Blinds On Blinds!

If you don't want curtains in your bedroom why not take inspiration from the idea of using two different types of blinds?

Venetian blinds fitted inside the recess of the window provides the privacy you need without the use of net curtains, whilst a linen blend Roman blind style breaks the starkness, adding a soft and gentle touch which is ideal for bedrooms.

The great advantage of using two types of blinds is the endless possibilities of colour combinations you can use! White Venetian blinds provide you with a crisp clean look, as well as the versatility of being able to control the amount of light entering the room, whilst you can have a fabric blind which matches or coordinates with your bedding sets to bring the room together and provide a sense of balance.

This style of window dressing becoming increasingly popular as it a great money saver! Not only can ready made Roman blinds be bought inexpensively, you can also make your own Roman blinds which opens up a whole world of wonderful fabrics to choose from. Double layering window dressings is also a good way to help reduce heat loss via your windows, especially if you select a medium weight fabric for the Roman blinds.

Image: two ellie blogspot

Kitchen Countertop Options

If you are building a new home, there are countless options for countertops. Countertops are priced by the lineal or square foot, most often with the template, delivery, and installation included in the price. Prices vary significantly, too, depending on the material, texture, complexity of the edge, the number of holes, the type of sink you are using, and how many seams there will be. You will want to consider the countertop's longevity, durability, maintenance, and installed price.

Laminate $15-$45 per square foot: economical, not scratch or heat resistant; not built to last

Ceramic Tile $10-$30 per square foot: economical, scratch and heat resistant, but high maintenance

Butcher Block $30-$65 per square foot: easy to install and repair, durable but maintenance required

Solid Surface $35-$100 per square foot: seams only visible from the underside; stain and heat resistant but may crack or get scorched from hot pans; scratches can be softened (Corian® solid surface colors by DuPont®, right)

Quartz $50-$100 per square foot: good for busy kitchens; stain and heat resistant, low maintenance

Engineered Stone $50-$100 per square foot: extremely durable, resists heat and stains

Marble $50-$140 per square foot: New England slate, from New York, Vermont, and Maine, is durable, non-porous, and requires no sealing; price varies by color

Limestone $60-$100 per square foot: low-traffic kitchen. It withstands heat very well

Natural Stone / Granite $50-$200 per square foot: density, strength, water absorption, and acid resistance (granite countertop, right)

Concrete $80-$120 per square foot: very popular, but porous and absorbs stains easily, must be sealed regularly

Kitchen Countertop Options

If you are building a new home, there are countless options for countertops. Countertops are priced by the lineal or square foot, most often with the template, delivery, and installation included in the price. Prices vary significantly, too, depending on the material, texture, complexity of the edge, the number of holes, the type of sink you are using, and how many seams there will be. You will want to consider the countertop's longevity, durability, maintenance, and installed price.

Laminate $15-$45 per square foot: economical, not scratch or heat resistant; not built to last

Ceramic Tile $10-$30 per square foot: economical, scratch and heat resistant, but high maintenance

Butcher Block $30-$65 per square foot: easy to install and repair, durable but maintenance required

Solid Surface $35-$100 per square foot: seams only visible from the underside; stain and heat resistant but may crack or get scorched from hot pans; scratches can be softened (Corian® solid surface colors by DuPont®, right)

Quartz $50-$100 per square foot: good for busy kitchens; stain and heat resistant, low maintenance

Engineered Stone $50-$100 per square foot: extremely durable, resists heat and stains

Marble $50-$140 per square foot: New England slate, from New York, Vermont, and Maine, is durable, non-porous, and requires no sealing; price varies by color

Limestone $60-$100 per square foot: low-traffic kitchen. It withstands heat very well

Natural Stone / Granite $50-$200 per square foot: density, strength, water absorption, and acid resistance (granite countertop, right)

Concrete $80-$120 per square foot: very popular, but porous and absorbs stains easily, must be sealed regularly

interior home design

It may seem rather intimidating to think about decorating your own home. Lots of people just live with things the way they find are. Others get the help of professionals, since they have no clue what they like or what approach to take!

Your home is your personal space. If you need help ask for suggestions, browse through interior design journals or online for inspiration! However, when the time comes to make decisions, they should be yours and your family’s. It's your home and you should feel comfortable with the choices as you are the one who has to live with the choices!

Take a focal point in your room or the natural pathways. An example of this could be an ornate fire place, architectural features or placement of windows. Make this your starting point and start to design from one of these,

Choose your fabric, flooring and upholstery first, not the paint that you will use on the walls. You can always have paint mixed in any colour to compliment or match your soft furnishings when the time comes.

Don't try to make things match, this is rarely effective! It is far better to have different textures, patterns such as floral and stripes which will add interest and style to the room.

Try not too make the room look too fussy by covering every surface with your treasures! Select the loves you love the most give them space to be viewed and enjoyed!

Determine which style of window treatments would be most practical and fit in with your design theme. The most common window treatments are blinds such as vertical blinds, or Venetian or traditional styled curtains used on their own or in combination with a blind. Choose the window dressing carefully as they do far more then just dress a window, they give you privacy, light, and insulation. As such they should always be an integral part of the design scheme not left as an after thought!

If you have thread bare carpets you have some great choices! Probably the most cost effective is to buy cheap rugs and cover the ‘bald’ bits! However, this is only a short term measure. Either replace the carpet or opt for the latest design trends and have stripped floor boards if you have wooden floors. The most cost effective way would be to strip the boards yourself, but this can be very time consuming, particularly if the boards are not in very good order or have layers of varnish to remove, in which case it may be advisable to obtain professional advice.

If you live in a modern style home which has concrete floors wood effect laminate floor is worth considering. The cheap rugs you brought can still be used on either of these floor surfaces as they will still coordinate with your soft furnishings.

If your furniture is mismatched or maybe you have inherited it, try to find a way of tying it all in with your room. By adding throws or cushions in coordinating fabric or painting the wood on some pieces of furniture, can achieve the desired effect you want.

interior home design

It may seem rather intimidating to think about decorating your own home. Lots of people just live with things the way they find are. Others get the help of professionals, since they have no clue what they like or what approach to take!

Your home is your personal space. If you need help ask for suggestions, browse through interior design journals or online for inspiration! However, when the time comes to make decisions, they should be yours and your family’s. It's your home and you should feel comfortable with the choices as you are the one who has to live with the choices!

Take a focal point in your room or the natural pathways. An example of this could be an ornate fire place, architectural features or placement of windows. Make this your starting point and start to design from one of these,

Choose your fabric, flooring and upholstery first, not the paint that you will use on the walls. You can always have paint mixed in any colour to compliment or match your soft furnishings when the time comes.

Don't try to make things match, this is rarely effective! It is far better to have different textures, patterns such as floral and stripes which will add interest and style to the room.

Try not too make the room look too fussy by covering every surface with your treasures! Select the loves you love the most give them space to be viewed and enjoyed!

Determine which style of window treatments would be most practical and fit in with your design theme. The most common window treatments are blinds such as vertical blinds, or Venetian or traditional styled curtains used on their own or in combination with a blind. Choose the window dressing carefully as they do far more then just dress a window, they give you privacy, light, and insulation. As such they should always be an integral part of the design scheme not left as an after thought!

If you have thread bare carpets you have some great choices! Probably the most cost effective is to buy cheap rugs and cover the ‘bald’ bits! However, this is only a short term measure. Either replace the carpet or opt for the latest design trends and have stripped floor boards if you have wooden floors. The most cost effective way would be to strip the boards yourself, but this can be very time consuming, particularly if the boards are not in very good order or have layers of varnish to remove, in which case it may be advisable to obtain professional advice.

If you live in a modern style home which has concrete floors wood effect laminate floor is worth considering. The cheap rugs you brought can still be used on either of these floor surfaces as they will still coordinate with your soft furnishings.

If your furniture is mismatched or maybe you have inherited it, try to find a way of tying it all in with your room. By adding throws or cushions in coordinating fabric or painting the wood on some pieces of furniture, can achieve the desired effect you want.

interior design ideas

Interior design ideas these days are dime a 12. If you watch a television show that is dedicated to interior designing for one hour, once you come out, you would have enough knowledge that you can design for complete home. The main drawback of a television show when compared to applying these ideas in life is these are tough to document. If you don’t sit next or in front of the TV and scribble down madly onto paper piece, it is really difficult to remember all the ideas that you get watching the show. The key for a successful interior designing is planning.

Replicating or trying to copy an idea or design from a TV show for your home could include additional planning or steps which might not be shown in an hour or a thirty – minutes of a show. This being the reason it is necessary for one to go through the entire dry run of the design or idea before we actually execute it. There is a fair chance for figuring out and taking corrective measures to make sure a hassle free application.

The only resource for ideas and information for interior designs is not Television. Books always remain as a better help for designers of any experience and background. The information we get in the books is more or less explanative and thought-out material when compared to a TV show. As book demand more basic information and material than a Television show can have in a limited segment of time. Not only this, books are written by two or three authors together for such subjects and are also edited before it is released to the readers in any form. So, the information would be edited and re-written by two to three parties. Exceptions for the rules are always there but, this would be the normal scenario.

If you feel reading a book is time consuming for tedious task, then you can always choose to read a magazine article as another source of information for interior design. You always have the benefit of pictures or visual representations of the designs and its concepts in a magazine that you can look into or hold on for a particular period of time. Professional interior designers collect all these articles in big numbers along with the visuals and keep them in a format that can be accessible to everyone easily. This is a perfect source for getting specific information, feel or look that is difficult to describe in actual terms of industry for a client. Terminology used in these articles are self-explanatory although people who don’t have much expose to this jargons might find it difficult to understand few phrases or concepts that are used to define the interior design areas. Most of us are aware of the words ‘modern’ and ‘traditional’ design but, the magazines would not find it difficult to say ‘Americana’ or ‘Minimalist’ for these terms. You need not think its incomplete just because you are not aware of these phrases, you have to understand that the process of learning takes time and hence is exactly termed as a process.

If you have enough creative ideas with you, go through different magazines and have an unique and distinct style design for your work that are within the ideas and guidelines for interior designing. If you feel you are not much comfortable with your style and find it easy in the traditional design segment, then collate all the ideas pertaining to this category and stick to the ideas or guidelines provided in the information you have collected.

interior design ideas

Interior design ideas these days are dime a 12. If you watch a television show that is dedicated to interior designing for one hour, once you come out, you would have enough knowledge that you can design for complete home. The main drawback of a television show when compared to applying these ideas in life is these are tough to document. If you don’t sit next or in front of the TV and scribble down madly onto paper piece, it is really difficult to remember all the ideas that you get watching the show. The key for a successful interior designing is planning.

Replicating or trying to copy an idea or design from a TV show for your home could include additional planning or steps which might not be shown in an hour or a thirty – minutes of a show. This being the reason it is necessary for one to go through the entire dry run of the design or idea before we actually execute it. There is a fair chance for figuring out and taking corrective measures to make sure a hassle free application.

The only resource for ideas and information for interior designs is not Television. Books always remain as a better help for designers of any experience and background. The information we get in the books is more or less explanative and thought-out material when compared to a TV show. As book demand more basic information and material than a Television show can have in a limited segment of time. Not only this, books are written by two or three authors together for such subjects and are also edited before it is released to the readers in any form. So, the information would be edited and re-written by two to three parties. Exceptions for the rules are always there but, this would be the normal scenario.

If you feel reading a book is time consuming for tedious task, then you can always choose to read a magazine article as another source of information for interior design. You always have the benefit of pictures or visual representations of the designs and its concepts in a magazine that you can look into or hold on for a particular period of time. Professional interior designers collect all these articles in big numbers along with the visuals and keep them in a format that can be accessible to everyone easily. This is a perfect source for getting specific information, feel or look that is difficult to describe in actual terms of industry for a client. Terminology used in these articles are self-explanatory although people who don’t have much expose to this jargons might find it difficult to understand few phrases or concepts that are used to define the interior design areas. Most of us are aware of the words ‘modern’ and ‘traditional’ design but, the magazines would not find it difficult to say ‘Americana’ or ‘Minimalist’ for these terms. You need not think its incomplete just because you are not aware of these phrases, you have to understand that the process of learning takes time and hence is exactly termed as a process.

If you have enough creative ideas with you, go through different magazines and have an unique and distinct style design for your work that are within the ideas and guidelines for interior designing. If you feel you are not much comfortable with your style and find it easy in the traditional design segment, then collate all the ideas pertaining to this category and stick to the ideas or guidelines provided in the information you have collected.

interior design photos

Small spaces have great potential when it comes to house interior design. Make more room while giving each space your unique design expression by applying these 7 rules the pros use!

1. Slim Down - Get a large box, basket or bag and sift through those small accents. Too many little things sitting around a small room will clog of the room's space quickly. It's amazing how much air space you will create by being super specific about what you have placed on table tops and shelves.

2. Trim Down - Heavy, bulky window treatments not only block the limited light in your small room but are also space hoggers. Free those windows by using shades, blinds or even shutters. There are some gorgeous options to be made or purchased at your favorite house interior design store. Have a little extra money to spend, have your blinds custom designed in fabrics that compliment the rest of your room's decor.

3. Color Down - Though a variety of color breaks up a large house, too much color in a small one will work against your already limited amount of space. It is best to paint all the walls one color or use a similar pallet hue for small subtle changes from room to room.

4. Lighten Up - Pull in that limited light with the use of mirrors positioned directly across from a window. Use semi gloss paint to reflect the light and keep your furniture polished and your appliances clean.

5. Fabric Up - It is better to fabric up your accents and leave the large furniture pieces to solids. If you already have a busy couch with a floral print, shapes or strips, consider toning things down a bit with a slip cover. Then, bring in those extra fabrics in your accents to provide some visual depth and emotional interest. Have fun with this part of your house interior design project!

Bring in those weaves, patterns, and quilted fabrics for this.

6. Liven Up - Nothing says open space and health like fresh plants placed around a room. Potted plants are preferred but bountiful bouquets regularly freshened up will also work well.

Limited for room? Positioning a potted plant in front of the fireplace mantle during the warmest time of the year is a great use of that space. Angle your furniture and use the extra space to display an indoor tree or palm.

7. Step Up - Light bare wood is always the best and beautiful of option for giving a small room a larger appearance. Flooring in an apartment cannot be changed but it can be changed up! Place a lighter area rug on top of the existing carpet. Or in the case of a dark linoleum find a light bamboo or Berber to bring out the light.

interior design photos

Small spaces have great potential when it comes to house interior design. Make more room while giving each space your unique design expression by applying these 7 rules the pros use!

1. Slim Down - Get a large box, basket or bag and sift through those small accents. Too many little things sitting around a small room will clog of the room's space quickly. It's amazing how much air space you will create by being super specific about what you have placed on table tops and shelves.

2. Trim Down - Heavy, bulky window treatments not only block the limited light in your small room but are also space hoggers. Free those windows by using shades, blinds or even shutters. There are some gorgeous options to be made or purchased at your favorite house interior design store. Have a little extra money to spend, have your blinds custom designed in fabrics that compliment the rest of your room's decor.

3. Color Down - Though a variety of color breaks up a large house, too much color in a small one will work against your already limited amount of space. It is best to paint all the walls one color or use a similar pallet hue for small subtle changes from room to room.

4. Lighten Up - Pull in that limited light with the use of mirrors positioned directly across from a window. Use semi gloss paint to reflect the light and keep your furniture polished and your appliances clean.

5. Fabric Up - It is better to fabric up your accents and leave the large furniture pieces to solids. If you already have a busy couch with a floral print, shapes or strips, consider toning things down a bit with a slip cover. Then, bring in those extra fabrics in your accents to provide some visual depth and emotional interest. Have fun with this part of your house interior design project!

Bring in those weaves, patterns, and quilted fabrics for this.

6. Liven Up - Nothing says open space and health like fresh plants placed around a room. Potted plants are preferred but bountiful bouquets regularly freshened up will also work well.

Limited for room? Positioning a potted plant in front of the fireplace mantle during the warmest time of the year is a great use of that space. Angle your furniture and use the extra space to display an indoor tree or palm.

7. Step Up - Light bare wood is always the best and beautiful of option for giving a small room a larger appearance. Flooring in an apartment cannot be changed but it can be changed up! Place a lighter area rug on top of the existing carpet. Or in the case of a dark linoleum find a light bamboo or Berber to bring out the light.

interior design

interior design

interior design Photos

interior design Ideas



interior design