Monday, 15 August 2011

Living Room Decor Ideas: Spectacular Living Rooms

Whether your living room is a 21 foot length with a large picture window at one end or you live in a tiny apartment and the living room is bijou to say the least, there are living room decor ideas décor ideas to suit you and your budget. You can go for cozy chic and warm up your living space or go for open-plan with vaulted ceilings and an expanse of herringbone hardwood floor. At the end of your project you will have ended up with a space that you can live in comfortably, decorated according to the space you have available. Are you aiming for a peaceful retreat, full of serenity and harmony or a more user-friendly, basic living space where you feel comfortable slipping your shoes off and putting your feet up.

If I was choosing a color scheme for my living room I would go to the cooler colors on my color wheel chart - the blues and greens which can be used in different shades to achieve a 'joined-up' look of cool elegance. I always make sure that, when I paint my ceiling, I use a light shade of the room's main color on my ceiling so, if my color scheme was blue, I would use the lightest eggshell blue I could find for my ceiling and then a slightly deeper shade of blue for my walls. If you have mouldings you could paint those completely white, or go for a darker shade of blue to both the walls and the ceiling. I would use matt paint on my walls and a paint with some kind of sheen on the mouldings.


For windows, to add height, place the curtain pole as high as possible near to the ceiling. This will give your curtains plenty of drop to achieve an elegant drape. Modern décor arrangements always suggest that the fabric should be allowed to pool on the floor - never in my house. To me, artistic though it evidently is, this 'pooling' idea for the fabric is just a dust collector and, if you have dogs like I do, is just asking them to make a bed out of the fabric! Why did I mention this? Find out what the trends are, but that does not mean you have to follow the trends slavishly. Adapt styles to suit you and your lifestyle.


You would think, wouldn't you, that a large picture placed on the wall in a small
room would be overpowering. Surprisingly, it isn't. I have the tiniest lounge you can imagine and, on the wall above the fireplace I have a really large picture of the Defence of Rourke's Drift, depicting the British soldiers of 'B' Company, South Wales Borderers. This picture is very loud, very busy, with plenty going on in it. However, it looks absolutely fantastic in that room, almost as if the room was made to fit the picture!

Friday, 12 August 2011

African Living Room Decor - Ideas For Adding Some African Flavor Into Your Home

Setting the right mood for the rooms in your home are important. You need to think about what theme your trying to execute and how your going to do it in the best way possible. If your looking to add some African cultural flavor to your living room or any room in particular than you can't go wrong with a healthy introduction of a few of these African living room decor ideas.

1) wall hangings:


Instead of having a blank wall screaming for something to be done with it, you could put up an African wall hanging which adds some beauty to your room while not being too intrusive. It makes for an effective visual aid and and will definitely distract people from the emptiness that a blank wall would present.


2) Masks:

Traditionally African masks can be very colourful so it will almost certainly stand out where ever you decide to put it in your room. One thing you need to think about when using an African mask for decoration is the meaning of the mask. There are many African masks that have great historical context behind them and you might want to add one that has a positive story behind its creation.


3) figurines:


Many of figurines that are made in africa are made to represent concepts to do with family. Your
living room is where all the family get together, so I'm sure you'll want to make it a warm family environment. Its where you keep the family photos on the mantle piece and is ideal for an African figurine which would compliment well with the idea of a close family.

These are three quick and very effective ways of furnishing your home with African living room decor that adds more cultural depth and is visually pleasing to not only you but to your guests.