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Improving The Appearance of Your Kitchen Stove
Mar 10th
When you buy a new home, it often doesn’t come with new appliances in the kitchen. In particular, the stove, which is a big old heavy lump, has seen many years of service. Moving house is expensive enough without having to having to buy a whole lot of new appliances such as a washer dryer combo. It is nice to have a modern stove with all the latest features, but it is still possible to make your old model look a bit more modern with some simple tips.
You will probably find that the color of the current stove does not match the color scheme that you have planned for your kitchen. Also you may find it is marked, scuffed or even shows signs of a lot of wear and tear. All is not lost, however, as most hardware stores will sell spray paint that will adhere to a metal appliance. Although there will not be an abundance of color options, sticking to a neutral color is a good idea.
It is important not to paint the stove in the kitchen otherwise you will end up with paint everywhere. Also, for safety, it should be done in a well ventilated area, preferably outside.
Quite often you will find that the burners, on your stove top, have coils of wire covering the gas-burning or electric surface. A nice technique is to place a decorative teakettle on the wire coils. They often come in many different colors and shapes and can often add a really contemporary look to your stove. Colored teakettles can also be bought to complement the color scheme in your kitchen
Often the stove will be positioned against a kitchen wall with a range hood over the top. The area at the back of the stove top can be decorated with a colored splash back or decorative tiles. That small ledge that sits at the back of the stove can be used to place items, such as small terracotta pots, on. The space, at the back can also be used to display some decorative art. It should, however, be resistant to fire and heat.
An old kitchen stove can easily be painted and accessorized and made to look like a newer appliance. If buying a new stove is beyond your budget at the moment, then updating your existing model is the best choice.
Go Over the Top with Lamp Shades
Feb 6th
Every home needs a few fun elements. If you usually use pretty basic furnishings and are fond of neutral interiors your home will look good but it will be a little dull. Cream walls, natural wood floors and cream curtains or black, white and gray everywhere are great choices in color schemes but you do need to choose a few items to add a bit of welcome color and give the eye a break from the sea of neutrality.
Lamp shades are a great way to add some much needed color. They are easy to change and relatively cheap. Even if your lamp has a neutral base a colored lamp shade can work well.
You can buy opulent beaded or stained glass lamp shades to add a decadent touch or decorate your own plain lamp shades with all kinds of haberdashery such as feathers, braid, fringing or beading. You can really go over the top if the rest of your room is very plain as you need to have at least one or two focal points and a unique lamp or two will make a great conversation piece.
You could also look out for stylish lamp shades in discount stores to give you some ideas. For example the lamp shades at low cost furniture stores like IKEA are in the very latest designs at very low prices.
If you prefer you can cover plain lamp shades with colored paper or fabric. With all these craft projects glue gun will be your best friend and can fix anything you like into place.
Of course, you should not stop with your lamp shades when injecting color into your room. Add a few additional accessories in toning colors that will work equally well to add life to your decoration and these will help balance the colors in your lamp shades and make them seem part of the overall room scheme.
Guidelines for Buying Large Rugs
Jan 11th
It is quite surprising but buying large rugs is not so easy as it might appear at first glance. The problem is that stores have difficulty in displaying these rugs sometimes and may not stock a large selection and buying online or from a catalog can make it difficult to envisage how the rug will look in your living room. Here are some guidelines to help your buying decision so that you have the best chance of making the right choice.
How Strong a Pattern Do You Want?
Most large floor rugs are patterned in some way, otherwise you might as well install wall to wall carpet, but if you choose a pattern which is not very subtle then the flooring will be the first thing that hits your eye when you enter the room. If that is not the effect you want, choose a small pattern and delicate colors for your rug. Think of the kind of patterns found on Persian and Chinese rugs which have worked well for centuries on our floors and you will get the right idea.
What size Do You Need?
There should always be a bare section around the perimeter of your room if you are buying a room sized rug. Make this at least one foot wide preferably two. If you prefer, you could buy a rug which just sits at the center of a large sitting area. This is the best solution too if you want a more striking pattern for your rug. It then becomes a focal point but just for the seating area, not the whole room.
Quality Counts
With a large floor rug make sure that you pay enough to get decent quality. You do not want parts of the rug wearing thin and the whole thing having to be replaced after a year or two. Remember your rug is covering a large expanse of your floor so it needs to look good and not cheapen your whole room.
Window Valances for all Budgets
Jan 10th
Window valances can be expensive and as they are more decorative than functional you might very well think that you can do without them if you are on a limited budget. And it is true, you can do without them but as they can also make your windows look a million dollars you might want to think about whether you can push the boat out a little. After all, everyone has curtains or blinds but not so many bother adding the perfect finishing touch with a valance.
If you would like to decorate your windows with valances but you don’t have a lot of money to spare, here are a few things to try.
1. Use a Scarf Valance
A scarf valance is a simple length of fabric which you loop over a drapery rod and fasten into place. It looks stunning yet it can cost next to nothing. Choose a soft fabric like muslin or anything which drapes well and simply cut the fabric to size. To get the length practice with a long length of spare fabric or simply use a piece of cord to work out the shape of the valance and the length of “tail” you would like to leave hanging at the sides of the curtains. The valance should be in a color which works well with the curtains or blinds and other items in the room.
2. Look for Valances in Sales
If you are more interested in traditional ready made or custom valances look out for sales in local department stores. These happen quite frequently but often do not last more than a few days so keep an eye out in local newspapers and store windows for them. You should be able to get a reduction on the cost of fabric and on the making of a custom valance at sale time. If you would like ready made valances they are often reduced at the end of season when designs are changing. It does not matter if it is the end of a line for your valance as long as it is just right for your windows!
3. Buy Online
Valances are often more keenly priced on the web than they are in a local store, perhaps because it is easier for you to go shopping on a competitor site. When you buy valances online be sure to include shipping charges when you do your pricing calculations.
Kitchen Curtain Colors for Mixed Up Kitchens
Dec 2nd
If you plan a kitchen from scratch you will usually have a predominant theme. Maybe your kitchen is natural country colors and you can choose natural colored curtains to match. Maybe your kitchen is ultra contemporary with shiny stainless steel appliances and gleaming white units and you decide to forget curtains altogether and choose the clean lines of blinds. But if you have inherited your kitchen from previous owners and you’re not sure what the style is meant to be, curtains and other window treatments can be more difficult to choose.
If your kitchen seems to be mainly warm colors such as cream, beige, yellow and brown (including the warm tones of wood) then at least you know that you can choose autumnal shades and they will go well with your kitchen. If it is mainly cool colors such as white, gray or blue then that is fairly easy too and you can choose the same white, gray or blue colors for your kitchen curtains or go for one of the cool bright colors such as lime green, turquoise or bright pink.
But if you have a mixed up kitchen with all kinds of colors then this advice is not going to help much. Mixed up kitchens are informal and friendly. You rarely find them on the covers of “Homes and Gardens” but they are found in many of our homes where our kitchens and accessories seem to have grown around us rather than get planned. We still want our curtains to look good however.
With a mixed up room the best type of kitchen curtains colors to go for are mixed up too! By that I mean curtains which have a lot of colors in them. For example, you will find cheerful fun curtains in narrow multi-stripes or plaid curtains with all colors of the rainbow included in both bright and more subtle shades and you will find many floral patterns which include a multitude of colors.
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