Restaurants | Retail Stores | Clubs Nightclubs Ceilings Designs Ideas

Your bedroom is your own private sanctuary. It is where you can really be you and dream of who you want to be. The perfect bedroom is dependent on the type of person you are. From the color of the walls, to the curtains and the bed, your room should embody your uniqueness as a person.

Designing your own bedroom can be a bit of a challenge especially for those who are not artistically inclined. For those of you facing an empty bedroom and have no idea on how to start decorating or designing the space, here are some of the easy ways to get you started:

• 1.     Paint. The best way to customize your bedroom is by painting the walls. Choose a color that you like. After all, this is where you will spend most of your personal time. To make it more unique, use color combinations to add depth to the room. You might even want to paint pictures if you have the time and patience to do so.

Also, keep in mind the concept of color psychology as studies show that this affects the atmosphere of a particular room. For bedrooms, you can use cool colors (e.g. shades of blue, lavender, or green) since these will help you relax.

• 2.     Choose the right furniture. Once everything has been painted to your liking, the arduous task of choosing the right furniture is the next step. Make a list of furnishings that you will need—a bed, mounted shelves, additional cabinets, etc.

You can look up different tips on choosing the right furniture for your bedroom size. For instance, if you are working with a very limited space, you can opt for mounted shelves or carts under your bed for storage.

• 3.     Purchase the furniture. The next and most exciting part is buying the stuff you will need to make your bedroom more comfortable. Keep in mind that before purchasing the furniture, test it first. Do not choose something because it looks cute or cool; buy it because of its quality and usability. Think of it as a long-term investment for your home.
• 4.     Organize. To make your bedroom look more comfortable and not cluttered, it is important to organize your furnishings properly. Arrange things so that you can maximize the space and still have enough room to move around without bumping into things.
• 5.     Illuminate your room. One of the things that invoke the feeling of relaxation is lighting. Choose lights depending on how you intend to use a particular area.

For example, if you have allotted an area for reading, you can choose a lamp that is bright enough to illuminate the book you are reading. You wouldn’t want to strain your eyes and have a headache over the wrong kind of lighting while you are reading. For the bedroom in general, you will also need a light that casts a warm shadow to help encourage relaxation and sleep. You can also install a dimmer switch to help you control the brightness.

More than being aesthetically pleasing, your bedroom should also have all the elements needed to be the one true place where you can sleep and relax comfortably. Do you have more tips you can share to your fellow readers? Feel free to leave a comment below.

Pierre Angela Cruz is a Marketing Consultant for Open Brook, an excellent source of information and reviews about patio and outdoor furniture. She also writes for Amerisleep, a distributor of memory foam mattress.

The patio is where you can enjoy and reconnect with nature, even though you are surrounded by comforts normally found indoors. It could be a personal, intimate sanctuary or a place to gather your friends or guests. Applying Feng Shui to your patio enables a balance of energies traveling in and out of your space.

Feng Shui is an ancient Chinese practice where certain materials and colors are oriented in specific directions and angles. When done properly, all these elements will provide a harmonic flow of energy called “chi”. A healthy flow of chi can bring you fortune, tranquility of the mind, and could be a magnet that attracts positive energy.

Here are a few tips to implement this ancient practice to your patio renovation.

• 1.     Know basic Feng Shui.

Feng Shui is about reconnecting man and nature; it balances dark and light energies. In this practice, there is a Yin and there is a Yang.

Yin energy promotes rest, tranquility, and femininity. Yang energy represents vigor, excitement, and masculinity. Having the perfect balance between these two elements will allow neutral and positive energies to flow, while repelling negative vibrations within your home.

Feng Shui requires the presence of all life’s elements. These are Fire, Water, Wood, Earth, and Metal.

Small details such as the placement of furniture and decorations affect the fluidity of energies traveling in and out of your patio.

• 2.     Add Yin and Yang decorations according to your patio’s size and use.

The space your patio will take up is important in implementing Feng Shui. Patios can either be spacious or intimate. If you are planning to use this area as a venue for crowds, Yang decorations must be used. However, if you are planning to use it as a personal and/or an intimate space, Yin decorations must be used.

Whichever of these two you choose, you need to keep in mind the following tips:

• If you are planning to make your patio spacious, keep your landscape layout wide and curvaceous, in order to give this area a sense of abundant space. Abundant space and Yang decorations go together very well.

Yang decorations are basically alive and vibrant with energy. Examples of Yang decorations are potted plants and vibrant colors (e.g. bright red). If you want to utilize your patio for brainstorming sessions, Yang decorations are a must, because these objects attract revitalizing, bright energy.

• If you are planning to keep your patio intimate or only for a small group of people, implement a design scheme of Yin decorations to your layout.

Yin decorations are objects that promote rest. Wooden pieces of furniture are Yin décor, while potted plants are Yang decors. Dark colors, such as navy blue, are considered Yin décors. A fountain or any kind of flowing water is also considered as Yin, since this amplifies the energies and vibrations emitted by wood.

• 3.     Implementing the elements in your decorating scheme.

An ideal Feng Shui scheme would be a complete presence of all elements in life. Take for instance the following examples:

• If you have a fire pit in your patio, you now have three elements in one object: metal as the fire pit enclosure, wood as fuel, and fire. Owning a potted plant gives you two elements in one object: earth as the pot and soil; wood as the plant.
• Having a fountain or a pool near your patio amplifies all your wooden elements.
• All chairs should not be aligned straight but pointed at 45- or 90-degree angles, in order to avoid a confronting or an aggressive gesture amongst seated guests. By following this chair position, conversations are easier, thereby letting positive energy flow.

With these Feng Shui guidelines for your patio, your personal sanctuary or party place will surely yield positive energy and vibrations. Always keep a balance between Yin and Yang decorations to let good chi come in your home.

Author Bio:

Pierre Angela Cruz is a Marketing Consultant for Open Brook, an excellent source of information and reviews about outdoor and patio furniture.

Whether moving into a new house or sprucing up the one you have been in for years, you might find that there is a room or two in your home that feels too big. Of course, as far as home decor challenges go, this is not a bad problem to have. Having a big room is a great way to use your home as a destination for entertainment for your friends, to be able to offer yourself as a host for a fundraiser, or just to spend time with your family. Whatever you want to use your space for, there are plenty of ways to make a large room feel cozier.

Paint the walls the right color. It’s a known old trick that to make a small room feel big, just paint the walls a light color. The opposite holds true for making a big room feel smaller. Use warm, deep, dark colors to absorb light. If going the wallpaper route, choose a dark print. And there is no reason to neglect the ceiling – paint it a dark color as well (though not the same as the walls) to enclose the space. This is especially helpful if you have high ceilings.

Use dark tones in your furnishings as well. Pick colors that coordinate with the wall and ceiling and that make you feel like luxuriating and stretching out. You can also use throw pillows in dark colors.

While we’re discussing furniture, think about the size of the pieces you use. If you’re moving from an old home into a new home, you might be tempted to use all the old furniture. But a big room needs larger pieces. A big, sectional sofa that curls around the room is one good idea, as is a chaise lounger that will offset it.

Feel free to group the furniture in different areas of the room to almost create separate mini-rooms within the larger space. For example, you can place a loveseat to face the fireplace, with a sectional rug setting it off, and then set some chairs on the side for another little spot. Bookcases and screens make for great dividers, and if you have the money to spend, you can also build a half wall to achieve a more permanent effect.

Accessorize the room with more warm, dark colors, and try to incorporate textured elements when possible. A velvet throw to drape on the couch, or some dark wooden bookshelves along the wall will continue to make the room feel a little cozier. Avoid mirrors as they will make the room feel bigger.

Add large plants around the walls and avoid too many small knick knacks. Plants not only liven a room by bringing in a natural element, they also are a good way to use up some extra space. Go with large sized ones that appear more like miniature trees than potted plants. This is relatively inexpensive and can be done easily and quickly with a hop over to your local nursery.

About the Author: Danielle Samuels reviews interior decorators in Evanston, IL. In her free time, she’s cozy in her bed watching movies.