Victorian Decorating For Nostalgic Home Decor

In recent years an increasing number of people have become interested in Victorian style and this includes Victorian decorating. It is not too hard to give your home a Victorian look but it is not a cheap way of doing things.

Although people are interested in using Victorian decorating styles in their homes they don’t want to go the whole way – so other than a few eccentrics or English stately homes don’t expect to see the Victorian kitchen with the kettle hanging over an open fire. Most people who favor Victorian decorating have fitted kitchens, some have them made in natural wood but this is about the only concession. Some aficionados may have a plant on the kitchen window ledge and pans hung from hooks.

Victorian style was quite ornate and because of the hypocritical Victorian morality even the tables had to have their legs covered – in some homes the chair legs were also hidden by a sort of valance. The Victorians made great use of wallpaper and again this was quite ornate, often sporting a flowery pattern. The mantle over the fireplace was also kept covered during the Victorian era but very few people choose to do this today.

The Victorians liked their furniture to be well stuffed, usually with horsehair. Most of the chairs had upright backs and there has been a rise in the number of people favoring this type of chair. If you are going for a Victorian Decorating style then you would do well to remember that they liked heavy drapes. This was because they were not just seen as window decoration but were used as a way of keeping the draft out (no double-glazing) and the room warm. They were often accompanied by heavy lace curtains underneath. Many Victorian homes had lots of books and ornaments. It was not unusual to see a side table that was completely covered in framed photographs.

You can still get hold of genuine Victorian chairs and tables with their ornately carved legs but as they become more popular so the price gets higher. Another favorite from the past in this style of decorating is the grandfather clock. Modern examples of this are quite good though it is possible to find an original - again at a price. Beds were ornate and made of wood or cast iron with bolsters, a sort of long pillow, and often two pillows as well. The sheets and blankets were covered by an eiderdown quilt for extra warmth – no duvets for the Victorians. It was usual to have a jug and bowl on the dresser for the morning wash.

Most people who try Victorian decorating don’ t go the whole way – it is just too fussy for modern life. However, the Victorian style wallpapers, curtains and chairs are increasing in popularity.

Author : Lee Dobbins
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Professional Home Decorating Is In the Details

Home decorating. For countless people all across the globe, these two words bring out an inner turmoil that leaves them frustrated and longing. I dont even know how many times Ive heard men and women complain, My house looks like I just threw a bunch of stuff into each room. It doesnt look professional. It doesnt seem to flow or blend. Its just there. This is an all-too-common problem. Youll be glad to know, however, that there is a simple solution to this home decorating woe.

One thing most interior designers quickly learn is that home decorating is all about the details. Almost anyone can choose flooring and furniture for a room. Furniture usually comes in groupings thats simple enough. Flooring? A good, basic choice is something neutral that coordinates with the furniture and wall colors. But if you only toss kitchen furniture into a room and stop there, youll have a very lonely, plain, boring area. What will bring this room (any room for that matter) to life are the details.

Home decorating need not be a struggle. Have some fun when decorating your room. For example, when deciding on what to use in your kitchen, choose a theme. If you like fruit or dragonflies, use that as a basis to decorate. Your furniture and flooring do not need to contain elements of your theme. Remember: Home decorating is in the details not the basics.

If you choose a fruits & vegetables theme for your kitchen, you can add some beautiful placemats and napkin rings to your table. Choose something unique - perhaps placemats in odd shapes or sizes that have a border, which coordinates with your theme. Then, to continue your home decorating plan, add drink coasters or serving bowls in a like style.

Dinner plates or platters in solid colors work well to mix and match with whatever theme you choose, and they keep your room from being overrun with fruits & veggies. Dont think plates and platters have to stay on the table, however. Use your imagination when doing your home decorating. Plates and platters also make wonderful wall art. Simply use plate holders that can be found at most discount department stores. Serving bowls work well for flowers, greenery, or other types of arrangements.

Do you have children? They most likely need a nightlight in the kitchen for those midnight drinks of water. Instead of plain, ordinary beige nightlights, look for stained glass or others made of interesting materials. From coasters to candles to aprons, keep your theme and the colors within it in mind, and youll find a world of intriguing home decorating details that will truly bring your room to life and give it personality.

Youll also find that home decorating shopping leads to the discovery of unique gift ideas. So many people seem to have difficulty decorating their homes. Therefore, they love to receive well-thought-out items that help make the rooms of their homes more becoming. As you shop for decorating details for your own home, keep your friends in mind. Youll run across more unique gift ideas than you ever imagined. As you do, purchase them or make a list of which friend could use which items.

Avoid buying items that dont work with your colors/themes. For instance, using the theme above, you would want to choose a platter shaped like a bunch of grapes to hang on your wall rather than a picture of a rooster. Select napkin rings shaped like a twisted chili pepper or in a solid color over napkin rings with sailboats on them.

When you create a plan and know what youre looking for, home decorating (and finding unique gift ideas) becomes a lot easier. Before you know it, you may even actually enjoy decorating your home!

One thing most interior designers quickly learn is that home decorating is all about the details. Almost anyone can choose flooring and furniture for a room. Furniture usually comes in groupings thats simple enough. Flooring? A good, basic choice is something neutral that coordinates with the furniture and wall colors. But if you only toss kitchen furniture into a room and stop there, youll have a very lonely, plain, boring area. What will bring this room (any room for that matter) to life are the details.

Home decorating need not be a struggle. Have some fun when decorating your room. For example, when deciding on what to use in your kitchen, choose a theme. If you like fruit or dragonflies, use that as a basis to decorate. Your furniture and flooring do not need to contain elements of your theme. Remember: Home decorating is in the details not the basics.

If you choose a fruits & vegetables theme for your kitchen, you can add some beautiful placemats and napkin rings to your table. Choose something unique - perhaps placemats in odd shapes or sizes that have a border, which coordinates with your theme. Then, to continue your home decorating plan, add drink coasters or serving bowls in a like style.

Dinner plates or platters in solid colors work well to mix and match with whatever theme you choose, and they keep your room from being overrun with fruits & veggies. Dont think plates and platters have to stay on the table, however. Use your imagination when doing your home decorating. Plates and platters also make wonderful wall art. Simply use plate holders that can be found at most discount department stores. Serving bowls work well for flowers, greenery, or other types of arrangements.

Do you have children? They most likely need a nightlight in the kitchen for those midnight drinks of water. Instead of plain, ordinary beige nightlights, look for stained glass or others made of interesting materials. From coasters to candles to aprons, keep your theme and the colors within it in mind, and youll find a world of intriguing home decorating details that will truly bring your room to life and give it personality.

Youll also find that home decorating shopping leads to the discovery of unique gift ideas. So many people seem to have difficulty decorating their homes. Therefore, they love to receive well-thought-out items that help make the rooms of their homes more becoming. As you shop for decorating details for your own home, keep your friends in mind. Youll run across more unique gift ideas than you ever imagined. As you do, purchase them or make a list of which friend could use which items.

Avoid buying items that dont work with your colors/themes. For instance, using the theme above, you would want to choose a platter shaped like a bunch of grapes to hang on your wall rather than a picture of a rooster. Select napkin rings shaped like a twisted chili pepper or in a solid color over napkin rings with sailboats on them.

When you create a plan and know what youre looking for, home decorating (and finding unique gift ideas) becomes a lot easier. Before you know it, you may even actually enjoy decorating your home!

Author : Lisa Spaulding
Picture Cradit : http://cdn-write.demandstudios.com/

Designer Wall Tapestries: A Unique Choice in Home Decor

For centuries many different cultures have used tapestries to decorate their buildings, churches, and homes. Today that trend has continued. Tapestry wall hangings are one of the most accomplished and durable textile-based art forms and comes from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds, giving the tapestry a true historical view.

In modern times tapestries have become a very popular element of home decor and they are being used in many unique ways. Many elegant styles from floral and landscapes to medieval tapestries, and modern art can be used to create a tapestry that's truly a work of art, providing the weaver has the skill to do so. These add an entirely unique dimension to this traditional form of art, while many interior decorators and art enthusiasts enjoy the many benefits of tapestry art.

Traditional tapestry wall hangings, particularly those from Medieval times, were produced from wool. This provided a strong fabric for applying many dyes and pigments as well as the added durability and maintenance. Wool tapestries when mixed with synthetic polymers have the distinct advantage of preserving the traditional warmth of standard wool tapestries. The basic use of natural materials has remained a staple with tapestry weaving, even with present day weavers.

The modern wall tapestry makes the most of varying blends of fibers, using new and improved fibers to reproduce classical art works and famous tapestries from the past. With the improvements made to pigments and dyes, we can buy faithful reproductions of historical tapestry designs like those found in many European museums and churches.

Another popular choice is the use of chenille for modern tapestry wall hangings, mainly because it is a flexible material that is soft and adaptable. It can be used in a broad range of home decorative settings, including wall tapestries, cushions and tapestry throws. When decorating your home chenille tapestries can add an elegantly soft touch, that adds warmth and versatility to any decorative setting.

A chenille tapestry can often be used in many ways, such as a wall hanging or used as a tapestry throw for your sofa or chair. However the real popularity of chenille tapestries comes from the fact that they can make the room feel warm and comfortable.

If you would like to add something unique in decorative style, consider choosing a tapestry that will bring a breath of fresh air into your living space. Some spaces can present a decorating challenge, such as an office or fairly large room. Many forms of high quality art tapestries can aide the home decor enthusiast, as well as add a sense of history, expand living space visually, create the basis for a theme, add color and give your home,personality and charm.

Choosing a tapestry and using it creatively can minimize and solve a decorating problem by presenting a flash of color or opening a window to another time or place. With a vast range now available it is easy to find a wall tapestry that will provide you with many years of viewing enjoyment.

If a room is small and needs something to make it feel less cramped, consider choosing a tapestry that has vibrant colors and blends well within your existing decor. This could be a city, floral, castles or a traditional tapestry design such as Medieval. Choosing a horizontal tapestry will help add width to a room or try opening a space by choosing a tapestry with doorways and windows.

If your room is large, tone it down by hanging a series of small to medium size tapestries drawn together. This creates the illusion of a smaller space and can bring a large, blank wall down in size. Hanging small tapestries together will add a truly distinct look and feel. When decorating in this manner be sure to choose tapestries of a similar theme and style.

European Wall tapestries can encourage reflective and tranquil moments, enlighten any living space and are perfect subjects of conversation. They also elevate our decorative needs, add charm and warmth to our homes.

All of these qualities have made wall tapestries a popular choice amongst art lovers for centuries. Today with the use of modern weaving, fabrics and centuries of age old tradition, wall tapestries are as charming, versatile and beautiful as ever. A tapestry wall hanging is an heirloom that can be past down for generations.

Author : Sean Russell
Picture Cradit : www.saladotex.com

The Use Of Shades As Home Decoration

Vertical blinds can add style to any room. Depending on the look you’d like to create, you have a multitude of choices as far as style, color and texture. These blinds provide a simple, low maintenance, affordable way to add interest to windows and doors in your home. Each provides a different look and feel for a room. It’s important to know what kind of mood you’re looking to capture before you make a selection.

The advent of technology and choices has afforded buyers with more choices than ever before. Blinds are no longer offered in just one size, color and material. You can find them made of PVC, wood and metal. They’ve evolved in their operating mechanisms. Some are even automatic, which is convenient for the elderly or those unable to manage operating them manually.

Blinds are not just for offices anymore. They started to appear in the home as efficient covers for patio doors, but now their use has spread to anywhere you’d use regular shades. Bedrooms, bathrooms, living rooms and kitchens now sport vertical blinds as window coverings. Printed, fabric covered, colored or textured, blinds can help you bring a room together. And installation is simple. You can do it yourself, or call a professional.

Each room can have its own feel, due in part to the colors and styles of the blinds used. They can also be dressed up and layered with curtains and valances. They can be used as decoration by being covered in fabric that matches or accents other items in the room, or they can be subtle, and offset with a valance that matches the room d้cor.

They can be long or short. They can work to visually adjust the size and shape of the window through the size you purchase. You can make a window appear larger by mounting the blinds to hang wider and/or longer than the actual window.

They’re great for controlling the light that is coming into the room. They can be slightly opened to admit a limited amount of sunlight, or they can be drawn to the side to expose the entire window. They can also help somewhat in blocking drafts emitting from cracks around windows and doors. This can ultimately help with energy efficiency.

With all the options available, you don’t have to choose just one. Whichever blinds you select, you can be assured you made the right choice.

Author : Eric J. Slarkowski
Picture Cradit : www.eclipsenyc.com

How To Use Hardwood Flooring To Bring Color Into Your Home

If you are sick of your carpeted or tiled floors, then it is time to consider a kind of flooring that has been bringing warmth and beauty into homes for centuries. Wide plank hardwood flooring brings an old-world charm into a home, but it does not limit the house in that way. Modern homes look just as gorgeous with wide plank floorings as a cottage full of antiques.

The beauty of wood floors is that they are both timeless and stylish, adding a touch of class and a warm glow to any room. They are easy to dress up with an ornamental rug or beautiful to show uncovered in all their glory. There are plenty of woods to choose from as well, which will help to determine the width of the cut as well as the exact color that you will get from the flooring.


For a warmer, almost golden glow, take a look at an Ash floor. If you want a more rich look, American Cherry flooring is a warm reddish brown that will have you admiring the floor for hours. Birch is a very pale shade, but has variations between light and slightly darker that draw the eye. If you want your floor to have a color all its own, then check out a sample of Brazilian Cherry. The bright red of the tree is stunning to say the least. Eastern Pine is a beautiful golden color that warms up a room nicely, but for the real variations in the grain you will want to take a look at Heart Pine. The swirling of the grain of this wood is breathtaking. Hard Maple is a pale shade that sets a wonderful stage for bold furniture and d้cor, and would look lovely in a gallery style room.

Hickory looks wonderful with golden wood and darker knots, and would fit in well with cabin style decor. Red Oak has a reddish tint to the rich wood, and is full of the swirling of the grain. Mahogany is a dark red color, and is very consistent in the coloring. Sassafras is a warm color as well, showing an almost orange glow. Soft Maple is similar to the Hard Maple, but stains slightly better. Walnut is a gorgeous reddish color that is marbleized throughout, showing beautiful patterns. White Oak is also a warm golden color with lovely patterning to it.

There are lots of color choices in hardwood flooring. To find the right shade for your project, the best strategy is to take a photo of your furniture to the flooring supplier. See what works best with your kind of furniture. If possible, get some samples of wood to take home. No matter what style of house or apartment you are decorating, hardwood floors will bring a timeless appeal and a new richness of color to your surroundings.

Author : Neil Street
Picture Cradit : www.ahmyhome.com

Change the Look of a Room Easily With Fireplace Accessories

It's not hard to transform the appearance of a room in a number of ways. You can give it a new coat of paint, recover your furniture, install new flooring, or simply change the wall decor. It can run to a lot of money depending on what you decide to do. Obviously a major renovation will be much more expensive than a few decorator touches. If you don't want to spend large sums of money, you can make a big difference to the look and feel of a room with a fireplace makeover. It can be a dramatic change or just a subtle difference giving the whole atmosphere a new feel. You can accomplish this quite easily by replacing some of your fireplace accessories. Anything from a new mantel to a small change like adding a remote control or a hearth rug can make a difference.

Your fireplace can look as elegant or as cozy as you like simply through your choice of accessories. For example, adding or changing your fireplace mantel surround can have a major impact on your personal decor. Mantels come in a variety of materials and looks. Some people decide that they like the mantel they have and just want to add some special touches to make it look new. You might also wish to choose a new kind of material and a contemporary design to update the appearance. Anything goes if it suits your personal style. If you're looking for a more rustic look, consider installing a wooden mantel. And it's perfect for arranging an ornamental display during holidays or special occasions.


A basic and essential requirement for a fireplace is a grate. They're important for protecting the interior of your firebox, making it last longer. Maybe you haven't used your fireplace on a regular basis and are now planning on using it as part of a functional heating component of your home. If so, be certain that your fireplace grate is appropriate for your needs. Those who use their fireplace infrequently will do well with either a steel or cast iron grate. However, when you use your fireplace on a regular basis you should always use the thickest steel grate you can find that fits your fireplace.

Other accessories can accent or change the whole appearance of your fireplace as well. Take a look at glass doors and fireplace screens, an elegant firewood basket, or even a fan kit. Just some simple changes like a new fireplace tool set can make your fireplace more of a focal point, and also make tending to your fire a little easier. Your fireplace doesn't have to limit you in regards to the overall appearance of your decor. There's a wide range of fireplace accessories that will enhance your decor in any way you wish.

Author : George Blade
Article Source: www.submitarticlesfree.com
Picture Cradit : http://www.papashearth.com,http://elitechoice.org

Decorating With A Focal Point

Every rooms design should have a focal point. This is an area in the room which the eye is drawn to the first time someone enters. You want this area to stick out yet blend with the rest of the rooms design. This can either be a great furniture piece or art work which is on the wall. It can be anywhere in the room, not just on the wall.


Furniture pieces are most often used as the focal point because they're large and command immediate attention. Antique furniture and heirlooms are particularly suitable as focal points because they're often very tough yet ornate. At the same time, such items usually have a lot of history and stories around them, making them great conversation pieces for public areas. Similarly, dramatic pieces like a glass-top dining table or a richly upholstered couch will work well as the focus of a room.

If grandma didn't pass any of her old furniture down, you could also turn an architectural element of the room into a focal point. Fireplaces, for example, are very obvious and very effective focal points due to their size. You can clue visitors in to the status of your fireplace by, say, clumping some furniture directly in front of it. Decorating the mantel with bright colors and shiny items also achieve the same effect. Alternatively, an accent wall done in a bright shade of paint or a standout wallpaper can attract the attention that a focal point requires.

If you have a painting which you haven't been able to use so it has been sitting in the basement catching dust, bring it up. This may be a great focal point into a room and you'll finally get your use out of it. Wall art will always catch anyone's eye and they'll wonder what it is and where it was purchased.

As you are focusing on the rest of the room you can't forget the floor. By adding a great area rug you'll be able to change a plain wooden floor into something fantastic. There are so many shapes and designs out now for area rugs that something is out there for anyone.

Focal points can be whatever you want them to be. So be creative and make sure it is your own style and brings out the personality that everyone knows you have.

Author : Betsy Cash
Article Source: www.submitarticlesfree.com
Picture Cradit : http://static.howstuffworks.com