Modern Home Decorating

Another year has gone. The industry trade shows are over, and the home improvement shows are starting. Every new year introduces new design trends, and 2007 is no different.

This year has truly introduces some innovative ideas that combine Oriental and retro styles, effervescent colors, and patterns that are guaranteed to create a strong emotional impact on anyone who enters the room. Forget buying a $5 000 chair to impress your boss. This year’s theme is about renewing the ‘hearth and home’ feeling, without actually going back and bringing forward the designs, colors, and motifs of our childhood.

The newest trend is DIY, Do It Yourself. Hand made furniture, accessories, and walls are the ‘new’ sophistication. This year’s decorator does not need to invest in a professional designer to create the room right.

Floral art is important, but it needs to stray away from the bold prints of the English Country style and take on a more Oriental look, full of earth and natural colors, muted pastels, and Oriental shapes or lines.

DYI home decorators need to avoid the temptation of going overboard and create a tropical or Feng Shui design. The new trends can blend some of these factors, but they should never dominate. The focus is on furniture – not art, walls, or lighting.

The most important decorating skill that DYI decorators need to develop is the ability to mineralize. Home decorators who grab this year’s theme and overpower a room, or home, with the one design will have a home that is ‘out of style’ within a year.

The best way to incorporate themes into a home is to choose those elements that speak to your emotions and lifestyle needs. Then, add a few pieces or wall treatments. This lets home designers update their home each year, keeping their home up to date.

Home decorating themes build on each other, year after year. Remember the deep coppers and burnished gold tones from 2005. Take these elements and dry brush a deep plumb over them, or sponge a rich gold brown fabric paint to the trim on drapes, furniture, or lampshades, and you’ve updated your accents and artwork to match the new design.

One way the home owner can bring the 2007 trend to their home is by adding grasscloth to walls, instead of wall paper. This heavy weave type of wallpaper is not for everyone. It looks like colored grass, woven and pasted to wall paper. This means that seams will remain very visible. The lines can overpower a room, so they are best for a smaller area.

If this is too much, then adding wallpaper with a silk sheen and mottled pin stripe, will bring the 2007 theme to a room, without creating a home decorating blunder that is difficult to remove. One way to prevent this is by finding a short wall, and use a single strip to turn the wall segment into a piece of art. This can be done on a full size wall, dividing the wall into strips. However, before doing this, make sure you learn the technique well.

One last tip, never install the ‘Real McCoy’, hand painted silk panel wallpaper. Do not even use the local wall paper company. Phone around and ask for someone who has already installed silk wallpaper. Silk wallpaper is totally unforgiving. It is not sold in rolls but panels. If one panel is ruined, then the whole wall needs to be replaced, at a cost of $1 – 7 000.00.

However, if you wait until March, the market will release paper wallpaper that mimics the Oriental hand painted, or embroidered, designs.

Patricia Taylor
http://www.articlesbase.com/home-improvement-articles/how-to-incorporate-new-trends-into-your-home-103358.html

Moroccan home décor is the answer if you’re wondering how to turn a room into a romantic retreat but you aren’t into frills or pastels. Romance doesn’t have to be all about flowers, ruffles and satin or even about colors like pink or peach. Decorating your room with the rich, deep colors of Morocco will evoke the romantic mood of Moorish Spain, a world where Spanish charm and the mystery of Arabian knights crossed paths ages ago.

Moroccan home décor features rich, jewel-tone colors with lots of depth, including red, green, blue, gold, silver and amber. You’ll find these colors in everything from the intricately carved and painted furniture to the beautifully faceted glass and wrought iron lamps, as well as hand-woven rugs called kilims.

Moroccan furnishings also have lots of textural interest. The rugs have varying length of wool pile, the bed linens, wall hangings and pillows are richly embroidered with silk threads and the furniture is deeply carved. The tactile feel of everything is sensual and delight to the senses, adding to the romantic feel of any room that includes Moroccan pieces. It’s this wonderful combination of rich texture, color and detail that makes Moroccan home décor so romantic. It looks and feels luxurious and, and luxury is always romantic.

Romantic Moroccan Accents

Kilims, or Moroccan rugs, are one of the easiest ways to add a touch of romance to a room. These colorful rugs can change the entire look of a room, bringing in some much needed color and warming up a wood or tile floor. A quality kilim can also be the starting point for every other element in your room.

Kilims are handmade in the mountains of Morocco by women who have passed down the skill of weaving them for generations. The rugs are rich in color and feature a variety of geometric patterns. Imagine lounging on one of these soft, thick wool rugs in front of the fireplace or simply snuggling on it while watching television in the evening.

Nothing sets the mood in a room more than lighting, and Moroccan lighting options definitely say, “Romance.” You can choose wall sconces, table lamps or hanging lanterns for your room that are imported from Morocco; they will all provide soft, filtered mood lighting.

Moroccan lanterns and wall sconces feature elaborately detailed metal work that mimics the appearance of lace and is inset with stained glass, giving off warm, colored light in shades of amber, green and red. Using Moroccan lights such as these for indirect lighting instead of harsh, direct light provides a warmer, more intimate feeling in your room, which is perfect for romance.

Ottomans, also sometimes called poufs, are those wonderful, overstuffed stools that made come from Morocco that are made of hand-stitched leather. Unlike the plain, sturdy varieties you see in most furniture stores, Moroccan versions are made of glove-soft, buttery leather and elaborately embroidered with contrasting threads in lacy patterns. They invite lounging, and are truly works of art for any room. Moroccan home décor wouldn’t be complete without tucking an embroidered leather ottoman into a corner for a bit of romantic lingering in the evenings.

Yes, you can turn your room into a romantic getaway without any sign of flowers, ruffles or pink. Simply take a short trip to a more exotic location for romance by way of Moroccan home décor.

Andy West
http://www.articlesbase.com/home-improvement-articles/moroccan-home-deacutecor-romance-with-an-exotic-touch-111929.html

Pink and Red in Decorating

Pink and Red are HOT colors for decorating again this year, from the palest peachy-pink to brightest scarlet. This excites me because pink is one of my favorite colors! I love pink and have pink in various shades and intensities throughout my home. What I like about pink is that, depending on the shade, it can be soft and delicate or bold and bright. Pink can be soothing or energizing. It is a color that is quite versatile and mixes well with many other colors.

I’m not one to encourage being overly concerned about decorating trends, as they are fickle and could be quite costly to keep up with. I do, however, believe we should be aware of what they are from season to season and how we can interject some bits and pieces of current trends into our decor without going overboard or over budget. I believe our homes should be a reflection of our own personalities and styles. A home that evolves over time and is filled with furnishings and accessories that we love is a home that will nurture us and fit our lifestyle. When we continue that process of evolution by adding a few accessories seasonally that reflect a touch of the current trend we keep our homes fresh and interesting.

How do you interject pink and red into your home, especially if those aren’t “your colors”?

There are a few easy options:*A piece of artwork that incorporates your primary color scheme with a few touches of pink and/or red is a great way to current décor with a trend color.

*Pillows are another great way to add pops of color. If selecting a pillow in a solid pink or red is too daring for you, find pillows that have touches of those colors mixed with other colors that you already have in your room.

* A large vase or urn on a bookshelf or mantel is another great option.

*Don’t overlook the impact that flowers can have in bringing a fresh look to your rooms, real or permanent.

* Decorative plates displayed on a shelf or mantel can be functional and trendy.

Look around and keep an open mind, you’ll be surprised at what you can find that will bring a fresh look into your rooms for the new season. Pick up a few home magazines, check out a few websites, think outside the box and before you know it you’ll find a few unique ways to “freshen up” without changing everything or breaking the bank.

By the way…my newly painted pink dining room is a hit with….if can you believe it….men….I’m not kidding….almost every man, of varying ages, that has visited us since the room was painted, including a cable repair guy and the furnace service guy (both young enough to be my sons) have commented (unsolicited) that they love the dining room! Who knew? So, which is it for you? Pink? Red? or both?

Copyright 2009 Kathleen Ellis

For more romantic and elegant lifestyle ideas I’d like to invite you to sign up for my free bi-weekly newsletter at www.kathleenellis.blogspot.com. Twice a month you’ll receive easy, elegant and romantic ideas for decorating, entertaining and living the romantic life.

Kathleen Ellis
http://www.articlesbase.com/interior-design-articles/colors-of-romance-735941.html

been slowly working on re-doing my trailer’s living room. I’m going with shades of brown/tan and dark red theme. I uploaded some new photos to my photobucket album showing a new entertainment center and some new pillows. Got to thinking about colors and I wondered how much it mattered if the colors matched? (for instance in my case, the maroon pillows on my loveseat aren’t exactly the same shade as what’s on the edge of my bar and when buying new curtains they likely won’t be the same exact color either)….so my question is then, does it matter if the colors aren’t exact matches?

photobucket pictures:
http://s130.photobucket.com/albums/p278/georgew84/trailer/
Gina, thanks for the reply; it doesn’t bother me that they don’t match, I just wondered if that was a no-no when it comes to decorating.

It’s never good when everything matches! If it concerns you…go to a fabric store and find a fabric that has ALL the shades and use it for floor and couch pillows! That will tie it all together. Do this last…it’ll work!

Setting out to decorate a new home or redecorating your current abode without a plan can be like driving around an unfamiliar city without a map—you may end up somewhere, but it’s probably not where you wanted go and you may have no idea how you got there. And you may just end up somewhere pretty ugly. Formulating a plan, however, can be a difficult task. Thumbing through home and furniture magazines often just leads to little more than an increased risk of paper cuts, and watching the countless home decorating “reality” shows, while sometimes entertaining, rarely results in an epiphanous (no, its not a word) moment. Actually, according to dictionary.com, it is a word, so take your red squiggly underline and shove it, Microsoft. Anyways…oh yeah, having a plan. This plan I speak of, doesn’t have to be a 10-page manifesto or even a loose outline, in fact, it doesn’t really have to be put in writing. I say, let your personality be your guide.

As hokey and simple as that may sound, it works. Too many people decorate their homes to please or impress others. Unless you’re a close friend or relative or Martha Stewart, this is just ridiculous (I‘ve heard she can be a little harsh). Remember, you live in your home, not them. Let your home be a reflection of yourself by choosing colors, furniture, and accessories that show your personality, as deranged and anti-social as that may be.

Many people with bright, vivacious personalities like bright, vivacious colors. Go figure. But these gregarious individuals often temper this when it comes to decorating their homes. You don’t have to make your home look like Rainbow Brite (for those not in the know, she’s a brightly colored 80’s cartoon character) threw up all over the place to inject your personality. Pick a few colors and stick to them. As with most decorating schemes, bright colors work well when set against light, muted ones, like shades of white or beige. Paint your walls these muted colors and then go crazy adorning them with brightly colored artwork and accessories. Same thing goes for furniture. Back away from the teal couch and the orange upholstered chair. Look for boring colors and then add your personality in the form of pillows and throw blankets. If these tips still don’t allow you to fully express how wild and crazy you are, experiment with your bedroom decor. You’ll offend less people that way.

On the other side of the coin we have the more straight-laced, conservative types. Bright colors give these people headaches, as do the aforementioned people who like bright colors. But what these plodding individuals lack in personality they more than make up for with grace and sophistication, and this should come through in their home decor. Whether your style preference is contemporary, traditional, or somewhere in the middle, you can create a look that personifies you and at the same time is decidedly un-boring. Furniture and lighting isn’t the difference-maker here, it’s the accessories and decorations you should focus on. Artwork and other embellishments such as plants, knick-knacks on shelves, and framed photos can breathe life into rooms with less color. And speaking of color, you can still make a statement without fuchsia walls or a red leather sofa. The trick is to mix in lights and darks to create contrasts wherever you can. Use black and charcoal against whites and light grays or experiment with the many shades of brown, from light tans to deep, dark chocolate brown.

Jim Allen
http://www.articlesbase.com/home-improvement-articles/let-your-personality-color-your-home-decor-159365.html

Have just bought a new home. We are not going to do much decor yet just paint the walls and change the carpets downstairs only as we will be doing it up properly in the next couple of years. We have chosen Dulux Perfectly Taupe for the walls in the living room but I am really unsure as to what shade of carpet will go and what colour settees. Any advice will be gratefully received.

Find a neutral carpet because paint color is way cheaper to change in the future than carpet is. My suggestions are light brown, cream, green, gray, blueish gray.

We just painted our living room and dining room and are getting new carpet. Our paint colors are pinkish-salmon on one wall, medium-dark gray on two walls, purplish-taupe on 3 walls. We chose a light-medium grayish-brown medium-long Frieze carpet. Sort’ve like a shag but a little shorter and thicker. The carpet hasn’t arrived yet, but I think it will look nice. The carpet will go in the living room, the dining room has birch hardwood floors.

I have seen some nice photos from the renovation interior design gallery on the modern contemporary style, which uses a lot of white, red and black colour element. We would like to make one for our new home but we are on a low budget so the interior designing company is not a option for us.

We hope to DIY on this modern contemporary style / theme. Is there any good online resource or online shop which we could get more information and product on modern contemporary design theme?

In my opinion, there are a lot of good sources online with very good categorization on the themes that you wish to refer. It is always nice to flip a magazine but it is pretty hard to filter only the target material that you wish to refer, in a good quantity and quality, isn’t it?

Contemporary bedroom design is about simplicity. This design style is anchored around clean lines and very little accessories. It is perfect for people who want a streamlined, modern look for their room.

Probably you will need to consider these few factors when you are designing a modern contemporary theme:
1. Choose the Right Colors – Paint the walls a neutral colour.
2. Simplify your Furniture – Look for small furniture pieces in light wood finishes
3. Setting the Mood with Low Lighting – Choose light fixtures with, as always, clean lines
4. Adding Some Texture – Try adding a rug.
5. The Finishing Touches – Try applying simple, plain artwork, black and white painting

In the 1980s, a Southwestern decor craze swept the United States, bringing the look of this unique slice of the American frontier into homes from Oregon to Maine and beyond. While the howling pink coyote that characterized that trend has since been relegated to the dustbin of design history, an updated, sophisticated look that combines unique ethnic and cultural elements with a more contemporary decor approach has emerged as a more refined alternative for lovers of Southwest style.

Across the board, the kitschy interpretation of regional trends that characterized home design in past years has been discarded in favor of a more subtle evocation of the unique attributes that make places like the Southwest so irresistible.

Gone are the chili lights and cow skulls that represented clumsy attempts at Southwestern decor in the past. Today’s sophisticated alternative combines contemporary and transitional furniture and design elements with a subtle Southwestern palette and unique, understated ethnic touches.

Shimmering shades of light teals and turquoises, coral, terra cotta and adobe-inspired tans provide the backdrop for eclectic furniture with distressed finishes and primitive details. Bold accent colors drawn from the dramatic natural palette of the desert Southwest are also important.

Art, accessories, and accents bring a lively sense of place to Southwestern interiors. Paintings, pottery, and sculptures featuring Hispanic or Native American themes and subjects are common, as are indigenous pottery and artifacts.

Roughly textured fabrics and textiles also provide a level of heightened authenticity in this decor style. Architectural details that mirror those found in many traditional Southwestern dwellings, such as arches, kiva fireplaces, and plastered walls, can also help complete this look.

Window treatments should be minimal, drawing on natural materials or regional textiles whenever possible. Whether you want to honor your Southwestern heritage or you just crave a little extra spice in your life, Southwestern decor presents an easy-to-achieve alternative to ho-hum interiors.

Matt Trostle
http://www.articlesbase.com/advertising-articles/add-some-spice-to-your-home-decor-with-southwestern-style-decorating-55953.html

In my room, I have a blank yellow wall. The theme of my room is vintage/french (main colours are yellow and black). I have a vintage map of paris that I want to frame and put on the wall, but I need more to go along with it. I can’t have a wall with just one picture on it! Any suggestions? I know it’s hard because you don’t know what my room looks like, really.

Maybe some sconces on either side of the map…some that look vintage too.
http://www.bellacor.com/productdetail/164390.htm

most of the builders in Albuquerque are going TUSCAN. sorta northern italy style, which I think is boring, out of style with the surrounding culture and it sux. earthy colours, bulky, chunky.