Home Decorating Tips

Top 10 Decorating Mistakes

The saying “we all make mistakes” definitely rings true when we talk about decorating. It’s important that we realize that mistakes are just really good ways of finding out what NOT to do next time, a sort of ‘what not to let your house wear’ if you will. I’m going to start at number ten and work my way up to the number one mistake. Here they are:

10. Going Matchy-Poo-Poo
If you are asking yourself ‘what does this mean?’ then you may yourself suffer from this problem. And that’s why it made the list. Most people who make this mistake don’t realize that it’s a mistake at all. For years large décor manufacturers and brand name home furniture stores have been trying to sell us a “set of lamps”, a “bedroom suite” a “complete living room”. It seems easy enough. You buy everything in one place and it’s all ‘guaranteed’ to work together. Unfortunately what they don’t tell you is that you can easily turn your new space into a ‘one-trick’ decorating disaster. Don’t be fooled into buying every piece of that living room furniture in the large floral print. Instead go for two pieces and a complimentary pattern or solid for the third. For example, you could purchase a sofa and a chair in the floral but find a loveseat from a different line, similar in scale and style but in a coordinating checked or striped pattern. This is perfectly acceptable practice and will save you from becoming another M-P-P statistic.

9. BEIGE
All that can be said here is that this color is giving ‘neutrals’ all over a bad reputation. With literally millions of colors to choose from and many of them considered ‘new neutrals,’ there are still many people picking ‘beige’ as the backdrop color for their home. Boring! Now, I have no problem with light neutrals and actually enjoy them for their versatility, but let’s take it up a notch and try something that is quiet and subdued but a little more fresh and updated. For those timid hearts out there let me suggest ICI color NW 4471 (Autumnal Equinox) or NN 4407 (Eldorado Tan). Even the names of these colors are more exciting than boring old ‘beige.’ These are a couple of great ‘neutrals’ that offer a little more life and warmth than the more commonly used light colors. However, they both still allow for lots of different color schemes and styles and won’t clash with your other ‘beige’ rooms. They also won’t put your walls to sleep with a case of the ‘ho-hums’.

8. Losing the Mood
Is anything more tragic than ‘losing the mood’ in a bedroom full of miss-matched furnishings and accessories that just don’t belong together? Remember. Mood is very important. If you start decorating a room in the mood of ‘Victorian Romance’ then take a turn somewhere in the process to ‘Modern Minimalist’ design, you will end up with something that looks like what’s left in a décor clearance center the day after Boxing Day. No one wants that look. So, take a look at what you’ve got in the room and ask yourself: Is it all ‘flowing’ properly? Is there any furniture or any accessory that doesn’t really ‘belong’ here? If so, remove the culprits and save them for another room in a whole other style. Leave only those bits that actually fit the ‘mood’ of the space.

7. Living Room’s Are For LIVING
If your living room is ‘just for looking at’ then I’m talking to you here. If your family, friends and visitors wanted to visit a museum they would go to one. Your ‘living room’ is for LIVING! This seems obvious enough but for some reason there are a lot of people out there that haven’t spent a minute in their newly decorated living room. These are likely the same people that have their sofa wrapped in zippered plastic. Is this a sign that you think your visitors are ‘dirty’ and you don’t want them leaving their filth on your prized furniture? Now, that’s not nice. Sofas and carpets can be cleaned, coasters exist for a reason and your relatives really are not so messy and unclean are they?

6. Tipping the Scale
This one can be tricky. There are so many ways to mess this up. First, it’s important that you keep ‘scale’ in mind when you purchase furnishings, artwork or mirrors. It is also important to think about this when picking patterns and accessories. To simplify, if your room is very big and is blessed with high ceilings, then you can feel safe purchasing a larger sized sofa and chairs. In some cases, where there is a very large room, you can consider purchasing two full sized sofas as well as a loveseat and a couple of large armchairs. It all depends on ‘scale’. If your room is small and you can barely squeeze in a two-seater then this is where you should take the ‘less is more’ approach. Select a pair of smaller sized armchairs. Or for added style and comfort try a chaise lounge and an armchair of similar proportion. When choosing artwork, remember that if your room and your furniture is large in scale, then your artwork also needs to be big or else it will be ‘lost’ on the wall and look displaced and ‘cheap’. As I said before, this one can be tricky. You don’t want to ‘tip the scale’ too much, but you also want to avoid ‘matchy-poo-poo.’ Just remember: Big Room = Big Stuff, Little Room = Little Stuff.

5. Hey, Big Spender!
Budgets. We all have them. But it would seem that some of us suffer from budget amnesia when we shop for home décor items. I speak from experience here. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is when you fall in love with that gorgeous, one of kind, perfect style accent lamp that costs more than your new furnace. This is a sure way to use up your whole budget on a very small part of the room you are creating. If you used the money towards a larger item, it would have a much bigger impact on the design. If you need to be reminded of this point again then please, the next time that you spot such a budget-buster at the décor store, pick up your cell phone and call your best friend, and she will tell you the same thing. Trust me!

4. Too Much is Too Much
I know, it’s tempting to stuff your redesigned rooms full of all the fabulous finds you have, and to keep adding more things bit by bit as you continue to snag deals on great accessories. This is dangerous because you will very quickly have ‘too much.’ And too much is just……. too much! Try rotating your accent pieces, switching things occasionally for fun but don’t let your rooms become a virtual bazaar of goods and knick-knacks that could make anyone dizzy from ‘visual overload.’ I’m not saying that you have to take a minimalist approach all the time, but you don’t want your design to end up lost in the confusion of an over-crowded room.

3. Forgetting To Refresh
Just because you redid your den a year ago, doesn’t mean you don’t need to do anything else with it. A lot can happen in a year. Trends come and go. Fads can fade. Even some of the newest and greatest styles can disappear from the ‘style-radar.’ I’m not suggesting that you redo your whole room, just refresh it with a quick and easy ‘redesign’. Remove anything that is now ‘out of style’ but leave the basics as-is. Try changing the throw pillows on the couch to a different color or pattern. Give the walls a makeover by taking down the existing artwork and replacing it with something new. Or retrieve something that has been stored away in your basement just waiting for a chance to shine, and add new life to your room. This should be fun so don’t stress about it, just take your time and enjoy the process.

2. Hocus, Pocus Where is The Focus?
If your room has no focus then it’s missing a very important ingredient of good design. Every room needs to have a ‘focal point’ and if one does not already exist then you have to create one. In rooms that have a fireplace or a large picture window, the focus is obvious. But in rooms where there is no special architectural detail and no particular focal point, it helps to introduce a large piece of colorful artwork, a beautifully framed mirror or other interesting item that will draw the eye to it. If you are guilty of leaving a big blank wall as the focus of your room then you have made a serious mistake and you need to run out immediately and find something fabulous to put there.

1. Being Afraid to Break a Rule
This is the number one mistake…. for good reason. It’s the mistake that makes you afraid to make another mistake. That can lead to a vicious spiral of self-doubt, and bad decorating. What you don’t want is to end up back at mistake number 10. It’s a slippery slope from being ‘afraid to break a rule’ to going ‘matchy-poo-poo’. Remember that rules are just guidelines and don’t always apply to every room design.

So, there you have it. Those were the ten most common mistakes people make when decorating. Now you know what the mistakes are and you have a better chance of avoiding them. Remember there are very few decorating mistakes that cannot be fixed with some hard work, a little imagination and a can of paint.

Decorating your Space with Wall Decor

How to Decorate your Space with Wall Pictures

If a room in your house lacks character, by simply placing some fine art prints on the walls can actually make quite an impact. Wall pictures are a necessary accessory in your home and are great to tie in with the room’s style and color accent. Before you go off to buy some new pictures for your walls there are a few things you need to plan and decide upon. Here is a home interior design guide on how to decorate your space with wall art.

Shop for Wall Art by Room

The kind of home you have and the mood, ambience and style of decor you create, should be perfectly designed to suit your lifestyle. Deciding on a style for your room should be determined by the lifestyle you choose and not by what’s the latest home interior design trend.

Whichever room you are wanting to decorate, whether it be your bedroom, living area, kitchen or office space, you need to decide what you want to get out of that space. For example:

•do you want to hold dinner parties or entertain?
•do you want a quiet retreat to get away from the hustle and bustle?
•Is this an area for the kids to play in?
•Is this a room for your hobby?
Once you have decided what you want to use the room for, you can now choose a color theme to suit the function of the room. For example, mellow greens and neutrals for your ‘quiet retreat room’, lively yellow for the kids room, or pale tranquil blue for your office space.

So far we have established the function and color of the room in question, this then gives us the basis on choosing the right art prints for the area.

For example:

•bright colorful cartoon pictures for the kids room
•mellow pastel floral pictures for your quiet retreat area, or
•tranquil landscape and scenic pictures for your office space
Choose your Style

Like paint color, artwork can immediately establish or change a room’s mood. Not only can it pull the room together, but you can use it to create a style uniquely your own.

•traditional & classic
•modern
•contemporary
•fun & entertaining
•casual
•romantic
The style of the room is totally dependent on your own personal taste and this is the time when you can inject your own personality into the room through artwork and textured accessories.

Suggested art picture styles:

Fun & Entertaining: Pictures can include bright colors both in the print and on the frame. Fun and entertaining pictures can include kittens and puppies, or comedian actors such as the Three Stooges or Laurel & Hardy.

Modern: With the strong black accents in the framed iron-work and the tapestries, striking black and white photos are a natural choice for a modern and sophisticated look.

Calm Retreat: To reinforce the mood of a nestled, cozy retreat, use artwork with neutral, earthy colors and a horizontal landscape subject.

You can even mix and match different styles to create a unique style of your own. For example, frame traditional black and white photo prints in a modern black iron frame.

Arranging and Hanging your Pictures

In order to get the maximum effect of your wall pictures in terms of adding character and a focal point to the room, you need to decide where and how you want to hang them.

Here are some suggestions to help you decide how to get the best effects from your pictures:-

Modern Gallery Look: To create a modern art gallery feel, particularly nice in hallways, lobbies and stairwells, give each piece ample breathing room. Stand at the center of the first piece and take one swift, or two small steps along the wall. This is a good center for the next piece.

Above a Sofa: When placing art above furniture such as a sofa, you need to hang the picture about six to nine inches above the sofa, or at eye level.

Cluster Arrangements: Tightly group an even number of pictures together to give a statement or a focal point. This works on either large or small wall spaces, depending on the look you want.

In a row: By placing an odd number of pictures in a horizontal line to each other gives balance and the sense of space. This works well in hallways or stairwells.

By deciding where and how to hang your pictures, whether it be a tight cluster or a single print above a sofa, you can then determine the size and shape of the pictures you need to buy.

When you have decided on the room’s function, color and style, you are in a much better position to go shopping for wall pictures that fit in with the overall theme.

Summary
Wall pictures are an underestimated home interior design accessory. This is probably because most people do not know what to do with their pictures in order to get the maximum effect in a room. Before you go hanging up your pictures make sure you plan ahead what you want to get out of that room. Decide on the function, style and color of the room first before you buy your artwork. By doing this you are in a much better position to buy the right type of art picture to fit in with the theme and color accent of your room.

Decorate Your Home with Shabby Chic

Are you ready to redecorate but have a limited budget? Do you have some great furniture but nothing matches? Do you love antiques but not stiff formal decor? Then think Shabby Chic, a fun decorating style that solves all these dilemmas and more.

Shabby Chic is one of the hottest trends in decorating, and for good reason. It is versatile, easy, and inexpensive. Shabby Chic is based on simplicity — simple color themes combined with your favorite furniture and art.

Shabby Chic can be anything you want it to be, and is a great way to bring your personal style to any room. Most Shabby Chic decor is based on a white-on-white or beige-on-beige theme. Soft pastels are often used as accent colors, but with a little creativity, you can add just about any color you want. A classic example of Shabby Chic would be to cover couches and overstuffed chairs with white slipcovers, whitewash your wood furniture and hang white airy curtains. Then hang your favorite painting or artwork in the most prominent place in the room.

Choose one or two colors in the painting as accent colors, and repeat the colors in throw pillows, flowers, soft throw blankets, and candles. Another great feature of Shabby Chic is the worn and well-loved look. That side table that has an interesting shape but has seen better days is perfect for Shabby Chic. Simply whitewash it and put a vase with flowers on top. Better yet, use an old china teapot or your grandmother’s favorite vase for the flowers. It’s the little details like this that make Shabby Chic work so well.

If you’re on a tight budget, Shabby Chic is a great choice. Make your own slipcovers with any durable white or beige fabric, and cover couches and chairs to match. Pick up interesting accessories at yard sales and flea markets, and paint them all the same shade of white. Pull out your favorite pictures and put them in frames painted white or coordinated accent colors. Throw in a few candles, flowers, and pillows, and you’ve got a beautiful Shabby Chic room.

Shabby Chic is also perfect for highlighting single pieces of furniture. Do you have a gorgeous, beloved antique but nothing else that goes with it? Decorate the room in Shabby Chic and let your antique be the center of attention.

Whatever your style, whatever your budget, whatever mismatched furniture you own, there’s a Shabby Chic look for you.

Easy Decorating Ideas For Kids’ Rooms

Capture Your Child’s Dreams
When it comes to decorating, kids’ rooms are unlike any other part of the house. With this space, you and your child can let your imaginations run wild and really be creative. Throw those traditional decor schemes out the window – this is your chance to try something new.

One of the best ways to start planning the decor for a room is by choosing a theme. Because it’s very important for a child’s room to reflect their interests, involve them in the planning process. Maybe there is an animal or a certain color they love. Do they have a favorite movie or sport? Is there an artist whose work they enjoy? Try using your child’s favorite books as inspiration. Once you have a theme, the fun begins.

Below Are A Few Ideas To Get You Started:

Rain Forest:
Many children are fascinated by the jungle animals they see in movies such as “The Lion King” or on the cable channel Animal Planet. Why not create a rain forest environment filled with friendly creatures? It’s easy to pull this theme together by using a wall mural to create the effect. Imagine your child’s delight when she wakes up and finds herself in a lush jungle filled with pandas, monkeys and exotic birds in the trees. Murals Your Way from Environmental Graphics offers a variety of jungle-themed murals you can customize to fit any room. Select the one your child likes the best and then complete the décor by adding soft fabric snakes, animal print pillows, a butterfly net on the wall and some cuddly stuffed lions and tigers.

Fairy Tales:
Well loved children’s stories such as “Peter Pan,” “Sleeping Beauty,” “Cinderella,” and “The Wizard of Oz” provide a fanciful focus for room decor. Use vivid paint colors and stencils of ivy or flowers to portray a make-believe world. Add some glittery accents with silver paint and sparkles. Decorate the walls with framed illustrations or a mural that depicts a scene from a book. We have a large variety of fairy figurines, and fantasy items that can be used in this theme.

Outer Space:
Spark your child’s imagination by bringing the stars inside. To create an outer space theme, cover the walls with reflective planets and stars. From the ceiling, hang flying spaceships and decorate with arrangements of constellations. Use an outer space border to outline windows and doors. Images of the planets, the surface of the moon and even the shuttle cockpit are available from Murals Your Way.

Beach & Ocean:
Does your child love to play on the beach? You can recreate that happy environment year round with an ocean-themed bedroom. Use deep blues for the walls and paint the ceiling like a sky complete with fluffy clouds scudding across the surface. Add a sand colored rug or mats on the floor. Accent everything from picture frames to mirrors with ocean shells. If your child isn’t old enough for a real fish tank, photographs or murals of colorful tropical fish are a way to add some marine life to the design.

“Content Courtesy of http://www.wholesale-decor.com/”
All the themes mentioned here can be created inexpensivly using our affordable room accents

Decorate Like A Pro

Have you ever wondered why interior designers place slippers on the ottoman in magazine photos?
They do it to make the staged setting look as if it’s a lived-in room. Pictures and illustrations in decorating books, magazines, and other advertisements are designed to sell a product or an idea.

But what’s missing in the staged rooms of most interior design books and magazines? People.

When it comes to decorating your own your home, forget the empty rooms you see in the magazines and books. You should design your rooms as backdrops for the people who use and live in those spaces. In order to best utilize the spaces in your home, try these simple techniques:

Leave empty space.
Empty space gives you breathing room and allows the most important items in the room to shine, which are the people!

Use small patterns on walls and furniture.
Avoid large-patterned fabrics and wallpapers with designs larger than your head. Huge florals will interfere with the appearance of the people in the room. You don’t want to have to compete with bold patterns behind your face. Patterns on sofas and chairs that clash with clothing will also make you and your guests feel uncomfortable.

Use colors that complement people.
Finding the right colors to complement your skin and eyes deserves planning. Most people look great when surrounded by color. For light skin colors, use yellows, pinks, and beiges. For darker complexions, yellows, olives, and tans can make people stand out. Since most people no longer have bright white in their eyes, avoid pastels that are whiter than the white in your eyes.

Add textures that feel good to the touch.
Support your sense of touch by adding textures that are nice to caress. You don’t have to touch velvet to sense its softness, and soft textures like chenille and satins will visually support your feeling of being pampered, as well.

Arrange accessories to shore up emotions.
In one of my rooms, I arranged my mantle accessories to make a statement, and it looked great in photographs, but after analyzing why the mantle didn’t seem to smile, I realized that it wasn’t personal. When I filled it with Mili fiori lamps, crystal candlesticks, and antique vases, the space looked great, but it really began to smile when I added a Mexican Rose rock under the painting.

Think comfort before pretense.
Just because a sofa or chair looks fabulous doesn’t mean the piece is comfortable. Remember, when you walk around a showroom, sitting down on any piece feels good, but in order to truly test a piece of furniture, you need to sit on it for a long time, until you feel totally rested. Only then will you be able to feel the real support and comfort level of that piece.

Remember, your home is a place for people, and when you and your guests look and feel great in your home, you can be sure that you’ve designed a great setting; one that far outshines the staged sets you’ll see in magazines and books.