Decorating 101: Quick style tips to revamp your kitchen

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Your kitchen can easily become your family room. Aside from it being the workstation in the house, you congregate there when you eat your breakfast as you start your day. Your kids even do their homework there. And you get together as a family to talk about the day that passed (which is why this is the most battered and used home in the house). What better way to reward this area than to give it a makeover?

But this being one of the most important spaces in the house, you cannot afford to make a major one lest you want to live without a kitchen for a long time. How do you revamp this space in the quickest and easiest way?

1. If you are used to having closed overhead cabinets, why don’t you change the look of your kitchen by trying open shelving. Make sure, though, that you only put dinnerware that you use on a daily basis as you get to clean them more often from dust. Leave those that you use occasionally inside closed cabinets. 
2.  Try changing the look of your kitchen by updating your knobs and door handles. You just have to scour through hardware stores and you will be wowed by many choices that you have. 
3. Painting is the cheapest way (that has the greatest impact) of updating the look of your kitchen. You may paint your cabinets or the walls. Keep in mind that this is a work area. The paint color will affect the amount of effective lighting for the space. Change the table and chair. Or if you want, you may also paint the existing furniture with fun, quirky colors to modernize the look of your kitchen. 
4.  Add rugs to make your kitchen cozier. Buy ones that are easy to wipe and clean up. 

After doing all these little changes, take an overall look of the space. Only you will know if you have achieved your desired look for your kitchen.

Decorating 101: Easy, chic ways to revamp your bathroom

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Although it can be considered as one of the areas of the house that is most taken for granted, the bathroom is an important part of a person’s life. More often than not, the smallest space is almost always allotted for this area.

But the irony is, we need to go to this room a number of times a day. A clean bathroom is a reflection of a clean personality. However, does it follow that an outdated bathroom is a reflection of an outdated personality? What are the things that can be done to update the look and revamp your bathroom?

1. Be adventurous and put a nice painting on the wall. It can be something calm and serene. Or you can put one that is witty and fun. You may even create your own painting. What a nice place to display your first work of art, right? 
2. Change the accessories. Put on matching shower curtains, rugs, and towels. You can even do this change on a weekly or a monthly basis. Easiest way to update the look of the bathroom! 
3. Put stylish fixtures. Classic mirrors and overhead lighting creates a cozy ambiance. Do this if you want to achieve a calm, peaceful, and serene impression. 
4.  Re-grout your tiles. Not only are you changing the look, you are also making your bathroom cleaner. To do this, make sure that the tiles are cleaned and dried. Apply grout as indicated on its packaging. Leave overnight and be surprised with the new look of your space. 
5. Nothing beats the effect of good old paint when you're renovating a space. Choose a color that you think will suit the feel of the space best. 

After spending some time redecorating your bathroom, why don’t you relax and take advantage of your own private space? If you are able to enjoy the experience, you know that you have succeeded in your task.

How to Create an Office at Home

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Gone are the days when, if you need to work on a computer, you have to go to a computer shop. Nowadays, owning a laptop has become a one-is-to-one thing and almost everybody owns one. It was some time in 2007 when affordable laptops were made available. Even before that, working from home has also been made possible because everybody is wired to each other through the internet. Along with these developments, it has become a necessity to setup your own home office. It takes just one corner of your house for you to have one. But the question is, what are the requirements to having your own efficient, home office?

• Size matters. The wider your desk is, the better. This depends on your comfort and space requirements. You don’t want to be stuck in a space so cramped you can’t even move your mouse (if ever you decide to have one) or even place a pad on the desk where you can take down notes.

• Declutter, declutter, declutter. The key to a clear mind is a clear desk. Especially if you have limited space, this principle is very important. Which is why you have to…

• …set aside storage space. Install drawers and cabinets. Make use of your shelves. And keep all the things that you are not using in their storage spaces.

• Make sure light is sufficient for you to work comfortably. Take advantage of natural lighting. Or if it is not possible, you can install lamps or other artificial lighting. Try different places and different intensities before you settle on a permanent space and specifications for your lamp. This depends on the person who is going to use the space. The standard is to have it above you (so you can install an overhead light) or behind you.

• Aside from lighting, ventilation is also important. Make use of natural ventilation through windows and install fans or air conditioner.

• Hide all the wires. Don’t you just hate it when tangled wires are visible, you can’t even concentrate on your work? Plan the layout of your gadgets and electrical appliances.

• Lastly, personalize your space. It doesn’t matter what it looks like. It all depends on your personality.

The things listed above are just suggestions. Having an efficient home office is all about the user’s preference. As long as the person who will be using the space is comfortable, you are sure that the area you have created is effective.

Ten Do's and Don'ts of Picture Hanging

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To help you get the “hang” of artful arranging, the following are some positive pointers on picture grouping. REMEMBER! Your front door talks about you to everyone who passes by... your walls gossip about you to all your friends. Walls are the largest single feature in any room! Be sure yours make a positive statement by careful selection of your artwork, framing and hanging!

1. COMPOSITION is the key. Consider your grouping as a single unit. LINE, BALANCE, RHYTHM and SCALE. 
2. First, work out an attractive arrangement on the floor. Remembering to measure out the entire amount of wall space you have to work in. Trace an outline of each picture on paper and use these as guides for placement on the walls. This will eliminate unnecessary nailholes. (Newspaper, freezer paper, brown craft paper). 
3. The eye craves order, so remember your practical geometry. Hang pictures so that they form at least one horizontal, and one vertical line. (With the exception of a round grouping.) 
4. Your arrangement should hang-together, literally. Too much space between pictures disrupts the graphic effect. (Use your hand width as a good spacing between pieces.) 
5.  Remember, not only size, but color and textures will affect the balance. Always integrate groupings for balance by keeping the weight of your composition well distributed. 
6. Add Rhythm by combining large and small squares, rectangles and circles, but mingle the various shapes and sizes throughout to add visual interest. 
7. Permanent accessories such as lamps, are important to remember, so include them into your plan.  
8. Correct scale is such a common factor in decorating that we are not aware of it until it is absent. Sizes of objects used together. Standing a pony beside an elephant will make the pony look smaller or the elephant look larger… tiny pictures over a large overstuffed sofa or vice versa is incorrect. 
9. Stair-stepping pictures is a no-no unless hanging them on a stairway wall. How HIGH or How LOW???? Remember, everyone’s “eye-level” is different. 
10. The Rule to remember is: No more than 6 to 8 inches above a piece of furniture or at average eye level if not above furniture. 

You can view other free framing articles and tips for arranging artwork at the photograph's website. The artist offers free screensavers along with affordable prices for beautiful pictures. Mr. McNulty’s web site www.premierphotographer.com offers some of the finest fine art photography available online. You can reach Pat McNulty at 610-395-1834 or via e-mail at webmaster@premierphotographer.com Take a look at www.premierphotographer.com for several other free articles on framing and arranging artwork, along with free decorating articles. “ Happy Hanging”

Why Custom Furniture May Be Better for Your Budget

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When we hear the phrase “custom built,” the thought that often automatically follows is “expensive” – and with good reason. Since custom-built furniture is takes up more time and effort and expert know-how to make than mass produced items, there is naturally more cost involved.

But do you know that there are actually times when custom furniture can be less expensive in the long run? Here are three reasons why:

1. Custom furniture stays in good shape longer. Generally speaking, custom-built furniture will keep in good shape long after that store-bought cabinet’s doors have gone askew. One reason for this is that you could specify the materials you wish to be used, and how you want it to be treated, so that it does not rot or mold or break easily.

This means you’ll only need to buy that piece of furniture once. It will not be an expense that recurs every other year.

2. Custom furniture retains its value. When custom furniture is properly built, its value appreciates over time, unlike mass-produced furniture, which begin to depreciate the moment they are loaded onto the delivery van. It is, when well made, a work of art. If, someday, you decide to sell it off, you may even make some profit from the deal.

3. You can make one piece of furniture do the work of two. For instance, it’s not every day that you can find office tables that can also be used as a reliable safety deposit box in your neighborhood furniture store. Getting one custom built will spare you from having to buy an office table and a separate safety deposit box – which, by the way, will eat up extra space you may wish to use for something else.

It will also be a good way of hiding your valuables. Who would have thought that table had a secret compartment? Only you and your furniture builder would know.

The Importance of Accessories in Decorating

 

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For many of us, accessories are the last things we consider when we design our homes and offices. Often, we plan the materials for the floors, the color of the wall, maybe even the finish for the ceiling, and the type of furniture we will put in. But seldom do we think about the accessories that will finish it all off.

In the end, we come up with a room that feels comfortable, looks decent, but somehow feels incomplete – like a salad without dressing, or an iced cake without flowerettes, or a low-cut dress without a necklace to match.

Now if you’re still wondering why the room feels incomplete, let me spell it out for you: it is incomplete. You haven’t put in the accessories yet!

Paint and floors and ceiling and furniture make a room – but it is the accessories that make it your room. In exactly the same way, offices have hundreds of identical cubicles. Only when you’ve put in your family pictures and potted plants does it become your cubicle.

Without the accessories that mark a territory as your territory, that piece of space will never completely feel like home. It will feel like a nice hotel room – shiny, anonymous, impersonal.

So when you design your room or office, remember not to stop halfway. Put some pictures or other interesting items on the walls, tables, or shelves. Put in your favorite books or magazines, and let the world know what you feed your mind with. Let your choice of blinds or curtains reflect who you are: bamboo, lace, or beads, perhaps?

Of course, make sure that all these things combine harmoniously with each other. You don’t want your picture frames or curtains to clash with your furniture or walls. And this is why you need to plan your accessories along with everything else; they should not be an afterthought, because really, your room will never be truly finished without them.

(Can you imagine how annoying it would be if, after all the time you’ve spent cutting and washing up veggies for your salad, anticipating how heavenly it would taste after you’ve tossed it in with your favorite dressing, you discover that there’s nothing but chocolate syrup in the house?)

Decorating with Plants: Tips and Tricks

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Plants are a great way to add color, life, and a refreshing dose of nature and oxygen into a room. They can be intimidating to some of us, though, because they are living things and need a little more care than picture frames and figurines.

You don’t need to be daunted by the prospect of decorating with plants, though. All you need to do is remember a few simple things.

1. Choose a sunny spot for your plant. As you know, plants get their food from the sun. Without sunlight, your plant will die, and instead of adding oxygen into your room, it will add carbon dioxide instead.

2. Choose plants that thrive indoors. Some plants survive indoor conditions better than others. Cacti, bamboo palms, ivies, and philodendrons are some. Herbs such as basil and thyme generally survive pretty well on a kitchen window sill – and they are often useful for more than decoration there too.

3. Make your pots match your décor. Terra cotta pots are popular, but they aren’t your only option, and they certainly won’t work well for all kinds of decors. If your home has a sleek, modern look, you want sleek, modern pots. If you have bamboo furniture, you can put your terra cotta pots inside wicker baskets. If you have an all white motif, with white sofa covers and white frames hanging on the wall, you may need white pots as well.

4. Choose different sizes of plants. Big plants, small plants, plants with different shapes of leaves – these are more interesting to look at than several tiny pots of barrel cacti scattered all over your living room.

5. Match the size of the plant with the space. If you have a large empty space, you don’t want to hang a tiny little plant there. You need something that will match the space. Likewise, a large potted plant should not be placed on top of a small corner table. Your plants should nicely fill out the space available for them.