rellimztik_arual our expert of the day, writes:
My husband and I have an older 1 1/2 story house. Does anyone know any good sites or links (preferably with pictures) that I can use to get some ideas to decorate or possibly remodel to make it appear bigger? Not any huge projects! Thank you!
The walls are already a shade of white. What appliances are unnecessary? Don’t they all have a purpose? lol
Fransis Rodrigues our expert of the day, writes:
Are you looking for a way to decorate your home inexpensively and give it a warm and inviting feeling? Displaying photos of family and friends around your home immediately invites people to get a glimpse of what is important to you. It also helps to make them feel welcome in your home.
There are many items on the market right now to make this process easy. Wall ledges with grooves to hold frames in place can be found at many stores. Hanging two or three ledges on an expanse of wall and placing large framed photos on them is an eye catching way to decorate with your personal photos.
Sets of table top frames can be purchased. These sets contain two or more (sometimes even as many as 15) coordinating photo frames in various sizes to make decorating simple. Placing coordinating frames around a room - some on a side table, some on a mantle, some on top of a bookcase - can help give your room a pulled together feeling.
To complement your holiday decorating, buy some seasonal frames and place personal photos of past holidays in them. Place them around the house at holiday time. You can change out the photos from year to year, making this a very inexpensive way to change your decorating each year.
If you’d like to put a little more work and creativity into decorating your home with personal photos, try one of these ideas.
Create a Wall Collage of Black and White Photos
With today’s digital technology, making copies, cropping, and color enhancing your photos is easy and affordable. Try using this technology to create an inexpensive collage of black and white photos on a large open area of wall space in your home.
If you have old black and white photos of relatives you can mix them with recent photos. Vary the size of the prints and purchase inexpensive mats and frames for them. For added pop and contrast, vary the width of some of the mats, also.
You will need to create a template for your collage. Measure the dimensions of the wall space you will be using. Tape together pieces of newspaper to the exact dimensions and lay them on the floor. Then arrange your framed photos on the newspaper until you find a configuration you like.
Once you’ve found an arrangement that pleases you, trace each photo frame onto the newspaper. Then mark the spot where the hook is to be placed. Tape the newspaper onto the wall, nail in your hooks, and then remove the paper. You’re ready to hang your black and white photos.
Use an Old Wood Window as a Frame
Purchase, grab from your basement, or trash pick an old wooden window with grills. This makes a one of a kind frame for your personal photos. Clean up the old frame and paint it. Or, leave the old, distressed paint on the window for a vintage decorating style.
You will need as many personal photos as you have panes of glass. Make sure the photos are smaller than each pane, leaving some open glass to show the wall behind. This creates a mat for your photos. Affix the photos onto the glass and hang the old window securely on the wall.
With a little time and thought, you can bring photos that have been stored away in dark closets into the light. This simple, creative, inexpensive way of home decorating with your personal photos will make a big impact on those who enter your home.
Alice our expert of the day, writes:
Though most women take much interest in home décor for some reason or other, what they are ignorant about the fact home décor can also be used as an ideal home based money making business opportunity.
If you are women with austere sense of space and beauty and some interior design experience to back you up, you can become home decor expert and offer home décor advice over the internet. You can become home décor consultants. You can also offer your home décor consultation service over the net to come up with some good home improvement ideas for those who look for some useful tips on the net and don’t have the budget to pay the interior decorators.
You can be an entrepreneur by venturing into a home based business by joining an affiliate program of online home décor store or outlet for selling their items.
Home décor business also offers some unique home based business opportunities on the net. You can take up them as a part time or spare time home-based business activity, which can turn out to the most ideal home based business for women. There are many home décor online stores which offer home based business opportunities to women, Milano Direct is one such home decor online store which has offered the best home based money making business opportunity to thousands of women on the net.
Besides the net there are some other home decorating business opportunities which can be taken up in your spare time. For example you can sign up as a sales representatives with a company specializing in home decor or home decorating products and have shows where you present the items—and sale them. You can offer these shows in your own home or go into other people’s homes. These shows can be a great deal of fun and a way to earn a handsome amount.
If you have a flair for interior decorating and are of independent nature you may want to start a home decorating business all your own. There can be a number of items you can specialize in like draperies, kitchen remodeling, carpeting, art and accessories, or color scheme choices, just to name a few, as the focus of your home decor business. The possibilities are endless plus you can also have your own home decorating ideas to integrate them for the home decor home business concept.
For starting the dome décor business the contacts with the following can be of much help:
• Interior designers
• Home builders and contractors
• Architects
• Art galleries
• Carpet companies
• Paint companies
• Antique dealers
• Lighting specialists
• Furniture stores and dealers
These contacts can help you to be in touch with the prospective clients. Which means you can get to work more quickly, and often with more upscale clients than you could reach on your own, especially when you’re just starting a home decor home business.
You don’t have to be a business person to make any plans for your home decor home business. You just have to think carefully and put in as much of research as you can. Learn what people are looking for right now in terms of interior decorating. Go to different furniture stores, home décor stores to see what they’re stocking. You can also talk with owners and also with the customers what’s hot and what items they would like to buy.
Only after you do proper research and clear what you want to get into you can go ahead with the formalities.
I wish you good luck in all of your ventures into the home décor business.
Lee Dobbins our expert of the day, writes:
When you are into redecorating and making your home look nice, you probably love to change your living room interior decorating theme often. To make this easier, it is important to have a simple plan to follow each time you feel like changing everything around. Here’s some tips on how to build your décor so you can change it at any time, without having to spend a bundle of money.
Backdrop
If you want to change the look of your living room a lot then you need to start with a neutral palate. You don’t have to keep all of the walls white and the couch cream colored, but you should keep everything pretty neutral. You can choose browns or greens if you want color, but avoid anything to bright or flashy. As long as you stay away from patterns however, you should be able to have several different choices for your décor.
If you keep the big things like furniture, walls and flooring in neutral tones, you’ll be able to change out the theme of your living room interior décor by adding accessories like rugs, pillows and wall art in the colors that you want. Another great ideas for sofas and chairs is to buy slipcovers - you can actually buy furniture that is meant to be slip covered, then simply get new slipcovers to go with whatever decorating plan you have in mind for the season!
Accessories
When you have a neutral palate to work with, you can change the way your room looks just by replacing a few basic items. For instance, you should only need to change your curtains, pillows, and a few room accessories when you get the urge to switch things around. If you want your living room interior decorating to be a little lighter for spring, you can add sheer curtains, flowered pillows, and a vase of fresh flowers for a quick change.
For a warm winter look, bring in deep reds, golds and greens in heavy fabrics like velvets and chenille’s. try some oriental rugs on the floor and oil paintings on the walls. Adding some candelabras and candleholders around the room will help to give it a cozy look.
Lighting
While track lighting and chandeliers can’t be changed easily, you can change out your lighting to go with your living room interior decorating plan. You can buy all new lights, or use lights that have neutral bases and change the shades out depending on the look you are going for. Need a fresh look for spring? Use plain white shades. Going for a safari look? Get shades in an animal print. How about a romantic look? Try putting on shades that have a floral print with some dangly fringe. You’ll be surprised how much changing the shades can transform a lamp.
If you love to keep your living room interior decorating plan flexible, you must be sure you never commit to something difficult to work with, such as a patterned couch or a bright chair. Don’t be afraid of color, but add it to your room with accessories that can be replaced when you want something a little different. It really doesn’t take a lot of money to get a new look, just a little creativity.
David Fishman our expert of the day, writes:
When remodeling your kitchen you need to look at the entire kitchen and what will need to be replaced. Do your tiles, sink, kitchen floors or cabinets seem warn down, or are they damaged, maybe it is time to remodel your kitchen. Paint or refinish your cabinets instead of replacing them. In many older homes the cabinets are made from solid wood and are of higher quality than you can purchase today, today the low to mid-end cabinets are made from particleboard or some type of resin and or Formica. You can enjoy installing new furniture, replacing cabinet doors for a quick and cost effective way to give your cupboards and cabinets a facelift, get your kitchen cabinets refaced it is less expensive than redoing the entire cabinets with new ones. Add some details to your kitchen by using light-colored cabinets or glass doors and don’t forget to create more storage inside each cabinet. When redoing the kitchen make sure the cupboards, cabinets and drawers are filling up the empty spaces, the more storage space you have for your kitchen things the better.
Kitchens that you design should be usable to you and your family. Almost every kitchen has a design flaw or something that can be changed to make the space more workable. Kitchen remodeling can help you to get just the right kitchen for you without costing the a lot of money, and you can come up with the design of your choice so that you end up with the perfect kitchen for your needs and your tastes. So while kitchens may be among the easiest to plan, design or remodel, today’s assorted requirement for kitchens might make any designer more often scratching his head. The new (and better) concept in modern kitchen design comes from the eastern way. Design your kitchen (and your household) such that it would make the kitchen the center of the household.
Planning is everything. A well thought-out detailed plan is a must before you begin remodeling your kitchen. How much money do you plan to spend? Once a detailed plan has been made, you can then ask the contractor to start on the renovation. However, in the present situation, contractors or designers suggest or recommend that a kitchen remodeling plan must have at least a good amount of working space where several people can work, and do multiple tasks. Just make sure that your priorities, needs, and requirements must be served and fulfilled with the kitchen plan that you have.
The budget is very important when remodeling a kitchen, There are a number of ways you can stay within your budget, beginning with staying on top of every dollar that goes out. Coming up with a realistic budget up front will help you avoid overspending as the project moves forward. Be sure to leave a cushion in your budget for additional, unexpected expenses. If you are on a tight budget kitchen remodeling becomes very challenging when you are faced with space restrictions. Without a complete and detailed budget prepared before the kitchen renovation begins, you may get swept into a spending spiral of unbudgeted extras. It is important to prepare a budget for your kitchen remodeling plan before you start implementing it. Start setting a budget by deciding how much you are willing to spend on the project. When planning on a kitchen remodeling project, the budget is the first thing to consider. If you don’t have a remodeling budget, your cost of remodeling can easily exceed your return on investment.
Lee Dobbins our expert of the day, writes:
If you want a sleek and stylish look in your master bedroom, then you might consider the contemporary home decorating style. This is an interior design that gets its fascinating looks from minimalist accessories and beige tones with black and white accents. Contemporary styling can provide your master bedroom with the allure of modern design.
Window treatments are important in the bedroom and you need to choose them carefully for a good contemporary look. You are going for a look which is minimalist for your drapes or valances. For privacy, you might consider sheers, or even wooden blinds depending on if you are going for a light or masculine look.
Choosing a bed and bureaus that match each other as well as your style will give your master bedroom a professional appearance. Look for sleek steel pieces for a better contemporary appeal and interest. Some darker woods with clean lines can look nice as well. Stick with pieces that have a sleek linear style.
Lighting is a big element of any decorating style and contemporary home decorating is no different. For this style, you want your bedroom lights to have a modernistic appeal. Try adding some bedside lamps to your master bedroom in this decorating scheme for a charming look.
Great flooring can help pull the whole look together. It’s key to choose flooring which is pleasing to the interior design color and also style. Look for short pile or shag rugs in white, black or beiges can serve to become a nice compliment to the design theme.
Decorating with artwork, vases and knick knacks in your master bedroom will help personalize the room, but you need to be careful not to go overboard as too many accessories will diminish the contemporary look. Buy decorative accessories which have a minimalistic theme. Buy items that reflect your own tastes to add a touch of your unique personality to your master bedroom.
Adopting a contemporary home decorating style in your master bedroom can help you add fantastic appeal in your home. If you take care to choose your decorative items wisely, you will have a great look that will also be a comforting place for you to relax after a long hard day!
Groshan Fabiola our expert of the day, writes:
Everyone wants a home that is comfortable, beautiful and practical. Although designing and decorating your home may sound like an easy task, it can be challenging. Fortunately, hiring the services of a professional interior decorator can help. If you live in the Bay Area, an interior designer in San Francisco can provide you with valuable inspiration and ideas.
You Don’t Have To Do It Alone
There is no need to spend all of your valuable time and experience frustration trying to plan your dream home alone. As the saying goes “two heads are better than one” and you will appreciate this statement even more after hiring a professional interior decorator. San Francisco and other large cities offer many reliable choices so you never have to tackle the daunting task yourself.
Don’t seek the help of friends or family who always roll their eyes at the mere suggestion of your new “decorating project.” Enlist the help of a professional interior designer; this knowledgeable and experienced individual can take care of every detail from drafting the initial plans to overseeing contractors to complete the project. An interior decorator can also motivate you and turn your decorating challenge into an exciting venture!
Gain New Decorating Ideas
A keen eye for detail and coordinating various colors, textures and styles is essential for any professional interior decorator. San Francisco and other large cities contain many knowledgeable individuals who can show you a whole new world of decorating options you may have never considered. An experienced interior designer has a wealth of new ideas that can help you transform one room, a few rooms or even your entire home.
An interior designer can expand your decorating possibilities by showing you unique combinations for your walls, flooring, furniture and accessories. A professional can show you how to change the appearance of your room by using removable wallpaper cutouts or by hanging wallpaper in bookshelves. They may choose a vibrant red for your walls to provide a bold backdrop to your silver accessories. An experienced interior designer will also teach you tricks like placing pieces of matching furniture in various rooms to create a more unified look.
Advantages of Hiring an Interior Decorator
Decorating becomes a much more pleasant and stress-free experience when you enlist the assistance of a professional interior designer. An experienced interior decorator will work closely with you to help you create a unique vision that reflects your lifestyle, personality and budget. A professional will take note of many different factors such as the size, light sources, location and function when designing or decorating any space.
This individual can also save you time and money and help you achieve decorating goals you never dreamed possible.
Here are just a few of the reasons to hire a professional interior decorator:
Flexible – An interior decorator can take care of every detail for you or incorporate your own design ideas & suggestions into the decorating plans
Convenient – You can save valuable time and frustration by hiring an interior decorator to design your home, source & purchase items and oversee contractors
Cost Effective – An interior decorator will work within your budget to provide cost effective decorating solutions that represent great value
Added Value – You can increase the monetary value of your home by hiring an interior decorator to design or update your home with inviting and visually appealing décor
Emotional Investment – You should consider the services of an interior decorator as an important investment that will enhance your emotional well being
Motivating – A professional interior decorator will motivate you, show you new ideas and help you transform your surroundings and maximize your living space
If you are looking for a great interior decorator San Francisco please visit this links. You can find one of the best interior designer San Francisco at http://www.MintHomeDecor.com
West Coast Flooring Center our expert of the day, writes:
Along with the vitality and liveliness children bring in to a home, they also bring great energy. Often times, children’s energy can lead to broken vases, stained carpeting and scratched flooring. Parents often times feel that they must sacrifice their designer taste and style to transform their home into a ‘jungle gym’ full of child proof appliances and cheap furnishings.
Decorating your home to accommodate children doesn’t have to mean giving up rich fabrics and decorator hues for a collection of cartoon characters and primary colors. There are plenty of functional home décor materials to fit your taste and the wear and tear of a busy family lifestyle.
Creating a Kid Friendly Color Palette
Before you start decorating your kitchen or family room, consider how often you and your children use that particular space. If the room is a high traffic area, consider using neutral, organic colors like taupe, light browns and greens. These neutral colors camouflage dirt and the everyday deterioration of your active lifestyle. If these organic hues seem dull, incorporate bright shades by adding colorful home accessories like throw pillows and area rugs. A few accent colors are quick, simple, low maintenance ways to liven up even the dullest room.
If the room you are decorating is considered an ‘adult only’ space, splurge and experiment with rich decorator hues and color palettes. Creating an ‘adult only’ room allows you to have at least one area that you can decorate exactly how you want, without the possibility of your hard work being at risk.
To learn more about the latest family friendly home improvement materials that will complement all color palettes, visit www.westcoastflooring.com.
Installing Long-Lasting Floors
When selecting carpet flooring for your home, opt for darker colors. Dark carpeting disguises grape juice and mud stains better than light carpeting. Save the lighter colors for adult zones like the bedroom or home office.
If you’re in the market for hardwood flooring, select something more durable that can withstand roller skates and soccer cleats. Bamboo flooring has proven to be a more durable alternative than oak or laminate flooring. Bamboo also accepts a large variety of stains, making it a versatile flooring option that can be blended to match almost any interior color palette. All wood flooring will eventually scratch, but bamboo can easily be refinished, unlike laminate flooring.
Extend the life of your carpets and hardwood flooring by investing in wool area rugs that have been treated to resist stains. Hooked wool rugs are great for high traffic areas where kids walk, play and eat because they offer easy spot clean up and very little maintenance. You can find durable rugs in all sorts of stylish patterns and colors and they can be moved around to designate areas. Toss one in the kids’ play room, or underneath the coffee table to preserve your home floors.
Visit www.westcoastflooring.com to find more durable flooring options for your home.
Incorporating Durable Fabrics
Though dining room chairs upholstered in silk may look great now, they will not look as attractive after a few meals with the kids. Instead of purchasing couches and chairs upholstered in high maintenance materials, like silk, select durable fabrics such as cotton and ultra-suede that can withstand daily activity. Consider the fancier fabrics, such as chenille and crinkled velvet, for accent pillows and throws. Velvet and chenille have a more formal feel and are more durable than silk.
Couples don’t have to surrender their style when they have children. There are plenty of attractive and substantial home décor solutions for the busy family lifestyle. Transforming your home into something more stylish and family friendly is simple when you invest in the right home décor materials.
This article is provided by West Coast Flooring Center , one of the largest flooring stores in Southern California , offering flooring services with a wide variety of quality flooring options and other home improvement services.
West Coast Flooring is currently offering weekly, limited-time specials to represent a different home improvement product or service that would work best in the kitchen, family room, bathroom and foyer. Find the latest West Coast Flooring offers for your spring home improvement projects today.
Build WriteWell our expert of the day, writes:
Kitchen Remodels: Kitchen Remodeling Dollar Amount For New KitchensKitchen Remodeling Lesson Three: Dollar InvestmentKitchen Remodels: Kitchen Remodeling Dollar Amount
Everyone looking to remodel a kitchen has the important question to consider - “How much does a new kitchen cost?”
Guess what? There is an answer! And your Answer - How much does a new car cost?
Amazingly the investment for a new car is very close to the investment for new kitchen cabinets. As there is a wide range in car selections and car quality, so is the range and selection for new kitchen cabinets. A basic little Geo Metro, Ford Escort, Saturn, and a small car like my first car (Toyota Corolla) all differ greatly in price from a top of the line SUV shall we say Hummer, Jeep, or Bigfoot himself.
To get the right price on the right vehicle usually doing your homework and understanding your investment is in your best interest. This is the case with new cabinets, in almost the exact same manner and price range. Going with used cabinets offers the same type of problems as buying a used car does to the purchaser.
Know what goes into each task when you talk to kitchen designers or remodel contractors. By taking time to understand the kitchen planning you will be able to control the cost of the new kitchen.
You are still reading! You are doing better than 6 out of seven readers! You love knowledge and I know you are on your way to Kitchen Remodeling Success! Keep up the diligence!
Remodeling your own kitchen in this manner will seem scary at first. As you put together your planning information box, all at once things will fall into place. If you like putting together 5,000 piece jig saw puzzles you may not like this task as the jig saw puzzle will only be around 100 pieces. It still will be a challenge to most of us, and understanding the kitchen design will not be easy until we can look at the jigsaw puzzles box cover and see the big picture.
“Let me see the cover,” my sister would say to my brother who were both big into jigsaw puzzles. Although I did not have this skill, they both would fight over the box cover and by looking at the cover they could clearly see where each puzzle piece was to be placed.
Read the cover to your new kitchen carefully. Analyze your existing kitchen. Then - choose the right hardware, material, products, and appliances for your kitchen’s needs.
Plan a kitchen layout that suits your lifestyle. Include the kitchen dollar investment that is right for you - by doing your homework and taking time to understand the kitchen remodeling process.
New Kitchens 101: Free Kitchen Lessons
Kitchen Guide To Kitchen PlanningRemodeling Electrical Kitchens and BathsKitchen Cabinet Computer LayoutsKitchen Countertop SelectionKitchen Design Kitchen Layout Kitchen TrianglesKitchen Layout Dangerous Kitchens Kitchen SafetyKitchen Remodeling - Saving MoneyKitchen Cabinet Kinds, Sizes, and Installing HeightsKitchen Guide to Kitchen PlanningKitchens: A New Concept
New Kitchens 101: Free Kitchen Lessons
Don VanPelt our expert of the day, writes:
Why is it that a bunk bed is so popular with kids? Remember when you were little how exciting it was to climb onto the top bunk in your friend’s bedroom? Only to wonder why you didn’t have a similar set-up?
The first sight of a set of bunk beds to a child is the equivalent of seeing a roomful of wrapped presents on Christmas Day. It’s a place to play, and a space to call their own. Because of the popularity of bunk beds, with demand comes variety. Yes, bunk beds now have themes. Want a castle for your little kings or a dollhouse for your little princess? Of course, traditional styles and themes are still widely available.
Besides the obvious attention factor, bunk beds do serve a purpose. With space in most households at a premium, being able to put one bed on top of another is simple genius. Drawers on the bottom add functionality and a place to store kids’ valuables. How about a separate drawer for each kid? What doesn’t make a kid feel more important than a small box that he or she “owns”. Talk about the ultimate in floor space conservation. Two beds stacked on top of one another, and a toy chest underneath them both. Can’t get that race track set laid out on the floor because there isn’t enough space? Now you know how.
How fun are bunk beds? Just ask a kid, even a kid who doesn’t have any. Just hang a sheet, or curtain over the bottom bunk and you have an instant fort, instant solitude, cut-off from the outside world, alone, with just your thoughts as a kid.
Since many bunk beds are built with kids in mind, they are constructed to take the abuse of a kid. Bunk beds are safer now than they’ve ever been; most are designed to hold up to all the jumping, kicking, pushing and pulling that kids have to offer. Plus with all the safety precautions available for bunk beds now, parents don’t have to worry. Just make sure that your children use the ladder for climbing onto the top bunk. The temptation to leap in a single bound is an eye-widening adventure for some little ones, especially the boys.
Kids’ bunk beds are a great space-saving solution. You don’t even need to have two kids to have a bunk bed either. Sometimes the extra bunk will come in handy for those occasional friend sleepovers.
Yes, the market for kids’ bunk beds is huge. But are they just for kids? Dorm rooms that house college students are primarily stacked with bunk beds, as well as boot camp military-style housing. But what about grown ups? Don’t most couples want to sleep in the same bed? (50% of you don’t answer this!) So why would we as grown ups want one? Well, to decorate our spare bedrooms as guest bedrooms. Home décor is a very, very big market, and most people want the inside of their houses to shine with pride.
So send the kids to bed in style, who knows maybe they’ll even want to go to bed. Combine that with the obvious allure and you have the ingredients for a parent-kid, win-win solution.