home interior decorating

You'll be amazed what finds you make when you shop for budget decor items. A small budget doesn't mean you can't find some wonderful pieces of furniture and decorative pieces. There are plenty of sources for decorative bargains and it can be lots of fun to search for, and find, the items that will make your house a home.There are bargains galore at garage sales. If you don’t know how to shop them, just ask around and you’re sure to find a friend or relative who would be happy to show you the ropes. Cash will get you the best bargains as will showing up early or just before closing time.

home interior decoration

decorating your home and have no idea what to do or how to do it, where to start or what direction you should go. Guess what? You are not alone! And I am here to help.

Decorating a home can be exhausting and if you don't have the skills and abilities in your back pocket you need some decorating help. Professional interior decoration decorators typically have decorating tips, tricks and ideas to get your end result faster and with less cost and frustration, but hiring a designer or interior decorator can be costly.ideas that will help you to create the home of your dreams and make every decorating project easy and stress free! My name is Rhonda Morin and I am a professional interior decorator, interior designer, and home decorator. I created MyInteriorDecorator.com to be your interior decorator helping you design your home your way online. This website will help you

• discover the best places to buy furniture, window treatments, blinds, artwork, accessories, plants, florring and more online
  
• decorate the easiest way online
  
• layout your furniture and rooms
  
• with just about any decorating project you are facing with our extensive decorating articles
  
• find the best decorating books on your style or decorating needs
  
• select the best and easiest home design software
  
• and much, much more!
  

Below you will find some quick descriptions of the main sections of this website. And below that you will find our latest interior decorating article and blog entry. As you are visiting our pages and articles I hope you will find the free decorating advice, resources and guidance you need to make all of your interior decorating projects successful!

interior home photos

interior home photos
How To Use Family Photos To Spice Up Your Interior Design
There is nothing like a photograph. It captures a moment. A smile. A place. A piece of time, perfectly captured and there to enjoy every time you walk past it. Photographs can make people who are far away a part of our daily lives. They can bring good memories people who are no longer with us. They can encourage us that the memories of frilly dresses and bows will outlast the surly teenager who temporarily sits in front of us. A life lived in a home without photographs is a life not fully enjoyed.

With the advent of digital photography, rather than displaying more photographs in your home, you may have become overwhelmed with the sheer number of photographs that we have stored on computers and memory cards. Like many people, you may have grown tired of the cluttered and eclectic photo groupings that have been popular the last several years. You may be looking for a more streamlined and elegant way to display your photographs.

f you're looking for a more modern and contemporary way to display a group of photographs, the key to achieving this is symmetry. Start by choosing a few favorite photographs you would like to display on a wall. Simply having your photographs printed all in the same size, and putting them in the same frames with the same mats will automatically give your photographs a more modern look. You can expand on this technique by having all of your photographs printed in black and white rather than color. Displaying your photographs in either an equally-spaced line or grid will also give your photographs a contemporary appeal. Spacing them further apart, rather than closer will make the grouping look less cluttered. It's better to take a few pictures out of a group than overwhelm a wall with too many.

If you would like to display one photograph on a wall, be sure the size of the frame takes up enough space on the wall. A photograph that is too small will get lost on a wall, and can create an awkward mood in a room.

If you aren't sure what size frames you should use, or aren't sure how you would like to arrange a group of photographs, try using some large craft paper to create templates. If you have already framed photos that you want to work with, simply trace around the frame on the craft paper and cut them out. If you're not sure what size frames you want to use, cut out several sizes in the range you're looking for. Use drafting tape to hang your templates up on the wall so your wall isn't damaged. Sit back to consider how your templates look on the wall and how different frame sizes and groupings fit in with the rest of the room. You may want to live with a template arrangement for a day or so before you make a decision.

Using photographs in your home design will create a much more personal space. Displaying your photographs in a modern way will make that space flow with a modern elegance that your whole family will enjoy.

Interior Home Décor

Interior Decorating And Home Decor Needs
If you have had a home for a while, it becomes dull after a while. This can be fixed with a little paint and elbow grease. This interior decorating guide contains tips and tricks that can tap the potential of any room and bring it to life. You will find painting styles and colors, and decorating techniques.

The first thought should be the scale of work, if the remodeling project involves more than cosmetic fixture replacements or surface interior decorating, it may be time to call in an plumber to assess you in your plumbing and pipe replacement. Homeowner should weigh the pros and cons of taking on an entire bathroom project alone. Admitting your strengths and weaknesses is the key to successfully completing any project on time and under budget.

Your bathrooms represent the greatest and fastest return on your remodeling investment. More than 80 percent of your bathroom remodeling expenses can be recouped within a year of resale. Not every room in the house offers such a return. Amazingly, kitchens are sixth on the list with just over 60 percent of the costs returned. Only bathroom additions beat bathroom remodeling with returns over 90 percent.

Always hang pictures at eye level. Hanging them at eye level for the average person's height will enable them to be enjoyed and also make them work better with the furnishings, such as tables and chairs. Use accessories in odd-numbered groups. It's just a matter of poise. Such as three or five works better than even numbered groupings of four or five. Use wall-covering borders. You may want to choose neutral furnishings that can go with any interior-decorating scheme.

Look for coordinating products. Many of today's wall covering sample books feature a whole range of coordinating home-style products, such as borders, fabrics, comforters, pillow shams, place mats, table rounds, and shower curtains. Selecting a specific collection that features these products, you can put together a whole unified interior decorating package for a comparatively low cost.

Your focal point can be almost anything - a fireplace, a painting, and an entertainment center. By having a focal point, you can beautify and emphasis on the focal point and give your room a sense of constancy. Collect photos of rooms you love. If you're not sure how to recognize your interior decorating style, start collecting photos from catalogs.

When interior decorating your home, don't just go from room to room. Work up a plan for the entire home, counting budget and timetable. As you go along, you can be on the guard for products that work within your plan. Your local design center will be more than happy to help you plan your work and making it become a reality.

Indoor – Enhance The Décor Of Your Home

Indoor – Enhance The Décor Of Your Home
Want to make the indoor of your home beautiful and pretty? Want to give your home a transformation touch from the drab ambience to beautiful surroundings? Then go for some easy tips that will suggest ways to decorate your home indoor in a unique fashion. Right from hanging wallpapers, laying ceramic tiles to placing paintings and figurines, your indoor will have a prettiest transformation that you can only dream of.

To begin with, you should think of painting your walls in a perfect way. Start painting the ceilings, then walls, then doors and windows. The color is an important factor to consider. If you want to have peace then go for lighter colors like white, blue, pink and lemon. With your walls painted brown, you will feel comfortable and warm in your room. Pink being an effeminate color can enhance the warmth of women’s rooms. However, whatever color you choose, make sure that it matches the furniture and décor of the rooms.

The indoor of your bathroom should be so decorated that it suggests privacy and refreshment. Decorating with shower curtain is a great way to begin with. Put mirrors in various walls of the bathroom to give it a magnifying look. However, to provide a neat appearance to the bathroom, you can make shelves, put your hygiene products in them and then cover them with cloth panels.

To further enhance the decorative look of your indoor, use lighting wisely. Try to provide lamp or sconce lighting as it offers more warmth than overhead lighting. Lamp shades with a yellow cast and tanned shades offer a warm glow and add to the mood and sophistication of indoor. Place figurines, dolls and paperweights to add variety to your room.

You should always give an element of surprise to your indoor décor. Try to make a bold statement in all the rooms. If your indoor is furnished with contemporary décor, then highlight it with antiques. You can also add a grand old piano or a gigantic animal statue to enhance the surprising element. Indoor monotone décor style can be accentuated with colorful accessories. This means that if your indoor is frothed with white walls, white sofas, and white coffee tables, then sprinkle colorful pillows and accessories in them to magnify the wonderful feel.

Remember that indoor décor reflects your personality, so give it a different look to feel fresh and rejuvenated.

Indoor décor

Indoor Garden Ideas: The Indoor Gardener

I suspect few children of today would spend countless hours putting together the perfect indoor garden. To us, as 9 and 10 year olds, the first step was begging an old biscuit tin lid from our mothers or grandmothers. The biscuit tin lid was ideal because it was just the right depth. Next, armed with our empty tin lids, we would make our way down to the end of the garden or, in my case, into the woods that grew around my grandparents' home. Here we would find the dank conditions ideal for the sphagnum moss to grow and plenty of leaf mould to use as compost. We would fill our tins just below the rim with the leaf mould and then gently press the sphagnum moss into place to completely cover the leaf mould in the tin lid.

The next stage was to obtain tiny stones or tiny shells - I was lucky there because we lived within a few yards of the beachfront so I had access to plenty of shells. We would then proceed to decorate our gardens - one year I was even able to get some alpine plants to grow in mine: I prized some of these little plants from the crevices of our garden wall. Making an indoor garden was often given to us as a homework task from school during our Easter holidays. Of course, it helped that we all enjoyed making them. Today, sadly, it seems rather a lost art.

A more modern interpretation - to the West, at least - is the Executive Meditation Zen Garden. This is probably better known as a Sand Garden. I actually bought one this year for my daughter at Christmas. The intention of this is to create an oasis of calm in people's busy lives and reduce the stress people are under today. These miniature sand gardens were inspired from Ryoan-ji, the Zen Rock Garden in Kyoto, Japan. If you purchase a kit, the Zen Garden comes with white sand, zen rakes and a range of polished stones, together with a booklet explaining the concept of Zen. Some kits include a Tori Zen chime, a tea light candle, a mallet and some incense sticks. All of this is set in a beautiful rosewood tray that is beautifully finished and makes an absolutely delightful and original focal point as part of any interior design project.

Taking the theme of interior gardening ideas further, there are the companies which supply various plants for the interior of office buildings. There are the palms which require levels of light up to 800 lux, growing from just 50cm up to 10m or more. Plants such as the Howea forsteriana which do really well in conditions where light is reasonable. The Dracaena family of plants is one of the most popular plants for indoor gardens as the dark green leaves only require a fairly low level of light although the variegated Dracaena does prefer a bit more light. They can grow from just 30cm to 5m in height. Dracaena is known by the delightful names of Song of India, and Song of Jamaica, amongst others. Whether it is sand gardens or the indoor gardens of our youth, there is no doubt that growing plants in the house alters the atmosphere of any room and brings it more alive and adds attractiveness.

Home Wall Paper

Home Paper Shredding Tips

Shredded Wheat? Oh yes, I remember that wonderful cereal so good for our health. And, up until a year or two ago, I didn't think too much more about shredded anything. Ah! Too bad, those days are gone forever. Now shredding has taken on a whole new dimension and, in point of fact, every home in America should have a good paper shredder.

Why? Well, if you don't know, you haven't been listening to the news too much these days or followed one of those stories on 60 Minutes. You know the one where that nice couple in Kentucky had their identities stolen and have spent the past two years and countless dollars trying to get their lives back. It's true. Every day many hundreds of good hard working folks have some low life criminal steal their identities by dumpster diving, phishing, skimming, using the mail to defraud them, or just outright stealing their information.

We set ourselves up for this type of victimization by not being careful to destroy documents before we dispose of them in the trash. You would be very surprised to know your credit card slips, purchase receipts, credit card applications, mortgage information, and so on, provide a wealth of information for thieves. These items should always be shredded prior to throwing them out. Those pre-approved credit card applications are a disaster waiting to happen.

One of the worst things you can do is throw away a credit card before cutting it into small pieces. Better yet, you can use a shredder that will cut up credit cards, CDs, or any other heavy material you need shredded.

Now, you may be held liable if you employ someone in your own home like a nanny and that person's identity is stolen as the result of a failure on your part to properly dispose of or protect personal information. This means shredding, burning, or the use of some other secure form of disposal. The crime has become very complex.

Along with home shredders which are available at office supply stores and many other locations, you can opt to use a professional paper disposal business. This is especially true if you are running a home based business. Many professional companies will come to your residential location or some provide convenient drop off centers. If you use a service like this, make sure to research their employees for proper bonding and back ground checking.

The most important key to security is that you can't just throw stuff away like you used to. Thieves have become very skilled at piecing together information found in the trash. Just remember to shred everything, because shredding is not only about breakfast cereal anymore.

Choosing Wall Tapestries For Home Decor

GIVE YOUR HOME SERENITY AND BEAUTY BY CHOOSING RIGHT WALL TAPESTRY

With a beautiful tapestry support mild furnishings gain a special identity. If the tapestry is selected and utilized applying a creative mind a decorating problem can be minimized and solved by a touch of color or providing a window to a different place or time. For viewing enjoyment for years together it is convenient now to select one from a wide variety of wall tapestries, such as

For a small room in the need of something to make it feel less cramped, better select a tapestry that will make you feel that your living space filled with fresh air. It can be seascape, land, city or a traditional tapestry of medieval design. To add length to a room you can select a horizontal tapestry while with a tapestry with windows and doorways you can open a space. By guiding the eyes of the viewer outward such tapestries generate an impression of an extended space.

By hanging a series of smaller tapestries together you can scale down a room if it is large. An impression of a smaller space it generates and that trims in size a large and blank wall. You have to select tapestries of similar theme and style to generate such illusion.

Tinged often with history, European wall tapestries can lead you to different place and time altogether. A great role they play in encouraging thoughtful and calm moments and enlightening human spirit besides being great subjects of discussion themselves. Our decorative needs they elevate while soothing our souls and adding charm and warmth to our homes.

For art lovers, wall tapestries are popular choice for centuries. As centuries of design, art and tradition are added to modern textiles and fabrics, wall tapestries of today remain as charming, versatile and beautiful as they were in the past. For generations a tapestry wall hanging passes down as an heirloom.

home wall texture

Bring A Room To Life With Texture

The elegance and sophistication of the past was achieved by blending textures and fabrics. The home decorating industry strayed away from this as homeowners demanded furniture and decorating ideas that would last for years.

Today’s home decorators are not limited by stereotypes. They do not limit their creativity and design ideas by trends or styles. Instead, they incorporate a little of everything into a room that evolves into an expression of their lifestyle and personality.

This has pushed decorators and furniture companies to stretch the boundaries and bring in innovative combinations, color hues, and creative ideas to bring a modern feel combined with a homey atmosphere to the average home.

Current trends have seen furniture that combines leather and fabrics to create a completely new feel. The furniture grew in size, and was over stuffed, and then returned to a more manageable size. Today’s furniture is taking on a more natural look. The modern designs in plastics and glass have given way to leather, natural fabrics like silks and cottons, and hand painted designs on wallpaper.

This trend toward natural is reflected in wall treatments. Grasscloth is a beautiful, natural fabric that lends itself perfectly to Feng Shui or natural fabrics. The wall murals and repeated patterns are giving way to natural fabrics, grass, silk, embroidery, and wood. Other new innovations are panels.

The most popular for this year is a plum red, stark, bare apple tree, with rich red blossoms, on a pumpkin background. This beautiful hand-painted silk panel wallpaper is meant to replace both wall treatments and artwork.

However, homeowners do not need to invest thousands of dollars on a wall. The mass market manufacturers are bringing out paper versions of these wall treatments. They are also bringing out silk surfaced wallpapers.

DIY, Do It Yourself, has been growing for years. This lends itself perfectly to recent home decorating designs. A few hours research on the web and through high-end home decorating magazines, will eventually reveal the mural of your dreams. Once that is found, it can be drawn onto large sheets of paper and traced onto the wall, then hand painted.

Oriental painting is very simple. It only requires a few complimentary colors, and incorporates large brush, smooth even strokes with minimal shading. A few hours practicing on newspaper will give any DYI enough skill to paint a mural.

A Demask stencil, stucco, and a stiff sponge brush is all that is needed to add texture to walls. This is technique has been around for a few years. A new twist involves buying sand from a pet shop, the kind used for fish. Buy natural, sterile sand. This will reduce the risk of bringing mold spoors into the home.

Once a thin layer of stucco is applied to the wall, then use a stiff brush to apply sand into the stucco. The stucco should be colored. In 2005 the stucco would have been a burnished gold color. In 2007, the colors would be red/browns, plumb reds, gold tone neutral hues, and greens, depending on the room.

Contrast is added with polished metals. This rests the eye, and draws it through the room. Home decorating with textures is about minimal and simplicity. Just add a little in out of the way places. Place textures behind large furniture. Add texture to lamps, in carpets, and lighting.

This will let home owners decorate their homes, keeping them up to date year after year, without needing a full-home renovation to add life to their home.

Home Wall Decor

Home Wall Decor

Home wall decor is one of he many major elements in home interiors that decide the kind of mood, the space will finally create when it gets finished. The reason for this is quite obvious. Wall occupies a major visual field in the interiors of any building.

Wall decor can be carried out in every imaginable way, you can think of. However some of the most common ways to decorating a wall are.

1) Plastering and painting the wall

2) Applying a wallpaper on the wall

3) Cladding the wall with tiles

4) Keeping the wall exposed (exposed brick walls)

5) Keeping the wall without plastering

6) Creating a mural on the wall

Which type you want to go for, largely depends upon what end effect you want to create. It must be noted that every wall decor finish will have a major impact on the interior design theme of your home.

But how to really choose the best finish for wall decor?

To solve this problem you can think from different perspectives. Wall surfaces are vertical surfaces and help in two ways. The first and the most obvious function of a wall is to act as a divider between two rooms and create privacy.

Secondly walls help to reflect direct sunlight into deeper areas of the interior spaces creating an even lighting atmosphere. For this to happen it is necessary to finish the wall with the kind of decor that will help easy dispersion of light into internal areas.

Another important point to consider is budget. All the finishes mentioned above will have a different set of execution costs and those must be planned before you think about adding them on the wall. However you can easily cut down the cost of wall decor if you design your home wall decor and other interior design elements into a "decorating theme". A decorating theme helps to organize the design and saves cost if you consider it from point of view of the entire project.


So home wall decor if planned at the design stage will have a major impact on your home interior style. To save your cost you can even go for a combination of various forms of available wall decor ideas.

Home Decorating and Interior Designing News

Home Decorating and Interior Designing News
A customized approach towards interior decorating and freedom of expression has combined to form driving forces in the home designs of today. In Lamen’s terms, decorating a home means to beautify, and this is derived from a French word that has similar meaning. However, owning a self expensive home is usually more preserved and the interior designers and architects have a knack for making healthy, lavish, and environmentally perceptive spaces. Going through the process of home décor is generally a broad category and is the best way to find different examples of items to put in a home. The way home design professionals approach issues transforms how the homes of tomorrow will look and function.

When decorating a home there are a number of factors to consider. The flooring, space planning, lighting, window treatments and furniture are just a few of these elements. One can easily find a lot of information concerning interior design, or it is possible to just refer to the top ten home decorating homes of the year to find out the different methods used to integrate all of the décor elements in a home. Décor usually refers to different types of patterns or designs such as contemporary, formal, modern and traditional décor.

Contemporary home décor is a unique method that is recognized as the easiest of all décors as it expresses a defined sense of simplicity. This décor is usually associated with the use earthy and neutral colors. Contemporary home décor basically uses distinctive outlines, geometric shapes, linear patterns and black as the primary color. There are also colors that have striking patters such as red mixed with orange. The furniture for this décor includes fast and clean lines that are made of smooth leather or fabric. Metal lights are the main characteristic of this kind of home décor.

Formal home décor typically refers to fine hotels or period homes. This type of décor is also a great option that is quite comfortable and livable. Formal home décor usually includes tall windows, fire places, heavy window treatments and large mirrors. In order to create a formal home décor, one has to keep both line and symmetry in mind. Regarding the furniture, it must be arranged in a straight line in the room and in most cases the furniture and other accessories should be set in pairs. There are also long curtains used in this décor. The surface of the furniture, mirrors, floors and the light fixtures are polished to shine with high gloss. In formal home décor the fabrics that are used for bedspreads, couches, pillows and window curtains are very rich and luxurious. Apart from this, the use of oil paintings, rugs and crystal chandeliers are rather characteristic.

Rustic Home Décor

A rustic home décor applies to a number of homes as it caters unique warmth and texture. Home décor also offers charm, sophistication and trend. The characteristic feature of this décor is a fireplace with polished logs and an antique finish. The furniture is highly textured, but only place a few pieces should be set up in the room. Cushions and pillows are a necessary part of this décor and they should be in copper, rust or burgundy color. One can make a rustic décor by using oak dining or garden benches or even ladder back chairs. Any paintings should be of a particular type such as a landscape photo or a basket of pine cones.

African Home Decor Guide

African Home Decor Guide

The popularity of African home decor reflects in the growth of this trend over the last three years. More interior designers and buyers longing to spice up and ad a sense of adventure to their homes have sought African decor items to fill that need.

For centuries the continent of Africa has produced inspired works of art people around the globe envy. For example, objects made from stone, clay, woods and other natural materials.

With the popularity of earth-friendly home decor products, African home accessories seem like a natural (pardon the pun) fit for today's demanding home decor market and consumer.

African decor produced from natural earth friendly materials continues to grow in popularity among interior designers. The most popular forms of African tribal decor is wood figurines, wood masks and animal wood carvings.

These African wood carvings often made from trees that replenish easily because of faster growth - as opposed to other trees. For example, trees such as bamboo, teak and other fast growing varieties.

Colorful African baskets of all sizes continue to grow as a popular home decor accessory, adding a splash of color and interest to any room. The popularity comes from the double benefits of a decorative piece that's also used for storage purposes.

Quality hand-made African home decor baskets crafted with various kinds of loom add variety to any home decor. The better quality form of loom is the horizontal pedal loom. The horizontal loom is most popular from the regions of West Africa.

The West African tribes of the Kasai and Kwilu territories located near the Central Congo developed a unique weaving technique. For example, the tribal women meticulously weave plush raffia or fiber on diagonal looms. Next they take the pattern and knot it in broad bands during the detailed weaving process. And finally the expert weaver completes the detailed steps by cutting the overhanging material to an even finish.

Inserting a colorful pattern, done in various ways adds a touch of color to the decorative African baskets. The most popular method? Meticulously hand-weaving with colored threads, the result is a stunning piece of African art that would brighten up any room.

Wrought iron African home decor accessories continues as a favorite because of its longevity. African statues and figurines of tribesmen, tribeswomen and popular animals throughout the tropical forest and East Africa represent consumer favorites world-wide.

African pottery is another popular African decor accessory used to add a look of adventure to any room in your home. African hand-made pottery usually employs many popular and recognized techniques. For example, rounded pots hollowed out with a continuous turning movement of the craft persons hands - at just the right angle and depth.

African gourde containers grow in West Africa. The gourde container, usually cut in half and their hard outer shells used to fashion decorative bowls, cups, plates and other vessels for water and food. These African bowls, decorated with various patterns of stripes and other colorful designs adds interest and authenticity. These African designs not only add interest to the piece, they often tell a story or give a positive message to the reader.

Quality African decor can add zest and life to any room. There's a category that fits every taste and lifestyle.

Love Interior Decorating

Love Interior Decorating? Then Why Not Get An Interior Design Job?
If you love interior decorating then an interior design job may be just what you are looking for. Often there is no better feeling than waking up into a home which looks professionally designed and which actually looks like a home. Interior designers get a great deal of comfort knowing that their creativity has helped another individual or family to enjoy their lives that little bit more! Also, it would give you the chance to have a well decorated home yourself. All it really needs is a little imagination!

How to Get Into the Interior Design Field

If you have been wondering how you could get into the interior design field then your first step should really be to research the education options within your area. Now, whilst you may have imagination and you may have the talent, nobody is going to hire you without any qualifications. It would be too much of a risk and not many people are too trusting these days. You need to be able to show what you can do and in order to do that you need to first get a qualification in interior design.

Once you have completed a college or university course, you can then focus on building up a portfolio. This is important if you want to show what you can do. Maybe if nobody will give you a chance, you could practice on friends and family? Usually friends and family are more than happy for you to redecorate one of their rooms and if they are happy with the result they may even let you loose on the whole house! In order to create a good portfolio you should take a picture of the room before you made it over and then take a picture afterwards. That way it gives people an idea of what you can do and it proves you know exactly what you are doing.

Working For A Company or Going it alone

When you first get into the interior design field, you will often find that you end up working for a company first. Whilst you may go into training and education imagining being alone and working for yourself, often it is just not that easy and you will need to work for a company before you can branch out. Working for a company will teach you new things and once you have enough experience you can then branch out on your own.

Remember that it will take some money to set the business up and also remember that all important profile too! It can take a while to build up a profile but you can do it if you really want to.