Posts Tagged ‘decor’

Easy Ways To Accessorise Your Home

Ask any decent interior designer and they will tell you that it is all in the detail. What they mean by this is that you can have lots of stunning colours, huge spaces and luxurious pieces of furniture, but unless your finish is high quality and you have the right accessories, you’ll never achieve a good look.Lets take a look at three easy ways to ensure your accessories don’t let your design down.

Keep With One Colour. If you havent got an eye for matching colours, just stick to one for all your items.This don’t mean you need to hunt around until you find pieces that are exactly the same tone of a certain colour, just make sure they are within a close enough colour range. For example, you might have a blue lampshade, with a light blue skirting board and a slightly different shade of blue table cloth. Using all the same colour will reinforce the theme of a room and mean that there is less chance of different items clashing.

Qaulity Matters. Some of the best advice you can take on board is not to buy lots of cheap pieces just because you can get more for your money. This does not been to say that all your accessories need to be expensive, but the items that stand out and that people interact with benefit from a bit of quality. Tableware for example is a key item to get right, as they are not only often closely inspected, but people actually use the items in everyday life.

Use Functional Items.As already touched upon, the functional or feature items in your home are the hardest to get right. That said, these types of pieces often influence the look and feel of a room the most.Select items that match your persona and style. If your not into sports, then please don’t have rowing oars mounted on your walls, or display medals that you got in a charity shop. However if you are a big whisky or wine drinker, having the right glassware on show looks good. You might have ISO wine glasses on show or some decanters, it really doesn’t matter as long as it represents you well.

Ideas For Arranging a Bedroom

David Artsmith   -   On the one hand, the bedroom should be a peaceful place. Relaxing it should soothe you into sleep, and ease the burdens of the day away.

But you also don’t want to sleep forever. The bedroom is where you wake up in the morning. It is a place where you want to feel vigorous, frisky, and powerful.

You have to understand your own personality, and then create an atmosphere that fosters your best traits.

If you are a deep and easy sleeper, able to snap into a nap and stay there for hours on end, you might want to put a little fire in your bedroom. It might invigorate you, and motivate you to get out and get active again.

You can do this using bright colors, and bold expressive art. Decorative items should be vigorous, patterns should be strong, and there should be contrast throughout.

But if you are an angry person, if you are easily agitated, if you have trouble sleeping, you may want to avoid anything that is too stimulating in this space. Instead, try to fill the room with soothing objects, and turn it into a relaxing escape from the worries of the day.

In this case, you will want to use soothing colors such as ocean blue and forest green. You should also consider peaceful decorative peaces, scenes of nature, and gentle patterns such as floral styles.

Another important aspect of bedroom decorating is personalization. You are the one who will have to be comfortable in this space. Use decorative items which have particularly special meaning to you, to create an atmosphere which suits your psychology.

The ultimate nature of your bedroom should be a balance which helps you compensate for your own imbalances. In this way, the bedroom is a tool designed to help you live your life.

Good luck – pebblez

Selling A Home: Decorating Tips For Success

These days it takes more than advertising to sell a home. In many areas the market is flooded, and well cared for homes that are competitively priced and well decorated are the homes that are selling. A home must look appealing to potential buyers, and when it is cluttered or poorly decorated it will make a lasting impression, but it will not be positive impression. When selling a home, consider the following decorating tips for success, and turn your dream of selling your home into a reality.

Clear Away the Clutter

A cluttered unorganized home is a dwelling that appears unkempt and messy, and when a home is cluttered potential buyers wonder what other problems that are not obvious might exist. A home that is organized and free from clutter appears to be well cared for, and it also looks roomier and more adequate. Imagine opening a closet to find it stuffed with clothing and other odds and ends. It would appear that closet was not adequate, and if all closets are completely full the entire home will seem to be lacking storage space.

Begin by clearing away the clutter, and get rid of items you no longer want or need. If a stored item is in question, ask yourself this. Have I used this item in the past year or two? If the answer is no, chances are you really do not need it. Donate unused items to your favorite charity or hold a yard sale. Not only will you make your home appear neater and roomier, but you will also earn a little extra cash for your efforts.

Neutralize Color

Deep red walls in the kitchen or deep blue walls in a living room might be appealing to a homeowner that chose those hues, but dark or bold colors are not for everyone. When potential buyers enter a dwelling they want to find a home that requires very little work upon moving in, and although painting is the least expensive way to completely change the look of a home, it is not an easy task. Painting is time-consuming, and after the hard work and stress of packing and moving, repainting is not something anyone wants to tackle right away.

If you want your home to appeal to the greatest number of potential buyers, opt for neutral colors such as creamy beige or rich vanilla. It is true that you cannot please everyone, but if a homebuyer does not appreciate neutral walls, at least they can live with the color or lack thereof until they are ready to repaint. Bright, dark, or bold walls will have to painted as soon as possible to match furnishings, but neutral walls match almost every color and style.

Choose Tasteful Decor

Potential buyers want to envision themselves in your home, and if family photos and personal collections grace the walls, the imagination becomes foggy and the presence of personal items could turn some people away. When trying to sell your home, remove personal effects, and opt for classy items such as wrought iron wall hangings, wall mirrors, wall vases, or beautiful architectural pieces. Make your home look like a model home, and with personal effects removed and clutter cleared away, you will have the best chance of selling your home within a reasonable period of time.

About The Author: Jessica Ackerman is the head author at http://www.walldecorandhomeaccents.com

2008 Top Decorating Trends

It’s that time of year again to start thinking about a new look and all the things that we can do around the house to make our home more fashionable and trendy. So what’s hot for decorating in 2008? Think affordable luxury with a wide variety of styles and flavors to suit any Decorator! As the wheels of fashion turn, so do the wheels of home décor trends, observe the coming of Neo-classic art back into modern décor in the year 2008. Luckily, it’s never been easier to create a luxurious home to suit your lifestyle with these simple decorating tips:

1. Eco-friendly design – The focus this year is on organic and the natural artifacts. In the past, eco-friendly or what is now termed Green Design could be summed up in one word: ugly. That isn’t necessarily the case anymore. Eco-friendly design has met a stylish interpretation proving that earth friendly decor can at the same time be elegant, beautiful and exciting as well as Green.

2. High contrast color combinations – Contrasting colors and textures like smooth against rough add a touch of the unexpected to your décor. Pair up accessories or furnishings for that special feeling and spark to lighten up your décor.

3. The “X’ is everywhere – Find it in furniture and accessory design. It was first spotted at the Highpoint European Show and has since been making its way down the trend ladder to almost every trend seeking home in America.

4. Beautiful Design is simply not enough – For today’s multi-tasking, on the go lifestyle, home décor needs to be multi-functional as well. Home Décor shoppers want utility as well as sheik in their furniture and accessories. Look for furniture and decorative accessories that will make your everyday life easier and more organized. It’s time we demanded more from our décor!

5. Expect to see the softer side of leather – Earth tones on smaller pieces of furniture with contrasting more feminine like colors.

6. Art that Inspires Luxury – 2008 is all about the Classics of luxury. Add elegance via home decor, and specifically wall decor. Shop for hand painted art reproductions of famous works of art. Hang a hand painted Impressionist masterpiece like aMonet or a Van Gogh. Like David Sasson, President of OverstockArt.com says: “It is sure to bring many admirers…”

7. Whites – From pearl white to ivory, the white color family will be on display in 2008. From your furniture to your wooden frames. Adorn your home in soft whites.

8. Make a dramatic Impact – Oversized décor for a dramatic look. Shock your friends and add one focal point piece as a jaw dropper. Imagine one huge work of art in your living room that would leave everyone in awe.

9. Gray tones and Metals – Add a touch of steel to your design with elements such as Silver, brushed nickel and aluminum. Recycled would be a preference (remember to think green!).

10. Feng Shui – In this hectic and fast pace world we all want a bit of piece and tranquility in our home. Let your design and furnishing make you feel at ease. Add the Feng Shui elements and embrace piece on earth.

Hopefully we can all create the right environment for growth and exploration in our homes in 2008. I wish you all a fabulous and enjoyable year full of joy and successful decorating endeavors.

About The Author: Amitai Sasson, of http://Overstockart.com is a renowned world traveler on a mission to seek out the beauty and passion of the art world. As an avid enthusiast of art and oil paintings , he contributes greatly to the industry with his writing. Read more on art and wall décor today!

Interior Decorating Using Cool Earth Tones

Cool earth tones are a range of colors achieved by mixing white, or pigments from the cool side of the spectrum such as blue and green, with the basic earth colors. Think of cool stone and slate floors, or the washed creams, gray, and pale sand of a seashore on a winter morning, to get the feel of the colors. They create a soothing but elegant ambience of natural beauty in your interior decorating scheme.

Beige, putty, cream, and parchment all make perfect background settings, so the range of paints and papers that falls into this category is enormous. If you choose to paint rather than wallpaper, a number of translucent washes of different colors from this range will give a more natural finish than a flat latex; in earlier times these colors were full of natural impurities and so had interesting variations of shade and depth. You can either continue the same tones throughout the room, or use the walls as a canvas against which to set a richer series of colors.

If you’re using this palette alone in your interior decorating, it’s important to avoid bland, featureless expanses. Texture, pattern, and detail are vital factors and occur naturally in many of the items that you may choose to include in this type of scheme. For rustic earthy textures, use greeny gold rush matting, jute webbing, rough sandstone, and textured weave linens and cottons. Stone busts and urns, limed wood, or reclaimed bleached pine furniture all give character and interest to your decor.

You can also add interest with strong patterns which don’t tend to dominate because the colors are so muted. Look for bold ethnic designs for fabrics and wall hangings, or densely patterned floral or leafy wallpapers in pale olive, straw and mushroom tones. Important details will count for more in this subtle setting – bone buttons, steely gray upholstery studs, a rough twist of raffia around a recycled glass jar all reinforce the picture but break up the sheer planes of color.

Decorating Tips for Tough Economic Times

(ARA) – Sick of those saggy silk drapes? Does the trendy color you painted your walls last year now look so “last year”? Your décor leaves you uninspired, yet the current economy makes you hesitate to spend a bundle on a total redesign. The good news is you don’t need the skill – or budget – of a TV decorating diva to give your home a fresh new look. Small, inexpensive changes can make a dramatic difference.

Here are some ideas to transform your room for less than $100:

Lighten Up

The type and placement of lighting can completely change the look of a room and create different moods. Most of us stick with light fixtures that were in our homes when we bought them. Those aren’t always the most attractive or illuminating options.

Overhead lighting – the kind that comes installed in most new homes – can be ..

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