Showing posts with label Decorating. Show all posts

5 Tips for Designing Small Spaces In Apartment


Home is a place of Zen, be it small or big. But, decorating a small room poses unique challenges for every designer. Please use the tips provided below to make the best of what is available. For more understanding pictures have been provided in each point to elaborate.
1. Small Furnitures - A living room isn't always about life size sofas and tables. Pick out furniture smaller in size and antique in its look. It not only adds more space to the house but always provides a richer look. Also Love Seats are a great alternative to huge sofas. When it comes to positioning try to keep the love seats towards the edges of the walls with no windows and place the chairs around a small tea table. Pick up a tea table which is can be used not only as a table but also to store other stuff like newspapers, preferably a closed one to have a neat finish.
FlatGradings - Furnitures
Clockwise: Antique brown chair, blue chair, a red one and finally a simple love seat.
2. Bedroom - Firstly see how the room is positioned to find which places can be covered with decoration and where the bed needs to be placed. Secondly try to utilise all the nook and corners to completely. Also use one simple lamp at either one of the corners. Use floating shelves to increase the bedroom square footage. Paint a bold colour to make the room look bright and cheerful. When it comes to the bed try to make it multi functional where additional space can be acquired by backrest storage or under the bed storage rather than having separate racks. For kids try using a bed bunk alternative saves a lot of space, also a built in table along with the cupboards will work.
FlatGradings - Bedroom
A simple lamp above the bed utilised as a book shelf as well, with subtle and calm paintings.
FlatGradings - Bedroom
A kid’s room with an inbuilt study along with the cupboard in a dark colour shade of purple and black with wooden flooring.
FlatGradings - Bedroom
A double bunker bed which slides out for small rooms with limited space.
3. Kitchen - An area where families are most often gathered to talk and cook needs to have sufficient space. Try to combine the walkway, dinning and the kitchen together. The division between the dining room and kitchen can be added with a slab to utilise for dinning. A built in banquette also is an added advantage for more space. A smaller house can have the kitchen and living room shared with a mesh separating the two. If more storage space is required try to use built in storages in walls by adding shelves.
FlatGradings - Kitchen
Clockwise: A kitchen with one slab for both the purpose of dining table and a separating from the living room, a built in banquette and finally a kitchen with the walkway, kitchen and dinning combined.
FlatGradings - Kitchen
Mesh separating the living room and the kitchen.
4. Small Bathrooms - A bold and bright coloured geometric design. Try using just one face mirror and design the cupboards and shelves with mirrors which can provide a reflection and make it look bigger and brighter. Smaller sinks are more efficient, in some cases the sinks has been kept outside the entrance of the bathroom. A lot of Gray shades add a more soothing effect. For a nostalgic look try white and black combination. If the room has high raised rooftops then try adding windows towards the top to add more light and make it seem more airy. Furthermore the shower and bathtub can be combined together.

On the left: A bathroom with combined shower, bathtub, a small mirror and a simple sink. On the right: A geometric bright coloured bathroom with a mirror enclosing a shelf.
FlatGradings - Bathrooms

5. Balconies - Lastly if there is a balcony attached with the kitchen, bedroom or the living room you can always extend the room for additional space. A balcony with glass walls, huge windows makes the room look wider and larger. It could also be reconstructed to be used as a study area or it could be made into a work from home area. If plants are on your mind, yes of course you can add more vibe to the room by adding the right type of plants and using light vibrant colour flowers, chairs and small tables to sum it up.
FlatGradings - Balconies
Clockwise: A balcony attached with kitchen modified with a dining table, an extended room space from the balcony, a work from home area, a balcony with tables and plants and finally a study table modified out of a balcony.

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Using Draperies in Your Home Decor Innovatively


Draperies are simple yet effective way of decorating your home. They add enormous personality to a room. Beautiful Draperies on your window can change the boring look of a room into a fabulous one in few minutes:
Two different colour curtains can give the room a whole new perspective and a modern look. Irrespective of the two panels used the material used for both the draperies need to be the same or say one should be thinner and lighter than the other, soft sheers paired with canvas or silk curtains.
1. Multiple Shades on Windows in the Same Room: Generally people tend to have a single shade of panel for the entire room, using multiple colours can give a diverse look for the room provided the entire colours are complimenting each other and the fabric used being the same. If the one set of windows are comparatively larger than the other windows then add more attractive shade to them to make it more prominent.
FlatGradings - Draperies
2. Decorate with a recurring design: Hang each panel, alternating the colours, on one rod to create a pattern. The curtain pocket or hanging mechanism for each panel needs to be the same -- choose hooks, rings or a sewn-in pocket at the top of each panel. Frame the window by keeping the darkest or heaviest-weighted panel on the outermost corners, and use an odd number of curtains so the ending color on each side is the same.
FlatGradings - Draperies
3. Layer the design: Double rod panels are required. Provided the darker shade at the back and lighter at the front. Allowing privacy requirements of covering the house. This look is most often done with a set of sheers and a set of heavier-weight curtains. However, it can work well with panels of the same material in different colors, with the lightest shade kept inside and the darker one in front. This can be done with either leaving the curtains to the frame or vintage style of tying the curtains up the side.
FlatGradings - DraperiesFlatGradings - Draperies


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10 Cost effective ways to decorate your home


Refurbishing your home décor does not always need to be a major project and you need not have to spend a fortune to do it.

1. Choose two contrast colours - Black and white, say, or white and one bright colour – and use them as a repeating theme throughout, such as a row of red and white pillows on a sofa, or robin’s egg blue walls and all-white furnishings
FlatGradings - Contrast color
2. Reorganise the house décors - Too much of good thing is too much. Try taking all your home décor accessories and putting them in a box, then putting them back one by one where they’ll have the most impact.


3. Take down all your paintings and other art and move them around to different walls or different rooms. It’ll be like seeing them for the first time.

FlatGradings - Paintings

4. Window dressings - Draperies you can hem to the right size (or leave to puddle on the floor), or you can make your own from sheets or lengths of designer outlet fabric. Hang an attractive new curtain rod, also available in stock sizes.

FlatGradings - Draperies

5. French Windows make a difference, they provide illusion of extra space

FlatGradings - French Windows

6. Multi-Purpose furniture which can reduce the requirement of too many furniture’s and makes the house look more spacious.
FlatGradings - Furniture

7. Modular Furniture - IKEA and other home stores provide the type which can be dismantled and re-formed again when required.

FlatGradings - Furniture

8. Inexpensive frame mouldings from the box store can transform a plain wall or hallway into an instant panelled look. Paint the mouldings in a contrasting shade or white.

FlatGradings - Frame mouldings

9. Placing a mirror between two windows tricks the eye into thinking there is another window there and helps maximize natural light. Casually propping a full-length mirror against the wall brings a relaxed mood to the room.

FlatGradings - Mirror

10. Old unused wood pieces in good condition can be given the expensive look by just using the right type of varnish to have a glassy and shiny finish.

FlatGradings - Old Wood


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