Daring do-it-yourselfers among us have painted colors on our walls once reserved for paint stores and art museums.

Sometimes when you’re remodeling, you might have to keep things secret.

Most people just don’t realize what can be done in a bathroom — designwise.

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Holiday decor can be as traditional as Santas and Nativity sets or as modern as crystals and colorful patterns.

Living Spaces is a new monthly publication of the Rockford Register Star. It is your guide to the latest in seasonal and trendy designs and decor, and local businesses that provide such products and services.

Coming up in Living Spaces:

October: Furniture, especially retro themes

February: Hottest tips for 2010 from local designers

March: Closets, organization and spring cleaning

April: Kitchen transformations

For many folks in the Midwest, fall is the favorite time of year. The climate becomes “just right” with no bugs, no humidity and no scorching heat.

As the weather turns cooler, we also feel the urge to nest and to make our homes “just right” for the change of season. No matter your budget or decorating style, you can make simple alterations that cozy up your favorite rooms for fall.

Fypon, a Baltimore company that makes urethane and PVC products, suggests “20 home improvement projects in just 20 minutes” each.

I’m pretty sure it will take most more than 20 minutes from start to finish, but the ideas are interesting. Here are a few that might work on your abode:

Wrap metal supports in a finished basement with PVC column wraps.

Use Victorian-style nips and spires to accent exterior areas, fencing and gated areas.

Upgrade the look of a boring kitchen island with decorative brackets or corbels as accent pieces.

NEWELL, W.Va. — Born of the Great Depression, it was a glossy, color-saturated line of cups, bowls and plates meant to affordably brighten lives and dinner tables. Seven decades later, Fiesta dinnerware is still designed to send a subtle message of optimism, but it’s no longer quite so cheap.

Yet Fiesta’s enduring popularity and strong sales even as consumers cut back are helping to keep struggling Homer Laughlin China Co. afloat. It’s the last major dinnerware producer that makes its products in the U.S., as competitors have shut down or moved offshore.

We’re not young forever. Think about your home with generations in mind.

When it comes to redecorating, renovating or designing a home, personal space, needs and tastes vary from person to person.

“The concept of ‘universal design,’ which strives to make living and work spaces as usable as possible for as many different kinds of people as possible, might just be the design philosophy that will bring us all together,” says Lynn Schrage, a design expert with The Kohler Store.