Decorating Country Style on a Budget

By John Rutledge

Contemporary country style decorating is about clean lines, basic structure, good bones, soft color schemes and simple furniture. It's an aesthetic that is warm, inviting and hearkens back to a simpler time when design was basic and everything was well made.

Keep reading to learn how you can implement a contemporary country style in your home while still staying on budget.

1. Start by painting the room in a subdued color, typically a cream or soft white with a milk-paint finish. You want a color that will not take away from the simple beauty of the room and will show age with grace. For just a few dollars a gallon, you will be that much closer to your country style.

2. Look for country furniture that exudes a simple, but sturdy feel. The look you are going for is rustic and worn, but strong. Ask around at flea markets, thrift shops, garage sales and antique markets for "farm furniture" or "shaker furniture."

Typically, you are looking for basic items that are simply colored, made of wood and free of flourishes or intricate design embellishments.

3. Tone down your window dressings with simple, single-sheeted, white or gingham-print curtains. Instead of splurging on fancy blinds and intricate curtain designs, opt for a simpler look that is fresh and will give your home a farmhouse-feel.

4. Choose country themed fabrics like checked ginghams or tiny, vintage prints. Most boutique upholsterers will carry replicas of classic patterns, or you can go hunting in antique stores and fabric shops for authentic, vintage fabrics. One enterprising designer made country style curtains out of a 1930s farm dress.

5. Update your fixtures with rustic-themed light fixtures, wrought iron light switches and antique vent coverings. Look for classic antiques, or opt for newer items that are made to look weathered.

6. Make new furniture old by distressing it yourself. Start by battering the wood with a hammer, carving scratches with a knife and digging a couple wormholes with your axe. Then sand down the entire piece to remove any leftover paint or finish. Follow this with a dark glaze that will work to highlight your newly afflicted scars. And finally, an application of clear paste wax will seal it.

7. Look for handmade accessories to add a final rustic touch to your space. Wicker baskets, hand-knit blankets and hand-shaped pottery are all beautiful accent pieces that can really pull out the splendor in a room without breaking the bank.

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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Rutledge

10 Canvas Prints Home and Space Decorating Ideas

By Carla San Gaspar

Canvas printing consists of digital images printed on the same canvas material artists use to create their masterpieces. It possesses and recreates the same colors and retains the texture you want your prints project on this said material. Such that, it can give your prints that painting-like quality where you can easily obtain make any files, any standard photographs look like a work of art.

Creative Spaces
This makes canvas printing not just any material. Just think of the wondrous creations you can realize with this to decorate any space. Transform your house with your own brand and taste in style and art.

These prints can be customized to your specification and are inexpensive to print. It can easily liven up a living room, or simply give your home a more cultured and sophisticated air.

Transform your family portraits

1. Enhance the picture digitally using Adobe Photoshop and add brush stroke effects to your print. With a little computer know-how, there are a lot of various ways you can turn your regular snapshot or studio shot into wonderful works of art.

2. They are perfect for display in living rooms while individual prints can be displayed in bedrooms. Certain pieces can also be a timely display piece for grand reunions or other family celebrations.

3. These canvas pictures are also great gift ideas to friends and relatives. Have it framed or mounted so the recipient can simply hang it in their house.

Upgrade your Vacation Souvenirs

4. Do you have a postcard like picture from your last vacation? Have it printed on canvas and wake up to the same view everyday. Share it with your loved ones or have it all to yourself.

5. Unlike glossy posters and other prints, the canvas is really intended as a decorative material giving your print a sophisticated feel. Its surface is of a non-glare material so you can have truly vibrant colors that come across.

6. The canvas print can be printed with any size from 8x8 inches to as big as 58x100 inches. This way, you can have your panoramic pictures printed to dimension and in as big a scale as you please. Have it printed in small constrained sizes, or go extreme with large mural sizes.

Display your Graphic Artworks.

7. Display your digital expertise on traditional media and bridge the gap between traditional art and contemporary digital art. Print your files through web-to-print online printers where they can ship your prints readily to your doorstep

8. When you want to give your house a very personal home atmosphere, display your children's artworks. Have your children's art projects scanned and enlarged. It gives a good touch of sentimentality, and encourages their creativity.

Use reproductions of masters and professionals.

9. Get the right to reproduce paintings at cheaper prices or get pieces from stock photos to grace your home. These are professionally made designs you can have at very low cost. A good value for your money instead of just settling for poster prints. Artist canvases are just the next best thing to it.

10. Of course, most paintings are protected with copyrights. Make sure you check before you download anything.

Use canvas prints to turn any generic house into a splendid home in no time. Be inspired to fill your walls with the right artwork or design and have a chance at decorating your own home with something uniquely and tastefully yours.

This article aims to provide readers valuable information about tips and guidelines for printing canvas prints Please also feel free to visit Canvas Printing - Large Format Posters

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Carla_San_Gaspar

Shopping for Home Furnishings

By Kate Nielsen

Decorating your house? Shopping for home décor can be a frustrating and exhausting job, especially if you do not want to spend a fortune (which you most definitely could when it comes to the prices of home furnishings). The following are simple suggestions to help you find the perfect furnishings and décor for your home, without breaking the bank.

Scratch n' Dent
A great way to get expensive pieces rather inexpensively is through a scratch and dent center; many big furniture stores have scratch and dent centers where they have slightly damaged (but new) pieces and floor models that they sell as is. This is a great option because retailers are forced to discount furniture even if it has very small, miniscule scratches.

Floor Models
Another thing furniture chains do is sell "showroom pieces" and "floor models" that have been in their showroom at discounted prices for comparatively cheap.

Model Home Pieces
If you have moving into a pre-planned community (a neighborhood of homes built by the same developer), see if they are selling the pieces used in the model home. They may be a bit worn or have a few scratches here and there, but it is a really good way to get coordinating furniture sets at competitive prices.

Used Furniture
If you are not opposed to buying used furniture, search local flea markets, the classifieds, and estate sales. You may have to search a bit longer and little harder, but you can score some magnificent finds at super low prices from people wanting to get rid of pieces.

Refurbish
Sometimes all it takes is a little imagination. If you are shopping for used furnishings, use a little imagination and think of what the piece could look like, not necessarily how it looks currently. Sometimes all it takes is a little paint, stain, or upholstery to completely refurbish and renew an older piece of furniture.

Splurge
There are a few things that you should probably just bite the bullet and get, depending on what is most important to you. Some people want a top of the line mattress, while others want a coordinating set, which sometimes you cannot get (or find) at discounted prices. Whether it is a bedroom set, bath furniture, or art pieces you absolutely have, select a few must-have pieces to spend the majority of your budget on.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kate_Nielsen

Christmas Decorating - Inspired By Nature

By Deborah Goulekas

Nature's holiday signature . . . fragrant pine or fur tree branches displayed in a beautiful vase. Add twigs with red berries, pine cones, hints of gold, red ribbons and you've created a festive Christmas atmosphere for family and guests. Duplicate these arrangements throughout your home for the holidays, adding ornaments, scented candles and various accessories.

The entire family should participate in the decorating process. Long walks in the forest several days before Christmas will generate nature-inspired decorating ideas for the fire place mantle and dining room table. Collect an assortment of twigs, nuts, pine cones and interesting-looking pine branches for your displays. Consider spray-painting dried twigs with an antique gold finish.
The possibilities for nature-inspired decorating are endless and involvement of family in this activity breeds purpose and togetherness. . . the essence of Christmas spirit. The holidays are far more meaningful with participation.

It is recommended the bag containing collected forest materials be lightly sprayed with insect repellent and left to sit for half an hour before the creation process. You may not need to buy a base for your decoration - old pottery can be spray-painted to compliment colors in the arrangement. When using materials, remember not to build your dining room display too high or views across the table will become obstructed. Vibrancy is what draws attention to decoration and oranges and lemons are a nice compliment to greenery. Contrast of color creates an exceptional-looking table . . . white, red or green table cloths can create this effect.

Nature-inspired Christmas decorating has been around for centuries and much of our decorations today are imitation versions of the real thing. Homes touched by nature are ones where the true essence of Christmas spirit lives on.

Greetings from Southwest Florida (Naples)! I'm single, in my fifties and have been a resident of Naples for the past decade. Prior to '98 I was living on the Connecticut shoreline and employed as a technical writer in the insurance industry.

I am a free lance web content producer with a focus on human interest articles (boomer dating, jealousy, decorating and gift ideas, travel and senior care). I have created and sold poetry to greeting card companies.

To contact me: greenlandroad@hotmail.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Deborah_Goulekas

Decorating Your Kitchen With Vintage Retro Style

By Adam Peters

Decorating is a favorite activity for many people and the kitchen is the most popular location in the home by far. The kitchen is the center of the family in many cases, so it is important to make it inviting and fun for the entire family.

One popular way to redecorate your kitchen is in the vintage retro style of decorating. This style helps to give you a wonderful outlet for all of those retro pieces that you can find at tag sales and it can make the room fun and welcoming.

When planning your decorating, you want to be sure that you include all of the different facets of the room. This includes window treatments, floors, cabinets, wall color, furniture, etc. You want all of the pieces to mesh well together to create a room that is a cohesive whole, rather than the pieces detracting from each other. Popular colors in the vintage retro style of decorating include pink and blue, red and white, and cream and green. Even the retro 1970's colors are not off limit, so you may want to consider orange, harvest gold, or even avocado green.

The window treatments that you choose can either enhance or detract from the rest of your décor. That is why it is so important to make your choice carefully. You can even find curtains that are original to the era that you are recreating if you are willing to hunt and spend the money. If you cannot find any, then you may want to consider vintage napkins, tablecloths, or towels that you can create curtains from.

Accessories are another great way to add that vintage retro style to your kitchen. If you cannot afford to redecorate the entire room, then just consider changing the accessories. You will be amazed at what a difference these small touches can have. Focus on choosing items that you love and that fit the style of decorating that you chose. Yard sale finds and online auction finds are a great resource for these types of items.

Displaying your accessories around the walls will give you a vintage retro style without having to redo the whole room. By putting them on shelves, you will be able to create displays of different heights and sizes to make them visually appealing and to enhance the décor of your room.

You don't have to blow the budget to add retro style to your kitchen. By making your choices carefully and searching for those special pieces, you will find that in no time at all, you will have a kitchen to be proud of.

Adam Peters is the copywriter of http://www.home-decorating-reviews.com Find more publications about vintage retro style at his website.

Recovering From A Decorating Disaster

By Joey Lewitin

What happens when you come home and you realize that you hate the way it looks?
Simple, you fix it.

Decorating disasters are not the end of the world. All you have to do is take a calm, logical approach to the space, and you should have no problem figuring out what the problem is, and taking the necessary steps to resolve it.

The first thing you have to do is step back from a room and look at it with an unbiased eye. Why don’t you like this space? Are you just in a bad mood, or is there something wrong here?

Pay very close attention to the following three factors
- Color: Color shapes your perceptions and influences your emotions. If the colors in a space are clashing, or if one of them just calls up an unhappy memory, then you know where your problem is.- Pattern and Line: These factors refer to way the space is arranged. This can apply to everything from the relative position of the coffee table, to the way the patterns on two different sofas look next to each other. Make sure the space is neither chaotic with too many lines, nor boring with too few. - Texture: Often overlooked, the incorrect use of texture can cause major headaches for a rooms design. Too much texture makes the space abrasive, while too little can make it boring. You also have to watch out for clashing textures overwhelming a space, such as rough concrete walls meeting with a clefted stone floor.

The problem is usually caused by just one or two factors that can usually be easily changed.

If color is your problem it may be time to get creative. Rather than redoing expensive paint jobs, ripping up flooring installations and redoing ceilings, it is often easier to take existing color schemes and influence them through the use of accent pieces. If a room is too dark and gloomy, try hanging brightly colored art, wall pieces, or clocks around the space. Bring in cheerful furnishings, with glowing patterns, and add lamps and decorative lighting. If the problem is too much light, do the opposite, grounding the space with dark, deep accessories that will contain the airy colors.

Fixing a problem with line and pattern is a little more straight-forward. Generally a line problem in a room is caused by clutter. You should start by arranging your possessions in a more logical and orderly pattern. Move similarly shaped objects next to each other in groups, and get rid of unnecessary items by placing them in storage. Try to maximize foot space, and create linear passages throughout the area.

If the problem with the room is that it is too boring, you can add interest by incorporating patterns into the space. Try a single furnishing, such as a sofa or coffee table, adorned in an intricate and contrasting pattern. If that helps, add other items to the mix until you feel that the room is engaging enough.

If neither color nor clutter seems to be the problem, than it might be the textures in the space. Go beyond your eyes and try to understand how the room feels. Is it a friendly room? Is it gloomy or exciting or is it just boring? Often you can alter the entire ambience of a space just by adding or subtracting a highly textured piece.

When you find yourself in the midst of a decorating disaster it is important not to panic. Just calmly step back from the space and evaluate what went wrong. Pay attention to the colors, and the ways in which they interact. Also notice the patterns, the lines, and the textures, and how the affect the underlying nature of the space. Many people find it useful to create diagrams, and to lay out colors patterns and textures on them, as a way of visualizing the space in a more compact manner.

This article was provided courtesy of http://pebbleZ.com, your source for rustic natural stone decor and materials

Alpaca Rugs, Pillows & Bedspreads - A Natural Alternative for Decorating your Home, Lodge or Office

By Marc Loos

While hunting for decorating ideas, you may have heard about alpaca rugs and other home decor items made from alpaca, but still be unsure of what they are, or how they can be used. In this article, I will try to explain alpaca, and discuss the wonderful qualities and value it represents for people decorating their home, lodge or executive suite.

First of all, and to clear up any confusion, the word “alpaca” is used to refer not only to the animal, but also its wool, and its pelt. The wool is used to make clothing, while the pelts are used for a variety of quality home décor items such as rugs, throws, and wall hangings. As I will explain, the special qualities of alpaca make it highly desirable for these uses.

Alpacas are native to the alpine meadows, marshes, and grasslands of the high Andes of South America. Herds of alpaca graze almost wild there, on high plateaus thousands of feet above sea level. To survive in this harsh environment, the alpaca have evolved coats of incredible warmth and lightness. Alpaca's roots go back five or six thousand years, to when they were first bred (it is believed) from the wild vicuna for wool production. In their native countries, alpaca images can be found in cave paintings, on ceramics, jewelry, and carved in stone for ritual and decorative objects. In Peru, alpaca is considered a natural wealth, related in a very intimate way to its history and economy.

For most of known history alpaca have been herded by the Native Americans inhabiting the highlands of what is now Peru, Chile, and Bolivia. More famously, they were a pillar of the ancient Incan civilization, where alpacas were not only prized, but were 100% owned by the Incan government. Their fine, lustrous hair was woven into robes used by Inca royalty. The fleece was in fact, so revered that possession by commoners was considered a capital crime, and punishment for this crime could include death. Luckily, government attitudes have liberalized since then, and alpaca products are now widely available -- even to commoners!

So why all the excitement about alpaca? Turns out, alpaca is really something special. For one thing, alpaca wool is three times stronger and seven times warmer than even Merino sheep’s wool. Raised at high altitudes in freezing cold, the alpaca has developed more thermal capacity in its fiber than almost any other animal, creating garments that offer featherweight warmth. Its fibers contain tiny curls that give it a soft cushiony feel and provide air pockets that create insulation and warmth. In addition, alpaca is naturally fire-retardant and since, unlike wool it contains no lanolin or other oils, it’s hypoallergenic. Dust mites don’t like it, so they and their associated allergens stay away too. This lack of oils keeps dirt from sticking as well, so clothes and rugs, throws, and bedspreads made from alpaca stay cleaner.

Alpaca wool is ranked amongst the finest fibers by the fashion industry; alongside silk, mohair, and angora. It occurs naturally in an amazing variety of 22 different colors; from white, silver, creams, and ivories, to many browns, reds, grays, and total black. Alpaca fibers are straighter than sheep’s wool, not scratchy, and extremely rich and silky, with a fine luster. In fact, alpaca has a slippery, silky look and feel to put even fine cashmere to shame. Its combination of lightness, softness and warmth makes an alpaca rug, throw or bedspread a cloud-soft experience. And the strength of fine alpaca means that items made from it will remain an eye-attracting pleasure.

The alpaca was almost wiped out, along with their herdsmen by the Spanish Conquest. Today however there are almost three million alpaca in South America, with 85% of that number in Peru. Rather than a beast of burden, the alpaca is raised primarily for its wool, meat and milk.

Like sheep, they are sheared once per year to make sweaters and other garments. At a certain point, they are harvested as a food source and the pelt is used to make rugs, teddy bears, pillows, etc. The pelt is also salvaged when an alpaca fails to survive the harsh Andean winter or suffers an accident. So alpacas are not raised solely for their pelt as are mink, etc. The entire animal is used, as with sheep. The money derived from pelt sales is an important supplement to the income of the people in these regions.

The alpaca’s varied color palette is skillfully wielded by native artisans to create dramatic designs, both abstract and realistic to suit a wide variety of tastes and decorative motifs. Completely natural and handmade, no two products made from alpaca pelts are exactly alike. Check out 100% natural alpaca and explore the decorating possibilities!

To see alpaca rugs and bedspreads try visiting http://www.softrugs.com, a contemporary website providing a wide range of decorative styles and tips for using the amazing alpaca! And while you're there, be sure to check out the alpaca pillows and toys!