Guest Post: Spring Inspiration

15 Friday Mar 2013

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

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accessories, blinds, color, curtains, decorating, design, emerald green, interior design, interior goods direct, mint, rugs, shades, spring, spring colors, window treatments

With winter slowly leaving us and the hope of a bright and cheerful spring, it seems only appropriate to begin to decorate our homes for the long awaited sunny season. There are so many gorgeous colors for us to choose from, and we don’t always know what style and theme we are looking for. So this is why I have created a list of this season’s top spring colors, along with a few simple but effective design features to make your home look and feel like a happy haven.

Spring Colors We Love
My unpredicted favorite color, which has decided to grace us with its presence this year, is green. Emerald green has been given loads of attention over the past year. However, it’s time to put a new spin on green and opt for a new shade for this season, Mint. This beautiful color, which doesn’t require a lot to stand out, has solely become our new favorite color for this spring.

Photo Credit: HGTV

Considering my love for anything neutral, my passion for cream is rapidly disappearing, and in its place are bright pops of color like green, blue, and yellow.

Photo Credit: Station of Interior and Eksterior Ideas

Now this doesn’t mean I will paint my whole house in this shade. Why not try a statement wall with one of these three colors or opt for bright accessories. This will provide just enough to make your home stand out, but not so much you feel like you’ve taken a step back into the 70s.

Guest Post: Spring Inspiration
Photo Credit: Vertical Blinds Direct

Curtains or blinds? That’s the question
I have always had a love for a gorgeous set of curtains, and in my opinion, there’s nothing better than when they fall to the ground in a beautiful pleat. However, lately my opinions are changing. Despite my love for curtains still being strong, they have been taken over by my passion for a set of bright and cheerful blinds.

Guest Post: Spring Inspiration
Photo Credit: Vertical Blinds Direct

Now that spring in around the corner, we want to embrace the beautiful bright mornings. Blinds are the perfect opportunity to do so. However, if mornings aren’t your thing, you can still opt for a set of black out blinds in your favorite spring shade, but with the effect of a set of lined curtains. I have recently installed a set of gorgeous blue vertical string blinds to my white and blue home. They are just enough to add a pop of color without it looking over the top.

Guest Post: Spring Inspiration
Photo Credit: Vertical Blinds Direct

Everyone Loves Accessories
Accessories are the perfect opportunity to add personality to your home. If you’re not ready to take the step into bright walls and blinds, you can still change the whole look of your home by accessorizing.

Photo Credit: Houzz

Photo Credit: Coodet

Bright cushions, rugs, and table decorations have the ability to change the look of your home with minimal effort, and if you are anything like me, small touches really count. So invest in little trinkets, wicker baskets, and beautiful wall hangings. Just because we don’t live in the Hamptons doesn’t mean we can’t make our homes look like we do.

Photo Credit: GHID

{Written by Alice Lawson on behalf of Interior Goods Direct}

Bedroom Makeover on a Budget

18 Tuesday Dec 2012

Posted by melissaoconnor in Everyday Design, Sarah Atkinson, The Home

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bedroom, beds, budget, curtains, design, designing, furniture, interior design, painting, redecorate, redesign, shabby chic, wood

It is that time of the year when everyone needs to be tightening the purse strings as Christmas well and truly hits and January is spent recuperating from it. But that shouldn’t mean you have to put off doing something you want or need to do. The word ‘budget’ doesn’t necessarily mean having to sacrifice quality and style, it’s all about knowing where to look for things and how to create an expensive look for a fraction of the designer price tag!

Don’t redecorate, work with what you’ve got
Redecorating can be the most expensive part of making over a room, but what many people don’t realize is, you don’t have to change the wallpaper or paint to change how it look. If you have neutral colors and patterns on the walls then you are in luck, as you can change the style of the room to just about anything you like. If you went for something a bit more bold and bright at the time of decorating, don’t start stripping the walls yet! Look into what the current trends are. Maybe when you first decorated it was in fashion to have every single item in the room in one color, but now the trend may be to mix and match, the more colors the better!

Photo Credit: Digs Digs

Give your furniture new life
Kitting a bedroom out with a new bed, wardrobes, chest of draws, cabinets and more is another expensive part of redecorating a room. And there is probably nothing wrong with the furniture you have, you just got bored of it and fancy a change. So change it!

If its wood you can do so much with it. Sand it down and give it a new varnish or paint it a completely new color altogether. Shabby chic is very on trend at the moment, so painting it white and then distressing the paint would look great and isn’t hard to do at home. The best part is, it looks expensive and has a designer look. For other surfaces you could get some stencils and spray some fab new designs or purchase some appliqués (readymade designs) and stick them on to the boring old furniture surfaces.

Photo Credit: Painted Cottages

Photo Credit: Thrifty Inspirations

For beds, divans allow you to change the headboard easily so you could get a new one or jazz up your old tired looking one. For complete metal or wood bed frames don’t despair! You can bring new life to those by weaving colorful fabrics such as ribbon or scarves through their framework and hang decorations on their ends.

Photo Credit: Signature Homes

Curtains and bedding on a budget
Bedding and curtains are one of the main focal points of a bedroom and if done right they can make a room look modern with very little damage to your wallet. Satin is the material of luxury so it makes sense to assume satin bedding and curtains would be expensive? Not at all. You can find quality satin bedding and curtains for a fraction of the designer price tag. Don’t fancy sleeping in satin bedding or even want to change your bed covers at all? You don’t have to. You could simply purchase a satin bedspread which will cover the entire bed when you aren’t sleeping in it and throw on some bed cushions to make your bed look like it is straight out of a showroom.

Photo Credit: Furniture 4 World

There is so much more you can do with your bedroom no matter what your budget, it just takes a little creativity and imagination and you could have a whole new bedroom whenever you like!

Written by Sarah Atkinson

Guest Post: How to Choose the Perfect Blinds to Modernize Your Home

16 Monday Jul 2012

Posted by melissaoconnor in Everyday Design, Guest Posts

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bamboo, blinds, curtains, decor, design, diy, eco friendly, home, home decor, light, modern, roller bilnds, tone, venetian blinds, windows, wood, wood blinds

From their easy fitting to their ability to control tone and light, blinds provide an excellent way to modernize your home. Moreover, they can provide essential solutions to establishing an overall decoration scheme, while updating your fittings to be more environmentally sound, and making the most of the space. It’s important to look at the different kinds of blinds that you can use, from horizontal Venetian blinds to UPVC vertical blinds, as well as single fabric roller and Roman blinds. With the multiple options available for those looking to update the feel of their home, it’s worth considering how each of these blinds will provide different but complementary effects.

Choosing the Right Kind of Blinds
First, you must think about what kind of blinds best suit your home and the ways in which you want to create a modern look. Vertical UPVC blinds are particularly recommended for creating a minimalist look, and are ideal for kitchens and bathrooms. However, horizontal wooden Venetian blinds work well for creating a relaxed atmosphere in studies and living rooms, and can also work well in bedrooms. Roller blinds are similarly effective as single pieces of fabric that can be decorated to tie into your overall decor.

The Best Blinds for Managing Tone and Light
You need to think about the best way of managing color, tone and light in your home and how it will contribute to an updated, modern style. Roller and Roman blinds that use high quality fabrics and insulating materials are recommended if you want to use striking or more understated colors, while single color vertical or horizontal blinds can blend in with the tone of wallpaper.

In terms of managing the amount of light passing into a room, easily adjusted UPVC and horizontal blinds are excellent at making small changes to a room’s atmosphere. By contrast, roller blinds can be easily removed from view, or converted into black out blinds if you want to create a more striking look.

Contributing to an Overall Decor
The perfect blind should contribute to an overall decor, and should be consistent with the look of a particular room. Kitchen blinds should consequently be lighter, using UPVC materials and horizontal slats to best let in light, while bathroom blinds should have the option for complete blackout for privacy. If you want to create a minimalist and modern look for your home, using these kind of simple blinds can ensure a clean finish. By contrast, heavier Roman fabric and wooden Venetian blinds are effective if you want to establish a rustic look for living rooms and bedrooms.

Being Eco Friendly
A modern home should take eco friendly materials and appliances into consideration as part of an overall commitment to recycling. As well as eco lighting and LEDs around the home, blinds can be chosen to provide the perfect blend of style and environmental strengths. Vertical and horizontal blinds can be purchased in materials like bamboo, woven polyester and honeycomb. These materials are naturally sourced and designed to be long lasting and resistant to dirt, while improving insulation and protecting from UV rays.

Maximizing Space
The best blinds are capable of enhancing the space in your home, and work particularly well for rooms with low ceilings. Vertical blinds work well at lengthening a room when combined with high bed posts and mirrors. Roman and roller blinds that can be removed from view during the day will also let in more light and open out the room. Skylight blinds fitted in conservatories and to windows in bedrooms can also work well to maximize the space in a room.

{Writing in coordination with Web Blinds, Christina Appleworth reviews the process of choosing the most perfect blinds to modernize your home. Christina’s passion is creative writing but when not writing she enjoys DIY design and modernizing her own home!}

Guest Post: Texture and the Color Red Used in the Bedroom

11 Monday Jun 2012

Posted by melissaoconnor in Guest Posts, The Home

≈ 1 Comment

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bedroom, bedroom decor, blinds, color, curtains, decor, drapes, fabrics, flowers, harlequin, house of frasier, lighting, linea, linen, linens, london, pillows, red, sanderson, texture, toile, vases

This is The Design Inspirationalist’s first guest post, written by Michael Turner, an enthusiast in home improvement, technology and design. Enjoy!

Bedroom decor is a challenge in itself, aimed at creating an interesting yet relaxing ambience at the same. The play of color, texture, and lighting will all have to be precisely balanced to set just the right atmosphere of calm and intimacy, neither too minimalist nor too ornamental. Muted shades of color, diffused lighting, and soft textured fabrics characterise the ideal decor of the bedroom. How exactly does a bold color such as red, fit into this picture without really being loud? Red does make the space more attractive when used in discrete splashes and unique textures.

Shades of Red

Different shades of the basic red color can be used either by themselves or in combination with other shades of orange, yellow, white or beige to simply break the monotony of an otherwise vibrant color. Patterned or differently textured quilts, headboards, and wall papers spruce up the space to make it more interesting. It is certainly not advisable to paint all the walls red, unless one is confident of toning down the color by alternative design ideas.

Decorative Pieces

Red colored vases, flowers, designer lamp fixtures with shades of red all add to the glamour of the room. The placement of decorative objects and the lighting will have to be carefully planned to avoid a sense of clutter.

Blinds and Drapes

Delicate or heavy blinds, drapes or curtains, either patterned or plain ensure privacy of the space while also adding to the intimacy of the setting, especially when in shades of red. Choice of fabric serves to accentuate the atmosphere.

Bedding

Beds and bed linen obviously form the focal point of the room and hence it is essential to choose the right shade of red, and preferably a luxurious texture such as silk or micro suede for the linen. Personal preferences on the texture, prints and styles play an important role in the selection of bed linen.

A comfortable array of throws and pillows, ideally of different shades of red or other complimentary colors add a neat yet cozy look to the bed. Pillows of different shapes and sizes add variety to the space, and pillow covers made from fabrics such as paisley, velvet or chenille too can serve to incorporate texture variations to the setting.

Traditional yet simple wooden bed frames, or wrought iron frames and sleek furniture pieces compliment the looks of a bedroom that showcases red as the predominant color.

Red, though a bold color, is indicative of energy and vigour and when used intelligently in a bedroom setting can make the space relaxing and exciting. Feng Sui also favors the use of red in bedroom decor as it is considered a symbol of energy, passion, luxury and richness, representative of the power of fire, which has both positive and negative impacts. However, it warns against an overdose of red because it can cause restlessness and anger, disturbing the calm of an otherwise intimate space.

Experiment with red decor in the bedroom by using simple decorative pieces and move on to more elaborate use of the color only when it improves the ambience.