Small rooms decorating ideas, larger look with the help of light and furniture.

Small room decorating ideas. Almost in every house we meet with such a problem like small spaces decoration. Even if your  bedroom, living room and dining room are big enough, sometimes such areas like bathroom, powder room and laundry can be too small to put all the furniture you need inside. Thanks to new furniture designs there is a big choice of small furniture parts to use it in small rooms, but if you know some more tips you can make your room seem larger than it is with the help of lighting and right placing the furniture.

Lighting. It is good if your room that you are going to decorate is on the  sunny side, has big windows and good lamp. What to do if it is not so but still you want your room to look brighter and larger? Even if you use a lot of lighting and do not care about electricity you use, remember, that dark, cold colours make room look smaller. Warm dark colour also make room seem smaller but cosy. I have already told you in another article about the colours to paint walls and how colours affect size of rooms. So as you can understand it is better to use light and neutral colours. It is not a must to have white walls. You can paint walls in light colours of pink, green, blue, beige, cream.

Trim and moldings’ colour is also important. It is ok to paint them in the same colour with walls or in some lighter colours and white. Do not paint trim in darker colours cause it will make corners sharp. Also light colour of moldings make walls appear further back, so visually your small bedroom or living room looks larger.

Furniture. Do not worry, there is no need to make your room like an egg or like a hospital, you can use dark colours when decorating the room with furniture, art and accessories. Set your furniture at an angle cause diagonal is  longer that the other straight lines. Sure it is not valid for wardrobes but ideal for long sofas, you can also use area behind it in the corner for flowers. Use scaled – down furniture. There is really a big choice of furniture for small rooms, bathrooms, laundry and powder rooms. Do not thing that this type of furniture is ugly. May be you just need to shop around to find something with new design and modern colours.

Wallpapers. If you want to use wallpapers instead of paint buy only solid colours. Any pattern will make your room seem more narrow.

Ceiling. Always paint your ceiling  in white, it will make the walls look higher than they are, it is especially important in small living room and dining room.

Mirrors. Mirror is a great way to make rooms look larger. It not only enlargers room by reflecting the walls but it also reflects light that make rooms lighter and brighter. Although it is not a good idea to put mirrors in the bedrooms and on the ceilings like some people do. It is well known that if you sleep in front of the mirror you can have headache or you can not sleep well. As for the other rooms, you can buy cabinets, vanities, wardrobes with mirrors on the doors and you can make floor to ceiling mirror walls in living room. I do not advice to make big mirrors in dining room also cause it is said that eating in front of the mirror makes you become fatter. It is you to decide to believe it or not. As for home security i do not advice to use big mirrors if you have baby or children in the house. It can be just dangerous for them during playing games. I will also give detailed information on home decorating with mirrors in my next article.

How to paint, house painting tips, part 2.

Painting tips, part 2. Learn how to paint. It is not difficult at all. In my first article about painting i have already answered some questions on painting walls in the house. Here i want to continue my advices for those who want to do it himself.

1. Do colours affect room size? Which colours to choose for small and big rooms?

Everybody knows that light colours make room bigger and dark colours smaller. This is a common rule for house painting but you also should know that different colours affect different on each room. Red, orange and yellow colours make room smaller, a can say even more narrow, though they are considered to be warm and comfortable colours. Yellow colour is not so popular for house decoration and painting walls. Red and orange are also chosen only by a few percent of people, but if the colour is chosen right it look really beautiful. Do not refuse from these colours only just because the others do not use them. Right colour and paint type, suitable furniture can make the room really comfortable and modern at the same time. Opposite colours to red, orange and yellow are violet, blue and green. They make room look colder and larger. Though this is valid only for light colours, dark green, dark blue and dark violet will make room look smaller and colder, so it may be even worse choice that red, orange and yellow. If the room it too small, do choose white, beige, light pink, peach and light green and blue colours.

 2. How to choose colour for ceiling? Classic white colour is being changed by other colours, even dark ones. What is the best colour for ceiling?

Do you know why people paint ceiling in white for ages? White colour make it higher and room larger. If you have high ceiling in your house you can afford darker colours, your rooms will look more cosy. If you do not know what colour to choose and if your ceiling is high enough to paint it in other colours, paint it in white. By the way, do not paint ceiling in the same colour with walls. It will make a feeling of living in a box.

3. Paint finishes. How to choose the best one?

Different types of paint finishes affect the look of walls in different way. For example flat painted finish do not have shine and hide minor surface imperfections. If you decide to use flat paint finishing, choose only stain resistant ones. Velvet ( eggshell ) paint finishes give soft glow and room looks cosy. It is suitable for every room and is easy to clean. That is why a lot of people prefer this type of paint finish. Semi – gloss and satin paint finish are ideal for bathrooms, kitchens, doors and trim work cause it is easy to clean them. Gloss painting finish is ideal for doors and trip work cause they are shiny.

4. What type of paint to use? Oil based paint or water based paint? What is the difference between them?

It is better to use oil paint ( alkyd ) for all types of wood: windows, doors, floors and furniture. Water paint ( latex ) is suitable for all the other jobs in the house and garden. Water based paint is easy to be cleaned, does not have so much smell and dries faster.

House painting tips: frequently asked questions on how to paint, part 1.

House painting tips, part 1. With this article i want to start painting tips for house and garden. Painting in not something difficult, you can always do it yourself. All you need it to be careful to it’s smell and to air the house well after painting. Small parts and furniture is better to paint outside or at least on the balcony of you live in an apartment and have no garden or garage to do it outside. I am sure that once in your life, maybe at school or when helping your parents you have already did it and know how to pant. That is why i want to start with tips on different parts and details of decorations so you can see samples of work and maybe some of them just what you are looking for.

Frequently asked questions.

1. What is the best colour to paint rooms with?

It is easy to answer this question if you have already furniture and curtains on windows. Carpets, rugs and tiles also are important but at least you know what colour is your room and what colour will suit them. It is more difficult to choose the colour if the room is empty and you are just starting decoration. It is not always helpful to choose the colours you like. Your car’s colour will look different on the walls, so it is useful to read some designer tips and advices or buy some neutral paints. Neutral paints never look boring, they just suit to any furniture and flooring and even if you decide to change your interior design later you can do it without changing wall colours.

The first step is determining your color scheme by examining your existing furniture, window treatments, and other accessories (or shop for these items first). Choose your favorite colors in these items and visit your paint dealer to get coordinating color chips. Look at the color chips in the daylight and at night so you will see how lighting will affect your color choices. As a last resort, you might want to buy a quart of your chosen color and test it on one of your walls.

2. What should be the colours of trim work?

Light or dark colours will help to accentuate trim work, ask yourself if you want them to be seen or to be hidden. If you paint trim work with the colour of the walls then they will not have attract much attention. If you use wooden furniture with natural colours and hardwood flooring then leaving them in natural wooden colour will be also nice.

3. Colours on the wall sometimes look darker than when i choose them from catalog, should i choose lighter colours?

Yes, this is true. Sometimes we buy paints for walls and after they are applied we find our walls darker than it was expected. Why it happens so? First of all lighting of your room will affect the paint. Sunny side will always look brighter. Big and small rooms look different too. Choose light colours for small rooms and you can afford darker colours in big rooms. Room decoration like mirrors, curtains on the windows and furniture – everything affects the colour. One more important thing- if you apply the colour on the white wall it will be lighter than if you have had already some dark colour and you want to change it. It may require to paint the wall 2 or 3 times to close the previous colour and your new paint will still look darker that it was in the shop.

Panting tips, Part 2.

Fluorescent light bulbs and lambs – how really useful and safe is it?

Fluorescent light. Why and in what situations it is better to use fluorescent bulbs? Does it help to save money on electricity? How save is it? How does it treat to our health and are there are alternatives better than fluorescent? All these questions are asked by a lot of people all over the world not only in English, and they are right. When we choose lighting for our house and outdoor like garden or camping we think how to get the best and the cheapest, and we also want it to be safe for nature and our health. I am of those kind of people who thinks about environment and people’s health first of all, when i give any advices and ideas on home and garden decorating i always prefer to recommend organic products, so my first article about lighting i want to start with fluorescent lambs.

Advantages of fluorescent lights:

1. Fluorescent lamp does not heat.

2. Bulbs are long lasting and as compare to incandescent lamps they work up to 10 times longer.

3. They produce more light so that helps to use one bulb instead of 3 usual ones. So it helps to save watts and money of course.

Disadvantage of fluorescent is unflattering and harsh green- blue light. Why fluorescent light is green or blue? Coloration was made to soften the light but really it does not help much. The light does not look natural and what is more, when you design a room, the colour of it will look a bit different with this type of lighting. That is why designers never use it in home decoration. So were we can use it then?

Compact fluorescent light is ideal for  hall’s walls , garage ceilings and outdoor lighting. A lot of commercial buildings all around the world now use fluorescent lighting just to save money on electricity and maybe it is ok for stocks but not for people. A lot of shops use these bulbs cause this really helps to get. To my mind and i will speak honestly, i never like this type of lighting in the shops. My eyes feel uncomfortable. It is not important when you just pass some hallway but when you are looking for some clothes or shoes in a shop it really disturbs. Strong light can be very useful though – like in workshops and kitchen when there should not be shadow. But when you install fluorescent lambs think if you really feel yourself comfortable with them. The best is to try with one, and only after that to change the others.

Health question.  How healthy is it really and how safe is it ? Well, nowadays americans are divided in to two camps and not only in the USA, all around the world! that fluorescent is not harmful at all and the other other half says they are harmful. I do not want to take any body’s side, but the true is so- it is tiring for eyes. Another solution is to use lamps. I mean you can use fluorescent bulb protected by a round coloured lamb. It’s light will be softer, but it will be still cost- effective and last longer. The most popular trade mark that sells fluorescent bulbs is Philips.

All about oak hardwood flooring, advantages and types of oak floors.

Oak hardwood flooring. In my previous article about hardwood flooring i told you about the most popular types of hardwood floors. And now i want to give detailed information of the most popular among them – oak hardwood floors. Everybody likes hardwood floors for it’s nice and cosy view. It suits to every house and is ideal choice for those who does not want to have wall to wall carpets in the house. 

Advantages of hardwood flooring. Hardwood flooring where oak is used has really big choice of colours from light brown to dark one. You can choose the colour that suits the most to your rooms to your mind. Red oak or white oak to choose? Should it be solid or rustic? It is totally your choice, and if you are not sure which type of wood to choose, choose oak, and be sure, your house will look good. Oak looks very natural and modern at the same time, prices for oak floors are affordable for every family with every budget.

How much does it cost? Thanks to competitive pricing and large choice of oak hardwood flooring prices are cheaper as compare to other types of flooring. Prices start from 50 dollars depending on type of flooring. As compare to other types of wood, oak is cheaper than cherry and a bit more expensive that maple. Solid oak hardwood flooring starts from 50 dollars and upper, engineered oak hardwood flooring starts from 100 dollars. Well, what doest it mean engineered and solid?

Types of oak hardwood flooring. There are two types of flooring – engineered and solid. Engineered type is more expensive because they can be installed easily and is is called finished hardwood flooring. It is suitable for all floors almost and really easy to install it yourself. Another advantage of engineered floating hardwoods is that it is suitable for all types of weather. Depending of  the region of your living air humidity can be high or low or change in spring and autumn. All this affects wood. Have you even had a wooden wardrobe? Nothing will happen to your engineered oak hardwood floors. I think that it is a better investment. Yes, you pay twice higher but you are sure to use this type of floor for ages. It is you to decide which type to purchase, unfinished, prefinished or finished one.

Hardwood flooring: maple, ash, pine, birch, bamboo, fir, oak – which to choose?

Hardwood flooring. Which type of  flooring to choose? What is the best and ideal tree to make it? The most popular are: maple, ash, pine, birch, bamboo, fir and oak. In this article i will tell you some words about each of them and in my next articles i will give detailed information on installing, cleaning and refinishing hardwood floors.

I adore hardwood floor. It is some ideal type of flooring that looks so great that can be used without rugs. It is ideal choice for those who have durst allergy and can not have carpets at home. Wood keeps floors warm and cosy. How healthy it is and how much maintenance it requires i will also tell you in another article and now let’s check which type of wood to choose?

Maple hardwood flooring. Maple is one of the most popular types of hardwood flooring, everybody adores it’s light colour and natural view. Maybe it’s  colour maybe too light for rooms with high traffic, so think if you can afford yourself regular maintenance of it.

Ash hardwood flooring. Ash is one of the favourite types of wood for it’s strength but if you have a look at the pictures you may see that it’s colour suits mostly for wooden houses with wooden furniture designed in wooden style.

Pine  flooring. Pine wood becomes more and more popular for it’s nice look and easy maintenance. Though it is not really hardwood flooring already.

Birch  flooring. It is the same about birch. Though as well as pine it is a softwood, still it is used in flooring and is very popular for it’s view.

Bamboo flooring. though bamboo is a type of grass, it is considered to be one of the most strong flooring and this means that your floor will look nice and will need less maintenance that the other types and that is why bamboo is so popular in furniture also, not only flooring.

Fir flooring. Not everybody likes fir. It is up to you to decide to buy it or not. Cause according to customers reviews some people like it and so not, so if you are not sure it is better to look for maple and oak flooring.

Oak hardwood flooring probably is the most popular one. Why? It has a lot of colours to choose. You can decorate your house in any colours you want, dark light, any. It is affordable, looks very beautiful and strong as a type of wood. You will enjoy your flooring for years and it can be one of the best investments in your house.

All about water saving showers, how does it work.

What is water saving shower? When we are looking for water saving shower head we think both and environment and the money we pay monthly for water. So does it worth buying water saving shower or not? A bit of number will help you to get to know this system better. Optimum flow rate that spends about 9 litres of water per minute allows to save water and money and can be very useful for every family and every house. On another hand when we speak about flow rate we must not forget that low pressure of hot water already hardly achieves this rate, it is the same about cold water in winter months. This means that there is no meaning in buying water saving shower sometimes. But how can you know how water pressure is going on in your house. Depending on the building, floor, age of your house and water system water pressure is different.

Is it worth buying water saving shower? I think yes. You can open water flow as much as you want. You can open it a little bit and try to wash your head with it. It will take you about 10 minutes. And you can open the water as much as possible and taking a shower will take 5 minutes or so. This is just a sample, i just want to tell that if you use water saving shower head, you can open water as usually and do not care how much water was spent. Just enjoy your life.

Well, water saving showers are not something that you can find in every house, so maybe you even do not have any friends to get to know more about it. At least you can find reviews online before spending money. If you think you need it buy it.

What is more, to my mind, it is a very useful thing for big families where children like to spend time playing in the bathroom.

Anyway, if you have already used water saving shower let us know how efficient it was and if it worth buying it.

Choosing colours for tiles in your bathroom.

Bathroom tile colours. Maybe you have already mentioned that a lot of people design their bathrooms in blue and white as it is a standard common colour that suits to every bathroom. If you do not know which colours to choose, choose white bathtub and blue tiling in shower and it will always look nice and clean. But if you are fed with standards and looking for something different you must try some other colours that will make your bathroom look different and stylish.

Two main rules that may be important before you choose the colour:

1. Do not choose black colours for floor and walls. I have already mentioned disadvantages of black tiles in my previous article.

2. If you do care about Feng Sui, you must remember that according to it, bathroom belongs to water so decorating in blue is not good, cause blue is also a symbol of water. According to Feng Sui, ideally will be to have brown and light brown colours that will be a symbol of ground.

Remember, that there is not a must to follow Feng Sui. It’s up to you which colour to use, blue or pink, this is your house and if you feel yourself comfortable use blue. I just want to mention Feng Sui for those who is crazy with it.

Why choosing a colour is so important? Tiles is not something you can change everyday. It ’s not a carpet or curtains. Yes, nowadays there are guidelines online how to tile a bathroom, but if you are not a professional, this will take time. This is different just to install ceramic tiles on to the walls and floor and to clean walls and floor from old tiles. Maybe it will be useful to ask all the members of the family which colours they like and to choose something nice.

 Colour ideas for tiles. Choosing light colours is always better than dark ones. Bathroom is usually small and darker the colours- smaller it looks. Dark colours also hide dirt and you can not really know how clean your bathroom is. Light and neutral colours are always the best choice. Why choosing neutral colours? Later you can change your bathroom design without changing the colour of tiles. Choose some light brown or beige, light blue, light pink, like green. You can always find suitable furniture and rugs for these colours.

Be careful when choosing gold and silver colours for bathroom. If you are interested in these colours call for a professional designer otherwise instead of luxury view you will get some dirty yellow and grey decorations that will look sad and poor.

Installing ceramic tile wall for kitchen area.

Kitchen ceramic wall. Ceramic tile wall in the kitchen is a must for oven, sink and fridge side. Yes, it is better to install tiles behind the fridge too. The vest placement for kitchen stuff is one raw, like: oven, dish washing machine, sink and rubbish bin under it and fridge. This is the ideal way of keeping the kitchen clean and organized. Installing tiles then will not be a big problem and you can do it yourself. There is no need to put tiles all the wall from floor to ceiling. Tiles can star from the furniture and be about 50 cm height. This will be enough to keep the wall clean. Nowadays almost all new house have this tile raw in the kitchens, but if yours does not, read the guidelines, maybe you can do it easily. It will take not more than 2 days only.

How to install ceramic tiles wall:

1. How many tile do I need? Check how long your wall is and how high you want it to be. Use tile calculator or just give measures to the tile specialist at the market where you are shopping and choose the colour and tile size you want. Is tile size important? Actually yes. Small tiles look smarter than big ones. The most important question is colour. Let it be any that suits your kitchen but black. I have already mentioned disadvantages of black colour in home decoration in my previous article.

2. Buy all necessary tools at the same market where you are shopping. They are: rubber grout float, goggles, notched trowel, tile nippers and saw, tile cutter, level and tape measure of course. You will also need screws, plastic washers, waterproof grout and mastic tile adhesive, latex gloves. Seems too much? What can we do, this is a normal list of tools for tile walls.

 3. Make the wall clean and dry. Use dehumidifier, especially if it is a new house. 

Attention! If you are not sure in the result do not do it. Call for a professional and leave the job to the specialists. Do not forget about self protection and using goggles and gloves when working. Read manual of each tool you use before start working. When installing tiles, pay attention to the colour and pattern of tiles, it will be difficult to change them later. It is better if you do it with a help of somebody else, who can watch you and your work.

Why you should not decorate you home in black.

Home decoration in black. Once i had to look for an apartment for rent and i met with some apartments that had black colours in decorating. Black colour can look nice when we speak about clothes or shoes. But not house. There are two main disadvantages of black color. What is more i can say: do not decorate your house or bathroom in black.

1. Black hole. If we think about psychology black colour always means a hole or emptiness. We can not see anything in a hole if it is in the shade. We scare to enter darkness and we we always scare to fall down. Of course a carpet in your house is not a hole, but black tiles or carpet on the floor can always bring this feeling to you, even if you do not notice it. If you buy black carpet or even worse, you use black tiles for flooring it will always give negative feeling to you even if you do not pay to it much attention. Furniture in black may look stylish and you can buy black furniture like sofa for living room but there is one more disadvantage why you should not do it.

2. Dirty black. It works only on black shoes when you can be sure that your shoes are dirty when you come from a walk. It is not the same with furniture. Dirt on black furniture can hardly be noticed and maybe it is perfect for those who is looking for low maintenance. But hygiene is low also. You can never see how clear your furniture is. Well, maybe you change your clothes when you enter home but it is not the same about bathrooms. Lime as it is white will be seen, but dirt will not be. You will always think how lucky you are, you bathroom is clean, your bathtub is self cleaned. Do not lie to yourself. Even blue colour of bathtub can hide dirt. The only colour suitable for bathtub is white, if it is white you will see how quickly it becomes yellow or gray after each cleaning.

Ask to yourself, do you really need black colours in your home decoration? Black colours will give stylish view of your rooms but never cosiness. You can combine colours but mixing black with other colours like white, red and any other that suit each other, but do not decorate your floors and bathroom at least. Do not buy black fridge. Kitchen and fridge is a symbol of wellness in your house. Wellness will disappear in this black hole and one day you will want to change everything to warmer colours and it will cost you a lot. Think twice.