Saturday, May 15, 2010

Interior design for bedroom

Bedroom interior design is crucial because the bedroom is the inner sanctum sanctorum of any house. A bedroom is the place you go to relax and just unwind after a long and sometimes stressful day.

Therefore, it is important then that the bedroom is designed to fulfill your needs. Not only does this room need to look good to the eyes but also must be soothing to the soul.

A bedroom design can be a challenging task because not only is the bedroom a very romantic place but in this age where stress takes its toll on many, a good night’s sleep is an increasingly rare commodity.

Before you begin tearing down the walls, it makes sense to talk over the design plans with your partner, if you have one. A romantic bedroom should reflect both people’s ideals.

Add some personal flavor that touch both of you at the same time. Pictures from a vacation or a picnic or from a romantic getaway can be great. Make sure that the lighting is just right for both of you.

If one of you likes to read late into the night, it may be better to install personal lighting. Soft lighting can create a good mood and some soft rugs can complement it. If you like, you can add an incense burner or potpourri to get you in the mood.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Inspired interior design

People who inspire! From professional interior designers to those studying design at universities and colleges throughout the world, those who share their thoughts and ideas on blog posts or design journals and magazines, it seems that there is a never ending supply of inspirational ideas which you can either sit and dream about or decide to use and incorporate into your home!

Spend leisure time simply looking for ideas and creating picture boards for future use or use these design places to help you choose a style and theme for each room in your home.

One of the greatest advantages of looking at other people’s ideas is the ability to update your own furniture or soft furnishings without having to spend a fortune. Make time to sew your own cushions or get out a paintbrush and rejuvenate your walls with a lick of paint! Brighten up old and tired looking furniture by recovering chairs or painting chests of drawers, the possibilities are endless!

Whatever the size of your project, handy craft or DIY abilities making or transforming something for your home can give a great sense of achievement and pleasure.

With the recession affecting most people in some way finding ideas to create a new look for a room can be fun! Spend hours sauntering through junk shops or boot fairs to find those special pieces to inject colour or a ‘new’ freshness to your home. For those who prefer not to venture outside magazines or online browsing can be as pleasurable!

Start small is the best advice! Take an item such as a old mirror and simply paint the frame or have a go at making a cushion from old clothes, once you have mastered a few simple techniques you can move onto to something more adventurous.

Sometimes all a room needs is to be de-cluttered and the furniture re-arranged to make a room feel like new! This alone can give a great sense of achievement is a great way to keep active and burn a few calories without you even realising it!

One of the easiest ways to create a new feel and look to a room is to update the window dressing! For some reason windows are often sadly overlooked and yet sparkling clean windows and new or freshly laundered curtains can make a vast difference to a room. Clean windows let more light into the room and show your curtains or window dressing to its full advantage as well as being another great way to burn a few calories!

By simply changing from a traditional style curtain track to inexpensive curtain poles and replacing outdated curtains with modern designs in plain or patterned fabrics a room can be transformed simply and effectively.

Choose from trendy sheer fabrics such as voile or faux silk or medium weight chintz fabrics, stripes or René Macintosh inspired designs to suit your new look. Many of the ready made curtains available also come with affordable coordinating or matching accessories such as cushions and table lamps to complete the look.

Decor interior design

Home wall decor is one of he many major elements in home interiors that decide the kind of mood, the space will finally create when it gets finished. The reason for this is quite obvious. Wall occupies a major visual field in the interiors of any building.

Wall decor can be carried out in every imaginable way, you can think of. However some of the most common ways to decorating a wall are.

1) Plastering and painting the wall

2) Applying a wallpaper on the wall

3) Cladding the wall with tiles

4) Keeping the wall exposed (exposed brick walls)

5) Keeping the wall without plastering

6) Creating a mural on the wall

Which type you want to go for, largely depends upon what end effect you want to create. It must be noted that every wall decor finish will have a major impact on the interior design theme of your home.

But how to really choose the best finish for wall decor?

To solve this problem you can think from different perspectives. Wall surfaces are vertical surfaces and help in two ways. The first and the most obvious function of a wall is to act as a divider between two rooms and create privacy.

Secondly walls help to reflect direct sunlight into deeper areas of the interior spaces creating an even lighting atmosphere. For this to happen it is necessary to finish the wall with the kind of decor that will help easy dispersion of light into internal areas.

Another important point to consider is budget. All the finishes mentioned above will have a different set of execution costs and those must be planned before you think about adding them on the wall. However you can easily cut down the cost of wall decor if you design your home wall decor and other interior design elements into a "decorating theme". A decorating theme helps to organize the design and saves cost if you consider it from point of view of the entire project.

So home wall decor if planned at the design stage will have a major impact on your home interior style. To save your cost you can even go for a combination of various forms of available wall decor ideas.

Home interior kitchen

When thinking about interior design options for your home kitchen, it is important to keep a number of factors in mind.

First off, when shopping in your local kitchen center, if your budget allows, be sure to consider new technologies in appliances, finishes and materials. Often times your choices here might cost you more in the short term, but in the long run you will find that as the industry catches up with the technologies, your choices will continue to be relevant well into the future. Make sure that all appliances that you choose are only of the highest quality. This is the most important part of your kitchen… it’s what the kitchen revolves around, so don’t cheap out here.

Don’t be afraid to spend extra money on your kitchen floors. High quality kitchen flooring will not only look good for a longer period of time, but they will also add to the resale value of your home. When installing your kitchen floors, make sure to keep them level and even consider adding heated floors for extra comfort and value. There’s nothing like waking up on a cold winter morning and making coffee with toasty feet!

When choosing cabinets for your home kitchen design… think simple. Ornate or complicated designs will usually not stand the test of time. Styles which might be trending now are likely to date your kitchen down the road. If you are on a tight budget you can’t go wrong with Ikea’s kitchens. Not only are they affordable and of quite good quality, but they are stylish as well… and can stand the test of time as trends come and go. When choosing your cabinets, look for a style that works with the rest of your home. If you live in a country-style cottage, a sleek and modern kitchen will likely look out of place.

When planning colors for your kitchen, consider adjoining room colors. Keep your design consistent and avoid contrasting colors between adjoining rooms. For example, if your walls in the room next to your kitchen are blue, yellow walls in the kitchen will clash. Look for complimentary colors. Also, it is always good to think bright in your kitchen. This is not the place to have dark colored walls; here, the cook needs to be able to see the food, as do the ones eating it.

Consider tiling your backsplash. A small, bright tile can do wonders in enhancing the look of your kitchen. Just this one addition alone can make your space looks years newer. When searching for tile options for your backsplash, be sure to look for lighter colors; and when purchasing grout, make sure to keep it lighter than the color of the tile. I white, or light beige grout can make any kitchen tile stand out.