Exciting Room Themes for Little Boys

Looking for a fun and exciting theme for your little boy’s room?  How about doing something different for your son’s room? The trick to having a themed room is to not overdo it. Otherwise it can become overwhelming and start to look redundant. It’s not difficult to work with a theme. You can simply mix up colors and patterns for a successful design.

Sports

The most common theme that comes to mind is sports. Luckily there are plenty to chose from, which is good for creating a unique look. Pick one, two or even three! Painted words, sports balls, equipment, team names, logos, flags and more look really great on solid colored walls.

If you choose to do all of this on the walls, pick a solid color for the bedding and add sports patterned pillows. Chose painted or light stained wood furniture. The light wood can remind us of wooden baseball bats while the painted furniture is great to add a pop against the solid colored walls. For a finishing touch, try framing some pictures of your little guy playing his favorite sport!

Sailing

Maybe you want to stay away from the common sports theme room. Well, what about sailing? Little boys love blue and what theme could possibly have more blue than sailing?

Striped, dark blue bedding and decorative sailing pillows are a great place to start. Pair this with white furniture, Paint the walls a light blue. Hang up sailing prints or even mount a lifesaver on the wall. Finally, add a dark blue lamp base with a white shade, sailboat accessories and photographs of your rugrat boating with his family.

Construction

For my last suggestion, what about creating a real manly man theme such as construction? Little boys love cement trucks, dump trucks and tools, so why not bring this into their room? I recommend painting the walls a solid light color with construction images. Add construction theme bedding and pair it with solid colored decorative pillows. Finally, keep the lamps, accessories and stuffed animals of a non-construction theme to change things up a bit.

What Makes A Dining Room More Comfortable to Eat In?

What elements of design make some dining rooms more inviting than others? When having dinner with friends, the majority of your time is spent in the dining room or kitchen, so let’s talk about how to make an eating area more comfortable.

Table Shape

The dining room is often one of the first rooms your guests will see when walking into your home. For this reason alone, it is important to make a great impression. Figuring out if a round or rectangle table is right for your space is a great place to start. If your room is more of a square shape, a round table is usually the right fit while a rectangle table will obviously fit well in a rectangular room.

Furniture Size

Make sure you buy the right size table for the room that will allow for a nice walking space behind all chairs. I recommend leaving at least two feet. This gives your guests one foot to pull out the chair and one foot for those walking behind.

Upholstery or Wood?

When deciding on upholstered or non-upholstered chairs, first think about the majority of your guests. Will there be many kids? If so, you may want to go with a wooden seat for easy clean up. But upholstered chairs add an element of comfort that lasts long after dinner is served.

Keep the Eye Moving

Rooms that can accommodate buffets or china cabinets offer a stunning effect. Having items for your guests to look at while spending time in your dining room will make their eyes move throughout the space, keeping them focused and awake after a big delicious meal. I recommend placing colored glass, intricate china or vibrant accessories on top of the buffet or inside your china cabinet.

Window treatments

Window treatments can be helpful in more formal dining spaces by adding splashes of color that can be repeated in the china cabinet, buffet, artwork or rug. When walking into the space, the window treatments will soften the look against the hard wood table and give off a comfortable feeling.

Flooring and Walls

It is a smart idea to keep the walls a neutral shade with colorful artwork. Rugs always look great under dining room tables. However, if you have a beautiful floor underneath, rugs may not be necessary. A rug can make sliding chairs in and out difficult and could collect stains. On a positive note, rugs will absorb sound that may carry out of the space and disturb others in the home.

How have you created a comfortable space to dine in?

Creating a Home Library You’ll Want to Visit: 5 Inspirations

If you’re lucky enough to have an in-home library, you may find it difficult to create a space that maximizes storage without sacrificing appeal. Celebrate your home library by creating an inspiring space.

Here are a few ideas:

1. Go classic museum. Give your space an art-museum feel by adding classic pieces. This museum bench is an awesome piece that would nicely complement stone flooring. As seen in the Pasadena Museum of California Art (PMCA) 2005 Biennial Exhibition, the Case Study Museum Bench was designed and developed at the Modernica Studio in Los Angeles. The Museum Bench is extremely substantial and appropriate for high traffic and commercial use.
2. Bring the world home. Brainstorm creative ways to bring your world travels home. Use your library as a place to display collected art pieces or a push-pinned map. Consider adding to that cultured feel by including a trunk for extra storage. It’s perfect for a small throw blanket or two.
3. Decorate with light. Warm overhead lighting will provide a comforting feel. Lights directed toward shelves or artwork draw the eye to the most inspiring elements of the room. Don’t forget to highlight your favorite hanging art pieces or statues. It’s generally pretty easy to find lights that can be fixed to the top of the shelves, angling over to display shelf contents. Consider LEDs for a bright, targeted, energy-friendly solution. Visit your local library to see how they lit their shelves.
4. Don’t skip art.
   Paintings don’t have to be confined to walls. You can mount these pieces right onto bookshelves. This is a great way to break up the continuous pattern the shelves provide. I suggest using contrasting colors to give it an extra “pop.”
   That look can also be achieved by placing art on the shelves themselves. This is a great way to mix up your collection. My favorite way to place art is in accordance to the way books are organized. For example, the popular “A” and “Z” shelf ends can indicate where author last names begin and end. For a fun option, consider choosing art pieces that describe the content of the books (such as: business, art, fun, reference, etc). If you have kids, consider using their pictures to indicate their growing collection on the shelf. Make it fun for them to interact with reading! Bottom line: Be creative in a way that makes sense for you and your family.
5. Stay alive with plants. Libraries are notorious for feeling dusty, their shelves stacked with titles from countless authors. Add a little life with plants. Large, leafy plants are good options. Of course, ensure the plant you choose has sufficient lighting.
   Unless you’re seriously disadvantaged at keeping plants alive, opt for live plants over their fake counterparts. This will side step the dust and provide a much more vibrant feel.

What have you done to make your home library – of office – more inspiring? Feel free to link to photos to share your space and inspire others!

Moss as Art: A DIY Project

 

 

I just started a DIY project at home with the help of my friendly neighbor. With the growing popularity of a living wall, I wanted to try my hand at creating a simple version for my own home. I love the idea of plants as art and decided to start with easy simple to grow and maintain: Moss.

The Internet popularity of the moss mat has only expanded my interest in this concept. Though not many people have presumably brought one into their home, it’s creative approach has sparked conversation.

“Nguyen La Chanh’s ingenious design is made from a decay-free foam called plastazote, and populated with three varieties of moss: ball, island, and forest. Maintenance required for this little patch of green is limited, as the moss thrives off of the humidity released from daily bathroom rituals.”

 

 

Though I’d like to continue the do-it-yourself experiment into a moss table (as pictured), we started with a piece of art. We decided to grow moss on a piece of plywood to later mount to the wall. Pending any success, we’ll add two more pieces for additional decoration.

I’m no botanist, but I found directions moss-growing directions that were easy enough to follow; then I let some creativity take over. Please let me know what you think!

 

Materials:

• 1’x1’ piece of plywood
• Water sealer for plywood
• Burlap (enough to cover plywood with 3 layers)
• Staple gun
• Moss
• 8 oz of beer
• Teaspoon of sugar
• Blender

Prepping the base

 


Burlap stapled to plywood

 

• Start by treating the wood with water sealant. You’ll need to let this dry, so make sure to get this finished before you’re ready to continue.
• Once the plywood is treated and dry, cut the burlap to fit the plywood. You’ll need 3 separately cut pieces.
• Pull the first piece of burlap tight against the wood so it’s not draping, but allow room for plants to root themselves. Staple the burlap to the back of the plywood.
• Do the same with the other two pieces of burlap, but angle the pieces in different directs to add texture. You should not be able to see the wood when this is complete.

 

Growing moss
This is the fun part so, if you have them, make sure to include kids!

1. Collect grown moss outdoors. We used about 6” worth. Make sure to shake off any loose dirt.
2. Put the moss, beer, and sugar into a blender. Blend until liquid.
3. Pour the mossy concoction onto the burlap. Leave room on the edges.
4. Allow the moss to grow by keeping it flat, moist, and shady. (It’s pretty messy and a little smelly at this point, so we kept it outdoors.)
5. Once the moss has rooted and grown, we’ll be adding trim pieces on the edges to frame the moss!

Have you ever experimented with anything like this? How did it work out?

Easy Accent Pillows for Your Home

You have spent a lot of time and money planning and creating the perfect look and feel for your favorite sitting or entertaining room. Why would you want to wreck that by adding a random upholstered armchair or animal print ottoman?

It’s spring again and you can give your home a breath of life with by simply adding an accent piece. Just be careful to avoid a few pitfalls and you’ll enjoy a fresh look on a familiar space in a fun and creative way.

For a room the draws you in remember that opposites attract.
You don’t always have to find the perfect match. Sometimes the most beautiful color schemes are accomplished using complementary opposites.

Instead of choosing a purple throw pillow to match your purple bedspread, purple carpet, purple paint and purple chair, try throw pillows in a beautiful golden yellow. Or, liven up a neutral-colored bedroom with decorative accent pillows in coral and green.

There are three areas to keep in mind when designing a room: mood, tone and theme.
Set the mood with a color scheme, set the tone with the textiles and set the theme with patterns and prints. Like color, you can choose a fabric that matches perfectly or you can choose a fabric that complements perfectly. You probably wouldn’t want to choose a microfiber pillow to go on your silk bedspread, but velvet, velour, chenille or silk throw pillows add a lovely texture to your cotton sateen or damask bedspread.

Let your personality show with a faux fur or animal print throw pillow.Experiment and have fun with texture. There are almost as many themes are there are colors. You can choose any theme from French country to Asian or anything in between. If you choose an Asian-inspired theme for your bedroom, pick colors and fabrics that go with it. Silk pillows in bold red and black will look beautiful next to a traditional Japanese screen.

A theme doesn’t have to be complicated. Your theme can be as simple as a stripe motif. Simply accentuate a solid color bedspread with floral, polka dot or striped accent pillows and you will be well on your way to a new space in your home with minimal effort.

Headboard Makeover: Fun While Saving Money

Just because you are looking for ways to save money doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice a new look in your bedroom this spring. If you have a little creativity and some extra time you can make some exciting and inexpensive changes in the bedroom. By making a few dramatic changes to your headboard, you change the focus of your bedroom to the bed. Add a personal touch by doing it yourself.

Here are two ideas to get you inspired – start here and let your imagination run wild.

Door to Door
This is a great way to make use of that extra door, or 3 narrow closet doors, that have been cluttering your garage, basement, attic or storage. The idea here is to create a work of art that is a practical piece of furniture. This is why, for this particular project, I prefer three narrow panel-style closet doors. Measure  your bed to decide what is going to work best for you.

• Look around your bedroom and choose one color that will complement what you already have. This color is your center. From here, you will also choose a tone and a shade.
• Tape off unequal horizontal blocks then feel free to start painting. Paint all the stripes of one color before moving on to the next tone or shade.
• Once they are painted and dried, attach the doors to each other with brackets and secure to your bed frame and/or wall.

Satin Lattice
This is a very simple yet elegant do-it-yourself project.

• Begin by measuring the width and height of your bed.
• Add about 3’ to the height measurement – it may seem like a lot now but we are going for drama.
• Select a sturdy wood about 1” thick that fits the dimensions that you measured earlier.
• Lay your board on a secure surface. Use a mild adhesive on the board and apply ample stuffing to the board.
• Completely cover the board with satin.
• Fold a small hem on the back of the board then use a staple gun on the hem ensuring that the slack is taken out.
• Turn the board over and with satin ribbon create a lattice pattern over the front securing the ribbon to the back with your trusty staple gun.
• Where the ribbon crosses on the front, place a fabric-covered button or pin.
• Once completed, secure to your bed frame or wall.

And there you have it – a new focus in a new space for a low cost. Enjoy!

Complementing Stone Floors: 5 Favorite Elements

Stone floors can be a gorgeous way to achieve a contemporary, earthy look but they often also have a “cold” feel. Warming up the floors with complementary pieces can take some creativity, but the work is well worth it. Here are my five favorite additions that are sure to warm up your home:

Eco-Smart Non-Vented Fireplaces: This is the most streamlined  fireplace I’ve come across that maintains the earthy feel of a stone floor. These fireplaces burn denatured ethanol alcohol and are naturally clean burning. Not only that, but the government offers incentives: Up to 30 percent or $1,500 in tax credits for the purchase of these fireplaces!

 

 

Chester Grommet Curtain: The Chester Grommet Curtain is a great option for softening the rigidity of stone floors, but maintaining a contemporary style. Grommets are in brushed silver or iron, to coordinate with the color of the linen.

 

 

 

Dover Artist Studio Rug: This contemporary rug comes from India and is made from 100 percent New Zealand wool. The stone-like circles are a nice contrast to the rigid lines of caulk stone floors sometimes have.

If this rug doesn’t match your style, consider how you can pull the subtle colors from your stone into a rug with contrasting colors. Many stone floors are darker, so lighter colors can both soften and better define areas of the room.

 

Cornice LEDs: LEDs are not only energy efficient, but they add the right amount of soft light to lift the textures of your stone floors. LEDs on top of a cornice gives the room a comforting, even romantic lighting effect. If you already have cornices, consider adding LEDs.

 

French chandelier: This chandelier dates back to 1920’s France. This total splurge (priced at $2,400) is a dream lighting piece. The ambient lighting is an earthier-feeling option than the contemporary style of the cornice LEDs.

Revitalizing Your Home with Antiques

There are many ways to revitalize your home’s look without spending the time or money on a major renovation project. Consider complementing, or even contrasting your current motif with some well chosen antiques. Adding antiques and collectibles to your decor offers stylish, interesting, and practical ways to liven up a space. Here are a few tips to keep in mind when adding antiques to your home.

Remember to group like objects together. Whether you’ve amassed a striking collection of pottery or an eclectic mix of antique clocks, grouping like objects together on a shelf, table or mantle can often make more of an impact than scattering them about a room.

Vary the size and shape of objects in your collectible groupings to make them more interesting. This also works well with holiday collectibles. This is often referred to as making a “statement”. By creating a deliberate and cohesive idea with antiques you can make a beautiful statement.

Try using common items in an unexpected way. Consider using vintage aprons as a window valance. Try finding an old pull-down schoolhouse map and using it as a window shade in a study or in a child’s bedroom. Your imagination is your limit when it comes to finding a way to use common items in unusual ways. Don’t turn your nose up at what your might find at thrift store or a flea market. In a new light, it can save you lots of money as well.

Let’s get back to that cohesiveness. When planning a room, try to be realistic with what you can accomplish. And try to recreate an era. Recreating an era through decorating can be visually stimulating as well as an interesting challenge. Consider how an art deco bathroom or Victorian guest room might look in your home.

 

Look at old home and garden magazines or decorating books for authentic ideas before setting out on a quest to fill that space with stylish collectibles reflecting your favorite decade.

Be bold and don’t be afraid to mix old with new. Adding interesting antiques and collectibles to modern décor provides an opportunity to embellish a room with a conversation piece that stands out. Architectural antiques and oversized advertising pieces are great options for this purpose, but anything old and unusual will do. Again, be bold not reckless and liven up your home with a few pieces from an era gone by.

Tablescape: What are the Secrets to a Great Looking Table?

I was watching the Food Network, one of my favorite weekend activities, and was listening to this one show when all of the sudden the host said a word that I flinched at in bewilderment. Tablescape… no, not landscape but tablescape.

The best way I can explain this is, it’s a made-up term that gives identity to the act of making your dining room table look pretty for an occasion. Think about wedding receptions, the act of designing the elements to work cohesively: silverware, centerpieces, plates, chargers, glasses, accessories, napkins…the whole kit and caboodle.

So tablescapes would be a way to enhance a space and complete the design package when company arrives.

Here are a few things I gathered as ideas for a successful tablescape:

1. There are two major routes – a single focal point or multiple points of interest for each individual. This means either you can design the table with one large centerpiece that acts as a focus with surrounding details – or you can make a focal point for each individual – adding a fancy napkin ring or something like that.
2. With the first point in mind, you have to think about height and what you want the emphasis to be. Using multiple heights can add variety to the table. Think about a city skyline and how the beauty lies in the changing shapes, their varying height and the change in materials.
3. Like any good combination, you have to think about texture. The plates are most likely smooth – and the glasses may follow that route. So what are you going to do in order to add variety in texture to add interest? One idea is the napkin texture, perhaps a unique candlestick holder, or even individual unique chargers beneath the plates.
4. Color and sheen is the last component. This is absolutely important and sets the mood of the space (along with the lighting). For instance, if I want a summer table, I am not going to put down a black table cloth. If we are celebrating the holidays, candy red and evergreen may be the way to go, or maybe not. Try a path of mixed metallics that emphasize the reflection of the materials and will reflect candlelight.
5. To theme or not to theme…I can just leave that one there. If you are looking to be very literal, go for it with your accessories. If you just want a “pretty” table, keep it simple and classy.

In the end, a tablescape will have all the same basic design principles as if you are designing an interior. Do you do anything special to dress your table?

I Love Contemporary Patterned Rugs, but How Do I Make It Work?

Do you find yourself in love with a patterned contemporary rug but uncertain about how to incorporate it in your home? You are not alone.

Contemporary rugs look awesome but can be hard to work with. The large scale patterns and multiple colors might clash with other pieces in the room. Might I recommend trying to pair a large printed contemporary rug with a solid colored sofa?

Solid Color

Now, the best part about contemporary rooms is that the sofa doesn’t have to be the typical beige or white. It can be a vibrant solid color; green, red, black, etc. Pick one color found in the majority of the rug and make that same color your sofa fabric!

When using chairs in a room, I would typically recommend a patterned fabric. However, this might pose a challenge when working with a patterned rug. Instead, try repeating the same solid color fabric used on the sofa. Popping the colors in the rug with patterned throw pillows on the sofa and chairs can be a great accent.

Common Patterns

Always use patterns that correspond well together. Keep everything geometric or swirls or circles; otherwise the patterns may start to fight each other.

Artwork for Accent

Next, why not repeat the same type of pattern and colors found in the rug with the artwork. But here is where you can start to bring in some other elements into the space. For example, some contemporary flower prints will work great with a geometric patterned rug!

Mirrors

If more than a couple pieces of artwork are needed in the room, why not try a contemporary mirror? There are some really neat mirrors out there, such as what I call the “sunburst mirror,” a small, round mirror with pieces of metal coming out from the center. Some will even have tiny round mirrors at the end.

Simple Accessories

For the finishing touch, keep the accessories simple, such as large coffee tables books, a simple floral in a contemporary vase, picture frames or a large bowl with fillers such as coffee beans and candles.

Do you prefer a contemporary or traditional design for your home? How have you blended patterns and color?

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