Decorate Your New Home Like a Pro

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? 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. You may just have 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. 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.


About The Author
Vickie Morrow is an exterior and interior designer and artist living and working in Scottsdale, Arizona. You can experience more of her decorating ideas, tips and techniques at her web site: www.inoutdecor.com Subscribe to Vickie's free Decorating Tips newsletter at http://www.inoutdecor.com/Downloads/joinmailinglist.htm Vickie Morrow may be contacted at http://www.inoutdecor.com/ . Click here to view more of their articles.


Article reprinted with permission from http://www.ideamarketers.com/

5 Calming Bedroom Design Ideas

by Jennifer Thoden
You probably already know that your bedroom should be your safe haven... your oasis... your special place.
It makes sense... I mean, after all, it is the place you end your day with and begin your day with.

Shouldn't your bedroom make you smile and feel comforted?

Well, if you choose to not be in your bedroom until it's dark outside, here are some bedroom design ideas that will create a calming, relaxing space.

1. Paint your bedroom in your favorite color. Waking up to a color you love is the perfect way to start your day. Don't get so wrapped up in what a bedroom should be or shouldn't be. If you love orange, then paint your bedroom orange.

Or paint your bedroom in the complement of your favorite color and then add accents in your favorite color. The complement is the color on the opposite side of the color wheel. Red's complement is Green. Blue's complement is Orange. Yellow's complement is Purple.

So, if you love purple, maybe paint your walls lavendar and add yellow pillows and a vase of yellow tulips.

Just use colors you truly enjoy for a personal bedroom design.

2. Use one fabric, but use it everywhere. Many people find it difficlut to coordinate different fabric patterns successfully. In fact, many bedroom design ideas become too busy with mixes of plaids and florals.

So, choose a fabric that matches your paint color and use it in your drapes... in your bedding... and even in an upholstered chair.

If you're really worried that this is too much of one fabric, then choose a solid fabric to go along with your main fabric.

3. Add candles and mood lighting. Lighting can enhance a bedroom design far more than you may realize. Yes, you need lamps for task lighting, but to really create a bedroom that is glowing, soft and relaxing you need some mood lighting.

This can be created with candles, floor cans that project light upward from the floor, wall sconces and even picture lights.

4. Add soft textures Keep in mind that the goal of your bedroom design idea is to calm and soothe. So, choose fabrics that are soft and cozy. Select silks, cottons and suedes. Even terry cloth can add an unexpected luxury.

Use lots of pillows for comfort, and visual interest.

5. Don't forget privacy In the evenings, you shouldn't have to worry about privacy. Make sure your bedroom design ideas include window treatments that cover your windows at night. This will also close the room in and add to the coziness of the room.

Planning the perfect bedroom design idea doesn't have to be difficult.

Keep it personal, choose the colors and fabrics you like... select artwork that makes you smile and enjoy the decorating process.

Happy Decorating! ----------------------- Visit http://www.homedecoratingideas4u.com for more free bedroom decorating ideas.

Jennifer Thoden may be contacted at http://www.simplesewingprojects.com/ jennifer@simplesewingprojects.com. Click here to view more of their articles.
Jennifer Thoden shares her creativity and love of design with the sewing and beading community through her step by step articles and information products. You can find her free article sites at http://www.simplesewingprojects.com and http://www.beadpatternsonline.com

Parenting Tips On Getting Your Child To Take Medicine They Hate

As a parent you hate it when your kids are sick. We want them to get better as quick as possible, and of course usually the quickest way is with antibiotics or medicine of some kind.

Where the problem comes in is when your child does not like their medicine and does not want to take it. While you of course will give your child what the doctor prescribes but don't be afraid to ask about the taste and if you have a child that struggles to take a certain kind of medicine see if their is an alternative.

Yes we can force feed them their medicine but it is unpleasant for everyone and if your child gets upset enough they will just throw it back up anyway. Plus unless you are extremely proficient at this you may waste doses.

Anything you can do for your child to make it easier for them to take their medicine will get them healthier quicker and save you and them from some miserable moments.

I have found with liquids that don't taste good that if I have a drink ready with something sweet it seems to help, I have even been known to use a spoon full of sugar to help the medicine go down easier.

While no parent likes to do it you can plug your child's nose so they have to open their mouth and try it that way. If your quick it does work most of the time, but that doesn't solve the problem if they hate their chewables or can't swallow pills easy.

I finally resorted to bribery with the nasty tasting chewable medicine. We got a package of sweet tarts and she would have a sweet tart, follow it with the chewable, and then another sweet tart. This of course only works if you child likes this type of candy. But you can try others if you have to.

When it comes to pills that need to be swallowed that is sometimes tough for children to learn how to do. I have found that placing the pill in a spoonful of applesauce makes it easier for my daughter to get the pill down without choking.

I hope these tips help. Make sure you are firm when it comes to medicine, let them know that somehow someway the medicine must get into their tummy to make them feel better. But that doesn't mean you can't be sympathetic and follow the dosage with a whole lot of attention and love.

Read more great articles on child development and parenting.



Robin Reckard may be contacted at http://www.jorbins.com/ robin@jorbins.com. Click here to view more of their articles.
Co-founder of Jorbins.com Lifestyle Magazine.

Robin keeps busy producing, writing, and editing for the magazine as well as raising and enjoying her six year old daughter.

Copyright 2006, Jorbins Inc. - Reprints of this article can be made as long as the article is in it's entirety, unchanged, and the resource box with links and urls remain unchanged.