Wood Improvement

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Interior design is about creating a harmonious space to live in, about creating exciting and functional environments in your home. You don’t have to be an interior designer to know that designing a bathroom deserves as much attention as designing all the other rooms. Today, many people choose luxurious bathroom fixtures: massage showers, whirlpools, hot tubs and so on. Massage showers and hot tubs are the most frequent fixtures used in the modern bathrooms.

If you’ve ever wondered what a hot tub is, the simplest definition comes from ancient times when the tubs were made of wood and their purpose was water treatment. Wooden hot tubs are still used in some spas and resorts, for the special touch they enhance the interior design with a certain “je ne sai quois” reminding us of long-forgotten times when there were no modern bathrooms and people had to bath in wooden tubs. Just remember: no matter how cool the wood hot tubs might look, they are extremely difficult to maintain, so choose something to really ease your stress and not something that will double the work in your home.

While some spas still use wooden tubs, there are many private spas that use specially designed hot tubs and whirlpools to create a relaxing atmosphere for their clients while still using the healing power of warm water. It is a known fact that warm water helps not only to reduce stress, but also to ease sore muscles and aches.

Would you like to design your own modern bathroom, a spa to relax and forget about your daily routine? Would you like to have something like this in your very own home? Could you? Yes, because modern bathroom fixtures were specially made to be affordable, functional and, above all, comfortable.

Interior design is an art that will allow you, even when you live in a small apartment, to transform your narrow bathroom into a real health spa. Sure, you’ll not be able to fit an oversized hot tub into a tight space, but there are plenty of manufacturers who design hot tubs especially for users like you! You’ll just need to look for some small, two-person hot tubs and you’re done. Sure, if your bathroom is too small for a hot tub, or any tub for that matter, you could always choose a massage shower.

Many manufacturers design modern hut tubs and whirlpools to fit in most of the narrow bathrooms that still use small old tubs. The materials vary from molded plastic to acrylic and quarrycast. Quarrycast is a mineral crystal composite, a new material developed by Victoria & Albert Baths, to enhance your bathing experience: it’s warm to the touch, keeping the water in your hot tub hot for a long time; it has a naturally high gloss finish and it can be colored with the dye of your choice, maximizing the interior design options in your bathroom.

If you choose a hot tub for your bathroom, you don’t even have to worry about installation troubles. What you’ll need is a hose and a power supply and you’re done. Sure, when what you need is an in-ground hot tub for your garden, the job might get a little bit difficult, but not impossible and, above all, worth your time. Besides, outdoor spas are easier to maintain and cheaper, but if you want to install a hot tub indoors, make sure you use a good ventilation system, as a tub increases the humidity inside your bathroom and that might lead to mildew. Remember this advice and you’ll do just fine!

A lot of us spend plenty of time trying to get our living space in good order, as this is typically where we have guests’ company and it has to make a fine impression. Making a fine impression is a decent objective as long as you do not turn the space into a picture perfect setting which threatens visitors and needs high maintenance repairs. Living room interior designs is intended for living and not maintenance. Thus, make your a friendly and cosy one to live in.

The first thing to do when creating living room interior designs is to check out what you have in hand and graph out a layout plan. Take into consideration both the architectural aspects of the living space and the effect you wish to create. Also, create a list of the things you are going to utilize in the living space. Is it going to be intended for having visitors or is it going to be a space for the family as well? Will it be utilized for playing games, watching television, or reading? Is it also going to serve as a dining room? If you own pets, will they be permitted inside it?

Then, take into consideration the type of furniture you may need for the planned activities. If you’re going to include a dining table, will it be small or large? Are you going to include closets for the ornaments, books, television, and other things? What type of chairs and sofa will be cosy for you and your visitors, and last long as well if you own pets hopping on and off?

When you know what you wish, you may look at various living room interior design ideas. Turn to magazine photos, artworks, fabric designs, colour swathes, shop windows, other people’s houses, the Internet, nature, and almost everything else. It is definitely very interesting and inspiring to know what the greatest interior designers are currently doing. However, do not fall too much over what is trendy right now or what is hot and happening these days. Do not forget how important it is to make use of your own style and taste since your own house is concerned. The bottom line is not only to have a well-styles living space, but one that vividly speaks your personality, is both comfortable and fun to live in, and is easy to keep up as well. If you own a living space that is too valuable to be utilized, one of you has to be changed.

As a lot of living room interior designs experts would say, the best colour for a living space is a neutral and light shade. Having your living space floors and walls in a neutral colour definitely offers a lot of leeway in selecting the lights, ornaments, draperies, furniture, and so on in different textures and colours. Thus, it is particularly helpful if you wish to change around the appearance of your living space time and time again. You do not need to repaint the entire space just to attain a different appearance.

Interior design is a multidimensional profession, in which creative and technical skills are applied to achieve a desired interior environment. This designing enhances the quality of life and culture of the occupants and is aesthetically attractive. The designs are created with respect to the regulatory requirements and encourage the principles of environmental sustainability.

Designing an interior environment is not a simple process. It follows a systematic and coordinated methodology. The goal is achieved by research, analysis, and integration of knowledge into a creative process. This methodology is mediated with the help of the vision and demands of the client about the interior of the place.

The interior design is influenced by many disciplines including architecture, product design, and most of all, the environmental physiology. The trend of interior design keeps on changing with time. These depend on some external and internal factors. Among the external factors, media has posed great influence on the changing trend in this field.

There are mainly two types of media; print media and visual media. Interior magazines present vast options regarding the interior of the building. There are a large number of fashion magazines as well. These have a separate interior design corner. World renowned designers publish their advertisement in the magazines. It is an effective tool for the publicity of the designer. It has made the work so easy that people look at the advertisement of their choice and guess the capabilities of the designer. Thus, they easily approach the decorator of their own choice.

The designs influence the demands of people. If they opt to refurnish their house or office, they consult the advertisements in the magazines. The alluring designs enable them to think of a beautiful living place. On the basis of the sketch, they visualize the whole interior of the house. In this way, they become more specific and clear about their demands.

In addition to the print media, the visual media has no match. It influences the taste and the demands of people. Media presents many “Do it yourself” programs that enable you to have each and everything of your taste and desire. It also enables you to understand the technical points, involved in the selection. A home requires a different interior than an office. It is as if someone is guiding you to set the interior of your place.

Moreover, people are very influenced by the glamour shown on the televisions. Things that people see in the television, they want to have them in their vicinity. The interior, similar to a famous television program, becomes a status symbol for the people. It is something that they idealise.

Moreover, people always idealise the belongings of their dear super stars. Their living places, shown in the television, greatly influence them. Like everything else, the interior of a celebrity home becomes the fashion of the time. They demand their decorators to create a living place similar to that of their ideals. Visual media is somewhat prior to the print media. Visualizing any interior design reveals their demand to them. Thus, almost every new thing is introduced by or through the media.

Whatever your interest in interior design, London is likely to have what you are looking for. Maybe you are seeking inspiration and imaginative tips on interior design for your own home or you are an interior designer and want to promote your own work, or perhaps you want to hire the services of a professional designer or even study interior design yourself, no matter what your need is, there is no better place to satisfy it than from the design capital of the UK itself, London.

Visiting Exhibitions in London

London hosts a number of exciting exhibitions every year, some of which focus on a specific area of interior design and others that are broader in their approach. Exhibitions serve many purposes, they can showcase new talent and fresh ideas from up and coming interior designers often alongside the work of already well established and highly sought after designers in the industry, they highlight the latest fashions and trends, spark new creative ways of thinking, provide opportunities to network and increase business sales and of course they offer the chance to view the work of some of the best interior designers in the world.

The following list represents just three Interior Design Exhibitions that regularly take place in London:

o 100 Percent Design – Exhibition usually takes place in September over 3 days and is open to the general public on one of those days. More information can be found at http://www.100percentdesign.co.uk

o Decorex – This exhibition also takes place each September but is only for trade and professionals in the interior design industry. Details of the next exhibition can be found at http://www.decorex.co.uk

o New Designers Exhibition – opens to the public and exhibits the work of thousands of new and up and coming designers every July. You can find out more information from http://www.newdesigners.co.uk

There are of course many other exhibitions taking place throughout the year and a list of them can be viewed on The British Interior Design Association website at http://www.bida.org

Hiring a professional Interior Designer

Many of us would like to transform our own home and although we may start out with great ideas and intentions, quite a few of us never actually get around to doing anything about it. Hiring a professional interior designer is one way of getting it done and if you don’t have someone in mind already; one place to start looking is The British Interior Design Association. The BDA keep a list on their site of interior designers who are either registered members or associated members.

Registered members are the most qualified and have the most experience as in order to get registered they have to satisfy the Association’s strict criteria. An Associate member has to have been working in the industry for at least a year and will have passed the association’s interview process for membership. You can search for an interior designer at http://www.bida.org.

Another option is The Interior Design Handbook website at http://www.interiordesign.com, where you can search a list of potential designers by location as well as speciality. You will also be able to view their profiles online.

Studying Interior design in London

London offers hundreds of courses on various aspects of interior design starting from the most basic right through to graduate degrees and beyond and so finding the right one can seem like a daunting task but it needn’t be if you know where to look.

A small sample of interior design schools in London include:

o The KLC school of Design

o The AIU School of Interior Design

o The Interior Design School

You could also try searching for other courses at http://www.floodlight.co.uk, which is the official guide to all the different adult education courses on offer throughout London. UCAS will also be able to provide you with comprehensive information on different undergraduate courses that are interior design related and what colleges and universities are offering these courses.

Why London for Interior Design?

London attracts a wealth of talent and creative thinking within the interior design Industry and is an important springboard for launching the very latest designs from some of the best interior designers in the world. London also provides endless opportunities for up and coming interior designers to showcase and promote their own work and can be a source of inspiration for anyone interested in interior design at any level.

How often do you enter a room and find certain details or areas that you feel good about? Are there areas in your own home that you find nice or appealing? In interior design, these are good features of a room. There is a decorating philosophy that goes, “Accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative”. By following this basic interior design philosophy you can highlight the positive or good features of the room and come up with a pleasing design scheme. Let’s say you have a beautiful fire place in your living room. This is a good feature and often a fireplace is used as a focal point in interior design. The first thing you want to do is accentuate this good feature by making it the focus of attention and building a conversation area around it.

It is rather easy to notice the positive details of any given room, making the task of accentuating the positive features easier, but how do you deal with the problem areas? The interior design philosophy teaches us to eliminate the negative and when it is impossible to eliminate it, just camouflage it. Do you have any area in your home that you wish doesn’t exist or is it in a particular architectural style that doesn’t go with your own personal taste or does it have pillars or columns that are distracting?

Here are some possibilities of problem areas that you might have in your home and how to deal with these.

How would you deal with a wall containing a distracting column?

1. You can make it disappear by installing cabinets that will fill the spaces on either side of it. This will make the column appear as if it were part of the straight wall because it is already in line with the cabinet’s face.

2. If your area is big enough and you can afford to lose some space, just simply build a new wall that runs across the face of the column.

3. The simplest and least expensive way is to paint the wall and column with one color, making the column blend into the wall and thus make it appear less obvious.

Have you come across a room with a pillar planted right in the middle? I bet you wanted to hack that pillar right off the floor. The problem with a pillar placed right in the middle of a room is that it cannot just be removed as much as we want to. This usually is essential in the structure’s integrity and eliminating this is definitely not an option. How then will you deal with this kind of a problem? Although this is not a positive feature of a room, you might want to accentuate it and make it stand out. Instead of looking at it in a negative perspective, try to make it a positive feature by making it the focal point.

1. You can paint the pillar a brilliant color, especially if you are planning to have a high-tech or avant-garde room.

2. You can also use some eye-catching device or paint it in stripes to catch attention.

3. If you are planning to have a traditional room, try installing an intricately designed capital and make the pillar stand out.

4. If you have a large room, a mid-room pillar may actually give you the opportunity to divide one big room into two. The pillar could be used as a starting point of a wall that will convert one huge room into two different areas.

5. The easiest and least expensive way to camouflage a pillar is to paint it with the same color as the walls. Although this is not a very effective way to eliminate the irritating center pillar it can at least make it less obvious.

6. The best way to make a mid-room pillar disappear is to mirror it. This is very effective since the mirror will just merely reflect the rest of the room.

Having vivid mental pictures and good imaginations of how things should look like will enable you to solve your interior design dilemmas. And with some help from the interior designer’s well followed philosophy, you can create the same harmonious room that often only designers can achieve.

Interior Decorating Styles – Part One – Medieval to Pre-16th Century

It is so important to know what decorating style you prefer before you commence a decorating project. Knowing your preferred decorating style will help you to answer many questions and guide you through the myriad of decisions to come.

In part one we will look at the decorative styles contributed by the Medieval to pre 16th century. This five part series on decorating styles will give you a snap shot or a quick peek into the essence of decorating styles. It is written as simplistically as possible; not as an insult, but, so that anyone can benefit from the information – the professional and the novice.

In the Medieval to pre 16th century the domestic preoccupation with decorating was limited to stone-built or timber framed castles and manor houses.

The interiors of medieval homes were sparsely furnished which allowed the architectural shell to be the focal point, so to speak. This is similar to what we call the Minimalist style today. The furniture was made mostly of oak, elm or chestnut. The tables were wooden boards that were supported on trestles and the seating was mostly benches and stools. This should bring to mind the Mission style and Craftsman style of decorating. The beds were canopied and usually had 4 posters. The decorative adornments that were placed on furniture, woodwork, and textiles were based on three vocabularies of ornament: Romanesque, Gothic, and Heraldic.

The Romanesque influence included chevrons, foliage and even beasts on furniture. The easiest way for me to describe a chevron wall is to say that it is similar to a classic herringbone design. You know, the zig-zag look or sometimes stripes. That technique came from the medieval to pre-16th century. Gothic ornament included architectural elements such as lancets, foils and tracery. Tracery is a pattern of interlacing lines in a lacy pattern that often outlines stain glass. It’s typically made of wood, stone or iron and is usually one long continual line (or mullion) that is shaped to form patterns. It is very geometrical. If you Google St. Paul’s Cathedral, you will see exactly what I mean. You would typically see tracery on old historic structures. Sometimes tracery is used in furniture, lamps, and chandeliers, too. The last contribution we will look at from the Medieval to pre-16th century period is Heraldic decoration. Heraldic offered the world of design motifs and emblems. Similar to family crests or monograms.

Part two of interior decorating styles will explore the 16th and 17th centuries and how interior decorating was enhanced by the contributions from those times.

Just when you think that these types of ports of entry are only ideal for your front, back, or patio doors, you suddenly discover that they also fit together with your interior design. What’s more, they carry a number of advantages that you will surely enjoy.

Let Us Talk about Design

Perhaps one of the most obvious benefits of using interior French doors is uplift in the aesthetic value of your home. There is no wonder that these doors have always been commended and praised because of their wondrous beauty. You can capture the real essence of the interior French doors like this:

Just imagine yourself being in front of a huge door, with smooth, bright-colored wooden frame. All around the frame, you can see etches of blooming flowers or perhaps branches bearing fruits or birds that sit on the treetops. Nature is at its best right at the frame. Then you take a peek inside your room through the glass panel. In the morning, the bright lights of the sun will be the one to wake you up and remind you of what a gorgeous day is waiting ahead of you.

Seriously, no one can really capture into words the essence of interior French doors, but your eyes and the rest of your senses will know about it.

Enhance the Value

With the increase of its aesthetics is also the boost of the economic value of your house. A lot of people do not understand this benefit, yet it is important that you do.

It has something to do with real estate. Unless you have some dream of passing your house to your children in the future, there is a good chance that you are going to sell it to someone. Of course, your buyer would want to get good value for money.

Your interior French doors can help you with that one. As mentioned, interior French doors are beautiful, making them worth every penny. Moreover, if you can make use of the best materials available, from the wood to the glass, you can further ask for a higher price. After all, the French doors can last for such a long time.

Add Up More Room

Do you feel like you do not have enough space for your house? Do you want to know how you can add more without really spending too much? You could be one of those who are apprehensive about using French doors. As mentioned, they can be gigantic. However, what you do not know is that they can help you when it comes to adding more room.

First, since they are doors, they do not really occupy too much space. Also, since you can combine the frame, which can be made of wood or of steel, with glass, you can invite more light into your room. With enough light and perhaps lighter shades for your walls and floors, there is no way that you cannot expand your room, at least to your eyes.

Minimize Energy Cost

Even if you have a small home, there is a good chance that you are still spending a huge amount of money for energy. These include the use of heaters, air-conditioning units, and light.

With the installation of interior French doors, you can bring down the total energy cost. Natural light will be enough to provide you with the ambiance and lighting you need to last for several hours in a day. Rather than switching the lights on earlier, you can wait for night time to finally be revealed through the glass. The glass, moreover, can provide the right insulation to protect you from the raging winds or cold that would normally happen during winter. You will also have enough sunshine that penetrates through your glass during summer and spring.

Take Your Pick

There are different kinds of interior French doors that you can choose from. First, you have the folding doors. These basically occupy the entire wall of a room, but if you are going to open the door up, you can also remove the hindered walls and reveal a great view. You can also widen the space of a small room.

This is also a good way on how you can divide smaller rooms. For instance, if you want to set up an office, instead of building another room, you can perhaps allocate a small one in your master bedroom and add an interior French door to make the home office look professional.

While we have spent most of our time, money and effort in decorating our homes, there has been an increasing demand in finding the best interior design ideas for the office. In the past, a typical corporate environment would have gray walls, simple cubicles and minimal accessories. Today, decorators have greatly evolved from simple desks and chairs to great hubs of ideas.

Because of the fierce competition in the architecture and design industry, more and more people have started to think of interior design ideas that go beyond just the visual aesthetic. These creative ideas also allow for an office to fully maximize its space. Other establishments have even chosen to have custom made furniture that will fit the exact layout of their area, creating the illusion of a larger space and a more organized arrangement.

The advancement of technology has also changed the way ideas are being formulated. In the past, offices needed to allot huge space for bulky copy machines, typewriters and large devices that take up a lot of room. Today, the gadgets in a typical corporate environment have become a lot more space saving. This allows for a lot more creativity and flexibility.

As with most homes, you should also remember that there should be a balance between the quality and its price. In an office setting, for example, buying a cheaper desk chair with less quality can break easily, and this may mean having to replace dozens of chairs in just a few months. The best interior design ideas will tell you that you should purchase your furniture from reputable companies that specialize in office furniture and decor. Since these types of equipment will be used every single day, you want to make sure that you are able to select the one that will withstand the normal wear and tear for a long time. This will also help save you lots of money in the long run.

Have you ever heard of green furniture? Interior design ideas and books have introduced a new wave of furniture for the office. Green furniture takes pride in the fact that they use materials that will not be harmful to the environment.

Recycling has also been an increasingly popular trend for furniture today, and that can be a great choice for your company. What’s even greater is that green furniture does not compromise the exquisiteness, nor the quality of the decor being used. If your company includes helping the environment through different ways, purchasing green furniture may be one of the interior design ideas that they can use. This could also be a great way to attract potential customers who also care a lot about the environment.

Gone are the days when going to the office would mean seeing drab walls and lifeless furnishings. Interior design ideas have certainly evolved with the times. As technology continues to produce innovative products that helps make things faster and easier, interior design and construction continues to evolve from plain office furniture to works of art and style.

Making a house look nice is not an easy job; you will find that people who can do it have attended what is called an interior design certificate program. If you feel that you want to get into interior design, because you feel that you can give people the homes they want, then you should look into the best interior design programs. Finding good interior design certificate programs is not hard, but you will just need to know where to look.

The first thing that you will need to look for in a program like this is that they offer you everything you need. You need to know about styles and cultures. You will find a lot of people looking for things that are a bit out of the norm. This is why you will need to know about styles of other cultures and other walks of life.

This knowledge comes in the form of the interior design history. You will need to know where the idea came from in order to know where you are going to take it. Now, if you are really interested in getting into interior design you will need to know where to find the best schools or courses. You will find that getting a certificate is not that hard, and that this is one of the courses that you do not need a grade 12 certificate for.

It is however, always a good idea for you to complete your grade 12. Just in case you feel the need to study something else later down the line. We all want to better and further our careers, so if you want to take your interior designing into the next level, you will need to know about marketing and business, which is why you will find so many interior decorators studying business management after their interior design certificate program.

If you are one of those people who do not want to leave their jobs while they are studying you will find that there are some really great interior designer programs online. You will find that these programs will offer you everything you need in the world of decorator certificates. The great thing about these programs is that you are able to do it from the comfort of your own home.

So if you need to keep putting food on your families table while you are studying, do not give up your day job just yet, find a course online that will offer you the ability to study when you have the time. Now, where and how do you go about finding these courses?

That is easy, all you need to do is search in something like Google or Yahoo, and input ” interior design certificate program “. This will yield a lot of results, but you have to remember that you will need to go through them all in order to find the best program for you, because you do not want to just go with the first one your find.

Chocolate is no longer just a temptation for the taste buds. This color has taken its cue from the fashion runway and is appearing in great rooms, living rooms, and bedrooms across America.

Rich colors like chocolate brown, eggplant, and burnt red are ultra popular in home dÈcor. And, while dark, they’re still great for light and breezy summer, especially when they’re teamed with softer colors like aqua blue, silver, baby pink, camel, white, yellow, and pale green. “When introduced in these combinations, the popular colors like chocolate can give your favorite living spaces style and warmth without overwhelming a room,” said Cindy Anderson and Gretchen Loch-Reines, co-owners of Kerkhoff Interiors of De Pere.

These colors are appearing with increased frequency not only on walls, but also in fabrics, artwork, flooring, and accents. And you don’t have to re-do an entire room to get in on the summer dÈcor trends. “You can keep your basic pieces, such as your sofa and table, and just introduce a few new pieces to rejuvenate your room and give it a fresh, updated look [in time for summer], said Loch-Reines.

Seeing red…or terra cotta,…or burgundy

It’s not uncommon to gravitate toward neutral colors like tans and beiges in your dÈcor. But while these earthtones continue to be mainstays in every room’s dÈcor this season, you can easily jazz up a room by adding a splash of trendy colors in the form of pillows, throws, colored glass vases, candles, rugs, artwork, or floral arrangements. “You don’t have to change everything in a room for a fresh, new look,” said Anderson. If your living area is currently a blend of tans or beiges, consider adding some burnt red pillows, a red chair, or some eye-popping red sheer curtains for a pop of color. Or add a metal plate in a stand, paint one wall in silver, or add an iridescent floor vase to incorporate metallics into your color palette.

“Reds are hot, hot, hot,” said Loch-Reines. “Rich reds, burgundies, and Bordeaux are among the most popular colors, making an appearance in furniture, wall coverings, fabrics, and rugs. It’s fun and cheerful when paired with yellow and looks great with all woods and the earth-toned core pieces that many people have in their living areas.”

Hues of blue aren’t far behind in popularity, making an appearance not only on walls, but also increasingly underfoot.

What’s underfoot – hardwood and the blues

For households seeking a soft feel under their feet, FriezÈ carpet is a popular choice, particularly in bark, caramel, and other browns, as well as green-blue and azure-blue. “These colors are very warm, and yet very classic-looking,” said Barbara Hoffman, Home Interiors of Green Bay. The yarns in this carpet are tightly twisted to create a curly, textured appearance. A soothing hue, blue is terrific for a bedroom, family room or personal retreat.

But carpeting is increasingly giving away to an array of hardwood floors that make a casual and welcoming statement in kitchens, living rooms, and more. More and more homes are featuring the rustic, weathered, and antique looks only hardwood flooring can provide. Some wood manufacturers are even hand beveling and distressing wood plants to create an aged appearance, said Hoffman.

And the move is on from the traditional oak, cherry, and pine and toward maple, bamboo, and other exotic woods that add a bit of flair to a room. “People are gravitating toward rustic looks that reflect variations found in nature, and mixing things up with a variety of woods in a room,” said Hoffman. “Before, people wanted their floors to match their dining room table and their cabinetry perfectly. Now, we’re mixing woods for a more personal look.”

“Things that were fringe items 20 years ago are now becoming staples – such as the use of Brazilian cherry and bamboo,” she added.

Both hardwood and porcelain tile, another popular floor choice, lend themselves to creating an easy-breezy summer look. They are an excellent backdrop for light-colored throw rugs, terra cotta planters, topiaries, and other greenery. People are gravitating toward darker tiles, such as caramels and brown tones, and teaming them with darker grout. One of Home Interiors’ most popular porcelain tiles teams beige, gray, and caramel colors, allowing for versatility in the punches of color a homeowner wishes to add to the room.

“The nice thing is that there are more choices in flooring than ever,” said Hoffman. “And people are expressing their personalities in their homes, dressing their homes as they would dress themselves.”

Accent on accents

You can transform a room from its winter look to a summer one much like you would your wardrobe – remove the reminders of winter and introduce lighter and airier pieces for summer. This may include removing heavy draperies in favor of sheers or linen drapes (or none at all), removing heavy accent pieces and other clutter; swapping dark flower arrangements for ones featuring the brighter colors of spring; removing heavy throws; introducing lighter-color throw pillows, slipcovers for the sofa and loveseat or a new duvet/coverlet for the bed; adding greenery, and introducing additional sources of light.

“Whenever possible, bring the outdoors in – with a small herb garden, planters, and other greenery,” said Loch-Reines.

Metallic accents, such as a metallic vase or plate on a stand, or clear vases or lamps can introduce and/or reflect light in a room. “Clear pieces, especially ones made of glass such as a bowl, table lamp base, or vase, makes for an easy room update for summer,” Loch-Reines added.

And there’s nothing that says summer quite like a plant or a flower arrangement. Becky Seidl, owner/designer at Petals and Stems of Green Bay says that tall, slender glass vases featuring a few flowers continues to be a very popular accessory for summer. Customers are also ordering custom-made silk arrangement and silk wreathes featuring lighter and brighter colors, such as apple green, terra cotta, and pinks of all shades, to add a bright spot to their dÈcor. “These types of arrangements work with most everyone’s dÈcor and give a room a bright, sunny look,” said Seidl. Swapping out a piece of artwork over the fireplace, wreath on the front door, or silk flower arrangement on the sofa table with one featuring more lively and brighter colors is a great way to “summerize” a room.

“Introducing just a few new pieces can transform a semi-chromatic room,” said Anderson. “Think about what you want to be each room’s focal points – such as above the fireplace – and concentrate your efforts there.”

Furniture factsNot everyone can afford to purchase an entire new room of furniture to transform a room’s look. That’s why many interior decorators recommend adding one piece of furniture of interest, such as a red chair for a pop of color, or using slipcovers or accent pieces to make the biggest impact in a room for a nominal investment.

Today’s trend in furniture is toward urban contemporary, as illustrated by the popularity of faux alligator and leather on lampshades, Bombay chests, and multifunctional coffee tables. Wenz Furniture features a coffee table that has leather areas that can be pulled apart from the table to serve as flexible seating – a trend in coffee table design that’s being seen nationwide. “Both this type of coffee table design and ottomans are growing in popularity because they’re so versatile,” said Jean Wenz, Wenz Furniture of Green Bay.

In many cases, these coffee tables are complemented by micro fiber sofas and chairs, often in the trendy jewel tones of the moment. “Not only are these beautiful pieces, but the fabric is soft to the touch and extremely family friendly,” added Wenz.

The latest in customizable entertainment centers are also very family-friendly, accommodating the plasma/flat-screen TVs that are taking up residence in more and more great rooms and family rooms. “Unlike armoires, customizable entertainment centers feature a number of pieces that can be expanded as a home entertainment system grows or changes,” she added.