Some decorators prefer to plan a room with long-term needs in mind, and wish to create a space for their child that will “grow” with them easily and inexpensively.

Your practical nature doesn’t need to stifle your creativity. By learning how to identify alternative functionality in furniture and accessories you can create a room that can be adapted to accommodate the needs of your child from toddler to teen. Remember, it won’t be long before your newborn is wanting a friend to stay for a sleep-over.

In your child’s nursery, all furniture choices apart from the crib can be made with growth in mind.

Accessorising the room for different ages becomes the key to maintaining your childs delight and enjoyment of their room. Accessories can be changed easily, with a minimum of fuss and expense.

You need to visualise your child as a toddler, a preschooler, at Elementary age – right up to Junior High. Think about furniture your child may enjoy and use at those ages.

Toddlers and preschoolers often use furniture as props for imaginative play, so a chair might "become" a train; a toybox may transform into a "boat". Any detailing that adds interest has the potential to spark imaginative play. The furniture of baby and children rooms needs to be both practical and functional.

A change table for example, can be any waist-high cabinet or chest of drawers fitted with a padded foam diaper mat. Look at cabinets you may see in a living room. Check for height suitability and other features that may make it appropriate, such as storage facilities. Think about how it will be used by your child as a toddler, an Elementary student, pre-teen etc. If you can see the piece adapting to your childs needs through different ages then it’s suitable.

Likewise with a nursery feeding chair. It needs to be comfortable for you, who will be using it for night-time feeding, but will it service the needs of your toddler, right through to his/her pre-teen years? Would a small sofa be better? Or a sofa-bed to accommodate having a friend stay over?

When deciding on a bed for your toddler, consider the suitability of it for an 8 year old, a pre-teen, a teenager. Your choice of bedding accessories will customise the bed to your childs age.

Furniture used as bookcases, storage cabinets and cupboards can also be found in living room and office furniture. Low T. V. units offer great storage for toys and sporting equipment and a padded cushion placed on top transforms the space into a reading area.

Tall T. V. cabinets also provide great storage and the space for the T. V. can be used to hold a doll’s house, a fish tank, or even a curtained area for puppet shows – let your imagination run wild.

Many ¾ cabinets found in the dining room section of furniture stores could be utilized in your childs room to accommodate growing needs. Dining room cabinets often have a range of smaller compartments, shelves and drawers. This storage space can be utilized to accommodate toys, books, puzzles, blocks, shoes, clothes and sporting equipment, especially in a boy’s room.

Wall cabinets used in bathrooms, either mirrored or plain, can be used in children’s room with great success. In a nursery they are great for storing diaper wipes, creams, pacifiers and baby’s hair brush. Toddlers can use them to store their “precious” things, teens can use them for personal hygiene items. Think about who will have access to the cabinet when considering it’s placement.

You should keep window treatments functional and in neutral tones, by using a blind, shutters or elegant curtains. These will age well. Accessorize with a pelmet, swag or sheer curtains, customised to suit your child’s age.

Nell Frances is author of the Step-by-Step Guide to Baby Room Projects Ebook and brings over 20 years decorating experience to her articles. She’s helped families decorate using miniscule budgets and zany ideas, to create baby rooms and child spaces that echo with squeals of delight! For all your Baby Room Decorating information and advice visit http://www.baby-room-projects.com

There are a variety of decorating themes from formal to informal and everything in between. Which one best describes your decorating style?

Formal Traditional

Furnishings and designs from the Renaissance, Baroque, Early and Late Georgian, Federal, Greek Revival and Victorian eras. This style is shown with fine furnishings, elegant, refined and exquisite wall coverings, elaborate moldings, formal window treatments and Oriental rugs.

Informal Traditional

The same eras as above but this style has less refined versions of furnishings. There are more touchable elements, more earthy colors, and some urban archaeology without restoration is common. This style is comfortable and inviting.

American Country

This style holds furnishings from the 17th century through the present, all simple with the appearance of hand-crafted work. Two versions are popular today: Upscale Country with the use of more tactile, comfortable elements and very close to Informal Traditional but with a clearly country theme in all the furnishings; and Rustic Country, which sports a reused, recycled quality. The wall coverings and window treatments set the theme and the furnishings have a just-found-it-at-the-antique-market feel.

Country French

This style is exhibited in Classic Rococo, Neoclassic or Empire-inspired country furnishings. Wall coverings include florals, ticking, toile, and moirés depending on the level of formality.

Arts & Crafts

This simple style is also known as Early Modern or Organic Modern. The era focuses on hard, stained oak furniture with simple, straight lines.

International Modern

This is a look of ultra simplicity, hard lines, and smooth surfaces contrasted with abstract patterns and unusual textures.

Environmental

Designs in this theme contain colors, textures and very subtle patterns of the earth.

Romantic Victorian

This style still is a favored theme for rooms with lots of pattern featuring English garden florals in dreamy colors. Both fabric and wall coverings can be patterned, and clutter decorating – especially with accessories – is part of this look.

Ethnic and Primitive

This masculine approach has many faces from African to the American Southwest, from the lodge-look to the South Seas. Heavy or tactile textures coupled with patterns that are charming because of their lack of sophistication fit here.

Fabric and Wall Covering Themes

This is a wonderful way to decorate – by selecting a great fabric or wall covering that inherently features a theme. Some examples include sea and shore, sports, outdoor recreation, kitchen or domestic elements, juvenile elements, feminine floral themes, exotic designs from far away lands, and more.

About the Author
Kathy Iven, Columbus, OH
kathy@fabricfarms.com

Kathy Iven is the owner of Fabric Farms Interiors, located in Hilliard, OH. Fabric Farms Interiors specializes in home décor fabrics and trims. They also offer custom drapery, bedding and upholstery services. The company was founded in 1971 and is the largest home décor fabric store in Central Ohio. To learn more, visit http://www.fabricfarms.com

Copyright - All rights reserved.

Above all else, the furniture in the living-room should make it livable. It should be grouped so that it offers centers of interest, convenience and comfort. Look for upholstered seating with homespun-type fabric, or toss a pieced quilt over plain fabric or leather. An old rocker is a great addition.

By the time you are ready to choose the furniture for the living room, the walls and floor coverings should be in place so that the choice of furniture will be merely the selection of the best out of several possibilities. Of course, the quality, shape and color of furniture varies, and the quantity will as well.

Can one imagine a more livable living-room than one with a large, soft sofa in front of a fireplace, behind it a long table filled with books, while holding a lamp at either end. Or else, at the end of the sofa, a small table for the reading lamp and on either side a pair of comfortable chairs?

The main essentials are a comfortable sofa, a table large enough to hold books, magazines and lamps, and at least two comfortable, upholstered chairs and a smaller table.

While at the other end or side of the room, a pair of book-cases, cabinets or a credence. These balance the fireplace, since they are placed against the wall and have a corresponding shelf, cornice or mantel line.

In developing the original simple formula there may be added a chaise, a good-size table, another large chair, and another small table

Remember that it is always better to leave a space empty than to have it occupied by a badly placed piece of furniture. Good furniture needs space to be seen to its advantage.

If there is a large array of furniture in the living-room, keep the carpet, and furniture upholstery all to one tone.

Mantel accessories may be applied to the other shelves and the tables in the room. Keep them free from dust-collecting, trivial things, while creating a sense of order and cleanliness.

Balance is maintained by using objects in pairs a pair of vases, candlesticks, bowls, or jars. Placed at either end of the mantel, they should be higher than the intervening objects, to form a sweeping curve. Also they help to frame in the over-mantel picture or mirror.

In fitting furniture to its architectural background there are 3 things to consider

contour and proportion
design and decorative detail
color of wood.

The first two points are obviously necessary; it is in the last that the furnishing of many rooms fails. Oak and mahogany do not mix amicably; one does not set off the other because there is not sufficient contrast, nor are they closely enough allied to harmonize. On the other hand, black ebony and yellowish burr walnut, such as is used in inlaying seaweed pattern in oak, are examples of harmony gained.

Lisa French

Use of article requires an active link to http://www.decorating-country-home.com

The lodge decor style has an appealing quality that creates a "safe haven" feeling of a cabin in the woods?

When beginning this decorating process, let your imagination take you to being stranded in a snow storm in the middle of the woods, but at the same time, being safe and warm in your little cabin. Snow falling, warm fire crackling, cozy blanket to wrap up in on your favorite sofa. With these images in mind, there is no doubt that you will be inspired to create a cozy cabin atmosphere in your home.

It’s not that you have to live in the middle of the woods to be able to create this lodge decor style feeling successfully. Simply allowing your imagination and creativity to take over will enable you to express this idea through decorating techniques, furniture and accessories. You can use outdoor themes, such as, pinecones, black bears or moose to help you with accomplishing your lodge or cabin theme.

The abundant presence of wood, either for the floors, walls or both, has an amazingly warm affect. If you have wood flooring, enhance its beauty with a braided rug or lodge rug for an important accessory in any room. These style rugs fit perfectly with lodge decor. If you do not have wood flooring, you can still use these area rugs on top of your existing carpeting for added color, texture, and warmth. If you don’t have wooden wallcoverings, you can consider painting techniques, or use wallpaper that has a log or wood pattern. There are some wallpaper patterns that are very realistic.

Another wallcovering idea that has rustic appeal is stone. Especially for one wall in a room, while the others are painted or wallpapered. Cultured or manufactured stone works best for this project, as they look and feel like real stones, but are much lighter and easier to apply.

Choose rich, warm colors when considering curtains, furniture, or wall covering. Warm colors are an essential element for establishing a cozy home. Of course, there is a characteristic in plaids that are associated with cabins and lodge style decor. You can incorporate this print with pillows, curtains or by placing a plaid blanket over the back of a chair or sofa.

Rustic lighting, such as, metal lamps and wall sconces, are the perfect lighting sources for supporting your lodge decor theme. Also, don’t overlook the switchplates, as they can be treated like a wall decoration.

The lodge decor style, also sometimes considered cabin or rustic decor, can be created throughout your home, or if you want, only in one or two rooms. It blends well with all country decor styles, so whichever way you prefer, it will transition well from one room to the next.

Karen Cundiff is the owner of http://www.my-country-home.com copyright 2005. Visit this website for country decorating ideas, resources, and get delicious recipes for entertaining family and friends in your country home. Please feel free to post this article exactly as it is seen here, including the author’s name and copyright.

I don’t spend a lot of money decorating my home. Many people don’t want to spend the time or money to decorate with the seasons, but over the years I have learned some ways to creatively seasonally decorate that have cost little or next to nothing.

Because I work a lot, I don’t spend very much time decorating my home. When I’m updating my home to a new seasonal theme, I don’t spend more than a couple of hours arranging and rearranging to get a nice seasonal effect. Here are some of the ways I’ve learned to organize my seasonal accessories:

- I store my seasonal decorations in several large stackable Rubbermaid containers: two for Christmas, one for Easter/spring, and one for autumn/Thanksgiving. When I’m ready to change themes, I get out the one(s) to put things away in, dust or otherwise clean the area(s) where the new decorations will sit, and then get out the new decorations. The storage containers get put back away, and everything is still organized for next season. Make sure you mark the containers in some way to know which one is which. Color coding them buy buying different colored containers works well.

- You will inevitably forget to put something away and stumble across it when you’re cleaning another day. In each bathroom I have a corner of a closet shelf reserved for miscellaneous seasonal decorations. Or if someone gives you a seasonal gift you don’t have anywhere else to put at the moment, this is a good place to put it.

If you find the task of re-decorating your entire home overwhelming, look for certain areas of your home that would be good for displaying seasonal decorations. In my home the kitchen, dining room, and living room are the focal areas of our home. There are certain areas where I concentrate when decorating for the seasons:

- Kitchen: I don’t do a lot of seasonal decorating in the kitchen, but there are a couple of easy things you can do to liven it up a little. Seasonal dish cloths and hand towels are really cute, as well as seasonal floor mats. If you use the towels for decoration only, like hanging from your oven door handle, they will still be nice for the next year. Seasonal refrigerator magnets are also easy to update.

- Dining Area: Our dining room table is the focal point of our dining room. We have a long oak table that is great for seasonal decorating. A table runner makes a nice seasonal addition. I have one made out of Easter fabric for spring, a floral one for summer, and one of Christmas fabric. I just need to get one for autumn. You can accessorize with seasonal place mats, napkins, and napkin rings. These you can make yourself or pick up at yard sales or clearance sales off-season. I also like to decorate the center of the table for the season. A lot of times I will use a vase of seasonal flowers. For autumn I have a vase of artificial fall foliage. I accent the vase with Indian corn, gourds, and artificial fall leaves.

- Living Room: The main areas of the living room I concentrate on are the fireplace mantel and hearth, a corner curio shelf, and the entertainment center. I lay a garland across the top of the entertainment center that can be changed with the seasons: fall foliage for autumn, flowers for spring and summer, and evergreens for winter. On the shelves of the entertainment center and the curio shelves I rotate my seasonal knickknacks. The last place I decorate is the top of the piano. Sometimes I just decorate with houseplants and photographs, but it is also a great place to showcase collections, like my angels at Christmas or my bunny village in the spring. I also have a piece of fabric draped over the piano that I can change with the seasons.

- Other: Window clings are great for any season. Door wreaths can also be rotated any time of year. My grapevine wreath goes up in the autumn and is soon replaced by my Christmas wreath. You could have one for every season. Although I don’t have one yet, a lot of people have seasonal flags or banners displayed outside of the house. These you could buy or make yourself.

These are just ideas to get in the mood of seasonal decorating. Learning to bring the outdoors indoors can be fun–there are many easy, inexpensive ways you can change the look of your home to get in tune with the seasons.

Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom helping other moms to organize their families and their lives. For other organizing hints visit http://www.Organized-Mom.com

If you’re looking for a rustic living experience, log cabins - either individually built or from a prefab kit - are a great choice; but they do present some unique decorating challenges. Most often the interior walls around the perimeter of the home are constructed of the same rough logs as the exterior; so what do you do to define your décor, or to provide a new look to a home that’s become boring to you?

Drapes on the windows are always an easy option, but don’t stop there. Quilts or other fabric wall hangings can add interest while establishing a color scheme; add enough large quilts in your choice of designs and the bare log walls will fade into the background. (Wall hangings can also do double duty by helping to minimize drafts common in log homes.) Carefully chosen artwork can also help define the décor; a group of small paintings can complement the log walls, while a number of large canvases can completely redefine the décor, creating any look you want within the home. To add more softness to a room, toss afghans over the sofa and chairs, and add some colorful and comfy pillows. Rugs on the floors contribute warmth, texture, and more color.

Folding screens can redefine the space within a room while adding some decorative touches, and come in an amazing variety of designs, from wood and paper shoji screens to wrought iron screens augmented by colorful fabric panels. Also, consider adding plants - hanging plants on the windows, decorative trees placed around the room on the floors - the bigger the better. A ficus tree or airy palm can add a touch of refinement to the rustic surroundings. (Dieffenbachia are great, but don’t use them if you have pets or small children; their leaves can be toxic if ingested.)

If you have a brown thumb when it comes to plants, think about investing in a variety of high quality artificial versions, available in home décor stores and import stores. Good quality artificial trees and other potted plants are indistinguishable from the real thing-except, of course, that you don’t have to water them, and they don’t die. Everything from the standard ficus and palms to exotic choices like cherry trees and Japanese maples will allow you a lot of creative flexibility when designing your home décor.

Major purchases like sofas, armoires, and beds will also have a sizable impact on the look of a home. Log furniture will obviously fit in with the rustic look, but also consider other approaches. Japanese furnishings will fit in well while providing a very different look; Shaker furniture is also a great choice. Again, soften the look with afghans and quilts in the living room and bedrooms, and pottery and other dishware in warm tones for the kitchen and dining areas.

Having a log home with wood interior walls isn’t nearly as confining as it might appear in terms of decorating. With some creativity and planning, you can choose from an almost unlimited number of comfortable, functional, and attractive decorative styles.

Aldene Fredenburg is a freelance writer living in southwestern New Hampshire and frequently contributes to Tips and Topics. She has published numerous articles in local and regional publications on a wide range of topics, including business, education, the arts, and local events. Her feature articles include an interview with independent documentary filmmaker Ken Burns and a feature on prisoners at the New Hampshire State Prison in Concord. She may be reached at amfredenburg@yahoo.com.

Decorating anything is one of the easiest things in the world! And when it comes to decorating your home, if one has a will and there is always a way. It helps, of course, to know about materials, including building materials, textiles and fabrics and furnishings including antique and modern furnishings. Add to this a few home decorating ideas and you can transform your house into a home that beckons!

Decorating ideas are always available.

Home is where the "art" is – especially when decorating ideas are so easily available. Intelligent interior decorating means employing all the little things that matter – energy-saving lighting; a down comforter which not only looks attractive but also provides a cozy, comfortable element that all bedrooms deserve; judicious use of patterned upholstery; and so on….

Plants, whether real or fake, can make any room in your home more desirable. They can be placed on shelves or hung on hooks. Large plants, such as Fig trees or Philodendrons can be placed in corners of the room to add color and warmth.

It is said that lighting should be arranged to form a triangle, so use this as a guide when placing lamps. And if you have a fireplace, consider having bookshelves surrounding it as this would be a good place for a specialized collection of statues or attractive dolls.

If a room is contemporary, highlight it with a bold antique to add that special element of surprise. Consider what your interiors can do for you – especially after what you have done for your interiors!

About The Author

Mike Yeager, Publisher

http://www.a1-interior-design-4u.com/

mjy610@hotmail.com

Does your home have a fireplace that you are currently not using very often? Or are you thinking about adding a fireplace, faux or real, to one of the levels in your house? If so, here are some ideas for decorating your fireplace to bring out its natural beauty and charm.

How you decorate your fireplace will depend in part on the room where it is located. A bedroom fireplace may look quite different from one in the family room or den. Part of your decorating decision will be based on the room and its tone. For example, your bedroom fireplace should have a cozy, intimate look with a décor that is special for the occupants of the room. If one or both spouses like cats, use cat-decorated accent pillows with a matching throw for a rocking chair on the hearth. Add a coordinating mantel runner, and you have a total look, especially with a nearby wall picture or two of a related theme.

A living room fireplace can become the focal point of the area. Accompanying floral arrangements sitting in an unused fireplace center or on either side of the hearth add a warm touch. Fireplace tools, like tongs, a brush, and a poker for stirring the embers come in many designs and styles to match the room’s decorating scheme. You can get a Mediterranean, early American, or French provincial style to suit the mood of your living room. Adorn the mantel with period antiques or accents to add color and design.

Some people even have kitchen fireplaces on which they cook or hang decorator pots and kettles. Baskets hanging on the mantel and pewter urns across the top help to make that type of fireplace inviting and attractive. A cat, ceramic or otherwise, adds even more charm.

During the holidays, a fireplace offers the perfect place to hang Christmas stockings or holiday greeting cards. Some families stack gifts on the hearth or arrange Christmas decorations for a magical display area in keeping with the holiday spirit. Children sometimes put out a plate of cookies and a cup of cocoa for Santa. A wreath above the mantel is a nice seasonal touch.

When you arrange a fireplace in your den or home office, it could look semi-formal, with paperweights, books, and quill pens for effect. But it also may have accents like your favorite coffee cup, a planner, and an afghan quilt draped over a nearby rack when you stretch out on the leather sofa for a snooze or to catch up on your reading. Photos or busts of famous people and admirable mentors can round out the various types of décor you may want to include in your personal workspace area fireplace.

Your fireplace serves as the heart of any home, and particularly the room that it occupies. Use your creative talents to devise a decorating scheme to make your fireplace a showcase of the things that are special to you, as well as those that make a visitor feel welcome.

Fireplace Decorating Ideas and information of all types can be found at The Fireplace Directory

There is this undocumented story about Andrew Carnegie who kept postponing the decision to redecorate his home just because black, his default color of choice, was simply not used in home decorating those days! Mercifully today, you could well translate your home decorating ideas into alluring reality. For home interior decorating no longer means just coloring your walls in pastel shades and showing off your antiques – it is about using all the home decorating tips that one can get to highlight the most of what one possesses. Unless of course you wish to shrug the opportunity and call in a professional designer. But even this experience could be fascinating – what with "walk-throughs" in your "virtually" designed home before even a single coat of paint is applied!

Yes, with home decorating, either way you always come up trumps!

Use home decorating tips to your advantage!

Your décor should exude your persona.

Want it to appear spacious? Eliminate shadows with diffused, ambient lighting. Avoid ceiling lights which make the ceiling appear low. Your ceiling should always wear the lightest color in the room. Then the pastel shades on your wall would help create that feeling of largeness. Limit the use of patterns to accent pieces – the discerning eye should not stop as it travels across the room.

And if you want a cozy pad, do just the opposite – use strong colors and heavy, soft textures. Draw attention to that precious grandfather clock with carefully directed light.

And if you must, make up your bathroom – in exquisite black – and eliminate that permanently booked suite at New York’s Windsor Hotel – à la Andrew Carnegie!

About The Author

Mike Yeager, Publisher

http://www.a1-interior-design-4u.com/

mjy610@hotmail.com

Interior decorating is that medium which can make your closed spaces convey to the observer a lot about you and your lifestyle through strategic use of elements which range from the visual (color, lighting, form) to the tactile (surface, shape, texture) to the auditory (noise, echo).

The more alluring the result, the more the aesthetic, practical and technical appreciation for these elements the designer must have. He or she must understand how people use and respond to these elements, not just individually but as the elements interact with one another.

Confusing?

Not really! For at the bottom, all one needs is to know what one wants to show off to the world from the precincts of ones space. That is why home interior decorating becomes an easier task since one can identify with its needs more easily.

Original ideas can make a significant difference in your Interior Decorating plans.

Ideally, one should work from a total interior design plan. However, don’t be hesitant! Try and be responsive to our own creative "hunches." When decorating your home, don’t just go piecemeal from room to room. Work up a plan for the entire home, including budget and timetable. As you go along, you can be on the lookout for interior decorating ideas. Believe me these make a lot of difference. For instance, pictures should be hung at eye level; accessories are noticed better in odd-numbered groups - it’s just a matter of balance; paint can be used to minimize structural defects and accentuate positive features. And most important – do not fear to experiment. After all, "Home" was not built in a day!

About The Author

Mike Yeager, Publisher

http://www.a1-interior-design-4u.com/

mjy610@hotmail.com