Category — Cool Homes

If you are redecorating your bedroom and are stuck for ideas then look no further. Design trends for bedrooms are everywhere but here are a few of the best ideas around. Pick one of these current interior design ideas and create a design that will be the envy of all your friends…

1. Custom-made headboards. Pick out some fabulous bedding for your double beds and then buy an extra sheet or single duvet cover in the same range to have converted into a padded headboard. If you are good at craftwork and handy with a staple gun then have a go yourself, otherwise find a local upholsterer and get some professional help. The result will be stunning and comfortable too when you are sitting up in bed reading your favourite book.
2. Invest in a chandelier. Yes, they are back! You need a pretty high ceiling though so before you commit to anything too enormous have a bounce on your mattresses and make sure you have enough head clearance. Choose from a traditional, ornamental style – gold is big right now – or go for an ultra modern take on this design classic. Add a dimmer switch for that touch of bedroom romance and you are creating a bedroom paradise.
3. Treat yourself to hotel-style gadgets. A flat screen television either wall mounted or even inside the footer of your bed frame is a really relaxing touch for an indulgent bedroom. Or how about a mini refrigerator for midnight snacks and cold drinks. Or the ultimate wake up call – an espresso maker in the bedroom to put a zing in your step before you even go downstairs. Luxurious heaven, you will never want to leave the room.

The ultimate bedroom will give you a lot of pleasure so think big and create your perfect room.

• The ultra clean layout – clear delineation of living vs dining vs kitchen, all in one linear space. White being the predominant colour, accentuated by the varying colours provided by artifacts in the space
• Lots of natural lighting – 3 large windows provide enough natural lighting throw into this space to light it up but not to the point it becomes glaring
• Bright red sofa – this is the key piece of furniture that breathes life into this space. Only a bright colour can have this effect. A brown or beige would just fit in but having the sofa stand out helps create clear boundaries for the living area
• Inexpensive racks and shelves – the type you can get from IKEA that is extremely affordable. One does not always require expensive and fancy furniture

via freshome

The hard part is done – you have sold your old house, you have had an offer accepted on your dream home and now you are making plans for the big day: moving day. It is an exciting time but don’t get carried away, you still need to concentrate on engaging the right firm of house movers for you and making sure all the paperwork gets finalised. Last minute hitches are all too frequent with house moves so cross your fingers and do everything you can to make the last part of the process go smoothly.

The ideal way to select movers is to acquire at least two or three quotes. Choose a range of firms from large, nationally known names to local, small companies and compare their services and costs in relation to your requirements. It is always a good idea to ask friends and family for personal recommendations too as there is no substitute for hearing about moving experiences first hand from people you trust. Alternatively, you could decide to hire a van and do the move yourself. If you take this route then make sure you get a big enough vehicle and give yourself enough time. Rope in as many willing helpers as you can and this will help keep the costs down considerably.

Removal options vary massively from the all inclusive packages where you literally get up and go out and they will pack everything you own in neatly labelled boxes and then unload it in the corresponding rooms in your new place, to pretty much a team of guys and a van. The ‘Rolls Royce’ type service will of course have a price tag to match and is nice if money is no object to you or work are picking up the bill, but not preferable for anyone who is more budget conscious. Keep costs down by packing and unpacking yourself as far as possible. Many firms will provide packing materials and loan you boxes which they will deliver ahead of moving day so you can fill them ahead of time.

One last piece of advice – leave out the kettle and some mugs. In my experience removal firms work better when fuelled with free flowing cups of tea – and a biscuit or two won’t go amiss either! Happy New House!

Written by Charlotte Cook, a home and lifestyle journalist who likes Online Bingo, watching reality TV, and of course research the latest trends in home design!

My garages days are numbered. No, I am not knocking it down – I am turning into a den for the kids and somewhere for their friends to crash, as they do quite often at the weekends – without any warning I might add. This drastic turn of events has come about in order for my husband and I to re-claim our living room: I have come downstairs on a Saturday morning once too often to a snoring teenager on the sofa, and have had to endure far too many PS2 marathon championships on my TV. Enough is enough!

So, we are moving all our stored boxes into the garden shed and the loft – via a large skip to whittle down the quantity – and then getting started on the conversion. Light is the main thing, so the up-and-over garage door is coming out to be replaced entirely by glass panels including sliding patio doors out onto the driveway. We are whitewashing everywhere and laying wood laminate flooring, fitting a mini kitchen area with sink, microwave and fridge and that is pretty much it! Throw in a couple of sofa beds and an enormous flat screen television and the rest of the décor is up to the kids.

The result will be so appealing to the little darlings that I doubt we will ever see them upstairs again! The single beds in their rooms will start to collect dust and the living room will once again become an adult-only sanctuary: bliss. I just can’t wait for it all to happen now, and neither can everyone else. There is non-stop talk of pictures for walls, dart boards and even soft furnishings – much to my amusement. I have also heard lengthy technical discussions about how to wire together all the required electronic entertainment equipment, completely beyond me I must say! I haven’t seen the kids so excited for ages – I just wish we’d done it sooner.

Kitchens are very personal spaces and definitely somewhere that you can really tell how a persons mind works and what kind of cook they are. Some of my friends display ‘Sleeping with the Enemy’ characteristics (early 90’s Julia Roberts film – look it up, it’s great) by lining up the labels on the tins in their cupboards, too much spare time on their hands I say! Whilst others have blatant disregard for any kind of order or tidiness and the laptop vies for worktop space alongside the blender, the kid’s homework and a few potted plants.

One thing that everyone seems to have in common is a deep love for their integrated dishwashers. It is most definitely my favourite time saving device and is quite often referred to in our house as the ‘wet cupboard’ because some much-used items never actually get put away anywhere else. Being let off the hook from the tedious task of washing up by hand is a luxury which we quite often take for granted but take a moment next time you have a big family dinner to consider just how lucky you are. If mine ever broke down I would be beside myself!

Dishwashers haven’t actually been around that long – as I’m sure your older relatives would delight in telling you – I can actually remember my Mum and Dad getting their first one and the neighbours coming round to look! Yes, showing my age again. I even recall one old dear turning her nose up suspiciously at it and muttering something about these new fangled gadgets being no substitute for good old fashioned elbow grease. Well, quite frankly, I will keep my elbows happily grease-free and run the thing morning noon and night if it gets me out of washing up by hand – I’m sure most of you will agree.

I have decided that the walls in my house are really boring. This realisation came to me recently in Edinburgh when I was visiting friends with way more style than me, and became very envious of their wall coverings. There is no boring old wallpaper for them, oh no, and even the paint is special – let me tell you more.

It started when I settled into the spare room, as the twin guest beds were positioned against an end wall with what can only be described as vinyl decals overlaid on a plain paint background. The scene depicted was of trees coming up from the corners of the room with branches overhanging the bed heads as if in silhouette. Throw in a few owls on the branches and the whole thing was amazingly effective. I was jealous immediately!

Moving through the house I discovered more quirky features which made the tree-covered guest beds look positively tame: a full room height black and white photo of a New York skyline graces a curved wall in the family room, and the kitchen has a whole glass brick story going on. Taking the time to look at the furniture and fittings I see that they are in the main plain and simple pieces and that the bold decorating statements really give the house personality. Very clever, I think to myself, and consider how can I emulate this at home…

I decide to start small and tackle the plain family bathroom walls in order to bring alive the white bathroom suite. This is when I discover that the choice online is incredible and I spend many a pleasant hour clicking through the various options. To make the kids happy I opt for undersea creatures and do my best to create a fun look featuring seaweed and even a scuba diver. It is quick and easy to do and I am hooked, I wonder what can I stick vinyls to next…

Our children have reached the age where their friends have started to come for sleepovers. It is all very cute seeing how excited they get, but can be rather exhausting when you are still trying to get them to settle down at midnight, inventing ever more elaborate threats and bribes. I have a theory that attempting to get children to sleep on an airbed is never easy and so am looking for a better solution.

My latest tack is to redesign our larger children’s bedroom to accommodate two single beds on a permanent basis. I am hoping that by providing a more comfortable bed the next sleepover we have will actually include some sleeping! I am setting up a kind of den arrangement as well so that they can use the portable DVD player for entertainment whilst snuggling under the duvets. Add in some dim, soothing lighting and fingers crossed the relaxing, cosy environment will have heads nodding and eyelids drooping in no time.

I’ve even got a couple of extra single mattresses stored away so that if we end up with a huge invasion – which my daughter is angling for on her birthday – then I can line the little darlings up like sausages on the floor, shut the door on them and hope for the best! I think I might just be needing ear plugs that night, but hey, at least it is only once a year. As a child I remember always wanting to have friends to stay and not being allowed very often – as the parent I am now starting to see why, but am determined to let them have their fun. It will only be a few years until they grow up and move out and then I will miss having a house full of laughing children. I will attempt to hold onto this thought the next time I have to get up at 5am to feed grumpy small children who have kept each other awake all night!

Kitchens are very personal spaces and definitely somewhere that you can really tell how a persons mind works and what kind of cook they are. Some of my friends display ‘Sleeping with the Enemy’ characteristics (early 90’s Julia Roberts film – look it up, it’s great) by lining up the labels on the tins in their cupboards, too much spare time on their hands I say! Whilst others have blatant disregard for any kind of order or tidiness and the laptop vies for worktop space alongside the blender, the kid’s homework and a few potted plants.

One thing that everyone seems to have in common is a deep love for their integrated dishwashers. It is most definitely my favourite time saving device and is quite often referred to in our house as the ‘wet cupboard’ because some much-used items never actually get put away anywhere else. Being let off the hook from the tedious task of washing up by hand is a luxury which we quite often take for granted but take a moment next time you have a big family dinner to consider just how lucky you are. If mine ever broke down I would be beside myself!

Dishwashers haven’t actually been around that long – as I’m sure your older relatives would delight in telling you – I can actually remember my Mum and Dad getting their first one and the neighbours coming round to look! Yes, showing my age again. I even recall one old dear turning her nose up suspiciously at it and muttering something about these new fangled gadgets being no substitute for good old fashioned elbow grease. Well, quite frankly, I will keep my elbows happily grease-free and run the thing morning noon and night if it gets me out of washing up by hand – I’m sure most of you will agree.

It is common these days for architects to build with the element of light being the key ingredient in their design. However, arhitect Marcio Kogan of Studio MK27, decided to build his home with the key element being – breeze. He wanted a home that would breathe together with him in harmony .

Combining modern contemporary with traditional Bahian elements, Kogan produced a landmark home which would be the envy of other home owners. In Bahia, Brazil, the climate is humid and warm all year round hence efficient ventilation becomes paramount to the comfort of its inhabitants.

The living/dining space is essential walled by glass panels which can slide completely out of the way, has floor to ceiling accordion mesh screens which can be hidden away also to create a very expansive look which allows the living/dining space to meet the courtyard unimpeded. The living space is adorned with beautiful wood ceiling planes and stone walls to add a clear separation of distinct spaces. Classic mole chairs fill up the central living space, optimized by modernist Brazilian art to add colour and overall depth

image source: architectural record