Modern Leather Living Room Furniture

If you are looking for a new and modern design to your living room, a choice of leather sofa will suitable for you. You will add elegant look to your traditional living room and have that fresh look as what you dreaming for many years. Furnishing your home with leather furniture, is now much easier with all the styles available. Just what you need is know how to match your dinning table with the rest of the set and you will have great results.

Your living room furniture comprises of sofa, loveseat and chairs. All these are available in different colours and shape from the ones affordable but modern to the ones that have more quality contemporary finishing. Modern furniture is now leading in the world thereby making many people to have an extreme make over of furniture in their homes to make them stylish and functional. Some will claim that the modern leather furniture is expensive but in real sense they look gorgeous and lovely.

One good thing about modern leather furniture is that it has different looks unlike the other traditional furniture. Its endless designs, new colours and textures, designers shape and functionality just make it amazing. You can be able to turn these so called the modern furniture into a bed and to a small dinning table with just the press of a button. Your armchair can be turned to a lounge, this two in one furniture are now common as it can perfectly fit even small rooms and still look stylish and modern.

The reason as to why you should go for the modern leather furniture is the fact that it is water resistant and does not catch dirt. When it comes to the coffee table, no scratches despite the fact that you use it daily; it will look new for a very long period of time and this is just what you need.

I would say that before purchasing the furniture, you already know in your mind what you need, and you are sure that’s what you are going to get. You like the looks and the functionality, this for sure is enough to make a decision but do not rely on the feelings alone this is because it can be that at the time it was an expression under a certain circumstance, it could be the place, surrounding or the mood. Here you need to leave that aside and choose the furniture that fits your own environment. Consider the colour of your apartment, though in most cases black and white can work well with almost all colours. The modern designs of sofas with chrome legs will look good with all coffee glass tables that are neutral in colour.

What you need to know here is do not purchase the modern living room furniture just because you like them but first you need to imagine how these furniture will look like in your living room; will it fit? With this approach you can be sure of having a great living room that feels good.

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How to Makeover Your Bedroom Into a Spa Retreat

If your bedroom an adjoining with a bathroom, take this advantage and change this into a personal home spa. Spa usually relaxed, integrates with the natural, the sound of water is clear and see-through room.

Bring that home.

If you are renovating your home, you can go all the way by using parquet or wood for the floors and walls for that close to nature effect that is reminiscient of a spa. Use uplights and down lights to throw romantic shadows and soft, soothing light in the bedroom. Your bedroom is where you relax and doze off into sweet sleep. For a couple, the bedroom is a place for romance. Set the mood for it.

If the bedroom opens into the bathroom, make that a place where you can enjoy hydrotherapy. Basically, hydrotherapy is all about water. Using hot water (as hot as you can take, maximum 40 degrees celsius) to relax the muscles and cold water to tone your body. Install a shower that allows you to alternate jets of hot water with jets of cold water so that every shower you take is a hydrotherapy spa treatment. You can use the jets of water in the shower to massage your aches away.

If you have space for a bathtub, do install one. A jacuzzi is even better, but a bath tub is good enough. You can treat yourself to a floral bath by covering the entire water surface with fresh rose petals or chrysanthemum petals. Both for a pampering and beautifying effect on your skin. Get a can of full cream milk powder and a jar of honey. You can have a milk and honey bath by adding 4 cups of milk powder and 1 cup of runny honey to your bath water for a milk and honey bath that is worthy of an Ancient Egyptian queen.

Do up the bathroom in white tiles, white curtains and basically in shades of white to complete the look of a hydrotherapy spa.

Now that you've got the basics, add on plants and candles to complete the spa ambience.

Surround the shower and the bath tub with large pots of indoor plants so that you feel like you are bathing in a garden.

Get tree-like indoor plants for your bedroom and arrange them like an island against the wall. Use lights to throw shadows on these plants to turn your bedroom into a romantic, exciting retreat.

At night, light up the room with candles. Put floating candles in glass cups half filled with water and light them. Light scented candles to give the room a delightful fragrance, just like a luxury spa resort.

After all the work you have gone through to turn this bedroom into a luxury spa, don't stinge on the bedding since most of the time you will spend in your home spa will be on the bed. Invest in two sets you can alternate. When one is in the wash, the other is in use. Change the bedding frequently as the scent of clean bedsheets completes the luxury spa experience.

Bring the relaxing sound of water dancing in a fountain to your sleeping quarters. Use lighting to highlight it and your bedroom will really look and feel like a luxury spa retreat.

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Adding a New Ornament to Your House

So that the house always to look best is the desire of all people. Sometimes we always have time to add new ornament to our sweet home. So why do not you try something new this time? Here comes a new type of decorative piece called flags which you always thought was just meant for Patriotic and official purposes. Beginning from your garden to the all interiors can be a unique addition to the flag. This can bring you a sense of art. Garden flags can help you define your life by enlighting the new happenings in your home starting from a graduation flags, party flags, wedding announcement and seasonal flags to occasional ones.

Garden flags create a festive environment at your home. You can place it any where you like ranging from your exterior mail box or car to interior as a wall hanging. They tend to give you a happy feeling that something great is going on in your place. It also conveys message to the outsiders about the new events happening at home. Many professional flag manufacturer are now designing and providing flags according to your requirement without any delivery charges at minimal cost.

House Flags can be placed near your fireplace displaying the occasion. Manufacturers are now displaying beautiful designs that can easily charm your heart and make you buy one. House flags come with a pole on which it can be placed. It can vary with your need and interest. You can choose from a wide range of colours available that matches with your house and can convert a dull boring home to an exiting new one. Religious themes, sporty ones, landscape views are few flashy types which can define each room in the house properly.

Talking about few special occasions where it forms and creates a must buy situation is during Christmas. Beginning from children to adults all are well engrossed in making their Christmas tree a noticeable and different one. Christmas flags come handy and add beauty to your surroundings. Christmas flags come in various patterns with bell designs and candies depending on your taste. Websites offer a great competition to choose from various options available where you can design your own flag and get it designed.

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Baby Shower Gift Ideas - Baby Furniture

For couples who have a new child, have a baby is a graces of God given to them. Preparation should be a big success in welcoming the arrival of new born children. The shower party should be done according to the plan - from the food, guests and gifts. Setting up cool baby furniture and nursery accessories in the room are great also to show your little darling how he / she is loved.

As to the baby furniture, there are different kinds to choose from. However, choosing the right one for the baby is the main challenge. To find these items, lots of specialty stores made available their top of the line furniture products. The price of each furniture varies with their materials, styles and designs. Some of them can be very expensive but has a better quality compared to cheaper counterparts. Aside from local retailer stores, online stores offer also these baby items. Today, shopping online is a popular option for more convenient purchasing. Aside from that, a wide variety of items selection are available. You can also find cheap items that can make an affordable option for your tight budget.

As with baby furnitures, one of the most important items that you may give is a baby crib. This type of furniture is one of the most important necessities for babies. This item is typically used as a bed for babies. Placing the baby on the crib is a safe idea compared with depending his safety on a bassinet.

Cribs are designed to restrict the baby to the bed. The sides are typically higher for babies to climb with no footholds. The idea behind this design is to safely leave babies behind while their parents are doing some things. And to further improve security and reliability of the confinement, a fabric or solid top may be added to the crib.

Another important furniture is the changing table. This kind of furniture comes with a small raised platform and designed for more convenient dressing of the baby. There are different kinds of changing tables that feature great add-ons as well. These furniture can make a very useful and functional gift for babies. This is not a surprise why most moms appreciate such a gift idea like changing tables.

However, before buying these items, check and look carefully or shake it to see if it's wobbly, otherwise it is unsafe for the baby. For changing tables, if it seems trickery in the store, then it won't get any better once you have it at home. Antique stores can be a great source of beautiful changing tables that still have lots of life in them. Just be careful that there are no exposed nails and other structural problems before using the antique changing table.

Other furniture that can be added on your list are mirrors, high chairs and stool, toy boxes and the like. You may also consider decorations to further enhance the overall look of the baby's nursery room. Decors like frames are best to show some glimpse of the baby. There are also furniture and decors that have cool special effects, you may consider personalized and themed items like personalized flip stools and nursery frame sets. Other personalized gifts such as baby accessories can also make a great gift option to welcome the baby.

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Planning Your Home Painting

Perfection of a home's needs hard work and dedication of the owners and those performing the work. The owner must be willing to subject their homes for Makeover with the expectation that changes will be successful. Contractors who perform the work or the owner himself if he so chooses, is held responsible for the outcome of the work and for performing the work as directed by the owner.

Of course, home painting plays a major role in the exterior look of one’s house. A good paint job can take your house far and really define how your home looks. The theme of a house often relies on a perfect paint color and paint job to capture the desired theme. A good contractor is needed to provide a well-painted and detailed home painting job. Designing your house’s new home improvement jobs and any possible themes you’d like to implement is important. Planning and designing prior to jumping into a project will help you avoid any stupid errors that may come from moving too quickly in the project. You do not have to blueprint, AutoCAD or draw out the entire project, but taking the time to think about what you are going to do before you actually do it can save you time and money. Maybe make a list of the supplies you need, what type of theme you are thinking of or what color and style you want the house to be in.

Planning your home painting before you take on the task is the responsible thing to do. The time you save from not doing things over can be immense depending on the amount of planning you do. Planning for your contractor saves time too. If you give them clear directions before they begin their work, they obviously will be clear on exactly what you are looking for. So, it goes without saying that communication with your contractor is important as well. Money is also to be saved with good planning. If you are constantly doing things over and messing up, you are going to spend more money on supplies or labor for the contractor. Home painting is not rocket science, but if you are going to undertake the project, it is worth doing it right. With the correct amount of planning, any project has the potential to go smoothly.

Most contractors are very professional and efficient in their business. They are seasoned in home painting and know the ins and outs of the trade. However, without proper directions, they will not know what their client is looking for. They may be accustomed to painting a certain style, something you may not want for your house. If you inform them of your wishes before they begin, you can avoid any hassle of redoing and any conflict that may come out of miscommunication or, in this case, lack of communication. As always, be smart in hiring your contractor, as this is also part of the planning process. Pick a contractor you can trust, with good recommendations and whose work speaks for itself.

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Things to Consider When Buying Antique Furniture

Collecting antique furniture piece is considered as a good financial investment and a superb way of decorating houses and other sites. Therefore, many people who collect antique furniture is considered as one of the hobbies and activities that are most enjoyable. However, antique furniture collector who seriously need to know some of the following factors;

The Style of the Antique Furniture

Most antique sellers classify their products through style names such as Louis XV, Queen Anne, and many others. Usually, the style of the furniture piece plays an important role in determining its value. Furniture pieces which have styles and designs which originate from centuries before are considered as more valuable than those which possess more recent designs. Also, the more unique or customized the style is, the more expensive will the furniture piece be.

Moreover, there are designs which have been popularized by notable craftsmen or furniture manufacturers. As such, furniture pieces which carry such popular designs, including those which resemble such, may be more expensive than the usual antique furniture.

The Originality of the Antique Furniture

It is important to determine if a piece is a reproduction or not. One can easily determine if the furniture is an original piece through the hardware that is used in the furniture.

Examine the nails and screws that were used. Note that screws were only used in furniture pieces during the later half of the 19th century. Others shapes, types, and lengths of nails were used in furniture making in varying points in history as well.

If the furniture piece is original, note that its wood dimensions should not be uniform. Some of its parts should have shrunk by as much as an eighth of an inch due to aging. Also, note that the surfaces of the furniture should have suffered from discoloration. An original furniture piece may be affected from uneven exposure to sunlight. As such, it should have significant differences in coloring. Otherwise, the furniture might have undergone repainting or refinishing.

Apart from that, check the edges of the furniture. Note that early years of furniture construction only made use of handsaws. Thus, most old-age furniture pieces have ragged edges. If there are any differences in various pieces of hardware that was used in the piece, it may be a sign that the original parts of the antique have already been replaced.

The Age of the Antique Furniture

This factor is a prime consideration when collecting antique furniture pieces. Usually, the more aged the piece is, the more valuable it will be. Among the most notable periods in the history of furniture construction are Chippendale (mid-to-late 1700s), Empire Period (1830 - 1850) and Victorian (1850 - 1910). Note that one can identify the historical age of the furniture piece according to its style and design.

However, the antique collector should be aware that there are cases when appearance, design, and functionality supersede the value given to the furniture's age. This is often the case for tables, chairs, cabinets, wardrobes, and other large furniture pieces that are not suitable for mere display and decorative purposes.

Also, in cases where the antique furniture pieces are a product of a notable craftsman, the value of the piece increases along with the complexity and the intricacy of the furniture's design.

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5 Common Interior Design Mistakes

Making the decision to interior design on your home are often overwhelming and stressful. There are several mistakes that many made by homeowners that actually can be avoided with just a little thought and planning. What a mistake that you can avoid when creating home decorating?

Mistake #1 – Putting too much or too large furniture into a room.

Too much furniture in a room or extra large furniture in a small room can make the room look cluttered or even smaller. Purchase furniture with the room in mind to make sure that it goes with the size of the room, as well as your needs. When placing furniture in your room, be sure that you allow enough room to breathe. This can make a big difference in how a room feels to both your family and your friends.

Mistake #2 – Not having enough lighting.

Lighting is an important component of any room. A bright and lit room can add ambience and a feeling of welcomeness like nothing else. Whether you add lamps, track lighting, or overhead light fixtures, you want to be sure that your room is well lit and inviting.

Mistake #3 – Not making the room's design feel cohesive.

Repeat the colors throughout the room to make the whole design of the room flow and come together. Choose a color from the sofa or pillows on the couch to use on your windows or if you like your curtains, use a color from them to add color to the couch or buy a vase in the same color. By choosing colors from existing pieces in your home and buying accessories in these colors, you can bring the entire design of the room together.

Mistake #4 – Hanging pictures and mirrors too high.

Most homeowners hang their pictures too high on the walls. You want them to be at eye level, so that they can become part of the design space. The center of the art should be 5 to 5-1/2 feet from the floor, so that they will be at the right height. Showcase your art and special pieces by hanging them at a level where they will become a focal point on your walls.

Mistake #5 – Being afraid of color.

There are many homeowners who choose to leave their walls a neutral tan, cream or white color, simply because they are afraid to choose a color. This is a big mistake, as color can add quite a bit of personality and style to a room. To choose a color that you like, find curtains, a pillow, or other accessory that you like and choose a color from it. By choosing a color from a piece that you like, you are almost assured of having a wall color that you will like.

Interior design does not have to be overwhelming or stressful. By making sure that you don't make the same common mistakes that other homeowners make, you can make better design decisions to make your home into that relaxing and beautiful space that you want and deserve.

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How to Choose Furniture For Your Home

Beautiful furniture can make a big impact on the look and feel of your home. Choosing the right style and design furniture for your home and your life is very important to ensure that your investment in your furniture will be a great value. No matter which room you need for furniture, this is important for family needs and style of the room and your home to get the furniture that will work well for your home and your family. Where do you begin in choosing furniture?

What is the function of your room? If your room is a dining room, you need to determine how you are going to use the room and for what purposes. Do you want a more formal space for entertaining or a more casual space for dinners with the family? By considering your desires for the room, you can better determine what furniture that you need for your room.

What is the style of the room? Is it a contemporary styled room or a more traditional room? This choice will dictate the style of furniture that you choose. Contemporary styled furniture normally features more clean lines, while traditional styled furniture has more classic style and design. Many times, contemporary furniture is considered a piece of art with its contemporary materials and design.

What is the size of the room? Taking the size of your room into consideration is an important step. The pieces that you choose should fit the proportions of your room to make the most of the function of the room. The size and number of pieces that you choose should fit in your room without overcrowding it to ensure that the room still feels inviting and open.

What is your budget? Finding furniture that fits your budget can help to increase your satisfaction with the furniture. Setting a budget for your furniture expenses will allow you to focus on finding furniture that will fit your needs and your finances. Furniture can be quite expensive, so you want to be sure that you set a budget that you can afford. This basic guideline will give you a parameter to work with.

What are your needs? Do you have children or pets? If so, you will want to make sure that the furniture that you choose is easy to clean and take care of. There are fabrics that are easier to clean and keep free from stains, so if you have pets or children, you want to be sure that you choose one of these fabrics to keep your furniture looking beautiful.

By answering the above questions, you can better determine which furniture is best for your particular room and your needs. This will increase the monetary value of the furniture and the value of it to your life. By choosing your furniture carefully and with great thought, you will find that you will have furniture that will stand the wear and tear of life and the test of time. With just a little thought and research, you will find that your furniture will add style and class to your home.

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Fixing A Warped Door

A warp that occur on a door not develop only a night, this happens gradually. So the sooner you know it, the more easy to correct. The first, the sign of real may be a door can not close properly or lock does not work.

Doors made from badly seasoned timber are particularly prone to warping, though once you have corrected the warp it is unlikely to return. However, in some instances the warping is caused by outside factors - such as a radiator sited too close to the door, or bad ventilation. If you suspect that this is the case, take steps to deal with the external problems or the warp may recur.

If the warp is not too severe, there are several ways of forcing the door against the twist. Some of these, however, require the door to be kept shut and in many cases this is not convenient.

If you can keep the door shut, wedging it shut against the warp for a few days may well prove to be effective.

1. To do this, look along the door to check the extent of the warp. Then, with the door just touching the doorstop, measure the gap between the door and stop at the widest point and cut a wooden block slightly larger than this gap.

2. Fit the block at the point where the door and stop shut, so that it touches the stop at top and bottom. If leaving the door shut isn't possible, you can either try altering the position of the hinge on the door frame to take up the twist (see diagram), or else alter the doorstop. How you do this depends on whether you have a stop which is a separate piece of wood nailed on (planted) or one cut out of the wood of the door frame itself (rebated). If you have a planted stop, close the door and cut a block of wood slightly larger than the widest gap.

3. Run the block down the edge of the door marking the stop with a pencil.

4. Prise the stop off. Loosen with an old chisel then pull away from the frame with your hands.

5. Plane the stop then refit it flush with the door. A rebated stop forms part of the door frame and can't be removed. Instead you have to add a shaped piece to the stop to fill the gap.

To do this, measure the length of the gap between the door and stop. Then measure the width at the widest point.

Cut a wedge to these dimensions (see diagram) and nail it to the stop at the appropriate point. Once the wedge is in position, trim it again until you get a perfect fit.

The remedies above only work if the door has warped at the top or bottom corner. If it has warped in the centre you will have to cut a curved wedge tapered at both ends.

Another way to deal with this problem, if you can remove the door, is to try laying it flat, supported on two chairs, bowed side up.

Place some heavy weights on top and leave it for a few days.

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The maintenance of laminate flooring

In the maintenance of laminate flooring, we recommend to do 7 points below.

1. Reduce you walk as much as possible on the floor within 24 hours after installation and do not put something heavy on the floor within 72 hours after installation. The planks begin to touch to moisture in the air will expand itself in the short time, this system works to the lock after installation. Need some time before the planks can work well between one another. So frequent and heavy walk put matters on the floor is not suitable in a short time after installation.

2. Close window and door before leaving to avoid rain falling on the floor. Laminated flooring is not water resistant. Wipe the water away promptly if water falls on the floor.

3. Don’t paint or use sandpaper to polish the floor surface. The product is different from hardwood flooring. And it is not suitable to be polished or painted.

4. Don’t pull heavy furnish on the floor directly. The leg of metal furniture can’t touch the floor surface directly. Pad can be worn on the metal leg to avoid scratch.

5. Hire specialist to replace the broken plank with new plank instead of doing the work yourself if you are not good at it.

6. Clean the floor with cleanser or dame mop(half-dry). Don’t use water to do the work.

7. Below are some methods to remove the dirt on the floor:

- Don’t use steel ball, strong acid or alkali cleanser to do the clean work.

- Scratch wax or gum with a blunt knife after the dirty is hard. Then use damp mop to clean the dirt. Or use a filmy bag packed with ice to soften the dirt and then scratch it with a blunt knife.

- Use wine, gasoline or similar solvent to remove chocolate, shoe polish, rubber, oil, asphalt, shoe polish, etc.

- Use alcohol to clean lipstick, chalk and crayon.
- Use soft & neutral detergent or cloth damped with warm water to clean special dirt.

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When Furniture is Art

A Chair is a chair. Right? Well not always. Many chairs are designed by one of the great artists in the modern era. Many are very populair and design inspiration from the seats on some of the last decade has been designed by accomplished artists and appeared to have great form and function of modern chairs.

The unique chair designs of Arne Jacobsen are a perfect example of when furniture serves the double duty as a functional chair and a beautiful and visually stimulating work of art as well. Jacobson is the type of artist that you would call a renaissance man because he was successful in many different genres of art. In fact, before becoming an accomplished furniture designer, Arne Jacobson had great success in architecture. Some of his architectural triumphs include the St. Catherine's College, the design of Oxford university and at Merton College as well as his work on the Royal Copenhagen Hotel and the National Bank of Denmark in Copenhagen. These are just the most outstanding of many buildings that Jacobsen's artistic vision influenced.

Even though Arne Jacobsen's creative work occurred in the mid 20th century, the chair designs he brought to life showed he was ahead of his time in vision for how art could embrace function in the chair designs he innovated. In fact, his futuristic designs for chairs are in step with the visionaries of science fiction and those who visualized the future world. Many futuristic movies have incorporated furniture designs by Jacobson to give the impression of an advanced and sophisticated wold of the future.

Several of Arne Jacobsen's chair designs have become incorporated into the world of classical art including a chair very simply named The Number 7 chair which was used by the popular artist Lewis Morale as part of a portrait he painted. That influence on other genre's of art is one reason that many of Jacobsen's chair designs have reached the status of classics in the design world and have become so well regarded by scholars in the area of furniture design.

When you go to museums such as the Metropolitan Museum in New York, you don't have to look very far to find examples of outstanding furniture design that is on display from different eras of history around the world. So when you admire classic examples of chair design from Elizabethan periods or early American sections of the museum, its easy to appreciate the genius of a furniture designer like Arne Jacobsen. And its easy to envision that many of his best chair designs will find themselves into museums around the world when the 20th century is one to be honored and documented for the vision of the artists of the time.

The vision of Jacobsen's chair design reflects a love of the natural elegance of nature. This is a natural reflection of his training as an architect which is one which focuses on making modern buildings reflect the design perfection of the natural world often times. The forms suggested by the most famous of Arne Jacobsen's designs are very much in that genre, especially his most famous chair designs of The Ant, The Swan and The Egg. In fact, The Egg design is one that has become commonly incorporated into movies that are of a futuristic scene including a funny scene in the move Men in Black as various secret agents try to fill out application forms sitting in an Egg designed chair.

Jacobsen's versatility of design was not confined just to architecture and furniture. His artistic vision can also be found in designs he developed for cutlery and wallpaper as well in the area of textiles. In fact, it was a Jacobsen design of cutlery that was used in the futuristic movie 2001 A Space Oddity to show how people living in space might eat. This ability to cast a vision of a more sophisticated world is typical of the genius of Arne Jacobsen.

But of the many artistic creations we have as a legacy of the work of Arne Jacobsen, it is probably the Egg Chair that is the one that is the most striking and recognizable to many people. Its a style that fits into so many decors not only in private homes but in restaurants and hotels who are seeking a modern look that is stylish, a bit over the top and yet sophisticated at the same time.

Jacobsen's designs will certainly continue to be used by artists who are looking to create a futuristic design for other medium including paintings, film, television and movies. In fact, not long ago on the famous television show Saturday Night Live, a skit used futuristic designs of chairs in a humorous piece in which a family in the future shows the post peculiar tastes in food, entertainment and furniture. And while the chairs in this sketch are virtually unusable, the humor is appreciated and it is a reflection on the enjoyment we get from very creative approaches to design such as Arne Jacobsen was known for.

These many references in art and popular culture will make it easy to recognize the Jacobsen influence when you are shopping for chairs for a very specific kind of decor. And while the sleek and rounded designs that made history when Jacobsen innovated them can seem a little cold and exotic, in the right setting with some skilled interior decorating, they can create a look in the living room or den that is at the same time modern and warm all at once. So the Ant, Egg and Swan designs deserve a look whether your decoration challenge is a home setting or one of a restaurant, bar, coffee shop or hotel. Jacobsen's design concepts fit equally well in all of these settings.

Since Jacobsen innovated the design, there have been many adaptations that use the basic egg approach but to add stylization to it to fit it into a particular decor and to take the design further into even more artistic expression of that same basic concept. It is common in art for one inspiration to foster others and to mold and shape how art evolves. So when you see very modernistic designs of chairs that may very much reflect the basic egg, swan and ant styles that originated with Arne Jacobsen, you can now appreciate how this versatile Renaissance man from Denmark changed the way we all see furniture in many ways right up to modern times.

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Interior Design For Small Spaces

In the real estate market, essentially, space is expensive. In order to place their own, some people nowadays get a house or apartment is smaller. There is a grand assortment of tricks that exists in designing the interior for small spaces. Anyway, the concept of small is really relative, depending on several variables such as the layout of furniture and the amount of square foot per person.

If you have a small room or house, remember that there are also benefits of these petite spaces: they are more cost effective and less wasteful. A smaller space can also be quite desirable if you require less cleaning, light, and heat.

Basic Design

Versatility and flexibility are the two major components of small space design. If you think about your small room as the interior of a plane, boat, or car, you will notice that there is only a little area needed to control it. Similar to your room, the key is to be able to play and work in your space effectively – a highly usable room will feel less small.

Rather than to fight it, you have to focus intently on the benefits that a small space provides. Maximize favorable concepts such as functionality, charm, intimacy, security, and coziness. You can find the natural character of the room to draw the visitors in; just look for hiding extra spaces (ex. under sloping ceilings) to be creative in finding ways to utilize these areas.

When decorating, you should always focus on simple things. Visual unity in your decorations will enable your room to maintain its sense of class. Also, one method you can use to have a balanced room is to make its details consistent.

Airy and Light

Maximizing airflow and light is always the key to feel the spaciousness in your room. Simple changes can make a huge difference in enhancing the light. Analyze the materials of your decorations and furniture: whether leather, polished wood, glass, and metal all reflect the light in the room. Draw the visitor’s eyes to the windows and bring the outdoors in. Exploit a lot of mirrors – they have the ability to enhance a feeling of light and space. For example, you can place a very large mirror opposite a window – this will reflect the outdoors on the other side of the wall, creating a mock window.

Avoid a single overhead lighting because it has the tendency to draw in the walls. Increase your light sources instead, and place them near the walls reflecting glow. Conceal these light sources creatively with recessed lighting, directed spotlights or include lampshades.

Storage and Furniture

Keep the furniture compact when designing for a small space. The size of your belongings needs to be balanced with the size of the space. When you select furniture, you have to consider the maximization of space for the utility. Like for example, buying a bench to be used in the dining table consume less floor space and provide more seating capacity than individual chairs.

Creative storage should also be considered. More clutter will make the room look smaller. Find ways on how you can stash your baskets or clutter under the storage benches or coffee tables.

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How green can you go?

Remodeling a house with the latest green technology and a touch of decoration is not for people who want things quick, easy and cheap. Not only for this product, from blue jeans insulation to recycled glass tiles - hard to find, they are far more expensive than conventional options.

Still, husband-and-wife team Kate Stoia and Rony Maoz were committed to going as green as possible in their third and most ambitious remodeling project.

Their house, dug into a hillside in San Francisco's Corona Heights neighborhood, which overlooks the Castro, wasn't much to look at when they bought it in December 2006.

A featureless box complete with dilapidated cupboards, peeling paint and drafty windows, the two-story duplex also had what appeared to be an 1906 earthquake cottage out back (the couple later found out it was built about 20 years ago), a sinking foundation and no garage.

None of this bothered the couple. They actually look for places that need foundation work and garages because as a former contractor now running a pier-drilling business, Maoz does the work himself.

The end result of the couple's 10-month project (they lived on-site during the construction) is a gleaming three-story house with a traditional exterior and thoroughly modern interior.

It includes an apartment on the bottom floor and their own two-story living space above, with separate bedrooms for son Matan, 7, and daughter Ella, 5. It also has an office, open kitchen, TV room dug out of the hillside, living room with stunning views of the bay where a rickety deck used to be, and an elevator connecting all the floors.

Fiberglass-free

The greening of the project began with the decision to forego standard fiberglass insulation - not a difficult choice because the last time they used the stuff they were itching from the fibers embedded in their skin for days.

Instead, Stoia and Maoz decided to go with insulation made from shredded blue jeans, which doesn't require gloves and masks to install. "We even let our kids play with the leftovers," Stoia said. "Going with the blue jean insulation was a total no-brainer. Fiberglass seems like an evil material."

In the kitchen, the green team shunned granite countertops in favor of those made from compressed wastepaper. Used extensively at Starbucks and other shops, the material, known as Paperstone, looks and feels like stone. It is also quite strong and can have an overhang of up to 4 feet beyond a table or counter frame without the need for a brace underneath to support it.

"It would have been easy to use granite" said Stoia, who's proud that she's using a 100 percent post-consumer waste material instead. "This is basically a beautiful piece of material that would have ended up in the landfill." Still, between the cost of the material ($5,000) and fabrication ($3,000), it was significantly more expensive than a granite countertop that she priced at about $3,000.

"It still hurts," Maoz said. "He's not a big Paperstone fan," Stoia said.

For the backsplash, they used tile made from recycled glass.

They say their greatest green challenge was installing a living roof on top of the renovated shack in the backyard. Instead of shingles, tiles or tar and gravel, the roof is covered with plants. While they're quite stunning, the main reason Stoia and Maoz wanted one was to eliminate the heat that a traditional roof reflects and can contribute to global warming.

Stoia knew living roofs were popular in Europe, but when she called local roofers and nurseries about construction and plants, she got nowhere. With guidance from the book "Green Roof Plants: A Resource and Planting Guide," Stoia and Maoz were able to figure out the process on their own.

Adding support

The first step is to shore up the roof's support beams to handle the extra weight a garden will impose. Then a rubber membrane like those used in ponds goes over the roof with another porous membrane on top so that water doesn't collect on the roof, but pours through to the drainage system. Stoia planted the succulent sedum and there have been no leaks. "It makes the roof disappear," Maoz said.

Rounding out the house's back-to-nature theme, the couple adopted four hens from their son's elementary school, where they were being used to teach incubation. They are true free-range chickens, as they have the run of not only their own backyard but the neighbor's as well. They also have their own chicken coop in the far northeast corner of the lot. Besides fresh eggs, another benefit of having chickens is the steady supply of free fertilizer - a commodity that's not always distributed by the chickens where it's wanted. To combat this problem, Maoz regularly breaks out a pressure washer to hose down his back deck.

As the crowning touch to their remodel, Stoia and Maoz planned to install solar panels, but they ran out of money, so the $15,000 panels will have to wait. (They did, however, wire the roof for solar.)

Despite the challenges of going green, the couple says they wouldn't have done it any other way, even though admit this probably won't be their permanent home. "We won't be here forever," Stoia said. "This is the work that we enjoy doing - the building and design - and trying to do it in the most responsible way."

Green resources

Kate Stoia and Rony Maoz found their building materials from the following sources.

-- For the shredded blue jean insulation, they used UltraTouch. It's available from Truitt & White lumber in Berkeley, where a 106-square-foot bag of UltraTouch R-13, the standard rating for interior walls, costs $69. The same amount of fiberglass insulation goes for $38.60. One benefit of blue jean insulation is that it deadens sound better than fiberglass.

-- Paperstone can be ordered through Ceramic Tile Design in San Francisco and San Rafael. It's sold in three thicknesses ( 3/4 inch, 1 inch and 1 1/4 inch) and goes for about $50 a square foot. Stoia and Maoz used obsidian, but it also comes in chocolate, gunmetal, grass, indigo and plum.

-- For recycled glass tiles, they went to ecofriendlyflooring.com and Ceramic Tile Design. It comes in square foot pieces that run $20 to $30 each. By comparison, ceramic tile can cost as little as $1 a square foot.

-- For the green roof, Stoia and Maoz relied heavily on the book "Green Roof Plants: A Resource and Planting Guide" (Timber Press, 2006) by Edmund C. and Lucie C. Snodgrass for tips on the construction and planting of their living roof. Properly maintained, a living roof will last twice as long (30 years) as a conventional one.

-- The hens: San Francisco allows residents to keep up to four hens in their backyards, but no roosters - they can get a little loud. While chickens like to roam, they will require a coop. Their most likely predators in an urban environment are raccoons. Dogs and cats tend to keep their distance.

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Choosing The Right Colors For Your Contemporary Dining Room Furniture

One of the easiest design themes to carry out in your home is a contemporary dining room. Contemporary dining room can encompass not only a sleek city the theme but also cozy, kitschy, country style. With many contemporary dining room options currently available in the market, can easily change the drabbest of homes into a sophisticated room that you really want to share with your family and friends.

There are many different themes to choose from. It truly all depends on the accessories you choose. Adding or subtracting your surrounding accessories can easily transform any contemporary dining room set. Treat every room in your home as a blank canvass to paint your masterpiece upon. To accomplish this design initiative, choose a neutral color pallet; it doesn’t have to be white. With a wide array of paint colors that are currently available on the market you can use any color that you find around your home. Try picking out a few natural colors from a textile that you own, such as a favorite throw pillow. Take your fabric choice that contains your chosen colors to your local paint store, they can mix the colors to perfection right on the spot. Be sure to pick out a minimum of three colors for your contemporary dining room paint pallet. The reasoning behind having three paint colors behind your paint pallet is the lighter color will be used as your base; your medium color will be utilized as your secondary primary color in the darkest shade is to be used for highlights. There was a time when we were limited to two colors thankfully, that time has passed. Today’s, decorating initiative is focusing on the personality and individuality of the homeowner. This is none more apparent than in the incorporation of a contemporary dining room.

This design option is one of the easiest decorating initiatives to bring to fruition. Begin by painting your walls in a soothing cream color that will act as your background so the cherry oak glaze in your chairs and table will be highlighted and come to life by the soft gentle light that filtrates from your dining room window. Then incorporate some light blue highlights into your color pallet, and then choose a rich brown as your dark color option to tie in your country theme. This will add an air of elegance and sophistication into your country-decorating scheme. When your guests come over your forward thinking design theme will surely impress them. Your contemporary dining room will not only showcase your personality but also add a flare of elegance. By utilizing a cream, light blue, and a rich brown you will want to intermix some green foliage that will add a spark and will be sure to brighten up anyone’s day upon entering your contemporary dining room.

Your contemporary dining room can also incorporate other themes that reflect your inner personality. A ritzy city theme adds a touch of nighttime dazzle for that big dinner party you want to host. Start with painting your walls in a rich, chocolate brown hue for the backdrop of your ritzy city themed contemporary dining room. The Coaster “Park Avenue” contemporary dining room set is the perfect addition to this type of themed room. The additional colors you want to incorporate in this city ritzy theme are silver and black. Utilize silver in all of your accessories, to add an element of depth and sparkle that no other color can provide shall cap off this theme to perfection. Incorporate black and white photos either depicting your favorite city skyline or a treasured family portrait, which you will place in a streamlined black frame. With the utilization of this design scheme it will allow you to display a supplicated side of your personality no matter what area of the country you live in. When your guests enter your home they will be able to see a part of your personality that once might have been disguised.

A contemporary dining room set can be used in multiple ways. It is perfect in a Californian retreat adding charm and elegance or it would be right at home in a Western themed décor. If you want to impart the Southwestern themed dining room then your color pallet would be comprised of a lustrous mix of yellow with an overlay of a brown tinted stain; this shall serve as your backdrop. In addition, you can impart gold and white silverware into your dining display to add some sunshine to your contemporary dining room. These color choices will bring out the cherry or oak wood that is just itching to glisten in your new dining room. A nice, cream, colored rug under your cherry wood table will only add to the plush ornate style of your Southwestern themed contemporary dining room.

If you want to display your hidden self through the nighttime air then a decorative city theme is better suited for you. Finally, there is the hazy-lazy southern Californian style contemporary dining room that will lull one back to sleep shortly after your late morning brunch. There are many different design directions that are currently available, chose the one that best fits your personality. Therefore, any design theme that you impart will be a lovely touch to your home and make your family members and guests feel just as comfortable as you are.

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The Importance Of Lighting In Interior Design

Furniture choices and paint colors are very important for the artworks and interior design, all people know that. One aspect of design that is often overlooked, however, is lighting. Lighting not only affects the brightness of the room but can also change the color of paint looks, creating shadows in ways that make the room appear smaller or larger and have the impact of artworks presentation.

There is no light like natural light. If you are buying, building or remodeling, opt for as much natural light as possible. Oversized windows and skylights are two ways to get the most natural light. Of course, not everyone is in the position to be able to do that, so you’ll have to work with what you have.

How much natural light do you get in your room? If the room in question faces north, you won’t get as much natural sunlight as you would in a southern facing room. Rooms that face south get bright, natural light throughout the day. Rooms that face east will only have good natural light in the morning hours and western facing rooms will have the most light during the afternoon.

Once you are familiar with how much natural light is in each room, you’ll be able to make informed choices about what additional lighting may be necessary. Keep in mind that rooms with little or no natural light will need artificial lighting – even during the day – in order to look their best.

Here are some types of lighting to consider.

1. Accent Lighting

Accent lighting is perfect when you want to showcase a piece of art or a special piece of furniture or other item. Since light draws the eye, it will bring attention to the features in your room that you wish to highlight.

2. Hanging Light Features

Chandeliers and smaller hanging lamps can be beautiful as well as functional. A trip to the local home improvement store will quickly show you how overwhelming the choices can be. You’ll want to select lighting that blends in with your existing décor. For example, a crystal chandelier in a country themed dining room probably isn’t the best option. If you don’t choose carefully, your lighting may stick out like a sore thumb and become more of an eyesore than a lovely accent.

3. Recessed Lighting

Recessed lighting is a good choice for a room that needs extra light throughout the day. Because the lighting won’t interfere with the existing decor, it can work in almost any room. It provides abundant light without taking up a lot of space or interfering with other aspects of the room.

4. Lamps

Using lamps are a way to add not only additional lighting, but also punches of color. If possible, see how much light the lamp gives off before leaving the store. Many lamps serve as decoration more than as a light source and give off very little light. If you love the lamp, but it doesn’t give off quite enough light, consider changing the shade which will usually solve the problem.

When decorating your home, remember how important lighting is, and give it the same thought and attention you give to the other details of decorating your home.

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Big Ideas Behind Not So Big Houses

When someone wanted to buy a Mercedez Benz or Jaguar, they will surely find quality, comfort and detail. Size has nothing to do with the appeal of these cars. If you only want a space, you can buy tuck. Why is it, then, that some people feel compelled to buy huge houses with empty, Cathedral-like spaces that offer few comforts of home?

In my experience as an architect, a house in which every space is designed for everyday living is far more satisfying than one with unused formal spaces for formal guests who never show up. Most of us tend to entertain our friends in the family room; a formal dining room becomes a mail sorting place, and a formal living room is a museum for curios and uncomfortable furniture.

Rethinking the House

My book The Not So Big House asks what happens if we eliminate the formal rooms, design our everyday living spaces for both formal and informal purposes, and use the dollars we save to really personalize the spaces we live in every day? It puts forth a message that it's time for a different kind of house—one that values quality over quantity of space, is built for the long term, and is filled with the crafted details that make a house a home. Simply stated, the book proposes that we move away from our obsession with square footage and refocus on livability.

What defines the character of a house are the details, such as a beautiful stair railing, well-crafted moldings around windows and doors, and useful, finely tailored built-ins. These details are what attract us to older houses. Materials such as wood and fieldstone bespeak comfort, and coziness is created by a room's small scale, lowered soffits at the edges, soft lighting, and even overstuffed furniture.

Bigger Isn't Better

When the book first came out in October of 1998, I was frankly a bit nervous about what architects, builders, and homeowners around the country might think.

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A Modern House Steeped in Mexican Tradition

We as architects just have greatest joys, designing and building a second home for ourselves in Mexico. We have a goal to create a strong, embracing yet transparent, and layered in color. Form and emotion is completely modern yet saturated with Mexican traditions.

Construction has been recently completed on this 2,000-square-foot house that is filled with gardens and light. At the lower floor the entry, living room, dining room, and kitchen open onto a plant-filled patio. The master bedroom at the rear is set slightly above the patio with its own private garden, and the master bath wraps around an ancient pomegranate tree.

Materials are local, as are the techniques of construction, but the forms are a product of organic geometries designed to align with the sun, wind, and views to the many church towers.

We discovered the beautiful 450-year-old colonial city of San Miguel de Allende by chance in 1989 while searching for a quarry for a Mexican stone that we use frequently in our American practice. This city is Mexico at its best, frozen in time, yet alive in every way. Indians dance their holy rituals across from contemporary art hanging in a gallery wrapped around an ancient colonnaded courtyard. Luminous skies, crystalline at the 6,300-foot altitude, give an almost magical glow to the deep colors washed onto and fading from the ancient walls. Bougainvillea cascades, aromas waft, music and laughter fill the air. San Miguel de Allende has become our home away from home, a retreat where we nourish our creative souls and recover our senses.

We acquired our ramshackle ruin on a 25 by 60-foot lot on a quiet street just four blocks from the center of town. There was little salvageable structure surrounding an 80- to 100-year-old pomegranate tree. We took the ruin down brick by brick and reused them in our new house. We also reused every rock and bit of broken mortar in preparing the foundation sub-base.

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How to Keep Your Furniture Clean in Four Simple Steps

For many people, their furniture is the most valuable assets they have. The sofa and other various items that comprise the living room are often the center piece and focal point for the guests that we invite into the home. With this knowledge is not surprising that most people spend time caring for the furniture only to maintain their home so that they still look good and also to maintain its value. This article will address some of the key actions that you should take if you want to clean and maintain the furniture in your home.

Perhaps the most important reason for keeping the furniture clean is the effects that they have on the quality of air within the home. Dust, mold and other bacteria can all build up over time if the furniture is not cleaned on a regular basis. Inevitably this can be the cause of health problems within the home, particularly if you have young children and elderly or ill relatives.

So with this in mind, what should you do to keep the furniture clean?

The first thing that you should do with your furniture is to position it away from direct sunlight and away from any other heat source within the home, such as a radiator. This will prevent premature damage and reduce the possibility of the colors fading. This simple step can straight away ensure that the furniture maintains its new look for as long as possible.

Secondly, as soon as the stain or dirt gets on to the furniture you need to clean it immediately with the correct cleaning fluid. You need to blot the stain to prevent it from becoming ingrained into the material. If you leave it, it will be harder to remove later on.

A third tip is that as the furniture gets used, be sure to help protect it by using table cloths, mats and coasters. This is common sense and will save you a lot of time later on cleaning stains that could have been prevented.

The final stage of the cleaning process is to carry out a regular full clean of all furniture within the home. Typically, it is recommended that you do this every six to twelve months.

You should wash any sofa and cushion pillows as recommended by the manufacturers label and then dust and polish the rest. If you have leather furniture then you need to ensure that whatever you use will not damage the material. Leather is fantastic to have in home furniture and can add vitality to a dull room but keeping them clean can be difficult.

The best advice is to use a soap that is not oil-based. It is important to use natural soaps and avoid chemicals that can damage the material. To begin with you need to test the soap on a small area of the leather that is not visible. If this does not present any problems then apply a small amount of soap to a wet cloth and apply evenly across the surface of the furniture. You should gently massage the soap into the leather but be sure to remove any build up of excess water as this can damage the texture.

Once this is completed, you should remove any soap that remains and wipe the leather with an absorbent cloth.

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The Importance of Quality Interiors

There are various reasons why many people decide to spend the night at the hotel. If you are preparing to build a hotel, then you should understand that hotel furniture is vitally important to the comfort and secure feelings of your hotel guests. No doubt you want to get quality and convenience that is not of this world when selecting furniture for your hotel. You definitely want that hotel guests when leave the hotel and planning to come back again.

You may be wondering why quality is so important in hotel furniture. There are at least five reasons to consider out of the box that are appropriate for hotels on all end of the price range. If you don't at least meet the minimums of these five reasons you need to reconsider your furniture and décor choices because they could be damaging your business and the reputation of your business.

Comfort

Quality furniture and décor provides hotel guests with a sense of comfort. You want the furniture to be comfortable for those that are your guests without question but you also want to choose furniture that will provide them with mental comfort that your hotel has their best interests at heart. If you provide comfortable surroundings for your guests, chances are much greater that they will not only return but also share their positive reviews with others.

It is probable however, that if you fail to deliver these things they will let everyone they know hear about it. For some reason people are much more eager to share bad experiences rather than positive experiences. You want, at all times, to provide a positive experience for your hotel guests. Giving them furniture and surroundings that are comfortable is a great beginning in that effort. Avoid allowing your guests to feel uncomfortable by making bad or cheap furniture choices. Go for quality and the comfort it provides.

Security

People feel more secure in surroundings that are visually appealing. It may not really matter one bit in the grand scheme of things but the feeling of security is one that you definitely want your hotel to portray. Remember that this business is all about making your guests feel as comfortable as possible. It is nearly impossible to feel comfortable and welcomed when you feel threatened or afraid in your surroundings.

Hotel rooms should be furnished and decorated in a manner that invites peaceful and relaxing thoughts not one that leads your guests to worry about gang violence or the possibility of room raids. Furniture that is elegant in design, walls that are lightly colored, and muted artwork are great tools used by hotels to promote a sense of security. Other tools to promote security are furniture that is comfortable, well designed, and durable. You want the furniture you purchase to last without fraying or appearing dirty or stained. Stains, rips, frayed edges and such are things that lead to guests feeling less secure in their surroundings. Quality furniture provides a sense of security and is likely to stand up to use without showing wear as quickly as cheap furniture.

Respectability

Quality furniture creates an aura of respectability for you and your hotel. If your goal is to provide the very best in guest services and customer satisfaction then you need to begin by offering quality hotel furniture that is visually appealing as much as it is comfortable for the evening. You need to pay attention to detail in the furnishing from the hotel lobby to the hallways and definitely in the rooms and suites. You want your guests to find your hotel meets and exceeds all their expectations.

Too many hotels focus all their decorating and furniture design efforts on the lobby and pay little attention to details when it comes to guest rooms. You need to provide equal care and attention to both. The lobby is a first impression and you do want to make an excellent first impression. At the same time you want the rooms to be respectable as well. This means you should attend to stains, repair wobbly tables, remove broken items, and replace them as quickly as possible. In order to retain respectability you need to make sure that every piece of furniture in your hotel is not only quality but also properly maintained.

Soothing

Quality hotel furniture, artwork, and design should be soothing. Most people rent hotel rooms as a place to rest their heads at night. The hotel is generally a place to stay while traveling. It doesn't matter whether your guests are traveling for business or pleasure it matters that the hotel is not the destination in general but a place to relax while at (or on their way to) their destination. You need to create an atmosphere that is soothing so that they can properly unwind after a long day on the road, doing business, or playing in the sun (when vacationing). The right furniture can provide this sense of solace and so much more. You must choose excellent quality and have a great eye. It helps to find a designer that specializes in hotel furnishings if you are concerned about your ability to put together a soothing palette for your hotel furniture, walls, and art.

Restful

This is perhaps the most important consideration for hotel furniture. You want your guests to get a good night's sleep more than anything else. That is generally why they decide to purchase a hotel room in the first place. You need to invest quite a bit of time and attention to finding the right furniture for bedding, seating, and for working if you cater to a business clientele. But the bedding is what is going to make the money for you. If you offer comfortable bedding furniture in your hotel you will be on to something since so few do.

Quality is an extremely important consideration when selecting hotel furniture. If you want to create an environment that invites guests to return year after year then you will need to make quality furniture a priority for your hotel business.

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Creating Compelling Tablescapes

In the modern home, people sometimes avoid displaying the personal items because they do not want to detract from the contemporary design of their home. In the last decade, many trends in decorating populair put a lot of focus on home accessories and overloaded tablescapes. Modern contemporary design put the focus on the simple elegance of the furniture and other major pieces rather than hiding them behind layers of accessories. Showing personal items or creating a tablescape sometimes feel like step backwards. On the other hand, if a room lacks any personal touches at all, it can end up looking stark and uninviting rather than modern and elegant. The key to a contemporary tablescape is displaying the things that are important to you without overburdening the room.

One of the things people seem to miss the most when they have made the move from outdated, overdone décor to contemporary décor is photographs. Rather than creating a tablescape with a large group of small photographs spread across a table, choose between one to three larger photograph to display together at one end of a table. This can add a needed personal touch without adding clutter.

If you have a single piece of sculpture or a large item that you would like to showcase within a room, place it on a table by itself. In many cases, trying to add more to the table can take away the visual impact that the single large item has when displayed by itself.

If you have a few small to medium sized objects that you want to display, a good rule of thumb is to group things in odd numbers. A single item or a group of three generally is a good way to start a tablescape grouping. Depending on what the objects are and their size, a group of five or seven may also look attractive. Tablescape objects can also be appealing when grouped by color, shape or texture.

The key to an attractive tablescape is to play around with it. Don't expect to get it right the first time. It can take a bit of living with an arrangement and adjusting things every once in a while before you have a contemporary tablescape you like.

When beginning to work with a tablescape, gather several items that you might like to display in the room. If you are working with a rectangular table, such as a side table, start by choosing one to three items from the several you'd like to work with. See how it looks with the item or items in the middle of the table, then on one end of the table or the other. If something doesn't look quite right, switch an item out with one of the other items you have gathered. If you are working with a central table, such as a coffee table, keep in mind that your tablescape will be viewed at all angles.

Once you have a tablescape that pleases you, live with it for a few days. As you sit with it, you will begin to see what doesn't quite look right, and what might look better. It may take a week or so of trying different arrangements, but the time it takes will be worth it when you have an elegant tablescape that brings a personal touch into the room.

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Ideas to Improve and Enliven Your Interior Design

The old saying is "Your home is your castle." This is where you come home and relax after work. It is where you live out the majority of your life. Of course, this is a place that is very important for you to relax and have fun making the interior design according to your own taste. Here are some interior design ideas to help your home be more inviting for you.

Many newer homes are using wallpaper on "feature walls" to add some real creativity to the interior design of a home. At one time, feature walls were mostly used in commercial settings to designate certain areas. That same need is not often needed in most homes, but the fact that wallpaper has been added to those feature walls to add more color, textures, and patterns to those structures can allow homeowners to distinguish a certain area of their home without it just being a plain old wall or divider, thereby making it more appealing and practical for homeowners to use feature walls in their homes.

Another interior design idea that more and more people are using is designing your home to allow the most "Chi," or life force, to flow through your home. This interior design idea is known as "Feng Shui" and comes from Chinese culture. It usually involves the specific placement of objects in your home so that they are in harmony with the environment, and supposedly, will help you to achieve more harmony and peace in your life. Someone who is versed in Feng Shui principles can assist you in arranging your interior design to match those principles.

Incorporating color and texture into your interior design is very important in presenting a pleasing and comfortable environment in your home. A good way to get creative ideas is to observe nature carefully and see how certain elements bring out the color or texture of a surface.

For instance, emphasizing one color by putting a lighter color next to it to bring out the contrast between the two colors is one interior design strategy to consider when trying to bring more color and contrast into your rooms. By putting similar items that have different textures near each other in the same room, you can incorporate a subtle design that blends into the room and gives it a different look, feel, and mood.

The lighting in your home is another important aspect of your interior design. Some types of light provide better light for safety and working, other types provide subdued lighting to provide atmosphere and intimacy, while other types provide lighting that is designed to highlight a certain area of your room.

For instance, tungsten bulbs emit a yellowish-white color that tend to brighten warm colors and mute cool colors. These work well in bedrooms, living rooms, and dining areas because they provide atmosphere and coziness.

Conversely, tungsten-halogen bulbs are particularly suited for accent lighting, which is why traffic lights use these type of bulbs - to emphasize the colors red, yellow, and green so you know for sure what you are supposed to do at an intersection. These types of bulbs can provide a nice contrast in warm, ambient settings where tungsten bulbs are often used.

To determine what type of lighting will work best for a room, analyze and determine what the room's purpose will be and what elements are already in it (windows, a fireplace, etc.) By doing this, you can save on time and cost in utilizing the best lighting for your room the first time you install or put in lighting.

Your home can provide great comfort and relaxation to you, but you need to take into account several interior design aspects to get the most enjoyment and function out of your home. These aspects include the placement of objects, feature walls, color and texture and how they compare and contrast with other objects and elements in the room, and the lighting of the room. By taking into consideration these elements, you can create a home that will allow you to unwind and enjoy your home that much more.

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