A Basic Barnyard Layout

A good and simple way to start out painting the room is to think of three colours: blue, green, and red. Blue for the skies, green for the fields of grass, and red for the barns and buildings. An easy first step is to pick a nice, bright green and paint the entire bottom half of the walls with this colour. You can get wavy and wild as this will be the rolling hills of this little farm. After you have that complete, do the upper half in a brilliant sky blue. You know have the landscape complete.

Get Artistic With The Rest

Depending upon your level of artistry you can then begin to fill in the details. Place some white clouds in the sky. Draw a big red barn on one of the larger walls and colour it in a rustic red. Then have fun with the animals. You can choose to paint the animals by hand, use stencils, or buy some large decal animals. Place some fun little scenes around the walls to pump up your child’s imagination.

You can go as simple or extravagant with the barnyard theme as you want. You can find a bed with animal designs, or even add some fun toys for barnyard prompts. Your child may outgrow this room when he or she gets a little older, but have fun with it now while they are little. They’ll be older before you know it and wanting to paint their walls black and hang up pictures of teen idols. Take the time you have now to make their room a fun place where they want to spend time and play. Have fun!

Rich, Dark, Colours for Furnishings

If you have white, yellow, or (heaven forbid), pink furniture in the bedroom, it’s time to do some serious work. For a room to have a romantic, relaxed appeal; deep, dark, inviting colours work best for the furnishings. Think about replacing light coloured furniture, or repainting it if you are on a tight budget. For wood, a dark refinishing can be a simple way to make the bedroom more inviting.

Luxuriant Textures & Linens

To offset the dark furniture with a spark of fun and colour, think texture. Soft, silky, and warm should be what comes to mind. New bedding and linens can be expensive, so shop around and you may be able to find some great deals online. Add a lot of pillows to the bed to make it an inviting, fun place to spend time with your significant other. Use some fun, bright detailed comforters and pillowcases to infuse the right colours to your bed.

What About The Walls?

Go with a darker or neutral tone for wall paints. A beautiful deep brown or tan can add just the right touch. Stay away from wallpaper borders, instead use some soft, floral stenciling around the tops of the walls. For the stencils try to match the colours of your bedding to really bring the room’s design full-circle.

Balance

Romance is all about the right balance. Aim to keep a bedroom from becoming too girly. The dark colours in a bedroom make the lighter, more feminine design elements all the more appealing. Keep a balance and have some fun. Once you have everything in place, a fun breakfast or dinner in bed can be just what you need to christen your new, romantic bedroom. One thing, though, keep the TV turned off, or out of the room altogether. The bedroom is for romance and relaxation, when you’re together with your mate, keep it that way.

Colours and Shades

Even if you don’t spend a lot of time in your bedroom, you’ll still want this room to ultimately say one thing – Relax. Your bedroom should be a place where your mind can be at ease and the stress can melt away. For years, pastels have been the colour of choice for bedrooms, but recently people are beginning to discover that neutral tones offset with darker hues can really bring a sense of mental relaxation that people need today more than ever. Try a nice warm brown or tan paint offset with white borders, or vice-versa. Whatever colour you choose, make sure it is one that brings a sense of tranquility and warmth to the bedroom.

Bedroom Furniture

Do not skimp when it comes to bedroom furniture. Having a bedroom with shabby furniture can be a nagging style choice that doesn’t allow for the relaxation you want. Of course the bed is the centerpiece of your bedroom. Nice wood frames and headboards, like oak, are especially inviting to use. A matching wardrobe, dresser and end tables should fill the room out nicely. Try to keep space in mind and don’t make your bedroom too cramped. If space allows, a writing table or corner desk is a great idea.

Bedding & Drapes

Choose fabrics that add a little punch to your bedroom. While wild colours should be kept to a minimum, there is no harm in adding a little brightness to offset the overall warm look that you have given the room. Let your personality shine through a little in choosing bedding and window treatments. A nice burgundy comforter and matching pillowcases can make anyone feel pampered and empowered in the bedroom. Take time with this step to really choose colours and textures that make you feel good.

Take all of these things into account when you design your master bedroom. Don’t go too cheap with your bedroom design. Even if no one else ever sees the room, you still want it to be a place of sanctuary that reflects your own personal style.

Soothing Colours

Choose neutral, soothing colours when you are painting your bedroom. You want colours that are both easy on the eyes and on the mind. Don’t use widely contrasting colours or busy patterns, instead go for nice relaxing shades. Earth tones are particularly inviting and can make your bedroom much more conducive to real relaxation.

Comforting Textures

If you’re thinking about textures when laying out your bedroom designs, think about one word in particular – soft. Keep bedding soft and inviting. It is difficult to even think about sleep without thinking about fluffy, inviting pillows. Be sure to have an abundance of pillows. Even if you don’t like to sleep on a big stack of pillows, you should have them strictly for the welcoming feeling they invoke. You can never have too many pillows. Just be sure that all of your pillowcases are complementary to the colours you will be using.

Keep Distractions to a Minimum

Don’t overload your walls with photos, pictures, and knickknack shelves. Keep any design elements scarce and simple in nature. A nice print featuring long, broad strokes of even tones can be particularly relaxing. Remember you want to keep your mind calm in your bedroom, so don’t overdue it or add any bright, chaotic pictures.

By using these tips, your bedroom will become the safe-haven you have always wanted it to be. You will have the perfect getaway to escape the stress of the day and immerse yourself into a good night’s sleep.

What Sport Do They Like Best?

You may have a little athlete that excels in a few sports. If so, you can incorporate several types of sports into the bedroom design, but it is important to try and pick one that is the dominant theme. For this example we’ll use baseball as the dominant sport theme. Talk to your child about doing a baseball themed room and get some ideas from them. A good tip is to ask them to come up with three to five words or phrases that sum up what they like best about baseball. An example list might look like this.

1. Their favourite player/team
2. Balls
3. Bats
4. Gloves
5. Summer-Time

Design Around These 5 Words

Once you have five good words, get to work. Start off by picking colours. In this example, your child’s favourite team was the number one pick. Find out the team’s home colours, if you don’t already know them, and begin painting the room in those colours. Choose the primary colour as the main color for the walls, and use the secondary colour for trims, doors and furnishings. This step alone will do wonders for the bedroom.

Work Down The List

Once you have the colours on the wall, start adding the extras. There are some cool life-sized player decals available online at stores, like FatHead, that can go up on the walls. You can also order team logos, or you can paint one by hand if you have the skill. A baseball bat rack can be easily attached to the wall. Put some team memorabilia and some books on a bookshelf and use baseball mitts as the book ends.

You can let yours and your child’s imagination run wild on this project. Start off basic and add as you go. There is so much sports memorabilia available, so you should have no problems finding the right extras to add to the room. A favourite for most kids is to get a jersey with their name on the back of it. Buy two, one for them to wear, and one to display in their room in a shadow box. You’ll love the reaction that you get from your child and they will love the effort and time spent together with you on the project. Have fun together!

Colours and Shades

You want your bedroom to be a soothing spot to relax in, so, you should choose deep dark tones, or neutral colours. Another option is pastels, but try to keep from going to bright. Humans have very authentic reactions to colours, so making a bedroom too bright can be detrimental to your sleep. You should also avoid busy patterns. Simplicity and elegance are the ideal concepts behind any good bedroom colouring scheme.

Furniture Concerns

Of course, furniture is going to be a big concern for your bedroom design. Before you go out and shop ‘til you drop, remember that the right use of space is key. Take good measurements of your bedroom and be sure that whatever furniture you choose can fit into the room comfortably. A cramped bedroom is not a comfortable bedroom. Common pieces of furniture that you should consider are a bed, side tables, wardrobe, a desk, and a chest of drawers. You don’t need all these pieces, and if space doesn’t permit, you will likely have to pass on one or more of these pieces.

Keep It Cohesive

Whatever your colour and furniture choices, keep the design on the simple side. Bedrooms are a place to sleep, relax, read, and possibly have some fun romantic times. Keep these activities in mind and choose design elements that are compatible with these activities as well as complement the theme that you have chosen. Have fun and create a bedroom that you will enjoy spending time in.

The bed is the obvious focal point of the bedroom in regards to furniture so it should look presentable. To get a more contemporary look to the room, I suggest a solid platform bed with a wooden slatted base (I find the metallic ones don’t have a personal vibe to them and they come off as a little cold). The low to the ground look is very much in vogue right now and if you have a small bedroom, it gives off the look of extra space. I also believe that a box spring isn’t necessary because I honestly find them a little tacky and well, boxy. I got my black-brown platform bed frame at Ikea in a Queen size a couple of years ago and it’s still going strong! It’s the Malm model and Ikea.ca lists it at $189.99, which is around a hundred dollars less than what I paid for it originally. But even at almost $300 it was an amazing deal!

http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/S39849855

I’m really plugging Ikea here but another great item that I have in my bedroom is the Hemnes 6-drawer chest in black-brown. What I like about it is that it’s tall and that is another great way to save space and give the room a more modern look at the same time. I have nothing against the longer ones that take up half the wall; they can look amazing if you have the room (unfortunately, I do not) and if you find a piece that compliments your living space instead of overwhelming it. It’s listed at $299 and comes it also comes in a cute blue color that I wish I had thought to buy but at the time I was so concerned with being “matchy-matchy” (my entire bedroom furniture is Ikea black-brown and it looks good but I should’ve shaken things up a bit)!

http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/70121249

As for shelving, I recommend wall shelves as opposed to having a giant book case. That enables you to keep only a few of your favorite books, CDs/records and knick-knacks in your bedroom. The living room is the place to keep the heavier objects but the bedroom should have a lighter, airier feel to it.

Layla Brown

There is nothing quite as appealing as a beautifully made, inviting bed to climb into after a long day at the office, golf course, or wherever you may be.

Beds and bedding have come a long way since our grandparent’s time.  Yet, the manufacture of high end organic mattresses, pillows, and accessories looks more like it did in their day than ours.  With the combination of pure organic materials, creative design and professional hand craftsmanship, some green mattress companies have transformed their manufacturing facilities to a completely organic and pure environment.

Now for the good part!  The styles of these beds are very modern but can still fit into a traditional environment. So, the beds look as good in a Soho Loft as  they would at ‘The Cottage’.

The great advantage of green beds and bedding are not only comfort and luxury, but also organic bedding is extremely healthy, particularly for allergy sufferers.

The new organic mattresses and bedding are antimicrobial.  In other words, they are made of a substance that kills or inhibits the growth of microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi or protozoans as well as destroying viruses.  I don’t know about you, but I would rather not sleep on anything that even remotely resembles fungi!

Of course all this organic bliss is going to cost you a little more than your average run of the mill mattress.  Organic mattresses retail between $2000-$5000, compared with the $850 you can spend on a spring coiled model.

Look on line at www.greensleep.com, www.obasan.ca, or www.vivetique.com for more information on retailers near you.

Sweet dreams….

O. Alexandra Viteznikova

Safety First

When it comes to your children’s bedroom, safety should be your number one priority. A good place to start is by picking furniture that does not have corners, but rather rounded edges and tips. This way, when your chilren run around and play they won’t injure themselves on the furniture. Moreover, you should also pick furniture that does not contain any harmful chemicals like varnish or enamel that may be toxic to young children.

Baby Bedroom Sets

Picking a baby bedroom set may also be a tricky task. First, you have to ensure that the crib that you purchase is in fact safe for your baby. This means that even if your baby climbs up or perhaps crawls around the crib, there is absolutely no way for him or her to be in danger. Baby bedroom sets also enable you to put your creativity to work. So add different toys and designs that can provide a good distraction for your baby, especially above their crib.

Picking children bedroom sets are definitely important when picking your house’s furniture. This way, your children or your babies will find enjoyment and peace whenever they are inside their rooms.

The first thing you have to keep in mind is the size your bedroom. If you choose a furniture set that is too big for your bedroom, it will definitely not work to your advantage. Likewise, choosing a furniture set that is too small will make it look too spacious and bare. This is why it is important to find furniture that is just the right size to fit your needs.

Choosing Modern Sets

The second thing you have to know when picking out bedroom furniture is whether you want a modern or traditional bedroom set. Your choice should depend on your personal preferences and should also comply with your bedroom’s interior design. To get a more modern look, try incorporating glass in some side tables perhaps. Another moderized look is placing metal inside your bedroom like metal rimmed cabinets or metal made chairs. All of these ideas can give off a more contemporary look to your bedroom.

On A Tight Budget?

If you are on a tight budget, there are still a lot of styles and designs that you can choose from. You may need to look at bedroom sets that are made from materials like plastic, but they can still provide you with the right look if you choose carefully. Although plastic bedroom sets may not necessarily be as durable as other types, you can simply make sure that you take good care of them so they will last longer.