Jarret TT Camp

Archive for March, 2010

It’s not just first-time homeowners who have to find budget furniture. In fact almost everyone, at one time or another, had to furnish a home or apartment on a budget. I know that I borrowed furniture from my parents, gratefully took grandparents’ offerings, and shopped at garage sales.

But eventually I wanted something to trade out the hand-me-downs from family and strangers for things that would actually help me create a more mature and coordinated home.

I had to find ways to stretch my mini-budget without sacrificing my taste for nice things. I was surprised to find out how many places there were to find bargains.

Don’t expect to find exactly what you want or need. You might have to be creative and adapt what you can find to what you need.

Learn to see pieces for the details and lines they have, not just for what you can put in them. If you see a beautiful teak table instead of the mahogany desk you need, thing about refinishing it and adding filing drawers. A period side table can be painted and moved into the bedroom.

You might like a contemporary style of decorating if you like to keep current with styles, enjoy things that are modern, of today, right now.

While it’s been thought that modern interiors are cold and minimalist, today’s contemporary interiors are comfortable and welcoming without being cluttered and dark. It’s a style that is equally appropriate for offices and stores, lofts and homes.

A contemporary style home can be a quiet and comfortable retreat. To achieve the look of a contemporary home, it’s important to stick to some basic rules.

Fundamentally, simplicity, subtle sophistication, texture and clean lines help to define contemporary style decorating. Interiors showcase space rather than things. By focusing on color, space, and shape, contemporary interiors are sleek and fresh.

Learn about some more of the characteristics and elements of a contemporary style of decorating and how you might bring the look into each room of your home.

* Color
Neutrals, black, and white are the main colors in contemporary style interiors. The palette is often punched up and accented with bright and bold color. Black is often used to ground and define a contemporary style room. With walls painted in a basic neutral, you have a wonderful backdrop for bold colored accessories. If the walls and windows are painted in pastels, the trims should be neutral. If a wall is a bright, bold color, neutrals should be used everywhere else.

Do you long for a casual style room that is homey, warm, comfortable, and inviting? Who doesn’t want to be comfortable in their own home? If you want to put together a casual style room, learn the basic elements that combine to create a truly casual room.

For starters, casual rooms have simple details, textured elements in fabrics and accessories, restful horizontal lines, soft upholstery, low-luster surfaces, and arrangements that avoid perfect symmetry.

Details are simple, and elements are rectangular or softly curved.

A room decorated in a casual style is the perfect place to have a touch of whimsey. Use an old or reconstructed birdhouse or wooden candlestick for a lamp base, stack pieces of old luggage for a side table, use a low vintage ironing board for a coffee table.

Casual decorating is easily incorporated into rustic, French Country, cottage, Shabby Chic, or American Country decorating styles.

With people enjoying more relaxed lifestyles, many homes today are totally decorated using the elements of casual decorating. But any home can incorporate the elements into a guest room, country kitchen, guest room, or bath. The elements of a casual style of decorating can sneak into most any room and make it feel comfortable.

Art Deco style was developed following World War I, offering people a glamorous style for a new era. The excitement and optimism of post-war Europe and America formed the basis for this glamorous and elegant style of decorating.

Art Deco style blended fashion, architecture, fabric and jewelry design, furniture, and interior design with sleek, smooth lines. It combined modern materials, movement, and the industrial trends of the time.

Read about how to incorporate the Art Deco style into your home.

* Art Deco Furniture
Art Deco furniture is streamlined in design. It is modern and sleek but comfortable. Many designs of furniture are made with a flat bent chrome base that gives the piece a rocking effect. Wood pieces are highly lacquered in black. Decorative black lacquered panels are used as room screens. Highly lacquered wood frames are upholstered in lustrous white leather. A stepped-up arm is typical. Woods used include exotic Brazilian rosewood, ebony, birds-eye maple, and light maple veneers. Upholstery is typically of velour, giving the stark form comfort and a sensuous hand.