6 Web Sites That Make Decorating Fun

For many people, one of the most fun parts about buying a home is redecorating it.

Most of these sites are trying to sell products, but they are free to use and could give new home owners some good ideas.

• DesignMyRoom.com- This is a sophisticated and complex site. It opens with a series of brief videos with Robert Verdi, a charming "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy"- style guide to the art of interior decoration. The site allows you to choose furniture, art and accessories for 30 generic rooms.

• BHG.com - Choose from Color-a-Room or Color-a-Home (exterior).

• AndersonFloors.com- The Image Builder Design Center is a basic program that will change the color of the flooring, walls, ceiling and trim.

• WoodFloors.org- From the National Wood Flooring Association, Design a Room is another basic wall and floor site.

• Mohawk.Swatchbox.com - Mohawk DreamVision allows you to choose a room type (kitchen, bedroom, bath) and style (traditional, modern, etc.) then start designing.

• Corian.com- The My Room Designer offers a good choice of cabinets, wall colors and of course, countertops.

Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, David Bonetti (08/23/2008)

Top 10 Converting Retail Sites | March 2008

Perusing through my online media newsletters, I came across the March 2008 figures for the top 10 converting retail sites.

1. Office Depot - 20.9%
2. QVC - 19.0%
3. Vistaprint - 18.3%
4. Roamans - 18.1%
5. Lands End - 16.2%
6. eBay - 15.7%
7. 1800flowers.com - 15.5%
8. Ebags.com - 15.3%
9. L.L. Bean - 14.6%
10. Pottery Barn Kids - 14.2%

I usually have six pages open simultaneously on my Web browser, so it surprised me a bit to see Vistaprint on the list, when I actually had the online printing company page opened on another Firefox tab.

Get out of my head! Just a little creepy.

Or perhaps just clever and productive marketing on Vistaprint's part, especially since they're usually showing up in my Gmail-sponsored links.

Anyhow, while glossing over the Top 10 list for March 2008, I noticed it's conceivable that more and more people are using Upromise, which offers contributions on your behalf to a recipient of choice (usually a dependent student) when you purchase items online through their link(s). It's basically a one-stop referral shop.



And to prove my half-baked theory, all 10 online retailers show up in Upromise's database, and nearly all (save for QVC, Land's End and L.L. Bean) are landing pages for yours truly.

Now I have to ask: who shops there nowadays? Maybe the same people who still use AOL like it's the 1990's.

//Phil De La Cruz