Though today most people think that “curtains” refers to any window covering hung to block light and provide privacy that really isn’t the case. Technically speaking, curtains made of material sufficiently translucent to filter light that comes through windows are called sash curtains. While they may be opened or pushed to the window sides, sash curtains are often kept closed all the time. Draw curtains (correctly called draperies but never “drapes”, which is a trade term) are made of material heavy or thick enough to block the light altogether.
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When you want to create an aura of stately drama to a room, forget about heavy statues and pricey pedigreed paintings-opt for one or more floor vases instead!
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Having a fireplace in your home can be a wonderful way to create a space for memories. But you’ll want to choose the right drapery, mirrors and rug treatments to accentuate this beautiful addition to your home.
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The fall holiday season is just great; especially for kids (of all ages). Involving your children in holiday decorating allows you to share a very positive activity with them and gives you the opportunity to teach them something about the holiday at the same time.
When the holiday in question is Thanksgiving, there are a number of décor components children can find to make your Turkey Day table festive. Colored leaves are a great place to start. You can even make a game of finding them and give prizes for the biggest, most colorful and prettiest leaves. Be sure to collect a lot of leaves, and gently wash and pat them dry before using in your décor.
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Maximize the Space in a Small Foyer or Hall with Style
Do you love the look of those stately homes of England with their huge entrance halls? On this side of the Atlantic, your home probably wasn’t blessed with an entry even half that big. However, even if your foyer or entry hall lacks enough space for a couple of inviting benches and a walk-in closet, you can still make it appear stylish and welcoming with a bit of planning and interior design deception.
Why deception? Because mirrors are the quickest and best way to visually expand small spaces, a fact that famed interior designer Billy Baldwin demonstrated way back in the 1930s, when many of his New York clients lived in apartments that lacked foyers and coat closets altogether. Indeed, in his own New York apartment, Baldwin cleverly used freestanding walls and bookcases to create an entry area and a pair of antique armoires to hold coats.
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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 candles were originally used, but with the invention of string lights the use of clear white lights are a much safer option for today’s Victorian Christmas trees.
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How to Effectively Group Home Accessories for Maximum Impact
Clearly home accessories can be an effective way to enhance your living space based on statistics from Home Accents Today. A 2005 study revealed that Americans spent 14.3 billion dollars on home accessories to personalize their abode. The good news is that you don’t have to spend a lot of cash to have a comfortable, attractive home. By rearranging and properly grouping the accessories you have, your treasures will have maximum impact.
Many professional interior designers group accessories together for a major decorating impact. Often these groups are odds numbers, most frequently three or five. Odd groups create additional interest and professional home stagers frequently cite the rule of odds that items look best when arranged in groups of three, five and seven. Additionally, many interior designers follow the ‘pyramid rule” to arrange accessories from the tallest to the shortest.
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Lighting can change a home’s atmosphere in many ways. I never realized the effect that lighting had on a home until I lived in a small apartment without overhead lights. Trying to keep enough light in my home so that it really felt comfortable was extremely difficult. Although I found ways to work with the lack of light, I never felt completely at ease in my home without effective lighting. The dimness of the rooms could be depressing, and during the winter, the darkness was at times unbearable. Choosing light fixtures and lighting for your home can be difficult, but your family will thank you for your choices.
If you have the opportunity to use overhead lights, then you should take advantage of that. Overhead lights offer a lot of light that spreads throughout a room. How much light is given off depends on the wattage of the bulbs as well as the type of light fixture you purchase. The light fixtures on ceiling fans and Chandeliers give off a lot of light because they have four bulbs, one shining in each direction. However, yellow tinted bowl light fixtures tend to give off a yellowish glow and leave most of the rim in semi-darkness; the color can make everyone look jaundiced and does little to lighten a room. Also be careful about using light fixtures with many details that will be hard to dust.
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Creating an elegant centerpiece for your holiday table doesn’t have to be difficult. There are a few basic rules you can use to build a centerpiece for any holiday you want to commemorate; the rest, as they say, depends on you.
First of all, make sure that whatever centerpiece you design isn’t so tall that it will interfere with people seated on opposite sides of your table seeing and speaking with each other. There’s nothing worse than trying to unobtrusively crane your neck to see around a centerpiece that blocks your view! Think low and wide rather than tall and narrow.
Then choose a container to hold the main body of the centerpiece. This can be anything that catches your fancy; perhaps a unique wicker basket, your grandmother’s heirloom fine china compote or a fabulous art pottery bowl. Inside this main container, place another, slightly smaller leak proof plastic or glass “liner” container with a profile sufficiently lower than the main container. If there’s enough space between the two containers to allow the liner to wiggle, stuff the space with foam or wadded up newspaper to keep everything stable.
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