Coffee Table Decorating

Coffee tables are a decorating essential for any living room.  They help set the general spacing of the room, as the sofa and chairs  are generally displayed around them.  Coffee tables are not only useful but they are the place where you can put decorative center-pieces and books.  They serve as footstools, game areas and conversation starters.  They can also be the focal point in a room.  Here are some coffee table decorating basics to consider before you make your purchase.

Coffee Table Decorating

Use & Style. Before purchasing a coffee table, think about its purpose.  Are you going to want a table with extra storage? Will it be in a room with a lot of traffic? Do you want a table that will last a long time or are you okay with a table that will last a few years?  If you have children, you may want a table that is difficult to scratch.  In addition, when shopping for a table keep in mind what room decorating ideas you’ve already implemented in your space.  You will want a coffee table that matches the general style and decor of your living room.

Round Coffee Table

Shape. You will need to decide what shape coffee table you will choose.  Rectangular and oval tables look good in smaller rooms whereas square and round tables are great for larger seating arrangements.  Round and oval tables bring more flow to a room than rectangular or square ones, but the latter two provide more space on the table itself.  Some people prefer round or oval tables if they have little children, as these tables lack sharp edges.

Size. Your coffee table needs to work with the seating arrangement of your living room.  It shouldn’t be too high or too low compared with your sofa and chairs.  The length of the coffee table should be between one-third and two-thirds of the length of your sofa.

Wood Coffee Table Decorating

Material. When choosing a material, go for something that you like and that matches your home decor.  Wood tables are quite common and can be beautiful but if you are going for a more modern look, you may want a metal or glass table.  If you are choosing a wood table, remember that hardwoods (like oak, walnut, maple etc) last longer than softwoods (pine, cedar).  Metal tables made out of stainless steel are quite strong and durable.  Glass tables are also a popular choice, especially for small rooms because they allow light to shine through, thereby creating a more spacious feel.

Many people don’t put a lot of time or effort into their coffee table decorating.  But you won’t regret choosing your table with care, as it may just be the most used and useful piece of furniture in your home!

Nursery Wall Decor

There are many ways to design the walls of your baby’s nursery.  You can paint, wallpaper, decorate with wall stickers and much more!

A fresh coat of paint can add style to any nursery wall decor.

Nursery Wallpaper Ideas

Apply wall stickers for nursery decor that is easily removed and replaced.

Add decor to your nursery walls with stencils.

Frame art from children's books for stylish decor for your nursery on a budget!

Kitchen Lighting Ideas

Choosing the right lighting is a crucial part of home decorating. Lighting can affect the look and ambiance of a room in so many ways. The right lighting is necessary to carry out the every day functions of the different rooms of your home. Striking this balance is especially important in the kitchen where a lot of light is needed for cooking and cleaning. Here are a few kitchen lighting ideas to get you started.  

General Indirect Light. Recessed lighting is a great way to provide your kitchen with neat general lighting. It is a modern alternative to general overhead kitchen lighting that is much more efficient and doesn’t involve any annoying dangling cords, lightbulbs or lampshades. Recessed light fixtures, bulbs and wiriting are all installed inside the ceiling and turned on through a switch. They are a wonderful way to add indirect, discreet general light to your kitchen.

Direct Light. Pendant lights are one of my favorite room decorating ideas. There are a few reasons for this. First of all, they literally bring light down from the ceiling to just about head level. They can also be used to spotlight a specific area like around the stove over a kitchen island. It might be best to combine pendant lights with general overhead kitchen lighting so that you can illuminate the space in general while allowing specific areas to be highlighted. What is the best thing about pendant light? The fixtures come in gorgeous designs!

Targeted Lighting. A common problem with lighting in the kitchen is that it might not be where you need it. Maybe you have a lot of light over the sink, but none near the stove. A lot of kitchen have dark patches which can be very annoying when trying to prepare food or clean properly. If you are having trouble seeing properly while chopping veggies, try placing lights under your cabinets. Low-voltage xenon bulbs give off beautiful golden light and will glow under your cabinets. Although they are a bit warmer than fluorescent lights, they are cooler than halogen and incandescent bulbs. Xenon light strips can be set to high or low and have removable light covers for easy cleaning.

Hidden Spaces. It is true that most people won’t go looking through your cabinets, but keeping them neat and organized will help you find things easier and feel better about your kitchen in general. That’s why one of my favorite kitchen lighting ideas is putting lights inside your cupboards! Many people have dark cupboards in their kitchen that gets messy and cluttered because it’s impossible to properly see things in it- especially all the way to the back. A solution to this problem is so simple. For only a few dollars you can purchase a battery-operated light that can be stuck onto a wall. This way you don’t even have to install a new light fixure or deal with wires. Just don’t forget to turn it off when you close the cupboard to avoid killing the batteries!

These are just a few kitchen lighting ideas.  Did you implement any creative lighting solutions in your kitchen?

Girls Room Decorating Ideas

Girls Room Decorating Ideas

Decorating a girls room is fun for both daughters and mothers!

But with endless pretty colors, textures, patterns and themes to choose from, coming up with the right combination of girls room decorating ideas can seem like an overwhelming project.  might be wondering whether or not to decorate with a theme.  Here are a few things to keep in mind while decorating a girl’s room.

Keep in mind who’s room it is. Although you may have lots of ideas of how the room should look, make sure that the girl who’s room it is has a say in color and style choices.  Since she’s going to be the one living in it, she probably won’t be happy if she doesn’t like the colors.  Also, if your daughter has color suggestions that aren’t so practical or that you think she’ll grow tired of, remember that color can be spread around the room in less permanent ways than paint or wallpaper.  If hot pink is the color of choice, a hot pink poster, bedspread or area rug can be a great room decorating idea.

Choose a theme. There are countless decorating themes for girls bedrooms.  Some popular theme ideas are butterflies, flowers, and princesses.  Themes can also be color focused without specific characters.  Since girls tend to be creative about decorating their rooms and want to be involved in the process.  Ask her if there are any characters, animals or other theme-ideas that she would like incorporated in her room.

Make sure the room is comfortable.  Girls rooms’ have many purposes other than sleeping.  Depending on the girl’s age, her room can be the place of play where her imagination runs wild or the zone where she hangs out with her friends.  Make sure that it is a space that is comfortable for all the activities that she plans to do in her room and contains the necessary furniture and accessories.

Don’t skimp on the details. Small details like dressing up lampshades with ribbon or decorating windows with drapery or beads can make a huge difference in a girl’s bedroom.  Accent pillows, area rugs and wall hangings can add a lot of texture and fun to a girl’s bedroom!

Kitchen Makeovers: 8 Quick Tips

Giving your kitchen a makeover can seem like a daunting task, but it is definitely possible and can even be achieved within a reasonable budget. The trick to not getting overwhelmed is focusing on specific areas where you can make quick changes and see immediate results.

Here are 8 kitchen decorating tips to get you started:

Lovely Kitchen Decor

Tip 1: Start with the kitchen cabinets

Rather than spending a fortune on replacing old cabinets, there may be an opportunity to salvage them and give them a whole new look. You can achieve this by sanding down the existing layer of paint and going for a whole new color. Make sure you wipe the cabinets clean before sanding. Here is a clear guide on how to repaint your cabinets.

When selecting a color, keep in mind the entire color scheme of your kitchen. If you have many stainless steel appliances, the trend has been moving away from lighter pale color schemes to darker, more saturated cabinet colors.

Tip 2: Upgrade your cabinet knobs

Changing the knobs on your cabinets is an easy and very effective way to upgrade your cabinets without replacing them. There are tons of sites online that allow you to browse through thousands of different shapes and sizes, ranging from ultra modern to country in a variety of metal or wooden finishes.

Tip 3: Paint the walls

Here is where you have an opportunity to be creative in a subtle way. Since there isn’t as much wall space as in other rooms, you can use the area available for painting to produce creative color combination that work to soften the kichen as well as bring out the cabinet colors. It is generally recommended to take a very close look at the color base of the cabinet color you chose and find a color for the walls in the same paint family. Don’t forget to repaint your trim around the windows and door frames. Here is a wonderful article with some great color combination ideas.

Tip 4: Replace your old curtains

Although a relatively simple step, replacing your current kitchen curtains with new ones can bring new life into your kitchen. There are many different curtain styles and textures specifically designed for kitchens which can do wonders for complimenting your new cabinet and wall colors.

Tip 5: Lighting

Kitchen lighting is an area of decor where you can really be creative. A popular trend is to have pendant lighting over your kitchen island, but you can add in track lighting, chandeliers and any number of lighting solutions depending on the look you’re going for. The style of lighting you’re going for should really be thought through since it can make a very powerful decor statement on its own, whether by its design or the type of light it produces.

Elegant kitchen design

Tip 6: Fun with Shelving

One little tip for shelving is to not be afraid of having open shelves in the kitchen. Placed strategically, sometimes having items exposed can automatically create decor accents. Don’t be afraid to experiment, especially if you’re used to very traditional cabinetry.

Tip 7: Trendy kitchen stools

Thanks to stores such as Ikea, there is an incredibly large supply out there of kitchen stools to match any color, style, or trend. If you have many steel appliances in your kitchen, you can try for bar stools that combine a bit of metal with synthetic leather to give a modern yet homey look.

Tip 8: New accessories

Little decor accents are a great way to bring a kitchen to life. Look into options such as adding a trendy wine rack, country style vases with beautiful flowers, small plants, old, warm-colored paintings, new spice holders, or pottery. These items can be picked up either second hand or from home decor stores and can be wonderful color accents. The goal is to use these items wisely; having too many accessories will only create clutter rather than adding life to the kitchen decor.

Kitchen Accents

Dorm Room Decorating Ideas

At first glance, your dorm room might seem like a drag. With standard furniture, awful lighting and almost no closet space, your dorm room is a decor nightmare. But there are acutally many creative dorm room decorating ideas out there. With the right accessories and simple furniture you can transform your dorm room from a lame to awesome.

Your first task is to do your research. Different dorms have different rules. Check out if your dormitory allows you to paint the walls, hang thing up with nails and change the furniture. Then you’ll know what you have to work with.

A shoe hanger is a useful dorm room decorating idea

Next it’s time to arrange your space. A dorm room is your home away from home so make it comfortable and welcoming to guests. Arranging your room like a living room is great if you want to have people hanging out there a lot. You can put the furniture around the room with open space in the middle. Placing an area rug on the floor with a bunch of cushions or large floor pillows transforms your floor into chilling space.

Another important element to keep in mind when decorating your dorm room is lighting. The bright florescent lights that dorms often come equipt are good for one thing only and that’s studying. To create a nice ambiance in your dorm room, buy a few inexpensive lamps or candles. You can try having one big and noticable lamps (you can find some great ones at thrift shops) and a few small ones. Putting a lamp on the floor behind a piece of furniture is a great ambiance creating trick.

Storage is always an issue in dorm rooms so if you are allowed to bring your own furniture make sure it has a lot of extra storage space. If not, a few key items to purchase are hanging storage (like one to put your shoes in that fits in the closet), a high shelf or closet (because floor space is limited) and under the bed storage. If you have a bed with storage space, then great but if not make sure that your bed is elevated from the ground so you can fit storage containers underneath. Wall shelves are good too if you are allowed to put them up. To hide messy storage space, try putting a funky room divider in front of it. They come in all different colors and designs.

Last but not least, make sure to have great music, lots of snacks and other fun things that will make your room the place everyone wants to be!

Stay tuned for more dorm room decorating ideas,coming soon!

Spring Decorating

The seasons are changing and spring is almost here! Get your home ready by incorporating some beautiful spring decorating trends into your home.

This season, yellow is the hot decorating color for spring. By using yellow in your room decorating, you give your home a vibrant and trendy look that is just right for warmer, brighter days. If you want subtle color, try accessories with yellow patterned throw pillows, candles or vases. If you want to go for bolder style, try using yellow wallpaper or buying a yellow couch or chair like this one from Target.

Yellow is great for spring decorating.

Spring is also the time to start thinking about taking your room decorating ideas outside. You can create a beautiful outdoor space by using some colorful throw pillows or area rugs to dress up your outdoor furniture. Try hanging up some pendant lights or lanterns and decorate with candles to create a memorable and beautiful outdoor space that is perfect for entertaining guests or relaxing during warm spring days.

Decorate an outdoor room for spring!

In the spirit of environmental friendliness and eco-awareness that increasingly pervades our daily consciousness comes the decorating trend of large natural prints. This trend is great for spring decorating because this is a season that brings us back out to nature. Try some beautiful bedding or wall décor made out of organic materials and donning large tree prints. White pine prints are beautiful, refreshing and look great on your couch on a slipcover or adorning throw pillows!

Get ready for spring in style with these trendy, fun 2009 spring decorating ideas!

How to Coordinate Different Sofa Styles in your Living Room

If you’re trying to put together a stylish living room but are stuck with a sofa and recliner that are not the same color or style, there is an easy way to turn the problem into a great room decorating idea. Lets use an actual example. My sister-in-law is an interior designer in Atlanta who had a challenging job blending the recliner my parent’s gave her as a wedding gift with her preexisting 2 piece couch set.

The addition of the recliner was welcome, but the challenge came when she placed it next to the couch set and the design, color, and fabric were radically different. The recliner was deep blue with a ribbed material, while the sofa was made of microfiber, beige, with matching solid beige pillows.

So what did she do? Brilliant and simple. First, she placed one of the beige pillows on the blue recliner, and after searching, purchased two pillows that included both beige, blue, gold,and a bit of brown and placed them with the existing pillows on the beige couch. Secondly, she bought a small, cozy beige blanket that matched the look of the microfiber and placed it over the back of the blue recliner.

Thirdly, to help with blending the color, she placed paintings nearby that also included a combination of the blue and beige though with slightly different hues, which worked beautifully in giving the living room a bit of life. She also painted the back wall behind the recliner a darker beige hue and used accessories to bring in a bit of brown.

If this isn’t an option, then always remember you can find rather inexpensive slipcovers today and give your whole living room a new look.

Shabby Chic Bedroom Ideas

A bedroom designed to look shabby chic will be relaxing and cozy. One of the reasons why shabby chic decorating is still so popular is because it combines feminine softness and comfort with subtle elegance. Here are some shabby chic bedroom decorating ideas to get you started.

Certain fabrics can give your bedroom a shabby chic look. Try using pillow cases and bedding with lace, ruffled edges and bullion fringe. Bed skirts are nice in a shabby chic bedroom. Use a variety of different fabrics for a cozy and inviting style.

A beautiful aspect of shabby chic bedroom decorating is glistening glass lighting. To incorporate this element, try hanging a chandelier over the bed or put glass candle holders around your room. You can also use lamps that have prisms or glass beads hanging from the shade or the base.

Shabby chic décor uses mostly white, pastels and floral colors and patterns. The general tones of the room should be in these colors. Also try added some floral elements like a wall hanging or a flower patterned bed cover.

To fit in old pieces that you love, try painting them white and giving them a distressed look. You can do this with old nightstands, lamps, dressers and any other piece of furniture you want to blend in with your bedroom’s new look.

I hope you enjoyed these shabby chic bedroom ideas! Have fun giving your bedroom a feminine, soothing style.

Practical Small Bathroom Design

Small bathroom design is very challenging, especially if you’re starting from scratch and are given the option to choose everything from toilet to cabinet, sink, and shower/tub size. So designing a small bathroom can be divided into two parts: 1) determining the basic layout of the main items 2) working with color and accessories to maximize the remaining area and create a sense of style.

Small toilet with shorter projection

So let’s be realistic; if you have a tiny bathroom, the most practical move would be to invest in a toilet with a shorter projection, small sink (which can either be grounded on the floor or smalller and attached only to the wall), and probably a shower minus the bath tub. You can include a bathtub, but be prepared for the consequences in terms of losing extra space that could be very useful for storing items such as towels and other knicknacks.

vertical storage

I would hold off on the traditional bathroom cabinets in favor of more modern storage, which tends to be highly compact and uses vertical space more effectively and creatively.Since these cabinets take up less space and are more flexible, I would begin with sorting out the location of the sink, toilet, and shower first in relation to eachother and the door. A word of advice; make sure that you take your measurements correctly so that entering and exiting the bathroom or even the shower is comfortable and not a challenge.

Once you’ve sorted out the basic layout and measurements, we can begin to look at ways to enhance the bathroom design. A major element in creating an illusion of space is the use of lighter colors, so consider painting your bathroom in a light color scheme and also working with natural light. If you do choose to go with darker, warmer, colors, make sure you have enough lighter colors in the bathroom to contrast to keep the bathroom from becoming too suffocating.

Stylish small bathroom

Accessories such as colorful flowers, candles, and soap, in addition to creative shelving are very important in creating the actual style of the bathroom. Many stores sell sets of bathroom accessories so that there is a consistent feel in the design which helps reduce the impression of clutter.

Set of bathroom accessories

You can find beautiful soap holders, toothbrush holders, trash cans, tissue holders, and much more. Themed towels (in various colors or white, depending on the color scheme you chose for the walls), perfumes, lotions, and even a well-chosen painting can also contribute immensly to the overall look of the small bathroom. And last but not least, choose a elegant, simple, mirror that will be noticable but not dominant.

By combining an effective layout with an attractive color scheme and the right accessories, you can be proud of yourself for creating and implementing a gorgeous small bathroom design.

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