5 Ways to add interest to a dining room

When someone says dining room, what picture appears in your mind?  Try  it.  List the elements.

For many of us these words conjure up a dining room set with everything matching, a chandelier and some sort of hutch or maybe buffet.  Probably a picture of some sort will be included.  I bet matching is the most obvious characteristic.

It doesn't have to be that way unless that's what you like.

 Here are 5 ways you can  make your dining space stand out a little.

Mix and match your chairs and table

The days of dining sets have moved behind us.  In many magazines you will see all sorts of mixing of styles, materials and colours. I love the look of upholstered chairs with a wood table. They soften the hard edges and provide some relief in the "wood" department. Some adventurous types will go for two different styles of chairs.

 Adore magazine

 Another option if you aren't too adventurous is to upholster each of your wooden chairs with a different, but co-ordinated fabric.  Note how this room sports more traditional chairs with a very simple table.

In the case of my own dining space, I painted my matching chairs charcoal  and upholstered them with a much lighter fabric to make them the centre of interest in  my sea of golden tones. I am trying to get up enough nerve to paint the solid ash buffets the same colour.   I'm not there yet.  It's difficult when your furniture is all hand made with love.

Look for a harmonious  buffet 

Forget about having a matching buffet (I wish I could!).  Look for one with the same undertone as your table  or chairs and similar lines if you like, or go for something painted or a different style entirely.  Some element of it should relate it to the room as a whole: wood tone, style, or colour of other objects in room.

Here are two I would choose for my space to work with my chairs.

They certainly harmonize with the darkness of the chairs, the style is mid centuryish like the table and I like the fact they are both raised off the floor.  This openness will give the illusion of space, always an added plus in a small room. 

Have at least one hand made/original item

 We live in a mass produced economy where the answer  to everything is in a big box store.  Not so.  Save your pennies, visit an antique shop, a fine craft store or gallery.  Look for something you love, made by the hand of an artist, and place it with pride knowing it's unique.  It doesn't have to be large.

This month I have a lovely pot on my buffet created by an artist friend, Anita Singh.  I love her work 

because it always relates to the natural world.  Barnacle is always a conversation piece.  It is also the perfect example of my next point.

Use a variety of textures

Textures make the most interesting addition to spaces, and it is the element that I see under-utilized  in homes. In my space I have silk drapes, lots of wood grain, a highly textured plant container made from ceramic, a white wavy vase, metal candlesticks with mother of pearl, and two plants.  I love texture!

Choose one unexpected element

Right now the pot my ferns are in is my an unexpected item.  It is so rough and worn looking and I have it paired with silk drapes. Other options could be your light fixture, a painting, something on your tabletop or a small piece of furniture in a corner.  Some would say it should have bling, but I'll leave that up to you.

What's your "interesting " score?

 This is a very arbitrary checklist, based on what is "current"  in my  decor reading and viewing.   Hardly scientific!

No my dining room isn't perfect but hopefully it is interesting.
Just because I write about design doesn't mean my space is perfect (whatever that means) or that it even lives up to what I know about the elements and principles of design.  There's the small matter of competing priorities including: budget, interest and energy, connections to objects and furniture, beliefs about your role consuming and junking, and the desire for good old predictability in your environment etc.

The Benefits of Remodeling Your Bathroom before Selling a Property

If you have a property you want to sell, you may want to consider remodeling the bathroom. However, this is a costly project and you need to think about whether or not it is actually worth your money. After all, you will want to see some sort of return on investment. It is for this reason that when it comes to bathroom remodeling Scottsdale Arizona companies have listed the benefits of choosing this.

The Benefits of Remodeling Your Bathroom

By far the biggest benefit that you will experience is that your home will have that true wow factor. Three rooms in a home have to be impressive if you want to make a sale, one of which is the bathroom. Indeed, some would say it is actually the most important room of all. You can either remodel your entire bathroom, or just replace a few of the elements. If done properly, however, you could sell your house quicker and for more money. After all, if your bathroom looks terrible, people are likely to lower their offer price as well.

One of the great things about remodeling your bathroom is that you can fit it according to your budget. If money is no object (we can all dream), then you may as well have the whole thing done from floor to ceiling. However, on a limited budget, you need to look critically at what looks the worst and how you can improve that. A Scottsdale remodeling company can help you with those decisions. For instance, replacing a stained toilet or a cracked sink doesn’t need to cost much and will have a great effect.

It is always recommended that you hire a professional company to do your remodeling work. This is due to the fact that you will be dealing with plumbing, which should only be done by professionals. Secondly, a remodeling company will be able to see which elements need replacing. They will also be able to advise you based on your personal budget. Yes, it does cost more to hire a professional company, but this is money well spent.

A second big benefit is that having a beautiful bathroom will actually increase the overall value of your property. Naturally, this does depend on a number of factors. One of the main factors is how well the remodeling was actually done. All the more reason, therefore, to hire a professional company to help you with the work. The value increase you can expect can be very significant and if your existing bathroom was in a particularly poor condition, you could actually see an instant return on investment. Unfortunately, the cost of a bathroom remodeling project is substantial. This is a big reason for many people to not invest in it, trying to sell their property with a poor quality bathroom instead. If you do indeed not have the funds to invest in your bathroom then there is little else that can be done. However, since you are likely to see a full return on investment, you may want to consider stretching your funds slightly.

What Are Portable Storage Containers?

Most people know what a storage unit is. They tend to be used by people who have belongings that they don’t want to get rid of, but that they do not have the space for to store them at home or in their office. A storage unit ensures these belongings are safe and protected, without having to rearrange the home itself. Portable storage containers on the other hand, are slightly different from this. Basically, it gives you all the benefits of a regular storage unit, but then a few others as well.

Static Storage Units

A regular storage unit is a bit like a garage. It is a large, rectangular space, often inside of a concrete structure. Often, they are within facilities that don’t allow for 24/7 access. This means that, to use them, you have to schedule your visits. Additionally, you need to be able to move all your items to and from the storage unit as well. An added problem is that storage units are often vandalized, simply because people know that there may be something interesting contained within them. With the popularity of programs such as Storage Wars rising, the risk of having your unit broken into has been increased quite a lot. So, although a storage unit is useful, it certainly has some potential problems as well.

Portable Storage Units

Looking at portable storage containers, however, you will have all the benefits of a static unit in as such that you can store all your belongings outside of your home and office. However, rather than being placed within a storage facility, they are placed on your land. They look like large metal shed in a rectangular shape, and portable storage containers rental companies drop these off at your property. Hence, you don’t have to worry about only being able to access your unit during opening times. You can add and remove things as and when you see fit, and you don’t have to worry about damage during transit. No need to haul, pack or unpack. Simply carry your items from your property into the container and they are ready.

In terms of safety, while there is always a chance of burglary on any property, it is greatly reduced because you are not advertising the fact that items are stored as you would with a regular storage facility. Hence, your unit will be as safe as what they are at home. Finally, if you don’t have the space or ability to keep your storage container on your land, it can be brought to you, you fill it, and it is then taken to a different secured facility.

Storage units have long been used by people who want to keep belongings outside of their home, their portable equivalents offer an easier, safer and far more convenient way to do this. Whether you are moving home, upgrading your office or simply want to declutter your property, a portable storage unit truly is the best option.

Designing Your Custom Home for the Future

As the population of the nation ages, the accessibility of various items has become an important goal for custom home builders. Even if you’re still young, you should consider all of the vital accessibility factors that may come into play when you or your loved ones become older.

The best way to design your home is in such a way that you and your loved ones will be able to age in the home as long as possible. Your needs will change, and your home should be able to change with them. Here are some factors to consider when looking at accessibility and interior design for custom homes.

1. Plan for the needs of the future: If you plan to age in place (which is a term that is used to mean “staying in your home as you grow older”), you should plan for the future when you are putting together your home design. For example, if your house has two stories, you should consider some of the accommodations that you may have to make if someone in your home were to become sick or injured at any point in time. If there are some able-bodied people who can walk upstairs and come back downstairs, it doesn’t really matter where the bathrooms and bedrooms are. However, if on the other hand, there is someone who can’t move around as easily, you should make sure you have the bedroom, the bathroom and the office on the main level. You could also invest in the installation of chairs that make it easier for people to get up and down the stairs.

2. First floor planning: When you build a two-story home, you may get in touch with a Miami custom home builder and ask him to build a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, living room and a family room on the first floor. More than 45% of new homes have their master suites in the ground floor, which is about 16% less than previous years. By having the common rooms on the main floor, the people with motion problems can avoid going upstairs and coming back downstairs. Another modification that you can make is installing a ramp or some other device that helps people get in and out of the home without using stairs.

3. Don’t sacrifice your desires: Just because you are custom building your home around accessibility, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t have the opportunity or ability to build a home that matches your dreams as well. In other words, a home that has a universal design can still be pleasing in an aesthetic manner. People usually wish to live in a place that will look nice, no matter how old they are. It really doesn’t matter what your health at the current time may be. Therefore, you shouldn’t compromise on your desires while building your custom home.

Therefore, if you’re looking forward to building a custom home, you should look for help with your interior design. Get the best service from them and help them make your dream home come true. This post has been brought to you by Ian from the MV Construction Group. He has experience in the construction industry, contributes posts to various blogs about housing, and also compiles information to provide to websites about the construction industry.

Making the Custom Home Building Process Simpler

Did you always dream of owning a home that would be built the way you want? Did you want to have a library, a gym and a dance studio within your home so that you had everything that you wanted in your home? If you answered yes to those questions, the most viable solution for you is to build a custom home of your own. However, when it comes to building custom homes, there arises the dilemma of whether you will save more money buying a home or building one. How are you supposed to go about the process of building a custom home? Are there any tips that can help make the process easier? Here are a few things that you’ll want to think about.

1. Check your wallet: Your budget will help determine the style of home that you are going to be able to build, and the community in which you will want to build it. You will waste your time if you start the process without having an idea of what you actually want and how much you’re going to be able to pay for it. Unless you’re lucky enough to have enough cash in the bank, you will probably need to take a construction loan of some sort to be able to afford the costs. Learn about the financing options that you have and then get approved for a loan before you go any further.

2. Choose the best location: When you are building a custom home, everything should be according to your desires. Determine the place where you want to live and the type of community that will best suit your lifestyle. This may require some research and homework on your part. Drive through the neighborhood and get an idea of what it’s like. If you know people that are living in the neighborhood, talk to them and see what they think about the area. You can also usually get an idea via online forums and other resources as to how a community is as well.

3. Choose a team of experts: Once you’re done with the loan and the location, now it’s time to choose the architects and the builders. If you’re looking for a builder, you may opt for the company can provide you with some of the best custom home builders. Keep it simple and hire professionals who can keep you from making mistakes. Finding a builder that is going to be able to meet your needs is vital, so make sure that you talk to several of them before you make a final decision.

If you’re about to build a custom home, you should take the above mentioned tips into consideration while you’re starting the process. Take the time to make the best decision so that, after construction, your home is exactly the way that you want it to be. By putting the time and the effort into the process, you will have a better chance of finding everything that you need for an affordable price.

Author Bio: This article was written by Lauren Taylor Drew, who has experience in home building and real estate. Ms. Drew has written for various real estate blogs and is active on a number of forums and communities related to real estate.

The strangest things ever found in storage units

People have found extremely valuable items in storage unit auctions, including gold watches, a $1 million comic book, and thousands of dollars in coins and precious metals. But what are the strangest items people have ever found?

Please include attribution to http://www.smart-space.co.uk with this graphic.


Source : Smart Space

Great Online Resources for Aspiring Photographers

Taking pictures is a wonderful hobby. It’s creative, it teaches you to look at the world in a new way, and it forces you to go out and see different places. It is no wonder then that photography is an increasingly popular hobby amongst a broad range of people. Photographers take up the pastime for different reasons, they may want to document their family’s activities, they may have aspirations of turning professional; what every amateur has in common is that they want to be as good as they can be. Therefore, it is useful to know the places on the web to go to get tips, inspiration and guidance on various areas of photography. Here are some of the best resources out there.

Free Photo Editing Software

While some are against excessive use of digital editing in photography it makes sense to make minor adjustments to make the best of your snaps. Websites such as Picasa, Google’s free desktop software does all the editing basics and is also a great organisational tool. For those who are looking for a way to quickly make changes and have a handy place to stores a lot of pictures, Picasa is perfect.

Manual Photographer’s Guide

For those who prefer the analogue approach, the website Zippi has created this great manual photographers cheat sheet. There is no better way to hone your photography skills than learning your practice with a manual camera. In an age when anyone can make the most ordinary picture look special using various digital filters, there is an honesty to analogue which will ensure you up your photography game.

Buying Guide

The website Popular Photography is packed with awesome content for the keen snapper. One of the best features of the site is it’s Buying Guide section which fully tests and reviews a range of cameras and lenses. So if you are buying your first camera or looking to upgrade, make sure you check out this site.

21 Must-know Settings, Techniques and Rules

This listicle on Digital Photography School goes into detail on camera settings, techniques which enable you to catch a range of tricky situations and rules for you to follow, all of which will go some way to improving your photography skillset.

Inspiration

For a range of amazing images from the most original photographers, take a look at Lens Culture. This beautifully curated site offers thoroughly inspirational works from snappers working in the fields of street photography, documentary, landscape, portrait along with more abstract works.

My Photo School

For those who are serious about developing their craft, My Photo School groups together a range of courses in one location. From courses on professional photography to photo journalism, you can gain a range of skills from the comfort of your own home at an affordable price.

Post your Prints This great site enables you to send your snaps in physical postcard form to anyone you think will like the image directly from your smart phone. It may not be the pro’s first port of call but it is another reason to take more pictures and a rare opportunity to easily develop your images.

Tips on Making Your Home Unique

With everyone shopping at the same few multinational furniture shops (mentioning no names but one is big, blue and Swedish!), it can be difficult to make your home look different to everyone else’s. However, it is important that our living spaces reflect our personality, they should be a celebration of our creativity and our family’s lives together. Luckily, there are lots of ways you can express yourself through your interior decoration. Here are a few tips.

Upcycle

Upcycling allows you to give seemingly obsolete objects a new lease of life. You could refurbish the object to bring it back to it’s original use or reinvent it as something completely different. Go along to a charity shop or look out for cast-off furniture elsewhere and save money while flexing your artistic muscle. If you are looking for some inspiration, there are some great upcycling ideas on Pinterest.

Visit Sales Rooms

Sales rooms auctioning second hand and antique furniture can be gold mines for furniture and other objects which will give your home quirky and period personality. It is possible to pick up some real bargains at such auctions as well as unusual items you will not find anywhere else. You may also find great items which can be upcycled.

Personal Pictures

Adorning your walls with pictures from your holidays, special occasions and other family memories is another fantastic way to ensure your home has the look of your own. If you only own blurry holiday snaps or pictures of you and your partner on a drunken night out, you may want to pay a visit to Venture Photography to get a professional picture done. For added personality use a mixture of frame styles on walls to give it a quirky look.

Unique Wallpaper

Another way to use your favourite pictures is to get special wallpaper prints from websites such as Bags of Love. It is possible to create all kind of great wall paper with pages from books, magazines or other images which you just need to neatly paste to the wall and then cover in paste. For other unique wallpaper ideas, see this selection on Houzz.

Bring the Outdoors In

Adding lots of plants to your home will set it apart from others’. Buying unusual plants and feature pieces such as terraria and air plants will especially give a home a unique quality. Air plants come with the added advantage of being very, very easy to look after so if you are prone to killing any plants you come into contact with, air plants are perfect for your decidedly un-green fingers.

Art Work

Buying original artwork does not necessarily have to cost a fortune. Local print fairs, websites such as Deviant art and even some galleries and art shops all attempt to make art available to the masses. Follow your own tastes and buy pieces which fit in with your décor to make your home a culture vulture’s paradise!

3 tips to a good-as-new living room

Does your living room have more dust mites than actual carpet? Are its walls yellow when they used to be white? Is there a faint smell of, bleurgh, something undefinably awful hanging around your settees? Then it’s time for a change.

After all, your living room is probably where you’ll hang out most in your home. It’s where you’ll enjoy gatherings with friends, binge-watch seasons of Game of Thrones and read the latest paperback chillers. Do you really want it to look like the remnants of a landfill?

With that in mind, we’ve come up with a few ways you can give your front room some pizzazz – without breaking the bank.

Relax and recline

Your smelly settees might be cheap and cheerful – but they won’t do your back any good.

For the first few years of owning them, you won’t quite notice you spinal restructuring when you slump in these poorly constructed cushions. Then the pain in your back will grow more severe, snaking down your spine in intermittent spasms.

It’s a dangerous game to play in the long term, which is why you should buy quality the first time round. Invest in a few fully-adjustable fabric recliners and pick a colour that will match the overall tone of your room.

As you lounge in this world of comfort, you’ll enjoy great design AND great posture.

A touch of class

We all have our guilty pleasures. But as great as it is to catch up on TOWIE, a touch of highbrow culture could be the perfect counterpoint to your widescreen telly.

Buy a smart-looking bookshelf and cram it full of classical works of literature, from Shakespeare to Mary Shelley to Bret Easton Ellis. For bookends, use candlesticks and ornaments to give you that decadent vibe.

Your bookshelf will cover a wall full of points of interest. Just imagine the conversations you’ll start on culture. And who knows – you might even enjoy what you read.

Now featuring…

Sometimes you simply can’t afford to doll up an entire room with expensive new furnishings and major refurbishments. But if you can pool all your spending at one wall, you could make it the eye-catching focal point for your room.

A feature wall should have a distinctive personality all of its own, with colourful wallpaper and perhaps a few provocative pictures.

You’re walking a fine line with a feature wall. The trick is to pack it with colour while not descending into garishness. If you can manage that, you’ll have a wall that’s stylish – even if the rest of your room has gone to the dogs.

A welcoming atmosphere and sanctuary in an apartment interior

The Barra I Funda apartment was designed by Kwartet Arquitetura in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
With the requirement of client for a space with 2 kids and parent, the owner want this apartment should have a welcoming atmosphere, but since they are used to travel a lot, they want this place to act as a sanctuary as well.
The living room has a special area called the “travel corner” where the couple can exhibit the things they brought home from their trips. The ceiling seems high because the designers interfered with the upper door, making it higher. All the finishes and woodwork were also designed by the people from Kwartet Arquitetura.

The warm contrast is rendered by the differences between the Tauari flooring and the home theater panel that is made of wood and the bar table that has a bright yellowish hue and the gray buffet lacquer. The style of the pieces of furniture is mixed,in this home you can find both contemporary and classic pieces of furniture.
The headboard is upholstered with linen and sconces are fixed on its surface. There is also a white and golden wallpaper in the same room and it contrasts with the dark blinds.

 

A skyscraper in China designed by the American architectural

The Greenland Group Suzhou Center in China was designed by the American architectural practice of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill- the winner of a competition for designing a skyscraper in China.
The design of Greenland Group Suzhou Center incorporates into the building a tremendous window covering thirty floors. The multiple-purpose tower will be set next to the Taihu Lakein Wuijang and it will become a landmark for the city with its window that covers a third of the building and is set towards the old part of the city. The building is planned to be finished in 2015 and will have 358 meters in which there will be office spaces, stores, apartments and a hotel in the 75 floors.

The building incorporates an atrium which practically separates the two sides of the building also adding extra ventilation to the interior.
This is the sixth building that this firm designs for the Chinese property developers of the Greenland Group and they also designed the Burj Khalifa tower which is at the moment the highest building on the planet.

Attracted office interior design of Kamat & Rozario Architecture for White Canvas firm

Kamat & Rozario Architecture has design office for the White Canvas firm - an independent advertising agency.
According from White Canvas firm, their office should have several closed rooms for different meetings and discussions and each of these spaces was designed as a different canvas space, thus each has its own character and personality according to the users. These closed spaces are actually designed as mobile containers and the carpentry used for building them comes from waste pieces of blockboard panels with the final construction done on site.

The three containers were placed in the middle of the office space so that the illumination and windows weren’t covered or disturbed in any way. Surrounded by work areas and informal break spaces the containers became a meeting room, a thinking/idea room and the creative director’s seat.