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I have always loved hardware stores. I’m not thinking of the big warehouse stores of today, although they certainly serve their purpose if you need the widest selection possible.

No, I’m more partial to smaller mom-and-pop hardware shops that recall days gone by, where one could find everything from paint to brushes, from garden tools to saws and nails. And that’s not to mention garden furniture, kitchen utensils, seeds for the garden, clocks, candles, toilet brushes, bath mats and even stoppers for sinks.

Every so often, I see a house I think is special, particularly one painted in a manner that takes me by surprise.  There are many lovely sections of Palm Beach and West Palm Beach, where the owners of properties go the extra mile to say “welcome home” with plantings, color selection, pathways, garden furniture or with door decorations.

I was, once upon a time, a Boy Scout.  I remember crafting with my cubs. I believe those crafting lessons helped lead to my days as a decorator. Teaching woodworking to young boys — making a tie rack, book ends or a wall plaque on which alphabet letters, made of strands of spaghetti, were applied — was a beginning of my love of design.

Independence Day is approaching, so to all I send greetings for a happy Fourth of July next week. It's that time of year when we honor our country, our freedom and the red, white and blue - although we really should do that every day, Shouldn't we?

Could The Carlyle in New York City claim the title of “America’s hotel”? I think you could argue for that, if famous and stylish guests are any indication.

All Carlyle lovers may want to check out a new — and terrific — 90-minute documentary film, Always at the Carlyle, directed by Matthews Miele, who also helmed Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf’s. The film premiered May 8 at New York’s Paris Theatre, where a packed house enjoyed the flick and marveled at the hotel’s history.

What is going on down the road at our next-door neighbor’s? Now, I’m not talking about the house over the hedge but our neighboring town, lovely Lake Worth.

If you’re headed to the South End in the next couple of weeks, you should head just across the Lake Worth Bridge to visit the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County.

Are we in a golden age?

Probably so, if you consider the value of gold. These days, many a gold bracelet and broach are being melted down to re-emerge, at some point, as a new piece of jewelry.  I know jewelry designers who even melt down gold pieces that they have had in inventory for some time- pieces that have not found a happy home.  But even with recent market fluctuations, gold is still valued - and silver is not far behind.

I’m Grandpa, the decorator.

And “joyful” is only one of the adjectives that can describe the birth a year ago November of my first grandchild — a boy named Bowie, born to my daughter-in-law, Victoria, and son Nicholas. “Proud” and “thrilled” are other words that might describe me these days.

Aloha! My design associate Brinsley Matthews and I have recently returned to the mainland after  finishing up a week of decorating assignments on the island of Maui.

And believe me, I always find lots of decorating and design inspiration when I visit Hawaii.

Just announced by Pantone, Ultra Violet is the iconic company’s Color of the Year for 2018.

Every time I hear the color’s name, I think of the late French actress Isabelle Dufresne, who was known as Ultra Violet in her films for Andy Warhol during the 1960s.

Now, Pantone’s color honoree isn’t quite as avant-garde as Dufresne’s work was for the pop-art icon. But this grape tone can hold its own, in any case. It is a striking color, one that says intrigue, glamour and high style.

Jim Nabors, who died Nov. 30 at 87, was a delightful gentleman — and a true gentleman.

I met him through friend Caroline Hunt, who created the Rosewood Hotel & Resorts chain of properties as well as being a philanthropist in Dallas. She and her childhood friend, Carolyn Lupton, also of Dallas, were close friends of the actor and through them I visited Jim at his home in Hana on the island of Maui and at his other home on Oahu.

The Kips Bay Show House is iconic in New York City, and the designers who create spaces for the annual fundraiser are some of the finest in the business.

One of the designers, in my opinion, ranks among the finest anywhere — Susan Zises Green. In fact, Susan has decorated a space of honor, the drawing room, in the inaugural Kips Bay Palm Beach Show House, which just opened in a 1920s-era house off Flagler Drive. The proceeds benefit the Boys & Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County and the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club in New York.

Attention, theater lovers, attention!

What a treat it is to see a great production of a classic play — and what an added bonus it is when the sets, the costumes and the lighting design are nothing short of perfection.

It’s pumpkin time, when glowing jack-o-lanterns greet scary goblins, as well as the trick-or-treaters who will arrive at our doors on Tuesday. The pumpkin is to Halloween what the evergreen is to Christmas, the egg is to Easter and the heart is to Valentine’s Day.

If I were to select my favorite stone for jewelry and for color, it would definitely be larimar.

Do you know it? It’s a gemstone of the blue variety, made of the mineral pectolite and mined only in the Dominican Republic. It’s found in the mountain ranges in Barahona, the southwest region of the country, and its distinctive coloration comes from the volcanic activity of the area.

Ocean blue, the color of the Atlantic outside many Palm Beachers’ windows, is perhaps the color of choice for the new season.

While hunter green, navy blue, claret wine and rich brown seem to lead the choices when decorating, might I suggest a wonderful alternative — ocean blue. That’s the deep blue-green you can see each day as you drive along South Ocean Boulevard.

What's old is now new in decorating.

I have found of late that while the traditional antique market is weakening, the popularity of original designs and color combinations from the ’50s and ’60s is exploding. You’ll find rooms today decorated with foil wallpaper and hallways boasting flocked wallcoverings — often in a white-on-black or black-on-white damask design— above white chair rails.

As children, my sister and I often went for a ride in the car on Sunday with our parents, perhaps stopping at a roadside stand for ice cream in a sugar cone. My favorite was always orange sherbet, while Vivian always selected strawberry.

Since we lived in a seacoast town in Nahant, Mass., the car ride generally took us along the shore to Swampscott, Marblehead or Manchester-by-the-Sea. Palm Beach and our coastal highways remind me so much of my early life that I often take Sunday off to see other villages and towns north of our Palm Beach home.

Those of you who saw the musical 'Sunset Boulevard' during its initial run on the Great White Way 23 years ago will recall the elaborate and decadent set, which brilliantly captured the over-scale grandeur of Norma Desmond’s 1920s-era mansion of Old Hollywood.

Or perhaps you have seen the 1950 film and you’ll remember those massive sets filled with Renaissance-style furniture.