Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Bathroom Window Curtains

One of my favorite projects has always been to sew curtains. Knowing how to make your own curtains really increases your ability to decorate the house. After all, curtains are one of the most bright, noticeable, and decorative elements in interior design. What is so great about curtains, however, is that they are also one of the easiest things to make.

Making the right curtains for my bathroom decor, however, was a little bit harder than usual. Not that there is anything hard about making bathroom window curtains in themselves. They are every bit as easy to sew as normal curtains. You can even use no sew curtains to make things a little bit easier.

The problem with bathroom window curtains has to do with the typical design of a bathroom. Most bathrooms have small windows. Good bathroom window curtains have to both preserve privacy and maximize the amount of light. Ideally, a bathroom window curtain will also brighten up the design of the room. After all, most people are short on bathroom decorating ideas. Bathrooms tend to be such dull drab places that any swatch of color will be a welcome addition.

Most people use typical Venetian blinds for bathroom window curtains. These solve the problem of preserving privacy while letting in light admirably. You can even get airflow through the bathroom with Venetian blinds. The problem is that these bathroom window curtains do not add a splash of color. They are actually some of the most dull and boring curtains that exist. They get dusty and gray, and even at their newest they do not look very pretty. In short, they will do nothing to make your bathroom a more welcome or inviting place.

I designed my own bathroom window curtains. I stayed away from most of the traditional window curtain designs. Instead, I made my own unique design. The bathroom window curtains were actually made up of strips of fabric. They would hang down sort of like a beaded curtain. I made the bathroom window curtains out of a heavy fabric so that the wind would not disturb them overly much. There are gaps between them to let in light while preserving some privacy. In addition, you can open the bathroom window and let in air through the curtains. Really, the design works something like a sideways Venetian blind. The advantage is that it looks much better. I don't think my bathroom window curtains would work well on a large window, but they are great for a small one.

Designs Of Houses

When I told my friends that we were going to build our own house, they thought that was crazy. They assume that I was just being impulsive again – something that I definitely have a reputation for. Nevertheless, we did not come to a decision rashly. We had been contemplating designs of houses for a long time, and have concluded that we couldn't find one that really worked for us.

When we first began to look at blueprints of houses, we had no idea that we would build our own. We were just simply looking at designs of houses as a way to get ideas for what our ideal house would be. We knew about what size we wanted, we had some idea about the neighborhoods that we were interested in, but none of the house plans that we had seen had looked quite right. Part of it was that we lived in an old neighborhood, and many of the interiors of houses were a little bit too closed for us. We liked the more modern, open design.

It was more than that, however. As we talked about designs of houses more and more, we realized that we both had a very specific vision that we had worked out over years. We knew exactly what our house design should look like, and so there was no reason that we should buy one. Although we didn't have the money to contract with a builder to create the whole thing, we knew that with a little bit of help we could probably build it ourselves.

My wife has some background in drafting, and this helped us to make a design of a house. Of the two of us, she is definitely a planner and I am the hands on one. She comes up with the ideas, I come up with the best ways to implement them. It works for both of us, and with designs of houses the specialization of tasks was almost indispensable. Designing a house, you see, is an extremely, complicated process. Just coming up with a floor plan takes a lot of work, but coming up with the structural design is even more difficult. People are so afraid of construction of houses that they never even contemplate making their own designs, but I am here to tell you that you can do it. Our house is beautiful, and according to the building inspector, it is completely structurally sound.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Christmas Decorating Ideas

Christmas Decorating Ideas

There is nothing as beautiful, for some people, as a white Christmas. There is something serene and calming about fresh fallen snow glistening in the sunlight on Christmas morning. Snow isn’t always a given on Christmas though, and you have the rest of your home and your lawn as decorating space to make things just as you would like them. If you are tired of the same old tired lights and tinsel, you should look around Christmas decorating ideas. There are more out there than you may realize.

Christmas decorating ideas are everywhere you look, and what you choose will greatly depend on your personal style. Most of us are not gifted in interior design, but that doesn’t mean our decorations cannot be stunning. Some prefer the simple lights and other decorations that they grew up with, while others like something a little more subdued and calming. No matter what your style, just make sure you know what you want.

You can find Christmas decorating ideas in home magazines. These include most women’s magazines, as well as those devoted to the home only. They often have great Christmas decorating ideas in their articles, and you may find some by looking at their advertisements. They may also have a special section with craft items you can use for Christmas decorating ideas. These can be easy enough for children, or complicated enough that it may take you a week to complete them.

You can also find Christmas decorating ideas on television. Channels like HGTV or TLC will have many ideas from which to choose, or you can find Christmas decorating ideas by watching your favorite shows. Quite often television stage sets are decorated for the holidays by professionals, and you can try to mimic these looks at home on your own. It may not be cheap, but you can do it.

You can also find Christmas decorating ideas from your local store. No matter what your budget, your store may have ideas for you. While I try to avoid Wal-Mart, you have to admire their color coordinated Christmas decorating ideas. They have stuff laid out so you can choose exactly what you want, and half of the work is done for you. Other stores have this as well, and all you have to do is decide what appeals the most to your eye. If you want something truly unique, visit stores like Pier One for Christmas decorating ideas.

Bathroom shower curtain

A shower is one of the most delightful luxuries of the modern world. This is not idle hyperbole. We all have the opportunity to have hot water cascading down on us with soothing and powerful pressure whenever we want, and for as long as we want. It is as if we all have our own private tropical waterfalls. People put a great amount of effort into getting the perfect shower accessories. They will get shower loofahs, Egyptian cotton washcloths, salon hair care products, exfoliating soap, and many other items. With all of the effort that people spend on getting the right products for their shower, you would expect bathroom shower curtains to take a higher priority. And yet, my experience as an interior designer shows me that this is not the case. The bathroom shower curtain is usually just thrown on as an afterthought.

I suppose that this is understandable. After all, the bathroom shower curtain is not something that you actually use in your shower. You do not rub the bathroom shower liner against your skin. You do not put it in your hair. You only touch it to open and close it at the beginning and end of your shower. Nonetheless, having the perfect bathroom shower curtain is important. After all, showers have two purposes. The primary purpose is cleanliness, and the bathroom shower curtain makes very little difference in whether or not you get clean. All it does is keep water from getting on the floor. The other point of the shower – and the reason that people put so much effort into getting the right shower products – is relaxation. You will find that the bathroom shower curtain plays a key role in relaxation.

The bathroom shower curtain that you use, after all, is bound to set a certain mood. Most bathrooms shower curtains are semi transparent. Light goes through them, creating a relaxing glow. If you have a bathroom shower curtain that has soothing pictures on it, such as a gentle undersea scene, it will enhance relaxation. If, on the other hand, your bathroom shower curtain shows something brighter and flashier, it will help to wake you up. People don't understand how much their environment affects their mood, but the shower is the perfect place to explore this phenomena. After all, you can change the way that the shower looks by simply spending 10 dollars on a new bathroom shower curtain. You'll be amazed at the difference!

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Interior Designing For Great Restaurant

One of the things that we really enjoy when we get to eat outside of our homes and eat in a restaurant is the ambiance, besides the food that they are offering. Ambiance really plays a big part when it comes to making you enjoy your dining experience and for some, it determines if they will be returning to the restaurant or not.

Here are some great tips that you can take note of for a great design if you are one of those people who are thinking of opening up a restaurant. These tips play a big part in design and are proven to be very effective when it comes to creating a great ambiance where people will keep coming back for more of what your restaurant can offer.

Know This

One of the best restaurants interior design tips that you should first take note of is knowing and understanding your target market. Just by determining what your customers are demanding, you can instantly create a design in your mind that will suit best suit their lifestyle. Are you going for the young urban professionals who wear a coat and tie most of the time that will require your restaurant interior design to be more flashy and elegant? Or are you going for the market of kids who enjoy having quick fixes for their tummies but will like play rooms or arcades at the same time?

Getting a feedback from your target customers will clearly help you in formulating the best design in your mind. Chances are, once that you have finally determined what they want and once you have implemented all those elements in your restaurant, the higher the chances that they will, time and time again, visit your place and spread the word that yours is one of the greatest restaurants that they have been in.

Ask Help From The Experts

It is also important to recognize that you cannot do all the restaurant interior design by yourself and sometimes it will be best to get help from the experts. Vision Design is one of the most reputable interior design companies in the industry and they are specializing in designing restaurants, spas, homes, and others and have already received numerous awards for their outstanding designs and service.

Interior Designs With Blue Decorations

Wherever we go, wherever we turn, a shade of blue always follows: the sky, the ocean, blue flowers and birds, blue mountain tops and deep blue lakes. Blue is a calm, restful color, perfectly suitable for interior design, especially for bedrooms. It's a Mediterranean color, one that reminds of the summer and the sea, a define mood booster. For this reason interior designers started to use this color in offices, day rooms and even to decorate summer gardens and kitchens.

Blue in offices has a good impact on the attentiveness of the workers. People are more productive in blue rooms, focused and creative. Even sportsmen perform better in blue rooms. Blue generally symbolizes harmony, peace, healing and happiness, but it could have "dark" meanings too. Lovers of blue tend to be introverted. While pale blue describes a happy personality, as the blue gets darker it becomes moody and depressing, especially when it's not associated with "positive" colors. Too much blue for a room and that space will become gloomy and depressing. Interior design deals with shapes and colors, combining them to create a pleasant atmosphere in every home.

Navy blue is a dark color that requires careful employment in a design composition. But used in the right amounts and on the right spots, navy blue can be the decisive element to enhance a design transforming a primarily dull space into an oasis of joy. Navy blue is the color of the deep seas. It's used often in designing the interiors of beach hotels and terraces. It reminds of handsome sailors (NAVY sailors do have those already famous navy-and-white striped t-shirts) and sailing adventures. What could better boost your mood than a dining room bathed in summery lights, where the 5 o'clock ice tea waits for you on a navy-and-white striped placemat?

If you are going to use navy blue to decorate your bedroom, you should always combine it with light, positive colors: white, camel, light beige, light gray, pearl. To make the blue décor even subtler, you should paint your walls in white or light beige. You could always use navy-blue furniture and bed sheets to create that nautical effect you long for. Decorating the walls with paintings or posters depicting the sea will enhance the interior design of your bedroom even more.

Another room suitable for navy-blue decorations is the bathroom. White and navy blue tiles could create a chess pattern on the floors and for some perfect decorative accents you could spread some blue tiles among the white ones on the walls. Navy blue bathroom vanities are rare and quite expensive. If you cannot afford them you still have the chance of bringing navy blue in the bathroom: vases, curtains, towels and other interior design accessories. And don't forget mirrors, to complete the luxury feeling already conferred by the richness of the color blue.

Take care about using carpets in navy blue in rooms with large windows. Fabrics exposed to direct sunlight lose the brightness of their colors because of the UV light beams. If you do have such windows and are very fund of your navy-blue carpet and curtains, consider isolating the glass of the windows with UV resistant filters.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Vintage Interior Designs - Popular Looks

Vintage interior design is a really popular look -- and rightly so -- it is a really relaxed, traditional style -- warm and comfortable in feel, and very easy to achieve -- and to live with!

In the loosest sense, a vintage interior design scheme is just a look that is old - traditional, classic styling.

In a stricter sense, 'vintage' refers to the 1940's and 1950's - an era of hope and new beginnings!

In many ways, the 1940's and 1950's were a safer, simpler time - a slower, more relaxed pace of life ... you could leave your back door unlocked, while you popped down to the shops! Family and the home were a very important focus to life - and this led to a very comforting and welcoming feel to vintage home decor and interior design.

The vintage era is a period that most people can actually remember - either from their own childhood (or even adult life) or at least from the home of their grandparents. This is a very nostalgic look and feel. It will recreate comforting memories and emotions from childhood - feelings of comfort and safety.

This is an easy, relaxed feel - there are no strict rules to getting your vintage interior design look - only a few simple guidelines to follow:

After the War, people did have to 'make-do and mend'. They used old furniture, from all different eras - fine antiques and family heirlooms, handed down through the generations, and simpler pieces, that were made over and repaired. So, feel free to mix and match all kinds of traditional furniture pieces in your vintage decorating scheme.

Look out for loads of hand-made goodies too - such as patchwork quilts, made from pretty scraps and fabric remnants.

A vintage interior design style is definitely not an expensive look to try in your home. Scour antique stalls and flea markets for solid, quality items - the slightly worn look will enhance the 'pre-loved' charm of the unique pieces.

If you find furniture in different styles and different types of wood, why not try painting all your furniture pieces in white, or a colored paint. Try going for a deliberately distressed look, by applying wax to edges and corners that would wear naturally. Paint over the top, then rub down these areas, and create your own 'genuine,' distressed and worn look.

Choose muted and pastel tones for walls and fabric - any color will go, so long as you don't choose something that is too fresh, modern and bright. Add a little interest with accents of patterned wallpaper, and pretty fabrics for upholstery, slip-covers, throws, cushions and curtains. Look out for pretty, floral designs - particularly those typical 1940's and 1950's attractive rose patterns.

Don't be afraid to mix and match patterns and fabrics - and pile on all the pretty layers - slip-covers, throws, patchwork quilts, crochets and lace will all give you that really warm and comforting, nostalgic feel.

Display period accessories and collections on open shelves, or in glass-fronted display cabinets - look out for pretty ornaments, porcelain figurines, and all types of pretty ceramics and pottery.

This is a really good style for anyone who loves knick-knacks and collections - indulge and display your hobby collection - or start one right now...!

I am sure that you will find vintage interior design really comforting and comfortable look - as well as really easy to live with, and really easy to achieve. Don't worry about any rules, and just include all your favourite bits and pieces and styles - regardless of era...

Create a home and style that is uniquely yours - stamp your personality on your space, and relax into a comforting, safe space - that makes you feel really good!

Do you want to see some Pictures, and further information to help you get the right look?

Glass For Interior Designs

Every person wants to be recognized as an individual with special skills, values and talents. These attributes are often displayed in the way we dress, the way we act, the friends we choose and yes, the way we decorate our homes.

For instance, interior designers believe that choosing glass as a means of interior decorating speaks about attributes such as inner beauty, fragility, tenderness and luxury. It's in romantic natures to opt for tiffany lamps or crystal chandeliers. Yet, these are expensive products. Wouldn't it be better to try a little interior decoration of our own?

A personal design mirrors our very essence, hidden feelings and traits we often disregard. Is it safe to expose them? Is it safe to let people know who we really are? Yes, because that's what it takes to make out of interior decorations a real art: to give something to the world, to create.

Creating our own interior design means taking a personal risk. It's not fear, it's just the emotional stress: whether the design we have in mind will come to fruition as we picture it or not, whether people will see it as we do and accept it as a work of art, as a statement of personality or they will just reject it, thus rejecting us.

No matter what, as long as it comes from the heart, this interior design, as any artwork, will be rewarding. Are you willing to take the risk? It would be safe to follow trends, to imitate what you see in magazines. You will not fail: those are professionals; they do interior design for a living. Follow their advice; even hire one if you want, but then, where is your real reward? You'll hear from your friends: "Wow! This is great!" But is this really for you? To do so is to ruin your own talent.

So look inside yourself, think what really matters to you. Let's say you have a thing for dream catchers. So create a design where the dream catcher will fit: ambiguous shapes and shades, obscure lights, fantastic pictures on the walls. If the world you imagine doesn't exist, create your own world! Let your passion drive your mind: don't be afraid to use unusual materials. Anything will do: from broken glass and marbles to tree branches, from dried plants and feathers to paper folds, from broken pieces of a mirror to wood chips or metal accents, from sea shells you color with acrylics to unexpected artworks on canvas.

It's sometimes hard, but don't give up. Great works of art need time and you have time on your side. There's no rush. Your home is your temple, so make it holy for you!

Don't be afraid of what people think. They cannot see the world as you do. They do not feel the same, nor think the same. But when your work is done, astonishing in its beauty, they do not need to understand its meaning but to know it's unique: as unique as its creator - YOU.

Michael Russell