2/25/2008
Decorating A Foyer
1/20/2008
Kitchen Countertops
1/6/2008
Kitchen Design
12/16/2007
Accessorizong With Candles
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Date: 2/25/2008
Title: Decorating A Foyer
They say first impressions are everything. You want the first impression of your home to be a positive one. Whether you have a large formal foyer or just a small space on the wall next to your front door, you can create an inviting entryway into your home.
1. Add some color. If walking into your house is about as exciting as walking into your local library, you need some help. The first thing to address is white walls -- get rid of them! Consider painting the walls a warm color. Even if you aren't ready to dive into a daring color like a deep red, at least go with some sort of sand or khaki colored paint. Even this small step will make a huge difference in the look of your entryway.
2. Create a focal point. Every foyer needs something grand; either a framed mirror or a favorite painting is a safe bet. Under this hanging focal point should be a table that fits the scale of your entryway. It looks nice if this is a semi-circular or a rectangular table pushed against the wall. If this table has shelves, all the better! Fill in with decorative touches that match your decor. Items such as candles, picture frames, and seasonal touches work great here. It is also nice to have a place to leave your keys, whether it be on a hook or in a decorative tray on the tabletop.
3. Create a scent. You want your guests to step into your home and feel welcome according to all their senses, including that of smell. Eucalyptus (available at any craft store) arranged in a vase creates a lovely aroma. This is also where the candle can come into play, assuming it is a subtle, yet comforting scent.
4. Create ambiance with lighting. Another component to a great entryway is lighting. Whether it be a table lamp, a floor lamp, or some tasteful overhead lights, you want to set the mood for your guests with your lighting selection. Make sure you are not overcrowding the table or floor, though. Clutter is NOT welcoming! 5. 5. Create seating. If you have room for a comfy chair or a wooden bench, it can be a functional touch to your cozy entry. It allows a place to take off shoes when entering the home, or a quick place to set down a purse.
The reward for your attention to detail will be the compliments you receive the next time you have someone over: "Oh, what a lovely home!"
Home and Garden Expert Articles - Expert articles on fixing things up around the home, and working in the garden.
Date: 1/20/2008
Title: Kitchen Countertops
Wow! Just about anything goes for countertops today...even PAPER! (More on that later)
Still, the most popular for cost and good looks is the laminate countertop, according to Consumer Digest. Formica has even brought back some 50's retro styles. Laminates are easy to care for besides being more affordable and come in an array of colors and designs to choose from.
Of course, if you have the wallet to go with the price, there is granite, sandstone, marble, slate, soapstone, Silestone, Corian, and even cement.
Most of these need to be sealed every couple of years so there's a little extra care. Granites can get fairly busy and dark in color so you need to see a good size slab, not a chip, to get an overall look of the veining.
You can also cut the price down by combining the use of the natural stones with a laminate border.
Metals are becoming more popular also. There is stainless steel, which gives a more commercial feel and can lend to a more cold feel to the space but a warmer alternative metal is embossed copper. Copper is considered one of the best antibacterial food preparation surfaces. Stainless steel can also be softened with a wood outer trim.
Glass Solid glass counters are available in assorted colors and styles, is non-porous and easy to clean, making it one of the most hygienic work surfaces available. Also, the unique texture completely obscures scratches and dust. Of course there are still glass mosaic tiles and ceramic tiles to choose from.
Wood: recent studies have shown it kills bacteria. If using wood for a cutting surface, it should be left raw and unstained, and sealed with mineral oil. For less strenuous use and little food contact , such as in a pantry or decorative island, the wood can be stained and sealed with urethane. Raw wood counters should be sanded and oiled every few years.
Ok, you waited long enough, countertops made from
Paper/shetkaSTONE is manufactured from pre- and post-consumer waste paper and other 100 percent recycled materials including plant and cloth fibers, even old jeans. It's a natural for countertops in sandy, pinkish or greenish colors and it's also used in doors, counter tops, soap dishes, benches and molding.
Concrete has picked up in popularity over the last few years. Both modern and rustic, concrete works well with most architectural styles. In fact, if you want a natural look but don’t care for the polished hue of granite, concrete is a great alternative. True concrete tops have meshing and metal in them and are installed after they are fabricated. Kitchen islands look great in concrete.
Design Tip: You can change the look of concrete by dyeing it or by using porcelain or glass tiles around the edges.
Maintenance: Wax concrete every six months and seal it annually. Wine, lemon juice and ketchup can stain, so clean up spills immediately.
Information and photos courtesy of HGTV.com
Date: 1/6/2008
Title: Kitchen Design
I'm going to focus on the kitchen for the month of January. We spend a lot of time here so it should be inviting, warm, enjoyable, easy to keep clean and good maneuverability. Here's some great tips for small kitchens from:
Make a Small Kitchen Sizzle
By Mark McCauley, ASID, special to HGTV.com
Small spaces can sprain a design brain as much—sometimes even more—than large spaces, especially when you add storage and style in tight quarters to the typical kitchen challenges of fixtures and function. But whether you have a galley in a high rise or a small space in the suburbs, these decorating ideas will help you end up with a delectable kitchen, cooked just the way you like it.
Down Size It: Face it, in a small space you can’t have a kitchen that is a jack-of-all-trades—accommodating schoolwork, mail, laundry, recipe hunting and cooking duties. Unless you don’t cook at all (in which case, feel free to store your out-of-season clothes in the kitchen cabinets!), the small kitchen’s main chore is meal prep. So focus first on function, making sure you have the appliances and work areas you need. You may be able to save a bit of space by using scaled-down or innovative appliances, including refrigerator and freezer drawers and pint-sized microwaves, stoves (some with just two burners) and single sinks. The function is there, without all the square footage! If workspace is at a premium, consider a small-scale island or a counter-topped cart that can be rolled away into a closet when not in use.
Clean contemporary lines, a simple monochromatic color scheme and downsized appliances combine in this small but sophisticated open-plan kitchen designed by Simon Temprell.
Open It Up:
Tiny kitchens can feel claustrophobic when overhead cabinets are towering over your head in tight spaces. Many cooks can’t reach what’s in them (and there’s not a lot of room for a step stool or ladder), and the overall feeling is boxy and closed in. If you can get organized enough trade the top cupboards for open storage. Consider shelving, pot racks, and magnetic knife or spice holders instead. Not only will your kitchen look more spacious, it’s a great way to show off your favorite dishes or shiny pots and pans—even artwork.
In this Washington, D.C. apartment designed by Andreas Charalambous, the kitchen was treated as an extension of the living/entertainment areas, not simply as a service area. The upper cabinets visible from the living room were removed and artwork from the owner's collection was displayed instead, extending the art gallery feel of the living room into the kitchen.
You may not have wide-open spaces in your pint-sized kitchen, but you do have lots of choices. In fact, these choices loom larger in a small space than in today’s basic Taj Mahal-sized kitchen. In a big area you can more easily hide flaws or separate competing styles; in a small space everything really has to work, including the mix of wood and metals and other surface materials. And because your petite kitchen may be short on interesting architectural details, it’s up to you to add the all-important style in compelling countertop surfaces, cabinetry, fixtures, flooring, lighting and color. Is there any place you can add a pleasing curve? Will your granite countertop (more affordable in a small space!) coexist with your cabinet color? Your best bet is to create a mix board with samples and swatches of everything you’re considering. One tip: using the same color and style of fixtures and cabinet pulls can help unify a look.
Mix Up The Materials:
The mix of materials and shapes in this kitchen designed by Steve Appolloni—from the stainless steel fixtures and granite counters to the curvy island and custom backsplash—creates a pleasing combo of function and fashion.
Look Into It:
One of the simplest ways of "expanding" a kitchen is incorporating glass, which lets you see through the objects, thereby enhancing the feeling of spaciousness or what designers call "negative space." Try a glass counter or tabletop, or glass door cabinets. Glass kitchen doors, to the outside world or to the next room, can also visually expand the space. There is even highly reflective glass tile that can give your kitchen sparkle. Mirrors, in a backsplash or strategically placed around the room, also lighten up the look.
A pass-through window into the next room also expands the space. If you don’t have one, consider how you might be able to add airiness and architectural detail if you punched an arched window or counter pass-through into the next room.
Opaque glass doors and a monochromatic simplicity open up this kitchen designed by Gail Drury.
Light It Up:
Like any other room, your small kitchen needs a combination of task and atmospheric lighting. Fluorescent lighting, which casts a bluish light impacting the colorization of objects in the room, including the food, is frequently found in kitchens. To counteract it, consider hanging pendant lights that bathe your eating area in a more appetizing color. And try these easy ways to increase the feeling of size in your small kitchen:
* Use incandescent lighting (which is more yellowish) underneath the upper cabinets shining down on the countertops. Ceiling incandescent spot lighting, when directed at the cabinetry, will increase the shadowing of the space and give the area greater visual movement through light and dark contrast as opposed to cabinetry simply shown in the cold blue of fluorescent lighting.
* Think from the ground up—lighting has also been employed in flooring in recent years, glowing like starlight at night up from the floor. It also can be installed under the base cabinetry shining down onto the toe plate.
Cabinets lit from within and spotlighted backsplash tiles lighten up this beautiful kitchen designed by Rouzita Vahhabaghai. The space may be small, but it is sophisticated enough to be in complete view of the living areas. Photo by Maxwell Mackenzie.
Get Floored:
Where does our eye go when we walk into a room? Often it goes down—right to that dust bunny or scuffed floor. That’s why the flooring in a petite kitchen is so important. It can make up for a lack of detail and size, and provide a great first impression. Linoleum—that old favorite of kitchen floors everywhere—can be really eye-catching in checkerboard black and white in a small space. It’s a relatively inexpensive choice.
Since dimensions are diminutive, you may be able to afford a beautiful tumbled marble that can give you a touch of the outdoors. Of course, marble can be really cold and hard underfoot, but the impact may be worth it to you. Or try cork, which is the number one flooring used in industrial kitchens in the United States. You’ll have to make sure it’s properly sealed (water can make it expand), but it’s a beautiful choice. And you can feel smug about using a politically correct "green" flooring.
Retro is all the rage in this kitchen designed by Liz Stewart. The room may be small, but the white high-gloss cabinetry and laminate black-and-white flooring pack a big design punch.
Color It Big:
The color of walls, appliances, counters, stools—even the dishtowels—can change the atmosphere and perceived size of the kitchen. Good use of color affects the space visually and fools the eye into making the space seem larger. Pastels or light colors, with good doses of white, reflect light drawing the eyes upward and make the room seem taller. But don’t think you have to be a color chicken in a small space. Bold colorations can be very effective in smaller kitchens. How about some Porsche red metal cabinets with celery green walls and a banana-colored concrete countertop? That’ll get your motor started in the morning!
White is nice, but color can rev up a small kitchen, too: Interesting hardware and colorful cabinetry make for a bright space designed by Lou Ann Bauer. Photo by David Duncan Livingston.
Go For The Cozy:
Sure, we now know how to increase the visual size of a small kitchen, from layout and design to color. But consider this: When decorating a smaller space I’ve often found it’s not necessary to increase the size of the room through interior design. The reason: by going with the existing architecture of the small area, you can often create a wonderful well-designed cozy space. So instead of using tricks to enlarge the space, maybe you want to embrace it just the way it is. Instead of going light or sleek, maybe you go country cozy. Perhaps you make sure there is a little nook where you can sit with a visitor knee-to-knee. Or choose a dark, rich color that creates a sophisticated feeling—and use accessories that emphasize that look. The kitchen is small, yes; but it sure is sexy.
Denim blue painted cabinets and a wood beadboard backsplash play up the cozy country style of this kitchen designed by Candice Olson.
Date: 12/16/2007
Title: Accessorizong With Candles
Here are some helpful tips for arranging and using candles in decorating your home.
Carries Decorating Corner has a wide variety of candle holders for you to choose from. Browse through our Light Up Your Life category for unique candle-lighting options.
Add A Warm Inviting Glow To Your Home With Candles Accessorizing with candles has really become a must when it comes to home decor. Rolled Rim Hurricane Candle Holder - Illuminations With the variety of scents and accessories that are available it’s not a wonder. The choices out there give you the opportunity to create any mood your looking for. Rod Iron, glass, wood and ceramic holders that hang on the wall from the ceilings or just sit on a tabletop. Scents to match every season and occasion, there is so much versatility you can really express your personality and make every day feel like something special. Below is a list of most common types of candles and a brief description of each. We’ve also added a few display suggestions to help get you started.
Pillars: Ranging in size from 3x3 to 6x6, the three being the smallest and the six being the largest also sixes normally have a double wick as they are wider giving them a larger burn surface.
Pillars are available in pretty much every color you can imagine, so it’s pretty easy to find just the right ones to fit into your decorating color scheme. Generally placed on a heat resistant plate when lit. Use just a single pillar or group several in different sizes together for a stunning arrangement.
Pillar Grouping Suggestion: Take three different size pillars, place on a heat resistant plate - use one from your current dinnerware to coordinate with your decor or purchase a simple glass plate - fill in around the candles with stones, potpourri, sand, glass beads or silk flowers. When grouping pillars together remember to leave a space between each candle to avoid them burning into each others sides.
Another idea for displaying pillars is with the use of glass Hurricanes. One variety uses a base which the pillar sits on then the glass is placed over the pillar. The other resembles a vase with a pedestal foot, which can be filled with colored stones, potpourri, coffee beans or sand into which the pillar is placed.
Hurricanes can be used alone or place several side by side along the top of a fireplace mantel, bookcases, entertainment centers or dinning tables.
One more way to display pillars is by using candlesticks - just like the holders for tapers only the top is made wider for the pillar to sit on - or lanterns. Both come in a variety of styles, materials and colors.
For a more interesting look when using candlesticks, use several different heights grouped together.
Tapers: Slimmer than pillars, tapers commonly come in 6, 10 and 12 inch size in a rainbow of colors, which make it so simple to match your table settings and general home decor.
 
Displaying tapers is generally done by placing them in a single holder with a small hole in the middle where the bottom of the taper sits. Tapers can also be used in Candelabras or Vases. When displaying tapers group odd numbers like three or five together, this gives it a more interesting and commanding look. For a more casual fun or whimsical idea mix several different style holders together. A more formal look for your dining table would consist of glass, crystal, metal or pewter. Use either one or two multi-armed candelabras or a grouping of single taper holders. Hurricane vases also make for a beautiful centerpiece, you will need to fill the vase with something to keep the taper upright.
 
Votive: Small and compact but don’t let their small size fool you, they can pack a punch of scent just as good as their big brothers. Votive candles are available in the same scents and colors as larger candles. Purchasing a mixed boxed set gives you the opportunity to try different scents. However they can just be purchased single to match a color or specific scent you like.
Votive cups can be found pretty much every where, local discount stores, home improvement stores, craft stores even drug stores. You can also get creative and use things you already have in your home, as long as it’s a container that is heat resistant anything goes.
Display them anywhere in the home either as just a single or in groups. If you have a window over the sink in your kitchen try lining several votive along the sill giving off a wonderful scent while doing the dishes.
Tea Lights: The smallest of the candle group but again as with the votive tea lights carry a wonderful aroma just like the larger variety of candles.
Pre-packaged groups of nine or twelve can be purchased to match the scent or color you’ve choose for the theme your creating or to match the decor. Large bags of loose unscented tea lights can also be purchased at most discount and craft stores. The unscented variety is generally used as a heat source for tart warmers.
Displaying Tea Lights * Single glass or wood holder* Several grouped together* Tucked within a centerpiece* Candle lamps* Lined up along a mantle, cabinet top or window sill.
Jar Candle: Last but certainly not least we come to the most common of candles types, The Jar Candle . Jar candles come in several shapes - Square, Round, Oval - sizes ranging from 3.7 to 22 ounce. Most are one wick however many companies are now making two and three wick which makes for a more even burn. With pretty designs on the fronts and beautiful shapes jar candles can sit on any surface and look wonderful. For a little more zing, dress them up with a candle shade, matching plate or surround them with a ring made of flowers or berries.
Candles add a warm glow to any home decor plus the added benefit of a wonderful scent. Pick up several to scatter around your home then sit back and enjoy.
About The Author: Bonnie P. Carrier is the creator of Savvy Home Decorating - The Information Center. She is the mother to two grown daughters and a very spoiled Blue Merle Sheltie named Toby. www.savvy-home-decorating.com
This article is shareware. Give this article away for free on your site, or include it as part of any paid package as long as the entire article and author’s bio. is left intact including this notice. Copyright © 2007 bonnie carrier.
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