Jay Mahal
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Design a Cozy Reading Nook
Posted under: Your bedroom is for the rest, and the living room is for lounging. So where do you retreat when you want to be romanticized by Rumi’s passionate poetry or wander to exotic lands by reading sci-fi adventure novels? Design a creative and an intimate reading nook with the following ideas:
Vintage Velvet Loveseat for Reading Nook
Use a piece of furniture designated solely for reading nook where you can loose yourself in a book of your choice. A plush vintage velvet loveseat accented with buttons, and wooden legs create a unique, retro reading space. Kick up your legs for a relaxing Sunday afternoon of bonding with Jack Kerouac on the open road. If you’re really engrossed in a fictional novel page-by-page, you may find yourself hanging over the loveseat’s arm— one hand clutching a book, one hand balancing a glass of Pinot Grigio. Create a charming space with an old-fashioned loveseat in champagne, gold, royal blue or mint green.
Photo courtesy of Amanda Downing via Flickr
Quilt & Pillows for Reading Nook
Especially during dark and frigid winter nights, entangle yourself in a colorful, lush quilt. For the bookworm whose adventures exist between books covers, a beautiful and luxurious quilt is a worthwhile investment. The vibrant and wayward Pilar Quilt or the romantic floral Jolie Quilt will provide the most comforting reading nook for your imaginative journeys. Toss matching pillows in the loveseat’s corners and even scatter pillows on a floor rug in case you move to the ground.
Photo courtesy of Tom Small via Flickr
Alfresco Decor for Reading Nook
Accenting your nook with greenery and floral, whether artificial or alive, invites endless possibilities of nature into your home. Set a tall plant beside your loveseat so its large green leaves tower over you as if you’re nestled high in the treetops of the rain forest. On a small end table, set a vase with wild flowers next to the designated spot where your book resides. If your reading nook has a window, line miniature potted plants along the windowsill. As the sunshine streams through your organically accessorized window pane past a cascading drapery, you’ll be swept away into a far-off place of natural seclusion and wonderment. Natural sunlight and plant life also help calm the mind, whether you’re reading fantastical tales and tragic love stories or textbooks on visual and concept development.
Photo courtesy of Geneva Vanderzeil via Flickr
Accent Wall
If your nook is comprised of two cornering walls, make an aesthetic statement by painting an accent wall a solid color, colorful stripes or an erratic pattern. Using warm colors such as yellow, orange and coral, paint vertical streaks on the wall to emulate sunshine pouring down. Be bold and create a strong energy by painting your accent wall crimson red or go romantic and delicate by painting the wall sea foam green or soft violet.
An alternative to transforming a wall with paint is to make over the space with inspirational wall hangings and decor. Frame quotes from great American writers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Margaret Fuller and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Surrounding yourself with timeless poetic words such as “what lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you” (Emerson) and “the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, made to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time…” (Kerouac). Also, loosely, and chaotically, decorating wall space with vintage world maps or pages of poetry creates an intimate space for dreams and fantasies.
Photo courtesy of Christopher Sessums via Flickr
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Create Zen in Your Home by Adding Blue to the Bedroom
How do you feel when you’re gazing upon the ocean? Or lying in the green grass looking up at the cloudless afternoon sky? I’m going to guess that you feel much like the majority of humankind feels when seeing blue — peaceful, calm and relaxed. Throughout history, people have turned to color in order to provoke different feelings and treatments of ailments. Blue was thought to treat pain and soothe illnesses. On the contrary, blue can also be cold and somewhat depressing, if too dark or stark.
It’s a delicate balance of color and texture, finding ways to soothe your soul as you drift to sleep each night only to awaken feeling refreshed and ready for a new day. From blue bedroom to bath, the calmness of a deep-dark color palette can certainly ease your mind, but what other tones and hues should you mix in and how?
Walls
If you’re in a hot climate, adding cool blues is a good option. Pair them with other cool colors like gray, silver and cream. According to Houzz.com, your sanctuary could trick your brain to think it’s cooler outside. Think about painting one accent wall a deep, rich blue offset with the other colors like brown or orange. A light, china blue could cover the entire room as it creates an airy atmosphere. And while we don’t love white walls necessarily, we do love setting white against a blue background.
Consider a white headboard against a blue-violet wall with white roses and accessories.
Bedding
From dusty blueberry to striped navy and white, blue is a popular bedding hue that coordinates with any room theme. If you’re going to lean toward the soothing and peaceful side of design, choose colors that coordinate with other feelings you’d like to evoke and that are pleasing to the eye. Adding steel blue, silver and pearl can give you the sense of ocean and a free spirit. With white pillows against a serene blue wall or headboard, feel elegance in the wind. Consider purple flowers for a pop of interest in your blue bedroom.
Flooring
With stone, tile or carpet, slate blue looks great on the floors. If you want to add an explosion of color with bright blue flooring, be very careful in the bedroom not to over do it. Maybe a blue shag throw under a baby blue or white chair could be charming. If using blue as your main color palette, there’s no reason to confuse things with a blue floor. Leave that for design centers, kitchens and retail stores. Wood flooring is warm and natural and works well with any shade of blue.
Curtains
If you need to minimize light, choose a heavy curtain with blue accents that coordinate with your bedroom color palette. With the attempt to keep peace in the room, consider a natural blind or shade, such as bamboo. If the daylight is welcomed, a sheer blue window treatment can add a softness to your space.
Accessories
Sometimes, you just need to add one item in the room to highlight the color you intend to focus on. Toss a white shag rug under a bright blue chair. Paint one small distant wall in the room the blue of your choice. Green paired with blue can give a feeling of harmony. Tie in some green into your blue sanctuary and let the earth and sky come together in your bedroom assuring you a peaceful space.
Let us know how you did your blue bedroom in the comments fellas.
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The Photography Field
Get high quality photo backgrounds for your subjects so that your pictures come out quality.Using photography backdrops will enable you to capture your shot just about anywhere. Check out www.thelashop.com for more information.
There are lots of different reasons for learning how to photograph correctly. Whether you want it just as a hobby or perhaps for business reasons, knowing how to take a good picture can really help in your life. Many people with photography for a hobby understand what it’s like to care about the little moments and life, and also most likely have an arsenal of photographs collected that represent a good portion of their lives. Even those who don’t quite have the eye of a photographer can benefit from learning how to use a camera since pictures are such an important part in remembering our memories with loved ones.
If you are running a business, it can be very beneficial to you and your occupation if you know how to photograph yourself. It will save you money by not needing to hire a professional photographer as well as increase your portfolio size.
Having the right photography backdrops are important since the background is what really makes the subject pop. There are different types of colors and materials that can be used for a photographic background, and each different backdrop will work differently with a product. Backgrounds for photography can be an important part of the process and will help to not only pull the picture together and make it look nice, but it will also give your subject the attention that it needs by complementing the colors and shape. It may take a little bit of time to get used to what kind of photo backgrounds you should be choosing, but after you’ve seen a couple and dealt with some different subjects than you can really understand what makes a good backdrop.
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Unique Design Elements to Add to Your Home
Is your flat starting to feel as drab and dreary as the summer weather? When even a thorough dusting does not make the place more cheery, it might be time to bring some new design elements into your interior areas to lift your mood. Nothing can be done about the climate, but you have many alternatives for sparking up your flat and your spirits with unique design elements, of course!
One-of-a-Kind Furnishings
If you love the new quirky furnishings, consider Grace Bonneys chopped tables. Bonney has found a way to use cut dowels, colour, and a metal ring to create occasional tables to spice up your living room or garden terrace. This do-it-yourself project is fun and easy. Updating the furnishings in the front of the house can be achieved with simple, classic looks, like with VisionDecor.com entryway furniture. If you have piles of clutter to overcome, you could build a wall of cupboards to house your memorabilia and necessitiesout of sight and out of mind. Wacky shaped side chairs and cubes covered in whimsical prints are other options for brightening an otherwise dreary room.
Colour Ranges
Redecorating doesn’t have to include a full overhaul of your flat, from the flooring and paint to the furniture and window blinds. It is easy with the new colour ranges and wacky wallpapers to incorporate bright, lively decorating schemes. Annabell Smith, Style Director for Livingetc Paints, says you can add interest and depth with the new paint ranges. One suggestion is to try two-tone decorating. By masking off two or three horizontal stripes (of differing sizes) just below the wall center, you can draw on complimentary colours to add romance and elegance to your bedroom. Using a light pink against a soft, subtle gray/green is perfect for a flattering, romantic transformation.
Lighting Accessories
If you are not bowled over about changing your colours throughout your flat, consider adding wallpapers to one accent wall. You might also consider elements for lighting that rely on shape and contrast to add interest. Unusually shaped pendant lights, flamboyant candelabras or chandeliers and side table lamps can all be incorporated to add interest and intrigue to your schemes.
Personal Bits and Bobs
Displaying personal bits and pieces around your flat reveals your own style and personality. A unique touch to incorporate into your space is custom coasters made from your favorite photographs. You might include vacation photos, snapshots of family or anything that hints to your personality. Instagram is offering a new service that converts photos to beautiful coasters to protect your table finishes. The creators that developed the process were inspired to create something that would be highly personal that would contrast the stark natural differences between online images and concrete-touchable art pieces.
Unique Design Elements
Exterior Additions
Experts often suggest you bring the outside in; however, American metal artist Brandon Williams has come up with modern, exterior fires for your garden patio. The sleek modern design and vibrant colours are certain to chase away the dampness. Striking, verticals lines mixed with simple curves make for a dramatic eye-catching center piece to gather round.You can strip your flat and start over from the floor up, but sometimes making one or two changes is enough to revitalize and organize your space with a fresh scheme. Finish off the room with designer Blinds.com window blinds to block the sun and add privacy or drape fabrics over window rods to present a lighter, more airy atmosphere.
Before you get started, browse the magazines or take a stroll down High Street for ideas of unique design elements to get your creativity in motion.
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Top 3 Feng Shui Tips for Your Living Room
The living room is the space where people, whether your own family members or guests, come together and interact with each other. So, living rooms should enhance peace, serenity and harmony. Here are some Feng Shui tips that can be applied to your living room regardless of whether it is small or large in size. You should feel really safe, comfortable and positive while spending your time in your living area, which might thus help to enhance the overall quality of your life.
Feng Shui Compass
Construction:
You can try to incorporate Feng Shui from the construction phase of the living room. It is always good to have a living room with a regular shape. It should have enough space for the energy to flow around and should not feel (regardless of actual size) as being too big or too small.
You can do this by using the appropriate kind of flooring or paint colors that make the room feel just big enough in size. The living room should not be higher than the dining room. It is not good to have more than 2 doors in the living room. If feasible, you can close some of them or use curtains to hide their presence. Moreover, ideal ratio of doors to window is 1:3.
Furnishings of living room:
You need to paint your living room with light and lively colors such as pinks, blues, whites etc. There should be enough natural lighting to uplift chi as per Feng Shui. Dark corners can be lighted with artificial lights so as to bring more chi to the entire living room. Furniture should be placed in such a way that it promotes conversation. Also, all furniture should face the door so that all people sitting would have a clear view of the door. But, sofas should not be too close to any door or window. It is not good to go for L shaped or floating furniture arrangements. Moreover, try to place guests in the commanding position as much as possible.
Objects for living room:
You can hang family photos on the east wall in the living room to augment significance of family. Mirrors should not be placed in a living room in such a way that it reflects the main door because it will deflect all energy. Mirrors should be placed in such a way that it reflects views that you wish to see again and again.
Do not hang pictures of aggressive animals in your living room. Use lights, plants with round leaves or mirrors to make dull corners more positive. You can have a fish tank in the north of your living room as it is a very good item to bring in good chi as per Feng Shui. As a basic rule, keep your living room clean and tidy. For many apartments where space is a major constraint, family room and living room are combined together. In such cases, try to place your television or sound system in such a way that it does not disturb guests or family members who wish to have a peaceful conversation.
Hope these top 3 Feng Shui tips will help in doing some good to your living room.
Chris has been blogging on interior design for over 4 years and has contributed numerous articles on the topic. From decorating a house in the French provincial style, to the choice of colors and furniture for a classic Victorian house, Chris has a broad experience to make spaces look stunning.
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Outdoor Living Spaces – 5 Tips for a Great Design
Nowadays, people aren’t just concerned about how their homes look from the inside; they also want their outdoor living spaces to look interesting too. In a way the outdoor of your home is a lot more important than the interior as it will give the first impression of how your house is from the inside.
However, that is not the only reason why people have started spending so much on outdoor living spaces. Most folks do it because they want a beautiful and peaceful place to relax when they are bored of staying at home.
A nicely designed and decorated outdoor space will give you what you are looking for, but it is important to put some time and consideration into the planning stage. To assist in this I have prepared a list of 5 tips which will help you in designing the perfect outdoor space.
Here are some points to take into consideration when doing your outdoor living spaces:
Be Prepared
First of all you need to be prepared. Look for inspiration for the space that you are planning to create. Some great inspiration can be found in home and garden magazines, or websites such as Houzz or Pinterest.
You will also need to take space into consideration. If you have a smaller area, you don’t want to fill it with unnecessary junk. We suggest planning out the area on a piece of paper before going out and buying anything.
Be Creative
Creativity is the one thing you cannot go without when designing. Be creative and find designs that immediately appeal to the eye. A great feature to have in the garden is a water fountain, as it not only gives the garden a focal point, it also adds serenity to the space.
You can also bring a lot of creativity in when lighting the area. Remember that the primary look of the space at night will be dependent on the lights so you need to be careful about what kind you are installing.
Be Bold
When decorating your outside space don’t be afraid to be bold. Your outdoor area is a great place to experiment with different ideas, so have fun with it.
Color is essential here, bear in mind that where outdoor spaces are concerned, bold, bright and vibrant colors make your yard a more fun place to be.
Be Mindful
Many people get carried away while decorating their outdoors. This is why you need to be mindful of your budget when decorating the space. Do not spend a bulk amount on furniture if you do not have enough, instead, if you really want something, save up for it and then buy. Another great tip is to wait until the end of the summer season and buy your outdoor furniture during a furniture sale.
Be Consistent
This is the one thing that needs to be remembered whether you are decorating the internal or external part of your house. If you are going for a theme, then stick to it, do cautious if you mix and match otherwise it might end up looking like this:
There is a lot to consider when designing your own personal outdoor living spaces, however with some though and consideration you can create something truly special.
Just remember to enjoy the process!
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Feng Shui Fido – Best Pets for Apartment Living
The “Feng Shui Fido – Best Pets for Apartment Living” infographic was developed by ForRent.com
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Best New Year Website Design for 2013
Here is what we thought was the best new year website design for 2013 introduced by GoDaddy.com. Have a look and share your thoughts in the comment section below.
GoDaddy.com is known for their creative website design and this is another example of elegant creativity from their in-house web designers.
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Top 10 Inspirational Quotes
Influential words always make for encouraging and interesting, inspirational quotes!
You will normally find familiar matter around such quotes which is great in educating and inspiring one-self to accomplish desired. On an average, such inspirational quotes are commonly found in no-more than one to two lines.
Working on the idea of compiling an inventory for motivation, here is a list of top 10 inspirational quotes from well known personalities of the world that will help you in being successful.
- “An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.” – M.K. Gandhi
- “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” – Aristotle
- “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.” – Sun-Tzu
- “I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me.” – Dudley Field Malone
- “Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon ‘em.” – William Shakespeare
- “It is never too late to be what you might have been.” – George Eliot
- “Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.” – John F. Kennedy
- “I haven’t failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” – Thomas Edison
- “Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” – Albert Einstein
- “If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.” – Milton Berle
I was pretty convinced by Mahatma Gandhi’s quote. Did any of these inspirational quotes help you succeed in life? …or in any of the achievements? Comment away!
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Top 10 Christmas Greeting Cards Design
Holiday season is approaching once again, and I am sure you are looking for interesting greeting cards for your loved ones this Christmas. With extensive research we have gathered a list of top 10 Christmas greeting cards design.
If you are tired of looking at the old and over-used greeting cards, have a look at the following collection and let us know your thoughts in the comments section below. These cards don’t have the usual fonts, characters or images that you will find in your local card shop.
Here is our pick of top 10 Christmas greeting cards design for this year. The list includes creativity from Kate Moross, Anthony Oram, Jon Burgerman and others. Browse through and enjoy these festive designs.
- Christmas Greeting Cards by BenTheillustrator
- Murray Christmas Cards by Little White Lies
- Holiday Greeting Cards by Kate Moross for Trekstock
- Christmas Greeting Cards by Jon Burgerman of Burgerplex
- Promotional Christmas Greeting Card by Paul Burgess
- Santa Hates You Christmas Card by FINCHandHARE
- Hoo Hoo Hoo Christmas Greeting Card by PikeStreetPress
- Christmas Greeting Cards by Monocle
- SnowBikeMan Greeting Cards by Anthony Oram
- Never Eat Yellow Snow Cards by Ohh Deer
Check out some of the best Christmas Craft Ideas and learn how to make snowman christmas card.
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