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?

Exciting Room Themes for Little Girls

Looking for a fun and imaginative room theme for your daughter? Little girls are our princesses. Aren’t some of the themes getting old, redundant and boring? How about trying something different for your little girl, something she will love and be excited to show her friends? The trick to having a themed room? Don’t overdo the theme. It’s actually very simple – just mix up the theme with corresponding patterns and colors.

Butterflies

Does your little girl love visiting butterfly gardens? If so, why not give her a butterfly room of her dreams? Try finding butterfly patterns in “girly” colors such as purple, green and even light blue. If you choose to reflect the theme in the bedding, I recommend adding pillows in solid colors or simple prints.

To select a color for the walls, pick your little girl’s favorite color from the pattern on the bedding and hang a couple of corresponding prints on the walls. Try painting the furniture in the room white or use purple, green or blue shades found in the bedding. Painted wood furniture is always a great look for little girls. This is an opportunity for you to refinish some old furniture you might have laying around.

Finally, keep the lamps, accessories and stuff animals away from the butterfly theme. This will actually help add emphasis on what pieces in the bedroom are displaying the theme.

Flowers

How about flowers? If your little girl loves shades of pink, purple, yellow or green, this just might be the perfect theme! The best thing about flowers is that they come in different colors. Try to keep the color scheme to three colors and utilizing them in different shades.

Finding flower print bedding is usually quite easy so you may want to start there. Chose one color from the bedding and paint the walls the same color. Did you choose a dark color? If so, outline a couple of flowers in white. They will stand out nicely against the dark walls. If you chose a lighter color for the walls, I suggest a dark color from the bedding for the outlined flowers. This is a great and inexpensive way to carry out the theme throughout the room.

Hawaii

If you are looking for less of a “girly” theme, consider a Hawaiian look. A Hawaiian theme leaves plenty of room for creativity!

Start by choosing bright pink, blue and yellow for your color scheme. Paint the walls a light color and choose one wall for a bright, bold accent color! Try mounting a surf board to the wall to add an unique touch. Bring in the grass skirt, bamboo shades and chair for a fun addition to the space. Choose a Hawaiian flower pattern for the bedding. Pair this with solid colored pillows and use light stained wood furniture throughout the space.

Do you have another creative theme for your daughter’s room? Share your ideas and pictures!

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?

When to Use a Solid Colored Rug in Your Living Room

Do you have a hard surface floor in your living room? Need a rug to add some coziness? Deciding on what the best rug is for your room can pose to be a challenge for many, but here are some simple tips to use when deciding if a solid colored rug is right for you:

Popping Out

Solid colored rugs can have two major effects on a room: they can either add a pop of color or blend in. When working within a modern style living room with mostly natural colors, a pop of color in the rug can do wonders. For example, if the majority of your room is cream colored, adding a vibrant red rug or green rug can have a dramatic effect.

The key to making this element work is to repeat the same color throughout the room in the wall art, throw pillows or accessories. But be careful not to add too much because it can take the effect away. At the same time, adding too little can leave one wondering why in the world there is a vibrant colored rug in the room.

Texture can play an important role to the effect the rug can have on a modern interior. Shaggy rugs are often used, which will add a comfortable and soft feeling against the straight edges and solid colors.

Blending In

For the opposite effect, a solid colored rug can blend into the room. In many coastal and classic traditional homes, we often find ourselves not wanting to draw attention to the floor but to the furniture pieces themselves.

Coastal homes and classic traditional homes are known for having sisal rugs. Sisal rugs will give the solid colored and natural texture often needed in these types of environments. We often find the plain white or cream sofa with decorative pillows to add a pop of color. When pairing these smooth fabrics with a sisal rug, it creates a nice balance throughout the room.

Traditional, classic homes have furniture with clean lines that tend to draw your attention in the room; the sisal will not take away from this but will actually add the texture difference needed for a more powerful impact. In coastal homes we often find tropical prints, strips or soft plaids. Again, the sisal won’t compete against these. Besides, what better type of rug to have that hides the sand that will come in off the beach?

What do you prefer: a blend or a pop?

How Do I Make that Oriental Rug Work in my Home?!

Often we have a love-hate relationship with oriental rugs. They are comfortable, add an eclectic pattern to dull areas, but can remind us of our Grandmother’s house. So, should you go with the oriental rug or not?

First of all, look at the color. Many antique rugs are in fashionable colors we can still use today – black, burgundy, green, navy, gold, plum, etc.  I would recommend getting rid of the light blue, mauve, and pinks from the 80’s and early 90’s. Most often, the areas in the home where oriental rugs work best include the foyer and hallways, dining room, living room or study.

Foyers and hallways are often simply decorated. Naturally colored walls or grasscloth are most commonly used in today’s homes. If any furniture is placed in these areas, they are often large casegoods and decorative chairs. There isn’t much of a chance to bring in pattern and color, so oriental rugs are a great pairing in these environments. They add interest, color and cover up the bare hard surface flooring beneath our feet. Florals, artwork and accessories are a great ways to repeat the colors found in the oriental rug throughout the space.

Another perfect spot for oriental rugs would be the dining room. Large wood or glass tables are the focus of this room. Secondary to the table would be the dining chairs, which may have upholstered backs and seats; this is a perfect opportunity to repeat the colors in the rug. If a buffet or china cabinet is found in this room, placing dishes, glassware or linens in or on these pieces with colors from the rug will move the guest’s eye throughout the space. To add the finishing touches, repeat the colors on the table centerpiece, in the artwork and draperies.

We often find oriental rugs in living rooms and studies. If you would like a more masculine feel to this space, I would recommend pairing the oriental rug with leather sofas and heavy, dark wood furniture. What better way to pop the solid leather color and wood than with a busy rug? Repeating these colors in the artwork, pillows, accessories and lamps can tie the room together with a dramatic effect.

Do you like the look of oriental rugs? How have you added them into your home?

Using a Neutral Palette to Make a Statement

Neutral does not equal boring! We hear all this talk about accent walls and using bright colors to liven up a space, and that does not have to be the case. Neutral palettes of grey tones, whitewashes and beige surroundings can be full of depth and visual interest.

Grey Spaces I work in the office furniture world of commercial design and when we talk about grey workplaces, this is not what I mean in designing for a grey interior. Do not think scary cubicles! The key to designing a grey neutral interior is to focus on sheen. By using a variety of grey tones with different gloss levels, you can range from charcoal to light nickel satin. This will add visual interest while still maintaining a cool and relaxed feel.

The White Space White modern interiors can feel a bit stark. In spaces where you want to stay bleach friendly think about pattern and depth. You would be shocked to see how many colors of “white” there really are. Just take a walk through a local paint store and look at only how many white paint chips there are. If you want to create your own white interior, be sure to use multi-tone whites. This will add depth and character.

Also, in regards to pattern, be sure to think of using sheer and opaque combinations to create white on white patterns. What lighting you select in white spaces will play a big roll too. If you select cooler colored bulbs,  the room will be more “blue” and cool – if you select more warm bulbs, the space will be more “yellow” and warm.

Beige For All For beige interiors you want to think of texture. Think of earthy textures in beige, such as wood and sand. By using multiple textures, once again, you can gain visual interest, depth and variety. This neutral family has the most gradation because you can travel to the dark brown to the very light sands. A beige neutral space will feel warm and cozy.

Always keep in mind that a space can include all of these neutrals combined for great visual impact while still maintaining classic color without too many “accents”.

How do you use neutrals in your space?

Planning Your Pets to Match You Interior – Or the Other Way Around Works Too

Have you ever been out taking a walk and come across a person walking their dog only to realize they look a little more like twins than master and pet? I have to say that I have seen a few “pet replicas” in my day, but I have yet to see the ultimate in pet identity theft by a human…the poodle perfection.

You can picture it – when a poodle is as perfectly manicured as the person walking the pet. If you were to see the owner without his pet you you might still say…”Yeah, they must own a poodle”.

I happen to think that these types of pet owners are pretty awesome. Being a dog lover myself, I can appreciate that pet bonding can cause intentional and unintentional changes in behavior and appearance. Do you think there are ways to have your interior reflect these bonding criteria? Let’s avoid ugly cat trees in the middle of a living room. I am thinking a little bit more in the direction of subconscious decision and about more practical attributes, like upkeep.

Upkeep is an easy one. My initial thought involves picking a pet that matches most of your wardrobe, or if you are lucky, your upholstered furniture.

My mother is on her second black lab, great dog. But Angel has tendency to shed quite a bit. Like most labs, it’s worse in the spring and fall. My mother, while she wears a lot of black (good thinking), also made the ridiculous decision of reupholstering her favorite chairs in white, pure white, textured fabric. SO, not only does the hair show every time Angel walks up against the chair, it also sticks to the texturized surface. At least my mother did acknowledge this would be a problem when she chose it. It just isn’t the decision I would have made.

Second, there are the subconscious decisions for your interior based on your pet. For instance, experts say that you should pick a pet that matches your activity level.

A good example is my ex. He was lazy and he bought a basset hound. I loved that dog, but it slept more in one day than I did in three. The experts also say that if you have a tri-colored dog, you might find yourself picking brown, black and white for all your interior elements.

Something to think about… Do you match your interior to your four legged family member? Or maybe you have not thought about it?

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