Archive for the ‘Interior Design’ Category

Creating a cohesive interior design for you home isn’t that hard if you know some of the basics. In fact, decorating your home so that all the various elements combine to create the look you’ve always wanted can be a lot of fun.

Following are some proven tips to help you turn your house into a designer home:

Taking the first step

As they say, let’s start at the beginning. Chances are good that your home is a mish mash of furnishings, art, accents and accessories that have been collected over time. To create the perfect designer look, you want to first consider the purpose for each room, how you want it to look, your personal tastes, features that can and can’t be changed, and finally, the budget you have available.

Start with the key elements

The success of a room’s design lies in the balance you create. The basics of good design are proportion, balance, contrast, rhythm, pattern/texture and harmony. Knowing how these elements work together will help you design your space so that it’s not only beautiful, but comfortable and functional as well.

Proportion

Scale is one of the most important things to consider when creating the look of a room. A room that is proportioned correctly will feel welcoming while an incorrectly portioned room will just feel crowded and unfriendly. The trick is to match pieces in terms of their scale. A large overstuffed sofa needs an equally large end table or coffee table; otherwise, these accents simply disappear as the sofa dwarfs them proportionally. When considering scale, look to the other rooms in your home for furniture that may be a better fit with the focal pieces you have in your room.

Balance

When creating balance, there’s two ways to go here. The first is symmetrical design, where everything is perfectly balanced. With symmetrical design, there’s roughly two of everything or items are mirrored in the room. For instance, one chair is placed exactly opposite another one just like it. While this creates balance, it can also make a room look static and lacking any visual interest or energy. Experienced designers use asymmetry to create this interest. Objects balance well because they are judged by their visual weight, not pairings. For instance, you may have a large sofa on one side of the room that is balanced by two large overstuffed chairs with an accent table in the middle and floor lamp behind. These pieces balance the sofa visually, even though they aren’t equal in size or shape. The design works because there is balance in the asymmetrical layout of the furniture.
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When most people think of coat racks, they think strictly of hanging coats, hats, and scarves. But coat racks can be a lot more than just a place to keep clutter off the floor. They can also provide you with an opportunity to display your own, unique decorating tastes.

One of my favorite ways to decorate with coat racks is to display vintage clothing on them. Wall-mounted coat racks work particularly well for displaying vintage hats and bonnets. And floor-mounted coat racks are a natural for cloaks, gowns, shawls and scarves.

Don’t go cheap when using coat racks as a decorating accent. True, you can pick up a generic wall-mounted coat rack for under $10 and a floor-standing one for under $30. But if your goal is to create an eye-catching accent, don’t expect a cheap one to have the effect you want.

Bent wood, rattan, wrought iron, or brass give you the best eye appeal in a floor-standing coat rack. And look for furniture-quality solid hardwood in wall-mounted coat racks. Don’t settle for generic, dime-store coat hooks on your coat rack when you can easily combine the beauty of brass and porcelain or get the rustic strength of wrought iron.

You can find wall-mounted coat racks with rosemaling, or other styles of decorative painting. These always add to your accent, as do such features as a plate rack or decorative shelf on top that allows you to display other collectibles.

And a mirror, whether etched or plain, on your wall-mounted coat rack is always a big plus. Not only does it enhance the beauty of your accent, but it provides a much appreciated service to your guests of letting them check their appearance after coming in from outdoors.
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Your living room is the entertainment and living center of your home. Chances are that you’ve had some very memorable gatherings there, and it is where you relax and enjoy the company of family and friends. Because this room tends to be such a high traffic area, and to have so much time spent in it, it is often the first room to show signs of wear and tear and to begin to look dated. Luckily there are small changes (like switching out light bulbs) and big changes (like installing a new fireplace mantel) that can give your living room a new look and won’t turn into a major DIY project, or turn your home into a construction site.

Consider painting your living room. A splash of paint can brighten things up or give your living room a different vibe altogether. You can repaint your living room the same color which will refresh the color and get rid of any scuff marks and dings. If you decide to paint the entire room, starting from the ceiling and working down is a good idea. On the other hand, if you’d like a bit of a color change without covering everything in plastic, a feature wall could be an option for you. Picking an interesting color that goes well with the room but adds a little spice can be an excellent way to transform your living room in no time at all.

The fireplace is an often neglected area of many living rooms, and this is a pity because it can be such a lovely focal point if handled properly. Installing a new fireplace mantel – either buying one for the first time or replacing an existing one – does not take as much work as you think. If you don’t have a fireplace mantel, consider getting one as it will give your fireplace a more finished, polished look. If you have a fireplace mantel, replacing it with something a little different can have a major impact on your living room. A wood fireplace mantel is easy to install so you don’t have to hire a contractor. You can paint or stain a wood mantel to match the décor of your room. Fireplace mantels are excellent places to display items of importance to you and your family such as heirlooms and family pictures. A fireplace mantel is also an excellent place to hang stockings and display cards around Christmas time.
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Instead of replacing your flooring, consider decorating with area rugs. There are plenty of options out there when it comes to these rugs. You can dress up a hallway or add color to a bedroom. They are easy to find, affordable to purchase and they offer you the ability to move them around as you see fit. With so many benefits of area rugs, you can easily add these to your home for a beautiful, dramatic look change.

Benefits Of Area Rugs

There are many benefits to area rugs including these.

• Affordable solution to your decorating dilemma. Replacing flooring for the room is costly and the labor is even more costly. Selecting an area rug is easy to do and there is no labor to laying it down.
• Offers a dynamic change instantly. When you add an area rug to a room, the colors of the room come out. The rug can be an accent to your current flooring. It can add character, texture and elegance to virtually any area of the home.
• There are a wide range of choices for you to select from. Many of the most common color pairings are available. There are also many different patterns to select from. You can even have them custom made if you would like.

When it comes to purchasing area rugs for your decorating needs, you need to keep several things in mind. You should not go out and just pick any rug that you find. Instead, you should consider all the things that have the ability to add value, comfort and style to the room. The bottom line is to find a rug that you love, but you can also find a rug that is perfect in these ways as well.

Determine The Area’s Needs

The first thing to do is to determine the needs that you have for this area of your home. Let’s say that you would like to add an area rug to your dining room. Take the time to measure out the size of the room or the section that you would like the rug to cover. Don’t guess! More people make mistakes with guessing the wrong size than anything else.

Consider your current flooring. What color is it? You can easily benefit from purchasing an area rug that is an accent to your flooring’s color. You may even be able to select the same type of pattern that your flooring has into the carpet. If the two do not match (the current flooring that will be exposed and your area rug) you will not have a good overall look to the room. But, if they do accent each other, the possibilities are endless.

Consider your room’s atmosphere. If you are placing the area rug into an area of your home that has a specific theme or look, you should insure that you honor that with your addition of an area rug. You may find that the area rug is one that offers a lot of colors and patterns. In some cases, people will design the entire room of their home around the look of a perfect area rug that they find. If you are looking for an elegant finish, consider an area rug that offers rich tones and a gorgeous, intricate pattern.
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Kids room decorating are an opportunity waiting to come to life! No where else can you mix and match a variety of paint schemes along with creative stencils, stickers, sparkles and get away with it. Best of all, your kids can be involved in transforming their room into their own accomplishments while redecorating at the same time.

Some creative ideas on decorating kid’s bedrooms:

Furniture – Make a whole play area from an ordinary bookcase. Choose bright colors that match your child style and add features such as cutout doors for a doll house or castle effect. Add texture materials to one or two compartments that create a window or door like feature. When your child has out-grown the design, you can easily remove the materials and doors and replace them with the original materials that you saved. Other ideas can be used with Lego or large building blocks to create more designs to match your child’s age.

Walls – Turn your kid’s walls in a big canvas. Paint is the perfect solution and least expensive way to create a kaleidoscope impact while offering unlimited color options. Just changing one wall or adding stripes, borders, sponge or stamping techniques can bring new life to an ordinary room. Use wavy or splat design patterns, or turn one wall into a mural effect. Choose a bright base and pick accent colors to achieve the best effects.
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Kids room decorating are an opportunity waiting to come to life! No where else can you mix and match a variety of paint schemes along with creative stencils, stickers, sparkles, and get away with it. Best of all, your kids can be involved in transforming their room into their own accomplishments while redecorating at the same time.

Some creative ideas on decorating kid’s bedrooms:

Furniture – Make a whole play area from an ordinary bookcase. Choose bright colors that match your child style and add features such as cutout doors for a doll house or castle effect. Add texture materials to one or two compartments that create a window or door like feature. When your child has out-grown the design, you can easily remove the materials and doors and replace them with the original materials that you saved. Other ideas can be used with Lego or large building blocks to create more designs to match your child’s age.

Walls – Turn your kid’s walls in a big canvas. Paint is the perfect solution and least expensive way to create a kaleidoscope impact while offering unlimited color options. Just changing one wall or adding stripes, borders, sponge or stamping techniques can bring new life to an ordinary room. Use wavy or splat design patterns, or turn one wall into a mural effect. Choose a bright base and pick accent colors to achieve the best effects.
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The kids have moved away, and now you suddenly find yourself with an extra room in the house. Unless you’re in dire need of a home office, why not make that extra room into a game room? After all, you’ve worked hard enough, now it’s time to play, and the game room can be a room full of excitement and fun.

There was a time when you could only afford the luxury of a game room if you had a basement, and that usually meant a couch and a billiard table. However, in this age of technology the game room most likely will have a big screen TV and a game console with lots of video games. Few will still have a billiard table. One reason is because most rooms are not as big as a basement and a billiard table would take most of the space available.

Since this should be a family room, or a room for you and your friends to get together for fun, why not add a game table you can use to play board games, and perhaps a soccer table, or an air hockey game table. These won’t take up as much room as a pool table. If it’s in your budget, a jukebox can add to the fun and atmosphere!

What is the best way to decorate this room? What colors should you use? What about wallpaper? Below are some ideas you may want to consider.

First, be sure to use bright colors. Stay away from dark colors – no one wants to play in a dark room. Use “fun” colors such as light green, light yellow, and light orange, but try to only use the orange as an accent color. You should not paint an entire wall orange. Bright colors will raise the excitement level in the room, whereas dark colors will only bring gloom to the room.
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Have you recently found yourself getting bored with your home’s current interior? Have you been looking for a unique conversation starter that is sure to keep people talking? Have you ever wanted to take a mini-vacation without ever leaving the house? If you answered yes to any or all of these questions, a bamboo curtain might be just the thing you have been searching for. In this article, we’ll take a look at how you can decorate your home with unique bamboo curtains.

A quality bamboo curtain is made from natural bamboo beads that are strung together with wire. These strands (varying from 100 – 150) are then hung from a frame and hand-painted on both sides to create a unique curtain. These curtains can be used in doorways or as wall hangings, but either way they help to give any room in the house a whole new personality. Now, let’s turn our attention towards the many different types of bamboo curtains available.

There are hundreds of different designs available when looking for a unique bamboo curtain. This makes finding a bamboo curtain that fits your personality a very easy project. For example, say you have one room of the house that serves as your personal sanctuary, a place you can go to escape the world. You may find that a bamboo curtain featuring a beach scene or a sunset might work beautifully in such a room. On the other hand, you may have a passion for classic artists and paintings. If this is the case, you may want to consider a bamboo curtain portraying the Mona Lisa or Michelangelo’s David. The options are limited only by your imagination. In fact, there are many companies who will hand-make a unique bamboo curtain according to your personal request!
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