Planning a Vacation at Home

30 Friday Nov 2012

Posted by melissaoconnor in Guest Posts, Maddy Olsen, The Home

Tags

couple, cuddle, destination, escaping, home, love, relationship, romantic, vacation

When life has stressed us out beyond belief, the only thing we want to do is escape. When you are married, you just want a little down time with that person you love. However, taking the time off of work is not possible all of the time and can lead you down the dark road of feeling down, caged in. So remedy your situation with a compromise and create your own romantic getaway at home.

Just like any vacation, you need to plan the days you will be escaping from life. If you work, it may have to be Friday night through Sunday night. Arrange for the kids to be elsewhere so you have the house to yourself. Then, you get to work on planning!

The Invite
I’m not the most romantic person sometimes, but I am creative and I want to be romantic so I work at it. To introduce the idea to your spouse, leave an envelope with something that resembles a plane ticket in it. It should include when you will “depart” for the fun and where your “destination” is. You can print these types of things out with your printer on card stock. Browse for templates online, they are out there. Crafting stores may have pre-printed options that you just fill in. Tell them to pack a suitcase for the weekend and leave it by the front door.

The First Night
Think in terms of relaxing. Order dinner in and decorate the patio table or just your dining table to reflect how you feel. Doesn’t really have to be fancy. A tablecloth, a vase of roses or favorite flowers, pull out the china, chill a bottle of wine or sparkling juice, a candle, manage a nice place setting (look it up if you don’t know how), maybe a mint like Ande’s on the napkin for after dinner, and put your take out in serving dishes. Play some nostalgic music and ask your partner to dance with you for a moment. Then, enjoy your meal. Of course, this all helps the atmosphere, but cleaning up the house beforehand makes it feel a little more commercial.

Once you have eaten, cuddle up with a fire in the fireplace and watch an action flick. Romance movies tend to make women cry and feel a little deflated. Guys just can’t live up to those movie characters and their stories! Ha! It is a proven fact that watching something that gets the heart pounding and the adrenaline going will keep you both from feeling sluggish afterward.

Take the time to pour a warm bath with a lot of bubbles. Play music and light small tealight candles around the edge. Just be careful not to get too close or catch a towel in the flames. Have your bedroom decorated to simulate a hotel. Swap out your current comforter for an older one in the closet to make it different. Use white sheets and pillowcases and pull them tight over your bed. (That is one of the greatest things about sleeping in a hotel!) Turn on the bedside lamps to a low glow and have your suitcases on the floor. Bring a television in, if you don’t already have one and spray a clean scent around the room.

Photo Credit: Hotel Book

Use removable wallpaper along a bare wall or one that could be cleared. You can get this printed with a photo of your choice, so pick a photo of your honeymoon or find a database shot of a place you both want to visit. This has a sticky back like unto a Post-It note and can be put up and taken down for future use. Lay out traveling pamphlets over the dresser and just unplug the phone! There is no need for wake up calls in the morning. Lay out fluffy towels for bath use and even little soaps and shampoos, if you feel like making that extra effort. Search a place you want to visit for photos to recreate the same sort of look.

The First Day
Get up. Don’t allow yourself to sleep all day. Make breakfast together and enjoy a mug of cocoa or coffee. Turn on the fireplace and talk about anything for an hour while you eat. Then, enjoy a shower and get ready for the day. Have a place in mind that you can drive to, that won’t take all day, and get out of your…er…hotel. Try to make it a new place you have never experienced before. That is how it would be if you were on a real vacation.

Take a picnic lunch with you and share that while doing your excursion. Then, come home and refresh and take your special someone out to dinner at the place you met or had your first date. Try to even sit at the same table you had shared. Even more fun is to role play. Secure a reserved table but one of you sit at the bar. Come up and offer to buy them a drink. End up eating dinner at your table and pretend you are meeting for the first time. Afterwards, go for a stroll through downtown or in a park.

The Last Day
Leaving your vacation spot is always difficult. Filling the suitcase to head for home can be a little depressing. However, spend the day unpacking your suitcases and doing some laundry. Just a nice quiet day together is the great way to end your vacation. If it is possible, go have a massage together. Just be ready to face the work week with recharged batteries.

By setting your scene and playing the game you can really enjoy yourself for little money out of your pocket. Having a vacation a few times a year is good for the mind and the relationship. Set your decorations aside and use them again next time. That way subsequent trips cost you less! No matter how you relax, do it together and enjoy life!

Written by Maddy Olsen

Guest Post: Top 10 Antique Trends of 2012

29 Thursday Nov 2012

Posted by melissaoconnor in Guest Posts, Shopping, The Home

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2012, ancient Rome, Antique Furniture, Antique toys, Antique Trends, Art Deco, auction, Bottles, Carnival glass, childhood, Christian Davies, christiandaviesantiques, cigar bands, Coca-Cola, Collectibles, decor, dolls, Franz porcelain, French Neoclassical, Glassware, gum wrappers, interior designer, jewelry, Lamps, Ming Dynasty, Occupied Japan, Porcelain, Pyroglaze, Qing Dynasty, Roccoco-style, Space Age

Furniture
Antique furniture is usually a mainstay of the antiques trade. This year, décor has found its inspiration in French Neoclassical designs, with sweeping curves and voluptuous legs – only toned down a little more than usual. Despite the more understated look that buyers went for, gold scrolling and embellishments were still a feature. Space Age furniture was also popular and would make a striking statement juxtaposed with older pieces. Indeed, a number of interior designers have experimented in this way in 2012.

Glassware
This year, Carnival glass has been snapped up in the auction rooms. With a vast array of stunning patterns, the glassware’s iridescence has proven very popular. Ironically, given its popularity this year, Carnival glass gets its name from being offered as prizes at carnival games when the style became less popular. Due to its striking look, it’s usually a good idea to team it with simpler pieces or against a plain backdrop.

Porcelain
Also known as china, the highly-prized ceramic includes some of the most sought-after items ever created, such as bowls and vases made in the time of the Qing and Ming Dynasties. More recently, Franz porcelain and porcelain dolls have sold very well. For a whimsical look, try arranging some French porcelain house numbers across your mantelpiece or in a frame.

Coca-Cola
Collectible items from this popular drink manufacturer aren’t set to disappear any time soon. With a collectors’ club set up in the mid-70s, the brand has appeared on a huge variety of goods. Particularly popular Coca Cola items in 2012 include trays and advertisements – the bigger, the better. Rare pieces include cigar bands and gum wrappers. Owners of Coca Cola pieces report that the brightly colored items bring an instant cheer into a room.

Jewelry
Big, chunky and colorful has inspired collectors this year, as has nature-inspired jewelry. For an unusual but up-to-the-minute look, try draping long and colorful beads from tall vases, mount brooches onto box frames or use oversized pins as curtain tiebacks.

Occupied Japan
A huge variety of items made during the Occupied Japan (OJ) period, 1945 to 1952, has sold well this year. So that Japan could recover after WW2, it was required to mark half of its exports with ‘occupied Japan’. The most OJ items popular today are vases and porcelain items. If you think you have an OJ antique, look after it – this trend is set to stay for a little while yet.

Lamps
This year, the trend in lamps has become bolder and bigger. With a particular nod towards 1930s Art Deco bronze, lamps this year need to offer a ‘wow’ factor. If you’re lucky enough to find a lamp in a muted orange shade, try pairing it with eggshell blues and nutmegs.

Bottles
Bottle collecting is usually a popular hobby in the States and 2012 was no exception. From household containers to bitter bottles and decorative offerings, collectors have been keen this year. If you’re checking bottles to buy, remember that the ‘ABM’ mark means the bottle was made on an automated machine in 1903 or later. Pyroglaze, if you come across the ‘Pyro’ marking, means the bottle was made after 1935. Bottles first became popular in ancient Rome and China too – unsurprisingly being used to store liquids, most of the time.

Toys
Antique toys represent some of the most fascinating insights into bygone childhood pastimes. Dolls and board games are particularly popular this year, as are teddy bears. If you have children – or even if you don’t – you could use anything from tin toys to puppets to inject some playfulness into a room.

Dolls
Dolls represent some of the world’s most ancient playthings and have been used from before the history books began, when dolls were likely to be made from wood and clay. From Barbie to Eskimo dolls, 2012 has seen a wide variety of the popular toy pass by the auctioneer’s gavel. Doll clothes and accessories too have been very popular this year.

With 2012 almost wrapped up, it’ll be interesting to see what next year’s trends bring. Some are likely to stay firm favorites with collectors for years to come – which will they be? I put my money on pieces of antique furniture. They’re functional, stunning and change the very dynamic of a room. Antiques are always being reworked to represent some nod to the present day, such as the current trend to paint Roccoco-style furniture or upholster with more modern fabrics.

{Christian Davies is head of a self-named and family-run antiques firm based in the North West of England. He has over 25 years of experience in the antiques trade and has a particular passion for furniture from the Arts and Crafts period. For more information, visit www.christiandaviesantiques.co.uk.}

Guest Post: Different Ways to Add Wooden Features to Your Home

28 Wednesday Nov 2012

Posted by melissaoconnor in Everyday Design, Guest Posts, The Home

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diy, foreign countries, home, Natasha Alatassi, natural element, ornaments, rustic, Travels, wood, Wooden Floors, Wooden Furniture

Depending on your personal taste, you might love wooden features as much as I do. I think it can give a home a really natural look and adds a rustic feel to décor. However, unless you want to put lots of bonsai trees and tall plants in your house, it’s not easy to incorporate your love of nature in your interior design ideas.

That’s why I’ve come up with a few ideas on how you can do this – without making your property look like a jungle!

Bring Back Ornaments from Your Travels
My love of travelling allows me to combine a lot of my interests, and although you may not initially assume going on long-haul holidays does this, it enables me to express my character in my interior design plans. This is because you can pick up lots of knick knacks, pictures and ornaments from foreign countries, and I love bringing home lots of wooden features.

No matter where you go, you’re bound to find lots of carvings and picture frames made out of wood. I can’t tell you how many statues, masks and boxes I have from all over the world featured around my house. This is a great way to add a natural element to your property and it also gives you lots of things to talk about with guests when they compliment one of your findings. If you have items from lots of the countries you’ve visited, you’ll have several conversation starters to use with your friends.

Photo Credit: Flickr – Riz

Buy Wooden Furniture
Perhaps the most obvious way to add wooden objects in your home (apart from putting lots of small trees in your house, which is often not a suitable option!) is to buy new furniture. It can be easy these days to pick up inexpensive pieces for our home. However, if it’s authentic wooden features you’re looking for, you may have to expect to pay a higher rate to get good-quality wood.

Having said this, you don’t have to replace these items of furniture as often as you would metal, plastic or a lower-standard of wood because they are built to last. Therefore, you could see your oak dining table or mahogany bureau enduring many years.

Photo Credit: West Elm

Photo Credit: Pottery Barn

Install Wooden Floors
If you really want a rustic look to your house, I recommend installing wooden floors. These fit well in a manner of properties, from old Victorian houses, where wooden floor boards were typical at the time, to modern homes.

Photo Credit: Floortex Design

Those who are quite good at DIY might want to try rescuing the original wooden floor if you have one but I think it’s far easier to get new solid wood or engineered wood flooring fitted. This way, you don’t have to worry about any rotten or loose floor boards, as everything is brand new and looks smooth and stylish. You can choose from a variety of wood floors and have many options when it comes to color and style. You can even select ones that look aged to give your period property an authentic appearance. In fact, if it was me, I wouldn’t tell anyone your new floor wasn’t an original feature and I bet they wouldn’t be able to guess otherwise!

Photo Credit: West Elm

{Natasha Alatassi specializes in writing about home interiors and DIY on behalf of Ryder International.}

Guest Post: Staircase Designs & Decorations

27 Tuesday Nov 2012

Posted by melissaoconnor in Everyday Design, Guest Posts, The Home

≈ 1 Comment

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banisters, carpentry, Dark woods, glass, modern home, painting, Railings, recessed lighting, Richard Tucker, slide-out drawer, stacked books, staircase, Staircase Designs, Storage, Victorian banisters, wood

The stairs are often neglected when we remodel because we just do not think about them. However, our staircases have the potential to be a major focal point in our homes. Since the stairs are such a small area, we can go a little wacky and still make it work with our other decorative features and schemes. The key is to choose something that you will love for a long time because redecorating a staircase can become tedious.

Turn Your Stairs into Storage
Each step can be transformed into a slide-out drawer. This is a place where you can store a number of smaller items. This also provides an immense amount of storage space because most home staircases are 10 to 12 stairs. This would be 10 to 12 storage drawers. This is a task you do not want to take on if you are unaware of what is under your stairs and not very handy. But if you are handy, some paint, drawer track kits and some power tools could transform your staircase into storage space while still preserving your ability to use the stairs to get up and down to different floors in your home.

Photo Credit: Fresh Home

Be Book Smart
If you are a book lover, you can decorate your staircase to look like stacked books. You will just need some paint and some drawing talent. Then, paint the face of each stair to look like the spine side of your favorite books. If you are not the best at art, you can find letter and number stencils at craft stores to help you along in painting the book titles. This is a more subtle change, but it will give your home some personality.

Photo Credit: Apartment Therapy

Light Them Up
If you have open space under each of your steps, you can use this space to light up your staircase. There are simple options like stick up lights that can easily be placed under each step with special adhesive strips. These just click on and off by you tapping on the lights. You can go more sophisticated and get recessed lighting put underneath each step. This would require a lot of carpentry and electrical knowledge, so do not attempt it on your own unless you have the required skills.

Photo Credit: Aldea

Update Your Railings
If you are going for a more modern home, those Victorian banisters are not doing your home justice. Glass and metal are very popular in modern homes and these can be installed in a day either by you if you have the skills or a professional contractor. You can also mix modern, straight line wood with glass, or just the wood. Wood can still be used in modern homes if it is stained the right color and is straight lines.

Photo Credit: Seven Home Ideas

Go Dark
Dark woods are really popular right now and work well with most design schemes. Changing the color of the wood is something that you can do with some time and elbow grease. First, you will need to strip your stairs down to their natural wood. This will require stripping chemicals, so take all necessary precautions and do this safely. Once everything is safely stripped and dry, you will need to take a dark wood stain and simply stain the stairs with the new color. Staining is something that can be tricky, so be sure to get some help if necessary.

Once you have stained everything, you should apply a finishing wax or clear top coat to protect the wood. These will also make the stairs resistant to drink, dirt and food stains, and will make the stairs easier to clean.

Photo Credit: Decor Pad

{Richard Tucker has been writing about home design solutions for nearly a decade. When he’s not writing, you can find him working as an engineer, designing energy efficient elevator parts.}