Urban Scope Design Tip: Use Mirrors to Enlarge a Room

Here's an actual Urban Scope Designs' client's home. We furnished the room in neutrals and creams, accenting the appointments with a few accessories that gave the space a Zen-like quality. Since this home was particularly narrow, too, we opted to use panel mirrors on one side of the condominium unit. This gave the illusion that the space was actually bigger and wider. It's a less expensive alternative to extending the unit with an annex.

How to Achieve an Uncluttered Children’s Playroom

Photo credit: Christaface

 An “uncluttered playroom” almost sounds oxymoronic, a contradiction of terms, like “open secret,” “serious comedy,” and “airline food.”

But believe it or not, it is possible to achieve an uncluttered playroom for your kids – at least for those times when they are not playing in it. Here are two easy steps for doing just that:

1. Ditch the shelves. Use boxes instead. All those toys, in plain sight and easy access – it’s just too tempting for your children to pull them all down onto the floor, whether or not they wish to play with them.

It will help minimize your clutter if, instead of open shelves, you have large chest boxes instead. It is far quicker and easier for your kids to dump everything into a box than to pile items one by one back into a shelf.

To keep little ones from getting their fingers caught in a hinged lid, choose a box with a light unhinged lid instead. (You want it to be light so that it won’t slip out of their hands and fall onto their little feet – and even if it does, it won’t cause injury because it’s light.)

Of course, you’ve got to manage your expectations. If you’ve got multiple boxes – one for wood toys, another for plush toys, and another for plastic toys, perhaps – expect that you’ll find wood, plastic, and plush all mixed together in each box every time you check, unless you had taken the time to rigorously train your child to categorize according to your standards.

Well, at least they’re not cluttered up on the floor.

2. Keep the “one in, one out” rule. Toys have a way of accumulating, especially during birthdays and Christmas. At some point, you simply run out of places to put them in.

If your current storage is no longer sufficient for the amount of toys your kids have, don’t add more storage! Send out some of the toys. Do an inventory and simply throw away the broken ones. Ask your kids, too, which toys they no longer want.

Toys that are still nice but are no longer attractive to your children could be stored in some inaccessible shelf, out of the playroom and out of the way. Better yet, give them away to other children who may get more enjoyment from them. This way, those other kids get new playthings, you have less clutter in the house, and your own kids have more space for new toys – so everybody’s happy!

Frugal Ways to Decorate with Jars

Photo credit: ]babi]

Jars make interesting and versatile decorative items, since they come in a variety of attractive shapes and different sizes. And since you’ve already paid for them when you bought the foodstuff they contained, your jars are now practically free! What more could a frugal decorator ask for?

Here are some ways you can decorate with jars:

1. Use them as vases. Jars can make good flower vases. Just make sure you regularly change the water to keep it clean and clear and nice to look at. A row of these jars, each filled with colorful flowers, can make an eye-catching décor.

Or try using gel beads – brightly colored, translucent, water-soaked beads that your plants can get hydration from. Choose a color that will match or complement your room décor, then skip the flowers altogether and stick in something more subtle, like the lucky bamboo plant. Even just one of these jars in a room can be a very effective conversation piece.

2. Make a kitchen herbarium. Grow your own cooking herbs right in your kitchen, and infuse some green freshness into the area. And to highlight the kitchen motif, use your food jars to grow the herbs in.

Just fill the jars with soil and compost, plant a few herb seedlings, then line the jars up near the windowsill. Snip a few leaves when you need them for your dishes.

Some good herbs for an indoor garden are thyme, rosemary, mint, parsley, and basil, because they don’t grow too big.

3. Turn them in candle holders. Small wide-bottomed jars make good tea candle holders. Five or more identical jars such as these, lighted at the same time, can give any room a relaxing atmosphere and a romantic ambience.

4. Fill them with colorful trinkets and other stuff. A row of jars filled with different things often make very interesting décors. In the kitchen, you can fill your jars with cereal, cookies, candies, or uncooked pasta. In the bathroom, try small colored hand soaps, cotton balls, bath salts, or rolled wash cloths. In the living room, you can fill your jars with potpourri, pine cones, sea shells, glass pebbles, Christmas balls, spools of thread, balls of yarn, candy hearts, etc. Or you could put a photograph in each jar and turn them into picture “frames.”

Choosing the Right Painting for Your Living Room

Image by MatthewHamblen.com 

Since the living room is where we receive guests in our house, there is no better room that this one for showcasing our personality. And as far as expressions of personality are concerned, few things are as strikingly effective as putting a painting or two on the wall.

So how do you choose the right paintings for your living room?

Style/genre
For a painting to be effective, it should support by the general theme of your living room.

For rooms that wish to exude quiet elegance, landscapes and floral still-life paintings are often the best choice. Realist or impressionist paintings of people at work, at play, or at rest are likewise elegant but tend to be less quiet. Paintings of animals tend to create a more casual atmosphere.

If your living room has a modern theme, an abstract painting may be more suitable.
Asian-themed living rooms are well advised to hang Asian-themed paintings as well, such as the black and white paintings and calligraphy created with Chinese or Japanese ink and brush.

Size and number
Note that your living room is not a museum. Do not put too many paintings in it, or it will look more like a gallery than a living space. Often, one painting is enough. Three is a safe maximum.

Remember that paintings are not photographs. Paintings tend to demand a place of honor, and extra space; photographs are less imperious.

If the space looks too much for a single photograph, it is probably just enough for a same-sized painting. On the other hand, if the space seems just right for a same-sized photograph, it is probably not enough space for a painting.