Home Decor & Decorating News

My husband and I live in a very old log cabin built in 1863. My husband and I have renovated and restored this log cabin back to its original style. The log cabin portion of the house is the living room and room where we keep a pool table.

There are several additions that have been added to the main log cabin section of the house. One addition that was added on is the dining room which is located between several other additions and the cabin living room.

This room was extremely dark and consisted of two doorway entrances. These entrances were the only natural light to enter the room. To brighten up the dining room so it would not be as dark, we opened up the doorways to double their size. We did all the renovating work ourselves and had to make sure there was support to double the openings in the doorways.

We then took one wall that was adjacent to a room with a window and we opened up a vertical rectangle in the drywall and wall. The rectangle was cut completely out, almost window like, so there was an opening completely through the wall.

We placed a piece of glass with an etching on it inside the rectangle and framed it in. On the glass we had etched a picture of a wizard that matched a tattoo my husband has. Now the light comes through the glass and makes the room much brighter. The beautiful etched glass is also a great conversation piece.

My husband and I decided to sell our mountain ski house in September. Houses and condos were selling poorly then, the average time on market was 6 to 8 months, but we were craving a warm winter somewhere southern and decided to give it a go. Vacation homes in our area are usually sold furnished, and usually sold shabbily furnished! We were determined that ours would be the exception. I located new sofa slipcovers on eBay at a great price. We took a ride to our favorite Swedish home store and spent about $200 on pillows, flower pots, prints and a cool wine rack. Back home, we plumped the new pillows on the sofas, placed the flowerpots on our cleaned off shelves, hung our prints in neat rows and filled the wine rack with bottled water with catchy labels. Our home looked simple, fresh and modern. And it sold in one week!

Its rare that you come across a company that embodies the true spirit of American entrepreneurial ingenuity, but Platypus Productions, based out of Tabernacle, New Jersey manages to do this and much more.

Established in 1979, this company specializes in producing a wide range of fanciful and attractive decorative items out of hand crafted and carved natural wood. The pieces consist mostly of clocks; however they also have a delightful range of book ends, banks, and plaques.

The designs they produce have a distinctly innocent and carefree nature, and are obviously designed to be used in children’s spaces. They have clocks that are shaped like dinosaurs and turtles, colorful ducks and brightly toned fish, along with a variety of delightfully imaginative decorative pieces, carved in the likeness of a wide variety of playful characters.

They have a huge selection of pendulum clocks, which are broken up into boy’s designs, girl’s designs, and baby designs. The swinging pendulum of a brightly colored clock seams to me like a great way to stimulate an infants mind and imagination.

They also have these adorable grow sticks which are basically fanciful rulers which you hang on the wall, and use to measure your child’s growth as they age. Most people just use pencil marks on a door frame, or unsightly pieces of packing tape hung against the wall. These attractively decorated rulers are a much more stylish alternative to such measures.

I was also impressed by their collection of fanciful banks including both clear acrylic wall banks, which let children watch as their money pile grows, and photo banks which can be personalized with new pictures whenever you feel like it.

One of the coolest things about this company is that they are very willing to work with individual customers to create customized designs. For the most part if you see a clock that you want in another color, or personalized with a special message, they can handle the request without a problem. This lets customers become a part of the creative process, and take part in the development of their child’s decorative world.

Innovative, creative, and utterly fascinating to a designer such as me, Platypus Productions is definitely a company to keep track of.

Global warming and greenhouse gases have been a hot topic of conversation throughout the last decade. While most people cannot influence the environment as heavily as major industrial companies do, many desire to be as environmentally friendly as possible. If you are considering a “green” approach to decorating your home, read these practical tips.

Renovating the carpet or other floor covering is usually the first step in remodeling a room. Most synthetic carpet materials contain resins, formaldehyde, and other toxic substances. These chemicals increase the likelihood of health problems such as allergies and asthma. Carpets made of natural fibers such as wool or linen are much safer. Furthermore, most of these products use backing made of cotton or natural latex, which are healthier and safer to recycle than foam or rubber.

Another option can be even more appealing. Lose that old, stained carpeting and select natural hardwood floors instead. These floors can be finished with water-based, non-toxic stains or finishes that enhance the wood’s natural beauty. Moreover, hardwood, unlike carpeting and other flooring, does not increase a person’s risk of allergic reaction or contain potentially hazardous chemicals.

Recycling old furniture is another excellent way to redecorate while remaining earth-friendly. Frequently, you can find great buys on vintage furniture at secondhand shops, flea markets, or garage sales. Usually, a fresh coat of milk paint or water-based stain will create unexpected treasures from someone’s old junk. Even if the furniture has been damaged beyond repair, the wood can frequently be reclaimed, and, with some tools, you can create interesting new pieces with a little time and effort.

A great way to dress up these unusual finds is to purchase pillows, throws, or cushions made of natural fibers. If you have a talent for sewing, you might try your hand at redesigning new, artistic furniture accessories from old draperies or other fabrics around the house. Frequently, you can also pick up a number of natural materials at auctions or even antique shops. Be creative, and use your imagination!

Many smaller craft stores and hobby artisans are using recycled materials to design home furnishings such as picture frames, blankets, and even vases. These articles are created from a wide variety of items such as bicycle tires, recycled glass, and even soda bottle materials. These interesting accessories provide useful furnishings that may also prove to be fascinating topics of conversation. In addition, recycling these items rescues a number of potentially useful items that otherwise might decay uselessly in a landfill.

If you are considering redecorating your home, and desire to be environmentally friendly, open your mind - and your imagination - to the endless possibilities offered by recycled and reclaimed treasures of days gone by. Resourcefulness is the key, and, if you are willing to work at it a little, you will be able to construct original, ingenious pieces of art to furnish your home. Your decorating skills will soon be the talk - and the envy - of all your friends!

Whether you are living in a small apartment or building that dream home, bedroom decoration is both a critical and potentially rewarding process. A bedroom is a more private place and should reflect its occupant’s inner personality. Besides being a place to sleep, relax, and enjoy intimate company, the bedroom is experienced differently than the rest of the home. At every stage of awareness from groggily listening to the chirping birds—or car horns—to being a private stage for rehearsal of important events, the bedroom acts as far more than a simple storage area for your dreaming body. Remembering this when deciding to decorate should help that creative spark regardless of individual style.

Function and fashion are a continuum much like time and space. Whether the bedroom is for the minimalist utilitarian or the space cadet, a good understanding of the desired function uncovers many ideas for how the bedroom is going to look and feel – and flow. Personalizing your bedroom will happen regardless—unless you happen to live in a hotel room—but understanding how the space is used can change what is acceptable into a comfort that really reenergizes, relaxes, or envelopes simply because it has been designed that way.

People who simply want to sleep in their bedroom should seek out uncluttered, open spaces with a few items that reflect their personality. Keeping things as simple as possible eliminates any distractions from rest. If the neighborhood—or even rest of the hose—is noisy, perhaps a few large paintings with some insulated backings to deaden the outside sounds.

On the other end of the spectrum, other people see their bedroom as a place of work, play, and sleep. Regardless if by choice or necessity, planning out how and when the bedroom becomes their lab, office, or playground can set up the style so that it really does change its feel throughout the day.

Besides the basics of picking colors, matching the linens, and choosing style of storage, there are quite a few things that can be done to increase a bedroom’s appeal. A good sense for the use of the space and an idea that the bedroom is meant for providing comfortable sleep both add a great deal to the decisions in style. Shaping space for its utility alone will leave a bedroom uninviting and anonymous and over stylized drama in decoration can interfere with its actual purpose. The balance between personality and purpose is a key element toward designing any bedroom.

Unless you are able to financially build the home of your dreams, your house will lack certain aspects that you would prefer. If homeowners decide to decorate or remodel a part of the house the most practical place to start would be the kitchen. The kitchen draws comfort and warmness to it, not to mention that it is a place where food is made for a family and guests.

One of the best ways to enhance the look of a kitchen is to add tiles to it. You may not necessarily like tiles on the floor, but if they are against the wall in the kitchen, they turn out absolutely beautiful.

When it comes to adding tiles to your kitchen, it is important to remember that you do not have spend money on the most expensive tiles or the even the most extravagant to add a certain warmth to it. You can purchase plain, but yet colorful tiles if you are on a budget and just arrange them in a pattern.

With the colors of your tiles, you can go on to match little decorative items. You can purchase kitchen jars that vary in size and place them where you would most likely use them in the kitchen. The great thing about them is that you can store ingredients that you use on a regular basis or certain ones that you buy in large quantities. For example, these kitchen jars are ideal to store your flour, sugar, and coffee in. Many have tightly sealed lids which maintain the freshness of the products. Their convenience will prevent you from always going to the pantry to dig up flour and other things whenever you need them.

Another great way to decorate your kitchen is to buy pictures. There are kitchen safe ceramic pictures available in just about any store that carries home products. The great thing about such pictures is that they are different from framed pictures in the sense that framed pictures may be too formal or elegant to be placed in a place like a kitchen. Moreover, the warmth of the colors that are used in these certain pictures creates an even more welcoming feeling into your kitchen. While they vary in size, they also vary in the messages. Many of them contain messages that elicit humor, adding greater warmth to your personalized kitchen.

However, one chooses to decorate their kitchen, it is important to remember not to over do it. There is not use in decorating a kitchen with items that you will always have to move around when you want to bake.

I got a treat today while surfing the web, when I came across ClockShoppes.com. I am a fan of new clock designs and unique, interesting timepieces, and this store had a wealth of them. I was really overwhelmed by all of the various models which I saw, many of which I hadn’t seen elsewhere in stores or on the web.

The first one I have to mention is the rusty gears clock. I saw it was the most popular timepiece on the site and when I clicked over I could definitely see why. What a unique concept. Hand crafted from forged metal, the piece actually looks like it is made from rusty old gears. This gives the rusty gears clock a rustic and rugged sensibility, which is balanced by the delicate tick of its time keeping hands.

Next I dug a little deeper into the collection and found the slate mosaic wall clocks. Framed in chips of rustic multicolored slate, this powerful clock has a force, a vitality that is missing in many of the low class plastic models. It even contains a thermometer, and is outdoor ready.

They also have an immense collection of mantel clocks. Here again I was drawn to the wrought iron and metal models, where I found a collection of pieces which were elegant with sloping lines, and yet had a stark inner force that made them distinct. I immediately fell for the Vercelli timepiece, which is finished in aged iron with antique gold accents.

One of the interesting things I noticed about ClockShoppes is that some of their most stylish pieces aren’t clocks at all. They have a full catalog of decorative home accessories including decorative boxes, wall art, storage boxes, and vases. I was mesmerized by a wine chiller I saw that was made from hand forged metal with a distressed dark brown wash.

The ClockShoppe has really managed to pull together a product line which is both elegant, and sophisticated. I got some great decorative ideas looking at their products, and I am definitely going to return as often as I can.

Do you feel in colors? Do you get the blues? Or go red hot with anger?

All around us is a visual palette which is intimately tied into our very emotions. The hues and tones which stretch out before our eyes tell a rich and vivid tale of love and hate, inspiration and gloom.

This is a tale which is intricate in its complexities, made up of an infinite variety of subtle tones, each with its own movement, its own feel, and its own life.

Understanding such a world involves more than just taking in and enjoying. To truly tap the wonders of such an environment you have to learn the language of color. Only in this way can you read between the lines of reality, and reveal the subtext of color in your life.

This is done on many levels, in a variety of dimensions many of which are alternate and parallel to one another. One the one hand you can explore the historical side of color, and follow the evolution of human relation to hue, while on the other hand you can turn to the present, and dissect the very nature of taste and form.

Then there is also philosophy, which seeks to intellectually understand the role of color in life. Music explores color too, giving a visual ecstasy to the visual spectacle of bent light.

And there is the great twist, for color is nothing more than light bent. It is in the interpretation by the individual, that true meaning is found. Therefore, ultimately, a real exploration of color must be conducted through the lens of your own mind.

It’s a simple and intuitive fact that books look smart.

They are the historical bearers of wisdom, and one of the greatest and most important innovations that humans have ever made.

That means that keeping a few books around the house looks smart. Each one is a repository of knowledge, whether good or bad, and they all require a certain amount of skill to extract that knowledge.

Knowledge is power.

While this is all generally true about books, the individual book will bear this mantel with its own personality. An Aristotelian tome casts a different light then a saucy romance novel.

Taken together the personality of the individual books in any given location will create an overall impression of the entire room.

This impression is both intellectual, the way people think of the space, and emotional, in that they will react naturally to what they see.

A strategic impression can be created by choosing which books you display, and which ones you store.

This is often the purpose of the coffee table book; however it can be stretched out to shelves, mantels, and whole walls. In this way books can be used in the place of décor, or even wall treatments.

However, the strategic placement of books begs the questions, why hide any side of your personality? If you choose a book, why not display it? If you don’t read, why display books?

That is a matter of conscience.

On the other side of this matter, if you do read, and you are proud of your books, displaying them in your home, or your office, is a way of sharing yourself with those who enter. You are making yourself vulnerable to the scrutiny and opinion of any who happens to come in.

That is a matter of self confidence.

For the average person, walking the middle path will bear the most profitable results. Taking a measured line will allow you to avoid the problems on both sides of the matter.

The latest installment in our series of reviews of the hottest home décor sites on the web took me to the Shop of Clocks

Now, they are a great store, but for some reason the first thing that caught my eye when I came upon them on the web was the information link at the top of the page. It took me to a page, where they had aggregated just about every piece of information about grandfather clocks you can think of. It went on for miles with everything including information on how the grandfather clock got its name, songs about them, a scientific overview of how they work, and some scattered wikipedia information and I absolutely loved it. I find that the more I find out about clocks, the more I am able to apply it to my clock designs.

As far as the store, they had a huge selection of several hundred different clocks to choose from. I have been on a mantel clock hang up lately, so that is the first section I checked out.

I especially liked the Brass Skeleton Mantel Clock. It had a really distinctive appearance and I feel that is important in a timepiece. The clock is such a vital part of a space that it should reflect who you are as a person. If you just get the same old clock that everyone has, it doesn’t reflect on anything, it just sits there.

They also had a huge selection of Cuckoo Clocks. There are way too many interesting models to mention them all, but I would say to keep your eye open for the owls and squirrels, and the Bird and Roses Cuckoo Clocks

The navigation of the site was intuitive and I would even say quite clever. Basically they list their entire product line on one really long page, and then use a jump navigation system at the top, to get their customers around. It means that you can check out any specific product you want, without having to leave the catalog page. It also makes for great browsing.

Another thing I liked about this company, is that they are very explicit about their store policies, and they spell out their stand on everything, on a very visible FAQ page. This means that there are no surprises when you go to make a purchase.

Anyways I really enjoyed this site, I like the ambiance, the company is responsive and friendly, and I will definitely be back.