enjoyed mixing in elements that have a bit of ethnic flair into my décor.  And yet, at the same time I love simplicity and clean classic lines, which are often the opposite of ethnic embellishments.  In essence, isn’t this what the new America is all about? A wonderful mélange of cultural influences and old world traditions mixed with the new and modern. Read more

Summer Color

By Susie Coelho

I love entertaining outdoors and because I live in California where the sun shines most of the year—our summers are longer and so is our outdoor entertaining timeframe. Our outdoor areas become part of our regular living space. Depending on where you live, you may have summer all year round as well, but for most, summer is just a few short months so you want to make the most of this time. Read more

Star Spangled Recycling

By Susie Coelho

Summer’s here-and it’s time for family fun and outdoor entertaining. Are you tired of the same old Fourth of July themes? Looking for a style that is more “modern” and still uses some of the traditional colors? There’s no better way to achieve an inexpensive fresh look than by bringing new life to old objects, something I do all the time. We’re in the age of recycling and saving money so why not use it to your styling advantage! Read more

Let Them Eat Cake

By Susie Coelho

June is the perfect month to get married! Beautiful weather, flowers in bloom, what more can you ask for?  How about Mr. Right! Always a bridesmaid, never the bride? No worries, you can be the hostess with the mostest and throw your girlfriend a fabulous and elegant bridal shower. One she’ll never forget! Of course you’ll want to do it on a budget as bridal showers can get expensive. Read More

Queen for a Day

By Susie Coelho

With Mother's Day just around the corner, I wanted to create a project that would combine beauty with functionality. This year, take things up a notch and give mom an extra stylish breakfast in bed. Read more