Saturday, August 8 - Sunday, August 9 Middleburg, the quaint little town nestled in the middle of Virginia's horse country, is cleaning out its closets and storage areas and moving into the streets on August 8 and 9 for its third annual Middleburg Summer Sidewalk Sale, sponsored by the Middleburg branch of the Rappahannock National Bank. Stores and restaurants will have colorful balloons outside their businesses to indicate participation in the sale.

If you'd love to hang decorations on your siding but don't want to mar it with nail holes, try siding hangers from Solutions. They could make displaying party, seasonal and holiday decorations a breeze!

Summer can be the perfect time to catch up on reading. Once you have exhausted your supply of books, why not have a summer book swap and make it a party? Your guests will get a chance to learn more about books they haven't read while discussing those they have.

There are several ways to organize the swap. You can specify that books be limited to paperbacks for example and have tables labeled, History, Mystery, Fiction, Non Fiction, Humor, etc. Guests may select the same number of books as they have contributed.

You can also do a blind swap, something like a Yankee Gift Exchange, and include some popular books that you know your guests will be eager to read.

For fun, include favors like book plates, bookcovers and bookmarks. Avery has templates and more ideas for your gathering-just click on the link below.

Saturday, August 15 Step back to the time of Jane Austen at this late 1790s era ball. The evening will feature a variety of English country dances in the historic ballroom, live music, and "iced refreshments." Period costume optional, "after-five" attire encouraged. 8:00-11:00pm. $45 per person. 134 North Royal Street, Alexandria, Virginia. Details: 703.838.4242.

As summer begins to fade into Fall and daylight hours grow shorter, indoor lighting becomes more important. Dim rooms lighted only by candlelight are romantic; poorly lighted rooms are something completely different.

While one light in a room might give enough general light to accomplish some tasks or navigate through the room, tests have shown that insufficient lighting for basic tasks can have psychological and physical effects on people.

A well lighted room is more welcoming and more comfortable to live and work in day after day. Rooms with layers of light are easiest to live in and are often the most attractive because the architecture, furnishings and colors are shown to their best advantage.

Ambient light is indirect and gives over-all lighting in the room, most often through a ceiling fixture. Task lighting provides direct lighting for reading and other activities, most often from floor and table lamps but also from under cabinet lighting. Accent lighting can come from recessed lighting that "washes" a wall, lighting in bookshelves, and floor uplights. All supplement the natural lighting from windows, skylights and solar tubes a room may have.

Balanced lighting comes from using layers and also dispersing it throughout the room. The lighting triangle is the traditional minimum a well balanced room should have. If your room is arranged into more than one area, the lighting should be adjusted for the activities in each.

Plan now for sufficient lighting through the darker days of the year and you will have more cozy, welcoming and liveable rooms.

Whether you are addicted to HGTV and decorating shows or you feel decorating challenged, attending my mini decorating seminars, Redesign Parties, will clue you into design secrets, tips and techniques that will jumpstart your redesign projects. The fun and informative 2 hour programs are offered in real homes like yours. You will learn through demonstrations and hands-on opportunities how easily a room can be transformed from OK to Oh, WOW! using traditional design principles and innovative techniques.

How can you get "in the know"? Call or email me now for information about attending or hosting a Redesign Party at 703-689-9886 , FaulknerRedesign@aol.com or pam.faulkner@faulknerhouse.com