All Entries in the "HOME ACCESSORIES" Category

Hardwood Floor Maintenance in Home Decoration

Wooden floors bring in warmth and elegance to any room. They add a lot of character and charm to the entire house. Wood flooring may be either solid hard wood flooring or parquet flooring.

Either way it requires special care and maintenance to keep its beauty untouched over time. There is plenty that you can do to keep the floors looking good.

Before you decide to start any kind of repair or maintenance finish, it is essential to know the type of finish used on the floor.

Older wooden floors will generally have shellac, lacquer or varnish finish whereas the newer floors will be finished with polyurethane.

In order to be sure about it, choose a hidden area of the floor and dip some cotton in acetone or acetone based nail paint remover. Rub it gently on the area chosen.

If the cotton ball is stained and the floor looks tacky, then it has been finished with shellac, lacquer or varnish. If the cotton remains clean and the floor smooth, then polyurethane has been used to finish the floor.

Window Shades From Simple To Exquisite

Bored with the plain window shades that have no identity of their own but daren’t spend too much on the exclusive stuff?  How about some exclusive window treatments that don’t cost the earth?

All this and more is all yours even if all you can afford are the $12 window shades from K-Mart. The secret ingredient is an inexpensive trip to your craft store and plenty of creativity.

With some heavy duty drapes and a dash of ingenuity there is a lot you can do to add pizazz to plain old boring shades. Here are three of the many things that can be done with them.

Window shades can be made personal with a unique message on them. It could be something as simple as a good morning or good night or a favorite quote or saying. You can choose your favorite phrase or word.

Before you embark on this personalization program the things that you will need are roller shades (of course), tape measure, Gaffers tape (chose from various colors available), scissors, rulers, small paintbrush, floating medium primer, acrylic paint (craft) and alphabet stamps (foam).

Replacement Windows Installation with Minimum Damage

In case you are going to install replacement windows at your home, here are a few steps, which you should consider carefully, in order to install the windows without damage.

The first and the most important thing is to measure the old window frame. Make sure you are measuring the frame’s height from the top of the sill to the underside of the head jamb. Record the smallest measurements, for they will guide you to what window to choose.

Use an angle-measuring tool to measure the slop of the still.  Remove the old sash from the window frame as you pry off the wooden stops, in order to remove the sash.

Be careful for prying off the jam liners. The best thing you can do is to use flat bar, for you will pry them free. Prep the frame as you remove all the loose and blistered paint.

Scrape them off and sand the jambs. Then you can paint the surfaces. In case this is the first window replacement you are doing, then you need to remove the original sash weights from their pockets. After that, simply insulate the frame with insulation foam. Spray it into the holes and into the sash-weight pockets. Leave the foam for 6 hours and then continue with the work.

15 Innovative Interior Door Design Ideas

In technical terms, a door is a moveable barrier used to cover an opening (source: Wikipedia). Its functionality might be restricted to having privacy and protecting our house apart from many other uses, but nevertheless it need not be just a mundane part of our house.

These Interior door design ideas will appeal to your aesthetic sense, adding a sense of mystery to an otherwise boring part of any house.

1. Two Way Door

This door is one of the firsts as far as door design ideas are concerned. Designed mainly keeping space constraints in mind these doors are rototranslating doors.

The main feature is its spinning around the central axis, helping to avoid the space taken by conventional door systems.

Floor Lamps – A Design Element To Wow Visitors

No matter how beautifully a room is decorated, if there isn’t enough or proper lighting for it – it will fall flat. This is where floor lamps can be of great assistance. Not only do they provide illumination, they are a décor element all by themselves.

Unlike lighting that is suspended from the ceiling or the walls, floor lamps can offer more focused lighting when and where required. They also create interesting areas of light and shade in a room that add more character to a room.

Here are some tips to use floor lamps optimally and to create maximum impact in a room –

• If you have any décor items such as a beautiful vase, an elegant sculpture, a painting or similar artifact that you want to accentuate, then you can effectively use floor lamps to focus attention on to it. This will not only make the item properly and clearly visible, it will make the area the focal point of the room.
• If you have dark or drab corners of the room that need brightening up or which are not properly illuminated by the other forms of light in the room, this could make the room appear smaller and less attractive. Floor lamps, strategically placed can help to perk up that dark corner and bring it to life, also making the room appear larger.

How To Install A Floating Wood Floor?

Why you would want a floating wood floor? Because it is warm, nice to feel under you, fit, elegant, cheaper than hardwood and easy to install.

The first step is to measure exactly the surface you will cover with the floating floor. If you have a house drawing you use for taxes you can use the dimensions from it. If not, simple measuring will do the trick.

As necessary materials are concerned you can get them all from flooring to finish trim from any hardware store.

Ask for the shop assistant’s help to get all that you need. Keep in mind that reported to the amount of traffic you are going to have in that room the thickness of the planks may differ from one room to another.

For starters, you have to make sure that the floor is perfectly straight. If not, you should apply a layer of self leveling concrete which usually dries in 48 hours.

When the layer is dry, apply the foam underlayment which will keep the humidity away from the flooring. The foam underlayment has different levels of thickness so make sure you pick the one suitable for your type of floating floor.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

Mirrors are basic accessories inside a home. Even if you choose to place them on the hallway, in the nursery or in the bathroom, the addition will offer beauty to the room and create a more spacious looking environment.

If you want to put a mirror on the wall, you must take under consideration what is about to be reflected into it. If it is placed on the wall in front of a window, it will borrow the image of the landscape outside and will create the illusion of another window. A valuable architectural element deserves to be reflected in a mirror and will offer balance to the room.

If the bathroom is the first room that comes to mind when you think of mirrors you may be used to see it placed above the sink. This type of mirror can be a simple one mounted on the wall or beautifully framed. It can also be a magnifying effect mirror for beauty purposes.

If you have a spacious bathroom, hang the mirror to a mobile arm so you can easily see your back. If the bathroom is very small go for a mirror placed above the bathtub and you will create the illusion of a bigger space.

Make The Best Of Your Kitchen Backsplash Design

In case you want to decorate your kitchen, you can start from the kitchen backsplash. Usually those parts of the kitchen are designed according to the entire house design, but you can experiment with different kitchen backsplashes.

For instance, if you are a fan of the country kitchen style, choose ceramic tile for your kitchen backsplash. The ceramic is the second most used material, when it comes to backsplashes. It is beautiful and practical, therefore choose ceramic subway tiles.

Those tiles are extremely proper for all-white kitchens and very durable. Check out the Rebekah Zaveloff’s latest collection and choose the right ceramic surroundings for your kitchen backsplash.

In case you want something traditional in your kitchen, use the most popular material: the classic kitchen tile.  Those tiles are very comfortable and they last longer, but the problem with them is that they are not so artistic.

You can find patterned tiles for your kitchen backsplash. The tendency right now is to create backsplashes that resemble Portuguese wall tile. You can check the local store for patterned tiles and choose the right colors for your kitchen.

10 Modern And Beautiful Home Blinds

In these times and days, when everything you lay your hand on is being customized for your need and use, why should home blinds stay far behind? Window blinds not only add to the interior décor of the house but give your home that distinctive edge over others’, whether to be used for regulating light or privacy for that matter.

1. Sound Blind Speakers

In today’s world of restricted spaces, here is an innovative product from an innovative designer.

These home blinds work as blinds as well as speakers eliminating the need for additional space for your sound boxes.

The Trendy Colors For Accessorizing Your Home

Decorating is all about the right details and elements. Therefore, here are few tips how to decorate your home in trend and with style.

The recent tendencies include the so called mod-mocha trend. The trend is inspired by the chocolate, but this time not as a food but just as a luxury item.

Chocolate and mocha are the right colors for a lavish home décor. In case your home is small, just add furniture in chocolate palette.

It is creating an atmosphere of intimacy in the home interior.

Another good item to consider is the good old rug. Choose a retro-styled rug and make sure it contains geometrical elements, for they are super modern in the contemporary design.

The so called Optic rug by Rug Market’s Mod Squad collection is the right accent for you, in case you have a large living room.