Decorating Your Garage, More Than just Pegboards and Tool-chests
May 2nd
Creating a fun and functional space for your tools and gadgets is part of the enjoyment of having a garage. There are tons of approaches to garage décor for the creative, and each provides its own set of challenges and decisions. Here are five areas that offer opportunities to customize your garage. Read the rest of this entry »
Feel the Power of Window Treatments
Jan 27th
Windows allow the rooms in your home to appear bright and inviting. Curtains, draperies, shades or other types of window treatments make a statement about your personal style and play a vital role in design success. Keeping up with the latest trends in window treatments can keep a room fresh and inviting. Read the rest of this entry »
Five Design Secrets to Increase Your Home’s Value
Mar 5th
Increasing the appeal and value of your home when you are preparing it for sale or just giving it a face-lift is not as difficult as some people think it is. Here are five design secrets that will revamp your home and significantly increase its value. Read the rest of this entry »
DIY: Wedding Favours
Jan 5th
If you haven’t noticed by now, lace is a major trend in fashion for the Fall/Winter seasons, and the lace looks from the F/W 2010 Ready-to-Wear shows, like Dolce & Gabanna, have stolen my heart and occupied my thoughts! Lace is by no means a new trend in the wedding industry; lace is a constant staple in wedding dresses from season to season. Nonetheless, for the fabulous bride who wants to incorporate this fashion trend into her wedding, here is a lace covered favour box DIY project!! Read the rest of this entry »
Indoor Fountains and Waterfalls – Stylish and Soothing
May 9th
We live in a hectic, noisy, stressful world. Wouldn’t it be nice to come home in the evenings to a little peace and quiet? That may seem like a pipe-dream to you. With cell-phones, loud television shows, and a rambunctious family, you may be wondering how you could ever achieve any peace in your home. Indoor water fountains and miniature waterfalls are a great way to add a little restful tranquility to your living space. The soothing sound of water flowing and the beautiful appearance of these fountains can bring some much needed peace and restfulness to your home’s style. These fountains come in a variety of sizes and styles that can easily fit in with any room. In fact you may find that by adding one of these fountains to your busy living room, everyone may become a little more reflective and quiet. Wouldn’t that be a nice perk?
Texture Ceilings – A Simple Way To Create Interesting Effects
May 7th
It is not unusual for ceilings to show some wear and tear over the years. You would think that since ceilings rarely get touched, that they would hold up forever. For some reason this theory just doesn’t hold water. Ceilings get cracked, discoloured, or just plain flawed over time. While your ceiling may not get as much attention as your walls, having a badly flawed ceiling can be a major eyesore. Texturing your ceilings can be a great way to cover up imperfections. Textured ceilings have received some bad press over the past few years, but this technique can be made to look very nice and is a great way to avoid having to get new drywall for an imperfect ceiling.
Add Colour And Texture To Any Room With Sponge Painting Techniques
May 7th
If you are looking for a fun, easy, inexpensive way to change the looks of a room, sponge painting is a great idea. Sponge painting is one of many faux painting techniques that can really make a difference to the style of any room. The gist of sponge painting is highlighting a room by using a sea sponge as your painting tool. It is very easy and makes for a perfect weekend job to give any room an instant facelift.
Sponge Painting – An Easy Way To Add Excitement To Your Living room
May 7th
Faux painting techniques have become very popular over the past few years. These techniques can take a boring monotonous room and make it come alive. Sponge painting is the easiest of the faux painting techniques. It is a quick, simple way to bring a spark to your living room You can start off simply or really get dramatic with sponge painting techniques. The great thing is it doesn’t cost much. So if you’re looking for an easy way to make your living room pop, consider sponge painting.
Give Your Walls The Royal Treatment With Crown Molding
Apr 29th
If you’re curious about a way to add some elegance and style to any room, crown molding is a choice that is very popular. Crown molding is trim that transitions the wall to the ceiling. If you’ve seen this applied to any room, you know the beauty and richness that this decorative trim can add. In addition to being beautiful, it can also cover up flaws in walls and ceilings. If you want an instant transformation that makes a bold statement, crown molding is definitely the way to get there. Be forewarned that it does take some work and is not a super-cheap project to undertake. However, the look it provides to your home’s style is well worth the effort and the cost. Here are a few things to be aware of when installing crown molding.
Crown Molding Cutting
If you’re not a handyman or woman, you may want to get one for this project. There are some precision cuts that need to be made. It is very easy to mess up the angle of crown molding cuts. You don’t want to waste money by making the wrong kind of cut for your style of crown molding because different types of this trim require different degrees of angles to be cut. Cutting is typically done with a miter saw. Many hardware stores allow you to come in with your wall and ceiling measurements and they will make the cuts for you. If you are not sure, get some help. Even seasoned carpenters have expressed dismay at cutting crown molding correctly, leave this part to the pros.
Materials To Choose From
There are a wide variety of styles and materials to choose from for your crown molding project. Many people choose wood. Wood molding is beautiful, but considerably heavier than the plastic polymer alternatives, which can be equally attractive, but much lighter. You should not be installing this by yourself, you will need a partner. Just know that wood molding is considerably heavier, and that can make the installation a bit tougher because the molding will have to be held up on a ladder while the installation takes place. Get helpers, lots of helpers, this is one design project you don’t want to fly solo on.
Crown molding will add some dimension and interest to boring, flat walls. It provides a beautiful transition between walls and ceilings. You will be very pleased when this project is complete because crown molding definitely brings out the best in any room. Remember, if you don’t mind paying the extra cash to have a pro do the whole job, it might be a way to make the whole concept of crown molding installation a lot easier to deal with. But if you don’t mind learning something new, taking the matter into your own hands can be a fun, though humbling learning experience.
Take Chances on Your Design Projects – Style Rules You Can Break
Apr 26th
Getting in a rut can be a tiresome ordeal. Doing the same things, the same way all the time is not good for your creative side. That is why changing up styles in your home can be such a liberating experience; it’s a chance to do something new. If you are thinking about changing the style in your home, be sure that you don’t just move from one rut to another.
A lot of people begin new home decorating projects very excited, but quickly lose that fervour. What happens to dull their passion? One setback may be a huge set of home decorating “rules.” When new designers begin to read up on different design ideas, they hear professional stylists telling them, “Do this, but never do this…” It can be enough to make anyone nip their own creative impulses in the bud. Here are a couple of the “rules of design” that you can feel free to break.
- Keep things symmetrical. This is nonsense. While a symmetrical room layout can be very inviting, it can also be very boring. Take chances with your design. Put things where you think they look best. Let your personality shine through. None of us are perfectly balanced people; so why should our rooms be perfectly balanced? Have a little fun!
- Stick with one theme. Consistency is a great thing, but you don’t have to be bogged down by the limitations of one style over another. Feel free to add a little funk to a traditional country look with a post-modern painting or sculpture. Keep things interesting.
There are plenty of other, hard and fast rules that you can break as a designer. Be sure that you know the rules well, before you break them. If you are breaking rules, just to be breaking them, you are likely to end up with a stylistic nightmare. You want to use the breaking of the rules to make a style statement not to cause people to be uncomfortable. Remember it’s OK to be a fashion outlaw sometimes, you might just surprise yourself.
