Interior Decorating – Home Staging

Archive for December, 2007

Interior design for children is one of the most fun, delightful aspects of the business if you ask me.  It is so fun because children are limitless as far as their creativity and imaginations are concerned.  Whenever planning interior design for children, be sure to involve the children in the planning and – if you feel very brave, the implementation of your designs.

A good beginning point or theme for interior design for children is to start with any favorite activity or toy or even character of the child’s interest.  Remember that many items of interest to children are topics that will change with time so try to take advantage of these interests and favorites with accessories and changes that will be easy to replace in the future as their interests and needs change.  If a child has an interest or a particular activity that they are very enthused about and they have a special request that would make the design very special to them, go for it as long as the parents are as enthusiastic as the child is.  Also, forewarn them of any possible headaches they might experience changing it in the future when it comes time to redesign the space in order to accommodate the child’s changing needs.

When choosing your color plan or schemes remember that interior design for children offers you unique opportunities to use bold or bright colors that would usually not be ideal for use in adult surroundings.  Along the same lines, certain areas of the room would be more ergonomic to use as focal points then would in an adult’s atmosphere.  For example, a chalkboard or toy box might capture a child’s attention more so then would a table or seating arrangement.

Another aspect of design that will vary from adult tastes when planning interior design for children would be the accessories that will be used to highlight and accentuate key features.  Toys and collectibles make wonderful objects to use in this application.  However, many times toys that are placed on display or for decoration are toys that the child would enjoy much more by being able to play with it rather then it actually being on display.  You can solve this dilemma by either using old, unused toys that no longer captivate the child’s interests or even by purchasing duplicates and allowing them to actually use one version of the toy and letting them know that the others are ‘for looking only’.  Also, keep in mind that collectibles often times are of less significance to smaller children then are to adults so make sure that any item placed in a child’s room is not of significant fiscal or sentimental value just in case!

Tying in interior design for children can be accomplished easily by purchasing one of millions of available bed treatments that is complimentary to the designs and themes used in the creation of the room layout as well as fitting in well with the accessories chosen.  Many bed treatment packages come prepackaged with matching detailed sheets, a comforter, dust ruffle, and window coverings.  These items can bring a room together in the greatest of all fashions and are an option in interior design for children that are obtainable by anyone looking to make a change.

Always remember when planning interior design for children that a child changes attitudes, opinions, and behaviors around every three years.  Permanent changes of any type are a big no-no and practical, cost effective ones are ideal.  A good furniture tip to remember when designing for kids is to buy reasonably priced, sound furniture that doesn’t break the bank.  Kids are even harder on furniture then they are on clothes!  And most importantly to take into consideration when working with interior design for children–of course, HAVE FUN!!!

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Interior design for bargain hunters is the new fashionable item in the arena of interior design.  Everyone is interested these days in making their money stretch as far as it possibly can.  There are many, many possible ways to achieve this.  The most important determining factor in your success is the amount of patience and time you are willing to invest in order to find and purchase true items of value and not frivolous purchases which are of significantly less value that you will regret later.

The places you will find most traditional bargain hunters looking for pieces related to interior design are places such as second hand furniture stores, seconds depots, and discount stores.  If you shop around in these stores, you are likely to run across great purchases for interior design for bargain hunters.  These purchases might include items such as furniture, linens, accessories, and the like.  You can even occasionally find bargains on household electronics such as wide screen televisions and stereo systems.  Be sure when buying items such as these that they are in useable condition and the fact that they are broken is not the reason they are for sale so cheap.

Another potential place to purchase items for interior design for bargain hunters would be homemade sales such as yard sales, flea markets, auctions, and estate sales.  These places are no longer areas where you will find the occasional bargain hunter and enormous amounts of obsolete, valuable items that no one will find but you.  Rather, these places have been commercialized as being places to find great deals and even the most common shopper has his or her eyes open for that ‘dream’ deal.  This being said, these places are still great resources for the bargain hunter who is looking to buy well-conditioned, useable items for a better cost then one would find in a department store.

An aspect of interior design for bargain hunters that many people do not ever even consider is the labor involved with creating the designs.  This can include services such as painting, moving, carpet cleaning, ect.  Labor prices are the end of interior design that often are the most costly (with the exception of furniture and flooring).  Bargain hunting for labor is a bit different then bargain hunting for actual physical items.  You might think that perhaps you can afford to hire someone for less actual dollars an hour that possess perhaps less skill then another more expensive worker.  This is a tricky aspect of interior design for bargain hunters.  Keep in mind that many times workers who have more experience or are better skilled at a certain task will complete the work at a faster pace then the unskilled worker, thus actually evening out the hourly price, and also there is not as much of a possibility of costly mistakes.  So, honestly, depending on the skill level of the worker involved, you might be better off with the more expensive yet more efficient laborer.

Whatever the market or product you are searching for, be a smart, price-savvy comparison shopper and exercise control over spending amounts.  Establishing pre-set spending amounts is a form of self-discipline and should be exercised throughout the interior design process.  Bargain hunting for interior design can be as simple as taking this principle to heart and applying it to all of your decorating activities.

Finally, hard work and attention to detail can enormously decrease project costs so if you have the time and the understanding to see an aspect of the designing through yourself, this alone can turn a large budgeted project into a small one.  After all, that elbow grease is worth a little something!

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