Easy Home Projects - Part Three

Painting your front door makes a big difference in the first impression your home gives. Paint your door a color that you love like orange or red. Replace your house numbers with new modern house numbers. While you’re at it, repaint your mailbox post. You could also repaint your porch railing to make over the entry way to your home.

Even if you don’t have a room in your entry way, you can create an entry way easily. All you need to do is place a bench near the front door with coat hooks above it. Put baskets underneath that pull out for quick storage of shoes and other items such as library books. Having a bench in the entry way is very convenient as well as looking good, most people find them to be quite useful.

If you want to give a room a comfortable country style make over try putting wainscoting around the room topped with chair rail. Paint it a color that is a couple of shades darker or lighter than the wall color or go bold and paint it a contrasting color.

Laminate flooring that looks like hardwood is a breeze to install. You could do a small room in one weekend quite easily. There are also stick down bathroom floor tiles that look like tile floor. If your bathroom floor is linoleum and outdated, this could really help the look.

Check back soon for the next portion of this blog.

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Postapocalyptic Edwardian Croquet

A group of urban explorers donned their best Edwardian gear for a game of croquet in an abandoned Packard factory in Detroit.

Hmm, formal dinner in an abandoned missle silo? High tea at a clandestine WWII ammo base?

Easy Home Projects - Part Two

Paint or wallpaper one wall in your bedroom a brighter color than the others. This accent wall will make your bedroom look more interesting. Wallpapers are available in practically any texture and color you can imagine, so have fun shopping around.

If you have an old dresser you’re using somewhere in your house that isn’t very attractive consider giving it a makeover. Sand it down and paint it a bright color or stain. Add polyurethane so the color will last. Add new drawer pulls that are up to date. You may even want to makeover other pieces of furniture in the same room to match.

If you dining room chairs have fabric seats you will probably need to reupholster them at some point, because the seat fabric always seems to get dingy far before the table starts to look dingy too. Choose a stylish fabric and cut it an extra two inches wide all the way around the shape of the seat. Wrap the fabric around the seat and staple it in place.

Home offices always seem to be places where clutter loves to live. Take the time to organize all of the clutter. Investing in a few matching boxes and files will help a lot. Label everything and pay attention the layout so it will be easy to put things where they belong before clutter gets the better of the room again.

Check back soon for the next portion of this blog.

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Bathroom Chandeliers

Apartment Therapy is showing off some recent work for a client where they used a chandelier in a half bath. Using chandeliers in unexpected places has been becoming popular as of late.

Chandeliers appear in small hallways with high ceilings, bedrooms and bathrooms. I posted a few months ago where I took an old chandelier and repurposed it into a bedside swag lamp.

This same idea could translate over to a number of decor styles. A more Victorian style chandelier, Arts & Crafts style rustic swag light fixture or a gothic styled fixture. I frequently find gothic styled units at architectural salvage stores from old churches. If your unable to change light fixtures in your space the corded swag conversion mentioned in my post would be an ideal option in places where moisture and water are not in the picture.

Dandyism

Some men still aim to dress well, Dandyism appears to be making a comeback. I am not complaining. Going out can be such a disappointment when you make an effort, go somewhere nice only to see guys in shorts, flip flops and baseball hats. I recently attended a wedding were a number of people showed up in disturbingly inappropriate dress. Haynes sweats and rubber flip flops are not proper attire for attending a wedding.

The resurgence covers everything from the Victorian aesthetic to modern day dress.
Style doesn't stop at your home so check out Dandyism.net and TheDandy.org

Design Interior Traditional Living Room

One of the most popular and timeless styles is traditional interior design. When we think of traditional living room design we often associate it with large houses, manors, hotels and palaces. This type of decorating is typically more formal in nature since the furnishings and wall finishes are influenced by historical sources.


If we see the architectural and also furniture designs from 18th and 19th century Europe, we can say that the living room was dominated with traditional style. English styles such as Hepplewhite, Queen Anne, and Chippendale are also commonly designed in traditional living rooms.


Traditional living room design calls for soft lighting to give the room a dramatic feel. The Color palettes in a traditional living room include combination such as burgundy and gold, hunter green and burgundy, and other richly toned hues. Emphasize your living room's color scheme by using repeated colors and patterns on drapes and upholsteries. Make sure your design is elegant and not redundant.


Design Interior Traditional Living Room will take focus on the wall painting. Wall finishes include decorative paint treatments such as faux finishes and murals in addition to the moderate use of beautiful wallpaper. Choose colors that will help accentuate the design, keep the colors in tune to keep the ambiance in tact.


In the traditional living room mostly we can see the furniture wood such as tables, chairs, bookshelves and cabinets. Especially in English country style, They created their sofas and chairs and overstuffed and comfortable, with coverings of velvet or leather.


So, when you decide to make a traditional living room you should avoid clashing textures, colors and loud designs. The furniture itself is part of the traditional living room design style.

Donovan Designs Art Lighting

Art Donovan's current collection of art lighting is extremely diverse and creative, spanning everything from mod to Tiffany. He also boasts an impressive clientele list.

I am quite in awe of both the skill and composition in Art's work.


This hanging fixture really caught my eye. It is an interesting mix of old gothic and something more modern. It would look great over a kitchen island or large table.









The hanging fixture feels almost mid century and slightly gothic. I love the burl wood styled sides that seem to glow themselves.















This very simple pendant lamp by Leslie Tarbell Donovan is rather neat. The pattern inside the lampshade outlined in metallic sets off a basic shade shape.

This idea opens up all sorts of possibilities.

Check out more at Donovan Design