Decorating Your Home

Do you have a particular room you want to decorate or is your home looking dreary and in need of brightening up. Maybe it needs a color overhaul to bring it up to date. Sometimes a little paint and new curtains will do the trick, or  new slip covers and rearranging the furniture.

Take a good look at the room you are dissatisfied with, get out paper and pen. Make notes about everything you like about the room. Make another list about everything you dislike. Now make a list about everything you want to use this room for. You might want to use it for relaxing, office, TV, and a place for guests to sleep. If you can’t do all those things in the room as it is, think about how you will have to change the room to accommodate these activities.

Now, get out decorating magazines, look through the pages and choose the features that will work best in your room. Clip all photos that apply and put them in a folder. The more you look at your collection of examples the better you will recognize just what you want for your room. Now, keep collecting and editing.

Now measure your room. Use graph paper to draw your arrangement plan. You can see how much space you have and what can fit into it comfortably. Do this before you buy anything.

• Start at the northwest corner of your room.
• Draw this corner in the top left corner of the page.
• Outline the floor until you get back where you started
• Sketch in every protrusion or indentation and leave gaps for doorways.
• Mark windows that have to be taken into consideration.
• Use a tape measure to measure the spaces that correspond to your drawing.

While you are doing this put aside the money to decorate your room. Check prices and sizes on items you will need. No need to look at high end furniture if you can only afford a thrift store. You can buy very serviceable pieces at thrift stores at low prices, with a little sanding and a coat of paint you can have beautiful pieces.

Now you can decide on colors for painting. You can get a nice stylish look by painting moldings and doors a shade or two lighter or darker than the walls. Paint might be all you need to get the look you want. Light cool colors will make your room seem larger and dark colors will draw it in to make a cozy setting. If you don’t have moldings you might consider a wallpaper border around the top of your room. If you room is boxy you might consider painting two walls a darker color and two walls lighter of the same shade. To make your room seem taller paint the ceiling white or a light color. Also,it’s a good idea to have interior walls of similar colors so it isn’t a shock going from one room to another. Empty you room of furniture before you start painting.

A bare wood floor can be refinished and stained darker or bleached lighter. It’s your choice. A neutral floor usually goes better with dark furniture and vise versa. Take into consideration the floors of the rest of your house. They should be complimentary.

Curtains can match walls, floors or fabrics such as cushion covers or bed spreads. They can include colors of both walls, fabrics or floors. You can have long floor length curtains or short curtains that end at the bottom of the window. You can buy yards of low cost fabric and make your curtains yourself or buy them at a more expensive price.

When buying fabric to make slip covers, bedspreads or curtains remember that horizontal stripes make a piece seem wider,while vertical adds height. A small print makes a piece appear larger while a large print makes it appear smaller and cluttered. Large designs usually look better in large rooms. You can buy ready made couch and chair covers or you can make them yourself. Work the covers deeply into the crevices with a long wooden spoon but be careful not to get it too tight. If you decide to cover a leather chair cover it with carpet padding first.

As you arrange your furniture remember a room full of furniture feels smaller.

A door placed across two filing cabinets makes a nice large desk.

A low backed couch can be made look taller by placing a large painting behind it.

Consider spray painting a thrift store piece with a single coat that doesn’t cover all blemishes and you have a shabby chic piece.

Good luck with your decorating project. It takes patience, planning, and elbow grease but it doesn’t have to cost a fortune. I see beautiful old pieces at thrift stores that are better made than many new pieces of furniture today. I just wish I had room to bring them all home with me. Decorating can cost a fortune but it doesn’t have to.

• http://www.gomestic.com/Home-Improvement/Decorating-with-color.49687
• http://www.gomestic.com/Apartment-Living/Big-Living-in-a-Small-Apartment.40318
• http://.www.gomestic.com/Homemaking/Storage-in-a-Small-Kitchen.47756
• http://www.gomestic.com/Apartment-Living/More-Storage-Solutions-for-a-Small-Apartment.44742