DIY Interior Decorating by Keith Londrie You don’t need to spend a fortune by hiring a professional interior design company not to be artistic to have beautiful home. You don’t need huge budget to turn your home into a cozy place. All you need is a bit of time and the desire to make it a better living place.
First of all know the function of each room. Clarify the priorities is your living room solely intended for day activities or your home office is there too? Do you have separate dining room or an eat-in kitchen? Does your household has children and what’s their age? The aim of interior decorating is not only to improve the look but to improve the functionality of each room. Once with your hands on the subject you will find that there are plenty of solutions for big and small spaces that can serve almost any need and satisfy any taste.
The next thing to consider is your personal preferences. While clarifying the functions of each room is mostly about the arrangement of the main furnishings, the second part is about their style as well as the walls and floor coverings, their type and color. Generally speaking there are established color schemes that are deemed to be best for each room. For example peach orange is perfect for kitchens since is stimulates appetite and is not offensive. Bedrooms are often white or within the place spectrum of colors as they should provide comfort and relaxation.
Living rooms can benefit from much more bright and strong colors as well as of a combination of two or three colors. As to the floor coverings you only need to think about which type will e most practical. Obviously tiles are good to high circulation areas which are likely to be cleaned often kitchens, entry halls, while wooden floors are good for areas that need to be cozy, warm such as bedrooms and living rooms. Another significant factor when choosing your floor coverings is the budget.
Once you are done with the basics walls and floors, and have all your furniture placed properly, the fun part begins. And may be this is where interior decorating says it all. It’s about all the tiny bits and pieces of your interior design that will make your home unique, cozy and comfortable. A fluffy pillow on the sofa, a rug under the coffee table, a vase of roses on the dining table or a set of candles over the fireplace are the things that make difference. The accessories type and style depends on you. If you are keen on traditional stuff than go for simple but elegant vases, photo frames, candle holders. Want to go ethnic find an Indian shop and get some wooden baskets, rugs and leather pillows.
Once you go over this you are done with the interior decorating task. It is not that difficult and all you need to do is to free your imagination and check a few home decor magazines or websites. And remember interior decoration is not one of task it is a constant thing that should and will continue naturally in time as you and your lifestyle changes.
Keith Londrie II is the Webmaster of http://InteriorDecorating.coffee-info.info A website that specializes in providing information on Interior Decorating that you can research on the internet. Please Visit http://InteriorDecorating.coffee-info.info now!
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http://www.articlerich.com How to Make Old Furniture Look Brand New by Nick Kakolowski Old, beat up furniture is often thrown away and replaced years before it is truly unusable. This type of furniture is great for anyone looking to furnish a house or apartment on a budget. People replace furniture for a wide variety of reasons, and, in many cases, old furniture can be quite valuable. Antique furniture fits this model very well. The keys to transforming old home furnishings into new are preparation, creativity and hard work. With these three tools just about any piece of furniture can be made to look brand new.
Adequate preparation is important when starting any refurbishing process. For example, you should know which type of wood you are working with. Whether you are working with wood or metal, it is instrumental to the process that you closely investigate your furniture in search of any nicks or scratches in the piece. You should also look for stains, burns and other blemishes. It is also essential to know what kind of paint and finishing was used on the product. You should remove any wax that may exist on the piece of furniture. If you sand down the paint when it has a layer of wax over it, you will drive the wax deeper into the wood. Wax will also prevent new paint from taking hold. Check the surface closely for any laminate; this can also make the application of new paint difficult. Cleaning the item is important prior to, and often after stripping the paint. When all of these external layers are removed you will need to work on removing the paint. This can be done either with a chemical stripping agent, or with fine grain sandpaper. Refrain from using heavy grain papers, they will scratch the wood. It is also important to not use sanding-on lead based paint, as lead paint chips can be harmful. Similar actions are taken on metal furniture. The main difference is that any rust will need to be removed. When you have successfully removed the old coat of paint and prepared it for the new coat, creativity comes into play.
There are a wide range of options for painting wood or metal furniture. If you want an old, well worn look, you can buy paints that will actually peel away slightly on purpose. This effect works especially well when one paints a base coat in one color and a second coat in a complementary shade. When the second coat peels slightly it will reveal the base coat, and the two layers will complement one another giving your piece a stunning appearance. You can also find paints that will crackle and perform other similar effects to achieve this goal. Another option for creativity is using stencils. By combining stencil use, multiple coats and creative sanding of the wood, one can turn an old ratty television stand or garden bench into a work of art. It is important to remember in all of this that you are working with paint, not something permanent. If you make any mistakes you can always re-sand the patch you made a mistake on. The flexibility allowed with paint makes the potential for experimentation high, so take advantage of that freedom.
If you want to stain the furniture the process is a little more complicated. The main difference between staining and painting is that staining requires a little bit of extra care. It is easier to make mistakes, and there are a few fine details for staining that do not apply to painting. Be sure to discuss your options with somebody at a hardware store or paint supplier before you start. This will give you a clear idea of what you are getting into and what will work best with the furniture that you have.
Hard work is necessary to successfully refurbish an old piece of furniture. The process of refinishing furniture sounds simple on paper, and it is something that anybody can do. However, doing it well takes a great deal of work. For the most part, hand sanding will work the best. Small electric sanders are functional, but throughout your project there will likely need to be a number of small adjustments made in which an electric sander would be ineffective. Be ready to employ some elbow grease to make sanding work. A few of the ingredients of a successful project are research, creativity and hard work. A few other ways to ensure success is finding out the correct type of wood used, the proper kind of wood putty to fill scratches and cracks and the correct primer are all necessary for a successful project. If you put the effort into your project then the preparation and creativity will often take care of itself. Do all of these things, and in the end you will have a piece of furniture that looks brand new.
About Author:
Nick Kakolowski is a freelance writer who writes about topics concerning home improvement and decorating, often focusing on specific topics such as Discount Furniture
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http://www.articledashboard.com/Article/How-to-Make-Old-Furniture-Look-Brand-New/446315