May 2020
Timeless Classics – Making Antique Furniture Work For Your Home Design
Interior design trends over the years have grown and developed. Though classic design will never go out of style, the modern and sleek look of contemporary interiors has largely dominated the industry. There is also the introduction of cross-cultural influences that widened the interior design field even more.
With the variety of styles to choose from, antique furniture sometimes looks and feels out of place in a home. Heirloom pieces, in particular, could be difficult to part with, especially if inherited from relatives and holds a particular sentimental value for the family. The dilemma is this: how do you make antique furniture a part of your overall look and design? Is there any way to make an heirloom piece blend in with your contemporary home? Before you decide to sell your antique piece or bury it in storage, consider some ways into making that one-of-a-kind and special piece a part of your home.
Some pieces do not hold any real monetary value at all, but more of a sentimental and memorable piece for the owner. If this is the case, consider giving it a refurbished look with a simple paint job to match the rest of your home’s color scheme. You could also strip down dated pieces to modernize its design. For pieces that hold an investment and historical value, you could use the design of the antique furniture and make it the centerpiece of the room. Ornate pieces can be balanced with and highlighted by keeping the rest of the room simple in order to draw attention the careful detail that went into the crafting of your antique furniture.
Another way is to use antique pieces in surprising ways. Pair an ornately carved chair with a simple wooden desk and use it in your office. Use a chandelier in your powder room to make for an interesting space for your guests. Breathe contemporary design into an old lamp with a quirky lampshade for a unique and eclectic addition to your living room. Use your grandmother’s antique china for everyday meals and make each day an elegant and special dining experience.
Aside from their value, the craftsmanship of antique furniture is without question, incomparable. Antique pieces are worthwhile investments and their seemingly unsuitable design can be creatively incorporated into your home’s design with a little creativity and imagination. Take care of your antique furniture and they will continue giving a distinct touch to your home for many years to come.…
Furnishing Your Home With Moroccan Furniture
For a home or office that is exotic, intriguing, welcoming, and stylish for anyone who visits, Moroccan furniture can achieve these effects. Some of the most popular home decorating items right now are Moroccan furniture, Moroccan lamps and lanterns, and bedding. The biggest reason for this is because of the unique look and feel that the stunning patterns and colors used in Moroccan home decor will bring to your home. If you are willing to shop around some you will find Moroccan home decor items with prices that can fit in any budget.
Choosing Moroccan home decor means making a statement with your home. This style provides elegance without causing a loss of personality. Utilizing Moroccan home decor and Moroccan furniture can really reach out set the mood that you are aiming for with your guests, making them extremely comfortable. Moroccan furniture also has the advantages of being extremely durable and sturdy, which means these pieces will last for many years while staying in excellent shape without any signs of wear and tear.
Patterns And Colors Used In Moroccan Home Decor
Moroccan furniture and Moroccan lamps can include a number of exquisite patterns and gorgeous colors. The colors used in these lamps are comforting yet exotic. The artisans in Morocco use the colors found in their natural surroundings for inspiration. This means you will find colors that include grain, blue, red, orange, yellow, brown, and purple. The patterns and colors used are combined with wool, wood, silk, and leather so that a very dramatic effect is seen. Some common patterns seen with Moroccan furniture and home decor include flowers, designs which swirl, and many geometric shapes. All of these are combined into one piece of Moroccan furniture or one Moroccan lamp.
Essential Moroccan Home Decor Items
Moroccan lamps and Moroccan lanterns are necessary to finish off any Moroccan home decor. Hanging exquisitely from the ceiling and adding beauty and elegance to any room, Moroccan lanterns normally have frames which are wrought iron and that contain stained glass fragments in many patterns and colors. The oldest type of Moroccan lantern, and one of the best known, is a type called the Djamae Moroccan lantern. This lantern looks rustic and includes a shape which is semi-oval. The glass used is colored green, amber, and blue, as well as clear, and these lamps are exquisite. Moroccan lanterns also come in other styles as well, as these can include the Moroccan Chandelier, Anelka,
Dareh, Alwan, Blue Samaka, and Maroc.
If you want to take the Moroccan home decor even farther you can include Moroccan furniture in the form stools, tables, and chairs, as well as mirrors, rugs, doors, ceramics, and ceiling tiles.
Floor tiles can also be used for a beautiful Moroccan decor in any hallway or foyer. Moroccan floor tiles can be found in many different patterns, and make an excellent accent in any area of your home or work space. These tiles can be found in packages which may include anywhere from …
Bright Ideas For Lamps and Lamp Shades For Frugal Home Decorating
It’s not the light of the lamp that brings out the best in illumination, it’s the lamp and lampshade. Here are some simple frugal home design lamp ideas to give that old lighting standard a new look. Let’s start with the shade: Did you know you can paint most any fabric and paper shade with either a commercial spray paint or a home made spray paint application? The home made formula consists of 1 part paint (latex or craft) to 10 parts water. Measure the parts based on the size of a standard plastic spray bottle. All you need to do is choose your color and apply it in one or all of these decorative applications.
– Tape off diagonal lines or stripes with painter’s tape. -Create some basic stencils creating your own designs or browsing your local craft store. -Instead of spraying on paint, apply the paint with a sea sponge to give it an entirely different look.
Be sure your shade is dusted before you get started so the paint will adhere solidly. All paint aside, another way to give that shade a fresh designer look is to apply dark paper silhouettes to the inside of a lighter shade. Create a seasonal lamp shade accent by changing the shape as appropriate. For example, place stars or Christmas tree silhouettes during the Holiday season. Rabbits or egg shapes will look just right for Easter. Simple floral leaves, stems, and any shape you might need can be downloaded from free click art web sites.
Be sure you don’t allow the loosely tacked silhouette which is taped to the inside of the lamp shade be too close to the light bulb. Now let’s take a look at the base of your lamp. Here is where creativity is unlimited. It’s simple to create a lamp base out of almost any sturdy 3 dimensional shape:
Yard Sale Vases
Large Soup Mugs
Bowls turned upside down
Terra Cotta pots
Books That have been glued together in a horizontal stack
Wooden boxes with your decoupaged touch
Teapots
Antique Bottles
Anything!
Most of your home made bases will need a hole drilled at the bottom or on the side to run the cord down and through. Unless you have an old lamp shoved in storage somewhere that you can take apart and reinstall to your new lamp, you will need to purchase an inexpensive store lamp kit. This kit provides all the hardware and electrical parts you need to put your lamp together.
The other tried and true frugal home design option to resurrecting a lamp is to paint the base. Here again the choice of application is really up to you. Here are a few ideas to get your creative juices flowing:
Guild
Decoupage
Etch
Stencil
Add colors that accent wall art
The most important point to remember when planning to paint your lamp, is to buy paint that is suited specifically for the the type of object; glass paint for glass, metal for metal, …
How To Care for Your Antique Rug
Antique rugs are intricate works of art that grace many of Atlanta’s most stunning homes. It doesn’t require much time and effort to keep them looking their best. Here are some suggestions to help maintain the condition and beauty of your rug.
Keep it Clean
The most exquisite rugs usually consist of durable fibers. Using a suction vacuum once or twice a month can provide a safe and thorough cleaning. For spills or stains, carefully blot the rug with water and keep any wet areas off the floor until they are dry. Never use commercial cleaners or chemicals, which could cause colors to run.
Get Repairs
If your rug has stains, tears or holes, don’t be overly concerned. A specialist in antique rug repair Atlanta GA can skillfully handle many different kinds of damage. Proper restoration can extend the longevity of a rug for decades.
Moth Control
If your rug has survived long enough to make it into your home, you can rest assured that it is very durable. However, most antique rugs consist of pure wool or silk fibers and can quickly become ravaged by moths. Professional cleaning is mandatory to prevent further damage.
Avoid Sunlight
Like many antique furnishings and paintings, antique rugs should avoid direct sunlight to prevent fading. Be sure to use window shades when the sun is at its brightest.
Store Carefully
If you need to store your rug for any length of time, roll it in a breathable material in a low-humidity environment. Ideally, you will not store your antique rug for many months at a time. If you can’t avoid this, be sure to unwrap it occasionally to be sure it is still intact.
Caring for antique rugs requires surprisingly little effort. With proper care and maintenance, a beautiful rug can remain in your family for many generations.…
Why Is the Kitchen the Heart of the Home?
Many people would have heard the saying that the kitchen is the heart of the home. But why is this? There are many reasons why the kitchen is considered the central or core area of the house. In whatever sized property, including a large country house or a small apartment flat, the kitchen is probably the main area of the house and one of the most used and practical areas of the property.
Here are four reasons why we think that the kitchen is and always will be the heart of the home:
1. This is where the food is. Human beings generally flock where there is food. The kitchen is the area of the home which contains all of the food, in ready-made containers or in separate ingredients ready to cook into a wonderful meal. Cooking or preparing food is something which will take place every single day and perhaps several times a day, especially if there is a family in the home. Having people working in the kitchen makes it an important and much-needed area of the home.
2. Many people have kitchen/dining areas combined. This allows a larger space where family and people can gather in a social capacity. Having this social space means that the kitchen is always going to be the centre of the home. Having a dining and kitchen area means that the larger space gives way for families to come together whilst food is being prepared and then eat it all together around a table, which many people believe is a dying tradition in the UK but really is just as popular as ever when the dining and kitchen area can be combined.
3. Modern gadgets make a kitchen a fun place to be. There are many modern gadgets which can make a kitchen feel far more exciting adds a personal touch to the home. There are traditional gadgets such as microwaves, can openers and toasters, but we are talking eccentric gadgets. This includes kitchen tools which have been designed for sheer practicality and fun. Many people have iPads or other notebooks in a kitchen which allows them to follow recipes in real-time in their kitchen whilst they cook.
4. The kitchen allows multipurpose use in innovative and contemporary design. There are many things you can do in the kitchen, not just cooking but also cleaning, making drinks and even talking on the phone. Kitchen installers can create beautiful spaces you to work in. Kitchen installer can use your style and budget to develop a space which you really enjoy spending time in. Sometimes the kitchen is also attached to a garden, allowing for a very practical space indeed.…
Laminate Flooring As an Alternative to Other Types of Flooring
Whenever it comes to decorating a home, everyone wants to make their home look as good as possible. They also want their style and creativity to show through on the projects they undertake. Every part of their home should show a unique pizazz and flair that cannot be matched anywhere else. One of the most difficult decorative choices to make in a home is what types of floors should be used in which rooms. Nowadays hard wood and tile seem like they are the way to go. However, laminate flooring looks realistic and is able to offer several advantages that these floors cannot.
The first advantage is in the maintenance and upkeep department. Hard wood is extremely delicate. There are only certain products that can be used on it, and even then it can only tolerate a small amount of it. Even if these rules are followed perfectly, there is still no guarantee that they will not need to be restained or varnished at a later date. Tiled floors have grout in between them that always seems like it needs to be cleaned and no matter what gets done to it, it still never looks like it did whenever the tiles were first installed. However, laminate flooring is able to tolerate chemicals that hard wood cannot. And, whenever it comes to grout, there is no problem because there is not any. The grout that appears on the laminate is a realistic representation of grout and cleans just as easily as the rest of the floor.
Second is durability. It pretty much goes without saying that wood floors are not very durable. Everyone does their best to protect them from those chips, dents, and scratches that occur so easily. Special pads on the bottoms of furniture and not allowing any woman visitor to walk across in her high heels are just a couple of the preventatives so many have taken. Tiling is more durable than wood; however, if something heavy such as kitchen ware or furniture is dropped on it while moving, the tiles will crack. Laminate, however, is extremely durable. Unlike tile, it will not crack if something is dropped on it. While with extreme force it may be possible to scuff or tear it, it is still able to resist much more than wood flooring is able to resist.
Whenever it comes to decorating a home, everyone wants to pick out things that look decent and are affordable. Laminate flooring fits both of these. It provides the appeal that hard wood and tile provide, yet is cheap enough to not break the budget. This allows a homeowner to also spend time and energy into perfecting other parts of the home while still being able to be proud of the work they have put into their new floors. The many different patterns and styles allow homeowner to express their creativity in a room and create something that is truly unique and different.…
Un-Cancelling After Coronavirus
As states and countries start to cautiously open up after coronavirus closures, everyone is thinking about the things they’ve been putting off in the name of isolation. Here are just a few things that many people have been postponing in the name of public health and safety.
Repairs
It was not a good time to have a lot of strangers traipsing around the house, touching everything and stirring up dust. A lot of people with repair tasks and renovation projects in mind decided to just postpone for the time being. Now you may be asking who can help me repair my home Farmington NM or your area.
Maintenance
For similar reasons, many maintenance tasks have been put off. Concerns about how the virus spreads have especially tasks like air conditioner repairs and maintenance. It isn’t a task that can be put off indefinitely, however, and you can likely expect a rush of bookings as people begin to venture out and invite people in more often.
Celebrations
Probably the biggest and most obvious delays have been made with celebrations. Birthdays, graduations, weddings and holidays have been cancelled or postponed en masse. No prom for the senior classes of 2020, and no family reunions are likely in the summer either. Events like these are the ones you likely miss the most, but they are also the ones that it is most important to postpone and continue to postpone until you are certain that the danger has passed.
There are important reasons for putting off these kinds of things, and even as your area starts to recover and reopen, it’s important to remain vigilant. Public safety is more important than your convenience. No one should be taking unnecessary risks right now, not until they are confident that their actions won’t endanger their family, friends and neighbors.…
4 Top Ways to Keep Your Home Cool This Summer
When temperatures rise, power bills may, too. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, about half of your monthly power use is devoted to heating and cooling your home. How can you cool your home more efficiently?
Install a Smart Thermostat
Smart thermostats are a wonder of modern technology. You can set different temperatures for various zones in your home, and set a second temperature for when you are away. Some models sense when you leave and change the temperature automatically to the “away” setting, which is perfect for people with erratic schedules. They can also sense when you are within a specified distance and reset to the “home” temperature so your house is cool by the time you walk in the door. Naturally, if you wish to adjust the thermostat remotely, you can do so with an app on your phone. These devices afford you exceptional comfort with no wasted energy.
Block the Sun
Sunlight can make a home feel cheerful; good lighting is powerful mood booster. However, in the summer, letting in too much sunlight can make your home miserably hot. Unfortunately, blackout curtains often make a home too dark and depressing. Get the best of both worlds with privacy shades Cypress that let soft light in but keep harsh heat out. They come in numerous fabrics and colors to suit your design style.
Augment Existing Insulation
Building codes often set a minimum level of insulation for homes, but your home will likely be much more comfortable if you exceed those minimums. Attics typically have room for additional insulation, and you can lay blanket insulation yourself quickly and affordably. Adding insulation should take just a weekend, and will keep you cooler for many summers to come.
Mount Fans
Moving air feels cooler than stagnant air, so install ceiling fans in your living room and bedrooms. Certain areas may not be properly cooled by your existing system, such as corner rooms or those with greater sun exposure. In that case, direct cooler air to those areas using box or oscillating fans.…
Flooring Company: Choose It Intelligently
While arriving at a conclusion about the best flooring company that meets your preferences, it would be a better approach if you can find answers to few simple and crucial questions. For instance, does the company have sufficient number of references? Can they send samples to you? Does the company follow a policy of providing eco-friendly products? How many different colors/ styles/ materials is it offering presently? Do they have a facility of providing applicable accessories as well?
Answers to most of these queries can often help you come to conclusion. When you do this simple homework, it can benefit you in long run because you don’t have to encounter an embarrassing situation. For instance, you might repent for having made a wrong choice and this might have also resulted in loss of huge part of your hard earned money. After all, flooring is considered to be an integral element in home decoration. Factors such as the color of your unique furniture, various types and make of your home d?�cor items, materials to be used in many home d?�cor items, etc. would depend to a great extent on selection of a particular type of flooring.
If you desire to see a proper execution of your plan to install a good brand of flooring, you will need to keep a couple of things in mind. The areas which would warrant satisfactory amount of attention from your end would generally include, budgeting, selecting, choosing, accurately installing, cleaning, finishing, to name a few. A major part of these decisions would revolve around the kind of look you want to give to your home. There are many preferences which keep changing from person to person. So, you may like to have a classy look or a trendy look and your monetary expenditure will keep fluctuating depending upon which option you choose.
It has been observed, many believe since they are going to build their house once in their lifetime, they should not comprise on quality. This is one circumstance, when taking help of these companies might work wonders for you. They are the people who have requisite expertise in handling such issues and can the best suggestion keeping your capacity to expend and your requirements. In most cases, it has been found they are of tremendous help during the process of deciding to choose correct kind of finishing that would be ideal for your floors.
When it comes to safety of flooring, flooring contractors are the best in the industry who can guide you correctly. They possess experience in abundance that will help you to install your preferred floors without any fuss. Many homemakers find it a daunting task during installation. So, when they take help of these professional minded people, their task is often reduced to proper selection of flooring space. Taking help of these contractors will also help you to avoid paying hefty compensation amount in a lawsuit filed against you by an injured victim.…
The construction industry is a dirty one. However, taking the time to clean the job site can keep the area safer for your workers. Plus, taking the time to clean as you go makes it easier when the job is completed, allowing you to move onto the next project more quickly and efficiently. There are several steps you should take to clean up that job site.
Sanitize
Use bulk chemicals Dallas-Fort Worth to sanitize the bathrooms whether portable or stationary. Restrooms tend to get dirty quickly, and keeping them clean keeps workers healthier. Once a month, you should also consider sanitizing any equipment that is being used, especially during cold and flu season, to prevent the spread of germs.
Trash
Nothing dirties up a job site as quickly as trash laying around. Trash accumulates as the byproduct of the materials used for the work as well as workers dropping wrappers wherever they are. Set trash cans and recycling bins at strategic places on the job site, and then implement a system of keeping the site clean. Having multiple cans available helps remind workers to toss their trash in a bin rather than on the ground.
Walkways
Keep both walkways and stairways clear of debris. Not only does this help prevent trips and falls, but it allows workers to move about the site efficiently. A blocked walkway forces workers to walk around the obstruction rather than taking the fastest route. Crowded stairways are tricky to navigate, increasing the likelihood of someone falling and hurting themselves.
Clutter
Make sure items are put away rather than left out, and keep tools and other equipment stored away when not in use. This can help cut down on both clutter and theft. Many tools have sharp edges, so storing them properly reduces the chance of an accident. Clutter can also prevent workers from moving around the job site safely.
Safety
Incorporate a housekeeping plan into your daily, weekly and monthly construction tasks. Keeping a clean job site goes a long way in creating a happy, healthy and safe work environment for everyone.…