SIMPLE DECOR

SIMPLE DECOR

1. LET IN AS MUCH SUNLIGHT AS POSSIBLE

The key to make any interior element look its best, is to highlight it with sunlight. Artificial lighting such as spot lights or accent lights also emphasize the interior element, but it will never give the effect that natural light will give. This can achieved through higher and wider windows, and skylights. 

REMEMBER: HIGHER THE WINDOW, MORE THE SUNLIGHT. Therefore people prefer to use cafe curtains in areas where privacy is not an issue. 

2.  GO IN FOR A SLEEK AND SIMPLE CD RACK

I know how annoying it can having Cd's lying around the house, in various drawers. Nowadays, Cd's have become a rare thing, everyone has their music stored in their phones, and other electronic devices. So what do we do with these compact disc's, if we do not want to throw dispose them? The best idea would be to purchase a corner storage CD rack, which is sleek and simple, here you can easily pick out what you want and its organized.

3. BRIGHTEN UP A BORING HALLWAY

Brighten up a boring hallway by adding intricate or paintings with a lot of detail, this is give a "wow" factor as soon as a guest enters.
REMEMBER: If you are placing the paintings above a door (as shown in the picture) then be sure that it is fastened properly. Use a spiral anchor: This method is the easiest way to hang heavy pictures. Drive the spiral anchor into the wall with a screwdriver. Drive a screw into the anchor with a screwdriver. Some spiral anchors come with special picture hanging hooks.

4. SIDE TABLE TOO BORING? Bring nature into your room.

Tired of having the same artifacts on your side table? Then bring some life into your room! Add a bunch of flowers. This will not only give a fresh and sparkling look to your whole room, but also highlight its aesthetics.

5.  FOCAL SPOT IN YOUR KITCHEN

Bored of your kitchen set up? Add an antique side table stand which can hold your fruits. This gives a primitive and age-old aura. Its always good to have variation and diversity in design.

IMPORTANT: From this post onwards, the pictures will be taken by me personally. Pictures used in the previous posts were taken from the internet. 

Rendezvous of Aesthetics-Priyal Sood: GETTING YOUR HOME READY FOR DIWALI.

Rendezvous of Aesthetics-Priyal Sood: GETTING YOUR HOME READY FOR DIWALI.

GETTING YOUR HOME READY FOR DIWALI.

           GETTING YOUR HOME READY                                   FOR DIWALI

Diwali is the season of lamps, lights, and firecrackers. It is that time of the year when the new dinner sets, showpieces, and upholstery come out of your closet. But, it is not all that merry when you have oil leaking over your floor, or a guest spilling sauce over your new couch. Diwali also, is no longer just a festival of earthen diya’s. In this post, I will help you botox your home, in 6 simple ways. 
  You could opt for a long term investment such as whitewashing your home, or displaying beautiful and catchy murals or wallpapers. If your are considering this option, then I would suggest bright colors on any one wall in every room. Let the other walls be subtle.

Now, if you just need to touch up or protect your home just for Diwali, the following ideas should be useful

1   1.GET RID OF THE CLUTTER: The first and foremost way of re-decorating your home for diwali, is to clean the house. Get rid of all the broken clutter, repair the old furniture, and throw away that old unused stove. Once, the house is spic and span, you can now think clearly as to what touch up is needed where. 

MAKE YOUR HOME SPOTLES  AND NEAT.

     2,  BRING IN THE COLOR: Diwali is all about hues. Therefore, you all the liberty to play with colors. Mix and match the green cushion covers, with the mauve curtains. The more colorful the house looks, the more inviting it is.

TRADITIONAL CUSHION COVERS 

     3.  CHANGE THE SOFT FURNIFHINGS: This is the easiest way to give a whole new look to your home. You could change the sofa covers, the cushion covers, put on crisp bedcovers, throw on a new table cloth, hang stain glass paintings and probably add a valance to your curtains.  All these could add magic to your room.

ADDING A VALANCE TO YOUR CURTAIN, NATURALLY UPLIFTS THE AESTHETICS OF THE ROOM.

A CRISP BED COVER COULD CHANGE THE ENTIRE LOOK OF YOUR ROOM.

           4.  LAMPSHADES: These fixtures complete a room, and provide aesthetics in every form. A lampshade could be used to highlight a particular corner, or to emphasize on an artifact. During Diwali these come in handy as you don’t want bright lights over the guest’s face which will be uncomfortable. These lanterns can be variedly used with colorful lampshades. They provide a calming and soothing effect to one’s room.

THE PERFECT WAY TO COMPLETE A ROOM.

CLASSIC, FOLK LAMP SHADES ADD COLOR TO THE ROOM

   5.  PROTECT YOUR FURNITURE: In this festival of entertainment, your house is going to be a constant in and out for guests, or if you have a diwali party. Spilling drinks, dropping curd, or leaking oil from sweetmeats, all these are disastrous for your upholstery or sofa covers. Hence, don’t forget to either cover your sofa with plastic protection or you could even use fabric protection like scotch guard. 

YOUR SOFA, STAINED FOR LIFE.

PROTECT YOUR FURNITURE WITH PLASTIC SHEETS.

 

6. PROTECT YOUR FLOOR: You do not want leaking earthen lamps leaving oil stains on your floor, do you? So don’t forget to place a small mat or polythene piece below the lamp. This will avoid you the tedious effort of scrubbing the floor off the oil stains later on.
 

Another important point, is to use eco-friendly colors for your rangoli, as they are easy to clean and non-harmful.

BEAUTIFUL RANGOLI FOR DIWALI

I hope these tips will help you, and wish you all a Happy Diwali.

5 HUE'S NEVER TO BE USED IN A BEDROOM.

5 COLORS NEVER TO BE USED IN A BEDROOM

Your Bedroom is your den where you just want to retire and relax at the end of a long hectic day. BUT this might be difficult at times, for reasons we may not know. We blame the noise, type of illumination, or even get frustrated with ourselves. The real cause behind our restlessness is sometimes the colors we use in our bedroom. Be it wall coverings, wall papers, carpets, curtains, furniture, and upholstery. Choosing the right tints and shades for your bedroom is of extreme importance as they complete the harmonious aesthetics of a room. Colors affect our mood. In this post, you will learn why these 5 colors are a big NO NO for any bedroom.

RED 

Red is the color of fire, rage and attention. It gives out a lot of energy and hence stresses our eyes,heart and increases blood pressure. Red spoils your sleep pattern too. It is not a good choice for a calm and composite environment like a bedroom. Using red in small aspects such as cushion covers, or a table lamp emphasizes it, and highlights hotspots. But going all out with red is disastrous. Scarlet, crimson and carmine are the desired shades.

THE DESCRIPTION SUITS THE ROOM.

IMAGINE SLEEPING IN A ROOM LIKE THIS.

 PURPLE

Purple is a mixture of red and blue. Though this color is associated with luxury, it is not a preferred choice in a bedroom. Purple also has an artistic connection, therefore it helps in creative thinking. Sleeping in a room with purple all over gives vivid dreams and maybe even nightmares. Hence, keeping this color minimal in a bedroom is advised. Orchid, pearly purple and mulberry shades are acceptable.

AN OVERDOSE OF THE AUBERGINE COLOR.

PURPLE! ALL OVER.

GREY

Grey is a color "without color". This color is often associated with ash, boredom, conformity, uncertainty, and depression. Now you do not want to feel these emotions at the end of the day or as soon as you wake up in the morning. Therefore, grey is used in small portions in a bedroom. Only 1% of people say that grey is their favorite color.  Silver over grey is preferred.

GREY, IT IS CLASSY BUT CAUSES DEPRESSION.

A DULL, GREY ROOM.

 

YELLOW

In as much, this hue gives a happy, cheerful and pleasant look to a bedroom, it is often associated with envy, jealousy,cowardliness and irritation. This is the brightest of all colors and is often used to attract attention. Hence it tires our eye. Lemon, cadmium yellow and mellow yellow are preferred.

BRIGHT YELLOW, WELL, THIS DEFINITELY HITS YOUR EYE.

AUREOLIN COLOR. IT CALLS FOR ATTENTION.

BLACK

  As beautiful as black is, it is not a color to be used in excess in a bedroom.Though it is the hue of sophistication, it is also the color of the unknown, depression, intimidating and power. Too much black can cause mood swings and create a negative environment.  Use of black with white can create a formal setting. 

BEAUTIFUL BLACK, WELL LOOKS EVIL.

SOPHISTICATED! BUT CREATES A NEGATIVE ENVIRONMENT.

Therefore, choosing the right hue for your room depending on its tints and shades is important as color can play with psychology and our moods.

Lighting- Basic Of Illumination

LIGHTING

A combination of General, Task and Ambient Lighting is perfect illumination.

Lighting is that one aspect in your home that can highlight any corner to make it stand out or conceal it completely like it isn't even part of the room.Good lighting is all about creating "layers" with the different lighting effects. Take a look around your house and notice the type of lighting you have installed, as you read this article. 

There are 3 basic TYPES OF LIGHTING-

1. GENERAL LIGHTING - Also known as Ambient Lighting. This provides the basic illumination needed for any room in your house. It can either be in the form of down lighters, or up lighters. These fixtures include wall-mounted lights, chandeliers, up lighters and down lighters etc.

Their main function is to let you move about safely providing illumination without glare.Don't forget to provide a dimmer switch.

Up-lighters

Centralized Down Lighter

A wall mounted up lighter

A Modern Chandelier

Wall Mounted Up- Lighter

2. TASK LIGHTING - This type of lighting helps you perform your daily tasks. Yes, your table lamp or side lamp is a type of task lighting. Task lighting basically helps you perform any task such as reading, writing, cooking, playing music,grooming etc with ease and without putting much strain on your eye. These also include pendant lights, recessed or track lights, free standing clamp lighting. They must be free from glare.

Modern Task Light

Track Light

 

A table lamp is the best form of task light

Contemporary table lamp

A floor lamp could also be used as a task light

3.ACCENT LIGHTING - This type of lighting is mainly used to accentuate or highlight any decor or spot in your house. While general lighting flattens the whole look of a room, task lighting enhances and draws our attention towards our favorite piece of furniture, or a coin collection on the wall,or a plant in the corner, or even a textured wall. The accent lighting must always be 3 times brighter than your general lighting. The types of accent lighting include spot lights and recessed lights.

A recessed light or spot light

Track lights emphasizing on the paintings

Accent lighting given from the flooring.

MIRROR MAGIC.

MIRROR MAGIC.

 Gone are the days when mirrors were used only to see ones reflection. Today mirrors have widened their horizons and are used in interiors as space increasing agents, aesthetic purposes, light reflective purposes; mood enhancing purpose, the list is endless… The right simple mirror can make a room look just perfect, but a mirror with a bad shape or size or frame can immediately ruin the décor of a room. It’s tempting to cover an empty wall with a mirror, but going overboard with mirrors is not recommended.
 Here are a few DO’s and DONT’S of mirrors that are used in interiors.

Mirrors used as accessories.

 DO'S-

1. Do use mirrors in tiny rooms as its universally known that a mirror shows double of what actually is present. So if you have a small bedroom, dining room or living room then a large mirror will definitely help in solving your space problem, as they reflect light and the more the light the more spacious and airy one’s room looks.

A mirror on the side wall of a bedroom, makes the room look double its size.

2. Do use mirrors in foyers or passages or at the entrance of your place as it’s a narrow area and it will add a little excitement to the person entering your home and it is welcoming.

Mirror used at the entrance or the foyer.

3. Do use mirrors in bathrooms as its mandatory and a full length mirror in your bathroom or bedroom will please you and look aesthetic, you could also get free standing mirrors which gives your room a vintage touch.

A free standing mirror, gives the room a vintage touch.

A face mirror in a bathroom.



4. Do use a mirror opposite a window a pleasant view as it will reflect that view and let in positive energy; let’s not forget the natural light getting doubled because of the mirror.



The view a mirror reflects is important.

 5. Follow feng shui or vastu, as it is duly noted that a mirror attracts a strong element of water which increases sadness, therefore some people do not wish to have mirrors in their bedrooms. Though, having a mirror above your bed is alright.

Mirror behind a bed.

6. Do use mirrors as accesories. They serve as perfect show pieces.

A beautiful mirror.

 DONT'S- 

1. Don’t get overboard with mirrors- It might be tempting to put mirrors on an empty wall, but it is important to see what view the mirror is reflecting. You don’t want your mirror reflecting a pile of dirt in your house or a dirty table. The placement or location of the mirror is extremely important.







This is a lot of mirrors on a wall.



 2. Do not have a wall to wall mirror in your bedroom, right opposite your bed. You don’t want to look at your own reflection as soon as you wake up.









A mirror opposite your bed is not recommended.

 3. Don’t overdo the use of mirrors on your furniture, as it will get to gaudy and there will be too many reflections all over your house.





Too many mirrors spoil the decor of a room.



 4. Do not have mirrors on the ceiling. Though now a small mirror on the ceilng is trendy.

you do not want your ceiling looking like this, do you?

So next time you look at a mirror in your house you know the reason why it is placed there.

Picture Courtesy: The internet.