The bedroom is the place we spend most of our time, yet also tends to be the most neglected when it comes to decorating. Nowadays, money may be a significant factor! Here are some great tips for brightening up your space with no money at all!

1.Rearrange! A new fresh arrangement always makes a room feel new. Don’t be afraid to try new angles for your furniture…place your bed on a diagonal, or even right in the middle of the room!

2. Search your drawers for scarves, tablecloths, or even pillowcases that compliment your color scheme. You can use things you already own to soften a dresser top or the edge of your nightstand, or perhaps lay a pretty shawl over the foot of the bed. If you already have throw pillows on your bed (if you don’t, it’s time to steal them from another room!) you can also wrap these fabrics around the pillows for a new look, and just safety pin it in back.

3. Add a plant to your room. Look around your house to see if one of your existing plants would be happier in your bedroom, then move it there! If you can’t find a plant ready for relocation, make one! Many plants can be grown from cuttings, either your existing houseplants, one a friend may let you cut, or even some outdoor plants. Ivy and many shade groundcovers are very good houseplants. You can even relive your childhood a bit and grow a cut potato, pineapple, or carrot tops in a pinch! For containers, look into your kitchen cupboards. Old teapots and cups, glass bowls, even baking dishes can make unique containers.

4. Add memorabilia to your room. I keep a photo of each one of my children when they were small next to my bedside, and it always makes me smile. How about hanging your wedding veil from the headboard, or framing your wedding invitation or old love letters?

5.Add scent. If you don’t have any potpourri or incense in the house, cut up some orange peels and allow to dry, then mix with whatever sweet spices you have in your cupboard. (It only takes a pinch, try cinnamon, ginger, or allspice.) Place your potpourri in an open bowl in your room to freshen and inspire! Later in the summer, make sure to include flowers in your room, if you don’t have roses or other scented flowers in your yard, roadside daisies can smell great too!

6. Get the right equipment before you start. You need to use the best DIY equipment, and this can be expensive - try buying online at : DIY Store …. the prices are cheap even for the top brand equipment.

Just a few small changes, no money involved, and a better, more positive place for you to start and end each day!

Here are some easy tips to decorate your home. Taking a few moments to think about your home will help you fully enjoy it.

Think about your home, and answer these questions:

1. What do you want it to be? If you want your home to be a tranquil oasis in a busy world, are your colors soothing or do they shout? If you want a fun place for friends to gather, do you have plenty of seating?

2. What are your main hobbies and activities? What do you need for these activities? For instance, if you have a collection that you work on often, get storage containers for it that can be easily opened or put away. If it’s a lot of trouble to get at your collection, you either won’t spend the time on it, or else might be tempted to leave it out and risk losing or breaking certain pieces.

3. Who will be using the space? How many people will be living there? What ages? It’s important for every person to have a space that’s their own.

Whether it’s a special chair, couch, desk or a section of a room, everyone needs ‘their space’. If you’re planning to do video aerobics, you’ll need room to move around in front of the TV!

4. What about your things? It’s easy to become very messy if things don’t have a place. A small filing cabinet is a must for many people – it’s a great place to store all the papers that you don’t know what to do with!

5. How much do you really need? Too much furniture makes a room seem crowded. The bare essentials are a couch and chair, a table and chairs for eating, a bed and place for your clothes. After that, think hard about what you need or don’t need. Will you really use that computer desk – or would you rather sit on the couch with a laptop?

6. Think about the traffic flow. You want to be able to walk anywhere in the room without bumping into furniture. Try drawing furniture placement on paper as a first step.

7. Pick a focal point - your Greystone Properties home has unique features. What do you want to see when your first walk in the room? If you have nice windows with great lighting, are you emphasizing it? Everyone feels brighter in sunshine.

8. Think about order and organization. Do you bring home work every day, or mail, or sports equipment? Where will you put it? A large bowl or box near the front door is a great place to drop mail until you go through it later.

9. Take advantage of free expert advice. Every store and every product line employs professional designers to put furniture and accessories together. If you’re unsure of your decorating skills, pick a design you like. Study how they did it either by looking through a catalogue or going to a store. It’s all there assembled and displayed for you. If you like the look, simply do what they’ve done!

Despite what you may read in the trendiest kitchen design magazines, updating the look of your kitchen really does not require that your spend a lot of time and money. There are some simple and inexpensive ways to give your kitchen a brand new look.

Some small change here and there that you can make in your kitchen can still create a big effect on how your kitchen looks. You can get ideas about what you would like incorporate into your kitchen decorating and remodeling project from books, magazines, and internet sites dealing with kitchen design ideas.

There are 7 relatively low cost kitchen-decorating ideas to create a beautiful kitchen:

1. Replacing the cabinet doors and fronts.

Then you can reface the remaining fixtures. This will greatly change the whole look and feel of your kitchen.

2. Painting your cabinets white and changing the hardware, such as knobs, handles, or pulls.

3. Using solid core MFD doors, which are medium density fiberboard or timber. They can be fitted to a solid door base. This type of door can be painted to create any look you may want.

4. Using color to renovate the kitchen is another example of inexpensive kitchen decorating. You can paint your walls and cabinets. When it comes to painting your existing cabinetry, you can use decorative finishes. Some examples are creating a distressed finish to add an aged look, and faux and glazed finishes. These are all simple to do and cost effective.

5. Another area of the kitchen you can easily update is the faucet and sink. It is possible to locate moderately priced sinks that can cost from $50 $300. They are also available in many colors, and styles. Porcelain, stainless steel, and acrylic are the materials that are available for sinks. For faucets, you will find that they are available in many styles and finishes, and depending on the type of faucet can range in price from $50 to$750.

6. Another great affordable idea in kitchen decorating is to add a kitchen island. Kitchen islands are great for adding more counter space to the kitchen and provide a gathering place. If you do not have enough money or space to add a permanent kitchen island, but would like to have the advantages of one, you might consider as an alternative getting a kitchen cart. A kitchen cart can have wheels for rolling around, as well as have drawers, shelves, and places to hang utensils. Because they are on wheels they can be cleared out the way.

7. If your kitchen-decorating budget is so small that you can only afford to remodel a small area of your kitchen you might consider adding a kitchen backsplash. A new kitchen backsplash can really dress up a drab, uninspiring kitchen. Kitchen backsplashes are available in so many different styles, colors, and materials. The materials used for backsplashes can include, wood, porcelain, natural stone, glass, stainless steel, and even wallpaper. The costs vary depending on the material you select.

So you can see that redecorating your kitchen can be a simple thing like changing the hardware on your existing cabinetry or painting the walls. Just one small change can do a lot to make your kitchen look brand new.

Living room is a place in the home, which has got a very special importance as far as planning is concerned. If a schematic plan of the home is drawn it can be easily concluded that in almost every home plan the living room has got maximum area in unit squares.

This itself is an indication that the living room is a space that needs some good attention during the entire home decorating project. Let’s try to note down some essentials of a good and successful living room
design.

1) Clear Circulation Space>>

In any home plan whether it is an apartment block or an independent bungalow a person either enters an “entrance lobby” or directly in the living room (if space is an issue). From this living room entrances open to all other spaces namely kitchen, bedrooms, staircases if any, patios, study rooms, family rooms etc..

That’s why while designing a furniture layout it must be kept in mind that the circulation is unobstructed. this can be easily achieved by creating a sample furniture layout on paper first and then the furniture arranged thereafter.

2) Visual Balance>>

Create a good visual balance between the used and unused spaces. By used space I mean the floor that has been occupied by the furniture pieces. It is not necessary to fill every corner of the living room with some furniture element. But as mentioned above a bare minimum circulation space is a must.

Since the main entrance of the entire home is only through the living room (most of the times) allow buffer space to carry the other heavy furniture pieces that are to be placed in the bedrooms such as double beds, wardrobes etc. All these object need to carried through the living room and installed in the bedroom. So think for your entire home, not just the living room.

3) Future Emergency Occupancy>>

Think about what will happen if you throw a party at your place. All your friends/relatives/colleagues will gather in the living room. So plan for this extra occupancy. What will you do in such situations for seating. Will you move your dining chairs in the living or will people stand or even sit on the ground. Whatever your decision plan for future.

4) Ventilation>>

If the living room is considerably large, than in most cases it also has a higher ceiling. This is very perfect for the proportions of the space. So think about ventilating this space naturally and artificially as well. If you are going to use fans then will these be hung from the ceiling or be wall mounted.

5) Warm and Welcoming Color Scheme>>

As a general rule always keep your living room charming using bright color scheme, that has a welcoming attitude. As mentioned above the living room is the first space you will see when you enter you home, so make it a point to use inspiring colors of your choice to add a touch of beauty.

Use of indoor flowering plants around the window bottom is also a great way to add some extra interest in the living room.

In this article I have tried to throw some light upon the living room design ideas, I hope this helps as a starting point for you to think more creatively to decorate your living room.

As a San Francisco based artist and creator of beautiful things, I strive to design the details of my life so that my experience of beauty is enhanced to the maximum. It’s what I call Artful Living. One of my inspirations is beautiful fabric. What’s yours?

My business is sewing for custom interiors and I get great pleasure from working with exquisite fabrics. Flowing silks, crisp linens and the bright flowers of a waxy cotton chintz are a delight to the senses. My featured fabric from the house of Fortuny is one of my favorites.

What I love about my work is collaborating closely with clients to create the houses they want to live in and feel great about. Making everything from bedding, window treatments and pillows, I create something exquisite every day. I have extended the rich sensual experience of my work into my philosophy of Artful Living.

Artful Living can encompass the materials, the texture, the color and the form of the everyday items with which you surround yourself. Life is a feast and you can take every opportunity to enjoy it’s pleasures by enriching your daily experience with beauty. Live Artfully by:

Have Your Special Signature Piece - Take an everyday item like your handbag, your tote or a scarf and make it your special signature piece.

A unique expression reflective of you! For instance, one day in a great hurry, Babe Paley socialite and trend setter in the 50’s and 60’s, tied her Hermes scarf to the handle of her handbag thereby creating a fashion craze. Everyone who was anyone immediately did the same.

Uplift and Enrich Yourself in Small Details - It isn’t what you possess but how you make the most of it by presenting and arranging it. Consciously design your life as an antidote to the pervasive stress of the 21st century. Choose the details of your surroundings to uplift and enrich your life. Perhaps it is something that was made especially for you, or something that reminds you of a joyful time. Whenever I look at the small Florentine paper picture frame which sits on my bookcase, I am instantly transported to that magical shop under the Ponte Vecchio and the soft, warm light of a spring evening. What small item takes you to a favorite corner of the world?

Be Environmentally Friendly - Your artifacts can be fashioned from salvaged, recycled, reused or renewable materials. You might think that this does not sound sexy but you can have beauty and be kind to the planet at the same time. I reuse vintage Japanese kimonos to make beautiful pillows and totes. My clients love them because they are extremely limited pieces, made especially for them from high-quality fabrics with prints that are no longer loomed. It’s a real thrill to have your own custom pillow, tote or accessory in a fabric that will never be made again.

Be a Pebble in the Pond - As the ripples spread out from one small pebble dropped into a pond, you can give others the gift of Artful Living by simply embodying it yourself. Others will perceive and enjoy your increased sense of vivaciousness as you unselfconsciously go about sporting your signature piece. Just think of how good you feel when someone compliments you on your good taste and style. You can also artfully maintain the details of your work environment. I often benefit with improved mood and vitality by keeping a fresh cut flower (a red, orange or yellow Gerber Daisy is my favorite) in a small elegant Japanese ceramic vase. I keep it next to my computer and a couple of times a day or so, the color and fragrance affords me a wonderful contemplative get-away into beauty. It lets me refocus on my work with a renewed sense of vigor. You can experience the same benefits with your own personal artful design. By expressing the radiance that is your true nature, you will enhance your own life and the lives of others in surprising ways!
Get ready for an abundance of fresh ideas, energy and new beautiful items to enhance your living!