Home Decoration

As the name suggests, the café curtain is a style meant for cafes. However, these days, the café curtains are also heading their way towards the kitchen. It is one of the hottest selling styles in curtains. The kitchen café curtain sets the mood for carrying out your activities, by making your kitchen appear livelier and more vibrant. These café kitchen curtains are coming up in a variety of colors and styles, thus choosing from amongst the several options is indeed a challenging task. Read on to know more about café curtains for kitchen.

Opt for designs that are pleasing to look at. Before you step out of your home for shopping for café curtains, be clear about the style and color you would like to have for your kitchen. Decide as to whether you would like to go in for simple easy to install straight panels or the dramatic curtains. When you are sure about what kind of curtains you want to pick for adorning your kitchen, it will help a great deal in making your shopping easier.

If you want to shop for curtains that stand out and accentuate your kitchen, you’ll have to make an effort in finding the perfect curtain for your kitchen. All that is required is careful planning and a little extra effort in hunting for the right ones. Once you have decided on the color and design that you would like to opt for, the next thing in priority is the need to pay attention to the fact, as to how much light you want to enter through your café curtains. After assessing your need, decide on the type of fabric that will be apt to meet your requirements.

It is kind of tough to decide the décor for a teenage boy! But, when did we say it was impossible? In the growing up years, most boys prefer a tough yet cool look, be it for themselves or their room. Cleaning it up considered no less than a sin and they have to have the posters of their favorite football team or thrash-metal singer adorning the walls! The very sight of a dirty room can make your guts wrench inside you and instinctively you will want to decorate and clean it up. So if you are looking forward to remodel your teenage boys’ bedrooms, you might want to have a look at these decorating ideas given below!

• Firstly, talk it out with your boy as to what kind of a theme he has in mind. Children can be really helpful if you genuinely go and ask them. This way, you will get an idea as to how to go about decorating the room in way that would appeal to the young boy.
• Next, decide on the color scheme. Are you using one solid color or are you going in for wallpapers? Choose colors like blue, mauve, greens, or even browns and oranges. You may also use two shades of the same color. For instance, you may paint the walls in a light blue and line the doors and windows in a darker shade of blue.
• Allot a space for sticking his favorite photographs for a personal touch. You can probably leave one corner of the room for his personal posters and photographs. You may get a board for sticking his pictures so as to make a collage and at the same time not spoil the walls.
• If your boy has a certain interest or hobby like music or painting, you may decorate the room in that theme. You could allot a personal space for his guitar or get a drawing board with a stand to hold pencils and colors. Get a life size poster or a picture of his favorite singer or a famous painting to decorate the main wall.
• Leave enough room to move around. If you plan to have a bed at the center of the room, make sure that rest of the furniture like a study table, chairs, etc, are neatly arranged on one side of the room or arranged in an L shape along the bed.

Create a themed bridal shower that the bride will love.
From the magazine, Simply Creative Weddings

By the Book…
Being a bridesmaid is an honor — and a lot of work. One of the biggest jobs is hosting a prewedding party that your friend, the bride, will love.

The best bridal showers take their cue from the personal taste of the bride. Is she the outdoorsy type or a bookworm? Would she prefer a mountain of lingerie or a library of special edition books?

If she’s the latter, you can take a novel approach by incorporating a book theme into your pretty-in-pink party.

Find more pink party ideas in this article. And, check out our Bridal Shower Tips article as well, using the link below.DecorationsPretty in Pink
Pink and green set the scene for the oh-so-important prewedding party. Cover utilitarian tables with easy-to-make linen tablecloths.

Circles and rings cut from decorative card stock shower the room in polka dots. (For hanging, fishing wire is sandwiched and glued between the circles.)

The no-sew chair covers mimic an elegant wedding veil and are fashioned from two yards of white tulle caught up in a pink tulle bow.

Avoid the expense of professional floral arrangements by using a creative container. For centerpieces, we filled the bottoms of large glass bubble vases with candied almonds, then placed a cylinder vase toting a small bundled bouquet inside.

Take Your Seat
Simple paper and vellum circles tucked inside dahlia petals reveal guests’ names, above. Ribbon markers tucked inside purchased journals display each guest’s initials — another clue to seat designations and a thoughtful guest favor.

The napkin at each setting displays the bride’s monogram and becomes a sweet gift just launder after the shower and present the set to her.

Menu IdeasTasty Treats

Make-ahead appetizers make shower day more relaxed. Serving food buffet-style establishes a casual atmosphere, encouraging guests to chat. You’ll save time and money, and partygoers will appreciate the variety.

With loads of fresh produce nestled in a pesto cream cheese spread, Open-Face Sandwiches add big bursts of color to the buffet.

Antipasto Kabobs
Serve up meats, cheeses, and vegetables kabob-style, and you’re sure to please even the most finicky eater. These no-cook Antipasto Kabobs are easy to make, easy to serve, and easy to eat.

To serve, cut plastic foam to fit inside a dish, stick in the kabobs, and cover the foam with candy. Keep the kabobs refrigerated until it’s time to serve.

Punch
Strawberry-Lime Punch

To maximize table space, use a pedestal to give refreshments a lift. Our punch bowl also can serve as a platter when turned upside down.

Our punch bowl is decorating with an ice ring of strawberries and limes and pairs nicely with appetizers as well as dessert.

Raspberry Cheesecake Tarts
A simple white serving dish makes a striking presentation when topped with Raspberry Cheesecake Tarts.

Floral place mats keep tabletops interesting. Use purchased mats that coordinate, or make your own from decorative papers you’ve laminated at a copy shop.

The bedroom in any season should be relaxing and make you sleep comfortably. The designing and décor of this room of your home should not have any distracting item that attracts your attention away from your comfort. While planning a restful bedroom for your summer home, here are some tips that you can use:

• Any view of water such as ocean, sea, river or lake should be made use of and a tall window that provides the full view of the cool scene outside should never be missed.
• Views of gardens, trees and mountains are relaxing too and should be counted on giving the airy feel to the viewer.
• Instead of covering your windows with the curtains, you can leave them unobstructed to enjoy the beautiful views while you can place the curtains and draperies around your bed to block the sunrays from disturbing your morning sleep.
• Curtains around your bed having soft pillows and throws lend a romantic and fantasy Arabian Night look to your bedroom décor too and make it look cozier and more intimate.
• If you have a habit of reading books in the bed, the night stands on both side of the bed with a lamp on each side, a few good books and magazines, alarm clock and a jug of water along with other accessories can offer the relaxed feel to the room.
• For an old-time feel, you can add bulky antique furniture pieces that make the room look lavish and transport you to those simple times once again but stick to one or two pieces at the most to avoid the stuffiness in the room.
• A carpet, modern big-sized windows and sheer translucent draperies can make the room look and feel open and airy.
• Maintain harmony in the room and stick to pale and light colors for summers.
• White bedspreads make the room look cooler.
• Walls can be tinted white or pale green, yellow or blue in subdued and muted tones to maintain the relaxing effect.
• Carpet should also be light-colored though it can be darker than walls.
  Let the furniture and pillows take on the deepest hues and add color to your bedroom décor and give it a feel of warmth and intimacy to it.

Most landlords do not allow you to make drastic changes to their homes or install new cabinets and shelves, according to your needs. Organizing homes remain a priority for busy students or office going people or even housewives with scores of other work to take care of other than children. Small apartments often have lesser space and if we are not organized, the clutter and chaos can make out very lives overwhelming, as we seem to spend most of our time finding for one thing or the other. Allergies to dust and bugs may make our life a living hell too. Here are some top-class ideas and tips to face the challenge of making better use of small rooms and areas in our rented apartments and homes and live more efficiently:

• Buy some storage units and keep things in the place they are needed. After using things, put them in their place immediately.
• Clutter or things to be discarded occupies much of our usable space and make our homes look disorganized and makes us loose our precious time in finding little things that keep disappearing in it. So get rid of it now!
• Don’t leave things undone. Pay those bills, file paper properly, do the dishes on time and mend the leaking taps and squeaking doors. Work finished helps us to relax better and avoids much of the clutter.
• Remember the lesson - ‘Make a place for everything and keep everything in its place.’
• Transform your junk drawer into a neatly organized storage unit by removing all items from it and lining it with a newspaper. Toss aside the things that are useless and categorize other things into families such as nails and screws, hammer and screwdrivers, wires of all types and other such categories. Make compartments in the drawer using separators such as ice cube trays, small boxes and containers and keep your things as categorized before.

Using space effectively is an important art, especially when you are living in small apartments. Know the difference between not having enough space to store your things and not making the best use of your space. Here are some ideas that you can use to keep your home organized and make the best use of available space:

• A sliding drawer or a shelf can be added underneath a cabinet, furniture pieces or a dresser for greater hidden storage area.
• Desk full of papers and files make your work seem overwhelming. So keep it clear with the help of a full-suspension filing cabinet strong enough to hold all your files away from your view.
• For kitchen cabinets, you may use plastic multiple-level shelves that can be readjusted easily.
• Furniture pieces with hidden space and storage are an asset for those living in small apartments such as coffee tables and ottomans with storage area underneath or under bed boxes, which are great for keeping your quilts and linens.
• If some of your shelves have too much of space, while others are too full, you may want to readjust them according to the space required. Move them a little or add another shelf in between to make more use of the space.
• If you do not have enough space to display all your collectibles at once, rotate them. Put some of your things on display, while you store others safely, and then bring them out once a month and replace the things you have displayed already. This will make your home seem new every time someone visits you.
• It is very important that you get rid of all the things that you don’t like or are not of your use anymore.
• Make best us of your wall space by adding shelves, pegboards and corner shelves that can be used to hand up your utensils and tools or display your prizes and collectibles.
• Make use of corner shelves for keeping picture frames or small things in the living room or soap, shampoos, toothbrush and other accessories in the bathroom. They acquire less space and look great.
• Storage units are great when it comes to saving space and being organized. Spices on a spice rack, canned goods in racks, earrings and other small items in cheap ice trays, pens and pencils in a pen stand not only avoids clutter but are also easier to find when you need them.
• To make more space in the closets, add one rod to hang longer clothing on one wall and two or more rods on the other wall to hang shorter clothing.
• Use your common sense and keep things where they are needed most. Your china, utensils and spices belong to kitchen, toilet paper, napkins and towels to bathroom, lines and quilts to bathroom, videos and CDs in your entertainment area and scissors and glue stick to your work area. Make space for the things needed in the area there itself, so you don’t have to ransack or run over the entire house to search for a thing you need frequently.
• You can also use portable file boxes to hang the file folders, on-the-desk trays and caddies to keep your papers and storage accessories to keep your diskettes and CDs.
• You may also want to rearrange the rooms and customize them according to your needs. If you are used to read or work in your living room, with your TV on, you don’t need a separate office or study that can be used for other purposes while your living room needs to be rearranged to serve both as an entertainment area and work area.

Room Décor is not as easy as it seems at the first sight. You may fancy that glamorous room in the home décor magazine but you may find it almost impossible to translate into a reality because of the simple reason that the construction of your home and measurement of your rooms is entirely different. You may be renting an apartment where you cannot redo the positioning of walls, doors and windows or have a large large hall you do not seem to put to best use. Color, lines and furniture arrangement can make a huge difference to your room décor. We have identified the five most common problems that people often face while doing room décor and have come up with the possible solutions. These are:

1. Very Long Room

• The best way to deal with a very long room is to split it into two using screens and room dividers that you may use as study area, living area, dining room, personal gym or just entertainment room.
• Use warm dark colors on shorter walls to make them advance and give the room a balanced look.
• You may also define separate areas by using different area rugs.

2. Low Ceiling

• Long curtains that can be draped from above the door level and window level all the way to the floor, add height to the room.
• Paint ceiling in light cool color to make it recede and add light to the room.
• Tall accessories such as lamps look good and make room look taller too.
• You can add height to a room by installing vertical and tall cabinets or bookcases in the room.

3. Narrow Room

• Any linear arrangement on shorter walls such as placement of shelves, art pieces or rugs, will make them look wider.
• Diagonal arrangement of furniture looks better.
• You can also fool the eye by painting your longer walls in cool light colors to make them recede.

4. Tall Room

• Horizontally placed shelves, crown mouldings and art pieces cut off the height of the room.
• In such rooms, ceilings should have a warm dark color.
• You can also play the visual trick of installing the mouldings or chair rails to one half to three quarters of the way up the walls.

5. Very Big Room

• Experiment with warm and dark colors on your wall to make the room look cozier and friendlier.
• Group furniture pieces into two or more separate seating arrangements.
• Like long rooms, big rooms can also be divided into smaller areas using screens and room dividers and can be used for better purposes and will make the room look cozier too.

The sheen or the gloss level of the paint you choose for your room décor has quite an impact on the look of your room. It can be determined according to the function of the room and the aesthetic sense. Let’s discuss the type of seens available in the market, though their names and gloss level can vary with the manufacturer:

• Paints with flat or matte finish have no shine and thus hide little imperfections in the wall. However, they are not so stain-resistant though today paints with matte finish and high stain resistance also available in the markets.
• Eggshell paints or velvet-finish paints have very slight sheen or gloss level, are soft and impart a warm look to the room and are easier to clean too. They are preferable for most bedroom and living room décor themes.
• Paints with satin or semi-gloss finish can be used to highlight architectural details and focal points of the home and also in kitchens and baths as they are easy to clean.
• Very high gloss or sheen paint are quite reflective and should be normally reserved for doors and trims and to create special effects.

Here are some tips on how to choose the optimum sheen level of your paint:

• Higher gloss or sheen level generally means easy cleaning of the room or area.
• These paints are suitable for amateurs as they distract the viewer from any painting imperfections.
• Rooms and areas that need to be washed and cleaned often such as bathrooms and kitchens and where people visit most can use high gloss paints.
• High gloss paints also have most stain resistant finish and are toughest when it comes to wear and tear.
• You can use high sheen paints to highlight the focal point or a bold color scheme of the room such as kids’ room or fantasy room décor.
• For kids, one can use bright high sheen primary colors to make different patterns that look interesting such as polka dots.
• Flat paints or paints with low sheen or gloss level are for professionals as they make the surface appear smoother and more uniform and are non-reflective in nature.
• Flat paints are generally used in newly constructed homes or in areas that are not so frequently used in the homes.
• For a vintage home décor, flat paints can be used to paint a wall near the fireplace to highlight it while warm earthly hues look quite beautiful on pillars or columns in old homes.
• For an interesting dramatic effect, one can also use combination of different paint sheens.
• One can consider a monochromatic room décor in two different sheens for an interesting customized effect such as in stripes, blocks or other geometrical patterns.

After the demolition phase, there is usually some preparatory work to be done before you can install your new kitchen. If extensive structural, electrical, plumbing, drywall or paneling work is included in your plans it should take place at this time as well.

Walls
Gouges or holes in the walls must be repaired with wall board compound, spackle, or patching plaster. Stuff larger holes with newspaper or fine wire mesh to hold the compound. If you have gaping holes or many gouges it may be necessary to replace the surface with dry wall.

Usually, installing new cabinets will call or some changes in the position of the cabinets, requiring that the walls be painted. If drywall or large patches of filler are being used to prepare the walls, a coat of sealer or primer should be applied before the color coat.

Locate and mark the wall studs on the floor and ceiling as a reference for attaching the new cabinetry.

Floors
If you plan to replace your floor, the time to prepare for it is Before installing the cabinets and permanent appliances. Ceramic tile floors are usually placed before the installation of cabinets while vinyl flooring can be laid either before or after the cabinets are in place. If the new floor will go directly on top of the existing one, it is very important to fill any areas that may have dipped, buckled or bulged, as well as any holes or gouges, and nail down protruding boards. Remove glue or paint that may have spilled. Countersink nail and screw heads that are sticking up above the surface. If the old floor is embossed or has dips and/or hollows in it, these should be filled in with cement filler using a 5 to 10-inch wide putty knife.

Water damaged floors must be repaired before laying down a new floor. You will need to remove the existing flooring to expose the damaged subfloor. Damaged portions of sub-flooring must be replaced. Should you find the entire sub floor to be too badly damaged for salvage, it will be best to lay new one. This can be laid directly on top of the existing floor.

The Order of Installation
These instructions are to be used as a guide but you should always follow the specific manufacturer’s instructions where there are deviations. Putting the kitchen together should occur in a logical sequence.

1. Primer and paint
2. Ceramic tile, vinyl or hardwood flooring
3. Wall cabinets
4. Base cabinets and islands
5. Cabinet doors, drawers and hardware
6. Plywood base for tile countertops
7. Recessed sink
8. Counter tops - wood, marble, tile
9. Surface mounted sink & fittings
10. Disposal
11. Dishwasher
12. Ice-maker connection
13. Over the range hood/vent
14. Cook top
15. Wall oven and microwave
16. Vinyl Flooring
17. Range
18. Refrigerator, freezer, trash compactor & icemaker
19. Lighting fixtures
20. Finishing touches - trim

    Note: Hardwood flooring and ceramic tile are always laid before cabinets are installed while vinyl flooring can be placed after the cabinetry is in place.

A passion for antiques produces a dining room brimming with vintage furniture and collectibles for every eye to savor.

A decorating style created with golden oldies can be learned. This cottage dining room, with warm antiques presented in an orderly, edited manner, serves as an ideal template for acquiring the knack.

Scale is important in drawing attention to vintage furniture. The homeowners avoided a lot of small furnishings, which create a cluttered look. Instead, they selected large-scale furniture pieces, particularly a harvest-size table and a tall cupboard, that command attention.The pieces aren’t fussy, either; their simple lines make mixing easy. The American Empire dining table (a real find at $200 from an antique shop’s basement) doesn’t require a banquet of same-style chairs. Painted black, Hitchcock chairs — American classics — are right at home with the straightforward look of the table.

A white-painted cupboard adds focal-point interest while tidily organizing a display of antique pottery. Walls disappear beneath creamy white paint, allowing attention to fall on the furnishings. The only art is a pair of vintage prints symmetrically balanced on either side of the cupboard.

Tabletops present an opportunity in design to complement or contrast the mood of the room. The casual feel created by the country cupboard and its pottery display is dispelled at the dining table.

Here, quiet elegance reigns. The mood is established by the centerpiece — a traditional bouquet of roses in a tall crystal vase.

Crystal candlesticks enhance the formality of the centerpiece. (Note: Opaque, earthy potteries are avoided when a formal elegance is desired. Glistening silver and glass are favored.) Completing the look are the place settings of bone china, sterling silver flatware, and emerald goblets.