How to Create a Kid-Friendly Yet Stylish Living Room

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Many parents find that the interior design of their homes suffers when they have kids. Busy parents don’t have as much time as they used to work on the appearance of their homes. Luckily, there are some simple things you can do to make your home stylish while keeping it kid-friendly. Here are a few of the things you can do to kid-proof your living room without sacrificing the way it looks:

  • Get a washable slipcover for your sofa – Drinks easily slip out of kids’ hands. So, consider investing in an attractive, washable slipcover for any sofas, loveseats, and armchairs you might have in your living room.
  • Make use of chests and large baskets – If your kids are relatively young, you probably keep a good amount of their toys in your living room to keep them entertained. The problem is that kids’ toys can make a living room look cluttered and considerably less stylish. So, think about hiding your kids’ toys in a large chest or wicker baskets when they’re not using them.

  • Consider wipe-clean paint for your walls – Your children will inevitably leave smudges and handprints on your walls. So, you may want to paint your walls with some wipe-clean paint, which makes it easy for you to remove smudges and handprints without having to repaint. There are all different kinds and colors of wipe-clean paint, so you can most definitely find one that suits your design needs.
  • Get a round, durable coffee table – Coffee tables are usually low enough for kids to sit at and use often, which means you probably want a coffee table that can withstand some wear and tear. Additionally, kids are more likely to bump into the sharp edges of square coffee tables and injure themselves. So, a round table is best.

  • Keep your breakables out of reach – Keep your fragile decorations on shelves you’ve mounted to the wall or at the top of shelved furniture, out of the reach of your kids. You don’t have to get rid of your fragile decorations just because you have kids. You should, however, make sure that your children aren’t able to get ahold of glass and ceramic decorations easily.

So, try out the tips above, and enjoy your warm, inviting, attractive, and kid-friendly living room as a family!

Three Simple Home Lighting Tips

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One of the most overlooked design elements of a home is its lighting. Lighting can make a subtle yet important difference in how your home looks. If you’re trying to figure out to use lighting to your advantage as you decorate your home, try out these simple tips:

1. Open the shutters and blinds

Natural light is the best and most attractive kind of light. During the day, you should try to minimize how much you rely on indoor lighting and maximize how much you rely on light from outside. So, open the shutters and blinds in your home. If privacy is a concern, you may want to put up a light or semi-sheer curtain in front of your windows. This will allow natural light to flow into your home without compromising your privacy.

2. Switch from florescent to LED lighting

Compact florescent bulbs are relatively inexpensive, and they’re good for the environment. However, they aren’t the best choice for your home in terms of good interior design. LED bulbs are much gentler and are a more attractive lighting choice. LED light bulbs do cost more than florescent bulbs, but they also last longer before they burn out. Additionally, they’re very energy efficient, if being eco-friendly is your concern.

3. Rely on table lamps

Bright overhead lights often unsettle the mood of a room. If you want to give your home a calm appeal with proper lighting, you can scatter table lamps throughout your house. Make sure you use light bulbs that have a relatively low level of brightness. You want the lighting in your home to be soft and subdued but also functional. Try out different bulbs with different brightness levels in your home until you find the right ones for each of your rooms.

The tips above are just some of the many things you can try out when it comes to lighting your home. As you make lighting choices, just take special care to consider how the overall mood and feel of your home will be affected.

Setting the Stage: Tips For Staging Your Home To Sell

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If you’re looking to sell your home, you should probably take a step back from making all the arrangements of where you’re moving to, when you’ll be hosting open houses and the myriad other concerns that might cloud your mind and ask yourself: does my house even look like an attractive place to live? Through out this post you will see before and after photos of a house that was recently staged for selling.

Living Room Before Staging

Living Room After Staging

The fact is, sometimes a home for sale can look a little – and I’m being generous here – “sanitized.” Perhaps years of wear and tear have reduced your charming home to a musty little hovel. The fact is, most house-shoppers don’t want a hovel. Fortunately there are ways to present a home that can highlight all the homes many bright spots while downplaying any of the negatives.

Bedroom Before Staging

Bedroom After Staging

First, you need to examine your mindset. Detach yourself from the emotional side of your home and look at it as a good that someone else is going to buy. Whether your baby took his first steps in the living room of that house or if it’s the house you grew up in, separating yourself from those strong emotions is crucial.

Kitchen Before Staging

Kitchen After Staging

Next, keep your target market in mind. If your house is very family friendly and you anticipate a lot of families coming by to check the house out, make sure the family friendly aspects are highlighted. If the neighborhood is near a great school, be sure to highlight that in your flyers and online listings.

Bathroom Before Staging

Bathroom After Staging

The final step can be the hardest to achieve simply because of its generality. Make sure you highlight all the positive aspects of your home while minimizing the aspects a prospective buyer might view as negatives. If you have low-slung ceilings, you can remedy this by putting low profile furniture in the room and using furniture that has long straight vertical lines. Are your rooms simply lacking in space? Painting adjoining rooms the same color can give the impression of one big space rather than a bunch of different compartmental spaces. Make sure your rooms, shelves and cabinets aren’t too cluttered. If a prospective buyer sees your things cluttered and crammed into closets and cabinets, they’ll assume that’s the way their things will end up.

Office Before Staging

Office After Staging

Keeping this mindset and taking these actions will not guarantee your house will sell, but they will certainly raise your chances. And once you get your old home sold, you can focus on making brand new memories in your brand new home!

 

You’ve Got a Balcony. Now Use It!

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Ahh the balcony. The urban backyard. The site of so many (cramped) cookouts and morning coffee drinking sessions. Sure, you might find it a bit challenging to play a game of croquet on your balcony, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t get any use out of it.

If you’re lucky enough to have a balcony, whether it’s in the big city or looking out over your spacious backyard, you might be wondering how best to take advantage of this unique architectural feature.

Chances are that your balcony is just sprawling with unused space. If yours is anything like most, square footage is hard to come by. The key to maximizing your balcony is to maximize the space of your balcony. You can set up a full dining set with a small bistro table and two small bistro chairs to enjoy full meals on your balcony. If chairs are taking up too much space, consider purchasing folding chairs that can be scooted into a corner when not in use.

Feel free to play with the space of your balcony. One thing my wife and I have discovered is that hanging trough-style flower beds from the rail of our balcony gives the entire space a much more roomy appearance.

Our balcony is your typical 8’ x 5’ sardine can, but we found a small chimenea that really adds some personality to the space (especially when paired with our Southwestern-style rug) and provides us with plenty of warmth in the cooler months. Our view of our balcony is that it provides us with an opportunity to continue the design theme that we established throughout the rest of the house, so we carried the Southwestern ranch theme onto our balcony.

Have fun decorating your balcony but just keep in mind your space constraints. Remember that a balcony that actually has some furniture and decoration to it actually appears larger than an unfurnished Plain Jane one.

It’s the small touches like a chiminea, a rug and a hanging flowerbed that turn the balcony from a slab of concrete that abuts your home into your balcony.

5 Ways to Liven Up a Dull Room

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A dull room can negatively affect the overall energy of your home. Here are some things you can do to liven up drab, uninspired areas in your house:

1. Re-arrange your furniture – It’s easy to get tired of the way a room looks if you never re-arrange the furniture. So, move everything around while focusing on keeping the room balanced. You may also want to consider getting rid of certain furniture pieces if the room is cluttered. Or you may want to add a few new items in to change and liven things up a bit. Things as simple as adding in some end tables or switching up the direction a couch or bed faces can totally change the energy of a room.

2. Change up the walls – Changing the colors of your walls can make a huge difference. If the walls in a room are painted a dull shade of beige, you may want to try out another, bolder color, such as eggplant, turquoise, mustard yellow, or crimson. Additionally, you may want to experiment with wallpaper to make the room more vibrant and unique. Accent walls can also be a nice addition to a drab room.

3. Alter your window treatments – Get rid of those faded curtains and replace them with some attractive, vibrantly colored ones. You may also want to consider taking the blinds down and replacing them with shutters. Shutters have a classy appeal, and they can make a big difference in a dull room. Whatever you do, just make sure you let some light come in through the windows from outside during the day. Generally, the darker a room is, the duller it looks.

4. Refinish wood floors – If you have wood floors in your dull room, consider refinishing them. Dull, faded, scratched wood floors are an eyesore and significantly alter the overall appearance of a room. Refinishing your wood floors is a relatively easy project you can do yourself, or it’s something you can hire someone else to do. Once the wood floors have been refinished, you’ll be surprised by how much of a difference their shine makes.

5. Add a few touches of green – Plants are a very lively addition to a room. So, look for a few attractive houseplants you can add into the mix. If you don’t feel particularly committed to taking care of plants, you may want to consider investing in some succulents, crotons, or peace lilies that don’t require much care from you.

Change is the key to livening up a dull, plain room. So, try out the tips above and embrace the change!

Fundamentals of Great Interior Design

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When you walk into a room for the first time, you might experience one of two emotions. You can be put at ease by the way things flow together in a logical and eye-pleasing way or you can be made nauseous by the random and mismatched way a room is put together. Great design isn’t an accident and it doesn’t happen by making a single trip to a home décor store and choosing the items you like the most.

First, you need to have a plan for your home décor. You wouldn’t begin painting a picture without first having a clear idea of what you want the picture to look like (unless you’re a Jackson Pollock fan) and home décor carries the same burden of planning. Get an idea of how you want your room to look. Collect paint samples and get pictures of the furniture you want to use to get an idea of what you like and don’t like, what could work and what couldn’t.

A problem that many people get sucked into is that they get focused on one color or texture that their rooms end up lacking any sort of variety. Don’t be afraid to switch up textures and colors between rooms and within a single room. Using a few different textures of furniture and fabric in a single room can create a great eye-catching design.

One of the most basic and important principles of interior design is space utilization. Not every home has room for a huge sectional and coffee table to be set up in front of a large entertainment center. Creating the illusion of space can be a powerful tool for interior designers. Pulling a couch off of a wall can create the appearance of extra space in the room. Painting the ceiling a color like blue or mint or any type of “cold” color can create the illusion of extra space. Decorating a room with furniture that has bold vertical lines can also create vertical space by drawing the eye up.

The key to great interior design is to formulate a plan before you start making impulse buys just because “this looks cute” or “these drapes were on sale.” Get an idea of what you want to achieve beforehand and begin researching how to achieve that look or feel using magazines, home décor stores and online resources.

Three Eco-Friendly and Budget-Friendly Home Ideas

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Saving energy at your home usually means doing the environment and your pocketbook a favor. For instance, if you reduce your electricity consumption, you’re contributing less to greenhouse gas emissions and the use of non-renewable resources. And if you reduce your electricity consumption at home, an obvious benefit will be that you have to pay the electric company less money each month. Making your home more eco-friendly doesn’t have to involve the costly installation of solar panels. It can be as simple as leaving your windows open during the day and reducing how much you depend on your lamps for light. Here are a few other ways to save money and make your home more environmentally friendly:

1. Invest in some LED light bulbs.

 Selling for around $20 a piece, LED light bulbs do cost more than regular or compact florescent light bulbs. However, they are considerably more energy efficient than other types of bulbs and stay lit the longest. While florescent bulbs do save energy, they also contain mercury. So, if they’re improperly disposed of, mercury ends up in our landfills. An increased amount of mercury in our landfills is, of course, a serious concern when it comes to the environment. It’s your best bet to stick with LED light bulbs. Plus, the light they produce is gentler and more attractive than the light florescent bulbs produce.

2. Insulate your roof and walls if necessary.

 Does your home have a difficult time cooling down in the summer and staying warm in the winter? If it does, your house could be poorly insulated. You may want to get your home evaluated by a remodeler who specializes in home insulation and energy efficient practices. If you discover that poor insulation is the root of your energy consumption problem, you can take the necessary steps to insulate your roof and walls or hire a remodeler to provide you with home insulation services.

 

3. Switch out your thermostat.

If your thermostat isn’t digital or programmable, consider switching it out. Digital, programmable thermostats regulate the temperature of your home more efficiently than older models of thermostats. So, they allow you to consume less energy heating and cooling your living space, and they help you reduce your gas and electric bills. It only costs around $50 to get a new thermostat installed in your home, which is a small investment that yields significant returns.

Making a home “Child Safe”

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Once you’ve examined all the house plans and found that perfect home to raise your family, you’ll want to keep a few things in mind. You might have chosen the perfect baby or toddler-friendly home, but there are still steps that can be taken to make sure your home is as safe as possible.

 

Don’t Cut Corners

You’ve just bought the perfect dinner table. It’s sleek and fits perfectly in the room. It compliments the other furniture but — oh — it has sharp corners. These can pose a serious danger to your little one, but the good news is, you don’t need to take the table back. Many companies offer baby proofing kits with cushions that fit snuggly around sharp corners. If you choose the right one, these corner cushions can actually compliment the furniture nicely.

Monkey Business

The games that children play have changed a lot over the last century, but one thing that will probably forever be a pastime of children everywhere is climbing. And if you don’t have trees for the kids to climb, they’ll look to your furniture. A child scaling a bookshelf can be a serious danger. If lectures telling your kids not climb on the furniture is not enough to impede their best cliff hanger impersonation, you can buy furniture straps that discreetly attach furniture to the wall behind it, eliminating the risk of your child being caught under an avalanche of books or antiques.

 

Bathroom Safety

Do not leave any prescription or non-prescription medicine out on bathroom vanities or counters. As if their own curiosity were not enough, medicine often looks like candy to a child’s untrained eye. Put them up in high cabinets and make sure the lids are always on tight. But don’t rush out and throw an ominous padlock on each of your cabinets. Most hardware stores offer discreet cabinet locks that are easily opened by an adult and cost less than five dollars.

These are all just backup plans. The best way to make your house safe for children is to talk to them about the dangers of getting too rowdy in the house and eating or drinking anything if they don’t know what’s in it.

DIY: Painting a Chevron Wall

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Chevron walls are trending right now, particularly for nurseries and children’s rooms. Painting any kind of stripes on a wall, however, is one of the more difficult DIY house painting projects. It requires some measuring, patience, and keen attention to details. If you’re ready for the challenge, it can be well worth the effort for the end result, which is an attractive, fun wall. Here’s what you’ll need to give a room in your house the special flare of a Chevron wall:

-2-4 paint colors of your choice

-Painting tape

-1-inch paintbrush

-Ladder

-Measuring tape

-Pencil

Once you have the proper supplies, you can begin your project to paint a Chevron wall. Here are the steps you’ll need to follow to complete the project:

1. Decide how many rows of zig-zags you want and start measuring and marking up the wall.  

 Measure the width of the wall, and divide it evenly based on how many peaks and valleys you want each of your zig-zags to have. Then mark evenly spaced spots across the wall in one row in the center of the wall based on how many zig-zags you plan to paint. Figure out how tall you want your zig-zags to be. Mark spots up and down the wall that are your preferred distance above and below each of the spots you made in the first row in the center of the wall, based on how many total rows you desire.

 2. Connect all of the marks you made with painting tape.

Connect all of the marks you made on the wall with painting tape to form your rows of zig-zags.

3. Start painting.

 Start painting the zig-zag rows using the colors you’ve selected.

4. Let the wall dry for 8 hours.

 Let the wall dry for eight hours, and then inspect it. If there are any sports you need to touch-up, do so, and then let the wall dry for several more hours.

5. Remove the tape and enjoy your Chevron wall!

 

DIY: Installing a Faux Tin Ceiling

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Tin ceilings are attractive and elegant, but they’re also very difficult to install. Additionally, traditional tin ceilings rust, dent, pit, and age in unattractive ways. Faux tin ceilings, on the other hand, are relatively easy to install, and they retain their beauty and elegance over time. If you’re wondering how to install a faux tin ceiling, keep reading. Here’s what you’ll need for the ceiling installation project:

-Tin-style ceiling panels

-PVC glue

-Scissors

-Measuring Tape

-Chalk line

-Ladder

Once you have the right materials and tools, you’ll be ready to begin installing your faux tin ceiling. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you through the installation process:

1. Snap a chalk line through the center of the ceiling.

 You will use the chalk line as your guide to lay the faux tin ceiling panels straight and evenly.

2. Begin gluing the panels on the ceiling.

 Apply the PVC glue to the back of the tin-style ceiling panels and use the chalk line as your guide to lay down the tiles from the center of the room out.

3. Measure light fixtures and cut panels as necessary.

 If you have light fixtures on your ceiling, you will need to cut holes in the tin-style panels to account for these fixtures. Measure the radius of all light fixtures, and use scissors or a utility knife to cut holes that are the size of the radius of fixtures in the panels. Once the proper holes have been cut, you can lay the panels so that they do not interfere with the fixtures.

 4. Cut the last rows of panels as necessary. 

 You will probably have to cut the last row of panels, so they fit on the ceiling properly. Measure how much space is left on the ceiling for the last rows of panels. Then, cut panels to the appropriate size and glue them on the ceiling.

5. Prepare for a molding installation process.

After your faux tin ceiling is officially installed, you will probably want to install moldings to go with your new ceiling. If you do want to install moldings, you’ll need to pick some out and spend some additional time installing them.

Once you’re done with the installation process, you’ll probably notice how much a faux tin ceiling looks like a regular tin ceiling. It will noticeably add a touch of elegance and beauty and breath new light into a room. And you’ll be amazed at how easy it was to install!