Basic Interior Designs

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In designing homes for women, time is of the essence. A home’s features should consider that women need to conserve time and energy when doing household chores. For example, a laundry shoot in a multi-level house is indeed a great convenience. Instead of hauling clothes and bed sheets up and down the house, why not just dump them in a shoot that leads straight to the laundry room? Instead of putting carpet in areas with high foot traffic, why not use hardwood or tiles? It is faster to clean them and dirt does not show easily. Another modern convenience would be a built-in vacuum cleaner especially for big houses, where the vacuum mechanisms are stationary and can be connected to different outlets in the house.

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Produce a “main attraction” in any room. Whoever comes into that room is drawn to that particular feature which makes him/her comfortable.

• Use the correct fabric for your purpose. Curtains should be made of light or sheer materials to allow light to penetrate to the room and not wool or velvet. Sturdy textile is commonly used for furniture upholstery. But learn also how to combine prints to create a soothing appeal.
• Utilize any available storage space to prevent clutter.
• Have an aptitude for seasonal decorating. There is an appropriate decor for the different seasons. The most cheerful of which is the season of Christmas where all sorts and sizes and color of decors are available. Choose what types of decor are suited to your room or house both inside and out. It’s also nice to add your personal touch and quirky humor to the accessories in your home.
• Choose the color that best reflects you. Or the color that makes you comfortable. Your trim and ceiling color should be of the same color to have a smooth flow from one room to the next. The hallway is one area that you can paint in any bold or daring color. Test paint colors before painting them on the wall.
• Tear out wall papers and borders to start anew.
• Find alternative china pieces to complete your tableware set.
• Hang curtains on your windows to emphasize it.
• To have more impact, group family pictures together.
• Provide adequate lighting to your room or house because it gives character to a place.

French Country style of decorating is a look that is rustic, old-world and welcoming. It’s one of the most popular styles of interior design. If you want to capture the look of French Country in your home, here are some tips:

vibrant colors that follow the vivid tones of the country’s landscape, like red, yellow and gold, blue and green are most often used.
French Country style uses a lot of natural materials, such as solid wood, stone floors and wrought iron. Dark woods that are low-gloss and natural looking, or pieces that have been stripped and painted off white or soft green are often used.
Animals, especially roosters, are a recurring design motif in French Country, and can adorn fabric, wallpaper or accessories.
Toile is the fabric most often used in French Country, as well as fabrics with striped, checked, floral and printed designs.
Flowers, especially lavender, provide the perfect finishing accessory to any French Country home.

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An interior decorating project will be much more successful if you pay attention to a few key guidelines.  Once you know the basics of interior design you can create rooms that really work.
Have you ever walked into a room that was full of nice things but just didn’t “feel” quite right?  The chances are that the person who decorated that room might have great taste but simply did not know the basics of interior design. 

Many people fall into this category but you don’t have to be one of them. 

Most of us know what we like but just have no idea how to pull it all together to create a warm and inviting room when interior decorating.  We are giving you a mini course on interior design which will help you make more informed decision with your home decor.  You will learn the basics of interior decorating and gain the confidence to take great decorating ideas and use them together to create one cohesive look.

Remember, when decorating you should enjoy the journey and not see it as a task to be accomplished.  When starting an interior decorating project remember to keep it fun!  While learning the “rules” of interior design is important, you must always keep in mind that your interiors should reflect your lifestyle and tastes. 

• proportion
• balance
• contrast
• Rhythm
• Harmony
• Pattern and Texture

by: Larla

We all have a junk drawer, a place where we just stuff everything from receipts, coins, pens or anything that could fit in.

At one point, we might be looking for something but couldn’t find it anymore because of the pile of junk inside the drawer. If that happens, then it’s probably the best time to clean up that drawer.

You need to visualize what you would want your drawer to contain. It can just be important documents, old receipts, keys. You can put other things as well as long as it does not look cluttered.

First, remove all the contents and throw out those that are of no use anymore (old batteries, pens with no inks) or things that have their own places but were just stuffed in the drawer.

Sort the contents by finding small compartments/ dividers where you can still put them in your drawer but in an organize way.

Make it a habit to clean up your drawer at least once a month so nothing gets lost and keep the contents in order.

How can our world be like today if we don’t have any color? Same thing goes to our own homes. Ask yourself, Can you live with or without color? Colors are chosen because of how appealing they look. They create a particular mood, ambience and an illusion of space. For some people, colors help motivate. There are colors that are dynamic, stimulating and laid back. There are colors that are soothing to the senses, help us become creative and productive, while others make us like to rest. Colors and the way that we apply and use them in our homes promote a sense of well-being. They create an atmosphere that relates to both physical and psychological properties of the body. Thus it helps us establish a link between their use and the way they make us feel.

Red. The color for energy. It exudes passion and strength. .It helps us get motivated and drives us to get things done. It is associated with the instinct. This stimulates and increases our appetites, quickens our heartbeat and elevates our blood pressure.

Orange and Yellow. These colors are uplifting. They enliven the spirit and stimulate the body to wake up. They are associated with happiness and joy. Both radiate warmth, positivity, and optimism. These colors cheer us up and raises our spirits.

Green. It is a balancing color and is associated with harmony. It is the color of nature. Green represents compassion, caring and kindness. It is also a healing color. It relieves us from stress.

Turquoise. It is fresh, vibrant, youthful, reviving and invigorating. It is cool, crisp and attributed to fresh water. It boosts physical and emotional immunity. It soothes tension away and alleviates feelings of nervousness.

Blue. The color for imagination, communication and inner strength. It is quiet, serene and peaceful. It helps us to relax after a hectic day.

Violet. A meditative color. It is elevating and soothing. It is the color of self respect and dignity.

Pink. The color for romantics. It is feminine and often associated with love. It is a nurturing, tender and compassionate color.

Brown. Is a grounding color. It represents the earth and all its properties. It is very stable, warm and safe.

In Feng Shui, an area is divided into 8 areas that deal with living: North, South, East, West, Northeast, Northwest, Southeast and Southwest. The North deals with success in your business or career. The South deals with your reputation. The East deals with health. The West deals with your children. The Northeast deals with knowledge. The Northwest deals with travel and helpful people. The Southeast deals with wealth and the Southwest deals with relationships. By placing the right objects at the right place, the area will be activated and it will bring effects that depend on whether or not the objects are compatible with the area. There are a lot of information about these; just Google “Feng Shui” and you will learn a lot of helpful tips to make use of this ancient art of interior decoration.

Have you ever tried some Feng Shui in your house? If not, you better! According to practitioners, it creates spaces that maximize the opportunities and promote the wellbeing of the inhabitants. It promotes abundance, success in careers and undertakings, sustains loving relationships, improves physical, emotional, and mental health, builds self-esteem and expands influence. By careful picking and placing of objects and choosing the color, design, shape and texture, you could manipulate the universal forces called Chi so that it would give the effect that you would want in an area. The area in turn gives an influence to the inhabitants. Why not try it out: perhaps it would give you luck or not, but you could be sure that it would challenge you and give a pleasing look to your home.

If you’re dissatisfied with the space in your home, you could do a little modification here and there without taking your room apart and rebuilding it. A cheap method to do this is using color. You could expand space by painting your room with pale colors. You could use glossy paint to make your room appear wider. Also, strong patterns create a direction so you could use these to lengthen your room. If you want to narrow down a room you could use strong dark colors. Add a stripe of contrasting color to make it appear smaller. Use non-shiny paint as well.

Colors can do wonders to your home. It is the least expensive decorating tool and it can do a lot of things. By painting the ceiling and walls differently, your room will shrink in size. You could enlarge a small room by putting lighter toned colors. You could make a long narrow room short by painting one end a darker tone than the side walls. You could widen a narrow room by painting one side wall lighter than the other and using lighting on that side. By using green and blue, you will make a room feel cool and calm while red, yellow and orange will make a room feel warm and exciting. These are only a few of the things that color can do so find out more about how to make color work for you.