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Home on the Web
Just in time for Valentine's Day, ideas to give rooms romance make-overs

By Holly ocasio Rizzo
Special to The Seattle Times

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Yes, Kerry plans to wear black. "The bride requested that nobody look too scary, though," she said.

Ah, romance! It means so many different, personal things. Remember when romance was a guy bringing a bottle of Mateus to the special spaghetti dinner you fixed, so you could make a classy candleholder out of the bottle when the wine was gone? Later, romance matured into flowers, mood-setting scents and soft music.

We can create romance any way we like it. And we had better hop to it, with Cupid loading his quiver for Feb. 14.

For some decorating ideas to mellow my sweetie-pie's mood, I browsed the Web.

The challenge: Changing my home's ambience from raucous to romantic.

URL/Name of site: www.bhg.com; Better Homes & Gardens Online.

Purpose: The site offers an encyclopedic breadth of home and garden knowledge.

The setup: The visually busy home page, with topic lists down both sides, includes a section called "Slide Shows." Click there on "Romantic Decorating" — you'll feel like you've exited a traffic jam of words and images.

Ease of navigation: The initial click transports you to a multiple-page presentation of photos, plus descriptions.

What you'll find: Photos illustrate the concept, and short captions include tips for creating the look.

A sample: "The soft rhythm of colors gently changing creates a soothing sensation. A room where the color shifts only in slight shadings, like this glamorous blue bedroom, exudes a quiet, romantic elegance." The photo shows pale blue walls and draperies, daylight peeking through sheer curtains, candle sconces above the headboard, the bed heaped with pillows.

The best part: I'm a big fan of brevity, and if you are, too, you'll like the way these pages get quickly to the point.

Thumbs-down: The photos can be packed with detail that isn't easily visible, and the site doesn't feature a click-to-enlarge option. So here's a trick: Right-click on the photo and save it to the image folder on your hard drive; then enlarge the photo you've saved. Doing this allowed me to see nearly every tuft in the duvet folded at the foot of the bed under "Beach Cottage Casual"; at the Better Homes site, the texture looked puffy and soft, but I couldn't tell exactly why.

Surprise: This slide show helps illustrate how small details, like a potted plant or a well-placed urn, add elegance to otherwise average rooms. None of the ideas will break the bank, and all can reflect a personal touch. So what I thought would be a major undertaking now seems within reach in time for Valentine's Day.

Related sites

• www.familytimezone.com/ftz/romantic_decoration_ideas.htm; Familytimezone Digest. This brief page on a parenting site cranks up the imagination by offering a few ideas for lighting, scent, comfort and music.

• www.hgtv.com; Home & Garden Television. The site includes dozens of articles about romantic touches for nearly every room, plus the yard. Find them by typing "romantic" into the search function on the left-hand side of the home page.

• interiordec.about.com/cs/canopybeds/a/aacanopybedsa.htm; by About.com. The Romantic Decorating guide focuses on the bedroom, and it's packed with inspiration. Look here for links to canopy bed ideas, color schemes and ideas for accessories. Most of the linked sites include photos to use as models for making your fantasies into tender realities.

Home on the Web appears the first Sunday of the month in Home/Real Estate. Her e-mail is homeontheweb@seattletimes.com

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