Posts Tagged ‘decorating’

Decorating your home doesn’t necessarily mean breaking your budget. However, most of us have no idea of where to start – budget or no budget. We may have a general idea of what we like (or don’t like), but turning those ideas into a reality is not as easy as it seems. With so many styles to choose from, it’s no wonder we have difficulties in getting started.

The best way to start on your decorating project is to decide where you are now (decorating-wise) and what needs that you and your family have that must be incorporated. Are there small children that can be injured if they fall on a table’s sharp corners? Do you have pets that will ruin a white sofa?

Will you be decorating only one room or your entire house? You will need to decide if you want all of the rooms of your home to be decorated in the same style. Once that decision has been made, you can start planning your first room.

The interior design process begins with a plan. Look through design magazines or home design websites for pictures of rooms that catch your eye. What do you like about them? Is there a common theme? This will lead you to your own personal design style. You will probably find that you are especially drawn to certain styles and find some designs that you downright hate!

Think about what activities will be done in the room. Will there be just one activity or more than one? What furnishings will each activity need? For instance, chairs and a table for a sitting area or a desk for an office area.

Decide on your budget. How much can you afford to spend on flooring, paint, furniture and accessories? Spend your money on furnishings that are well-built and will get the hardest usege. Remember that a room doesn’t have to be completed all at once if your budget doesn’t allow it. Some of the best designs develop over time.

When decorating your home, keep in mind that personality is what will keep your rooms alive. Even a sleek, modern style can have personality and doesn’t have to be cold and sterile.

Interior decorating should first incorporate the practicalities such as budget, space planning and special family needs. Then, worry about the ambience and style of your rooms.

Planning your decorating project will help keep it within budget and the final result will be worth the initial effort it took to plan it.

From an abundance of pretty baubles and bows, to a delicate glittering snow scheme, there are many different ways to decorate your home at Christmas time and we love them all! For this feature, we thought we’d take a peek at the slightly more modern approach to yuletide festivities, with a drop of Scandinavian essence, keeping color palettes limited and fresh, and decorations sweetly simple.

A paired down, candy cane color scheme of just red and white can be fabulously effective in a pale room.

if your walls are very dark or have a lot of pattern, then white accessories may be all you need, a collection of different shapes and textures will play with light and shadow to ice your room with a soft frosted look.

If space is limited, decorating with light can be a terrific solution to twinkle your way through December, using hanging star lights with pretty cuts outs, and adding a sprinkling of candle light to create the ultimate cozy factor.

Of course we couldn’t leave out the most popular color plan of red, gold and green, which always looks storybook perfect by a roaring fire. Resist the tangle of tinsel for your tree, and instead opt for wide curls of luxurious ribbon to achieve an up to date edge.

For a completely coordinated look, don’t forget to match the color of your gift wrapping to your tree toys!

Bonus: How to wrap the perfect gift

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Me3ykrZobJE

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Posh Living contributed Holiday decorating ideas to 843 Home & Lifestyle Magazine.  Here are our top ideas: 1 – To add some festive appeal, take an inventive approach by incorporating small, distinct additions to the room.  There are many creative small touches you can add to home accessories to bring in some holiday cheer. 2 [...]

Aquariums and fishbowls add up to the beauty of our home especially if it comes with lovely design like what the Fishcape Fishbowl has. Designed by Aruliden, the Fishcape fishbowl has the look of the classic fishbowl with a twist.

This fishbowl is made in Turkey and of hand-blown glass. The bowl has the mountain feel inside giving your pet fishes a lovely adventure as they swim along. On the other hand, the mountain effect of the fishcape fishbowl will surely attract many of your guests’ eyes as they visit your place. With this lovely look, the fishcape fishbowl will surely not only serve as your fishes’ refreshing home but also doubles as your home’s catchy home décor.

Source: Aruliden via Mocoloco

This story “Give Your Pet Fish A Lovely Place To Live While Decorating Your Home With The Fishcape Fishbowl” comes from Modern Home Design – Home Dosh

For some reason or the other, hockey fans desire to express their devotion to their teams. Well, planning for a hockey themed bedroom design appears to be an excellent way to celebrate your enthusiasm. Be it hockey sticks or hockey pucks, you can design a room for your sports fanatic and transform a boredom room into an interesting one with hockey items. A quick shopping to your local retail store will provide you with all that you require to make a hockey-themed bedroom.

When it comes to creating a hockey themed bedroom design, bedding seems to be the most crucial points in your bedroom. Check out the favorite team of your hockey fan and opt for that kind of bedding. Stick with those colors all over the bedroom décor. Check for your wallet. If you are ready to spend few bucks, then request a professional to paint a hockey fresco over the bedroom walls, or just go with plain black and red. Many retail stores and online sites avail hockey wallpaper, which you can use for your hockey-themed bedroom, one of them is UK WallStickerArt.

Hockey Player Vinyl Wall Decal Sticker Graphic

Among other items, hockey sticks can be instantly recognized. How to hang hockey sticks on the wall? Just stretch out 2 hockey sticks parallel to one another and position them firmly with nails or screws. Ensure to batter the stick more for a better look. Add more interest by hanging sticks on door threshold. Hockey sticks go well with other wall art as well as curtain rods. You can choose to use mini hockey stick or full sized hockey stick.

Wincraft New Jersey Devils Player Mini Stick

NHL SX Comp 1020 Street Hockey Stick

Hockey Jerseys make an interesting indoor décor. Just hang them over the wall and see the magical look it delivers to the entire hockey-themed room. You can put hockey jerseys either with or without frame. For a basic hockey room, you can choose to hang a combination of several team jerseys. Lamps, hockey scoreboard together with hockey throw pillows are some of the other hockey accessories you can use to create a hockey themed bedroom room. Hang hockey skates on the wall and place hockey helmet over a dresser to create an illusion. Many online stores sell hockey-themed lamps, which you can purchase hassle-free.

Hockey pucks are few other enthralling accessories to be used in hockey themed bedroom design. Glue hockey pucks to your round side table top to create an interesting pattern. Besides all these accessories, team logo wall clocks, drinking glasses, throw blankets as well as garbage cans can augment your hockey décor at inexpensive rates. Create a thriller and fascinating look in your hockey themed bedroom design with your favorite hockey team accessories.

This story “Decorating Ideas : Hockey Themed Bedroom Design” comes from Modern Home Design – Home Dosh

Beachfront income properties have their own particular set of concerns when it comes to interior design.  Condo packages may meet budget goals, but often contain inferior quality pieces that don’t last.   Vacation renters inflict heavy use; they track in sand, walk on carpets dripping wet, sit on furniture in wet bathing suits, and set drinks [...]

There is no reason that decorating your home has to be hard or stressful. In fact, decorating, when done well, can be fun and relaxing.

One of the first things to keep in mind about decorating is why you are doing it. We think too many people get stressed or frustrated with decorating because they forget the importance of what they are doing. Decorating is an amazing thing because you are making the space you live in more beautiful. What can be more important and more fun that figuring out ways to make the most of your space? We have all felt the difference of entering a home that has been decorated well verses a home that has not been decorated at all. In a house where decorating has been a priority we feel peaceful and at home when we are there.

Another great thing about decorating is that it allows you to learn who you are and the things you like and then show it off to others.We love entering the homes of friends for the first time because we learn so much about my friends just by seeing the place they choose to live in. get a sense of what they value and of the small things that make them uniquely who they are. we’d encourage you to let decorating be something that helps you gain more understanding of yourself. Be proud to show off who you are by decorating your house in a way you love.

Take your time decorating. Don’t allow yourself to be rushed or to be on a strict deadline. You will have much more fun and end up with a space you love if you take your time. Sift through magazines, photographs and catalogs for weeks if you have to just to gain good ideas for your own home. Learn from the mistakes and victories of your friends and families as you see their homes. Especially when you are making big decisions like what color to paint your wall or what kind of furniture to buy, taking your time will make all the difference.

Decorating can be a great way to involve your family in something fun together. Allow your spouse, your kids, or your roommates to help make decisions especially about areas they care about most. Give them reasonable boundaries, but within those boundaries let them choose things they enjoy. Decorating will be fun as you learn to do it in the midst of relationship.   Whatever strategies you take on, just make sure that decorating doesn’t become something you dread doing.

Cabinets are essentials tools to any household of office. These facilitate organizing materials, files, documents and other things that have to be kept for storage, reference or future use.

While the design of the cabinets, particularly for a house, is of great importance, there are also other things that need to be considered before buying one or having one custom-made to your specifications.

* Size

The size of the cabinet depends on two factors: the size of the space to be allotted for the furniture and the amount of materials that will be placed in the cabinet.Consider the space that will be allotted for the cabinet. There should be enough space in front of the cabinet that you can easily open it and take out whatever you need.It is also advisable to have enough walking room when the cabinet is open. This means that a person will be able to pass or stand freely in front of the cabinet while taking or placing the contents.

Also consider the amount of materials that will be placed in the cabinet. It is better that you have one cabinet for organizing related things than having several cabinet in which you need to check when looking for a single thing. It is better that your cabinet still has enough space in case you acquire more similar contents so you can fit them all in the same place.

* Vertical or Lateral

The concern on whether to have vertical or lateral drawers usually arises when deciding on what to get for keeping files.Vertical drawers are the most common filing cabinet used in offices. These require little wall space and stack two to five drawers that contain legal-sized documents. The files are arranged from front to back and are facing the user.

These are good for storing personal files, since because of its compactness, each office employee can have one. However, because these are quite deep, they might diminish the room’s walking space when the drawers are open.Lateral drawers, on the other hand, require a larger wall space. Even if these are not as deep as vertical drawers, they have a high capacity.

These can also contain legal files arranged in two to five drawers. The files, however, are arranged facing one side or facing the user in multiple rows.
Due to its size, not every office employee can have a lateral drawer in his or her working space. Instead, a department can have a lateral drawer in an unobtrusive location, which can be accessed by the employees.

* Construction

The commonly used materials for cabinets may be wood or steel. Wood is used usually for home cabinets, while steel is preferred for important office files, due to its strength and durability.
Wood is preferred for homes because of multiple decorating possibilities and its ability to add warmth and homey ambience.Make sure that the drawers can be extended fully and can glide smoothly. A drawer that is stuck can lead to several other problems.

* Protection

For containing important documents, office cabinets have to be well constructed. Some cabinets also have interlocked drawers, which do not permit having more than one drawer to be open at the same time. This will prevent the cabinet from tipping.

Also consider having cabinets with locks and fire and impact resistance. Cabinets that can withstand 1700 F for 1 hour and the impact of a thirty-foot drop, bear the Underwriters’ Laboratories Class 50 rating.

* Mobility and Ease of Cleaning

If you will need to move furniture around the house when cleaning, choose a cabinet that is not too heavy to be moved a little when cleaning. It may also be better to choose cabinets that are elevated by a few centimeters from the floor for ease of cleaning.For office cabinets, if you will need to move your files around the office, you can use a mobile file cart. Some of these also have the security features of file cabinets. These are compact and can be stored under the table when not being used.

After deciding what type of cabinet you will need, don’t forget to check online for the best deals on furniture and to compare prices.

If your home decor is beginning to look a little “frazzled”, then here are seven tips to give your room a quick make-over without breaking the family budget.  Not all home decorating projects have to mean knocking down walls and hiring a contractor.  You can easily accomplish these seven tips over a few days and bring a lifeless, dull room back to life.

1.    CLEAN:  If you have a family, then you probably have newspapers, magazines, books, toys, shoes, clothes, etc., that detract from the personality of your room.  Find or create new storage spaces for these items.  Give your draperies and upholstered furnishings a good vacuuming.  Remove all your decorative collectibles and give each piece a thorough cleaning.  You want the space to have a fresh beginning.

2.    FOCAL POINT:  If your room is lacking a focal point, try painting one wall in a different, but coordinating color, that complements the rest of your room and furnishings.  The newly painted wall will instantly become the focal point of the room.  Decorate the wall with interesting art work or a large ornately framed mirror.  (If you opt to use a mirror, make sure it reflects a pleasant view – never a blank wall or closet door).  Place a favorite piece of furniture against the new focal point wall to complete the look.  If your room already has a nice focal point, consider giving the entire room a fresh new coat of paint.  A simple color change can make an incredible difference in your room.

3.    REARRANGE THE FURNITURE:  No matter the size of your room, pull the furniture away from the walls.  Place your furnishings at interesting angles in front of your focal point to create an intimate conversation area.  If you room is narrow, try placing the sofa on the diagonal to make the room appear wider.  Never arrange your room so that the traffic flow runs directly through your conversational area.

4.    REARRANGE THE RUG:  If you have an area rug, turn it on an angle and use it to define your newly arranged conversation area.  If you have wall-to-wall carpeting, try layering a complimentary area rug in your conversation area.  (Use carpet-to-carpet tape to anchor the area rug.  This helps keep the area rug in place, and, more importantly, helps prevent someone from tripping over the edges of the rug).

5.    ADD GREENERY:  Breathe new life into your room with the addition of healthy green plants.  Use plants of varying heights and species for interest.  Keep your plants in good health and well-trimmed.  (A vase of fresh cut flowers is always a beautiful addition to any room).  If you have poor lighting, consider using good quality silk greenery.  Silk greenery is actually a safer choice if you have small children or pets.

6.    BUY SOME NEW LAMPS:   Nothing can make your room look more outdated and stale than lamps from the sixties.  Find unique, interesting lamps that will make a bold statement and relate to the personality of your room.  Look for lighting with three-way switches.  This offers you a variety of lighting options to set the mood in your room.

7.    ADD PERSONALITY AND ACCESSORIES:  Refresh your favorite family photographs by treating them to a new frame.  Hang interesting artwork, mirrors or architectural pieces that reflect your personality.  Give new life to your sofa and chairs with decorative pillows and throws.  This is an easy way to add color and texture to your room.  Create vignettes with your freshly cleaned collectibles.  Group them in odd numbers at varying heights.  Use hardbound books in stacks, or assorted decorative boxes, to assist with varying the heights.  Bring in some candlelight to add drama and warmth.  Last, but not least, add something “unexpected” just for fun.

With a little bit of imagination and creativity, you can turn your “frazzled” home decor into a fresh, exciting new space.  Renew your passion for decorating your home – “one room at a time!”

There are a variety of decorating themes from formal to informal and everything in between.  Which one best describes your decorating style?

Formal Traditional
Furnishings and designs from the Renaissance, Baroque, Early and Late Georgian, Federal, Greek Revival and Victorian eras.  This style is shown with fine furnishings, elegant, refined and exquisite wall coverings, elaborate moldings, formal window treatments and Oriental rugs.

Informal Traditional
The same eras as above but this style has less refined versions of furnishings.  There are more touchable elements, more earthy colors, and some urban archaeology without restoration is common.  This style is comfortable and inviting.

American Country
This style holds furnishings from the 17th century through the present, all simple with the appearance of hand-crafted work.  Two versions are popular today: Upscale Country with the use of more tactile, comfortable elements and very close to Informal Traditional but with a clearly country theme in all the furnishings; and Rustic Country, which sports a reused, recycled quality.  The wall coverings and window treatments set the theme and the furnishings have a just-found-it-at-the-antique-market feel.

Country French
This style is exhibited in Classic Rococo, Neoclassic or Empire-inspired country furnishings.  Wall coverings include florals, ticking, toile, and moirés depending on the level of formality.

Arts & Crafts
This simple style is also known as Early Modern or Organic Modern.  The era focuses on hard, stained oak furniture with simple, straight lines.

International Modern
This is a look of ultra simplicity, hard lines, and smooth surfaces contrasted with abstract patterns and unusual textures.

Environmental
Designs in this theme contain colors, textures and very subtle patterns of the earth.

Romantic Victorian
This style still is a favored theme for rooms with lots of pattern featuring English garden florals in dreamy colors.  Both fabric and wall coverings can be patterned, and clutter decorating – especially with accessories – is part of this look.

Ethnic and Primitive
This masculine approach has many faces from African to the American Southwest, from the lodge-look to the South Seas.  Heavy or tactile textures coupled with patterns that are charming because of their lack of sophistication fit here.

Fabric and Wall Covering Themes
This is a wonderful way to decorate – by selecting a great fabric or wall covering that inherently features a theme.  Some examples include sea and shore, sports, outdoor recreation, kitchen or domestic elements, juvenile elements, feminine floral themes, exotic designs from far away lands, and more.

Keywords:

interior decoration