Home Interior Design and Home Interior Decorating

Do you plan to buy a home and make your family happy or are you thinking of giving your current home a new look with a total makeover or to a room. If your reply is a yes, than you will need to have an idea on how to design home interior.

Home interior design is the very procedure of shaping the interior space of your home according to your lifestyle. Whereas, home interior decorating that concentrates on finishes such as painting, window coverings, wallpapers and soft furnishing; Interior design is incorporated towards structural design of the home and is occupied in the room layout, cabinet designs, windows and door placements, and so on.

Home interior designing relies largely on the types and measurement of the rooms. Basic rooms include the living room, kitchen, deck, bedroom, bathroom and at times a home office. These rooms can be subdivided into a guest room, dining room, children rooms and adult rooms, study room, amongst others.

The different aspects involved in home interior design such as cabinet making, room layout, window placement, appliance selection of tile and floor selection should suitably fit the rooms since each room has a different function.

If you are planning to do some home interior designing, decide what rooms need improvement and integrate the seven elements of home interior design form, mass, shape, line, color, texture and pattern.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

What Colors are In for Autumn Season

Fall is a time of spectacular, vivacious color and pattern. Harvest colors, falling leaves, nuts, seeds, berries, dried grasses, fall fruits and grapes are just a few of the endless possibilities to create a fall display inside or in your garden.


Autumn displays her earthy browns, brilliant reds, liquid amber and orange, pear gold and muted yellow. Bringing the feel of autumn into your home creates natural warmth and echoes the changing season. You can really embrace the season and go a little further … read on to learn some fun and inexpensive ways to usher in the fall season.



Chocolate browns, ruby reds and glowing greens — what could be more appropriate for the months of fall? green kitchen eating area. When you have a deep, rich color on the walls, you don't need elaborate window treatments.

Rock- a-bye Baby...(part one)

I have baby room fever. It all started the other night when I had a very strange dream about suddenly being the proud new mother of twins...one a regular newborn and the other looked just like a baby Bratz doll (large head, tiny body...go figure!). I was toting them around in my dream and crying because I thought I was "done" with having babies and also because they were inadequately dressed, dishevelled even...and I was upset because I decided that others would then see I obviously couldn't take care of them as well as my other, "single" babies. To top it all off, they had no nursery! They had to be carried all the time and I had no bed to lay them in.

(photo: Martha Stewart.com)

In the morning, I gave my head a good shake, breathed a sigh of relief, and yet found myself oddly daydreaming of babies rooms...fresh, pretty nurseries waiting in quiet perfection for their newborn charges to arrive and fill the rooms with new life. I always loved decorating my children's first bedrooms - carefully planning the spaces as though the child would actually appreciate the time and energy I put forth to create the ideal resting spot for their sleepy, little bodies. I have many memories of this nesting period of my life and can distinctly remember each and every room and the feelings they evoked in me. I remember nursing warm, cuddly babies to sleep, their little fingers curled around mine and their rapid little heartbeats drumming against me. I remember lying on the floor beside the cribs of my two difficult sleepers, holding their hands (praying that they'd finally fall asleep) and making mental notes to myself to purchase a soft rug so my shoulder wouldn't fall asleep before the baby did. I remember, as a first-time mother, agonizing over the perfect crib set, only to be crushed to discover that you aren't really supposed to have quilts and bumpers for fear of smothering them. Sigh...I even remember the sweet scent of babies... Ivory Snow- scented, milky goodness that if you were able to bottle it, would sell out faster than any other fragrance known to man. I also remember many nights, succumbing to the need for sleep of my own and the temptation to sleep as one with my babies, bringing them in to my bed where, of course, they were very happy to be. Pretty room or not, nothing beat Mummy's arms!!

(photo: source unknown)

So, if I am to give my best advice for decorating a nursery for your little one, it is this - decorate it so that it feels right. Of course there are rules to follow: up-to-date crib, secure diaper changing area, no shelves over baby's crib, subdued lighting, comfy chair for rocking restless babies...but this is a room where you may or may not spend many an hour. For those who bring the baby in with them most nights, the nursery may just be a rite of passage in the new parent stage...a shrine of sorts which the baby visits from time to time and naps. For the rest, the nursery will be a place that is most familiar (besides in her parent's arms) to baby. It is a place to be decorated with love, with comfort...for parents and baby... in mind, but most of all as a nod to the memories you will make and revisit in your mind as your baby grows into older childhood. The nursery is basically your gift to yourself. Sure you can design it with colour and stimulation (or not) in mind...pictures of educational prompts, Pottery Barn Kids perfect accessories...but ultimately you will remember the nursery in the darkness. You will remember watching the reassuring rise and fall of baby's chest, marvel at the lushness of his eyelashes, breathing in your baby's sweet scent, and the shadowy outline of your carefully chosen decor as you sway with baby in your arms...anticipating with fatigue his impending slumber. Decorate with love, but don't take it too seriously. All the accessories to babyhood are so incredibly tempting, but your loving arms will be where your quiet memories will be made...

photo above: www.potterybarnkids.com

(photo below: source unknown)

***Later in the week, we will explore the components of a safe and beautiful nursery. I'm on the hunt for some great photos...!!

I want one...

I want a new sofa. I know that's not a very nice way to begin a new post, but I'm feeling a little furniture pang. I just want one. I need one for my basement family room as I'm tired of slapping cheap slipcovers on the ones I have down there. I can't even invest in custom made ones to thereby prolong the life of "their ugliness" as the springs are shot from years of jumping and training for the "high jump". When you sit on them, you sink in the middle...and not because you ate too much comfort food this winter. Will I get my way, you might ask? Nope...not unless I'm prepared to get a new hubby and heaven knows where I'd get one of those...Despite his frugality (he likes to call it common sense), he's kinda cute and useful and makes a good cup of tea, so the debate rages on between us and it goes something like this:

Me: We really need a new sofa and love seat downstairs.

Him: Don't start...(which is his favourite saying and annoys me to no end...)

Me: Yeah, but...(this is where he jumps in...)

Him: Please don't start...

Me: But the springs are shot, they're out of style, and we should get something that reflects our taste (which is where I really lose him...).

Him: We're not getting a new sofa until the kids have moved out and that's that!

Me: silent treatment begins...

Now before you think that I'm a major wimp and need to just stand my position, you have to remember I have my own version of the Tightwad gazette...or better yet: the Frugal Hack(I must remember this one).

I also know he is right. A new sofa would have busted springs in a matter of months, the cats would claim it, and we'd never actually sit on it anyway (given our tendency to flock upstairs). So, I give up the ghost, take a trip to Winners to buy some accessories, and never let on that I think he is even remotely right.

Still, it's okay to drool over pictures like this, no??

all photos: Maine Cottage.com

I know this isn't a sofa or love seat, but I want it too!! A girl can dream, right??

Style me Pretty...

photo: source unknown

photo: Country Living.com

Pretty...I love that word. It has such a sweet connotation to it...a simplicity, an innocence, an attainability. While we may not all be beautiful or live in beautiful homes, most people can have something about themselves that qualifies as pretty: pretty eyes, pretty hair, pretty smile, and so on. To be called pretty is so much easier to accept, even for those of us who brush off compliments. Pretty seems more believable, more honest... more genuine. Of course, there are many people who qualify as beautiful, but so many more that are more apt to be labelled pretty. We often hear the phrase, "the beautiful people" and we are prone to think that they are more vain, less committed to their relationships, and yet innately more happy. While this is obviously a sweeping generalization, these opinions live on.

When we think of beautiful homes, we almost always think of grand spaces, with heaps of architectural interest, reeking of quality and high mortgages. Even with homes, we equate beauty with perfection. Although we are very generous in using that descriptive when touring each other's homes, it is often more honest to deem a house pretty, or lovely, or charming...words that bring less committment to this supposed perfection. If a home is pretty, it has a definite aesthetic appeal; but it may also have nooks and crannies that are imperfect: rooms that are yet to be remodelled, paint that is chippy in spots, pillows that are imperfectly plumped, dust balls dancing across the slightly scratched wooden floors, creaky screen doors that slam too loud upon closing...perfectly imperfect.

My goal for my home is for it to feel/look pretty to me: hence my use of a soft colour palette; slipcovers; touches of sparkle and glitter; pom pom fringe; crisp, cotton sheets, whimsical light fixtures...basically anything that inspires me to think "pretty" when I look at it. What ever happened to being satisfied with pretty? Why must we covet perfection, streamlined beauty, high-end this and top notch that? Isn't pretty good enough??

photos: country cream .co/uk

In fact, my favourite compliment when someone visits my home for the first time, is that it feels comfortable and is pretty. Now, I'm not fishing for compliments here, I'm just stating my preference. Hearing that it is beautiful would honestly make me squirm a bit, as I am one of those people who equates beauty with grandeur. Certainly, I consider many things beautiful, but the word pretty just brings to mind fresh, natural, down to earth style. Simply put- white roses are beautiful... as they depict quality, simplicity, restraint. A daisy is pretty: natural, attainable. A peony defies all rules and is simply breathtaking, but in a fresh, pretty way. There is indeed a difference to how each makes me feel when I see it.

So, I say let's bring pretty back into our homes: let's not consider it the dowdy sister of beautiful, but rather the fresh-faced girl next door that we secretly know is nicer, self-deprecating, more natural and will put us more at ease when we encounter her. Bring on the unstarched white sheets, the chippy paint, the wildflowers, the pastels, the mismatched chairs, the dog-eared treasures that have been handed down through the generations. Let us forget about always wanting the best, and simply accept that good enough can be just that: apply that girl next door prettiness to our homes. Beauty fades, but even the wrinkliest of grannies can be pretty...

Some more examples of pretty...(again, not from my house)

photo: Sarah Richardson Design

photo: Better Homes and Gardens

Let the Sunshine in...

Mmmm yellow...while I have certainly used it plenty when decorating my homes, I just can't seem to get it out of my system. In fact, I almost painted my kitchen cabinets a buttery shade of yellow before settling on the icy blue shade I now have. photo: source unknown

Yellow is wonderfully fresh in all its shades: butter, lemon, wheat, daisy, from pale cream to a more vibrant sun shade- it brightens up a home by injecting an element of summer into it. Unless you really are misguided when selecting the right shade, it invariably succeeds in looking fresh, clean, natural...Pair it with soft or vibrant shades of blue, pink, white, greens, and more and you will undoubtedly have a cottage look that lifts your spirits when you open your front door.

all photos above: Maine Cottage.com

photo source: unknown

I got thinking about how yellow is the perfect shade to perk up your winter home, after seeing the latest Martha Stewart Living magazine at the grocery store. In fact, the way the colour seemed to leap off the cover boosted my spirits and inspired me to go rummaging through my linen closet for pillow cases and other bits and bobs to sprinkle some sunshine around my home. Even the whiteness of the season (via snow, of course) lends itself so well to a jolt of yellow(think eggs...sunny side up, or a tart slice of lemon meringue pie). In fact, let your favourite yellow food (at least aesthetically speaking) be your colour guide. Me, I'm partial to the custard yellows, the butter shades, and the occasional lemon drop to liven things up!! Oh, and I think I've changed my mind on my future kitchenaid mixer- that yellow one on Martha's cover is screaming my name...!!! All in good time, all in good time...

kitchen photos: Martha Stewart Living

Creative Kim...

Well, I think just about everybody in blogland knows Kim and her amazing site, Today's Creative Blogs. She features a new blog nearly every day, and she does so to share with us, less ambitious folks, the beautiful sites out there that might otherwise not be discovered without luck or links. To be featured on her site is not only an honour, but seals your fate of having many people rush over to your blog, thus enabling you to meet many more creative, lovely people. Kim does this of her own free will, out of kindness and in the spirit of sharing... and despite having one of the busiest schedules of anyone I've encountered. I can picture her staying up late, perusing the many beautiful blogs in her radar, just so we can be treated to more wonderful blogs to enjoy and be inspired by. Then, she gets up ridiculously early to teach multiple fitness classes and hustle her (adorable) little boy off to school. She still seems to make the time for her friends, hubby, scrapbooking, decorating, and playing Bunco (what is that, Kim??). Anyway, in the spirit of Today's Creative Blog, here (as featured on her personal blog: Scrap-to-my-lu) is Kim's beautiful home, which never seems to be messy, despite her claim to the contrary.

Look at her "scrappin" room. Wouldn't you love to have those racks? Sooo organized and again, so tidy!!










Don't you love the simplicity of this seasonal adornment on her beautiful red door...which she's pretty proud of, I might add...?!

So, since my blog focuses on all things decorative, who better to showcase than Kim. I think I'm safe in saying from all of your followers, thanks Kim, for doing what you do, and being so darn funny all the time...I appreciate your writing style, and for taking the time to introduce us to all the creative souls out there, that we might never discover without your help!!

This is one of my favourite pictures of Kim: those shoes and the sassy positioning of her feet embodies her spirit and personality in one great shot!!