Interior Design Resolutions - 10 Simple Redesign Ideas to Redecorate and Refine Your Home

It's that time of the year again, when we resolve to make changes that will improve

our lives. Your home is a big part of your life and a comfortable, inviting space can

really make a difference in how you feel every day. It seems only fitting that we

should add some design resolutions to our yearly ritual.

So here's my top 10 take on the design resolutions that I believe can make a real

difference in your home.

1. Designate a space for clutter and resolve to keep it cluttered. Surprised? While

it's true most people would put getting rid of clutter at the top of their lists, I've

been in enough homes to understand that if clutter is part of your lifestyle, it will

just keep coming back. I do, however, believe that it's possible to control the

impact of clutter in your home - and it's simple. Choose a spot that's not visible

from the public areas of your home and designate a surface, chest or cabinet of

some sort for the paper and other things that usually end up in piles all over your

home. Give yourself permission to toss anything you don't want to deal with

immediately into your clutter area without even thinking about organizing, filing or

putting it away later.

Trust me, if you have no area for clutter you will spontaneously make one, and

another, and another. If you have a designated area, it will contain the clutter and

keep you from feeling overwhelmed by it. You'll have a much easier time with

everything in one spot when you do decide to sort it all out and, in the interim, at

least you will know where to find everything you can't find.

2. Try at least one new color in your home to break your "color habits". Be bold, do

something unexpected or something you've always wanted to try. If you are really

hesitant, put the color inside a closet door - somewhere where you can see and

react to it. The room which makes me smile in my home is one in which the painter

made a mistake and used a color that I never would have chosen for myself. As I

was awaiting his return visit for a repainting, I discovered that every time I walked

into the room it made me smile. The room has been repainted a few times over the

years, but always with what I call "my happy mistake."

3. Pick the room or area in your home in which you find it hard to relax and do three

things to make the room quieter. For example, think about replacing high contrast

colors with a monochromatic scheme or toning down the color with a more muted

version. Try simplifying the lines in the room and paring down accessories. Get

those bookcases in shape, with all books flush to the front of the shelves in size

order, and create some empty wall and tabletop space where the eye can rest.

4. Conversely, pick one room or area in your home that feels bland and the most

uninteresting and do three things to elevate the tempo and energize the room. Try

introducing higher contrast or bolder colors. Layer in accessories, some interesting

coordinated fabrics in the form of throws and pillows, and some new textures.

Replace large artwork with a grouping that will add motion to the room.

5. Make at least four changes in your home to freshen it up for the spring and

summer. Change or reduce the number of layers in your window treatment to let

more of the outside in. Do what your grandmother did - use lighter slipcovers on

upholstery and seasonal accessories such as bowls of fresh summer fruit and vases

of fresh flowers. Pick up those heavy rugs. Now is the time to send them out for

cleaning. Replace them with light floor cloths or leave the floors bare for a cooling

sensation underfoot.

6. Rethink the least used room or area in your home. It may be great to look at, but

if it isn't serving any function, you can do better. s its formality no longer

appropriate for your lifestyle? Are your college-aged kids really going to miss the

playroom? Should you have retired that home office when you retired?

7. Walk through your home room by room and consciously gauge its impact on

your senses by isolating various aspects of the experience. What do you see, hear,

smell? What can you touch? How does it make you feel? Make adjustments in each

room as needed so that the experience is always pleasant and inviting, and

appropriate for the room and its function.

8. Create a space just for you. It can be as simple as a chair in which you can

escape with a good book or an entire room. Surround your space in your favorite

colors and textures. Make it a place you can use for your most relaxing activities

and the best spot you can imagine for just sitting and doing nothing at all. Sit in you

personal space at least 10 minutes every day.

9. Approach the design and decoration of your home with joy. Whether it's a little

change or a major renovation, try to focus, not on the chores involved, but on the

vision you have and the progress you are making toward it. Appreciate the changes,

and appreciate yourself for making them.

10. Invite guests a least once a month. When we tidy up for guests, we reawaken

our consciousness of all the little things that we can do to make our home inviting

and comfortable, details that often get lost in the chaos of our daily lives. Your

guests will feel it, but more importantly, so will you.

Peggy Berk is an award-winning interior decorator and certified interior refiner who has worked with a wide variety of residential and commercial clients throughout the New York Metropolitan Tri-State Area and Florida. Her design firm, Area Aesthetics ( http://www.areaaesthetics.com), specializes in interior redesign, home staging and full service interior decorating. Peggy is the featured designer on the Home Decor Exchange where she answers readers' decorating questions and writes a column for "HDE Monthly." Author of many articles in her area of expertise, she also writes the monthly "Rental Redesign" column for Rental Decorating Digest.

To see before and after photos of her one-day room redesigns, read what New York's top real estate brokers have to say about her home staging services, or submit your decorating questions, visit her Web site at: http://www.AreaAesthetics.com

Home Bedroom Interior Design

Often times the bedroom is one of the last rooms to be decorated. You'll usually focus on the spaces that need a huge remodel such as that kitchen or bathroom. Plus, you want to focus in on the living room where your guests will be. However, the right bedroom interior design can help you sleep better and totally change your mood. It can be that finishing touch to your house as well as your secret getaway. You can accomplish this without spending a lot of money if you just follow these few tips.

One of the keys to bedroom interior design is to pick a defined style. Your style might just be a specific color or a feeling such as a spa retreat. Of course, you can also go with the basic decorating themes such as Tuscan, shabby chic, country, and traditional. Designing with a theme is really a great way for a beginner to get started because it will really help dictate all of your choices from furniture to bedding.

Sometimes less is more. You may feel a little bit discouraged and think that you can't do bedroom interior design just because you don't have several hundred dollars to spend on a new comforter. However, if you already have the focal point in your room you can probably just get away with a plain comforter or a white goose down blanket. It's important not to get discouraged and just focus on what you do have. When you really open up your eyes and start refinishing items and using basic DIY skills such as sewing and painting you can create a designer look for less.

Compromise is another element of bedroom interior decorating. You'll probably have to talk to your spouse about the colors and overall style of the room. It's important to do give-and-take so the finished product is a space that you enjoy and want to live in. He might not be convinced about pink walls, but maybe he's okay with a vase of pink flowers on the table. Remember to work together so that the outcome is something that you can both live with.

You might not even need to bring in anything new to do your bedroom interior. You may just need to take items out of the room. You can scale down your nightstands or even eliminate them completely if you don't use them. Get rid of any bulky furniture pieces and replace them with more petite versions so you get all of the function without all the clutter. This will help small rooms to feel larger and also provides you a free way to decorate.

Learn more about bedroom interiors. Stop by Sara Gilmore's articles where you can find out all about home bedroom.

Eastern Influences On Western Interiors: Japanese Decor - Part I of II - Color, Texture and Contrast

The topic of eastern influences on western interiors is a very broad subject. Many countries, such as China, Japan, Tibet, etc., have had an influence. Therefore, I have chosen to focus on one country for this article, Japan.

Characteristics of Japanese Interiors

1. COLOR:

Japanese interiors generally use neutral, natural colors, to provide a simple background. Interiors emphasize architecture, and as a result, provide a sense of geometric order. In addition, natural colors minimize a feeling of clutter, which is also essential to eastern design and its philosophy of simplicity. When a statement is made in a Japanese interior, it is usually through a single strong exclamation of color or a predominant texture.

Eastern art colors are pure. Unlike western art, which mixes color and refines sketches, eastern art is original. This means the initial color and/or brush stroke is the final result. Western art is often complex, whereas eastern art is simple, strong, and graphic.

Black is often considered a "non-color" in western society, yet, it is very important in eastern interiors. The use of black in oriental rooms lends definition and form. For example, black is a color in its own right, when used with white rice paper in a shoji screen.

2. TEXTURE & CONTRAST:

Some Japanese textures and materials that immediately come to mind are cedar, rice paper, maple, bamboo, stone, and woven wicker. One might also think of textured silk, tatami floor mats, and the elaborate needlework of kimonos and obi's.

Japanese culture seeks to balance opposites in all aspects of life (yin and yang), and interiors are no exception. Interior finishes can be highly opposing and contrasting, and yet achieve balance. Examples are, highly polished floors with heavily textured mats, a lacquered box displayed on top of a rough wooden table, or white pebbles on a polished black granite ledge around a tub.

3. DISPLAY:

Western homes typically use an object on the perimeter as a focal point, such as a fireplace, a painting, or an elaborate window treatment. Eastern interiors, on the other hand, focus on a central object, such as a hearth (irori), a garden, an altar, or an elaborate still life composition.

Japanese homes also commonly have display alcoves, called tokonoma. Objects placed in these alcoves generate two types of feelings, either (1) a natural or organic feel, by displaying an odd number of objects together, or (2) an ordered and disciplined environment by using an even quantity. For example, three calligraphy brushes in a cup would be organic, and four pebbles on a dish would be disciplined.

Japanese displays are fluid. In other words, a Japanese alcove may display a scroll one-week, and a set of pots the next. Eastern cultures tend to store and rotate objects. (This is probably for two reasons; (1) limited space, and, (2) visual pollution, outside the home, as the population increases.) Japanese displays are a reflection of the season, celebration, or honored guest. This minimal approach focuses on the quality and craftsmanship.

Instead of rotating objects, westerners tend to "display it all." (I guess its because they we're afraid someone whose given us something may come over and we won't have it out?) A westerner would also tend to add to a display to create a balance, whereas an easterner would create harmony by taking away. To easterners, less is more, order is harmony, and there is a place for everything and everything is in its place.

This concludes Part I. Part II of Eastern Influences on Western Interiors: Japanese Décor will focus on the Tea Ceremony, Furnishings, and Antiques or Reproductions.

Wake Up to a New Interior Designing Revolution

Still looking for interior decorators? Where have you been? Wake up as the rest of the world have washed their hands off interior designers. Almost every house owner today performs all the designing required to keep their house pretty as ever. So why should you go and spend thousands hiring an interior designing expert? All you need is some basic knowledge about the art and you will be able to design the look of your house at any time of the year. So don't waste time thinking of what to do with your old fashioned house. Just go through this article and you will find what it really takes to be a successful interior designer when it comes to beautifying one's own house.

Designing the look of your house should not cause too much trouble irrespective of the fact how big or small your house is. A clear vision and a strict plan of action can help you get desired results in a matter of days. No wonder interior decorators are lowering their rates with every passing day. Once you have a basic idea of what to do you just have to act according it. But the main problem arises if you fail to formulate a practical design idea. This is quite understandable especially if you are doing this for the very first time.

Don't worry if you suffer from the lack of design ideas. Connect to the internet and you will find a plethora of sites offering valuable information about new home decor products and designs at the same time. Go through them and you will have considerable knowledge about how to go about designing your interiors. But these are not the only sources available to you. Most home decor magazines can provide ample information about the products you should be buying if you want to match up with the latest trends in home decor styles. These easily accessible magazines are often best to get acquainted with the correct prices of home decor products.

After all this research work it is finally time you set put to shop for home decor items like carpets, curtains, window blinds, door handles etc. If you are buying these from the open market then you ought to be careful just to be sure that you are not getting cheated in any way. This is why most experienced buyers would suggest you to go around many shops before choosing one particular shop. You may even go for branded products which have a longer shelf life compared to the products manufactured by local companies. Online stores can also be a good hunting ground for locating durable and reasonable home decor items. Most buyers flock these online stores in search of high quality and stylish accessories for their bathrooms and kitchens. This is the best time to but from online stores as most of them are offering amazing discount offers owing to the approaching festive season. Shop wise and save money while you purchase home decor items for your house.

After you are finished with the interior designing of your house you must take all necessary steps to preserve its beauty in the coming years.

Terrys Fabrics specialize in the distribution of blinds, roller blinds, roman blinds and Vertical Blinds within the UK.