Choosing a Color Scheme

Choosing and blending colors might be confusing for some, but here’s a quick way for you to decide on a color scheme for your home: pick, see, and LMD.

First, pick a pattern from any object that you have, such as a pillowcase or a piece of furniture. Use the pattern as the basis for the color palette you intend to use for the rest of the room.

Next, see three colors.  Select a light, medium, and dark color (LMD) from your chosen pattern to serve as your foundation.  To make the task easier, head over to the hardware store and ask for paint chips that will match your pattern that you can bring around when you shop for furniture.

Finally, the way you use light, medium, and dark colors affect the overall atmosphere and appearance of your room. A light background is the easiest to pull off since there are more colors that will match it.  The medium color of furniture, curtains, and windows will blend easily with a light background.  Finally, use dark colors on accessories. Since the eye is usually drawn to darker colors, arrange the accessories in such a way that they serve as the focal point of the room.

Buying the Right Bed Sheets

You spend a lot of hours in your bedroom, relaxing and rejuvenating in bed to prepare yourself for the next day’s activity.  It makes perfect sense for you to make your bed as comfortable and pleasurable to be tucked in.  It’s also a great plus if your bedsheets goes with the decorations, color scheme, and overall theme of your bedroom.

Size is the first factor you should consider when choosing your bedsheets.  You can buy sheets in standard sizes like King, Queen and Full.  However, some matress manufacturers add more features tot he mattress, like adding pillows on top.  The extra material makes the mattress wider. If you’re using a mattress like that, make sure the sheets you get are a size bigger.

Thread count is another important factor.  This is the number of threads per square inch in the bed sheet’s material.  Generally speaking, a thread count of over 400 is a high-quality buy that is comfortable and will last for years.

Finally, consider the right kind of material. Cotton is the most popular because it’s soft and durable, but you might also want to experiment with satin, silks, and mixed fabrics.

Easy Ways to Redecorate Your Bedroom

If you’re sick of the way your room looks but are not sure how to go about redecorating it, here are some simple and inexpensive tricks you can try. Remember, home decorating is all about deciding what works and what doesn’t and being creative while doing it.

Rearranging the furniture is the quickest and least expensive way to add some more life in to a boring room. Try moving your desk to an opposite wall and placing your bed where your desk used to be. Have fun experimenting with different positions.

Paint a single wall and make it your room’s focal point. Hang posters or move an interesting piece of furniture in front of the wall. Make the wall’s color complement the room’s color scheme. You’d be surprised at how dramatic and artsy your room will look after.

Cover up your walls by hanging posters, mementos, or mirrors. For something bolder, you could try a geometric styled shelf. Draw an outline of a shape on the wall, then using a masking tape and ruler, paint in the shape. Then place a small hanging shelf between the shape. This will hardly take a day’s work.

Decorating Your Bathroom

Bathrooms may be the smallest rooms in any house, but the state of your bathroom determines how clean and stylish your home is. Even with a fixed budget, bathrooms aren’t difficult nor expensive to decorate.

Changing the lighting can achieve a dramatic effect on your bathroom, especially if they complement the existing color theme. Use unusual light fixtures or buy interesting bulb covers and shades.

You don’t have to buy new things when you can simply repackage what’s already there. If your bathroom has a large mirror, consider re-framing it. If you have ugly spots on your wall or worn doorknobs on your door, repaint your walls or replace them in a stylish package.

Bring life into the bathroom by adding plants or flowers. Plants will need light to thrive, so if your bathroom doesn’t have any windows consider getting silk plants – artificial plants that look incredibly realistic.

It’s important for a small room to have a good, pleasant smell. Use potpurri, scented candles, or aromatherapy oils to make your bathroom swell as sweet as it looks.

Storage Space

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If you’re living in a small apartment or condo, you might find that storage space is often one of your major problems. But you’d be surprised at how much space you actually have to keep all your stuff. Here are some quick tips for you to maximize the space you have without making your apartment look like a cluttered mess.

Keep all your storage boxes and file cabinets under a table and hide them with a table cloth or table skirt.

Use a lowboy as your beside table where you can keep stationary, linens, or cosmetics.

Use a narrow cabinet instead of an open-leg sofa table to store DVD’s, game consoles, and even stereo components.

Get shallow rolling boxes for linens, sweaters, and other out-of-season clothes. This will fit perfectly underneath your bed.

Decorating a Girl’s Room

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A little girl’s room is her refuge from the world, a place where she can sleep and dream. Decorating your daughter’s bedroom can be a fun and exciting experience for you both. To get started, ask her for her ideas and make her list down her favorite things. Does she want her room to have a theme, or will she be using her favorite colors? You don’t have to go out and buy new things right away; start out by making use of what you already have. Make minor changes like dresser knobs, or rearrange furniture. You’d be amazed what a big impact small changes can make to a room. Finally, make a dramatic change by adding bold splashes of color. Place accent pillows and tapestry from the wall, or place a colorful throw rug in the middle of the room.

Ceiling Fans

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Ceiling fans are a great decorative addition to any room. They look stylish and they are far more energy-efficient than air conditioning, especially if you only need to cool down one room. To complement your room’s decorating scheme, select a motor housing finished in polished or antique brass, wood grain, bronze, copper, or white. Then choose contrasting blades made out of woven bamboo, plain print, or fabrics. Some ceiling fan models are versatile and come with reversible blades, allowing you to change the look with the seasons. Ceiling fans are usually placed in the middle of the room for maximum air circulation. They should generally be placed so the fan’s blades are at least seven feet above the floor. If you intend to install the ceiling fan on your porch or patio, make sure you choose one that will withstand all kinds of weather.

The Shabby Chic Look

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Shabby chic is a term to describe a casual, comfortable look that makes use of vintage furniture. It’s not a rigid style but rather, it strikes a balance between your grandmother’s soft furniture and modern sensibilities. Here’s how you can use shabby chic style in decorating your home.

Pastel colors. Shabby chic makes use of delicate colors like pink, soft white, faded green, and muted gray.

Tea-stained fabrics. Collect vintage-style fabrics, even if they’re brand new. To make them look as though they’ve withstood the test of time, you can make the fabric look worn, faded, and soft by staining them with tea.

White painted furniture. Any wooden furniture will look great for this look as long as it’s painted white.

Decorating within your budget

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Decorating the home has become quite expensive but with a creative mind you can turn simple things into eye worthy decorations or pieces.

You can start with things that you already have like pillows, scarves, picture frames etc.

Pictures are a cheap way to decorate as all of us have them. You just need to place them in frames and hang it in the walls or on top of the table.

Pillows can be arranged in various ways. You can place them on the carpet floors or on the sofa. You can even sew designs on the throw pillow case for added effect.

You can can place candles on tables, you can also put scarves to add color to other decors.

Frames or paintings can be arranged on the walls and centerpieces of unique designs to table tops.

You can also check garage sales for cheap furniture or why not ask friends or relatives for items that they are not using anymore. With new paint, you can turn an old dresser or table to brand new.

All you need is your patience, creativity and imagination. With the right materials and items you can turn your home from drab to fab.

Outdoor Summer Decorating

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Summer is here and everyone wants to get outdoors to soak up the sun. One of the good things about the clear weather is that it allows you to expand your living space without going through a costly renovation. For a lot of cases, you don’t even have to do much decorating – all you need to do is sweep off the dead leaves from your porch and place comfy furniture outside. Outdoor furniture is definitely a must if you want to enjoy the weather, but it doesn’t necessarily have to cost a lot. You can get two lounging chairs or a wrought-iron table with a glass top and four chairs. Wicker furniture looks great too, but you need to place them in a shady area since they don’t withstand the elements well. For a more relaxing space, enhance your outdoors with potted plants and flowers.