Dear Sandi: I need help in the laundry room. I want this room to be fun - and it must be easy to do. Can I bring some casual fun and life to these walls with something other than paint?
-Myra, Stayton

Whether you're looking for handmade paper, furniture, fabric or accessories, you will find it at loose ends. If it is unusual, organic and fabulous, then loose ends is the place. Showroom hours are 8 am to 5 pm weekdays and the first Saturday of each month 10 am - 3pm at 2065 Madrona Ave. SE, Salem, or visit us online at www.looseends.com Questions? Give us a call at (503) 390-2348.

Hi, Myra: Laundry rooms, by thier very nature, are not usually the fun places in the home.
You can, however, enliven the area in some easy and inexpensive ways. If you are into vintage looks, you might try looking for old, full-page magazines ads for appropriate products. Some of the old Ivory soap ads were wonderful, and there are many now defunct companies and products that are a delight to read about. They are easy to find at many swop meets, antique shows, etc. Frame them individually or create a large montage, adding other embellishments such as sample detergent boxes, a bit of natural sponge, etc. Another fun idea is to gather a handful of colorul handkerchiefs, tack up a length of "clothesline" on the wall over the washer and dryer, and use old wooden clothespins with the hankies, letting them create a banner of color in the room.

Dear Sandi: My wife and I went to Tuscany, Italy on vacation. What can we do to our kitchen (on a small budget) to add a little bit of that wonderful feel andcasual style of Tuscany everyday? -Paul, Turner

Hi Paul: Yes, Tuscany is wonderful. My husband, Art, and I spent almost two weeks driving through the hills and villages a few years ago, and the thing I always associated most is the regions food. Food semaed to be used everywhere: Grapes decorated the outside of buildings, pottery sported images of lemons, olives and artichokes, qand the curtains in many of the inns we stayed in had food and flower motifs.

Sandi Reinke is an author, frequent television guest and lead designer for loose ends (www.loosends.com), a Salem-based interior décor, garden, and casual lifestyle company. To ask Reinke a decorating question, e-mail info@looseends.com or mail her at the showroom address, 2065 Madrona Ave. SE, Salem, OR 97302. Phone: 503-390-2348.

I created a Tuscay kitchen for "The Christopher Lowell" show a ear or so ago, an I used lots of fake food.   Artificial grapevine meandered over the tops of cabinets, braids of paper onions and garlic dangled overhead from a suspended bamboo ladder, and we covered the table with a cloth in deep blue, printed with bright yellow lemons. Kitchens are the perfect place for a touch of whimsy, so in a corner on the countertop, we tucked a delightful little chicken made os weeds.   In Oreon, we are blessed with an incredible abundance of plant material, and if you keep your eyes open, you will find all kinds of candidates for clipping and dryin, then tucking into colorful containers. If you remember that the hallmark or Tuscany is food and flowers, you really can't go wrong.