Kitchen Interior Design Ideas

Kitchen Interior Design Ideas

Give these ideas a try to get your kitchen decorating project off the ground:

* For a quick and easy face lift, start with the walls. A coat of paint, some new wallpaper, a border, or some artwork all can give your kitchen a little pick me up. Choose something that complements your interior design style. For instance, if your kitchen is homey and cozy, try framing children’s pictures and hanging them on the wall instead of on the refrigerator. If your kitchen is modern, a neutral paint color for the walls creates a sleek look.

* New appliances. If your budget will allow, putting some new appliances in your kitchen can make all the difference. Ditch the old avocado colored stovetop and replace things with newer styles, like stainless steel.

* New cabinets. If your kitchen is too dark, change to a cabinet in a lighter shade of wood. Go for cabinets with glass fronts to give the room a more open appearance. If you want a French Country style for your kitchen, white wood cabinets almost single handedly create the look. If you can’t get new cabinets, try changing the door and drawer handles/knobs.

* Install new lighting. Go for lights that give a warm glow in the room overall, with more intense lighting directly over your work areas.

* If you have a small kitchen, invest in plenty of stacked storage units and consider the new, space saving appliances, like mini dishwashers that double as sinks.

* Accessorize. A few new accessories can feel like a breath of fresh air in your kitchen, and they can also help you pull your look together.

from lovetoknow.com

Your Style – Small Bathroom Designs

When it comes to expressing your self there are many ways you can do it and your home small bathroom designs should be no different. It really just comes down to themes and the way you choose to model your bathroom.

Some people just seem to accept the bathroom design or model that came with their house when they bought it. That’s fine too, but imagine if you could really spice up your bathroom and make it a place to relax as well as something that your guests would be marveling at?


As any of you who often read this blog may already know I am a firm believer of searching out and finding good bathroom designs and photos before you try anything on your own. If you do this you’ll have a clear picture as well as some good inspiration. Also by using bathroom design photos you will find great themes that you may have never even thought of.

The theme or small bathroom design that I want to talk about today is the ultra modern design. Basically society these days is moving at a rapid pace and to reflect this many families or individuals are designing high tech style bathrooms. The way you can achieve this look is just by using a lot of grey and black colored products and vanities. You can also buy and install cool high tech objects like shower heads, auto-baths, and the interesting toilets that you can find in Japan. These toilets have all sorts of high tech buttons for cleaning up after you’re done your job.

Another way to add some calm into your new high tech small bathroom designs is to have some background music. You can achieve this effect buy wiring speakers into your bathroom from your main system or you can just buy a cheap CD player and leave the calming bathroom music looping in the background as people do their thing in your new model bathroom.

source: http://www.bathroomdesignsguide.com

Interior Lighting

Understanding The Lighting System

Light can define space, substance and style. Outdoors, with the shifting sun and atmospheric conditions, light and the shadows change the appearance of things natural and man made. But in the indoors, the play of natural and artificial lighting largely determine both function and decoration.

Today lighting is considered to be a very important element of decorating scheme. The invention of the incandescent bulb in 1978 revolutionized lighting systems as it allowed light to be easily manipulated. Apart from exploiting natural light by using opaque or transparent glass walls, sky lights, large windows etc. for offices, architect work out the detailed light fittings which are conducive for a work environment. In homes, a careful selection of lights extends and enhances the aesthetics of interiors. Similarly for hotels, showrooms, museums, gardens, water bodies, individual lighting requirements are worked out. Artificial light falling from various angles and heights on different surfaces guide us to perceive various features and dimensions while creating a specific mood. With technological developments and the stress on precision lighting, a variety of lighting fixtures are readily available with options which offer manifold possibilities in terms of effect.

The choice of fitting according to the room , gets very difficult , one gets puzzled off as there are so many varieties in lights like the table lamps , spot lights , clamp lights , recessed / surface mounted lights , up lighters , halogens , incandescent bulb , pendants , fluorescent fixtures and lots of others. Once the basic idea of the space, mood, interior design, highlighting, function of work have been specified, one can then consider the basic types of lighting. Initially only the planned positions of lights need to be decided. Later, the selection of bulbs and the exact effect can be created. One should always keep in mind some of the basic rules while designing the light.

* Every activity that takes place in the interior must have lights of the right kind, intensity and the right direction.
* The eye prefers even lighting with the minimum of contrast between the brightness of the room surfaces and the lighting fixtures.
* The eye works best when the work surface is more brightly lit then the surroundings.
* The eye is stimulated by the contrast of tone and sparkle.
* When room lighting change, color changes or disappear, thus objects become more or less important in the room.
* There are three basic types of lighting which are categorized according to the intensity of the light used.

General lighting - It supplies an overall illumination in the area.

Task lighting - It supplies the required illumination for specific tasks such as reading, painting etc. It directs strong local illumination without high general illumination as required for activities carried in a particular area.

Accent lighting- It offers a decorative element to the area by highlighting the particular objects or features in the area. They are auxiliary to the general lighting and provide an added, and at times, dramatic dimensions to the scheme.

Spaces can be provided with one, two or all types of these lightings, depending upon the requirement. With different types of lighting in each room and dimmers to adjust the intensity of light, an ordinary space can be infused with much dramatic look to convey different moods to suit different times of the day.

source: www.sereneinteriors.com

Weekly Checklist for House Cleaning

Initial Author: Valorie Delp
Recent Contributors: HVLong, Mary White

The easiest way to clean your house, so that you're not embarrassed if someone drops by, is to use a weekly cleaning checklist. Post a cleaning checklist on your refrigerator or keep it next to your calendar so that you're looking at it daily and you can remember what you're supposed to do on what day. If you have children, consider giving them weekly checklists too.
Planning Your Own Weekly Checklist for House Cleaning

Creating a weekly checklist for house cleaning is simple. The advantage to creating your own is that it is perfectly suited to your needs. Here are a few things to think about before you begin:

* What needs to be cleaned daily, weekly, and less often? Prioritize according to your family's needs. If you have small children, you may well find that the floor needs to be cleaned daily. It may just stress you out to have your desk a mess. On the other hand, perhaps that top shelf can live with being dusted only once per month.
* What days are the busiest? If you volunteer or are at soccer all day on Saturdays, that's a great day to do a few minor tasks that take less than 15 minutes.
* When do I do errands? Choosing one day during the week to do errands helps you minimize the time you're spending running around. Don't clean on an errand day. Use that day to take care of household paperwork, plan menus for the week, and get your errands done!
* When do I get to rest? It's pointless to have a clean house if you can't enjoy it. Even if it means that the tippy top corner doesn't get as clean as it should--it's okay. Take the time you need regularly to refresh so you avoid burnout.

Creating Your Weekly Cleaning Checklist

Now that you've thought about your goals, start making your weekly cleaning checklist in the following manner:

1. Take a piece of paper and divide it into fourths. Your goal is to have the four following sections: daily, weekly, less often, and seasonal. Label your sections and you're ready to begin!
2. Go through each room of your house. Jot down the things that you need to get done in order for the house to look nice. Make sure to put tasks in the appropriate columns.
3. Spend no more than 5 minutes in each room. You're going to save this paper for reference later and you can always add to it.
4. Sit down with your weekly calendar and think about what days it makes sense to do which tasks. For example, if you have no where to be on Fridays, that's a great day to don sweats and pull out the vacuum cleaner and dust and vacuum. If you have volunteering on Tuesdays, that's a good day to do something less nitty gritty.
5. Finally, add into your week those things that need to be done monthly. You may set aside Saturdays to do monthly tasks, or simply get them done here and there.

If you follow your schedule most of the time, you'll have a mostly clean house and you'll find that deep cleaning goes much easier.

Find the System That Works for You

The most important aspect of posting a weekly cleaning regimen on your fridge, is doing it! If your system is too overwhelming you'll never get it done. Perhaps you need to do some things twice a month instead of weekly--that's okay. Keep shuffling chores around until you find what works for you!
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Modern Lamp Shades

from lovetoknow.com

Modern lamp shades can add the perfect contemporary touch to your interior. The good news is that there are a plethora of both table lamps and lamp shades online and in your local home design stores to give you exactly what you are looking for and at any budget, from high to low.

One of the key things to remember when looking at lamp shades is the size of the shade compared to the size of the lamp. Too big and your lamp will look silly and overpowered, too small and your lamp will look large and out of place. It is important to have exactly the right size, so take the measurements of your lamp base, from top to bottom and around, and approach your shade purchase armed with this information.

If you have a funny shaped lamp base or an unusual size, don’t be afraid to look into custom built shades. They are not terribly expensive and are worth the extra money if you plan on keeping your interior design scheme for several years. If you are more of a quick-change-style type, you might want to stick with neutrals or basics and switch out your base as your tastes change.

Modern Lamp Shades and Lamps for Your Home

Design Within Reach

Design Within Reach has a bevy of contemporary lamps that are not exactly within reach for everyone, but are exemplary of what modern design is today. Their Akari Square Lantern Table Lamp is all shade with spindly legs. It was crafted by the renowned Isamu Noguchi, who is one of the most famous furniture contemporary furniture designers in the world. His Akari lamp follows Noguchi’s vision of sculpture as practical objects in daily life. At $250.00, this lamp isn't priced for everyone, but it is definitely a timeless design that will last a lifetime.

Modernica

Designed by iconic modern furniture designer George Nelson, the Bubble Lamp is one of the most popular contemporary pieces in the world of high-end furniture. Modernica, a company out of Los Angeles, reconfigured the design of the Bubble Lamp shade to accommodate other table or floor lamp bases. The shade references the original lamp while offering a contemporary reference to traditional shades.

West Elm

Although lamp and shade come together in the Pebble Table Lamp, it is worth taking a look at the lamp shade, which is an incredible modern shape. The oblong style works beautifully with the organic shape of the base, and would also work well with other smaller round or similar oval-shaped bases.

AllModernLighting.com

With a name like AllModernLighting.com, it is easy to find the right contemporary lamp shade for your home and your budget on this website. Particularly interesting is the Sonneman Lightweights Round Shade Cover, which is long, thin and looks a bit spaceage. The designer, Robert Sonneman, was one of the pioneers of modern lighting. His pieces, such as this, are modern classics, and today he continues to create innovative pieces for home design. The Sonneman Round Shade Cover comes in white, silver, red, blue, yellow or black.

Lamps Plus

A true break with tradition requires a bold statement, such as this Flocked Black Velvet Stripe shade from Lamps Plus. This drum shade is both elegant and funky with wide black velvet stripes and an off-white fabric background. It measures 10 inches across the top and bottom and sits 8 inches high.

Anthropologie

If your taste trends toward a more whimsical style, check out Anthropologie for some stunning and unique modern lamp shades. For example, the Leafy Treetops Shade is a contemporary take on a traditional scheme with appliqued branches, boughs and birds in funky vintage fabric. It can act as a punctuation of color in an otherwise neutral room, or it works well with other pops of fabric and color for a more bohemian look.

Final Note

While finding the right size of shade for your lamp is paramount, the most important thing is to purchase something that you like, not just something that matches your interior design scheme. You have to live with the lampshade day in and day out, so shop around and purchase one at a price that you can live with. There is no point in buying a cheap shade just because it is inexpensive. You can find just about any style for any budget, so get out there and do your homework!