Buying a Bed

Buying a bed takes a lot more thinking about than most think, I mean it is the place you’ll want to be comfiest, it is where you spend your evenings getting the well deserved rest from the day you’ve had to prepare yourself for the next day ahead. So when buying a bed there are a few things to consider.

There are SO many beds, frames and mattresses you can get your hands on so you’ll need to do some research first. You’ll need to know what kind of bed you’re looking for, do you want a memory foam mattress? Which is the best? Do you want a bed in which has a lot of storage space? There is a lot more to consider than you may think. 

You may see a bed you like but you’ll need to consider whether it will actually suit your room. If you have a large room a big four poster bed will look great! If you have a smaller room then you’ll have to opt for something smaller, but nonetheless there are some amazing beds in which you can choose from.

Once you have decided what bedframe you want you’ll then need to decide what kind of mattress you are looking for, this is the fun part. Go to a mattress shop and try out every mattress available, which is the most comfortable, which do you find best to lie on? You will have to think about all this, don’t rush into buying a mattress if you’re not dead set on the comfort as remember you’ll be having to sleep on this every night.

 

Simple and Quick Decorating Ideas

Fancy a change in the house but nothing that is going to cause too much disruption to the home? Well I have found some simple and quick decorating ideas for you, that will help you make that change in your home.

Kitchen – a very simple change to your kitchen could be hanging an interior curtain, not only will this give you a little change but it will make your kitchen look that little bit more stylish.

Bedroom – mix and match your bedding, you don’t have to constantly have the same bedsheets and you don’t have to constantly use the same sheets that go with each set. Why not use a different case for your pillow and another for your bedding. A simple but effective change.

Hallway – add a different kind of wall piece to your wall, perhaps plates? Not only is this simple, but how many houses do you go into and see plates hanging on the wall? Exactly.

Livingroom – everyone tends to go with pushing the sofa chairs right up to the wall, why not make a change, move it around a little and pop the sofa more in the middle of the room, away from the walls, (obviously if your lounge isn’t big enough to do this, putting the sofa in the middle of the room really wouldn’t work).

Extra little things you could do is update lampshades, simple, but will give you a slight change. Perhaps going a little less simple, but still a simple idea, change the colour of your walls, paint them a different or even add some wallpaper to them, this will make for a very noticeable change if thats more so what you’re looking for. Or simply just move already hanging wall pieces around, swap them up a little, put them in different places or just change them.

 

Tips for Choosing the Right Furniture

Sometimes when buying furniture can be difficult, you see something that you like and in more instances than one it is likely that it actually won’t suit the interior you’re looking to buy furniture for. So the whole time you’re looking for furniture don’t just fall in love with a piece because it looks nice, you need to make sure you’re buying the right furniture for that room, otherwise you may end up with a rather odd looking room!

To help with picking the right furniture I have come up with a few tips which should make it a little easier, firstly (probably the most obvious), pick a budget. This will make sure you only go shopping for the furniture you need and not come back with lots of little extras because you haven’t set yourself a specific budget. This will make your life a lot easier.

Select which material you want or need your furniture to be, this will enable you to go straight to the furniture made with this material instead of looking  round lots of furniture which has no relevance to you.

Think about storage space; depending on how much storage space you are going to need perhaps look for a coffee table which has a few extra drawers for storage space, or whether you actually need the furniture you are buying or maybe it is going to take up too much space, so ensure you know exactly how much space you have to fill.

If you already have things in the space you’re trying to decorate like curtains, wall pieces etc, then make sure you coordinate all this with the type of furniture you get. You want the room to look good and fit well together.

But most of all, don’t make the process of buying furniture stressful, you can make buying furniture and decorating fun if you make sure you have a few things planned out and know exactly what you’re looking for. Just like women (and some males) enjoy clothes shopping you CAN enjoy furniture shopping.

 

How to mix modern and vintage

Modern interiors and vintage interior are always a popular within home interiors, but why not have a bit of both? Mixing modern and vintage is a great idea and can be easily done, giving your home a sophisticated look. To create the perfect mix the stuff you should buy for the vintage part would be, accent pieces, things such as side tables or perhaps just a coffee table, or be different and put a bedroom dresser in the front hallway. Things you should be buying for the modern side, bigger pieces of furniture like sofas and armchairs and beds.

But to actually create this feel you need to think about the room, for example in the living room, you could purchase a low seated sofa which will make the ceiling seem higher up, giving the vintage feel. You should also think about starting with white, use it as your base colour and then work from there. Dressing up white can be simple and easy and when creating a vintage and modern feel this will be great. 

Creating the perfect Interior Design

Being an interior designer is more work than most people think, trying to figure out the best ideas, paints and pieces of furniture for a space is actually quite difficult. So if you think that creating the perfect interior design within your home as a non interior designer is going to be easy, then you’re wrong. But that is where I am here to help. I have searched the internet for the best tips and ideas on how to think like an interior designer and have compiled a list of things to do to help you all out. 

So here it goes…

First thing interior designers do is interview their client. They’ll need to know what they want done with the space and what they are hoping it will look like by the end and they get to know their client so they can understand their likes and dislikes in order to create the perfect ending. So interview yourself, ask yourself what you want the space to look like, what your likes and dislikes are, what would you like the final thing to look like.

Then, decision making. There are certain decisions most people do not want to make, and when designing an interior you can get carried away with seeing certain items that you believe would look good in your room and forgetting what you actually want and need the room for. Yes, it may look good but remember, the first decision you have to make is what is the purpose of this interior design? If you’re decorating your living room you will need to think about how many people you need to comfortably seat for most of the time when you’re using the room. This will help determine what furniture you will need.

Next, what kind of atmosphere are you wanting to create? This will then help determine the colours and style of the room. Remember, it doesn’t have to be boring so let your imagination run wild! 

You will also need to choose the right furniture and possible accessories, and like I said above, it doesn’t have to be boring, so step out of your comfort zone and perhaps pick some furniture or accessories that you wouldn’t perhaps normally choose for an interior. Also, furniture doesn’t have to match. It is your interior do as you please with it, mix things up a little and match a contemporary sofa with an antique rug, who is to say this won’t look right or is not normal?

Once you have completed your room, the final thing to do is to choose your accessories, as by this time you’ll be able to see what wall space and other space you have available to be able to put accessories up. You may find something you really like, like a sequinned pillow during the process, to later find that it does not look right at all with the final interior you have.

I hope these tips were useful and feel free to comment or get in touch with any questions you may have!

A step-by-step guide to painting a room

When it comes to painting a room it isn’t as easy as many people think. To start with you need to decide on a colour. There is no point putting a colour on the wall that you’re not sure about and then deciding after you’ve painted the whole wall you no longer want that colour! So try out the colour. Narrow it down to three or four shades that you like a paint a small square on the wall using the colour, big enough for you to be able to see the colour properly and be able to compare it with the other three shades you have chosen.

Then choose the finish, if it is likely that the walls in a certain room are going to get more wear and tear to them the higher the gloss should be, so that they can be kept looking great for longer. When it comes to painting, prep your walls by cleaning them beforehand, let the wall dry and then proceed to fill holes and cracks. Once you have done this you are pretty much ready to paint, all that is left to do it cover places which are likely to get paint splattered on. Use tape to cover skirting boards that you do not want paint to get on, and move furniture out of the way.

Now, paint the walls. When trying to paint in the smaller areas, like corners, use a small brush, as using a roller to get to these parts will probably miss a few bits! After this is done allow the paint to dry, most people tend to put a second coat on when painting, so once the first lot is dry you can get on with the second coat.

Decorating your apartment on a budget

Living in a rental apartment does not mean you aren’t allowed to decorate, or put your own spin on the apartment to make it feel a little more like home. Some landlords are happy for you to decorate, especially if you are there for the long term. If you have been given permission to decorate why stick with the boring, old white painted walls and the rusty looking appliances and hideous light fixtures.

You don’t have to splash out the cash to decorate and make your apartment feel more like home, and most apartments are a lot smaller than a home meaning already it will be a lot cheaper for you! Here are a few top tips from Huerta:

1. “Dump the mini-blind”, most people just tend to keep the same old blinds that they were left with when they first moved into the apartment. These are are not the blinds to have if you want to impress people with the greatness of your apartments interior. Most apartments have standard sized windows, so it is easy to find ready made fabric and curtains without breaking the budget; and even when you decide to move on from this apartment if you no longer need these curtains you can always sell them to the next tenant. As i’m sure they would much prefer them to the mini-blinds.

2. “Add depth to a narrow galley kitchen”, you tend to see that every kitchen has cabinet doors, removing cabinet doors can create a custom look and add personality to your apartment, it also does a great job at making your kitchen feel larger whilst making it feel cosy and inviting.

3. “Maximise empty spaces”, have some spare space? In a rental apartment you should make sure you make use of every empty space, as there isn’t as much space available to you, just like that awkward foot space between the top of your kitchen cabinets and the ceiling can be put to good use! Like storing kitchen appliances etc, that don’t get used very often.

4. “Upgrade light fixtures”, most rental places tend to have cheap, ugly looking light features or none at all! Obviously, this would have to be something you check with your landlord, but why not change them, they can always be changed back to the originals when you decide to leave. There are plenty of places that sell modern looking light features, 10 times better than the ugly looking ones that were there when you moved in.

5. “Don’t be afraid to paint”, most landlords will agree to let you paint the rental apartment if you agree to paint it back to the original colour once you decide to leave. With the changes to the curtains and light fixtures you’ve probably got an idea of what colour scheme you’re going to be having in your apartment, so why not paint the walls to match this colour scheme? Not only will this make your apartment look a lot nicer compared to having the boring old white that was originally on there, but it will make it feel more like home!

6. “Camouflage the unflattering”, something in your apartment that you hate but can’t change? Adhesive paper will be your new best friend, it isn’t expensive and is easy to apply, and once it comes to moving on from this rental apartment you can peel it right off!

7. “Treat the bathroom like a real room”, it is harder to change the bathroom in a rental apartment, however, you can add accessories and features to your bathroom to make it more to your taste and interesting. Simply things like adding a rug, or bathmat can work wonders to your bathroom!

8. “Create the illusion of architectural interest”, it is easy to go and buy a piece of wood from a shop and use it as a shelf, but why not add something to it to add interest, make it stand out and look different. Instead of sticking to the same old boring wood shelf.

9. “Speak up”, don’t be afraid to ask your landlord if you can make changes, why stick to the same old boring features of a standard rental flat? If you offer to make sure it goes back to its original look when you move out then there is no reason for the landlord to turn it down, unless you’re short term letting!

10 Home Design Trends in 2014

Keeping up with home design trends is very important for some people who love to keep their home modern and up to date. So check out here 10 home design trends to watch out for in 2014.

Struggling to find the right furniture to suit your home interior?

Struggling to find the right furniture to suit your home interior? Furniture CountryWide are a highly respected company who offer all different types of furniture to suit all different home interior designs; and all at affordable prices! So if you’ve gone all out on new paint, accessories and carpets and running low on cash now, you can still get the furniture you want by visiting Furniture CountryWide. It is a very professional and friendly family run business, who offer an amazing expertise in a vast range of affordable furniture to the retail market. Still not convinced? Well they have been very successful, and all  their staff have been hand picked and trained to an advance up to date standard. There is definitely nothing stopping you now.. So check them out and see if they have exactly what you’re looking for! 

Spring/Summer 2014

Interior design trends will change all year round, thats always been the way, same with fashion, and will probably always be the way. So if you want to get in there before everyone else and have the latest design trends within your home ready for the spring and summer trends then check them out here! Alwyn Human, the Style Director at Hangar Seven has written a blog post about what trends to watch out for in spring and summer 2014.