Browsing Posts in interior design

The look of a room can dramatically change with the addition of some interesting accessories like drapes or  window blinds. Putting up colorful drapes or curtains can change the mood of the whole room. It can also protect us from direct sunlight or when it is too bright. Bare windows do not look so good especially when compared to windows with curtains or blinds. Even simple pink curtains would make a big difference in the whole ambiance of the room. It can change how you feel when you are inside the room. Light blue or light green may make the room a bit more relaxing.

Curtains or blinds do not really need to be expensive. If you like the look of wood, there are faux wood blinds that may just fit your room and your style. Different designs and different colors can be found and one of them might just be the right one to complement your furniture. The room, especially the windows, would not look bare and unnoticed.

Curtains are usually used in the house but there are also those who use blinds instead of curtains. Blinds are usually used to be found in the offices and buildings but now there are blinds that are perfect for the home. Just like the blinds in the office, the blinds in the house can filter light and also keep the room private when wanted. It can also keep the room warm when closed. Some additional decoration can also be put on the blinds like stickers. Sticker of a Christmas tree can be put on the blinds when it is Christmas season or a sticker of a pumpkin during Halloween. The blinds or the curtains can keep your room and house private, warm and can even decorate your room in many ways. It can also somehow lift your spirits with happy colors.

If you want to update the look and feel of your house, add an interesting touch that gives a focal point into your room. It goes without saying that you can choose any of the touches in reproduction- but you must educate your eye to what is ‘good’ in reproduction. Curtains, for example, gives a polish look without being heavy or elaborate. They add subtle touches that provide a tasteful ambiance in your house.

You can also use drapes that permit the entrance of light, but still give privacy and mute the fading effects of the sun on the heavier fabrics in the room. Drapes and curtains are often hung on heavy brass or wood ornamental rods and you can also finish them off with fabric-coordinated valances.  There are even more selections of Hardware for Your Window that can make any room more special, richly elegant, and faithful to a signature of your choice.

Having a cool and comfortable home is what we all want for our own houses.  You can utilize passive cooling in your house by having wide window openings, and using monochromatic color scheme as it brightens the space, giving the illusion of it being bigger than it actually is and cool to the senses. To make any area even cooler, employ also some techniques like using Ceiling Fans. Hot air rises, so a higher ceiling and a ceiling fan allows hot air to have space to circulate, making it less humid and stuffy.

The use of a Ceiling Fan can also provide as an interesting focal point to your indoor space by selecting the appropriate style or type to blend in with your home decor. To achieve a cooler house, it is also recommended to an outdoor space. The idea of a bringing the outdoors in is very Asian- it is good for the soul, calms the nerves, and heightens the senses. So even if you live in a small condominium, add a seating area, lush plants to your balcony, and an outdoor ceiling fan. Hansen Wholesale Ceiling Fans can help you decide which ones to get and they also offer customizable ceiling fans where you can select from various motor and blade finish combination and light fixtures option.


Spice up your house by painting it with a shade or two. Even in these hard times, cutting costs should not stop you from making your house beautiful. All you need is a paintbrush and of course a can of paint to give new life to old things in your home.

If you have mismatched glasses or incomplete sets because some pieces are broken, you can turn them into a tea light votives by painting decorative graphics all over. You can get creative and paint stripes, circles, flowers, triangles or any design you choose to have an interesting outcome.

You can also update an old wicker by painting it black that can instantly turn it into something that looks like you spent a fortune on it. You can update wicker with any neutral color as this will bring out the texture of the piece, but black adds a touch of sophistication unmatched by other neutrals.

Another way to get creative is to create sculpture with a found object. Scour your backyard or street for a fallen tree branch and paint it a metallic shade. You will instantly get an organic sculpture that can be placed on a tabletop or shelf, or in a vase to hold earrings, bracelets, and necklaces.

Shibui is a Japanese word which is considered the most profound beauty word in any language. It means understatement and quiet. It depicts that the less powerful may be the more effective. A room decorated with Japanese shibui has stillness, discipline, and the elegance of tranquility. It is considered as the quietest secret of decorating, and the most elegant.

Japanese decoration also decorates with prescribed order. Traditional homes in Japan use movable wall panels called fusuma, which can be taken down and changed at a moment’s notice; a big living room can become four small rooms simply by putting up and taking down the fusuma. The Japanese get their architectural effects of serenity, calm, and freedom by keeping every wall in close proportion and relationship to every floor in every home. Thus, a quintessential Japanese home has the feeling of balance and prescribed order.

Moldings are to European designs what glass and steel are to Classic Contemporary. They can be around the perimeter of the room, at baseboard, ceiling, or chair level. Some can be used as strips from which pictures are hung. Some can frame doorways or be used as objects d’art, all by themselves.

Moldings are traditionally made of wood, often carved elaborately, but there are other routes of rich illusion to follow. The look and feel of architectural embellishment can be accomplished with plaster, plastic or stock wood moldings, faux painting, or wallpaper borders in many patterns including marble, wood, or documentary prints.

Floor Coverings

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There are almost unlimited choices for floors: soft-surface materials like rugs and carpets, man-made hard-surface materials like tiles and vinyl, and natural hard-surface materials like woods and marbles. There are also paint and stenciling which is not technically floor covering but floor transforming.

On the floor, good taste and quality materials can’t be separated. Since floors are subject to such wear, poor quality and inferior workmanship take no time at all to show their seedy surfaces.

Lights and Lamps

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Quality lighting counts a lot in the in the decorating scheme. Lighting can spotlight the one really expensive thing in the room or soft glow areas that you don’t want to stand out. Lighting is one of the most important elements in a successful room. Floor lamps, table lamps, and hanging fixtures can provide general illumination as well as task lighting. Wall sconces, picture and bookcase lights, ceiling and floor spots, and track lighting can provide important, decorative accent lighting. Awareness of the wide variety of lighting sources available will help you improve the function and mood of your rooms.

The Classic Contemporary look is the look of the cutting edge and that edge is linear. The aim is to achieve smooth, unbroken, unadorned, architecturally faithful lines, not only in each piece but in the look of a whole room. Classic Contemporary relies on level heights of furniture in a room where one object leads smoothly to another, extending the eye in an unbroken flow. Contemporary relies on unblocked vistas, which is why glass is important, why monochromatic color reigns, why lighting is accomplished without the use of wires and eye-stopping switches and shades.

White always has a crisp, clean graphic appeal. Cheap woods for instance, take on freshness and charm when painted white. An old wrought iron mirror becomes a touch of luxe in white. If you couple inexpensive painted furniture painted white with ornate, baroque accessories, the look is pure elegance. If you paint a metal thrift-shop bed white and pile it high with crisp, white linens, it becomes a bed of luxury. Unrelated furniture, inherited or picked up at thrift shops, becomes charmingly united when white washed.