Photo-Collage

A collage using any form of art always creates an interesting focal point in any room. Pick a theme for the collage, i.e. if you enjoy photography and love to take nature photos or city landscapes, enlarge your pictures and frame them or put them on canvas. Collages are great in high ceiling areas particularly, using different sizes will also create interest. If you take photos of your travels and display your photographs it will also create an interesting conversational piece to tell the stories of your travels.

This could be a fun project for your child, using his or her art project mixing their own personal photos into the collage, they will have fun sharing it with their friends. Visit this link to discover how to make a little extra spending money with your photographs http://www.expressdigital.com/products/prstorefronts.shtm
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Designer Showcase

I was lead designer in this showcase of homes project. My project was the master suite, consisting of the sitting room, bedroom and master bath. Proceeds went to support the local symphony.

This was quite a large bedroom, I selected this floral print which showcased 26 colors in the pattern. I then used red, green, yellow and purple as my accent colors. A small room could not handle this large pattern, this allowed the room to have a warmer feeling. First I choose a pale yellow and faux painted the walls which were originally white. I added the light fixture, replaced the carpet from a dark brown to an off white bringing out the background of the fabric. The table skirts and drapes are lined in a pale yellow and green stripe creating a garden escape feeling. There was a surrounding patio which displayed a flower garden making this room feel an extension of the garden.

The sitting room sofa was upholstered in the same yellow and green stripe and the floral pattern lined with the same stripe was then carried through on the half draperies which were displayed on a swing rod giving the room a three dimensional look allowing more view to the garden.

When working with a large room, as you can see, color and a lot of it works!!! The room has a clean fresh yet romantic feel with a softness to reflect a mellow yet fun mood.

Elegant Exposure

Appreciating Nude Art
The subject of nude art has long been in most societies. Nude art is still, however, considered as taboo or a controversial topic despite its artistic value. Though most cultures are generally becoming adaptable and appreciative of this particular form of art, one can say that the holistic acceptance of nude art in most societies has yet to be established. The key to this acceptance is by making people understand what nude art really is all about.

Nude Arts History

Nude art has been around for so long a time, as long as the early civilizations of Greek and Egypt. Nude art back then was established as a form of appreciation of the human body. Although the same definition can be said nowadays with regard to nude art, the art has been so well extended that it not only includes the study of the human body in general but also its specific body parts. The study of nude art was all the more furthered, thanks to the Renaissance and Baroque periods both periods in time that dealt with the discovery of human nature. With this discovery came about the high importance accorded to nude art. Until now, nude art is widely practiced, especially in generally liberal countries such as American and European nations. In some countries, nude art is not as accepted but is on its way to being popularly established.

Real Nude Art

However, nude art has been debated upon by many people because of its controversial nature. After all, nudity is commonly associated with pornography. Real nude art, however, is anything but pornography. In fact, most nude art scholars and critics generally define nude art as a piece of art that provokes emotional sensuality not erotic sensuality. Furthermore, nude art refers to the study of the human body and its specific parts not of the nude person portrayed in the art. The nude person is merely a representation on behalf of humanity in general.

Also, real nude art prefers human in its most raw form. As much as possible, a nude artist would do away with embellishments which are deemed as mere accessories to the beauty of the human body. These accessories do not really beautify the human body in the process of depicting art. Rather, it sullies the beauty of the human nature. For some nude artists, however, this is perfectly acceptable. Tattoos are also accepted in special cases, depending on the nude artists vision of nude art.

In this canvas, which is my favorite, there is a mystery of realizing what it actually is at first. As you focus on the lace, only then does it seem to become apparent that this is a partial nude with grace and beauty.

Shaun Parker is an avid art fan. He has an extensive collection of photos on canvas and he shares his extensive knowledge on the topic to help people find the right artwork for their homes. You can view ideas for putting photos on canvas at http://www.mangoart.co.uk/

Create and Update

This was a comfortable room before, however, it lacked POP. The palette was good but plain. The colors I had to work with, were moss green, beige and purple. First I added purple fringe to a few of the sofa pillows, then selected a moss green, beige and purple stripe fabric which I covered a traditional chair with, creating a focal point along with half draperies on a swing rod for even more dramatics. A painting of moss greens and purple completed the balance.The frame was chrome which brought out other accents in the room.

I then carried the color scheme into the dinette area, introducing a new color and small floral print on the chair cushions. This was a white background with small flowers of purple and of course the green leaves. Fresh flowers were placed in a white vase completing the fresh feel and completing the redesign. Simple changes, yet cost effective.

What's Your Style

What Is Your Home Decorating Style?


Do your friends and family say your home looks nice because you are an excellent home decorator, or are they just being polite? Take the home decorating style quiz to find out if your home decorating style is as inspirational as people say. Whether you are a decorating diva or your home decorating style is akin to a bowl of oatmeal, this quiz can show you if you are inspirational, average, or utterly boring. Which home decorating style are you?

Take a fun home decorating quiz at lifescript.com. Once you have taken the test, it will assist you in making themes for your redesign projects and or relate your likes and dislike to your designer.

Nature's Designs

This picture is worth a thousand words in itself.

Generally a tree branch, large foliage or flowering foliage branch's, length can vary from 20 to 70 inches, will make a beautifully dramatic statement in your home.

A single branch can add visual impact as a backdrop to medium flower arrangements. Large floral arrangements can incorporate several long branches for dramatic accent. Unusually shaped tree branches or clipping a branch from a budding tree such as a red bud and placing them in different heights in a tall glass vase is one of my favorite centerpieces. Add a few silk limbs with greenery for color.

These arrangements are particularly dramatic in a large room and rooms with high ceilings. I purchased silk palm leaves and placed them in a clear vase with unusually formed stems from my yard which transformed an otherwise understated table into a focal point of beauty.

Another favorite is to fill a tall glass vase with deco balls then add stems. In a kitchen you can add artificial fruit and stems.

Mix and Match Pattern Fun

Texture is often overlooked. Pattern is not so much overlooked, as feared! Many people are afraid to use pattern. They don't know how to mix and match patterns, so they avoid them all together.

This can often result in a very bland, and uninspiring room. This is a shame, because as a general rule it doesn't cost any more to buy a fabric with pattern than a solid color. With pattern you get a lot more impact for your money.

The frugal decorator is conservative with pattern only in the large pieces, such as overstuffed furniture. Pattern does become dated faster than solid colors. It is best to use it on items like pillows, throws, and even area rugs, which can be moved, and wear out sooner.

There are a few basic rules to follow when mixing and matching pattern. Keep these I mind, and you shouldn't have any trouble. Skilled decorators are able to violate these rules and get away with it, but for most of us we need to keep within these parameters.

All the patterns in the room should be easily distinguished from each other. None of them should be similar to the point they look alike. For instance, you do not want to use two large floral prints of similar color near each other.

Use a variety of prints, including floral prints, stripes, and geometric shapes.

Contrast the size of the design in the patterns. If you are using a LARGE floral, add a fabric with a SMALL stripe or geometric print.

Have a similar color in each piece of fabric. If one of the main colors in your room is sage green and you want to bring out this color, make sure this color is in each fabric piece that you add.

Be aware that your eye CANNOT retain color. This is why decorators ALWAYS work with swatches of color. Do what you can to have samples with you of patterns and colors in your room when you go to buy coordinating items.


Pattern makes a room more exciting, and gives it more character.via About the Author: Nikki Willhite, mother of 3 and an interior design graduate, has been writing and publishing articles on the topic of frugal living for over a decade. Visit her at www.frugalhappyfamilies.com - where you will find hundreds of frugal living tips and articles. Frugal Happy Families- more than just money! Article first published at www.allthingsfrugal.com

Romance and Lace

Embroidered or Lace Drapes. These always look nice in old fashioned type living rooms or in bedrooms. They have a romantic, old fashioned feel to them. You can find them in many colors, yet white and shades of white seems to be the most popular. Pictured here is a soft treatment using the ultimate in black for that romantic touch.

Sheer drapes have a classy appeal to them. These can be used alone or can be paired up with other thicker drapes.

Pinch and pleated drapes come in a variety of different types of fabrics including chenille, velvet and even cotton polyester mix blends.

Silk drapes are often made from silk. Yet, you can buy silk drapes that aren't sheer looking. Some are simple cut and free flowing. Yet, other silk drapes are adorned with ruffles, giving them a more romantic feel.

Floral Finale'

Flowers are a great choice for fabrics and patterns in your home. They may show up in just a few pillows or can be used as wallpaper, drapery fabrics, upholstery, and accessories.
Besides the restful, garden feel these patterns impart, most floral patterns feature a variety of colors that can be matched and coordinated with solids, plaids, checks, and stripes.

If you’re doing a garden room, or just love garden flower prints for decorating, these tips on decorating with floral's will give you ideas on how to create a terrific color scheme, repeat the colors in your space, and support the theme with accents throughout the room to complete a total garden escape.

That Wood Work

Hardwood flooring usually comes in three varieties: strip, plank and parquet. The individual segments in wood strip flooring are usually about 1 ½- to 2 ¼-inches wide. Plank flooring strips are wider and parquet floors are composed of individual squares that make up a geometric pattern. Unfinished hardwood floors allow the homeowner to finish the product with a stain that matches the décor.
If you are debating whether to install hardwood flooring in your home, first investigate the pros and cons.

Pros of Hardwood Flooring


Easy Maintenance.. They just need sweeping or vacuuming and an occasional cleaning with a wood floor cleaner
Hardwood floors are durable and have stood the test of time.
Houston Flooring offers direct wholesale prices at www.directhomediscount.com

Value
Buyers are willing to pay top dollar for homes with hardwood floors. In addition, homes with hardwood floors tend to sell faster than homes with wall-to-wall carpeting. Think about it: builders consider hardwood flooring an upgrade. They don’t charge extra for carpet. Your accent rugs will pop and make more of a statement on wood flooring.

Baby Love

Swatches from clothes or household items from your own childhood can serve as a wonderful source of color and theme for your child's room. These colorful fabrics sewn into a quilt, used as a swag over a window, or fitted into frames will be a reminder to you of your happy youth and be a source of conversation with your little one. If the fabrics are muted or dull, they might work well in a country or cottage style room. Colorful, bold fabric tones work well in more whimsical rooms.
Stencils are a great source of creating a story or a fantasy theme on a wall. Using bright colors will stimulate a child's mind. No matter the age you can get creative with color.

Touch of Glass

Luise Christensen-Howell of Glasshaus Studio in Hershey has achieved seasonal symmetry. Much of the year she’s outdoors cultivating her latest love, garden and landscape design, but when autumn blows in, she takes refuge in her home studio, nurturing her 30-year love affair with stained glass.
When asked about working with glass, Luise explained:
I like the part where you sit down with somebody, and they have an idea, and you put it together, and then you have the finished product. And glass is gorgeous. So it’s the very material and the way it captures light. Then when the client comes and I see their reaction--I love that part.

When asked about her challenges working stained glass:
The only challenge that I’ve ever had is when (my focus) was cut in half between the store keeping and the creative part.

Every home should have even the smallest special cut glass piece to add romance of a moment or setting. Stained glass is like adding a piece of art in a window to catch the sun rays glistening from it adds a mystic touch on walls and ceilings.

Fun and Funky

Every room may be accented with a fun or funky chair. I particularly love to accent with animal prints, they make great accents on pillows, chairs, table runners and rugs.
If you find an old chair recover it and add a pillow as pictured here for more statement. For an elegant room add an exposed wood chair and upholster it in a fabulous tapestry using a pattern which ties in other colors in the room.

Children's room can be a lot of fun for your imagination adding an accent chair with colors, colors and more colors and will provide a comfortable place for you, allowing those precious moments in your child's environment, for the special bonding moments.

Rugs to Riches

What does a "Real Persian Rug" mean? It means the carpet is hand-knotted in IRAN and is not an imitation made in Pakistan, India, Turkey or elsewhere. This is a significant issue. Even though carpets may look the same superficially, they are not. Carpets that are made in IRAN are dyed differently, usually with vegetable pigments. In addition, the Persian knot is different. If you have a very tight budget, an imitation is probably a reasonable solution, but if you are looking for something that will keep its color and quality for a long time, buy a "Real Persian carpet". Always ask for a certificate of authenticity. I recommend a book titled, "Rugs to Riches", by Caroline Bosley, purchasing authentic pieces is an investment, this book will educate and enlighten most of your questions. I also recommend"Woodlands Rug Gallery which is shown in my links area. Mention your online designer referred you.
A personal favorite is the oriental with a silk wool blend. Always start with size and color choice, then let your dealer educate you and your designer assist in placement and room arrangement, then enjoy this luxurious accent for that final statement of your own style in your home or office.

The Yellow Scarf

Every home or office can add an interesting and intriguing sculpture to fit the theme of a room. This bronze titled, "The Yellow Scarf", by Tom Moss who also painted the, "Prairie Princess", mentioned earlier has created time gone by while you focus on such detail in this sculpture, you wait for him to speak.

A sculpture placed in a room is like adding a rose to a vase, it simply adds the final touch.

Frank Lloyd Wright

Stewart Township, Pa.: Perhaps Wright’s most recognizable design, Falling water perches over a waterfall whose sound resonates throughout the home. More than 120,000 visitors see this renowned home each year. The proximity to water and the ambitious design have forced extensive renovations—they also prompted the home’s first owner, Edgar K. Kaufmann Sr., to nickname the structure “Rising Mildew.”

Indian Summer

Many comments have been made on the photo titled, "Rhythms of Rest and Seclusion". this is yet another taken under the stars in South Africa. Periodically I will post more pictures of these peaceful scenes.....Ahhhh, to sleep under a thousand stars and anticipating the embrace of the moonlight. These are actual open sleep areas in Kenya, not sure sleeping with the cheetahs would send me into a soft slumber of restful sleep, but viewing it from a photo is quite restful. More of these photos can be found at http://anindiansummer-design.blogspot.com

The Hanging Garden

Throughout the day, magical moments occur that have the power to relax and refresh the spirit. Irene Suchocki has captured that very feeling of harmony in nature with the piece she has titled so eloquently, "Hanging Garden". Time seems suspended in her art. Whether you seek sanctuary from a square foot garden in the city, or in a flower filled bowery in the country, to be in contact with plants in any form such as art brought into your home creates a meditative mood. In these lines from a poem by the English poet Dorothy Gurny, the calming, spiritual effect of the garden is evoked. The kiss of the sun for pardon./The song of the birds for mirth,/One is nearer God's heart in a garden./Than anywhere else on earth."
This article is dedicated to my Mother, who loved working in her vegetable or flower garden, she once told me working in her garden she felt the closest to God.

"I miss you and I love you Mother". We never knew growing up that food didn't come from the fresh cuts in the garden or what can foods really were....everything was hand made with a lot of love!!!

Trimmings

Simple elegance can be added to draperies, pillows, and table runners for a simple touch of class. Holidays and everyday can be enhanced with these accents to create a feeling of warmth and luxury.

Placing a large tassel around a large clear vase and filling it with greenery can also create an elegant center piece. Crystal beads or key tassels can be used as napkin rings to add more glamour to your Holiday table settings. Don't forget the fireplace to top off the perfect holiday mood.Placing eyelash fringe around the top and or the base of a lamp is simply sumptuous.

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Sensual Textures

For sensual indulgence and relaxation, your items may be chosen for delicacy of their textures. These luxuries may change with the season or your mood, remember that a little richness can go a long way, be selective and choose a few favorite pieces rather than accumulating clutter. Velvet and silk textures are found in the natural world. Pictured here is Porfiro-Lorca an Italian cut velvet woven with cotton. A sensuous brocade or intricate embroidery will add an exotic tranquility to any design. Tassels and trim evoke a soothing feel of glamour, mystique and elegance.