November 2007

Creating a Victorian Christmas Tree

by admin November 9, 2007 DIY Projects

A Victorian Christmas Tree: Get the Look for Your Home A Victorian Christmas tree is all about over-the-top opulence and excessive detail. The Victorian Christmas tree style started in 1841 when Queen Victoria and Prince Albert put one up and all of England followed suit. Victorian Christmas trees do not use the traditional red and green coloring that is typical today. Instead, more elegant colors were used, such as dusty roses, brilliant blues, deep burgundies, delicate ivories, and sparkling gold. Victorian Christmas trees were often decorated with small toys, candy, popcorn strings, fruits, nuts, handmade ornaments, and baked goods. Individual [...]

Ten Ways to Add Appeal to Your Home’s Front Entry

by admin November 9, 2007 Budget Decorating

Your front entryway is like your house’s face. It’s the first thing people see when they come to your home. So ask yourself, is your house smiling and welcoming guests or is it frowning and turning them away? Consider these ten front entry decorating tips to add appeal and an inviting atmosphere. The biggest improvement you can make is to paint the front door with a fresh coat of paint. Doors take a beating from the sun and weather, so paint your front door every five years for an instant boost.

Choosing Shelving Effectively For Your Home Decor

by admin November 2, 2007 Budget Decorating

Shelves are the simplest, least expensive, and most versatile type of storage you can buy. Your choice should depend on practical considerations, such as strength and adaptability, as well as on good looks. It’s tempting to imagine that tile first item a caveman invented was a shelf. At the very least, he would certainly have utilized any fiat ledge in the cave to store his tools and cooking pots. Finding somewhere to keep all your possessions, and leave space for your future belongings, is still an ongoing challenge in any home. To solve any shortage of storage and space, a [...]

Tips For Sprucing Up Wood Floors

by admin November 2, 2007 Decorating floors

If you already have natural softwood floorboards, why look further when you want the beauty of a natural wood floor in your home? Unfortunately, the answer often lies in the condition of the floorboards themselves. There may be gaps between the boards which trap dirt and can let in drafts. The boards may be split, warped, or rotten, or have deep nail holes in them. Sometimes the supporting joists may have weakened, or they may be suffering from woodworm or dry rot. In the case of woodworm and/or dry rot, remedial work including chemical spraying and replacement of damaged wood [...]

Christmas Decorating With Gingerbread

by admin November 2, 2007 DIY Projects

If there’s one food that embodies Christmas to perfection, it’s gingerbread. Bake it, and your entire house smells like a holiday. Nibble it, and you’re transported to Christmas past. But what elevates gingerbread above a mere seasonal treat is its decorative quality. Turn it into ornaments and gifts, and every tree or tabletop it touches seems joyous. Even its monkish hue, which may not look very festive, is a warm and amiable backdrop for whimsical shapes and fanciful icing in any color you like. The gingerbread cookie was the favorite Christmas treat of early-American children. It became popular because it [...]

How to Decorate with Fruits

by admin November 2, 2007 DIY Projects

What could be more glorious than a holiday table laden with fruit? Fruit is nature’s bounty and an eloquent symbol of its richness. The Dutch and Flemish masters immortalized fruit, as well as flowers, in their prettiest still lifes. But it was the French, during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, who refined fruit centerpieces into soaring pyramids of glistening cherries and grapes; elaborate epergnes whose branches were filled with strawberries, figs, and miniature apples; or a single golden pineapple served up on a pedestal. The French built centerpieces in a variety of vessels, mixing real fruit, flowers, and leaves with [...]

Turning an Unused Guest Room into a Gift Wrapping Center

by admin November 2, 2007 Budget Decorating

It never fails, every time you need to wrap a gift you find yourself sprawled out on the kitchen floor with gift wrap, bows, tape, and scissors spread out all over the place. Your legs start to cramp, the tape sticks to the gift wrap, and the scissors keep disappearing under a pile of bows. What to do?! Why not turn that unused guest room into a gift wrapping center that will make wrapping gifts both fun and functional? Making your own gift wrapping center is easy and doesn’t have to take up a whole lot of space. If you [...]

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