Home Staging

Cottage style decorating can be fun and it is also fairly easy. It allows plenty of space and simplicity which is ideal for families and you can also mix and match your interior decorations so the choice is pretty much endless!

Cottage style decorating is incredibly simple and it focuses on having space as well as keeping things either traditional or a little more modern. If you have small children then cottage style decorating might well just suit you down to the ground as it is mainly an uncluttered, simple style which does not provide much chance for accidents within the home. It is also extremely hardy and it can cope with the odd knock or scrape every now and again!

Cottage Style Decorating Today

If you are thinking of decorating your home in a cottage style, you may be wondering where to start. Well, cottages in the past were always used as servant houses. This meant that they had little furniture and they were incredibly simple. These days, whilst the layout is still fairly simple, the furniture and the décor can be pretty much whatever you want them to be. So, whether you want a modern style cottage decoration or a more traditional, yet slightly expensive decoration, the choice really is yours.

Antique furniture looks especially good in a cottage decorated home and you do not have to pay a fortune either – there are some particularly good bargains at your local flea market. One of the best things about cottage style decorating also is that everything does not have to match. You can have mismatched fabrics, mismatched colors and it will look perfectly fine.

Whilst cottage style decorating may not be for everyone, it certainly has its admirers and more and more people are turning to its designs for their home. After all, it is much easier to simply throw a few bits together, have more space and keep it simple than it is to worry about every minute detail.

Some people believe that cottage style decorating is more geared towards the older generation; however that is not always the case. Anybody with a love of interior decorating will like the style of cottage decorating as will all different ages. It all basically depends upon personal taste and what you would prefer. More and more people are choosing the cottage style these days because of its simplicity and of how easy it is to pick things up for the home. So, if you would like to decorate your home cottage style, you would certainly not be the only one!

Mr.Andrew Caxton
http://www.articlesbase.com/home-improvement-articles/various-decorating-styles-cottage-style-decorating-111692.html

I’m decorating my home with the intention of selling it in a couple of years, so the things I’m doing now have to neutral enough that they won’t be off-putting to buyers. I’ve learned a lot of really great tips like caulking between the crown moulding and the ceiling makes it look really clean and polished, but I’d love more. Any advice is welcome, about painting, decorating, anything. I’m painting, replacing the carpet, handles, installing wainscoting, all kinds of things. Thanks!

Bedroom tips:
for all bedrooms, i suggest choosing earthtones/ nuetral tones for all bedroom wall colors, so that the rooms can apply to all potential buyers. do you have window treatments? consider updating window treatments if are old/ or dont let light into room. keep in mined buyers like light! when selling your house, make sure you remove all clutter from dressers, and also remove knik naks.
master bedroom: – if you have several dressers in your r oom just taking up space, get rid of 1 or two of them! show off the space you have in your masterr.

Bathrooms
-new shower curtain if current one is old looking, or has mold
- light blue is a fresh color to have on walls. but i think earthones are prob safest.
- have a theme with towles. for ex: if the walls of your bathroom are green, get vanilla white towles with green leaves on them.

kitchen: (main selling point.)
- if your cabinets are really out of shape, it would be a good idea to invest in some oak cabinets.
- what do you have for flooring? biuyers lovee hardwood flooors.
-and appliances? stainless steel is more favored, but you dont have that, that is ok. just keep things clean. remember to remove pics and clutter form fridge and counters!
- once you have removed clutter from counter tops, it is a nice gesture to add a bowl of fresh colorfull fruites to counter top
- set table with a nice colored theme. (buyers like to see that a kitchen has a seating area.)

how is the exterior of your home? simple changes such as new numbers for your house, new door bell and a fresh coat of paint on your deck can really improve looks.

hope this helpedddd

Solve Your Decorating Challenge

By Vickie Morrow

You’ve moved into your new home, unpacked the boxes, arranged and rearranged the furniture, hung a few things on the walls. Hmmm. You know, or think you know how you want your rooms to feel but can’t get from the builder white walls and your old stuff to that wonderful comfy inviting look you got when you were in the model of the home you purchased?

Before you panic and true anxiety sets in know there are more easy solutions at your fingertips than ever before. There are decorator magazines, home decorating shows, web sites, retailers, great books with very good instructions. Visiting model homes again will help. “Okay, “ you say, “I see them, I buy them, I visit them, I like them, but how do I do it? I don’t know where to begin.”

Start with one room you love in a magazine or model home. We’ll call it your dream room. If you can go to the model home to feel and study the space or the room you will get the best results. Ask if you may take pictures in the models too. This will help when you get home and when you shop. Take a tape measure and a spiral notebook with you to make notes and draw sketches. I like the ones with plastic tabs and pockets inside.

Let’s start decorating by seeing what we like.

Are all the walls the same color and the ceiling too? What color(s) is the room? Write this down. Is there a chair rail or decorative molding at the ceiling, wall covering or faux painting? What is on the floor? Is there tile, wood, carpet, area rugs? What color and texture and pattern? Is the area rug braided or a Persian rug or a contemporary design diagonally placed partly under one of the chairs and sofa?

What style is the furniture? Is it all a matching set? Do all the woods match? Maybe the sofa and club chairs are the same style and wood finish but the chairs have a patterned upholstery and the sofa is a solid or striped fabric. Write this down.

How is the furniture arranged? Does the sofa sit in the middle of the room separating the conversation area from the game table, or is all the furniture pushed up against the walls? Draw a little floor plan so you don’t forget when you get home.

The windows. Are there blinds, shutters, a valence or draperies? Are the rods large or small, wood or metal with huge finials? Make a note of it. If there are panels at each side of the window, do they go all the way to the floor? What color are they? Do they match the walls or are they the same fabric as the toss pillows on the sofa? Is it the drapery hold back that catches your eye? You will have to consider the exposure and privacy out your own windows when you make your final window treatment selection.

The pizzazz is the accessories. This is often what many people love most about the model homes or magazine pictures that inspire them. The details, the little things we all love to collect and buy when we shop. This is what pulls the room together and gives it your personality. In the room you love, what kind of lamps are there? Is there a place to store the things you will need to put away? Are there several things grouped on the coffee table? What sizes are they? Is there something pretty tall, a large round platter set on a stand and a box all grouped together? If there are photographs on the end tables, how big are they and how does the frame style work with everything else in the room?

What is on the walls? Is there one large picture over the sofa or is there an arrangement of black and white photos in different size frames? What color is the matting and how much space from the photo to the frame? Is there a special mosaic you like? Details, details, details. Draw a sketch of the picture arrangement and the sizes in your notebook.

Congratulations. You have just completed the first step to decorating your own home.

You know what you want, how it goes together and what it will look like. You don’t have to break the bank now to create your room. You probably already have the furniture pieces and accessories. You may already have the lamps and area rug as well. For more decorating tips and ideas go to www.inoutdecor.com You may just have everything you need to recreate and rearrange.

Get started. Go to the paint store and select the paint chips you think best match your dream room. Grab several samples, color can be deceiving and they can look different depending on the light. Take them back to the model home and see which ones match the best. Buy the paint and paint the room.

Your window treatment. If you copy your dream room exactly make sure you have the right privacy and exposure considerations covered. This is where a lot of people go astray. They think they like shutters and buy them. Then they don’t like them and also wonder how their dream room went wrong. Your dream room may have been more airy with a shade and drapery panels on large wood poles. The wrong blinds, shutters or draperies and hardware can be a costly mistake that you probably won’t change.

Arrange your furniture for conversation, TV watching, family fun, reading, eating or homework keeping in mind your dream room. Was all the furniture lined up on one side of the room? Your sofa may be the wrong color and your chairs may need to be redone. That doesn’t mean you have to buy all new; consider slipcovers. You can buy them or make them. Get slipcover instructions at www.inoutdecor.com Be sure your accessories are things you want around you and are of a grand enough scale for your space. Voila! You’re on your way to decorating confidence and living in the home that makes you and your family happy.

Vickie Morrow
http://www.articlesbase.com/accessories-articles/solve-your-decorating-challenge-195193.html

Tropical beaches, clear blue ocean, sunny sand filled beaches, palm trees, these are all things that typically come to mind when someone says Hawaiian. If you would like to create a Hawaiian style in your home, you want to think breezy and open. This would be the typical feel to a home or room in Hawaii.

To begin with, it you’re painting the walls, you will want a white or other bright and open color. The earthy tones that you might find elsewhere will not be found here. For Hawaii, we want to think of openness and white walls will help create that feel. If they are painted a color at all, make sure that color is bright without reaching into the neon categories. A soft, bright yellow or green may also create the open feel you’re trying to achieve. Doorways and moldings should be a rich brown such as an oak or cherry. These will contrast nicely with the painted walls while keeping the open feeling in the room.

Decorative touches should include some sort of large green plant. If you can do a palm inside this would be perfect. Another nicely large and green plant would be the elephant plant. This has large broad leaves and can grow several feet tall. This will further add to the tropical feel that you’ve already created through the use of paint on the walls. Other accessories may include shells that could have easily come from the beach, light, airy curtains that can sway in a breeze with an open window, and pineapple shaped glasses in the kitchen or other pineapple shaped kitchen appliances or utensils.

This style of home should be furnished with a heavy use of bamboo, wicker, and/or rattan. The use of this type of furniture will encourage the light, airy feel you’re trying to achieve. This tropical atmosphere will be completed with the use of this type of furniture. The furniture can be painted white or it can be in its natural state of wood. Either way, this addition will help to complete the Hawaiian look.

Fans and in the ceiling whose blades are shaped like palms are a nice touch when creating the Hawaiian feel. You can find them in stores like Home Depot, Lowes, or any retail hardware store that carries ceiling fans. These fans can be used indoors in a kitchen or dining room as well as outside under a canopy. This type of fan would make a great finishing touch.

The Hawaiian feel is one of relaxation and enjoyment. In order to create this feel in your home short of moving to Hawaii, use the above tips. You’ll feel like you’re on the beaches soaking up the sun in no time.

Lee Dobbins
http://www.articlesbase.com/home-improvement-articles/hawaiian-decorating-make-your-home-an-island-retreat-127396.html

There are all types of swag holder. I chose the one that look like a miniature shelf with a hole in the middle and put up one each side of the window. (they screw in) Then I threaded two panels into the holders and crossed them over in the middle of the window. Lots of work, but looks it!