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At the end of October, autumn really explodes in a harvest of colors as we look forward to the excitement of the holiday season - Halloween, hayrides, harvest festivals, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukah, and many more memorable occasions before the dead of winter sets in.

Home decorating colors that are most popular this autumn and into the holidays include palettes of purples, reds, and maroons; with blues and golds for accent and contrast. Decor experts are predicting a trend toward the slightly blackened reds like claret, a deeply dark red; and a berry wine that has a blue cast. Reds can be used in a number of cross cultural and multicultural decor schemes and themes, representing the palette of reds and purples that is prominent in the sunrise of the Grand Canyon to the sunset of a painted desert in the Southwest. A variety of beautiful reds can also be teamed with black and white and or with gold to further represent the Southwest USA, Native Americana, Latin, or even Asian decor.

Considering wall paints for the home, the Glidden 2006 Paint of the Year, Golden Kiwi, was named in January 2006 and has a spicy undertone that accents reds, purples, and blues very well for a sense of energy and comfort all at once. Additionally, Glidden has a wide range of golds from which to choose, and their website has a fun visualizer in which you can pull up a colorless room and try different shades virtually. You can find it at glidden.com and have a lot of fun with it. Benjamin Moore and Company suggests their color called Queen's Wreath, from their Dramatic Palette, a color described as a chameleon color of purple with gray undertones that subtly pick up adjacent colors. Pratt and Lambert promotes their 24-26 Boucle, a lighter blue that is somewhere between aqua and teal. That particular shade contrasts nicely with deep reds, purples, maroons, dark blues, and even browns that may already be present in furniture, carpeting, and accessories.

With new paint on the walls, you really do not need to purchase any new furniture or carpeting, but current furnishings may be enhanced instead. For instance, a straight-backed chair can be transformed into a conversation piece by covering it in buttons of all shapes and styles, glued into place and sealed with varnish, except the seat on which you can place an attractive seat pad or pillow that complements your new colors. New lampshades in contrasting or matching colors can also liven up a room and current furniture can be rearranged into a conversational space. You can do this by moving furniture off the walls into a grouping conducive to conversation, and away from the TV.

If you have carpeting, add rugs in any of a variety of shapes and designs to complement your wall colors. If you have wood flooring that you want to enhance, you can paint a rug over a portion of it with latex or acrylic paint and seal it with several coats of varnish, letting each coat dry before applying another. You might also try this on a concrete floor after sealing it first, since porous materials soak up a lot of paint. If you have patio stones in your front or back yards, you might also seal a few of them, and repeat the painted rug from your wood flooring onto your outdoor stones. You could paint a large rock in your garden or on the patio, and even bring it indoors and place it in a corner to match the faux rug.

As accent pieces for your rooms, you might bring in a selection of prairie grasses, pine boughs, and ornamental plants and late-blooming flowers from your outdoor landscaping, or purchase natural plants and related materials with which to fashion centerpieces, wreathes, mantle hangings, and the like. Many of these can be purchased ready made as well. Use ribbon bows of gold to accent both these pieces and your wall colors for a bright and warm autumn living space.

Finally, consider day and night lighting of your new decor with your current lamps, adding wall lights, candle accessories, or hanging fixtures that will complement your furnishings. A ceiling fan with a light kit also increases your home's energy efficiency as well as being attractive. This will all set the stage for a comfortable and attractive backdrop to your harvest season and Thanksgiving festivities and transition into winter holidays. Have a wonderful season!

Window dressings are an important part of the decorative appeal of most rooms in the home. The options range from extravagant curtains and valances, to plain blinds or shutters. These are all traditional ways of decorating windows, but with a little creativity you can break loose from convention and introduce your own innovative ideas.

I will give you some tips on:

1. Material selection
2. Choosing curtains


Before choosing any window dressing, look at the style and shape of a particular window, and consider all decorative options. Take into account the practical functions that dressings will serve, such as increasing privacy, keeping out the cold or heat, or blocking light.

Window types and sizes vary considerably. Adapt your window dressings accordingly.

The common window types are:

Sash. These are often tall and narrow. "Widen" them with curtains and a half-drawn blind.
French. Draw curtains right back from the frame to ensure easy opening and closing.
Picture. These are simple in design. Choose from all types of window dressing.
Bay. Consider carefully the hanging system required for these multi0faceted windows.
Casement. These vary greatly in size and design. Assess each one individually.

Setting a Style

Choosing window dressings can give you a wonderful opportunity to release your own artistic flair. Whether you drape lavish swathes of expensive fabric or adopt a more minimalist approach, the decorative style of a room can often be set by the window dressing alone.

Before choosing fabrics and styles of window dressing, think about these purely practical considerations:

Function
Choose simple, inexpensive hanging systems whenever you can, especially if your window dressings are purely decorative. You may need to invest in more costly hanging systems if you decide to hang curtains made of heavyweight material for warmth, for example.

Budget
Very full drapes usually result in great expense, so make sure that you work out what your budgetary restrictions are before you make choices.

Theme
If you decide to try to follow a regional or period theme, research appropriate materials, designs, and colours in order to create a complete, authentic look.

Keeping Fabrics Plain

Colour scheming simply
Use plain materials to make colour scheming easier. Window dressings will thus play a complementary decorative role.

Dressing up plain fabric
Although a fabric may be plain in colour, drape it effectively with an unusual tie-back. Use windowsills as display areas for interesting collections of objects.

Making a Statement

1. Drawing attention
If you want a window dressing to be a focal point, choose bold or contrasting colours and patterns to draw the eye.
2. Enhancing embellishments
Emphasize a flouncy window dressing by offsetting it against understated walls. Paint walls off-white or an extremely pale, complementary colour.

Treating a Window in Different Ways

1. Disguising window shape
Curtains hung outside a recess will disguise the shape of a window, especially if tied back from a closed position. Use a shaped valance to disguise the squareness of a window.
2. Emphasizing window shape
Hang a blind inside a window recess to emphasize the shape of the window. A patterned blind will draw attention to clear lines and square angles, and help to make the window a feature.

Setting the Scene

1. Having Fun
Choose an appropriate fabric and use it for curtains, bedcovers, and cushions to produce a sense of fun in a child's room.
2. Aiding relaxation
Indulge yourself in swathes of curtain material in restful colours for a lounge that is used for calm recreation and relaxation.
3. Improving light
Use pale coloured dressings at windows that receive little or no direct sunlight. These will encourage the greatest amount of light reflection into the room.
4. Increasing privacy
In private areas of the home, such as a bedroom, cover the window completely to help to create a secure, restful mood.

A. SELECTING MATERIALS

Selecting the right materials when dressing windows is as important as in any other decorating job. All tasks at this stage of your project will be easiest if you use the equipment and materials that are specifically designed for the job.

Basic Window-Dressing Equipment

You may need to amalgamate several collections of tools and other items for dressing windows.

Toolkits include a basic sewing kit for making and altering furnishings, as well as general household tools for fixing dressings in place.

Hanging equipment. Choose a simple, relatively inexpensive hanging system - a track and gliders, or a lightweight rod - for light to medium weight curtains. Use a stronger, more complicated system for hanging heavyweight fabrics.

The basic window-dressing equipments are: scissors, hand-sewing needles, tailor's chalk, sewing thread, fusing web, tape measure, set square staple gun, weight, small brass curtain rod plus rings, wooden curtain pole plus rings, track and gliders, track with integral draw-cord and weight, plastic hooks and tie-back hook.

Choosing Fabrics for Window Dressings

Most fabrics can be used for curtains or blinds. Make your choices based on practical as well as aesthetic factors.

Colour, pattern, and fibre
Let colours and patterns, or the weave of fabric such as damask, guide your choice, but bear in mind practical factors also

Weight
Choose heavy fabric such as brocade for sumptuous drapes. Sheer silk or fine fabrics such as lace, cotton, or calico will be more light and airy.

Function
If using thin curtain fabric, consider lining to block light or interlining for warmth.

B. CHOOSING CURTAINS

You do not have to be an expert at sewing to make curtains. Not all curtains have to be lined or hemmed. It is possible to adapt many curtaining techniques to suit your level of ability and still achieve the look you would like.

Considering Options
Curtains offer a lot of scope when it comes to covering window. They come in many different materials, styles, and designs. You can make them, buy them ready-made, or adapt existing ones. Consider your preferences as well as practical requirements before you decide.

Planning Curtains

Lining
You do not have to line curtains, but if you do so it will improve the hang and provide the room with extra warmth. To avoid sewing lining in, attach it to curtain material using fusing web.

Avoiding obstacles
Pipes, radiators, and other obstacles or restrictions may prevent curtains from falling nicely. Take these into account when determining the style and the length of your curtains.

Selecting hanging systems
Choose a hanging system before you measure up for curtains, since the drop will clearly affect your calculations.

Weighing up windows
While you are choosing a style and material for your curtains, consider the ideal length. This will be determined by a number of factors, not least of which are the shape and size of the window itself, the position of a window on a wall, and practical purposes that curtains serve such as keeping a room warm or cool, or blocking light out of it.

Measuring Up
Measure up as accurately as possible to reduce the risk of making expensive mistakes.

Checking figures
The old adage about measuring twice and cutting once is wise advice. Always check your figures because mistakes are easily made when taking a number of measurements.

Being precise
Not all floors, windows, and ceilings are absolutely "square", so take at least three width and length measurements.

Allowing for pattern repeats
As with wallpaper, centralize large patterns for balance.

CURTAINING CREATIVELY

Window dressings and curtains particularly, offer a good opportunity to break with tradition and create your own designs and decorative themes. You can, of course, make or buy new curtains, but there are many ways of adapting and revamping existing curtains.

Reducing Costs

Reviving old curtains
Give old curtains a new lease of life simply by attaching some new braid or trim to their hems.

Cutting down curtains
To give a room a fresh new look, make some cafe curtains by cutting down an old pair of curtains from a different room in your home.

Using old for new
To save time and money, use old curtains as a lining around which to fit new fabric. Enclose the old in the new and simply secure around the edges with fusing web.

Buying seconds
There is quite a market in second-hand curtains. Consider buying second hand to reduce your expenses significantly. You may, however, have to make size adjustments for the curtains to fit your windows.

Using Other Materials
Consider how a curtain will hang when you are planning to use alternative materials, and keep headings simple.

Blankets
Use blankets as heavyweight "curtains" in very cold rooms. The insulatory properties of blankets make them ideal.

Hessian
Sew hessian sacks into a patchwork to create a rustic but very natural looking window dressing.

Rugs
If you have a window with a poor outlook, use a decorative rug as a window dressing and a distraction. Make use of a rug's looped fringe to hang the rug from a substantial curtain pole.

Money-Saving Tip
Use a sheet as a simple, single curtain. Nail the sheet to the top of a window frame using large, exterior roofing nails. Drape the "curtain" to one side of the window over another roofing nail which is used as a tie-back.

Making a tassel
Make a tassel by carefully rolling up some excess trim or braid and securing it with fabric glue. Insert a length of cord and use as a tie-back, or hang several tassels from a curtain rail to dress it up.

Using Applique
Attaching Shapes. Brighten up a plain material by cutting themed shapes out of a differently coloured fabric. Attach the shapes to the curtain using fabric glue. Use a non-fraying fabric such as felt for the shapes to avoid finishing edges.

Decorating Sheers
Tracing Outlines. Use sheer curtain fabric like a piece of tracing paper. Draw straight on to the material using a colourfast outliner pen. Leaves are an easy subject to draw around. Fix the outliner ink by ironing the back of the fabric.

HANGING CURTAINS

There are two main methods of hanging curtains: using poles or using tracks. Most types are straightforward to fix in place. You can, however, adapt either of these basic systems in order to add a touch of originality or to suit a particular decorative or colour scheme.

Using Poles

Selecting materials
Choose a wooden pole for a fresh, lightweight appearance, or a sturdier-looking metal pole for a more solid, heavy look.

Covering poles
Cover a pole with wallpaper to match the walls. Attach the paper with neat PVA, let it dry, then apply several coats of matt varnish to protect the paper and facilitate curtain pulling.

Measuring & Fixing

Adjusting width
Adjust the length of a curtain pole depending on whether the curtains will be gathered back beyond the edge of the window, or whether they will hang partly in front of the window and therefore require a shorter length of pole.

Allowing for finials
Do not forget to allow for finial attachments at each end when calculating a pole's length.

Making poles level
You will require only two brackets - one at each end - to fix a curtain pole in position above a narrow window. It will be easy to ensure that the brackets are level using a spirit level. It is more difficult to align three brackets. Fix the central bracket first, and use this to take a level to where the other two need to be positioned.

Using Tracks

Looking and learning
If you are concerned that you might not be able to assemble and fit a curtain track, have a look at a similar working system, either in your local supplier's showroom or in someone else's home. You will then know what the track should look like once assembled.

Painting to match
Consider painting curtain tracks, which are usually supplied white, so that they blend in with wall colours or curtain materials. Eggshell gives the best paint finish on plastic surfaces.

Lubricating tracks
In order to maintain a curtain track in good running order, lubricate it occasionally with a few drops of washing-up liquid.

Alternative to Using Poles

You can choose from a variety of alternative materials as substitutes for curtain poles. Alternatively, use your imagination and substitute a less obvious but still suitable item instead of a pole.

Have a nice time!!

by Deborah Rosalind Nieto

Do you feel like your home is a claustrophobe's nightmare? With the countless home makeover programs on television, you may not be surprised to know that this is a common problem among several people. If you are considering major renovations to extend your room, then read on first to find out if your dilemma may be solved without having to undergo drastic measures. The following suggestions, which are mostly elementary, may help you make your room larger, visually that is.

Clutter

The first and most important thing to do is to clear every room in your house of any clutter which makes it look not only untidy, but less spacious. This means minimizing accessories in your room. You may argue that you are a figurine collector and would love to display your collections for your guests to behold. You may minimize clutter in this case by grouping together your figurines in one place.

One common flaw among most households is placing a lot of stuff on their tables even between meals. This adds to the eyesore of your house and makes your room appear claustrophobic. The same is true with placing books and other whatnot in bookshelves. There is no commandment saying that you fill in all available space. You may occupy only the needed space to make your room appear neater and airy.

Color

The colors you choose for your furniture, accessories, walls, ceilings, flooring and even your moldings affect the way your room visually appears in size. To make your room appear larger you have to minimize the colors present in every room to create a more spacious feel. Then again, you may be a rainbow lover who loves to express herself through a chromatic room. You can still reflect yourself without going overboard by carefully splashing colors without making them look unorganized or like a complete eyesore for your guests. This means making these colors blend well since contrast among your walls, flooring and furnishings will visually create an even smaller space.

While some would tell you to stick to neutral controls for your walls, you may still choose your favorite color for them. But you have to keep in mind that to make your walls appear further away, you have to choose lighter shades since these reflect light while dark shades absorb light which makes your room feel and look less spacious.

You may also consider choosing a cool color like green or blue for your walls as these colors visually create more space. Warm colors, on the other hand, give a warm and cozier feel. Then again, you can still paint warm colors on your walls by sticking to their lighter shades to apply the principle mentioned above.

The same rule applies if you use wallpapers or fabrics for your walls. Make sure to avoid those which have crowded print in them. It may be a great idea to choose a wallpaper with lots of white space to give your room an airy sense.

As for the flooring of your room, make sure that it has a darker shade than your walls. In contrast, your ceilings must have a lighter shade than what your walls have. This strategy visually makes your room appear larger. This becomes even more effective if you choose darker shades for your crown and base moldings.

However, it is another story if your room happens to have a low ceiling and you want it to appear not only larger, but taller. In this case, it is still a good idea to choose a darker shade for your crown molding as compared to your ceiling as this also makes your ceiling appear higher. But instead of having to worry about painting a darker shade for your base moldings, you may paint them with a shade the same as your walls to add height to your room. As for the ceiling, you may leave the white or lighter shade on it as this also tends to make your ceiling appear higher. You may also add horizontal stripes of dark color on your walls to make your room appear taller.

Lastly, if you want to add dark colors to your room, you don't have to stop at applying them on your moldings or flooring. You may add them through your other furnishings while keeping in mind that they should have a minor role as compared to the light shades in your room. You may do this by applying darker shades in table accents or other minor pieces in the room and keeping draperies and other major pieces in a lighter shade. This way, you create an illusion that your room has less stuff in it than it really has.

Mirrors

It has always been a universal rule to place mirrors in a room to add both depth and height to it. This creates an illusion that your room is twice bigger. Then again, you have to choose where to properly position them to achieve a greater effect. This means reflecting light and images which show or create space.

Placing a mirror opposite a window is one of the best ways to visually add more space since you can bring the outdoors indoors. You may also place it opposite a door to reflect not only the outdoors or other rooms, but also guests coming in or out. Placing a huge mirror on a wall may be a good idea, but be careful not to overdo it by placing too many. Also, you may consider adding glass tabletops to your room to greatly add to its spacious feel.

Furniture

Size. Some may advise you to keep your furniture small. Actually, an even worse case is having small furniture in the room but too many of them that it makes your room look overstuffed. You may keep your big furniture but make sure that they are not bulky or oversized. The key is to stick to the number of furniture which you really need and which give less for your eyes to see.

Look and make. The look and make of your furniture also affects your room's visual size. You are better off using those which have simple lines or nothing at all. Also, choosing couches and tables with open legged bottoms will not only make your room look neater, but will also let air circulate better in your home.

Arrangement. The choice of furniture is not the only factor which affects the visual look and feel of your room. Their arrangement is also vital and therefore, must be taken into consideration.

You may try setting some of your furniture diagonally to provide a larger view of the room. This is because, if you angle your furniture in such a way that it is coming out of a corner, you can see more of your room in an angle, than you can see in a straight line, when you have your furniture set up horizontally against the wall.

The space behind the furniture even provides for extra space for your end tables or shelves. You may do this technique for some of your couches and even for some of your beds. Just don't overdo it and try doing it in a trial-and-error fashion. If you find that the angled position of your furniture does not make your room look any better, then you don't have to put up with this arrangement just to follow this suggestion. Do what you think looks and feels comfortable for you and your guests.

Lighting

When it comes to lighting, the first rule is, the lighter the room, the bigger it looks and feels. After applying the suggestion of having lots of light colors in your room, with the proper kinds and the right amount of lighting, the light colors in your room tend to reflect the lighting, thus making your room appear and feel larger.

To even enhance your lighting with the purpose of making your room appear larger, you must maximize the use of natural light. You will find that your room extends outdoors and your colors indoors reflect the beauty of nature outdoors.

If you light all corners of your room, you will find that your room appears larger since your eyes see the room in its entirety. If you want your ceiling to appear higher, you may get the help of pendant lights with long stems, since their long stems cause an illusion that your room is taller. Don't overdo it, though, especially in the dining room. You don't want to have fluorescent bulb for dinner, do you?

Lastly, if elongation is what you need, the key is in employing the use of repetitive shafts of light. You may install sconces in your stairs, hallways and foyers to achieve this. Not only do you add that decorative flair to your space, but you also get to trick your eyes into seeing a longer walking space.

Storage

Another way to maximize your room's space and make it appear bigger is by doing something about your storage space. The most effective way to achieve this is by using vertical space for storage. If you think installing floor-to-ceiling storage spaces will give you the added space without sacrificing your room's overall look, then go for it. Also, stir your creative juices and bring out your resourceful side by looking for corners or nooks and crannies in your home where you can place cabinets, shelves or hooks on which to hang your stuff.

Curtains

Having curtains definitely add that extra chic to your room. Be careful, though, in selecting them since you do not want to turn the classy to dowdy.

Make sure that your curtains do not contrast the color or style of the walls. If you are really stubborn and would want to create a contrast, then do so without making the contrast too much. Don't forget that too much contrast may backfire by making your room look cluttered, thus, making it appear smaller than it really is.

More on, the contrast between your walls and curtains may steal the attention from the beauty of the view offered by your windows. Remember that while you may experiment with the styles of your curtains, they must still compliment the view of the windows. In fact, you may even consider getting rid of the curtains if you see that the windows themselves and the view they offer are enough to beautify your room and visually enlarge it.

Albert Einstein meets Juliana Catlin. You do the math. The following suggestions in making your house appear larger may imply that some math lessons are actually applicable in interior design. Find out how substitutions, deductions and additions may all work in making your room appear and feel larger.

Substitutions

To minimize the amount of space occupied by your stuff at home, you may consider doing a few substitutions. This means saying goodbye to some old furnishings and welcoming those which not only save you space, but make your room even more stylish.

When it comes to lighting, it has been a tradition to use table lamps in study areas or work places. You may consider giving them up and saying hello to elegant sconces in your home. This means you may even get rid of the tables on which these table lamps rest.

If you feel that your room feels claustrophobic and no painting or any type of furnishing could do the trick, it may be a good idea to knock down a big wall, especially if behind it a breathtaking view of nature is waiting to be appreciated. What are you going to do with the space, you ask? Well, you may consider putting up a big window to extend your room outdoors, that is, visually.

Lastly, changing the type of doors in your home may do the trick of literally adding space to your house. You may consider substituting your hinged door with a pocket door. This is because a hinged door, if you come to think of it, actually takes about 10 square feet of your space. However, if you use a pocket door, you get to use more space since the door is slid into a frame inside the wall.

Deductions

There's nothing wrong about using rugs or carpets in your home, so long as they compliment the overall look of the room. But besides the style or print of your rugs, you must also take into consideration their number. If no wall is dividing your dining room from your kitchen and you plan to put rugs to separate them, think again. Putting a rug in almost any room to define their boundaries may actually make your home look a lot smaller and your ceilings lower. This is because with every end of a rug, the sight is stopped, dividing the space into smaller sections instead of seeing it as a whole large space.

Lastly, for the nth time I'm going to say it: minimize the contrasts present in your room. It may be hard to make your flooring, ceiling, lighting and furnishings compliment, but you have to make the extra effort to avoid having your room appear cluttered. Remember this formula: more contrasts = clutter = smaller space

Additions

While the colors of the furnishings and the kind of lighting may add or lessen your ceiling height, the added paint may also do the trick to visually make your room taller. By extending your wall paint 2-6 inches onto your ceiling, you create an eye trick of heightening your ceiling even more.

Art means different things to different people. To some it means museum quality paintings, displayed to exhibit the owner's wealth, taste and refinement. To others it merely means a wall hanging that matches the sofa. Whatever art means to you, its importance in home decor is monumental. Hanging something on your walls is the key to finishing a room and creating depth to your living environment.

The importance of art was recently brought to my attention by its absence. A recent trip to the hospital brought the issue into focus when I was exposed to a section of the hospital that had almost no wall ornamentation. Due to the emergency nature of the visit, the lack of art was not first and foremost on my mind. I was inwardly focused, and to the extent I needed external stimulation, the Sci Fi channel on the television provided all the eye candy I needed.

My visit to this publicly funded facility lasted longer than expected and included a visit to a newer section of the hospital that had been recently renovated and redesigned. It was in this new section of the hospital that art and its impact became apparent. In the newer section of the hospital, color coordinated art prints were hung at odd intervals throughout the facility. The prints were peaceful and not particularly exciting but they were there. The lack of challenging art can be explained as excitement in this portion of the hospital could be counterproductive to the services provided in the facility. The seemingly random placement of the framed prints throughout the new facility was done hopefully to facilitate hospital procedures and not because the hospital hired an interior designer who was a friend of some government official. Aesthetically the picture groupings were disturbing because of their seemingly random placement which left a feeling of incompleteness, of a decorating job left unfinished.

What the art did do is bring into focus the lack of ornamentation in a fair amount of the rest of the hospital. The rest of the hospital had a bleak feeling to it, which most patients would attribute to illness. It was not until you saw the art in the newer portion of the hospital, that you realized its absence was disturbing in the rest of the facility. As I journeyed back through the older part of the facility, I saw only two wall decorations. One was a set of nursing awards and the other was a framed poster hidden behind hospital equipment. At a time when distraction was sorely needed, the walls of this facility could not provide the eye candy a bored but worried patient needed.

The subject of funding art with public dollars is complex, but this experience at least brought an awareness of the need for some texture in public buildings. At the very least, next time a new paint job is done, possibly the fine art department of a public university should be given the task of practicing pastoral scenes on the hospital walls. Handprints, such as you see in children's facilities, would be an improvement over the bleak decor of much of this very well funded university teaching hospital.

When I came home, I had a new appreciation for the wildly eclectic art that hangs on my walls. When I married my husband I married his odd art collection. I would most likely have only framed Impressionistic prints or something that matched the sofa on my walls. I am not uneducated in the basics of the fine arts, but rather exposure to the art world quickly brings me to the point of asking, " Does it match my decor?". Museum quality art will never be in my budget, and while I like the capitalistic idea of private ownership of masterpieces, I really wonder if the world is not better served if these cultural points of light are available to more people rather than shining for just a few.

With the exception of museum quality art, the value of most pieces is the pleasure it brings the owner. This becomes extremely apparent if you ever try and sell art. Insurance value and resale value are two different things. In a world where monetary value is determined by what someone is willing to pay for an item, most art is worth less than the framing it is in. Even with proper documentation, you will be lucky to sell known artists for what you paid for them twenty-five years ago. You would think the art world would be smarter and maintain some form of value in their products but this has not been my experience.

Given the uncertain value of art, it is extremely important to buy what you like. The art world can be intimidating to many individuals, especially if you happen upon an art show filled with intellectuals who are pondering the meaning of the display on the wall. I know it looks like a canvas covered in red paint, but that "Study in Red" has meaning to someone even if it only means the artist needs to pay his rent that week. The language of intellectual art show attendees can be learned and maybe this is why I so often revert to the stance of, " Does it match the sofa?". If all else fails just look at the display with intensity and say with great emphasis, "oh". This is always a safe response and can cover a multitude of opinions.

Most artists I have met tell me they create what they see. If you like what the artist sees, buy it. Do not get caught up in the value argument. Most likely you will not be able to sell what you purchase for what you are paying for it. If you like something, and you can afford it, this is the piece for you. If your budget does not allow for an original from an artist who is lucky enough to have a gallery showing, try other avenues. Check out your local art school. See if these emerging artists are interested in selling their creations. Check out the art hanging in your favorite local coffee shop or bistro, often these pieces are not permanent displays but rather efforts by a local artist to sell his work. Ask people in your community if they know of private artists, who may not make their living selling art but are talented just the same. I have commissioned several drawings of different homes I grew up in as gifts for my parents. I recently found out my sister-in-law had several drawings also created by this same artist. I met the artist while working in government, where she was also employed. We struck up a conversation at work, and she mentioned she painted. I know she created and sold at least six drawings from that conversation alone, and art was not her primary source of income. Many an artist is hiding in the real world and often their work is better and cheaper than the art you find displayed in galleries.

Craft or art fairs are another source of art but be aware, the more established the craft or art fair, the more expensive the wares sold. The established fairs often are often expensive and difficult for artists to obtain a booth in and the cost is passed on to the consumer. You may find local or regional artists at these events. I know I have an extensive collection of a regional artist my husband loved. Be on notice, these works are very difficult to sell, so buy them because you want them, not for investment purposes.

Garage sales, thrift stores and old photos are also great sources for art. An old photo, enlarged and framed will give you something you can be sure no one else on the block has. I have old family slides of Europe from the 1960s that I intend to have enlarged and framed for a retro view of Europe that I know I can find no where else. I have also dedicated one wall to black and white pictures of relatives spanning one hundred years. I know I am lucky to have these pictures, so I display them with more current family photos. Current photos can be copied in black and white and framed to obtain a similar effect. Garage sales and thrift stores often carry a wide selection of framed artwork that is inexpensive and interesting. These pieces are great if you want to try a certain look but do not want to commit to buying an expensive print or investing in costly framing. Sometimes the frames themselves are worth more than the price of the entire item. Mix and match frames and the artwork and you may be able to create a truly interesting piece to hang on your wall.

If worse comes to worse, try and create your own art. I decided I needed sculpture in my yard. All the fancy people seemed to have an expensive piece of sculpture and I sought to keep up. I created a "M" out of the metal from an old office divider and painted it red. I placed it in my front yard and much to my surprise began to receive compliments on it. Unfortunately, during a fit of artistic pique, it ended up in the trash can. I have heard even some of the great artists destroyed their own works so I guess I was merely following a great tradition. I truly do not see myself as an artist, so the positive comments I received on my sculpture really showed me art is in the eye of the beholder.


The eclectic pieces of art I have been decorating around for the past twenty years are worth more in adding texture and interest to my home, than I ever realized. Whether I hate the piece, or love it, the pictures I have hanging on my wall give my eyes something to ponder when boredom sets in. They create a texture to my environment that I now subconsciously crave when I am in other people's homes or in public buildings. The art my husband bought that still hangs on our walls has challenged me over the years and forced me to appreciate expression beyond my conventional boundaries. I appreciate more forms of expression and my definition of what matches my sofa has greatly expanded.

So hang something on your walls. Whether it is a textile, a print or an artist's original, it will add dimension to your home decor and create a finished look to your room. Just make sure it matches the sofa, or if it does not, make sure it is interesting and challenging. Give your eyes the candy it needs to alleviate those moments when television does not provide the visual intensity needed to challenge or sooth our brains. Art, in whatever form, adds something to our lives that we only really notice when it is gone.

By Christina VanGinkel

You flip through the pages of a home decorating or family oriented magazine such as Family Circle or Woman's Day, maybe even Better Homes and Gardens and you come across a living room or kitchen that is just to die for in your way of describing it. Suddenly it hits you; this is the room of your dreams. The floor is exactly the tile you have always dreamed of having installed in your current kitchen from the very day you moved in. On maybe it is some other design feature, possibly the countertops are ideal, just what you have been looking for without knowing exactly what that was. It might be the small things too, the decor on the walls, the curtains over the windows, even the plates and glassware in the cupboards or the appliances.

Ideally, you have discovered a room right from your wish list of what you would like, that was if you won the lottery or suddenly got a raise that doubled your current income level! What so many people overlook in such a situation is that while copying the entire room may not be an option, copying the look is probably closer to their reach than they ever imagined.

Take a good look at the pictures and ask yourself what it is that you really like about the room. Is the look uncluttered, filled with bright colors? Maybe the impression of the room's decor is a more subdued style, more grown up than your current toy filled, high chair in the corner design scheme you have going on. The focus here is to be realistic and honest with yourself about what it is that so attracts you to the room in the pictures. Once you can answer realistically, consider the room in your own home that you would love to have imitate that very look.

Next, react. By this, I mean you should take what steps you can to help create a background for the look you want. If your room is cluttered, has a dingy floor, or past its prime carpeting, ask yourself what you can do about it. Cleaning up clutter is the number one way to begin a major transformation of a room. It will allow you to take stock of what you have to work with for starters. Flooring is also a major consideration but not as inexpensive to fix most of the time as the clutter usually is. If your flooring is ok, just not stellar, considering having it professionally cleaned. If it is tile, a re-grouting may be in order. If the flooring is truly horrendous, maybe you will need to consider fitting new flooring into your budget. There are many options for flooring available today that are long lasting, durable, and economical. Once you are satisfied with the flooring, go back to the dream look you found and consult with yourself on what you can do to help yourself achieve that dream look, barring that lottery windfall or substantial raise.

If your appliances are in need of a facelift, refacing them is an option that many people do not know exists. You can also take past their prime cupboards and have them looking like newly installed versions with nothing more than sandpaper, primer and paint, and a few pieces of new hardware. A typical kitchen can have what looks like brand new thousands of dollars worth of cupboards for less than one hundred dollars and a bit of labor, you provide yourself.

Countertops are a bit trickier, as are items such as fireplace hearths, but this is often where a good old-fashioned scrubbing and your approach to the interior decoration of the space can come into play. Most countertops will look much better if stains or burn marks did not exist. Stains can usually be dealt with by applying a paste of a product such as Ajax and allowing it to bleach away the stain. A gently scrubbing might also be needed. Depending on what your counters are made of, you might wish to try this in an inconspicuous area first, so as not to cause a bleach stain that is worse than the original stain you were trying to remove. Again, some countertops might be able to be resurfaced instead of being replaced, but this is often almost as costly as replacing, so I would not consider it an option for someone on a very tight budget. Fireplace hearth may be able to be given new life with a good scrubbing, painting, or even a tiling. Consider the look you are trying to achieve to help you decide how to work with such a prominent household item if this is an issue when copying a look you love.

Finally, take a good look at what I call the fluff of a room. This refers to the curtains, the throw rugs, the pictures on the walls, lamps, lighting, and even objects such as bowls and candles used as decorating focal points. The room you are trying to copy may have glorious throw rugs, but the listed price is somewhere along the lines of what you would normally pay for a month's worth of groceries. Or you just love the huge wooden bowl on the must have exotic wood coffee table filled with balls of hand rolled wool. This is where your shopping strategies come into play. With shopping online and catalogs overflowing the average mailbox, finding the look you are after for much less is usually possible, and is not even normally that hard to do. Sure, there might always be that elusive item that you never have been able to find anything even remotely similar, but most pieces are easily copied, by items that cost just a fraction of those very pieces in the magazines.

You might have to go with a pine table instead of cherry wood (Hint, stain it with a deeper stain for a closer match to the look of the exotic wood table that first captured your attention). Alternatively, use a square wooden bowl or a hand thrown pottery bowl (much prettier anyway) than the round wooden one you saw in the magazine layout. Remember you are going for the look, not the exact room. Nobody wants an exact copy anyway, even if you could afford it.

Copying the look of a room, you saw in a magazine might be closer to your dreams than you ever imagined. De-clutter, clean up, bring in the paint, and pay attention to the details of features such as rugs, and curtains, and you might be enjoying your own version of that dream room sooner than you ever imagined possible!

My thirteen-year-old daughter has developed a flair for decorating at a very young age. From the time she was about four-years-old, we knew she had some sort of artistic talent, but then again, all parents probably think that about their small children. Still, our daughter persisted with her art work and before we knew it, she was asking to visit art stores, buy books about art and spend time with other artists, talking to them about their work. Before we realized what was happening, our daughter was creating beautiful art and amazing us daily. When she turned eleven, she decided to turn her artistic abilities on her bedroom. She asked if we would paint her room a deep, dark blue. Since her room is on the north side of the house and happens to be the smallest room in the house, I was hesitant to paint is such a dark color. I explained my concerns to her, but she assured me that since her dresser and night stand are white, we could also paint the doors and trim white, and put up white curtains; these would all brighten the room considerably, and she would still have her beloved blue walls. So I agreed.

The project was quite daunting as we were painting over bright white walls. After three coats, the blue finally looked completely blue and our daughter was delighted. She was also a trooper, helping with the painting the entire week. As promised, she kept the window shades up during the day and even put a white canopy over the bed to brighten things up. All this was fine and good until about six months ago when we visited New Mexico and she decided she wanted her room to have a southwestern theme.

All the way home on the plane, she gushed about how she would paint her room a sandy brown and decorate it with dream catchers, cow skulls and Mexican tiles. I was weary from the vacation and we had other rooms in the house that needed painting before we painted hers again. But we did not want to subdue her excitement about her art, so we told her she could do whatever she wanted with her room, but she had to do it herself. Now that she was thirteen, very neat, and very responsible, we had faith that she could handle anything.

Thankfully, about a month passed after we returned home from our trip and she declared that she would stick with the blue, but that she wanted to add a few things to the walls. We went to a craft store and she came out with a bag full of paint and stencils. The next weekend, she spent both days in her room with the door closed and her favorite music playing loudly in the back ground. Finally, she emerged with a back ache and a smile, and asked us to come see her creation.

We were astounded to see the changes she had made. With a vine stencil and green paint, she had painted a tiny, tasteful vine on the white door frame around her bedroom door, as well as on the white trim at the bottom of each of her two windows, and up the side of one of her book cases. It looked lovely. Then she told us to turn around and look down. All along the floor, just above the white trim, she had stencil painted pale lavender and white morning glories with the leaves painted in various shades of green all around them. It was magnificent! She had added such details and had made each flower identical in its many colors; the flow of flowers across her wall looked like it was a strip of wall paper rather than flowers painted on with stencils.

I am not sure what my daughter will do next with her room, but I am inspired to do more in our house after seeing what she did in there. I have never been particularly creative in that way, but it is amazing what a few stenciled flowers and vines can do to brighten up a room. In fact, now that I think of it, I might just have her paint the rest of the house for me!

Redecorating typically means searching for the perfect hue of blissful blush by wading through yards of samples at the home improvement shop or saving for months to pay off the debt for that couch you love-- but is now stained by sticky grape jelly! or hunting endlessly for the painting that complements the blissful blush walls and the sticky couch. Redecorating is being redefined, it doesn't have to be a total overhaul of paint color, decor, or wall hangings. It can be much simpler. It can simply consist of rearranging the pieces you already own and looking at them in a new way. For example, when was the last time your living room was arranged differently? Is your couch backed against a wall? Are your windows covered by oppressive window treatments? Downsizing, rearranging, ridding yourself of the clutter-- each of these ideas can help you take little steps towards a big decor change. So how do you begin?

1. Put away all nicknacks, frames, pictures, and things that don't have a specific use beyond looks. This is so you can get a feel for the size of the room without clutter. Oftentimes, after people do this, they realize the open, freeing feeling the room takes on without the pieces is something they don't want to go back to and they only bring back a few of the nicknacks.

2. If your couch is up against a wall, try a bold new arrangement and slant the couch. Depending on your livingroom arrangement, if this works for you, it can seriously open up a space and allow for an inviting atmosphere. It is also an unexpected look.

3. Make windows or a fireplace the focus, rather than your TV. Let's face it, much of the time spent in a livingroom or great room is in viewing the tube. The arrangement of your home doesn't have to be hostage to this, however. Focus on windows, and the natural light and outdoor focus is less limiting. It is amazing how a few moved pieces can alter a look for the better!

4. Search your home for pieces that could be utilized somewhere else. For example, if you have some old furniture in storage in the basement or attic, why not dig them out, clean them up and try them out? Sometimes a different piece can add a whole new flavor to a room.

5. Be creative, and think outside of the box! Hope chests aren't just for the end of a bed-- they can be utilized as a window seat, a coffee table, a storage space in a kitchen, or as a toy box. Old tables that are unsightly can be transformed with a colorful cloth thrown over the top.

6. Add light. Many homes do not have enough light, especially in main living spaces, like living rooms or dens. Ask yourself if you really need four lamps in your bedroom, and if you can spare it, and you probably can, move one or two to the living room. Light adds warmth to a place and lamps are a great decorating add-in.

Have fun, be creative, don't spend a dime, and redecorate, with what you've got!

Many of us get very excited about the prospect of decorating our plain old homes with Christmas colors. Lights, garland, window clings, wreaths, and signs abound. Unfortunately, this can get very expensive depending on how much you want to deck your halls. Did you know most of these things can be made by hand, or at least improvised to not cost an arm and a leg? You can dress up your whole house with handmade items. The cost of the construction materials shouldn't be nearly as bad as the cost of ready-made decorations, though it does depend on how much you want to do.

Lace and ribbons. With some lace, pipe-cleaners, and small beads, you can make angels to either string on the tree or sit at convenient locations around the room. Fashion an angel shape with the pipe cleaners and glue bits of lace over the wires until it resembles an angel. You can use ribbon to decorate the angel's dress or to make a hanging loop if you intend to use your creation as a tree ornament. You can also substitute fabric and other materials for lace to make the dress; at some craft stores, small packs of different types of old-fashioned materials are sold together.

Paper decorations. We've all done it; bought cardboard or paper decorations that bend fairly quickly and never look the same year after year. Consider asking the artist in your family to draw and color Christmas icons on cardboard; kids might find this especially fun and unique. If you're interested in a little more detail, print out a Christmas picture and have it glued or laminated onto a piece of cardboard, cutting out the shape where needed.

Wreaths. There are many craft ideas to make your own wreaths, and the possibilities are endless. You can buy your own evergreens and add candy canes, hardened homemade cookies, little craft cut-outs, pictures, peppermints, balls, and so on. You can either hang a wreath on a door or anywhere on the wall and it will look great. Use a type of evergreen that is fragrant if you want the familiar "Christmas tree smell" to permeate the house. Of course you can also use a "fake wreath" that looks like the real thing, and decorate it the same way.

Woodworking. If someone in your family is good with wood, this will be a great asset to your decorating venture. My father made many Christmas decorations over the years, from a hand-constructed manger to a red glittery sleigh. These items were much cherished. Commission someone to make goodies for your house like tiny wooden reindeer, Christmas signs, and so forth. Give an idea book and point out what you would like. The reward might be a gift certificate to replenish materials, or just a special place at the holiday table. Homemade decorations are always more meaningful than department store stock.

You can make your own cards as well if you have the time and resources. Take paper or construction paper, fold over into fourths, and go crazy. You can use markers, glitter, colored glue, yarn, or anything your heart desires. You could also ask kids to make homemade cards for friends or grandparents; when I used to make homemade cards as a child, they were always appreciated because of the extra effort and love that went into the creation. You could write a little poem or saying to go inside the cards as well. If you want to send everyone the same card, color the card first without folding it, color copy the paper, and fold all the duplicates the same way.

Tree ornaments. You can mix past and present to decorate your tree by using some old items, but also creating some new. Make cookies, homemade tiny wreaths, kids' decorations, and craft projects for your Christmas tree. With just a little effort the tree can look much more personal than it did the year before. Consider trading ornaments with a loved one so you have one item from each friend and family member on the tree. I remember making a manger scene out of clay that could have easily been used for a decoration simply by putting a small piece of string or ribbon in the top. Have fun, and enjoy the holiday season.

By Lacie R. Schaeffer

Have you just wonder how to create the right furniture in your own home? Buyers usually go to the furniture depot and by thinking those sales clerks knows better by giving you so many options. Think wiser. Sometimes we end up, mixing different color combinations, different types of furniture and do not even satisfy us. As an interior designer there is a lot of planning to do, not just having what you really like mixing.

You must consider these things before buying a new set of furniture; the color and the size.

In planning for a small living room, you must first measure or estimate the total area you want to cover with. Be sure that the spaces in between furniture are movable. The family can still accommodate at least three persons standing behind and in front the furniture of your choice. This is to secure you enough space during special occasions, small gatherings or even your own family. It is much better to lay out the total area of the living room in a piece of paper and envision yourself of which part you want to place the furniture. Notice the shape of the space, then at least estimate what is the width of the furniture you want to place. Afterwards, take note the width you consider placing the furniture before going to the sales clerk.
The right color is also a big fact in establishing a visual aesthetic of the room. Wrong color will affect our visual senses. Do you consider a white living room look larger than a dark painted wall even if they have the same area? This is because of the visual illusion brought by the color. If your wall painted with white, it is safe to use a tone not too dark or not too light. Consider pastel color since it gives soothing effect and a modern look. Just be sure it is also close to your favorite color. If your wall painting is already dark, try to use beige or white color to enhance the beauty of the furniture and will complement with the wall painting. Combining dark paint wall with dark colored furniture will only make the room smaller and untidy. Another possible reason of mixing the right combination of color is to create a sense of psychological well-being. Designers nowadays are also looking onto the psychological effect that it can cause to the user. For example, red brings active consciousness, green gets the feeling of nature and blue creates a peaceful mind. Jot is down to the list you just made earlier.

Third, establishing what is the most appropriate type of furniture you want. Consider the type of users and the number of users inside the house. This is to maximize the usability of the furniture or your main purpose of the furniture. If you consider it just for sitting, then look for the sophisticated type. It is commonly a wooden type with a soft cushion for comfortable sitting. This type of furniture is for allowable time-use for sitting only and not recommended for those couch potato people. It does not give you a maximum relaxation of sitting because of the stiff material, which is the wood. Another type of material is the couch type. Most Americans prefer this type of material, since it absorbs heat during winter. You can place your whole body in it with such coziness. Our living room is mainly composed of a television, couch and a small table. In that matter, that couch, futon, settee or daybed can affect how we behave inside the house or in your own living room. A small couch in a bachelor's pad is somehow practical since it also used as a bed if guests do come. However, a large sofa in a living room can cause a couch potato husband or children eating while watching the television. This is the possibility of how people behave in this kind of setting. The comfort it gives brings a relaxed attitude or mood for the user. A specific kind of behavior of people we want to achieve must incorporate to the type of furniture, the users, and the number of users. Write it down in your list.

After placing it to the list, that is the time you will get yourself into the furniture depot. You will be confident and directed to what kind of furniture you will be asking. At least you will readily know the type of material, the size of the furniture and the color that is best for your own living room. The second thing that you have difficulty dealing with is the budget. If the salesclerk, for instance had given you the amount and it does not seem to fit your budget. The next thing they will do is suggest a type of furniture that does not fit with the plans you had made. There is always, another time or another store to seek for that furniture. Do not gamble on something that might not give you the satisfaction or else you will be wasting your dollars for nothing.

It is always best to buy a kind of furniture that will not only be functional, practical but also enhances the beauty of your own living room. Aside from the comfort it gives, you can also suggest the function of the furniture that will predict the kind of behavior the users will apply. This is what usually interior designers do. If you had encountered one, notice that the most probable questions they will raise are the above requirements I had made.

Basically, each person has his own kind of taste in choosing the furniture that will fit their personality. Sometimes problems occur if the owner is sway away from his own taste. Here are some of suggestions one can use to create the look or design you always wanted.

Asian/ tropical look-most designs found in this kind of home is more on earth colors, natural designs and elements. Earth colors such as green, brown, white, beige, red and black are most common. Choosing one dominant color for example brown. All other materials formed out from it. Bamboo and dark brown furniture with intricate and detailed designs. A touch of modern flair of the materials used keeps the room updated with trend. Simple and basic designs of lamp strategically placed around the colors illuminating the room. Pieces of Asian figures placed on the corners and rough texture wall on the columns. Water is essential in this setting by placing a plant whose can live sufficiently with water alone. Avoid overdoing anything, keep it simple and clean. Another is placing soft satin pillows on the sofa or settee.

Extreme modern flair with a touch of home vibrancy- this type of design is most common in condominium type and highly sophisticated houses. If you want to achieve this with a very low budget, it can still be possible. Modern designs are made of elements such as steel and glass. You create a white walled room and find a nice large abstract painting you can avail at its cheapest prize. If you cannot find one large painting, try mixing at least four to six small painting having the same motif on the painting. If not, try looking at black and white pictures in black frame. The color motif for this kind of design is composed of four colors; grey, black, white and beige. To create a little of sassiness of your room, try adding one color tone of an element, for example a piece of jar or a figurine. The idea there is just to make it fresh looking designs.

The key there is onto your personality. What is your personality? Is it vibrant? Is it mellow? Or is it stiff? By looking onto your personality, realizing the right color for you can make a scope of what you will be expecting in your room. Do not go picking on magazines and mixing the wrong combinations, making you unhappy in the end. Always list down and be sure that what you had written down has almost the right relationship with each other.