Griya Anda

Most people know venetian blinds as the slatted plastic strips with cords that are always tangled. These are quite difficult to clean and can make a room appear messy and shabby just by being tangled or crooked.

Blinds with plastic slats are out in modern interior design. Decorators often choose anodized aluminum and silver blinds for a modern window with minimalist effect. Nowadays, the variety of available venetian blinds includes a range of different designs, textures, and colors. Presently, manufacturers are producing blinds in fresh colors and interesting textures either by anodizing, painting, or coating the slats. The black blinds that were the rage in the 90s’modern trend and the neutral beiges of industrial looks are now considered boring and outdated. Plus, expert designers agree that these colors only make a room drab and impersonal. However, these blinds are still worth keeping if you would invest in special lighting treatments, bulbs, and dimmers. The light treatments can soften the starkness of the blinds.

But why waste money on lights when you can update your rooms by just choosing the right blinds for your rooms? The new, brighter neons will look perfectly retro paired with 60s’ and 70s’ memorabilias and designs. Colors like metallic bronze, gold and silver blinds are hot and will add instant glow and glam in any room. Rather than putting black or white venetian blinds for a wood paneled office, richer and more luxurious colors like deep wine or burgundy are advised. Brown and olive blinds are deemed best for earth toned rooms. Industrial spaces like offices look sleeker and more updated with blinds of celadon or cherry red.

If the more adventurous and bolder colors are not your style, you can still update your blinds by choosing different textures. Wooden slats are good for Asian-inspired or bohemian-themed rooms. Leather covered slats look sleek and collected for offices. Plastics are still okay for uplifting the retro vibes. If your rooms still look dated, the problem might not be the color or texture of your blinds. If you’re still using vertical blinds, especially those that are floor-length, then you’ve found the culprit. These venetian blinds look unfashionable and outdated. Aside from being mostly same in color, they look impersonal. They also interfere with other decorative accents like statues or sculptures. If you’re still saving up to replace vertical blinds, putting sheer curtains or drapes will do the trick. Another outdated blind is the mini-blind though they still function as shades for small windows. Minimize old-fashioned vibes by buying vibrantly colored mini-blinds.

Hand-painted decors are the ultimate fashion statements in terms of window treatment and venetian blinds use this technique. The slats on these blinds form part of a bigger picture when shut. These are more popular in Chinatowns and indie shops. As a result, most of the themes these blinds are of Asian or boho flair. These make for great accent pieces or as a surprise element in any room. Try any one of these tricks and watch your rooms come to life with new window personalities.

Your recliner has been a faithful and loyal friend. You’ve spent many hours sitting in it, reclining in it, resting in it. You can’t even count the number of times you’ve fallen asleep in your recliner while watching television. It has been part of the family. When you were down, it silently offered a bit of comfort. Now, you fear you’ll have to part with it. It has gotten old and out-of-date. Its fabric is no longer bright and beautiful. Plus, you’ve redecorated the living room and the recliner sticks out like a sore thumb! Oh sure, it still feels good, but its looks leave a lot to be desired. Don’t worry; you do not have to get rid of your old friend. Just renovate it. Make the old new again. Buy a new recliner slipcover.

Recliner slipcovers are fabrics specially cut and sewn to fit over reclining chairs. They simply fit snugly over your existing material to give you a whole new look. It’s like an instant facelift for the entire room. Visitors will not even know you’ve covered your chair—it will look like a whole new recliner!

Recliner slipcovers generally cost under $100 – or much less if you find one on sale or at a discount store. That’s merely a fraction of the cost of a whole new recliner.

When shopping for recliner slipcovers, pay careful attention to the material. Your recliner gets a lot of use, and it needs a fabric that can handle that. It also moves and bends a lot, so the material must be able to withstand that. Stretch denim, cable knit, velour, chenille, and most elasticized fabrics are good choices.

If your recliner feels great but looks terrible, don’t buy a new one. Consider a recliner slipcover instead. This way, you get a “new” recliner, without the new recliner price.

Popular tropical wall murals create the illusion of paradise in your home. They can bring sunshine and warmth into a room with no windows or help stave off the winter blues. You can incorporate a tropical scene into your room by painting windows framing a white-sanded tropical beach. You can paint a giant palm tree growing from you floor, with colorful parrots perched in the trees. You can have a sea and water theme, with sandy beaches painted near your ceiling, and water filled with beautifully bright tropical fishes below.

Tropical wall murals can be difficult to lay out and paint because, to make the scene look lifelike, you’ll need to use perspective and complex coloring to capture light and shadow. To start easy, you can incorporate small tropical elements throughout the room, like small fish darting out from behind a couch, a palm tree in the stretching on one wall with colorful butterflies flying around it. You could buy a tropical print, hang it above your couch, and then paint crisp white shutters around the print so that you now have a fantastic view of the beach from your living room.

Online retailers sell various tropical wall mural stencil kits. They send you a stencil you trace to transfer to your wall, and then you paint by numbers. These kits cost between $40 and $150.

Most professional mural painters have done tropical wall murals. Commissioning an artist to paint your tropical mural will save you time, but not money. Depending on the size and complexity of the mural, you can expect to pay between $30 and $100 per square foot of the mural.

The word futon comes from the English spelling for a Japanese-style bed known as a “shikibuton,” or floor mat. The classic Futon sits straight on the floor though there are now many designs of the bi-fold that have legs
The first futon introduced into American culture was constructed of a simple cotton mattress that could be placed directly on the floor and easily folded to save space.

Since then, in the American bedding industry, futons have evolved to a dual-purpose seating and bedding product that offers an alternative to the traditional sofa bed.

Futons are not fireproof. Today’s version of the futon usually has a frame, cover, and mattress that may contain cotton batting, synthetic batting or polyurethane foam padding materials that may catch fire if touched by a cigarette, match, lighter, or other open flame.

The mechanisms of the frames are divided into two types, the bi-fold and the tri-fold. The mattress needs only to be folded once with the bi-fold whereas it needs to be folded three times with the tri-fold
Futon quality mattress is durable, beautiful and very versatile when decorating any room. There are no better mattresses available for comfort and durability then modern futon mattresses.

When choosing a Futon: consider the quality of the frames, making sure it appears sturdy and is made of good materials. Choose the mattress carefully according to whether it is generally to be used as a sleeper or a sofa.

Curio cabinets have become a delight in themselves as they showcase your favorite things and mementos to friends and family, keep all your dear treasures in one place to admire them in wonderment everyday, or protect your growing collection of porcelain dolls from your 5-year old.

Curio cabinets started as places to keep curios - defined in the dictionary as curious or unusual objects of art or knickknacks and whatnots that are perhaps worthy of collecting because of their oddity. This definition could, of course, include silver spoons from Alaska, all assortments of wedding and christening favors, crystals, face masks from Africa and possibly even shrunken heads from the Amazons of Ecuador and Peru.

Nowadays, however, you can use curio cabinets for anything:

- Show off your family’s sporting interests by displaying your son’s bowling trophies next to your husbands autographed baseballs.

- House your priceless family heirlooms - such as, great grandma’s turqoise and silver comb, grandpa’s golden pen, mum’s old sapphire brooch which you wore on your wedding day and your son’s first baby photo.

- Or perhaps, protect from dust and grime the brass alto saxophone that you know you’ll learn to play one day in your retirement years.

But how do you choose the curio cabinet that’s just right for you? Ask yourself the following questions below and find out how.

Tips on how to choose a curio cabinet

1. The first question you should ask when buying a curio cabinet is: What kind of curios will I put in it? If it is a tall brass alto saxophone, then you need to get a tall, traditional curio cabinet with fitted glass doors to keep the dust out and with removable glass shelves to make room for your favorite musical instrument.

2. How much light is there at the spot where you are going to put your curio cabinet? Is it in the sunroom with plenty of natural light or is it in a dark corner of the house? If the latter then you need an illuminated cabinet to brighten the corner as well as provide accent lighting to your displays.

3. How big a space do you have for your curio cabinet?

- Is the space amply high and wide? Then you might want to get a traditional, dark cherry curio cabinet with generous measurements of 44W x 17D x 79H inches.

- If narrower, then a more contemporary curio cabinet with practical urban living measurements of 24W x 12D x 76H inches may be better.

- If low and wide such as in a family room or den, then a golden oak console curio cabinet measuring 56W x 13D x 30H inches is probably what you need.

- And if angled in a corner, you may want a curio cabinet that can be snugly placed in a corner and probably measuring around 28W x 16D x 72H inches.

4. The other question to ask is - Do you want to match the look of your curio cabinet with the other furniture in the room?

- If you want to maintain a traditional look, then you might want to choose from grand old fashioned designs with bevelling, hand-carved details and dark timber finishes.

- If the room is contemporary, then you might want the clean lines and lighter timber finishes of a more urbanized curio cabinet with lots of mirror and glass.

5. What type of wood or non-wood appeals to you?

- If affordability is a consideration and you do not mind the look of MDF or engineered wood, then you might choose a curio cabinet made of strenghtened pressed particle board and topped with timber veneer or laminate.

- If you feel that a solid wood curio cabinet sounds like a good investment, then you should get a curio cabinet made from the more popular oak or maple - hardwoods that can only gain character and charm as they age.

6. And last but not least, what is your budget?

- Are you prepared to splurge on a Louis XV-inspired Pulaski curio cabinet selling for $2000 so that you can have a spectacular accent piece that can transform your entire living room experience?

- Or do you just want a simple wall curio cabinet - one that you can get for $20 at ebay to put your dog figurine collection?

Choosing a quality shower door is a great addition and investment into any home. So what is a frameless shower door, and is it better than framed shower doors? And what options are available for consumers? These are important answers to have before going shopping for a new shower door.

What is a Frameless Shower Door? A frameless shower door is a glass shower enclosure that has little or no aluminum around the sides of glass panels. For example, side panels may be framed with aluminum, but main glass door has no framing. In some cases, there is very little noticeable framing. Thickness of glass varies among products, however, thicker is better as it provides more advantages.

Is framed better than Frameless? Framed shower doors are framed with aluminum on all sides. Aluminum is not always undesirable, and in some cases, it is necessary. However, frameless shower door require less maintenance because of less metal hardware than framed shower doors. Frameless doors are also more streamline and artistic in appearance than most traditional framed glass doors, though metals can sometimes be a perfect accent for a shower door. It really depends on décor, color scheme, and style.

Frameless Shower Doors can be equipped with a number of various options. Because of the nature of frameless doors, the hardware chosen will really stand out. There are many beautiful types of handles, hinges, and towel racks that come in a variety of decorative finish options. Whatever your color scheme, shower door manufacturers have a number of colors available and will also custom match you décor when necessary.

A reliable shower door retailer and installer is the perfect place to go when you begin planning your shower door. The shower door experts have any kind of shower door, and are certified shower door installers serving the Mid-Atlantic area. The shower door experts will get you set with everything you need to know to get your frameless shower door installed.

Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year, and then the light slowly starts returning to the northern hemisphere. But that still means we have many months of the year when our bedrooms get very little or no light in the mornings, when we get up, and are dark long before we go to sleep. If you’re someone who gets blue without enough light in your life, try brightening up your bedroom by making it feel like summer!

Think summer. Light colors, light fabrics. Take down the dark, heavy drapes and let the windows bring in as much light as possible during the day. When evening approaches, pull down the blinds and close the sheer curtains, which will look delightful in the glow of your warm bedroom lighting. Use soft white or pink-tinted bulbs in your lamps, or the full spectrum bulbs that replicate natural sunlight. They can make a huge difference in how you feel!

One way to optimize the light that comes in during the day is to position a large mirror on a wall across from or corner to a window. The mirrors will reflect sunlight and bounce it around the room. Hanging crystals in your windows is another way to bounce light around the room at certain times of day — except this will be like having rainbows all around you!

Make your bedroom feel lighter simply by eliminating or moving around your furniture to have more open space available. Use colors for your bedding that complement the summer scheme, such as celadon, aquamarine, a hint of orange and yellow, or nautical navy blue and white stripes. A floral-pattern or green rug on the floor will evoke summertime thoughts, as will adding some flowering plants, greenery, or vases of flowers. A large tropical plant with palm leaves gives an instant feeling of warmth!

If you have a fireplace in the bedroom, try decorating the mantle with shells or framed photos taken in the summer. A painting or photo above the mantle of the beach, a boat on water, or lush foliage can add to the effect.

Try a few of these suggestions to brighten your bedroom and give you a taste of summertime — even during the dark days of winter!

Whether it’s an apartment, condo or house, buying your first home can be exciting as well as expensive. After depleting your savings account purchasing your home, you might start to feel the pinch when it comes to furnishing it.

Here are some tips to get the look of luxury without the price tag:

• Be Resourceful. How do you find quality furniture without paying a high price? If you’re willing to put in some time, buying unfinished or used furniture to refinish can save you a lot of money and leave you with the same look for less.

• Sniff Out Bargains. Hunt for fix-me-up furniture in attics, garage sales and flea markets. Some of the best pieces could be hiding in a friend’s or relative’s attic. Keep in mind that finding the perfect piece may not be love at first sight. Look beyond the surface to see if there is potential for refurbishing.

• Transform Timeless Furniture. Before you take home any piece of furniture, check for structural flaws such as cracks, loose joints, lifted veneer, warped surfaces or uneven legs. If the integrity of the piece is still good, refinishing it can change the appearance from old and worn to beautiful and timeless.

• Give Furniture a Facelift. Before you can banish the old finish, you need to find out what you’re removing. Give it the cotton ball test. Dampen a cotton ball with acetone nail polish remover, then choose an inconspicuous test spot and dab it with the cotton. If it sticks or the finish softens, you have a varnish, lacquer or shellac finish. Formby’s recommends using their Furniture Refinisher, which will gently dissolve this type of finish. If nothing happens when you dab the cotton ball, then the finish is most likely paint or polyurethane. Try Formby’s Paint & Poly Remover to lift and remove the old finish. After a light buffing with Paint & Poly Remover Wash, you’re ready to add a beautiful new finish.

• Rub On the Finishing Touch. Applying a finish is essential for protecting stripped, stained or bare wood from moisture and wear. Formby’s Tung Oil Finish imparts a warm, hand-rubbed luster to wood, enhancing its natural charm. By hand-rubbing Tung Oil into wood, you eliminate the potential for streaks, ensuring a beautiful, smooth finish. Tung Oil penetrates wood, protecting from the inside out.

A kitchen can be more than just about its role in function, organization and efficiency. Kitchens need a personality and a look and feel that can liven up the senses in addition to being a functional place for the preparation of food. The French Country Kitchen design is one of many classic kitchen design themes that you could consider. It can provide your kitchen with a traditional look that has its roots in the hillsides of rural France. It is a style that can fit into both rural farmhouses and in the grandest chateau.

French country kitchen design conjures up images of the Provence and the French countryside with its pastoral settings, lavender fields and rustic French farmhouses. The French country kitchen represents country living that is uniquely French. In designing your French country kitchen design you discover that the French country look is always very rustic, old and warm.

There are many elements that go into the French country kitchen including the use of large pieces of furniture made mainly of light colored woods and can be decorated with ornate carving.

Color & French Country Kitchen Design
Color is an important place to start the design process. You can draw inspiration from some of the principle French impressionists like Monet and Renoir, Van Gogh. Colors that are used in the French country kitchen style can include sunny yellow or soft gold, bright red and rust, grass green, cobalt blue and soft ocean tones.
You can decorate in the style of the French country kitchen design by using vivid colors - poppy red, sunflower yellow, bright blue, meadow green, and sunset purple. Your walls and cabinets and large furniture can be painted in off white, ivory, light beige, and taupe. Cabinets can be painted a glossy white to brighten light-filled spaces in the kitchen or they can be left as natural wood. These colors can provide a light, airy feel so you do not want to use strong colors here. In fabrics such as curtains and seat cushions you might also add paisley, stripes and floral prints to your French Country Kitchen theme.
Natural Materials
Natural materials are an important element in walls, cabinetry and furniture that is used in the design of French country kitchens. The materials used in creating a rustic French country kitchen look include natural stone floors, granite counter tops and tumbled marble back splashes. These natural materials can be used on walls and beamed ceilings, and can be rough stained or painted plaster, or wood painted in natural colors. Floors can be made of stone or brick and covered with wool or cotton rugs, a fireplace made of stone with a heavy beam that can serve as a mantel, and wooden shutters as window coverings. Furniture and cabinets can have a rustic or even a distressed look. Countertops can be done in ceramic tile with tile back splashes.
Accent Pieces
In French country kitchen design you will find that tile, rustic urns, hand-painted European ceramics and pottery accents are used extensively. Ceramic tiles and terra cotta pottery pieces are used wherever possible. Add copper pots and a French country kitchen can can encompass many old world decorating colors.

A kitchen can be more than just about its role in function, organization and efficiency. Kitchens need a personality and a look and feel that can liven up the senses in addition to being a functional place for the preparation of food. The French Country Kitchen design is one of many classic kitchen design themes that you could consider. It can provide your kitchen with a traditional look that has its roots in the hillsides of rural France. It is a style that can fit into both rural farmhouses and grand chateaus.

The materials used in creating a rustic French country kitchen look include natural stone floors, granite counter tops and tumbled marble back splashes.

The story of the line begins in 1730 with the birth of Josiah Wedgwood to a family who manufactured pottery. At six years old, Josiah was an apprentice and by 14 he had suffered a bout of smallpox that weakened his right knee. By 1760, Josiah had his own factory and had been experimenting with different formulas of porcelain, clays and glazes and technological advances in the art of transferring designs to the finished product. In 1765 he manufactured a complete set for Queen Charlotte, advertised himself as the “potter to the Queen” and his business took off.

Josiah’s crowning achievement was his creation of Jasperware. Jasper is translucent clay that marries the basalt and Josiah’s original formulas to produce a dense, homogeneously colored stoneware. After more than 10,000 failed experiments with various clays and glazes, Jasperware was launched in 1775 to overwhelming success, especially to his customers in the new democracy of the United States of America. Josiah stated shortly thereafter, “there was no item too rich or too costly for Americans.”

Wedgwood died in 1795 and the business was left to his sons, who, having been brought up wealthy, had absolutely no interest in running it. The job fell to a nephew, Tom Byerly who struggled greatly with the burden of running a business he had little love for. The next 25 years proved difficult for the company and Josiah II took over to turn things around by restoring the formulas and business standards set by his father. Needless to say, constant economic turmoil, wars and growing competition made the 1800’s very difficult and it wasn’t until the 20th Century, under the leadership of Josiah V that things began to improve.

With new, streamlined production facilities, aggressive worldwide marketing especially in America, and exclusive designs, Wedgwood China products began gaining prominence in the industry. In 1966, Wedgwood’s shares were introduced into the London Stock exchange and since that time, the company has been involved in aggressive expansion. The assets of Susie Cooper, Royal Tuscan, William Adams, Franciscan, Mason’s Ironstone, Waterford, and Rosenthal have been merged with Wedgwood to form the Wedgwood group. Josiah Wedgwood I would be proud.