Posts from — December 2011

Pink is often a color choice associated only with girls, although it is also paired with holidays such as Valentine’s Day since it is the color of gentle love. However, pink also has a strong effect on feng shui. Pink can create a soft, gentle look that contributes to a feeling of peace as well. It has often been used as a way to lessen aggression in various groups, and pink can be paired with different colors to give a different feel to the space.

Pink in a Master Bedroom

Most people assign the color pink to a little girl’s room in the home, but the color pink can be used in a variety of ways in other bedrooms. The color pink is a great addition to a master bedroom in the form of accent pillows or other accent pieces. Pink can be paired with black to create an elegant, romantic feel for the master bedroom. Pink can also be brought in by using pink bed linens paired with a solid color bedspread and matching pillow shams. Feng shui doctrines state that pink soothes the energy in a room with its delicate vibrations, although too much pink can create an overabundance of passion and chaos.

Pink in the Kitchen

The kitchen is the one room in a home that most people would shy away from when decorating with pink, but it is actually possible to use the color pink in this space. Pink mixed with orange gives the kitchen a bright and cheerful makeover. Coral, the color result when pink and orange are mixed, gives the kitchen a fun yet sophisticated feel, and it makes the kitchen a lively room filled with a joyous energy. Coral can be paired with golden yellow for a summer-like décor that is beautiful.

Pink in the Living Room

Pink is typically considered off limits for the living room or den because it is “too feminine.” However, when paired with golden mirrors and throw pillows, pink is a perfect accent color for the living room. Pink can give a living room the feel of royalty, and may be paired with browns, in addition to gold, to give a rich atmosphere that feng shui believes lends itself to the well being of your own personal finances.

Pink, Pink Everywhere!

The color pink can be used in any room in the house because it is found in a variety shades and can be mixed with several different colors to give a completely unique feel in each room in the home. Add pink in a variety of creative ways for passion and romance, from floral arrangements and flowered wallpaper to throw pillows, wall hangings, and other accent pieces. A striped pattern incorporating pink, denim blue, orange and brown, for example, is not necessarily feminine. Pink is a versatile color that is given so little thought due, in part, to the fact that society thinks of it as overtly feminine, but it is so full of life and energy that it should be part of every home.

Senior staff writer for Metal-Wall-Art.com, Alyssa Davis, offers design advice on decorating with coffee wall art and guitar metal wall art.

Armed with a RM150 budget, I decided to go to IKEA on the morning of my birthday. Why, you ask? I simply had to take advantage of IKEA’s advent deal of the day - Sundvik chairs at RM49 each.

It was a family occasion. We took the whole family there and started out at the cafe for breakfast. Ryan enjoyed the french toast and the fact that the children’s corner wasn’t crowded for once (he’s never been to IKEA on a weekday). After breakfast, we headed directly over to the children’s section to find out where to pick out the Sundvik chairs. Being fair parents, we decided to get a chair each for Ryan and Lauren. The RM49 deal only applied to white Sundvik chairs – a little disappointed but heck, a saving of RM50 per chair made color a negligible factor. There definitely won’t be post purchase dissonance here.

This left me with RM52 from my budget to spend. We decided to get the MULA crane with blocks for Ryan as he was pretty intrigued by it. I knew this would blow my budget by RM7 but hey, in the larger scheme of things, it keeps my little boy happy and that’s more important really.

When we got home, Ryan helped to assemble both the Sundvik chairs. You know the folks at IKEA have definitely gotten it right if a 2 year old toddler is able to put the pieces of the chair together. Daddy only had to help him made sure the screws were tight.

Having no way to differentiate the chairs because both were white, we decided to do a little ‘hack’. We had some leftover decals and some lettering that was adequate to spell RYAN but not enough for LAUREN. Good thing my wife’s super creative side kicked in and she started hacking at the unused letters to come up with a way to spell Lauren for her chair. Each chair had the name of one of our children and Ryan’s had four little extra fishes along with a green clover whilst Lauren’s had a nice silhouette of a cute monkey motif.

Ryan uses it daily to do his art and craft and Lauren uses it often as a walker. There’s more to the Sundvik than just being a chair!

We’ve all currently got Christmas on our minds, and rightly so, as it is next week. Yes, next week. If you haven’t started buying gifts, now’s the time. But what about after Christmas? When the decorations go down and the family departs, there’s still work to be done in the house. There are still interesting design trends to look for, and one of the big trends of 2012 is shared right here. I doubt you’ll guess it or expect it, but wooden blinds are making a comeback.

The variety and choice of them has grown immensely. You can get them in cherry wood, walnut, bronzed or medium oak, maple, and even mahogany. They can be painted in black, white, light blue, jade or sandwash.

Because of this choice, they can be matched with any décor and interior design. This has led to their standing within the interior design community increasing in a positive manner. As well as the fact that exuberant patterns on roller and roman blinds is becoming less popular, and more rustic yet elegant styles are becoming ever more trendy. The whole image of wooden blinds is turning from old fashioned to luxurious and homely. A strange combination admittedly, but it works and looks great.

Speaking of trends, having a green, green as in environment friendly green, home and interior is highly relevant for the coming year. This trend started with solar panels on the outside of your house, now it’s to use biodegradable material inside your home. Cellular shades and bamboo blinds are the most popular of these eco-blinds, but wooden blinds in general have the edge on the more commercial plastic or cotton window treatments.

Of course, their main benefit is the fact they don’t let light in. Or only let the amount of light in that you wish to wave. Plastic and cotton blinds often still let in a slither of light, you may not want, and with the time, the material stretches and the blind therefore droops. Not an issue with wooden blinds.

Finally, they’re easy to clean and tough. So, even if your cat decides to climb them, they will withstand the urge to disintegrate. Hope you found this small intro into 2012 fun.

Written by Sarah Oxley

Now that you know that wood flooring is a trendy choice for remodeling your home, you need to know how to choose wood flooring colors that work throughout each room. This guide to choosing wood flooring will help you eliminate wood finishes that would clash with your decor otherwise. It will also offer guidance for narrowing down your choices if you are having trouble in that area.

1. Dark and light woods rarely coordinate. Stay away from blending light and dark wood finishes that touch each other, such as baseboards and flooring. They do not coordinate, and the color shift is too drastic when wood is the focal point in the room. In fact, the aesthetic value becomes so low that it takes away from the value of your house to mix woods within the same space when the colors are not the same or very similar.

2. Dark woods look great with light color palettes. To break up a very light decor style, dark wood flooring is a very good choice. Choose your wood flooring based on the room’s decor, and the most important choice is whether to go with the flow, such as light with light colors, or go against the grain, dark with light or light with dark. As long as you are not mixing the wood finishes, you can do a lot with colors against your wood flooring.

3. Light woods and contemporary decor are difficult to match. Many top designers recommend pairing dark woods with contemporary design styles or avoiding wood flooring altogether in favor of laminate, slate, tile, or other modern options. Wood and metal are rarely a good combination, although wood and glass or wood and fabrics are very easy to coordinate. The lighter woods tend to clash with the cool color palette of the contemporary design style, but the darker ones are manageable with the right shades.

4. Stay away from light colors if you have small children or pets. Light wood finishes show dirt and other debris very easily, and although dark can show it too, most experts agree that dark works better than light in this case. As a matter of fact, many decor experts say that real hardwoods are not a good idea at all when you have small children or indoor pets, so avoid them altogether in these cases. Instead, choose a laminate that looks like wood flooring with a color you love instead of real hardwood since it is far more durable and easier to clean and maintain.

5. Use a color wheel if you have any doubts. Many home improvement stores offer color strips that feature dark, medium, and light versions of most colors, and some even have wood samples to compare. Do not take the risk of colors and textures that do not coordinate, choose your colors with a lot of research and some expert advice when necessary. This can be a great way to save time and money as you renovate your home, making sure that you get the biggest return possible on your investment.

Professional designer Jessica Ackerman, writes for WallDecorandHomeAccents.com, and specializes in decorating with contemporary metal wall art and large wood wall art.

1.       A Bit Of Colour

Colours have a great influence on our moods, so for a cosy living room, select warm, neutral colours for the walls of the room. When painting your room in a neutral colour, remember that this doesn’t have to be just one colour. Different tones of the same colour have a stronger impact and will be more interesting to look at. Alternatively, you can paint one wall in a striking colour, such as bright yellow or deep red, and use this one as your feature wall. Framed pictures of family and friends can be hung on this wall, as well as framed prints of your favourite artist or pop art.

2.       Create A Comfortable Atmosphere

By adding several pillows of different shapes and sizes to your furniture and living space, you’ll always have somewhere comfortable to sit. You can liven this up by using pillows of different colours, and shapes, as well as accent pillows. These come in all sorts of different styles and patterns, so there’s something for everyone’s taste. They can equally be used to underline the room’s existing décor and theme. Having soft and fluffy textures around you, further adds to that cosy feeling, and the best way to do this is by hanging blankets and throws over your furniture. Select calming colours for these blankets and be sure they don’t clash with the colour of the furniture. For a relaxing comfort, consider scented candles, essential oils or air fresheners. Lavender, cinnamon, chamomile, ylang ylang, frankincense and sandalwood are all classed as relaxing smells.

3.       Add Character

Consider purchasing a large wall mirror, and place tea lights in front of it. The mirror will not only make the room seem bigger and lighter, but with the candles, it will create a dramatic and romantic light setting. To further enhance this setting, use a combination of small table and floor lamps rather than a main ceiling light. Their soft glow adds to the mood of the room, and they still provide enough light for reading.

4.       Protect The Atmosphere

Once you have created a cosy atmosphere, you’ll want to protect it. To do so, you’ll need to keep unwanted light like natural light, and light from street lamps or cars passing by, out of your living room. A popular solution for this is using wood venetian blinds. They combine modern elegance with rustic comfort, and are seen as a luxurious accessory, without being overly expensive. Furthermore, they give you the control over how much or how little light you want to let into the room.

There is no right or wrong answer to creating a cosy atmosphere, but these tips should get you in the right designing mood. Be sure to surround yourself with items, colours and themes, that are comforting to you, and you’ll have that cosy and safe feeling

If you’re making a piece of furniture yourself as you enjoy a little carpentry – or maybe you’re doing a job in and around the house that requires some nice wood as it’ll be on display – then you go to the local timber yard or DIY store and buy it for the job, right?

Well maybe that’s OK, but if you’re serious about doing a proper job, let me explain a few things…

Air dried wood which is wood left to dry naturally outdoors in stacks which are exposed to the wind but protected from the rain, is the best possible way to dry wood.

The problem is – it takes years. So what timber merchants do is kiln dry it. But the natural way allows internal stresses to release over time – so air-dried wood is always more stable from a professional’s working point of view.

The disadvantage with air drying is that it doesn’t take the moisture content low enough for centrally heated houses.

So in an ideal world, you get timber which has been air-dried and then finished off by kilning. But most shop-bought and general commercially available wood is kiln dried from its green, freshly cut state.  Before the drying process takes place, the wood needs to be cut into planks from the green log.

So the time of the year when the tree is felled has a big influence on the drying and distortion characteristics. Ideally, trees should be cut during autumn or winter when the sap has stopped rising – thus drying and stresses will be kept to a minimum.

So the next time you’re planning that home-made display cabinet, you’ll know all about the wood you seek. If you’re serious about it – go to the wood-yard and ask for your chosen wood type then say you’d like air dried timber that has been kiln dried to finish if possible.

I’m excited about tomorrow. Why? Firstly, it’s my birthday and that’s as good a reason as any to be excited.

Secondly, I’ve been waiting for the 7th of December because I’ve been eyeing to buy IKEA’s Sundvik children’s chair at RM49 instead of RM99. If you don’t know by now, IKEA’s 24 Days Advent Deals promotion has different items on offer for each day in December leading up to the most wonderful time of year – Christmas!

I’m definitely headed to IKEA tomorrow morning for a hearty breakfast and buying ‘em chairs for the little ones. 50% off sure is a deal and gets me more bang for my buck on my monthly IKEA RM150 challenge.

Take a drive down any subdivision lane and look at the houses on either side of the street. In many cases, they will look quite the same–comparable sizes, identical landscaping, the same type of siding and even the same colors. But every now and then you might come across a home that stands out from the crowd with bold colors and an unusual style.

If you want a house with that unique look, fiber cement siding could be the answer.

Fiber cement styles that wow

There was a time when siding was available in only a few styles and even fewer colors. Today, fiber cement siding manufacturers offer a wide range of styles and colors, including customized siding that can be created to suit your vision for a unique home.

Fiber cement siding styles include basic lap siding, stucco, flat styles and notched panel, among others. The siding style you choose can completely transform your home. For instance, basic lap siding that has a large exposure–eight inches or more–can make a house look much bigger. A smaller exposure, such as five inches or less, can make an imposing house look a bit more compact.

Blending different styles can also lead to an eye-catching look; imagine flat boards for a modern look, complemented by traditional lap board for an interesting change of pace. Notched panels mixed with beaded boards can instantly add sophistication and age to a home. Stucco siding can offer a Mediterranean flair, especially if it is complemented with a tile roof.

Surprising splashes of color can make a unique style stand out even more. For instance, a porch that offers bright colors in contrast to the pale, more sedate colors of the rest of the home can make the house stand out from the crowd.

Don’t forget the impact trim can have on your home’s look. Wide, thick trim in complementary colors can make a house look more sturdy, while thinner trim in contrasting colors can make a home look whimsical. Those minor details can mean the difference between a house that is simply appealing and one that truly engages the eye.

Fiber cement siding styles have come a long way from the days of plain, flat lap board. From stucco to logs, fiber cement siding styles can mimic any other material you might want to put on a home. This flexibility can mean the style you want without the maintenance you loathe, and often for a better price. Do your research into fiber cement siding, then hire a contractor to get the job done.