People who own brand-new houses or bought a unit in a condominium want to add a character to bare walls. Even with minimalist enthusiasts, they want to place at least a piece of decoration on the wall, be it a single picture, painting, sculpture, emblem, or a display of colorful lights.

For more traditional homes, they can have the wall painted with custom designs. However, many opt for the easier method-putting wallpaper on the walls. A common material for interior design, wallpaper is a paper material that can be used to beautify the interior walls of rooms, houses, and offices. Wallpapers are available in all home improvement stores and are sold in rolls. People can choose between plain wallpaper, which can be painted afterward, or pre-printed ones with patterns and designs.

The proper installation of wallpapers is crucial to avoid imperfections. While they are beautiful, a flaw in the installation is easily highlighted. Flaws include tears, misaligned patterns, air bubbles, and stains.

So how do you properly install, say, a wallpaper with a fleur de lis wall art motif? Here are some tips

1. The first step is to prepare the wall itself. Arguably, this is the most important step. The wall should be completely smooth, otherwise bumps and crevices will show through the paper. Too make sure that the wall is dry and clean. If the wall is wet, it will reduce the stickiness of the wallpaper paste since the adhesive is usually water based. For the same reason, the wall should also be clean.

2. If the wall is covered by old wallpaper, the old wallpaper should be removed. You can do this by perforating and scraping the old wallpaper, brushing water on it so that the old glue will dissolve, use a commercial wallpaper remover, or use steam. All traces of the old wallpaper should be cleared.

3. You will want the paper to hang straight. Therefore, divide the wall into sections. It would be easier for you if you would mark the divisions with a pencil. The mark will serve as a guide.

Measure each section so you would know the amount of wallpaper you need. Cut the paper to the right size according to the measurements. It would be wise to add a few inches to the measurement to ensure that no bare space would show.

3. Put the first strip on top of the wall. Apply the glue to each subsection as you work your way down. If the wallpaper you are using has a self-adhesive backing, peel back the wax paper little by little. As you work your way down, get rid of any air bubbles by pressing the paper firmly against the wall. Try to keep the paper straight until you reach the bottom.

4. When you start working on the adjacent section, make sure the fleur de lis wall art symbols align with those of the previously installed section. By aligning them, the wall design will have a seamless, natural look.

5. Once the sections are installed and dry, remove hand stains by wiping the wallpaper with a damp cloth, followed by a dry cloth.

Additional free ideas are offered by senior staff writer and home decor specialist Alyssa Davis at Metal-Wall-Art. The store also specializes in distinctive fleur de lis wall art and wall sculptures.

Remodeling your kitchen or thinking of selling you house and looking for ways to update the kitchen? Check out these quick and easy tips.

1. Log onto sites like ebay.com. You can find 10% and 20% off Home Depot coupons. Buy as many as you need, but check the seller’s feedback first.

2. If you are looking for contractors, try looking in your local listings for craigslist.org; you can also post a job listing and get quotes.

3. Having trouble removing old wallpaper in your kitchen? Get a tool called a Paper Tiger that scores the paper, making tiny holes all over. Don’t press too hard with it, though, or you’ll score the wallboard underneath, too. Then spray on a mixture of 3 parts water to 1 part fabric softener on the walls. Let it soak for a few minutes then just peel the paper off. Repeat as required.

4. When picking a colour for your Corian or Granite countertops, avoid darker solid colours. Dust, food crumbs fingerprints, grease stains, water stains, will all show up more prominently and make frequent cleaning mandatory. Lighter colours, while less dramatic, are more practical.

5. A good flooring material for the kitchen is porcelain tile with non-slip texturing. You’ll want to use a darker grout colour, which will show less dirt build-up. Porcelain tile holds up well over the years and cleans up easy.

6. For lighting, you should locate the brightest lights directly over the main countertop area and/or kitchen island. The reason for this is to prevent any shadows on you kitchen work surfaces. Show off those countertops to highlight their beauty. Accent lights can be located under cabinets, against walls, or other areas. Additional lighting can be added in larger kitchen spaces with wall sconces.

7. If you want to freshen up your kitchen look to help in selling your home, a quick way to upgrade your old Formica countertops is to install granite tile over them. Couple this with some new matching cabinet hardware and drawer pulls. You’ll be surprised at the bang for the buck you get with this combo.

Carlo Morelli writes for OnlineTips.org, where you can read more tips on cleaning ceramic tile grout and granite countertops.

Do you want to learn how to make stained glass but faced with a confusing array of stained glass tools and materials? Here’s the top 12 essentials for a stained glass kit, with buying tips and brief user descriptions to help your stained glass career take off without a hitch. All are available at any good stained glass suppliers.

Cutting

1 Oil-filled cutter. There’s lots of different types of cutter, but make sure you buy one that has a reservoir for oil. This automatically lubricates the tugsten carbide wheel as you make your scoreline, which saves you from constantly having to dip it in oil. Buy an oil-filled pistol grip cutter if you think you might have trouble applying pressure with a pen-shaped cutter.

2 Grozing Pliers. A tool specifically made for stained glass, the grozier is used for breaking difficult cuts and nibbling the edges of glass.

Leading

3 Lead knife. You’ll need to cut those 6ft lengths of lead accurately, so buy a dedicated stained glass lead knife and keep it sharp.

4 All Nova Tool or Fid. Silly names, but it’s actually one of the most useful – and cheap! – tools in your stained glass kit. Use it to open up the lead cames before leading, and to close them down after cementing.

5 Lead Vice. You could trap lead cames in your door before stretching it, but instead, keep your partner happy by investing in a lead vice. It grips one end of the lead whilst you tug on the other with pliers. Hold on tight!

6 Horse Shoe Nails. These have been stolen from blacksmiths – they use them to bang into horses hoofs, we use them for holding in place all those really annoying bits of lead that pop out all over the show when you’re leading up.

Soldering

7 Tallow Candle. These are made of animal fat and are used as a flux for the solder. Rub a bit on to each lead join before you solder. Think roast beef!

8 100W Soldering Iron. Try to get a soldering iron with a thermostat, as it won’t melt you’re carefully cut lead. My students have tried both gas and 200W soldering irons over the years, but the general consensus is that the 100W is the easiest to handle, and powerful enough for any soldering job.

9 Grade C Solder. Made sure you buy solder that’s 60% lead and 40% tin for leaded stained glass work. Try to work in a well ventilated area when soldering – along with everything else related to stained glass, it’s dangerous!

Cementing and Polishing

10 Leaded Light Cement. Strictly speaking this isn’t exactly an essential, as you can make this up a lot cheaper with standard putty, white spirit and black powder paint. But I don’t want to put you off with that hideous messy job right at the beginning – so buy a pot of ready made cement for starters.

11 Whiting. Used for absorbing all the mess made by the cement. Just sprinkle it over your panel and brush it off. Use some muscle.

12 Black Grate Polish. Use a shoe brush to shine your leads to twinkly perfection. Stand back and admire.

I admit it, I cheated. Top marks if you’ve spotted the two vital missing items in this otherwise most comprehensive of stained glass kits – glass and lead! But that’s the fun bit and for you to enjoy – gazing in wonder at all the different types of glass, the amazing array of textures and colours, and imagining the creative possibilities ahead…bliss!

Milly Frances has been a self-confessed stained glass addict for over thirteen years – she teaches it, owns a company specialising in it, and has a masters degree in it. Visit http://www.everything-stained-glass.com/index.html for more quality information on stained glass, including top tips, artist profiles and buying advice. For more detailed how-to guides go to http://www.everything-stained-glass.com/how-to-make-stained-glass.html – See you there!

Have you recently shifted in a new rented apartment and looking out for innovative yet affordable home improvement ideas. You can give a whole new look to your rented house without breaking your bank or annoying the owner of the apartment. To learn more about the home improvement ideas for renters read below:

1.       Use colors: Most apartment owners let you play with colors on the walls. Paint the walls in your favorite colors to give it a personal touch. In case your lease agreement requires you to return the walls in to their original color, then pick the lighter shades as it will be easier to re-paint them to their original color. In case you are not sure about the lease policies, confirm with the owner so that your deposit money is not dinged.

2.       Focus on portable items: It is very important to remember that don’t spend on things that you can’t take when you leave the house. Try and add textured and right color rugs to define sitting and dining room. You can also get big pillows and vibrant throws to add colors to your house.

3.       Hang artistic arts: If you hang colorful scarves, arts and rugs it will add aesthetic sense to your home. You can even try Victorian era inspired grouping of mirrors or photographs and hang them to the picture hook.

4.       Use the fabrics creatively: Beautiful fabrics can bring the whole room together. Drape vibrant cloth from rod that suspends from the top of the wall that creates headboard.

5.       Use screens: An angles screen across a corner or a folding screen adds to the look of the room. You can use this hidden space to keep ironing board, vacuum cleaner or other less frequent used things.

6.       Add a divider: If you want to break the living and dining space then you can use a divider. Open bookcase works as a perfect divider. Prefer the bookcases with three-quarter-height wall. To add to the aesthetic value you can even add some colorful glassware.

7.       Add mirrors: To make small space look big it is very important to add many large mirrors. It is best to pick the frame of a particular shape and size and get the mirror framed in it.

8.       Lighten up the room: There are many low-voltage options available to choose from like- spotlights, track lights, dangling lights and Can lights. Install these in the existing fixtures. The best thing about these lights is that you can take them when you leave the room.

9.       Change the hardware: Most apartments come with generic kitchen cabinets pulls, doorknobs and taps. But you don’t have to bear with them forever. You can get the new hardware installed of your choice. When you need to vacate the place you can take your hardware and get the old ones fixed again.

10.   Go Green: Create beautiful patio or garden or deck with whiskey barrels and large planters. You can even have vegetable garden-tomatoes, hot peppers, organic lettuce, carrots and beans.

These 10 tips of home improvement will surely help you give your rented apartment a beautiful and newer look.

Looking for Reliable and Rated kitchens London Click here.

There are lots of articles and guides you can read about how to make the best of small spaces, but very little about how to make the best of a room that is very large. A lot of people have a large room in their home, especially if they live in a period property and sometimes it can be hard to make them feel warm and comfortable. Larger rooms have a tendency to feel cold and formal.

There are some structural changes you can make to a large room of course. You can divide the room into two or more small rooms. If doing this works quite naturally with the layout of the house, then this can sometimes be very useful. You gain an extra room, perhaps an office, another bathroom or bedroom, and this can often increase the value of your home.

If your room has a very high ceiling this will also make the room feel less cosy and it will be much harder to heat. You could consider putting in a suspended ceiling. This will make the room feel smaller, and it will make it easier to heat, but be careful of losing the character of your unique room.

Making sure the room is warm will help the room feel more comfortable. Check the room for draughts, make sure you have good double glazing, and if you don’t have cavity wall insulation then consider having this put in. It’s a pretty simple job which doesn’t take long, and there’s little disturbance. You may find your energy supplier will have a subsidised cavity wall insulation offer on, so you may also be able to get it a little cheaper.

A large room can be hard to heat. With a fire or a radiator in the room you will often find the heat is localised and there are cold spots around the room. Underfloor heating is a great idea for a large room as it spreads the heat evenly across the room. Thick carpet will make a large living room or bedroom feel cosier, or perhaps some rich mosaic floor tiles. Walking on warm tiles in bare feet is really lovely and looks great. Especially is a large kitchen.

Put a lot of thought into your soft furnishings. The more luxurious and rich the fabric the more cosy the room will feel. Thick velvet curtains will look sumptuous and will also help keep in the heat. A big comfortable sofa with lots of cushions and perhaps some floor cushions too.

Colour can play a big part in making a room feel more welcoming and comfortable. Pale blues and greens are likely to make the room feel cooler so avoid them. White and yellow will make the room feel even bigger than it already is, but rich reds, oranges and darker neutrals will help make the room feel smaller and more cosy. Generally speaking the darker the shade the smaller the room will feel.

Add real style to your home by laying Mosaic Floor Tiles. Visit http://www.tiles4all.co.uk/Mosaics.html today.

Kids room decorating is an opportunity waiting to come to life! Nowhere else can you mix and match a variety of paint schemes along with creative stencils, stickers, sparkles and get away with it. Best of all, your kids can be involved in transforming their room into their own accomplishments while redecorating at the same time.

Some creative ideas on decorating kid’s bedrooms:

Furniture – Make a whole play area from an ordinary bookcase. Choose bright colors that match your child style and add features such as cutout doors for a doll house or castle effect. Add texture materials to one or two compartments that create a window or door like feature. When your child has out-grown the design, you can easily remove the materials and doors and replace them with the original materials that you saved. Other ideas can be used with Lego or large building blocks to create more designs to match your child’s age.

Walls – Turn your kid’s walls in a big canvas. Paint is the perfect solution and least expensive way to create a kaleidoscope impact while offering unlimited color options. Just changing one wall or adding stripes, borders, sponge or stamping techniques can bring new life to an ordinary room. Use wavy or splat design patterns, or turn one wall into a mural effect. Choose a bright base and pick accent colors to achieve the best effects.

Ceiling – Create a magical night sky on your child’s ceiling with glow in the dark decorations. These can be fun and even comforting for your child to be able to lie in bed and gaze up at the night stars

Doors – Use wooden letters that spell your child’s name and glue them on the door. Painting them in the theme color of your child room will dress up the door nicely. Closet door hardware can be replaced with wiggly handles or their favorite cartoon character. By matching the door hardware with wall plates you can carry the pattern throughout the room that accents their style.

Shelves – Using shelving materials can be the least expensive way to pick up the clutter and organize a room. Painting with the same colors or add design features with stencil or stamping can quickly dress up any room. Different shelve designs can also be used to border a window that eliminate the need for expensive window treatments.

Accessories – Large cork boards can quickly turn a bare wall into a busy space. Cork boards also eliminate holes in walls from nails or tacks that later need to be repaired. Wooden picture frames can be painted to help accent the room. Fans blades can be reversed and painted with designs to add cool effects when in use and then can be reversed when it comes time to re-decorate.

Decorating your kid’s bedroom is a great way to give them a place they can call their own and you may just find your kid spending more time in there!

Apartments dwellers are often surprised to find out that the lease they have signed strictly prohibits the use of paint of nails on the apartment walls, which presents a huge barrier to decorating their apartments to suit their personal style and tastes. After all, most people sign a year’s lease when they rent an apartment. You can still manage to impart your own unique style in an apartment that doesn’t allow the use of paint or nails – you simply need to be a bit more creative.

Adhesive Hooks and Putty
There are some great products out there that are made specifically for hanging pictures and wall art without creating a nail hole, like adhesive hooks or putty. With adhesive hooks, you simply peel off the back of the hook and secure it firmly to the wall to hang the object. Putties are usually kneaded into a specific shape and then applied to the back of the object, and then you press the object firmly against the wall for thirty seconds or so, depending on the manufacturer’s instructions, until it forms a tight hold.

Fabric
Many people who live in apartments choose to cover the walls in fabric, which can be tacked up as long as tacks are allowed. You can purchase large pieces of fabric from any craft store, in various designs and colors. Choose lightweight fabric so that tacks can hold it to the wall easily. To apply the fabric to your walls, place tacks along the fabric’s upper edge along the top of your wall. Fabric is sold in square yards, so measure your wall before heading out to purchase your fabric. You can do either a section of the wall or the entire wall.

Paper Tape
You can make a striped wall using decorative paper tape that is sold in many craft supply stores and art supply stores. This type of tape will stick firmly to the wall and then just peel away when you’re tired of it or when you move. Experiment with various widths and colors to give your plain apartment walls a decorative punch.

Posters
Posters can be very decorative in apartments where you cannot paint or use nails to hang artwork. Look for posters in themes that coordinate with the style of the room in which they will be hung. Choose high quality poster hanging tape (available wherever posters are sold) to hang your posters without causing any damage to the paint on your walls.

Vinyl Letters
You can also use vinyl lettering or vinyl graphics to dress up your walls. Spelling out words like “faith”, “hope” or “love” on a living room wall can be a great sentiment. Or you can spell out your favorite quote. Vinyl letters merely cling to the wall, so they won’t damage your wall or paint.

These are just a few of the options that you have when it comes to dressing up plain apartment walls. And keep in mind that if you ask, many landlords will allow you to change the paint color in a room if you agree in writing to return the room to its original color before vacating the apartment.

Alyssa Davis is a staff writer and specialist in decorating with butterflies metal wall decor and tropical wall art for Metal-Wall-Art.com.

Your apartment is your haven, so it’s not a surprise you want it to have fantastic decorating style. But how can you make a small apartment look big on style? Luckily, there are various methods you can deploy to make decorating a small apartment a huge success!

There are numerous interior designs that you can employ in cozy spaces, however you would be smart to be careful to go with the ones which work with the elements of smaller spaces. If your apartment is cluttered, this will likely make it seem smaller therefore you would be smart to stay away from interior decorating designs which have a lot of accessories.

One central characteristic of making your apartment feel sizeable is the color palette. If you had always believed that you were supposed to keep your spacially challenged rooms white, then here is some great news for you. You can have color and still make the apartment appear more spacious by painting it with colors which have equal brightness, or sticking to a monochromatic palette. You may even try a cocoa decorating theme, or if you desire more color go with green, purple and blue that all give off the same tone and intensity. Add ambiance to the room by painting an opposing wall an intense, deep hue which will give it the appearance of being further away, therefore, adding depth. One trick for making your room feel bigger is to paint the walls a shade which tend to make them recede – grayish or blue gray paints are often used for this. If you think gray will be too oppressing, you can essentially apply any cool hue such as blue or green to get the same illusion.

Think of features you might include in your room design which will help to make good use of space in the apartment. Look for decorating schemes that allow for lots of baskets and shelving because these can be used as additional storage. Seeing as this is where you come to wind down you will need to be sure to select a decorating approach you can live with.

Use furniture sparingly and select smaller items. Rather than using no shelving, think about using floor to ceiling shelves which will make the room look bigger while still allowing for extra storage. It makes sense to add unique appeal to your apartment by mixing in selected larger scaled items, so even though you could decide to go for the small settee, include a large potted plant- this can add atmosphere and also make the room appear more spacious also.

Thinking about where you arrange the furniture and accessories in the room is an additional tip for decorating a small apartment. Even your apartment could be enhanced when created with Feng Shui in mind. Easy access into a room should make it appear bigger, so arrange your furniture away from the doors. Additionally, if you can focus the eye on the bigger pieces like an overstuffed chair or console, it can help the room seem bigger.

These ideas allow decorating a small apartment to be simple as well as effortless. So let out your unique creativity and go make your small apartment look big on charm.

Lee Dobbins writes for Home Decorating Ideas where you can get more interior decorating ideas and learn more about decorating a small apartment.

Having a home office is a good thing to know because you can make home based business that is really functional for your future. If you would like to increase the productivity of your home office, it is advised for you to design your room with minimalist style. To help you in applying a minimalist style to your home, it is an important thing to check this article out.

1. For the first thing, you need to consider the use of some basic equipment with minimalist style such as a simple bookcase, file cabinet, chair and also desk lamp. The presence of those collections will help you to show the minimalist style of your room.

2. You must minimize the use of accessories. You just need to place important accessories for your needs. If you display more accessories for your needs, you will make your room look smaller so you will feel that the space is limited.

3. Also, you must keep your floor covering simple. In this case, you can choose the use of carpet that has a simple design. Also, you can consider using flooring made from hardwood which is great and long-lasting.

4. Let the window open can be said as the next step you must know. Here, you can think about the installation of blinds which have simple and minimalist look so you can enhance your room in a good way.

5. Making your walls better without displaying more accessories. Additional pictures or posters onto the walls will be able to make your room look smaller so you must avoid this thing.

6. The use of flower vase is also not advised because it can give nonessential look for your room. Also, you will make it useless because it just causes your room look weird and smaller.

]]> http://www.homilymagazine.com/steps-to-decorate-a-home-office-in-minimalist-style/feed/ 0 http://www.homilymagazine.com/5-ways-to-make-your-home-dog-friendly/ http://www.homilymagazine.com/5-ways-to-make-your-home-dog-friendly/#comments Wed, 09 Nov 2011 10:12:00 +0000 homilymagazine http://www.homilymagazine.com/?p=21025

For the 43 million of us who have dogs in our lives we understand that special bond that exists. Studies have shown that living with pets directly relieves the daily stress and lowers the chances of heart attacks and strokes.

Dogs are loyal, loving and provide us with a sense of protection. They are always excited to see us, never complain, and tolerate our shortcomings.

But lets be honest. Dogs are messy!

Maintaining a clean and comfortable home without compromising style is important for a successful co-existence between you and your pet. Combining your family’s needs along with your pooch’s – will provide you with a great sense of satisfaction and relief.

So here are a few pet-friendly design and decorating tips to help simplify your life.

1. Flooring.

• Avoid carpeting if at all possible. It’s a very unforgiving material to have underfoot when it comes to accidents and traipsing in dirt from the outside – not to mention the clumps of fur, hair and bacteria trapped from within.
• If your dog has regular access to carpeted areas throughout your home have them professionally cleaned every 2 months. If you insist on carpeting – introduce self-adhesive carpet tiles. That way you can easily replace one soiled tile rather than an entire carpet.
• Install easy-to-clean low maintenance materials such as ceramic tile, vinyl, stone, concrete or any hardwoods. Have your pup’s nails trimmed often to keep floor scratches to a minimum.
• Don’t be afraid to introduce area rugs for warmth and character. Natural sisals and seagrass area rugs are very durable. Depending on the type, they can be easily cleaned and maintained.

2. Upholstery.

• Avoid both very light and very dark fabrics – as they tend to show every pet hair and stain known to man. Warm neutrals and durable fabrics will be somewhat forgiving, and still lets you know when it’s time for a cleaning.
• Some feel leather is a great upholstery solution. It’s easily wipe-able and impervious to odors. The flip side is, if your dog is a nester (like mine) you’ll invariably begin to see scratches and indentations on the cushions.
• Slipcovers are a perfect solution for soft seating. Not only will the washable fabric protect your favorite sofa – it will also provide you with an instant interior makeover while the covers are being laundered.

3. Wall Finish.

• Re-paint your walls with satin or eggshell paints and avoid flat entirely. Your dog may be prone to drooling and one shake after coming in from the rain will leave your flat finished wall, marked and full of stains. Satin and eggshell finishes are wipe-able and much easier to clean. (Semi-gloss paint works also, yet shows every wall imperfection)
• Infuse some instant character into your pets favorite spaces by introducing some wainscoting and molding approx. 42″ up the wall. It will protect the wall from stains and dirt. Paint the wainscoting with a semi-gloss, eggshell or satin finish for easy cleaning and the upper wall portion in a flat contrasting color.
• Wood paneling, glass and mirrored walls are also easily maintained – not to mention beautiful design elements to implement into any home.

4. Collectables.

• Remove your priceless delicate collectibles off the sofa back tables, end tables and any other low lying surface, where the swipe of a tail – large or small – will level your living space.
• Place all these sentimental antique figurines in a special cabinet or shelving area – or in another room entirely – where Sparky isn’t allowed.

5. Clean Up Corner.

• This is THE ideal situation for those who have the layout and space. It can be incorporated into a back hall area, mudroom or existing laundry space.
• If possible provide a shower floor with a hand held showerhead, making those daily paw baths that much quicker, easier and cleaner!
• Wall-mount some shelving units from your home improvement store and keep your dog’s food, leashes, toys and towels in one clean corner.
• Have an absorbent dog mat and towels at the door for an immediate landing spot on those wet and miserable rainy days.

Lori Gilder, is an Award winning Interior Designer specializing in high-end residential renovations and additions. Lori is the CEO and Founder of Interior Makeovers Inc. and LoriGilder.com. She is dedicated to providing accessible design expertise and guidance, tailored to fit each individual homeowners lifestyle. Sign Up Now to receive your FREE copy of “How to Avoid the 15 Most Common Decorating Mistakes” – http://www.lorigilder.com.