Here are some decorating tips for your child’s bedroom :

1. Using colorful accents and curtains will make the room bright and cheerful. Get input from your child since it is the child that has to occupy the room most often. Parents often get carried away with their own ideas, but it is better to let the child decide, to keep them happy and content in the room. Adding a valance can lessen bright light from overhead and define the opening of the window. A colorful pull-down shade or blinds should be added for privacy at night.

2. Using your kid’s toys as wall decor is a good idea to keep the room tidy and save on storage space. Hooks can be placed on the walls and shelves can be put up to house the toys. This should make keeping the room tidy much easier.

3. Paintings and prints can be added to the room if they are appropriate to the decor. Alternatively, it is possible to put murals on the walls. These can either be hand-painted or purchased as wallpaper. Many themes are available, such as sports or beaches.

4. Decorating the room with family photos and awards is another way to add a personal touch to the room. Pictures of happy vacations will bring fond memories for the child and add safety and comfort.

5. Depending on how old the child is, it may be fun to add lifelike statues of favorite action heroes or cartoon characters. This can make the decor unique and add some whimsy to the room.

6. Plants are appropriate for the room, as long as they are not toxic and the child is old enough not to be tempted to dig the dirt in the plant pots. Plants help to filter and clean the air and can add softness to the room.

7. Adding appropriate lampshades can add the right accent to any room. Lampshades can be purchased in all colors and sizes. It is also possible to purchase plain lampshades and then decorate them with the help of your child. This will add a sense of accomplishment when the child looks at the lampshade.

8. Sheets and pillows should be purchased so that they coordinate and are comfortable. Bedding can often be purchased to mix and match as well as go with the color of the curtains. Extra throw pillows can add comfort for when the child is lounging on the bed, reading or talking on the phone.

9. There are decorations that can glow in the dark. These are great to put on the ceiling and when your child lies in bed, it will seem like a magical night sky. This can be fun as well as comforting and the child can use imagination while gazing up at the glowing night sky.

10. Putting educational items, such as books and maps, into the child’s room is a good start to the child’s learning experience. Maps and globes often build a curiosity about the world in the child’s mind.

When kids have a bedroom that is decorated to their liking, they will be very content to spend time there. When there is more than one child sharing a room, childrens bunk beds are a good way to save space and give each child a private area.

Quality

Check out the construction of the furniture. Make sure there is enough padding on the arms of sofas, for example. Where there isn’t padding between the fabric and the wood, the fabric will wear away more quickly.

If the piece is patterned, then make sure the pattern joins up at the seams and at the front edges. If the pattern doesn’t match, not only does it not look so good, but it’s also a sign of inferior quality.

Examine the stitching to make sure it is tight and there aren’t any bits of stuffing showing.

Find out what the frames are made of – you’ll want a durable hardwood. It’s a good sign if the frame is joined with dowels and blocked on the corners. You could even try to hunt down an eco-friendly option at this stage too. There are plenty of great pieces of furniture made from sustainable materials now, so you shouldn’t struggle to find things which match your requirements.

Fabric

If you have a child-free household, then there’s less risk in choosing lighter fabric colours. However, even if the only children who come to your house are visitors, you may want to take them into consideration when making your choice. If you do choose a very light colour, an anti-stain or Scotchguard treatment is a good idea.

Fabrics that last longer are those with a high thread count – so it looks tightly woven. Also woven patterned fabrics will be more durable than printed fabrics. This is worth bearing in mind, as you don’t want to be in a situation where you have to reupholster your sofas and cushions on a regular basis – that’ll take too much time and money.

Comfort

Probably the most important thing to think about is how comfortable the sofas and chairs you are looking at actually are. Take your time to sit down in them, and stay seated for a few minutes. It may be nice to have a beautiful piece of furniture in your home, but you need it to be functional, too. You may also want to think about the purpose your sofa serves, as well. For example, if it often doubles up as a bed for your children’s friends, you probably want the seating to be fairly wide too, so they get a fairly decent night’s sleep when they stay.

Bay windows tend to date back to the Victorian times and they usually manage to create the illusion of a room being even bigger than it is. As well as this, they have the added bonus of letting more natural light into a bedroom, so it’s a fantastic window to have in the space.

Decorating bay windows can sometimes be tricky, mainly because they tend to be square or polygonal, which can cause problems when it comes to measuring up the glass around the window. You’ve pretty much got two choices when it comes to covering your bay windows: blinds or curtains. This is actually one of the only window designs where you could even choose a combination of both, if that sounds good to you. Most bay windows, due to the size of them, have a join in the centre. So, this means you can either put together some stylish curtains and blinds, or just use one of the coverings.

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It should be easy enough to find window coverings to match the rest of the décor in your room and it’s best to do this, since your bay window probably has a large presence in your bedroom. You could even consider creating a window seat in your bedroom as well. This will be a stylish addition to the space. Whenever you don’t feel like sitting on your bed, you could read a book with a great view of the world behind you.

Once you’ve decorated your bay window, you might want to make some other improvements around your bedroom. Investing in new mattresses is just one thing to think about, as you’ll be sure to get a far better night’s sleep if you do this. Bensons is a great place to look, as there is a great variety for sale, from memory-foam mattresses to pocket-sprung styles.

Your bedroom is bound to be a place you want to spend plenty of your time once you’ve decorated the bay window and purchased a fantastic new mattress.

Colour Blocking

Go for a bright blue bed cover and in contrast get a black carpet and curtains in your bedroom, and if you’re looking for new bedroom furniture have a look at Bensons. In your living room you can buy a beautiful purple sofa and decorate it with pretty orange and red cushions. Then get a white coffee table to tone it down a bit, but get multicoloured flower bouquet to put on top of it and everything will click.

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Say your bathroom is all white, then why not spruce things up a bit by getting a pretty bright green rug that you can match with bright blue towels. And if you really want to go all the way, paint you door black and the effect will be outstanding. In your kitchen go for beautiful sunlight yellow paint. To make it stand out, get bright pink kitchen worktops and cabinets. Everything else should be white, except for the curtains which would look amazing if they were green.

Crazy Prints

I bet you’ve never thought of tartan as one of your main decorating themes, but why not? Think about your favourite white sofa that you’re always careful with and always worried about when people come over or when you’re having a party, and imagine it covered in tartan. It might seem shocking initially but the more you think about it the better it sounds.

Now close your eyes and think of your pretty polka dot dress that you wear on special occasions and think how pretty it would look as a wallpaper in your living room or dining room. Just think, white table, black chairs with a beautiful polka dot wallpaper in the background, looks like heaven to me.

So if you want a modern home in line with the newest trends and tendencies, then just pick up a fashion magazine and as long as you have an open mind you will not only end up with a beautiful home but with a fashionable one as well. Enjoy!

So it’s best to get started now, before it’s dark at 5pm and you’re struggling to work out whether you picked up pillar-box red or magenta from your garage.

It may be edging ever closer to Christmas, but that doesn’t mean you can’t put some bright and cheerful colours around your living room. It’s one of the few rooms in your home where you don’t need to worry about things looking too bright, because you can tone down the hues with the right furniture. When you go for bright-coloured walls, it’s best to find a sofa bed in a neutral and light shade, such as cream or white, so the other colour doesn’t dominate the room.

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Choosing to redecorate is a perfect opportunity to get some brand-new furniture for your room, as well. Whether you’ve been hankering after a new stylish coffee table for a while or you’ve seen a cabinet which would complement everything in your room, now’s the time to get it as you’ll definitely be able to justify splashing out at this time!

How bright you’re willing to decorate your room is entirely up to you. Either you could go for a bold colour all over the space, or you might want to embrace a feature wall idea so the brightness doesn’t take over. You don’t have to choose paint to add some colour to your room either – why not go for wallpaper instead? There are increasingly stylish and fashionable wallpapers on the market, so you’ll have a whole host of different designs to choose from.

If you’re not really someone who wants the whole of their living room to be bold and bright, the alternative could be to use the furniture and accessories in the space to add colour to it.

Find or make some multicoloured throws for your sofas or maybe even some curtains to add something a little special to the space. If you’re doing this, it’s obviously best to go for a neutral shade on your walls to avoid overkill. Making your own accessories for your living room is a fantastic way of ensuring it has a truly personal and unique touch to it, which is bound to make it even more aesthetically pleasing.

I am often amazed that some of the most stunning interiors you will ever see are hidden behind the plainest façades, and in particular the most non-descript front doors ever.

As a subject which has got me going, here are a few reasons that a front door absolutely makes a house:

• The front door color and the condition of the paint will instantly say something about the occupants. Pristine red says positive and happy, peeling old grey is more depressive and ‘can’t be bothered’.
• Colored leaded glass in a front door, whether it is an original period piece or a modern reproduction, will send a rainbow of light across your hallway and look delightful. It looks great from the outside too, especially in combination with a solid white door or a solid brown door, and if you like taking chances maybe even mahogany.

Photo Courtesy of RobW

• Treat yourself to hardwood doors and feel special every time you come home. The better quality the door, the better the security aspects too, and the more luxurious and beautiful your home will look from the outside.
• Bring out your personality with a door knocker or doorbell. Heavy and brass for solid, imposing and dependable, novelty chimes for quirky and not-so-serious fun, just make sure you don’t give an old lady a heart attack while you’re at it.
• Dress the front entrance door to your home. Welcome guests with flowers or miniature trees either side of the door or perhaps a porch way or trellis. Provide a boot scraper and a doormat for thoughtful convenience.
• Match engineered wood floors to the interior face of your front door and create a beautiful entrance hall look that is also practical for heavy foot traffic.
• If you are trying to sell then a perfect front door will catch the eye of drive-by house hunters. Capture their imagination by selling a lifestyle, not just a house.
• Set yourself apart in an apartment complex and let everyone know you are different by refusing to remain anonymous! The front door says it all.

First of all, when it comes to choosing your wallpaper you should look for heavy paper which is good quality – if you’re a beginner, these two things will help you out. You then need to decide if you need any lining paper, this is used to cross-line a wall if you’ve got either embossed or expensive wallpaper. If the wall has any dents or nicks, lining paper could come in handy then too. You’ll need to hang it horizontally – the point of this is so the joins aren’t the same as those on your wallpaper. And colour is just as important, you need to make sure you use your favourite colours and not compromise, because that’s the only way you will love the final result.

Photo Courtesy of Kiril Strax

Measure up your room, taking care to move out all the bedroom furniture and sofa beds from the sides of the space beforehand, before you go wallpaper shopping. And, always buy a little bit extra – you should be able to return unopened rolls – then you’ve got a bit of leeway in case anything goes wrong. You’ll need to prepare the wall before you put anything on it, so remove all the loose bits of paint, plaster or old wallpaper from it. You need to wash it with sugar-soap after doing this to get any loose debris off.

Before you start pasting, sort out your wallpaper adhesive. There’ll be clear instructions as to how to do this on the manufacturer’s advice – follow these carefully to get the right outcome. You’ll need the same technique to hang both the lining paper and the wallpaper. Cut the lengths – a little longer than you need – and use a pasting brush to put paste on the top length, working from the middle out to the edge. Fold it into a concertina shape as you paste then let it soak for as long as necessary.

Once it’s ready, smooth it onto the wall with a papering brush. It’s vital to work outwards from the centre so you force air bubbles out of it. If you’re doing this with lining paper first, let it dry for 24 hours before putting wallpaper over it, but then you’re all done.

Now all that’s left to do is to decorate your room around it. Try using the same colour palette, but don’t go too over the top. If you have red wallpaper then it’s probably better if you don’t go for all red furniture in the room, but something small like a red lamp or a bouquet of red roses can make a big difference. Remember, it’s all in the details.

It means we are not cutting down too many trees or that the trees are replenished and are keeping the cycle going for many floors to come. It is amazing how many types of material are on the market nowadays that are either recycled or sustainable and are fashioned from materials that do not damage the environment by releasing noxious fumes or gases i.e. that are non toxic.

There are an array of eco friendly materials to choose from when thinking about having a new floor, from the traditional wood to cork, bamboo, metal tiles, glass tiles and the ever popular linoleum. If you a little bit handy with your DIY skills then most of these can be fitted by yourself, just make sure you have some clear instructions, possibly from the company where you bought the goods from and maybe have an equally skilled friend to help who knows what he or she is doing.

One of the great sustainable products is bamboo. It might not be your first choice for flooring, after all what will the pandas eat? But it is harvested in a way that means the source of the product is not damaged or depleted in any way. And just to put your mind at rest, the type of bamboo used for flooring is not the kind that pandas eat anyway!

Using bamboo also means we are not eating into forests of hardwood that take years to mature. Bamboo is very fast growing and stems can be harvested every four or five years. Also if the bamboo is not chopped down after a few years it keels over anyway not able to grow anymore.

Wood of course is most people`s first choice when considering putting down an eco friendly floor because of its durability, its easy to keep clean format and the fact that it looks so natural and feels great under foot. Many reclaimed wood is sourced from beams and timbers from old houses that have fallen into disrepair or tongue and groove planks that was flooring before.

This can be laid quite easily by the amateur though if you are unsure about it, then it might be advisable to pay a professional to lay it down as it does take time and you want to make sure the overall finish is to a high standard. Often reclaimed wood can be a bit more expensive than new wood. This is because of the extra labour involved to retrieve it, clean it up and make it good for re-using.

Other materials are cork, long lasting and great for absorbing noise, metal tiles, good for bathrooms and kitchens, stone tiles which are ideal in wet areas and linoleum floor planks which do not need any nails or glue as they slot in together.

If you want to save on money but need a new floor, choose a material you are happy with and you`re your Black & Decker power tools you can lay the floor yourself. It might take a little longer than a professional but you will be so proud of yourself once you have done it.

In comparison to steel, wrought iron is made with extremely low levels of carbon. A type of iron alloy, wrought iron is visibly different from steel in that its texture is somewhat grained. In terms of popularity or usage in the construction industry, wrought iron, from which the Eiffel Tower was made, lost ground to steel in the 19th century. Today, however, wrought iron continues to be used regularly for its strong yet conveniently malleable composition.

Because wrought iron is so ductile and malleable, it is often used to produce structures that cannot be easily replicated using steel. Wrought iron balconies, for example, tend to be elaborately decorated because it is relatively easy for welders to cut, join and shape various sections of iron; furthermore, wrought iron – meaning worked iron – is sometimes used to describe types of mild steel that possess a similar texture and appearance to the iron alloy.

The wrought iron balcony combines high tensile strength, excellent durability and a relatively low wear rate. More than this, wrought iron balconies are decorative and beautiful, providing a splash of architectural splendour wherever they are erected.

Owing to the malleability of wrought iron, balconies composed of this strong iron alloy can feature railings and balustrades that are more works of art than works of construction. Wrought iron can be manipulated and shaped to the precise requirements of the customer, enabling production of designs that are entirely unique. It is also true that, when bent to a certain degree, wrought iron bears a quite striking resemblance to wood in so far as its grains become more visible. In this respect, wrought iron is especially popular for use in and around the home because it can appear similar to existing wooden fixtures and fittings.

While serving as the perfect material for traditional balconies, wrought iron is also commonly used in the construction of balconettes, which are essentially smaller versions of standard-sized domestic balconies. Wrought iron can be used to make all or just a part of a balcony. It is fairly common, for instance, for property owners to request that wrought iron balconies be made from a combination of materials.

Powdered wrought iron can be used to create a steel, aluminium or titanium effect, which are commonly employed alongside toughened glass to produce stunning open-air-style balconies. Toughened glass may form the balustrade and baluster, with wrought iron used to secure the posts and panels in place. Wrought iron is most traditionally used, however, in the development of entire balcony structures.

In summary, the wrought iron balcony remains as popular as ever due to its supreme aesthetic qualities, high tensile strength, superb durability and excellent malleability, all of which combine to produce structures that are as sturdy and hard-wearing as they are pleasing to the eye.

Before you head out to buy your new taps, have a good look at your bathroom suite. Consider the configuration of the taps you are replacing as a mixer tap with just one base will not fit a sink where two separate taps have been before, or vice versa. If you have a brand new suite check to see if any holes are already cut. Some taps are attached to the wall rather than the sink or bath, if you want this style then check that your pipes can be changed to suit this. Freestanding baths will also require a specific style of tap. Shelves or cupboards above the sink may limit the height available if you are planning on choosing tall swan neck styles.

The amount of pressure in your system is an important consideration as well; taps designed to work under higher pressure will not function correctly on a low pressure system. Cold and hot water pressure both need to be above 1 bar in order for a high pressure tap to work, unless your cold water supply is directly from the mains which is not likely. If you have a pressurised water system, combination boiler or gravity fed system with a pump to increase the pressure then you are likely to have enough pressure. If you have a gravity fed system with no pump you are unlikely to have enough pressure which will restrict your choice of taps as you can only use any taps on a higher pressured system.

Once you have looked at all the practical restrictions, consider the aesthetic choices. You may want to match any existing metal work such as shower cubicles and accessories to your new taps; existing brass fittings won`t look so good with chrome coloured taps. Likewise modern, angular taps will clash with a traditional styled suite. The final consideration is budget; expensive looking taps can make a cheap suite look much more expensive, whereas cheap looking taps can ruin even the most expensive looking bathroom suite, so it is worth spending a little more if you can.

Before you fit your new taps make sure you have everything that you need; screws and other fitting are usually supplied with the taps, but it is best to be sure. Then turn off the water at the mains and drain the system to avoid messy spillages. Check that your taps fit the spaces correctly, drill holes if they are not already there and move pipe where required. Fit the taps and attach them to pipework, making sure they are a secure fit, add isolator valves if you want to for future maintenance. Then turn everything back on and check for leaks; there may be air blocks or a little dirt in the taps so let them run for a minute or so. Then give them a quick polish and enjoy your smart new bathroom!