Archive for 'Interior Design'
Choosing a Helpful Interior Decorating Tip
Posted on 09. Jun, 2009 by Mark Coleman.
There’s a wealth of information available with ideas and suggestions about the best way to decorate your home. A good interior decorating tip is beneficial because it helps alleviate the stress involved in making decorating decisions and a good tip can also save you time and money while allowing you to achieve the desired dcor you want. A bad interior decorating tip can have the opposite effect so when doing your research, keep in mind that not every interior decorating tip is right for you.
Helpful Tips
A helpful interior decorating tip will include information on where to find the best furniture and window treatments as well as accessories to complement each room which includes wall decor, rugs, floral or exotic plants, artwork and decorative items. The type of flooring you choose is also part of the decorating experience. A very helpful interior decorating tip is to sketch the lay out of the room to give you a visual of the furniture placement. Take the time to visit the home improvement or decorating supply area of your local store and pick up paint swatches.
Not Helpful Tips
An interior design tip that is not helpful is one that while it looks good on the surface is just that, it looks good but it may not be functional or efficient for your decorating project. For example, using fabric shades on a kitchen window is not a good interior decorating tip as the fabric can absorb cooking odors. Also, when hanging paintings or if you use dried flowers for decoration, a good interior decorating tip will specify that these items should not be placed in direct sunlight as it will cause fading or deterioration. If this information isn’t conveyed in the tip, then it is not helpful. Painting the walls a particular color is a big part of home decorating but if you plan on leaving the ceiling white and the tip you’re using doesn’t explain that white ceilings are in contrast to colored ceilings and the eye is naturally drawn to the ceiling, then this is not a helpful interior decorating tip.
Helpful Tip Sources
Sources for finding a helpful interior decorating tip can be found at your local library or retail store. Online bookstores are also a good source of information. Some supply websites have interactive options such as selecting a paint color and then seeing it displayed. There are also home design software packages available to help you design a beautiful home interior.
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Home Decorating Tip Guide
Posted on 03. Jun, 2009 by Mark Coleman.
Home decorating involves numerous areas to cover and any helpful information that can be provided through a good home decorating tip can help make the decorating experience an enjoyable one. Achieving the right style for your home is important and requires some research and an interior decorating tip that pin points the look and style you want is one you will want to keep in mind.
Tips for the Kitchen
Decorating your kitchen can involve simple tasks such as removing and replacing old flooring with new ceramic tile or upgrading the sink from aluminum to ceramic or changing a single bowl sink to a double bowl. A good home decorating tip to follow when upgrading a sink is to also upgrade the faucets and any other sink fixtures at the same time. This can include anything from adding new PVC piping to replacing the hose on a sprayer. Adding a new garbage disposal is a good home decorating tip because disposals are both efficient and time savers.
Tips for Appliances
This is an important area because not only are appliances a big part of a homes dcor, it’s also important that they be energy efficient. Purchasing a refrigerator, stove, dishwasher or washer and dryer is a major expense and another home decorating tip to follow is when buying appliances, purchase the one’s that are the most cost effective for your budget. Also consider buying an extended warranty which can pay for itself over time if the appliance breaks and needs to be replaced.
Tips for the Bath
A good home decorating tip is one that not only provides information about the look of the home but can also provide information regarding money saving upgrades. For example, removing an old bathtub and installing a sauna tub, which is roomier, provides a visual upgrade along with incorporating the benefits of a soothing and relaxing sauna. Another good home decorating tip involves the removal of an existing bathtub and utilizing the space by adding a much large shower area built completely with ceramic tiles. A good home decorating tip regarding saving money is to upgrade an older toilet with a new water saving style. This tip can save you money on your monthly water bill.
Tips for the Living Room
A simple home decorating tip for the living room is to pay attention to window dressing. A beautifully decorated room needs to be completed by accessories and the windows are a large part of the dcor. Whether using drapes, sheers, louvered blinds, swags, wooden blinds or shades, be sure the window dressings complement and reflect the personality of the room.
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Selecting the Right Interior Design Style
Posted on 31. May, 2009 by Mark Coleman.
When deciding to update or change the dcor of your home, selecting the right interior design style is first on the agenda of things to do. Deciding which interior design style will best suit your individual needs and personality can depend on several key factors.
Lifestyle
Your lifestyle can have a significant effect on your decision concerning the type of interior design style you want for your home. For example, someone who spends a lot of time entertaining or has dinner parties, the interior design style would gravitate around creating open spaces to accommodate guests. For an aspiring chef, an interior design style that focuses on creating a well designed kitchen would be important. A person who has a home office would look to an interior design style that promotes professionalism and efficiency.
Style-Pleasing to the Eye
An important factor to think about when choosing the right interior design style is whether or not the style you choose is comfortable or just aesthetically pleasing. For example, sleek lines and airy spaces are popular styles and add an open and uncluttered look to any interior home design but you need to consider if the sofa or chairs that go along with the style are comfortable to sit on.
Functionality
You must determine whether or not the interior design style you’re considering is functional. For example, if you have limited space but have out of town guests staying with you, can your sofa function as a comfortable second bed. You should also consider how much maintenance your choice of interior design style will require. For example, if the overall design includes wood flooring or furniture, items made from wood materials must be kept up with specific oils and polishes to keep the wood from drying out and to keep the woods natural sheen looking good. If there are small children in the home, and an interior design style that involves a lot of glass tables, consider the safety issues involved shattered glass and sharp table corners.
Cost
Quality is of the utmost importance when designing your home and a good rule of thumb home decorating tip to follow is to shop around and get estimates before beginning any interior design style project. The cost of the interior design style can vary depending not only on the style you choose but also on the amount of square footage will be decorated. Looking for bargains at close-out and clearance sales are a good place to pick up particular decorating items while checking building supply stores for unclaimed or cancelled pre-ordered items can save money.
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Bold Colors For Interior Painting Make Bold Statements
Posted on 27. May, 2009 by Mark Coleman.
It has come to that time in an older home’s life to repaint and refresh the interior. The biggest factor in refreshing this old home is the paint color. Many people think that interior painting should be bland and vanilla. This way of thinking is because they don’t know any better and they probably grew up in a home with white walls. But any design magazine or interior designer will tell you that every home, whether new or old, needs color on its walls. Color, especially bold color, makes bold statements when used for interior painting.
Drama
Using bold colors for painting the interior of a home will not necessarily create a huge dramatic effect in the room. Bold color will make a beautiful statement. If you already have your furniture and color scheme set in your room, then decide what color would make a great background, without taking away from your color scheme. This is a great way to create an interior design style in your home.
You want a backdrop color that will only enhance your furniture and accessories. After you decide on a paint color, pretend that you are painting on a canvas. Then go several shades down from that color and you will have the perfect shade for your interior painting. Get a small can of the paint, put a small amount on the walls and let it dry. Then take a good look at it and make sure you like the color in your room.
If you do not like the color, then you can change colors without any big mistake to cover up. Go back to the paint store and explain your dilemma to the professional paint salesperson and let him give you some advice. You want a backdrop for your beautiful things, not a major player with your things playing second fiddle to the color. There are beautiful shades of tans, greens, golds, purples, yellows, blues and pinks that make beautiful bold interior painting statements.
Preparation
Painting an interior can be fun if you have done the appropriate preparations and use the correct tools. Take a day to do all the prep work, so when it comes time to paint, everything will be ready. Depending on the size of the rooms in your home, interior painting does not take any time at all after you get started. Get a friend to help and your time is cut in half. Give several hours for your interior painting job to dry and then put on a second coat of paint. Put some cold beer in the icebox, turn on some great music and you might even enjoy yourself.
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Bedroom Furniture Reflects Your Personality
Posted on 21. May, 2009 by Mark Coleman.
Bedroom furniture will definitely reflect your personality. If you are a romantic, then your bedroom will be filled with soft colors and lots of big soft pillows. The room will generally have billowing sheers swagged on more sheers to cover the windows. The floors will have thick soft carpet or hardwood floors with large beautiful rugs. There will be a big beautiful dresser with a large mirror and large table lamps. There will be candles everywhere with old books on the bedside tables.
The bedroom furniture is usually wood with a four poster bed as the focal point. There will be large paintings on the walls and beautiful green plants near the windows. The room will be swathed in light pink, blue, lavender or white and the interior painting on the walls will coordinate with the bed linens and window treatments. The bedroom furniture reflects the romantic personality of its owner or someone who believes that the bedroom is a sensual and quiet place. This is a place where someone wants to come and relax.
Just Sleeping
If a bedroom is owned by someone who just wants to sleep, normally a male individual, then the bedroom furniture will look much different. Men do not usually care what their bedroom furniture looks like, as long as there is a bed, with a mattress and pillow on it. This bedroom will have contemporary furniture in it. It will have very straight lines and will usually be in dark colors.
The bedroom furniture itself is generally black without headboards or bedside tables. There is usually a television in the room and maybe a dresser. There will not be a mirror and maybe only one lamp. Men usually don’t read in bed. Men like to sleep in their beds. They may have an attractive comforter, but nothing else will be very inviting in the room. The bedroom furniture is really nondescript in comparison to the rest of the room.
Child’s Room
A child’s bedroom furniture always reflects the mother’s personality. These rooms are always cute and the child’s bedroom furniture always matches. The layette set and curtains always match the theme of the room. Bedroom furniture for a nursery or older child’s room is always fun to choose. It can be sophisticated or quirky, but either way it is always fun. We all hope that the way we decorate our children’s room will somehow mold into their personalities. A child’s bedroom furniture runs the gamut of colors and styles and is always fun to put together.
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Kitchen Furniture Should Be Cozy
Posted on 18. May, 2009 by Mark Coleman.
You can only have kitchen furniture if you have a large enough kitchen to put furniture in it. Many condo’s and apartments have galley type kitchens where there is only room for one or maybe two people comfortably, and these are people who are cooking. There normally is not any room to place a table and chairs in a small kitchen. But for the larger kitchens a nice, small table with four chairs should suffice, unless you have a very large family.
Dcor
Kitchen furniture is like bedroom furniture, it should, but does not have to, match the interior dcor of your home. This furniture can be wood, metal, rod iron or acrylic. You can normally find any type of kitchen furniture to fit your price range. Everyone makes kitchen furniture in any style, color and price range. The kitchen is where family and friends congregate and you should make sure the area is cozy and inviting. If you have a family of five, then you should have five chairs. Keep placemats and salt and pepper on the kitchen table, so any guest will know that this is the place for proper meals. Candles on the table always add a touch of warmth to the room. If your room is large enough, put a baker’s rack or hutch against the wall to store cutlery and dishes. Displaying your pretty everyday dishes also adds warmth to the kitchen area. Have a simple window treatment in your kitchen to match your kitchen furniture colors and style. All of these things put together will make a very cozy kitchen furniture arrangement.
Remodel
You can always rework your kitchen furniture to refresh its look. Remodeling this furniture is a fairly easy job and can usually be done with a few coats of paint. Metal tables and chairs always looked refreshed when painted a bright new color. If you are in doubt as to what to paint your kitchen furniture, try plain white. You can always accessorize with bright colors and this helps to keep your kitchen cozy. If you go crazy with large bright patterns on your kitchen furniture, the area will become very busy and non-inviting. So stick with plain colors and accessorize with the opposite end of the color spectrum to keep the kitchen area calm. Sometimes a remodeling kitchen furniture project may just change the chairs or just the table. This is a simple remodel project and can probably be done with a can of paint. It doesn’t take much to make or keep your kitchen furniture cozy.
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Dining Room Furniture Can Be Anything
Posted on 13. May, 2009 by Mark Coleman.
If you live in an apartment during your young single years, your dining room furniture could have consisted of T.V. trays and folding chairs. Sometimes the dining room table was a piece of plywood held up by a stack of bricks. When your income only pays for a car payment and rent there is not much left for furniture, much less dining room furniture or kitchen furniture. Most meals are taken on the sofa or chair on your lap.
Creativity
There are many ways of creating dining room furniture. The first recommendation would be to cruise through resale shops, such as Goodwill or the Salvation Army. You can find many bargains on dining room furniture in these resale shops. It is one of the first places people drop off furniture who are looking to rid themselves of old furniture. Start with a table of some sort. If it is very old and cheap, then look at it closely and see if you can paint it or re-stain it. If this is a project you can tackle then go for it. If the price is right, you could have the beginning of a really nice set of dining room furniture.
Once you have purchased your table and repainted it and it looks like you paid a million bucks for it, go shopping for the chairs. Search the same resale shop where you purchased your table and see what they have. If you go at different times of the month, you will find different items, so check it often until you find what you are looking for. Maybe you don’t know what you are looking for, in which case keep searching until something catches your eye.
You do not need to have matching chairs for your dining room furniture. It is always interesting to see different styles of chairs used as a set for a dining room table. You can always recover the seats of the dining chairs in one fabric to set the tone for your dining room furniture. A staple gun, some fabric batting and a hot glue gun is all you need to recover your seat cushions. After some sweat and patience you have created your new dining room furniture and at a fraction of the cost it would have been to buy it all new.
Durability
You will probably have this dining room furniture for a few years and it will always have a special place in your heart. When you are much older and it is long gone, you will always remember your trips to the resale shops to find the perfect piece to start your very first dining room furniture set.
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Living Room Furniture Can Be Remodeled
Posted on 11. May, 2009 by Mark Coleman.
You walk into your living room and what you see is tired, old living room furniture. It is time for a change and it needs to be uplifting and fresh. When you check your bank account to see if there is room for new living room furniture you discover that your resources are rather depleted. So the time has come for a new inspiration and alternative methods to create your new look.
Do It Yourself
Chances are pretty good that your budget only allows for a do it yourself project. Now the decision is where and how to start. First of all you need to decide what kind of style you want for your new living room furniture. You will be limited to what you can do because of the frames of your furniture, but there should be no problem in updating in fresh new colors. The next thing you do is decide on a color scheme for the room and then you go shopping for fabric for your new living room furniture.
If you don’t sew there are many books that can teach you to reupholster with a staple gun and hot glue gun. Investing in one of these books is an excellent idea if you are going to tackle your own reupholstery project. After reupholstering your living room furniture it will be quite easy to reupholster your dining room furniture. After you visit the fabric store and buy the fabric you need for your project, go to the paint store and pick out the paint for the living room walls and for any tables that might need painting.
Paint
Ask for help at your local paint store about the different glosses and different styles of textured painting. You can create very interesting and very handsome pieces by trying different finishes on your living room furniture. This can create conversation pieces or dramatic effect, depending on what finish, texture or color you decide to use. It could be that your end tables and coffee table simply need a fresh coat of paint.
Accessorize
Always finish your remodeled living room furniture with accessories. Pillows, table lamps, books, candlesticks are all acceptable and necessary accessories to complete the look of your newly remodeled living room furniture. Try adding an ottoman or some pieces or interesting pieces that you have collected from your travels into your new living room. It’s amazing how some fresh paint, new fabrics and colors can totally change the look of a living room.
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Interior Design Furniture Magazines Are Great Design Inspirations
Posted on 07. May, 2009 by Mark Coleman.
There are people who just want to live comfortably and there are those who like to have their homes look as if an interior designer has put it together. Both of these choices are quite acceptable in today’s world. Most of the people who would like to have an interior designer come and design their homes cannot afford one, therefore, acceptable alternatives must be found for a substitute. Many interior design furniture magazines and catalogs are great resources and substitutes to find the right look for the interior of your home.
Style
If you are remodeling or starting from scratch, the first thing you need to do is decide on what kind of style of furniture you prefer. Perhaps you enjoy contemporary furniture or maybe you like the look of French furniture or perhaps it is southwest that makes you happy. There are many interior design furniture styles to choose from, and it is important to find out what these styles are and which one makes you the happiest. Visit furniture showrooms and look at their living room furniture arrangements to give you ideas of the different interior design furniture styles. Cruising through as many interior design furniture magazines as possible will really help narrow down your search.
One Room
Always start with one room at a time. Trying to design a living room, dining room and bedroom at one time can be overwhelming and you are setting yourself up for failure. Concentrating on one area at one time will keep you focused and there is less room for error. If it is your living room you are starting with and you have decided on a particular style, then find an interior design furniture magazine and pick out pieces or an arrangement of furniture that you like. If your budget does not allow for the high price tag, then cut the picture of the arrangement out and start searching other interior design furniture stores and magazines until you have found a close replica that you can afford. It doesn’t matter what you pay for you new look, as long as it is stylish, arranged appropriately and in the style of furniture you enjoy. Interior design furniture magazines are perfect for looking for ideas to create your new look. They are inspiring and give wonderful ideas for the non-designer.
After finishing with your first room, then continue with the second room in the house that you wish to redecorate. You will have learned quite a bit from the experience of your first room so take this second room with a more confident feeling and try a few more creative ideas. There really is no right or wrong in interior design as long as you enjoy the outcome.
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The Importance of Reading an Interior Design School Review
Posted on 02. May, 2009 by Mark Coleman.
Whether you are just considering getting into the interior design field or are dead set on it, one of the most major steps you are going to need to take is choose an interior design school to attend. This is where you will receive your degree and graduate from so that you can then move on and get a career.
You are going to need to choose the right interior design furniture school if you want to find a job quickly and easily after graduating.
Using an Interior Design School Review
Once you have a list of schools that you are interested in attending and which you think would be a proper fit for you, you are going to want to read an interior design school review on each. This interior design school review will help to make you more educated on the school and all that it has to offer.
If you are looking for an interior design school review, one of the best resources available to you will be the Internet. By taking a bit of time to surf the Web you will be able to browse through literally hundreds of different reviews within a matter of a few minutes, which allows you to get the broadest and most comprehensive opinions on the different schools.
The importance of choosing the right school to attend really cannot be stated enough, and remember that you may not be accepted to a particular school so you are going to want to have a couple of backups on your list.
Financing
You are of course going to need to pay for your education, so once you have read an interior design school review and decided on the schools you want to attend, make sure that you apply, see who accepted you, and then choose one.
Once you are enrolled, you are going to need to provide the required funds, and the good news is that there are some terrific offers made available by the government which will allow you financing and help you pay for the immense costs of post-secondary education.
By furthering your education you are going to be doing yourself a huge favor. Not only will you be going places in life and feel as though you have really achieved something, but you will be able to support your family financially and have a job that is constantly going to be changing and never get boring.