Archive for October, 2009

The Elegance of Less is More

Monday, October 19th, 2009

With today’s fast paced living and cluttered lifestyle, we often overlook simple elegance. Such amenities that modern living offers sometimes makes us feel the need for a fresh open space in our home. After a busy, hectic day, it would be great to relax in a comfy, spacious home. Minimalist interior design has arisen out of modern day living’;s need for simplicity. Minimalist design displays its features through a “less is more” style. This kind of interior design gives a relaxing feel to your home that we urban residents have been looking for.

Minimalist design traces its history back to the 60’s where its name was coined to depict the simple sculpture style of certain artists. Traditional minimalism was previously treated as bare and bleak, so it was seldom used by designers. Now, minimalism has grown beyond this traditional view.

Minimalism is a practical style these days because it keeps home accessories to a minimum. This principle makes the home easy to manage, clean and organized.

There are two key factors when considering minimalism for your home. One is that you must know the right angle for the lighting fixtures. Lighting gives an elegant touch to any minimalist-inspired design as it sets the mood of your place. You don’t need to stick to just white. You can choose a color or two for accenting to emphasize a certain feature of the house. The windows, doors and flooring should compensate each other. If you prefers the flooring to be patterned, the windows and doors should be plain, and vice versa. However, you can still choose to accentuate the floor with decorative rugs. For the furniture, it’s good to use earth-tones to give a natural look. If you prefer to have a modern touch, glossy-textured furniture can be used. When it comes to accessorizing you can choose to display only the most used accessories. A lamp, a vase or your favorite painting can be enough to accessorize a minimalist design.

Minimalism can be lively and inviting. The key is to mix and match the basics with light accentuation and to accessorize your design. Creatively use the limitations of minimalism to create your own beautiful home decor.

Elegant Home Decoration

Saturday, October 10th, 2009

Art expression has been part of each era’s history. The different remnants of artistic expression have been passed through time via sculptures, paintings and ornaments. A touch of the passionate remnants of art can be perfectly incorporated right into your own house. Your can decorate your home according to the era that best fits your style and personality.

A variety of interior design approaches have been conceptualized and adapted from various eras in history. One interior design concept is the Rococo style, which is probably one of the oldest concepts that has been adapted from the 18th century French art. Customizing your home with this style would give you an atmosphere of genuine brilliance and elegance. Rococo decor basically plays around asymmetry and natural forms. Painting your homes with ivory white or pale colors with a touch of gold adds to the neoclassic atmosphere that you have to created. Make this bare background come alive by hanging paintings depicting the style of the 18th century. Adding some marble-looking sculptures and Rosedale Venetian mirrors makes your home shimmer with elegance. Accessorize your homes further with tapestries and elegantly tied ribbons. Pave your way to aristocratic living with Rococo interior design.

Another decorating style that is becoming increasingly popular is modern vintage design. Modern vintage dates back to the 40s and 50s and embraces a laid-back, easy-going style. However, its relaxed aspects can be matched with your own unique style and taste. Antiques and heirloom furniture are the central accessories of this style. Fill your homes with soft, pastel tones and place flowerpots and ceramics in the room to come up with a unique vintage appearance. Accessorize you homes with your handmade patchwork quilts and crochets to finish it up. Modern vintage interior design lets you experience the nostalgia of traveling back to the good ol’ days.

If the earlier styles don’t match your fancy, then try some shabby chic designs, which have been adapted from a British countryside style. Shabby chic interior design gives a heavenly, relaxing and smooth ambiance. It is easy to use this design as all you have to do is to bring out your old furniture and fabrics, as the faded, age-worn look is what this design is all about. You can paint your home with white, cream or pastel faded hues. Shabby chic designs can be accessorized with overstuffed furniture, pillows and chandeliers or arranged candles to give a cozier feel.

These three interior design concepts are enough to fill your homes with that elegant and cozy feel that you have been looking for. Plus, by adding a touch of creativity, your own personality will shine through.

Shabby Chic Creativity

Thursday, October 8th, 2009

blog-header-green-cropped.jpg

Home is where your heart is. It’s fun to decorate your home according to your own lifestyle and needs. Whether it’s simple, modern, full of colors or even vintage style, what’s important is that you are able to live comfortably. On the other hand, when it comes to renovating a room or to adding some home accessories to a certain area, it can be difficult to know if you’re going with the right color or if you’ve got the right piece for a particular space. Since new furniture and decor is always coming out, most people end up hiring interior designers to help them and end up forking over a lot more than they expected. So how can you get great home decor on a limited budget?

There are a lot of ways that you can redecorate your home in cheap and creative ways. You can make personalized decor out of arts and crafts materials that you can find around your house or you can recycle old items from a yard sale. It’s being simple yet elegant and inviting. All you need is your imagination and creativity.

By looking around at neighborhood yard sales, you can find a lot of items that you can work with like vintage furniture, clothes, wall decor and other materials. For example, if you find an old table and chair, you can just repaint it with the color that will compliment your room. You can match your new table with vintage teacup set that has floral designs and place some flowers in a vase next to it. It will add a character to your table setting.

Then, for a more personalized touch, you can make your own picture frames. Take some cardboard and cut it into a size that you like, then make the body of the frame. Put some stickers on it or cover it with some nice decorative paper, then hang it on the wall. Next, for your kitchen area, you’ll may have a number of empty mason jars of jelly, peanut butter, etc. Don’t throw them away because these can make useful decorations. First, gather all jars that have a pleasant design. Wash them and remove their labels to clean them. Add details to the body like stickers or paint. Now you’ve created your own custom-made pen organizer or storage jar.

Home decor doesn’t have to be expensive. It’s all about style and creativity. Making personalized decor is fantastic and can be eco-friendly too, so don’t be afraid to explore and try new things. Soon you’ll have your own amazing shabby chic masterpiece.