10 Decorating Tips for a Stress-Free Home

        Here's a good reason to do some low-cost redecorating: The choices you make can result in enhanced mood, less stress, and better sleep. To turn your space into a healing haven, follow these easy 10 decorating tips for a stress-free home. 


        IN THE ENTRYWAY 
        1. Create a feel-good focal point. The first thing you see when you enter your home should be something you love, whether that's a piece of art, a vase of flowers, or a special souvenir, says Stephanie Roberts, author of Fast Feng Shui: 9 Simple Principles for Transforming Your Life by Energizing Your Home. "A beautiful first impression helps you relax from the get-go." 

        2. Organize daily debris. If you see old newspapers on the floor and bags of Goodwill donations waiting to be dropped off, you're going to think obligation, not relaxation. "Piles of stuff at your entryway send the message that there's more mess and chaos inside, and who wants to walk into that?" Roberts says. "Have a designated place for every item that enters and exits your house," recommends Paige Rien, an interior designer in New Jersey appearing on HGTV's Hidden Potential. She suggests placing a couple of chic containers near the front door, one for outgoing items and one for incoming things. 
  

        IN THE LIVING ROOM 
        3. Create space. "Our anxiety builds in small spaces if there's too much stuff," says Rien. To reduce the clutter and make the room feel larger, ask yourself if you really need all those end tables or picture frames, and cut anything deemed nonessential. Consider painting a table or bookshelf the same color (or a similar one) as the wall it's up against, so it "disappears" into it. Painting walls white or a light color will also make a smaller room feel more spacious. 

Ways to Improve Your Kitchen Without Doing a Total Renovation

The kitchen is often the busiest room in the house and as such it takes quite a bit of abuse. Cabinets and counters get banged, backsplashes get stained, and walls get scuffed and scratched. Fortunately there are plenty of things that can be done to update a kitchen without undertaking a huge renovation. 

Depending on the budget you can do a lot or a little, but even a small change can make a big difference. So to keep an old kitchen looking fresh and new, try one or all of these updates. 

Paint Walls and Cabinets 

The easiest way to update a kitchen is with a coat of paint. Painting the walls is easy, but so is painting the cabinets. In fact there's no better way to freshen up dated cabinets than with a new coat of paint. It's inexpensive and can be done in an afternoon. 

Replace Kitchen Lighting 

Replacing light fixtures can do wonders in a kitchen. Both task and ambient lighting are useful in the kitchen so try to incorporate both. 
Many old kitchens have only one overhead fixture but these don't often provide enough light. Since most kitchens don't have much extra space for table or floor lamps, consider having pot or tracks lights installed to disperse the overhead lighting. If the look is a bit too modern for the room try also installing some type of hanging fixture such as a chandelier or pendent lamp. 

      Change the Backsplash 

      The backsplash covers a small area but it plays a vital role in the look of the kitchen, often tying together the countertops and cabinets. Try replacing an old backsplash with new glass tiles, mirror tiles, pressed tin tiles, or laminate. You can also try something a little more creative like painting a backsplash with chalkboard paint. It's a perfect place to jot down grocery lists, recipes, and other notes. 

Baby Room Decor Ideas from Paidi

         When it comes to intelligent children’s furniture, Paidi , the German company tops the list. In business for more than 70 years this company has ideas for kids rooms which never seem to run out! The images shown below give an overview of what exactly to expect when you walk into a Paidi store.

Decorative Stone Landscaping Ideas

           If you want to enhance the design of your garden landscape, a quick and simply way is to add decorative stones to it. With landscape rocks and decorative stones, you can have a perfectly manicured garden to enjoy. Decorative rocks and stones come in a wide variety shapes, sizes, and colour. The provide an inexpensive way to improve the aesthetics of your garden, giving it a more natural and warmer look while reducing the possibility of soil erosion.

              Flagstone Pathway

          To achieve a polished landscape look, use walls stones and flagstones. You can choose from many varieties such as Canadian Buff flagstone, Ohio Blue flagstone, and Slate flagstone from any landscape supply company. Using flagstones in your landscape will not only achieve a very striking look for your garden but they will help retain a cooler surface for it despite being hit by direct sunlight. Flagstone stepping stones make a charming backdrop to any stone wall as they contrast with the bright hues of plants and flowers growing in the garden. Flagstone pavers can also be used to create a lovely pathway into your backyard or garden. To add texture to the flagstones, plant thyme in between the stones. The creeping thyme will not only create a more natural look but its scent will permeate the air.

       

Decorative Garden Ideas

        Decorative or ornamental gardens can be the most difficult to put together simply because of the sheer possibilities they represent. Any plant, tree, shrub, fern, stone, fern, or other element you can name is fair game as long as it has an overall aesthetic appeal. That in itself can be the issue: lots of plants can be colorful and evocative on their own, but when combined in a single space, they clash. Consider a few simple options when putting together your own decorative garden to help prevent lots of hard work going to waste.

       Butterfly Garden

         A butterfly garden is one that chooses its plants primarily because they attract butterflies; appearances are secondary, meaning some species used might technically be considered weeds. Ideally, place the garden in an area with partial shade or cover to help retain the nectar scent. As this type of decorative garden is meant to be one a guest might spend time in, place the garden beds around a central pavilion or series of benches and tables where people can talk and relax outside. Moss-covered stone is an evocative floor choice. Aster, dogbane, goldenrod, sunflower, and clover all attract the most species of butterfly; place them as homogenously as possible to keep the butterflies interspersed throughout the whole garden.

Kitchens That Make the Cut

      The amazing Artica kitchen by Estudiosat, was designed in answer to the challenge set by manufacturerDelta Cocinas to create a kitchen that stepped outside the box from the style of kitchens currently available on the marketplace; looking at the origami-esque geometric folds of these cabinet fronts, it appears as though that old constricting design ‘box’ has been stamped upon, to create one very new and edgy concept.

      The cut ice-like surface comes without any compromise on functionality and results in no added company investment, maintaining traditional production processes and still managing to respect the environment. 

       The visual impact achieved here is also evident in several more kitchen creations from the company, here a few that caught our attention… 

Modern Japanese Kitchens

       There’s something to be said about these Japanese kitchens – they are sleek, modern, captivating, and makes quite the dynamic statement. You cannot pin them to a particular mood or tone – they can be warm and cozy or cool and clean. But one popular idea most Japanese kitchens seem to subscribe to is to bring people together, to create a space that can be lived in – a space that incorporates cooking, eating, and relaxing all together. Essentially, a place one would enjoy spending a lot of time in with friends and family – laughing, sharing stories and recipes with, and enjoying the company of each other in a comfortable and inviting room. The designs from ToyoKitchen show all aspects of traditional design though in quite modern settings.

Modern Kitchens From Elmar Cucine

       We were browsing through Italian kitchen maker Elmar Cucine‘s catalog the other day and liked what we saw. The forms they use are simple with bold lines and sharp edges giving their designs somewhat of a masculine touch. This emphasis on simplicity is no accident and is expressed quite clearly in their philosophy:

Elmar is not simply content to manufacture products, it wants to manufacture simple products. Simplicity is harmony, the happy balance between form and function that has its fulcrum, its deep meaning, in the human being.

Some great images…

Dream Closets by Italian Designers Gruppo Euromobil

       Every fashion and wardrobe-conscious person has fantasized about their own perfectly coordinated, immensely spacious, luxuriously designed closet space at some point. I know I have. But whether you pine after Carrie Bradshaw’s enormous walk-in with plush rugs or prefer a sleek paneled wardrobe space, you will find something to love amongst Gruppo Euromobil’s closet designs.

        This particular closet space is installed inside the wall and includes glass door panels that slide into the sides of the wall, which expands bedroom space. The different size shelves and compartments are versatile for various types of wardrobe. 

        This is a small walk-in built into a wide wall off the side of the bedroom but still has a seating area, which can easily become part of the closet by opening the doors, or separate by closing them. 

       This black, sleek paneled closet seems ideal for a stylish guy. 

Floating Beds

      John Huff, the inventor of the Floating Bed thought, “What would the ideal bed look like, feel like, and what benefits would it provide?” What features would make everyone really LOVE their bed?”…

      After considering the special relaxation of a gentle rocking motion, which has been scientifically proven as beneficial to us, but ruling out the back bending, and unstable, poor solution that is the hammock, the waterbed and the four point hanging bed–all of which Huff deems as “simply not that good to sleep on, because their motion is all wrong”–the inventor realized that the key to the ideal bed was the Omni-Pendulum or “Floating” Motion. 

       Though this bed is aesthetically kind of cool, it was not designed only for it’s looks, as it’s form came from its function; A one-point overhead suspension provides gentle motion, the flat net under-support has adjustable firmness, and the height is easily adjustable. 

       With the option of an indoor or an outdoor Floating Bed™, its not just a place to sleep, but a fun place to hang out and chat with friends or the kids, to relax peacefully with a good book, or to gaze at the view with a refreshing cocktail in hand. 

BEAUTIFUL FAMILY ROOMS

     Hello all! Hope you had a fantastic week and have an even better weekend planned. I’m looking forward to some time with some girlfriends and perhaps some pumpkin picking? The weather is supposed to be fabulous.

Techniques for Outdoor Lighting

A well-lit front entrance enables you to greet guests and identify visitors. Wall lanterns on each side of the door will give your home a warm, welcoming look, while assuring the safety of those who enter.

Under a porch or other overhang, you can use recessed, chain-hung or close-to-ceiling fixtures. A separate rear or side entrance can be lighted with a single wall lantern installed on the keyhole side of the door.

Kitchen Curtains

When it comes to kitchen Decor, curtains play a major role in accentuating the kitchen. Thus, the selection of kitchen curtains is of utmost importance. When you go about shopping curtains for kitchen, there are lots of things that demand your attention, like the texture, motif, color, design and of course practicality of the curtain. Don't just get fascinated by the styling or designing, but also check out if the curtain that you want to buy can be easily cleaned or if it requires lot of attention and time to be spent on its maintenance.

Bed Types

When we enter into someone's bedroom, the first thing that catches our attention is, undoubtedly, the bed. In fact, it is the focus of the bedroom. Moreover, the Decor of the bedroom also depends upon the type of the bed, apart from its positioning, color, design and size. You can create a lot of difference to the Decor of your bedroom, by choosing the right size and type of the bed that fits perfectly into place. The different types of bed available in today's market are designed to provide you ultimate level of comfort, every time you trudge into your bed. 

Apart from giving you the desired level of comfort and coziness, the beds available today, provide you a touch of flair to the Decor of your bedroom, thereby enhancing the appearance of the room. In the present times, the furniture stores are stacked with several types of beds, thus providing you the flexibility to choose as per your personal preferences and the Decor of your bedroom. There is a wide variety of beds to choose from, which cater to the varying needs of people. You can get the traditional range of beds, as well as those that fit into the contemporary home Decor. In this section, we have given information on the various bed types.

Stylish Balcony Decor Ideas

     Regardless of the view beyond the gating encircling the space, a balcony can easily become one of the most appealing and relaxing expanses of your home.Whether you live in a city condo with just a few square feet of outdoor space, or you have an upstairs country porch that stretches the entire length of the backside of your home, there are numerous techniques for adding a chic touch to your balcony area. Here are a few quick tips for making your personal lanai your new favorite hangout spot.