Don’t forget, you only have until January 30 to enter for a chance to win one of five Color-Helpers we’re giving away.

Here’s how to enter:

- You must send us photos of the room (or your whole house!) that needs help from the Color-Helper. Send up to five jpegs (we have a pretty large in-box but if you could keep them to no more than 500×500 pixels, that would be great). Email jpegs to mary (at) shelterrific (dot) com (NOTE: Please put “Color-Helper” in the subject line) by Friday, January 30.
- Not only will the five best of the worst win a Color-Helper, we’ll feature your “after” story in an upcoming Shelterrific post. So while we won’t expect you to start painting the second the Color-helper arrives, we really encourage you to participate in this part of the giveaway.
- One entry per person, please.
- If we haven’t heard from an initial winner in a week from sending out the announcement email, another winner will be chosen.

Get more details on the Color-helper here, and we look forward to seeing more photos!

Thanks to a friend who sent us this link to the IKEA Oval Office. They want us to “Embrace Change” — by filling the Oval Office with IKEA furniture, naturally. Can’t say we’d replace the current desk with what IKEA has to offer, but it sure is fun to play around with the interface. And there’s even a link where you can send your ideas to the White House! Have more suggestions on how President Obama should redecorate? Add them here.

Paper valentines are romantic, but if your commitment is serious put it on a mug! These from Bailey Doesn’t Bark, created by artist and designer Re Jin Lee, are called Postcups. On one side, it says “Hi,” “Miss You,” “Love You,” or “Thinking of You,” and on the other you can add a personal message — up to 100 characters — Re Jin will hand write it onto the cup with heat set porcelain paint (black or blue) before it is fired. Each retails for $50 at baileydoesntbark.com. Shipping is free. Can you feel the love?
 

Spooky fun for kids: the Scullcave at Better Living Through Design.

Yet another beautiful calendar at 2Modern.

Casa Sugar points us to the steal of the day, a ruffle frame wall shelf that is oh-so-cute.

At Re-Nest, a Buenos Aires shop that recovers vintage furniture will inspire you.

Tiny Choices chooses vintage hankies on eBay, with varying degrees of reaction.

At sfgirlbybay we hear that the art of Matte Stephens is now being sold at Jonathan Adler. Good choice!

This is interesting and useful: Making a renovation binder and home bible at Decorno.

This whole thing is strangely appealing (and kind of hilarious): 15 Strangely Stylish Sustainable Furniture Designs at WebEcoist.

More fantastic organizing inspiration is at i suwannee.

A quick rundown of five years of progress at House in Progress — amazing how a room can turn out if you just keep at it.

I’ve always ben a strong believer in hiding your trashcan away in a cabinet, having never found a can I felt worthy of leaving out in the open. That all changed this morning when I spotted the Tri3 trashcan at Apartment Therapy. The three stacked containers allow you to separate your trash from your recycling without taking up extra space. I even love the contrast of the blue foot pedals against the bright white can. –Erica P.

We’re all probably familiar with the downside of bookmarking a design site that inspires you — you end up with 500 bookmarks and no idea why you saved half of it. I just started using Domino’s My Deco File, and this is my new go-to device when I want to save a design or decor photo that catches my eye. It’s really simple; once you sign up, you pull a link into your bookmarks bar. Then, the next time you see a photo of a chair or an artist or a color you want to remember, you click the link, click the photo, and it’s instantly saved into your Deco File. If that’s still too much trouble, don’t worry — there are lots of Deco Files online that other users will happily share with you. –Mary T.

I promise I won’t turn this site into a polaroid-fan club, but I think this next bit of news is too good to go unnoticed. While Polaroid has yet to be convinced that discontinuing the much loved instamatic is a horrible idea, they are softening the blow with the new PoGo. The 10-ounce digital camera can print 2×3 photos in 60 seconds and gives you the option of viewing them before printing. Sounds like an upgrade, but the charm from the old instamatic still wins out in my book. — Erica P.

image via Gizmodo

It must have been a happy day at Domino earlier his week when they learned their chum and decorator extraordinaire Michael Smith was going to be the man with all the swatches for the new First Family. The magazine quoted Smith saying “I would love to decorate the White House” not long ago and now it seems his wish is coming true. The announcement was made on Jan 12, and since then dominomag.com has put up a bunch of handy things about Michael, just in case you were wondering! Click here for the full scoop on him and his sensibilities and while you’re there, be sure to look at this slide show through the White House’s decorating history — where you can actually since the difference that a family and an era can have on these stately rooms.

Samantha wrote in with this question: Do you have any suggestions for finding mirrored bedside table with etching or some sort of provincial French flair?

We know we’ve seen something like this recently, but the only thing that immediately pops into mind is this parked mirror table from Pottery Barn. Help us help Samantha — leave your suggestions in the comments! Thanks!

We know that the Oval office comes equipped with a lovely rug and an impressive desk but what else will Barack Obama do to make it his? New York magazine has some suggestions to hippen up the place, including a hide-away basketball game and a digital photo frame. What do you see fitting for our new President? Leave your suggestions here.