Posts Tagged ‘flooring’

Black and White Ideas for Stylish Home Decor

January 14th, 2010

Whenever people start thinking about living room decorating ideas and decorating their home, whether it be one or two rooms or even the entire house, the first question that usually comes to mind is ‘what colours shall I use’. Frequently, people choose colours that they are fond of or those which correspond with pieces of their existing furniture. When looking for living room decorating ideas, one idea which is perhaps too often overlooked is decorating with the two basic colours (or shades, to be completely accurate) ” black and white.

Black and white, when used in decorating shows style and creates drama. Top decorators say that every room in the house could benefit from adding a slash of black. Black is a colour which anchors and stabilizes a room. Adding sophistication, black is certainly a colour that demands attention. Living room decorating ideas for a home using black may include accessories such as light fixtures, trim or furniture. Black serves to add definition to the focal points in a room. Black is just one of the colours that stands out, but it is definitely one of the most eye-catching!

Decorating with the shades of black and white in your living room decorating ideas, provides a clean, fresh, elegant environment. This combination can be used in any room in a house making it a sophisticated area. Black and white are often used in contemporary interior design and often used to highlight other colours in the French Country style. It may be hard to conceptualize but there are many ideas for decorating a home using combinations of only these two basic colours.

The floor is a great area to start when considering stylish home decor. Black and white vinyl tiles laid alternately make a beautiful chessboard pattern and gives a clean and elegant appearance. Black marble used on the floor, accented by wide white skirting boards is another fantastic idea for decorating a home. Laying white ceramic tiles with a black border or simply painting the floor black or white and using stencils of the opposite colour for decoration, is also quite stunning. These are great ideas for decorating a room.

Can you imagine anything more perfect than white walls? Painting the walls white or even an off-white makes a perfect background for decorations such as artwork framed in black. What magnificent living room decorating ideas! Elegant black window surrounds or black shutters against a clean, crisp white wall would definitely create an air of sophistication. Perhaps a glass-topped table with a black iron trim and black chairs? These are great ideas for decorating a room using only black and white.

Imagine a bedroom decorated using only black and white – that would be lovely stylish home decor too. A black or white iron bed-stead, covered with a striped black and white blanket or eiderdown. The pillow cases could be either all black or all white and you could add throw cushions in the other colour.

A chunky leather black or white armchair or sofa in the corner would definitely accent the living room decorating ideas. Then you could have the white walls with a modern piece of artwork, framed in black, hanging on it. That would surely add to the modern feel of your living room decorating ideas. Black furniture against the stark white walls would definitely look really neat and tidy and you could spruce it all up with accessories like pewter or silver candlesticks, jugs or vases.

If you think the living room decorating ideas need a little more colour to complete the look, maybe a throw or a cushion in a bold colour like red or gold on the chair in the corner of the room would be enough to highlight the room. There are many ways to decorate a home. However, discovering the one that suits you and those who live with you is very important. It’s nice to do something extreme and off-the-wall but remember you must be able to live with it for quite sometime.

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When Did You Last Decorate Your Bathroom or Kitchen?

December 22nd, 2009

For the person who seems to have it all or for the person who is bored with their lifestyle, there are a few things that you can do to jazz-up your life. Perhaps the best way though is to begin redecorating your home. Some of the first places you should look at redecorating are your bathroom and kitchen.

These are usually the most overlooked and most used rooms in the entire house. Think about it, have you redecorated at least even one of these rooms within the past few years? The answer is probably going to be no. In which case think back to the last time you even looked closely at your bathroom or kitchen other than to clean them.

Probably, if you noticed anything at all, you put the idea off until a future date when you could devote more time to decorating your bathroom or kitchen. At that time though, the place probably didn’t look as old as it does now, after all, the years add up and even though you’ve been keeping it spotlessly clean you can’t stop the slow march of time.

The chances are that if you were to take a closer look now, you’ll find that the curtains are looking a might shabby and ragged around the edges, as are the bathroom rugs. And let’s not even talk about the toilet roll holder. It is quite true that they don’t make them like they used to, and with very good reason too!

So, you should do yourself a favour and throw out all that unused junk in the bathroom and get yourself some new stuff – you will be astonished at what beautiful things you can find these days. Besides, you’ve probably been admiring that lovely new bathroom set you noticed in the mall for some time, so at the very least now you will have a good reason to go out and treat yourself.

And while you’re about it, don’t forget to buy that lovely new spice rack you saw for the kitchen and a few rugs that can be used in either room. Ideally, they should be resistant to such everyday occurrences as water spillage, soap, oil grease and all the other things that somehow seem to become embedded on your carpets.

However, if you’re looking for a few new ideas on decorating your bathroom or your kitchen, there are a number of sources you can get your inspiration from. The best one I’ve found so far are the catalogues, which you can read to your heart’s content.

With all these options, you could even swap something that is a bit cheaper for the items you see in the catalogues. This then, is the easiest way to get your decorating projects started and to keep yourself amusingly busy for some while to come and to transform your long suffering bathroom and kitchen into new and sparkling areas.

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Colleges for Interior Design

December 20th, 2009

Have you got an aptitude for interior design? Are you always rearranging your room, or telling your friends and family where to put that piece of pottery they bought yesterday? Then, the best place you could be to utilise your skills is one of the many interior design colleges or design schools that are about these days.

With help and prodding from your friends and family, you could find yourself well on your way to starting up your own interior designing firm. Then you’d be where everyone wants to be, ie doing a job that they really enjoy doing. So, just what are interior design colleges and what can you expect them to offer you?

Well, to begin with, the number of interior design colleges that you will encounter in your search will be large and at times even overwhelming. If you do a search on the Internet or just call up the colleges and ask for a course catalogue you can then make an informed decision about which of the interior design colleges you choose to attend.

If your life is too hectic at the moment but you still want to fit in a course or two, you always have the option of going for any of the Internet interior design colleges that seem to abound these days. Or perhaps you could even try a night course or correspondence course in your pursuit of interior design knowledge.

All of these interior design colleges basically teach the same things and will enhance your own abilities. You’ll learn everything from scratch and will be given an insight as to why certain colours look good next to each other and why certain colours don’t.

You’ll learn when to apply the rules that you’re taught and when you can break them. But above all, you’ll learn how to use your natural design abilities with the knowledge that you’ve garnered at the college and blend it into a mix that is vastly pleasing to the eye.

Moreover, if interior design colleges are your thing then you can be assured of coming away with a lot more than only knowledge on how to place what colour next to what colour to get a stunning effect. By taking at least one or two courses, or even by doing the whole range of courses offered to you, you’ll be multiplying your natural interior design abilities at least a hundred times.

There’s nothing like having a confidence boost to stave up your own natural skills and to be able to tell someone with total confidence that you are a bona fide interior designer.

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Country Home Decor Style

December 18th, 2009

The house is finally spick and span and you put your feet up for a minute with a nice cup of coffee by the side of you and you pick away at your muffin. You are tired but it’s the good kind of tired where you know you’ve done a hard day’s work and you have no regrets about it. A happy feeling settles on you and you look around yourself with contentment.

A magazine lies tantalizingly within reach and you give in and pull it towards you, intending to enjoy your well-earned rest. The main cover story jumps right out at you, called Country Home Decor. Naturally you flip through eagerly to that very section, you had just seen an article on converting your house into a small country haven in another magazine and you were interested.

Page upon page of the magazine is filled with what can only be categorized as the most perfect country home decor you can imagine. You gaze longingly at the various styles and furnishings you see gracing the magazine’s pages. A quick look up from your magazine assures you that your own modest abode hasn’t changed magically into one of those lovely country homes you were just looking at.

A heavy sigh passes your lips at the realization and so you go back to reading the magazine article. You had never thought that you were the sort of person who could stand the country home decor style but now upon reflection you think you just might be able to.

Without your even realising it you find yourself marking the pages that interest you the most, making small mental calculations on how best to achieve the same effect but on the more modest budget that you have at your disposal. After all, it wouldn’t do to fork out for that lovely dresser and have to go without your freshly ground whole bean coffee now, would it?

However, you could definitely buy that beautiful table runner without a problem. And if you gave all your modern chrome coffee mugs and dinner sets to charity you wouldn’t really be splashing out, would you, since you’ve done your best for charity and donated all these things so unselfishly?

And what about exchanging those flashy blinds for something that’s a bit more in the country home decor style. And while you’re going about it, perhaps you could even swap that ugly lampshade you received as a house-warming present for something more country.

The only thing that is left for you to do now is to lie back and enjoy the fruits of your labours and gaze with beaming pride upon your newly redecorated home. Furnished, naturally enough, in the best of country home decor style that you could gain from every source that you came across, like that first magazine which spurred it all off.

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Fabric Shower Curtains

December 13th, 2009

So, one day, fabric shower curtains went the way of the dodo and glass shower doors became all the rage. But, like most fads, common sense resurfaced and the fashions that once were, have come back as they do. You’ll now find that fabric shower curtains are fashionable once again and are easily available from most stylish home decor stores.

However, don’t throw out your old glass doors just yet either. The convenience and sophisticated look of the glass doors seem to be firmly established in some quarters. True blue die-hards of the glass doors will swear by these and will even sometimes be ready to lay down their reputations for them.

You’ll find, when discussing fabric shower curtains, that their owners are laid back and will smile when asked about their preferences. Naturally, they’ll defend their fabric shower curtains but they also admit to seeing the advantages of glass shower doors as well. No dripping from the bottom of the curtain, no constantly damp curtain folds that need to be separated out each morning in order to prevent mildew.

Most convenient of all, is the easy cleaning granted by glass shower doors. However, as the fans of fabric shower curtains will also tell you, glass doors have their downsides too, the biggest of which being that if you permit the cleaning of the doors to go for even one week, stains will begin to form along the sides where they’re attached to the wall and some of these seem to have a much stronger will than you do.

And if you don’t give the glass shower doors a regular wipe-down, your otherwise nice clean bathroom will begin to look rather grubby. The reason though why fabric shower curtains are an all out favourite of many people in the know, is for just one reason and one reason only. This is also what leads these people to have a smug grin on their faces even after they’ve just spent the last half hour cleaning their bathroom. Fabric shower curtains are disposable and so can be changed quickly.

Yes, that’s the one massive why fabric shower curtains are still a firm favourite of a lot of people. Have you ever tried changing your glass doors on a regular basis? It just won’t happen and its doubtful if it will ever happen within three years, unless that is you take a hammer to it.

So, now you understand the reason for that mysterious grin and why fabric shower curtains never really went out of fashion. Convenience, more convenience and still more convenience. So if you’re thinking of swapping from your glass shower doors to the more convenient, disposable fabric shower curtains don’t be put off.

Once you remove those doors, your life is bound to become simpler, and if it’s not, just exchange one pair of fabric shower curtains for new ones. If nothing else it’ll make you feel better!

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Wedding Decorating Ideas

November 18th, 2009

Yes! Yes, yes, and yes a thousand times more. That was the answer you gave a week ago when your boyfriend took you out to dinner and asked you to marry him. There was no hesitation in your mind then and there really isn’t any now either. The only thing that you’re worried about though is the actual details of the wedding.

Your boyfriend, now your fiance of course, is very laid back and casual about it and said that anything you want was OK with him. He was sure that you would do a great job, just tell him if you wanted anything.

That’s all well and good, and normally you would have relished the chance, in fact you did jump at the chance. But now you’re stuck on what to do for your wedding decorating ideas and motifs are all blending as one into your brain and you still don’t know where to have the reception.

Of course, you could hold the reception in an up-scale hotel with the works, everything catered for and all the niggily little details looked after, but that seemed so impersonal, and you really want your wedding to be one that you will remember for the rest of your life. So what should you do now?

Well, first and foremost, just take a few really deep breaths and relax. Getting yourself worked up into a frenzied state won’t help. Next call your bridesmaids, and anyone else you trust, to your side and have a council of war.

This is where you will hammer out the details and get fresh perspective and ideas into your planning, and where most of all, you can have some fun with your wedding decorating ideas. You’ll be simply amazed at how many bright ideas a group of people can get if they’re working on something like wedding decorating ideas with wedding cards being the least of it.

So you start off with an idea, perhaps to have the all the cards handmade so that they become extra special to you as time goes by. Someone else has the great idea of getting a load of those little disposable cameras so that interested people would be able to take photographs, and you’d end up with a great many more candid pictures than you otherwise would have.

Yet another person suggests a great overall design theme. Your wedding decorating ideas are now flowing fast and furious as one person after another speaks up giving you all the help you need to sort out your wedding plans.

However, it is your mother who comes up with the best wedding decorating ideas of all and such like being the least of all her concerns! Maybe|Perhaps you’d like to get married and then have your reception at their house.

They could put up a large tent to cater for all the guests, and the house could be decorating to suit the occasion. And you say, ‘Yes’, again because there’s nothing you want more than to be married at home.

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Office Decor

November 11th, 2009

It’s been at least a year now since you moved to your new work place and officially took over your new office. At first, you were busy decorating a new home and learning a new job, but now that you’re settled in you start noticing the same things that you noticed when you first took over your office.

The walls are a boring, neutral colour and are looking decidedly depressing. The sun streaming in through the industry-quality blinds is decidedly dingy and the furniture is just about as plain and worn as it can get. You figure that a decent amount of time has passed for you to start planning the redecoration of your office.

Of course, before you start it’s always good to make certain that the powers that be don’t have a problem with your plans. And remember that it is just an office and you should treat your decorating plans as such.

Painting the walls a snazzy red colour possibly might not work. However, you could brighten things up a bit by repainting the walls a bright and airy colour that won’t be an eyesore to anyone, least of all you. Then you could always remove those ancient blinds that have been hanging there since the early’70’s and replace them with something more pleasing and more modern.

On the other hand, if the whole of the office is decorated in the same style with the same blinds hanging on every window, your a la mode changes might not be appreciated by your colleagues. So, think twice before doing something drastic that changes the whole style and dynamic of the entire office.

There are, however, simpler methods you can use to carry out your office decorating project without too much hassle to you and which doesn’t necessarily take too much thought. You can brighten up any room by placing a couple of flowering plants here and there around your office.

However, if you’re like me and you don’t have green fingers or if you compel any plant in your vicinity to immediate suicide, then maybe you shouldn’t bother with plants. You could however bring in some lively pictures and hang them up on your walls. Or perhaps you have kids and they have painted some lovely pictures for you.

Kids’ paintings work well and will show your colleagues a different side of your character. But, don’t get stressed out over anything though – you really don’t need a simple decorating project to add to the rest of your worries – an office decorating project should be fun and stress-free.

Remember, your office decorating project should not mean your turning the whole office, or yourself, on its head. It should be something that you can live with on a daily basis.

After all, you work in your office for most of the day, so it ought to be a place where you can feel just as relaxed as you are in your own home.

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Discount Home Decor

November 9th, 2009

If you’re redecorating your home, naturally you’ll want only the best. However, often you’ll find that the best comes with an expensive price tag attached to it as well. Unfortunately, many of us can’t afford to splash out on the finer things in life, especially if we’re redecorating our homes.

That’s where the many discount home decor stores will come to your rescue. In these stores, you’ll find that you can sometimes witness a miracle and find that you can actually get those finer things at a fantastic discount.

Some of the best discount home decor is to be found in your local department stores. They’re probably the last places you’d think to look for discounts but if you get the timing right, seasonal sales in other stores will drive the prices down to match discount store prices. It doesn’t get better than that, especially if you don’t really want to spend hours going around looking for discount stores or warehouses.

Which, naturally enough, brings us to our next discount home decor stop: discount warehouses. In these you’re presented with a wide range of choice from which you can buy your discount home decor and fittings. These large warehouse stores are ideal if you don’t mind taking the time to browse a bit.

Be advised though, that if you buy from these discount warehouses, you’re just as likely to see your perfect wall-hanging in your neighbors house as well. You should also go prepared to keep a tight grasp on your wallet as some of the items will simply call out to you and never let you go. In this case, you’ll find your new discount home decor items have multiplied substantially more in number than what you originally went in the warehouse to buy.

Another good method, and one which I constantly use, is the Internet discount stores. Just type in the words “Discount Home Decor” into any Internet search engine and it will yield such a large number of results that you might even become inundated.

The best way to go about this is just to look through a couple of the returned stores and find a store that you like. As you progress, you can always cull many of them and find ones that better suit your needs more exactly.

The Internet option is also good if you decide to go through your local department store’s Internet listings as well. Many times you’ll find a variety of items at discount store prices that you wouldn’t get at the store itself.

Delivery of your discount home decor items purchased on the Internet is also usually very low or sometimes even free, if you spend over a certain amount.

Any or all of these options is a great way to start redecorating your home. And you’ll find that with only a little effort and thought on your part, you will be able to find discount home decor that will not only suit your budget but which will also suit your home, and ultimately, that’s all that really matters.

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