Update Your Decor For Spring

Call on a garden for inspiration in your room. Whether it's your own garden or someone else's you can rev up your room with pretty floral prints, sheer breezy fabrics and actual plants used to add some accents around your room.

During the winter months, you may put up heavy draperies and use a heavy throw on your sofa, as warmer weather approaches, it's time to switch our your window treatments and pack away the winter accoutrements. Replace your curtains with lightly colored fabrics with even lighter colored sheers. You'll find that your room immediately has a more uplifting and alive feel. Replace that heavy throw with lightly colored pillows to accent your sofa.

Roll up your heavy area rug or have it cleaned and repaired if necessary for fall and winter use; and go with a natural fiber such as bamboo or sisal. Use lightly colored natural woods or fibers for your rugs and for light fabrics you may have to add a couple of strips of non-skid on the bottom to keep them from slipping.

If you have made your fireplace a central point in your home during the colder months, move around your room so that a window or even an impact piece is the focal point of the room. It's easy to do just pick one object in the room and build outwards from that point.

Last, add a few living plants around your room. A billowing fern or a grand ivy will add a beautiful touch of greenery to your room. Additionally, a hibiscus will bloom for months and when it is not blooming it will be a lovely shade of green.

Use these tips and get your room in the mood for the spring. It's easy to do and you'll have a lively room that you can enjoy all spring and summer.

Labels: interior-decor

 posted by Allure Furniture Designs   

Great House Warming Gift Ideas

When you need to get a house warming gift for someone, get them something they will use for years to come instead of the run of them toaster or other appliance your gift recipient will wind up with two or more of.

A plant stand complete with plants makes a great house warming gift. A small plant stand for a kitchen with a selection of green potted herbs make an outstanding gift for anyone that loves to cook. Herbs are very easy to grow and require little care,

Another great gift that many people will appreciate are fireplace tools along with a new fireplace screen. This will allow them to "hide" away their fireplaces during the warmer months behind an attractive screen and during the cooler months when the fireplace is in use a snazzy tool set will look great.

Accent pillows are a wonderful gift that will be appreciated. When used on a sofa or love seat they will add an element of color to the room. Another house warming gift that will make a splash is a lamp. Either standing or a design for a table will usually go over well for most decors.

If you need to get a gift for someone and you're not sure of their decor style or color, a gift certificate is a fabulous gift that will let them pick out their own item or items and find exactly the right gift they have been wanting to add to their decor.
 posted by Allure Furniture Designs   

Return to the Tradition of Sunday Dinner

You don't need a special holiday to gather your family and friends for dinner. More and more families are choosing to turn off the televisions and instead spend the time reconnecting over a meal.

You won't have to do a lot of planning to host your dinner, whether you haven't done it in along time or this is your first dinner for a large crowd, just get a little organized and it will all come together quickly.

First of all, plan your guest list so you know how much food to make. Then plan your menu. For larger gatherings, choose a red meat dish such as a pot roast and a chicken dish for people who might want lighter fare. For a smaller gathering of folks, a large roasted chicken will usually suffice. If this is your first time having a large crowd, don't frustrate yourself by attempting an all-out gourmet meal, instead still with the staples of Sunday dinners such as mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, green salads, bread, green beans, deviled eggs and macaroni and cheese are all items people will remember from family meals past. Once you get in the swing of putting your dinners together, expand your cooking repertoire to include items like lamb chops, lemon chicken or roasted Cornish game hen.

For drinks, you can have a selection of water, tea with lemon and sugar on the side, colas and if your guests prefer, a small selection of wine and beer. Use a table cloth on your dining table and put a couple of coasters on every table in your room, this will encourage your guests to use the coasters and not leave unsightly rings on your wooden furniture.

Make sure you have enough seating for all, if your dining table is overflowing with guests, you can make seating around your room and even put an ottoman into service for seating. Also, you can plan for a card game like poker to a full participation game like Mad-Libs after dinner. Even the people who don't want to play will enjoy watching the action!

Use these tips and get your family to reconnect by rediscovering the fun of gathering for a meal and spending time together again.
 posted by Allure Furniture Designs   

Stumped for Ideas to Decorate Your Room?

If you're feeling like you don't know where to start to decorate or redecorate your home; take a tip from the professional interior designers and use the tricks they use to come up with ideas for the room.

Decorating magazines are a great place to start. If you have in mind a look that you want, thumb through a number of interior decor magazines and you'll soon find elements on different pages that would meld well into your own design. Don't try to duplicate what you see in the magazines item for item, the idea is to take ideas from the magazines and make them work in your room.

Another place that is a great way to get ideas for your room is to flip through some reality television shows. Look at some of the elements in other homes and how functional they are and how they might work in your own home.

The Internet will open up a world of opportunities. Search sites like this one and some people take photos of their room and then print out items they'd like to add such as an armoire or an ottoman. Browse through finishes and wood types available you might find color schemes and other options you may not have even considered before. The Internet gives you the unique opportunity for shop for all the furniture you need for your room in your pajamas and you can shop day or night, whenever it's convenient according to your schedule.

Labels: interior-decor

 posted by Allure Furniture Designs   

When Changing the Look of Your Room

By simply changing your accessories you can give your room a whole new look and feel. If you are on a tight budget, just change a single item at a time, in a very short period of time you will have an entirely new look to your room without spending yourself into bankruptcy.

Pillows can add so much to a room and they are cheap to make on your own and can be purchased for a low price. Opt for a set of darker colored pillows for the fall and winter and a lighter colored set of pillows for the spring and summer. Light floral prints are also good for the warmer months.

Reversible draperies can be wonderful if you enjoy giving your room a whole new look with the seasons. Most reversible draperies have a dark side for the fall and winter months and a light side for the spring and summer months. You can add light or dark colored sheers to your draperies as the season dictates and add a nice air of elegance to your room. Futons can be made to look like an entirely different piece of furniture simply by changing the cover.

If you have small collectibles that you display, make it a point to switch around the area or arrangement you use to show them off. You're not locked into one design scheme. Another point is your fireplace if you have one. Most people build their rooms around their fireplaces and it's just not necessary in the warmer months. Switch around your room and find other angles your room will mesh together and make your fireplace a pretty backdrop for the warmer months.

Make your shelving pretty. You can keep it up all year round and it will go a long way to eliminating clutter in your room. Switch out the items you keep on your shelves to make your room flow with the seasons.

And that's just a few of the ways that you can change your decor on a shoe string. Try a few of these tips and you'll see that you have a whole new room before you know it.

Labels: interior-decor

 posted by Allure Furniture Designs