Traditional Interior Design

In the interior design world we refer to “styles" often to dictate the look and feel of particular rooms. The most used style of decorating is the use of the “classics" and we refer to this style as traditional.



Traditional is derived from the word “tradition", meaning that this style of decorating has been passed on through generations. Classic decorating includes timeless purchases of furniture pieces, accessories, flooring and fixtures. Most of us make purchases without the thought of it being in style ten years from now. Most of our purchases are often “trendy" and in the next several years will be out of style and so we are faced with the necessity of replacing our furnishings as well as our flooring, fixtures and etc.



“Timeless Elegance, traditional and classic"


beautiful yet approachable,


filled with class, yet comfortable.



Our homes are our sanctuaries where we are filled with the people and environment that we love.


Adding to our rooms the simple luxuries that fill us with joy and bring beauty to our eye is undeniably perfection.


Come see our complete line of Home Decorating Books and our Home Staging training CD @ http://www.Homestages.com



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Interior Design in Kids Rooms

So you are planning to decorate your kid’s room. Where do you start? If you are decorating the room for your baby or very young toddler, the initial planning decisions will be yours (you may of course consult professional interior designers if your budget stretches that far) and the project will be designed and carried out by you.



However, if your young child has reached an age where they have started to develop their own personality and tastes, it’s a good idea to have your child involved in the process from the beginning. After all he or she will be the one using the room and obviously a child’s needs are very different to those of an adult. Children use their rooms for a number of reasons apart from sleeping. They will want to use it for playing alone or with their friends, reading and a host of other activities. Their room will also store their clothes, toys and belongings.



It is useful at this stage, before you give free rein to your child’s imagination and tastes, to bear in mind safety and the practical issues of maintenance. Children will want to play as freely as possible without you having to worry about the decor therefore hardwood floors and vinyls are useful. Wallpaper that can be wiped clean may also be a consideration. Wall-to-wall carpeting may be a problem for children with allergies and also difficult to clean. Curtains, rugs, pillows and bedding should be easily removable and machine washable. Some safety considerations both in terms of kids room decor and room accessories might be finding furniture with curves instead of sharp corners or making use of recesses in walls to build in furniture and storage areas.



Practical issues now dealt with, how can you help your child create an environment that reflects their personality, keeps their interest and uses their imagination?


Start by sitting on the floor with your child and ask questions about their favourite colours, themes or activities. Involve your child as much as you can in the initial planning process and their ideas in the final design. Try to find balance between what you know is possible and practical against what is in your child’s taste.



In terms of colours, use pastels to create cosy and inviting spaces. Neutral colours soothe and relax your child. If your child likes vivid colours you could create wall murals or ceiling pictures bringing their favourite toy figures or favourite images and themes to life. Remember children lose interest easily and change their tastes and `favourites` quickly. Unless you want to change your kid’s room decor frequently, steer your discussions in favour of neutral colours on walls and furniture and be more creative with room accessories.



There are numerous children’s room accessories that add colour, creativity and individuality to your child’s room. Clocks, height charts, name plaques, wall hooks, bookends and door knobs all help to personalize your child’s space. Many of these products are decorated with your child’s favourite theme.


You may wish to spend time with your child browsing for ideas for kid’s room decor. When you have found your products ensure they are supplied by companies that guarantee safety, quality and child-friendliness.

Interior Design Ideas for Fall Decorating

We put away our pool accessories and all related items we so used and needed for the summer and search out our flannel sheets, crockpots and winter sweaters to clean for the months ahead.



Making the transition from summer to fall can be quite easy when you prepare in advance. Just as you store away your summertime luxuries for a cold winter season you can store away some fall decor items to bring out on a whim. Make a list of items that you may need to cozy up your rooms. The key is to purchase items that will make the most contribution without breaking the bank. Warm comforter sets, seasonal dinnerware, earthenware, table lenins and baskets. Think essentials that you will use everyday. New throw pillows for the sofa and chairs in nice earth tones. Pottery to hold this seasons bounty of fruits and vegetables. Baskets for kindling and pinecones. Candles and wool throws. All of these items can easily be stored when spring rolls around. By nature we need these comforts and they truely make a difference in how we feel in our rooms during the cold blustery beautiful season of fall.



An instant make-over is to purchase a sofa cover in a soft color for fall. This will change the entire ambience of your space. You may wish to purchase a set of new drapes or valances just for the fall/winter months that can be easily removed for spring/summer.



Make a list. Bring out what you have had stored and spruce up your interiors for this glorious season. You will surely find that the transition is much smoother and you will actually look forward to the change.



Happy Fall everyone and if you are looking for interior design related ebooks or home staging see us at our website at www.Homestages.com

Endless Interior Design Ideas

It is said that a change is as good as a holiday and you wouldn't go away on vacation without planning so when it comes to changing the look of your room or the entire interior of your home, it is imperative that you get some interior design ideas before starting.


How much planning is of course going to depend on the extent of the changes you have in mind. Are they going to be structural and see you knocking out walls, kitchen or bathroom renovations? Or more like a spruce up with a change of color for the walls, new window dressings and perhaps new floor coverings and furniture. Planning is important as is getting new ideas.


Naturally, if the changes you have in mind are structural, consulting a builder, kitchen or bathroom renovator is imperative. Apart from the building aspect you would have to think about things such as space to move in the kitchen, distance from stove top to work bench, cupboard space, bench space and ventilation, type of surface on bench tops and cupboard finishes. In the bathroom, where the pipes are, types of glass for shower screens and how easily can it be cleaned, tile colors and surfaces.


For other more cosmetic changes, scouring through home magazines may give you plenty of ideas. A browse through furniture stores and display homes also offer limitless ideas. Talking to curtain and blind manufactures as well as floor covering manufacturers will help clarify any questions you may have. Sometimes just changing the color of cushions, ornaments or floor rugs can give you a different look.


When thinking about floor coverings there are several things to weigh up such as does anyone in the house have allergies, do you have indoor pets. Carpet can often trap pet hair and other household dust and even when vacuumed regularly, can affect allergy sufferers yet give and warm feel. Tiled floors are easily to sweep or vacuum but can become very slippery, wooden floors are very much the same but both can look great with mats which can be rolled up and aired outside.


Window coverings can also change the look of a room. Think about how much natural light you want in the room, how much privacy you need from the coverings. Will the sun fade or damage the coverings? Finding the right window covering to suit you purpose whilst blending in with the colorings and theme of the room.


Painting or wall papering the walls will change the look instantly. Plan what the room is going to be used for. Your choice of paint finish should depend on several factors: Do you have young children? Is it a high use area? color is also a factor remembering that light colors will always make the room look bigger and brighter.


Unless you are very adventurous, think about how that colored wall you want is going to look with your expensive lounge. Are you going to tire of that color quickly? How hard is it going to be to match window coverings, furniture etc. Buying new furniture is the same, think about color matching and also the fabric, will it be serviceable for my needs.


Interior design ideas endless and can be ever changing with new ideas and trends.

Tips For Sucessful Bedroom Interior Design Projects

Did you know that bedroom home improvement projects are the most frequently attempted projects for homeowners? As this is the room you spend almost half your life in, this is understandable - even if the majority of the time you spend there will be with your eyes closed!


You may wake up and decide you don't like the color, or you don't like the furnishings, or that you want things situated in a different way. No matter what you pick, you need to figure out what you want to change and take it from there.


Now you might want to work on a budget. It doesn't have to be excessive, you can simply paint and rearrange furniture for a new look. One big complaint in the bedroom is the lack of storage space. Several innovative solutions - such as cabinets that can hang in a closet, stackable wooden storage crates with doors that face out, and shelving units can help with that, as can simply arranging the furniture to clear more floor space in the walk way areas - it doesn't matter how much space is in your closet if it's inconvenient to get to.


Take the time to plan out a layout for furniture and other elements in your bedroom interior design plan. Think about where things go, and what has to go next to what for usability - then look at sightlines and the visual focus of the room. You don't have to decorate your bedroom in keeping with the rest of your home - this is your private space and you can give it the charming theme that suits you.


Next, pick out color schemes and patterns. Lighter colors will make the room seem more spacious and airy, but darker colors can be nice and even in small rooms will make the walls recede giving it the allusion of space! Your lighting fixture are important and you want to be sure there is enought light for reading or what have you. You want to be sure you have matching colors in the carpet, bedding and window treatments to pull the room together.


Decide which pieces of furniture and accessories you want to replace - in particular, think about artwork, floor lamps and reading lights. Consider colors and themes that go with the rooms overall design, try to buy pieces that are practical, such as a cedar chest for the foot of the bed, or headboards with shelves on them for lamps, alarm clocks or books. If you want a TV in the room, you will have to plan it so that it is situated in an area that is comfortable for viewing from the bed - putting the TV remote on a tether tied to the head board can also be useful.


Planning out your bedroom interior design beforehand is a great way to ensure you accomplish a room that is perfect for you as well as make your project go smoothly!

Great Ideas for Urban Apartment Interior Design

Interior decorating has often been a tricky subject for renters. How much effort does one want to go through to improve a space that one doesn't actually own? Luckily, most interior decorating concerns non-structural work that focuses on color and furniture layout. Still, renter decorators tend to seek quicker, cheaper solutions to their decoration challenges than their home owner counterparts. In big cities where rents are high and space is at a premium, this difference is even more pronounced. In fact, the hipper the neighborhood, the more creative you have to be.

Get it off the ground:

It's an unforgiving rule of nature: the more fashionable the neighborhood, the higher the rent and the smaller the space. If you were to put the furniture from a one bedroom apartment from Des Moines Iowa into a one bedroom apartment in the West Village, chances are you wouldn't be able to take a step without bumping into something. New city arrivals quickly learn to mount bookshelves on the wall whenever possible and minimize the amount of four legged furniture items that take up precious floor space. Urban furniture stores address this with décor designed for this purpose. Even if you can't afford a swanky thin, modular bookshelf, they are fairly easy to build on your own. One friend of mine faced with budget and space restrictions came up with the imaginative idea of building bookshelves that hang on a series of 30 degree angles; creating a zig zag effect that made me wonder why it had never been done before, as they say "Necessity is the mother of invention". Even beds can be wall mounted, designed to swing down from the wall when needed. The classic Murphy bed is a good example.

Using Mirrors:

Many small restaurants employ the technique of using mirrors to make their space appear larger. Mirrors reflect light and, as a result, double the perception of depth in a given room. Mirrors are available in a broad variety of shapes, sizes and frames. Pick out a mirror design that works best for your given wall space. You can even get a pair of mirrors and mount them opposite one another for compounded reflections that create an even larger perception of space. Remember, in the world of interior design, perception is nine tenths reality.

Two Spaces In One:

A great tip for addressing the storage problems of a small space is to elevate the bed. Once elevated, the space beneath the bed can become an ideal storage area. The higher your ceiling, the more elevation (and thus storage) you can get away with. Another great small apartment item is the travel trunk. Get a large trunk, put it by a window, throw a few pillows on it, and presto, you've got window seating area with a little touch of adventure.

The Three Biggest Interior Design Questions

Before starting any interior design or remodeling project, you need to think about the three biggest areas. Do you know what they are? You'll find out below along with some interior design tips on how to handle them

What To Do With The Walls?

This is perhaps the biggest question and the area that can make the most difference in the outcome of your interior design. Wall color can set the tone of the room, but many people are afraid to paint their walls with anything but white. One way to get around this is to buy small samples of paint that you think you may want on the walls and paint it on a section of the wall. You don't have to paint the whole wall - just a 1 foot square section. Live with it for a day and see how it looks in all different kinds of light. Be advised, however that many colors - especially darker ones - attain their true beauty from the look of the entire wall after being layered with several coats of paint.

Don't be afraid to go ahead and paint the walls - paint is cheap. If you don't like the way it looks you can always paint over it!

What To Do With The Furniture?

Should you buy new furniture? What if your old stuff is still good, should you have it re-upholstered? While budgetary concerns may dictate, you should evaluate the furniture for style and value versus the cost of the re-upholstering. If you are looking for a sleek modern style living room and your old sofa is a country style, you should probably consider buying new. If expense is a problem, take a trip to your local consignment store. You can buy like new furniture for a fraction of the cost and if your old stuff is still in good condition you can consign it and get some money for it to help pay for your new one.

What To Do With The Floors?

Decisions about floor designs should be based on your personal taste as well as your budget. Some flooring is extremely expensive and, although it may be the type that will look best with your design it may not be affordable, or even practical. When replacing flooring, you should always consider the use of the room and if the flooring will hold up well. A wood floor might be a bad choice for a kids playroom and will soon show the marks and wear of toys being slid across it. Carpeting might go well in the family room, but if you tend to eat in front of the TV you'll want to be sure to get a stain resistant type.