Preparing for Your First Interior Design Project

At one time or another, almost everyone feels the need to try their hand at interior decorating. A few simple steps can help you learn more about this skill if you are interested in redecorating your home. There are many places you can look to get a basic understanding of fundamental principles and practices, such as blogs, forums, and resources at the library and at home improvement stores. It actually does not take a lot of time to learn tips and techniques that will save you hours of trouble. Also, look at some great magazines like Home and Design or Better Homes & Gardens. It will not take you long to narrow in on your likes and dislikes in the home dcor world. Next is to choose your first project and run with it. Remember, it is more important that you have the experience than a perfect product on the first try. Interior design is often a trial-and-error hobby, and you will learn more from doing, trying, and applying that you ever will from just reading.

Tips for Seasonal Dcor

There are a few ideas you may want to think about as you decorate for each season of the year. One of the best things you can do to reduce the clutter and the need for storage is to have a specific place in your home for thematic design. For example, put up a couple shelves in a prominent place and adorn them with seasonal decorations, or set up a calendar area that showcases monthly dcor. If you have young children at home, a cute way to decorate with durable, non-dangerous materials is to choose a stuffed animal and change what it wears with each month or season. To cut down on storage, consider revamping and reusing your crafts. Take a look at your seasonal crafts, and see if you can change or add to them to fit a different time of year. For instance, you can reuse the same wreath over and over by taking out old flowers and substituting new ones.

How to Preserve Flowers from Special Occasions

Many special occasions come with flowers, and preserving those flowers is a wonderful way to have a memento of that special day. It usually doesnt take long for flowers to begin wilting, especially if the ceremony they were used for called for them to be out of waterso dont delay when it is time to dry them. Two techniques for preserving flowers lead to two totally different looksbut neither is difficult to do. The first is to hang the flower(s) upside down. Make sure the place you dry your flowers is not too warm, has little light, and stays dry. Once your flowers are dried, you will want to place them in a display case or shadowbox so they do not get damaged by touch. Another great technique for preserving a flower is to press itbut keep in mind that the end product will be flat. This method works best with very small, thin flowers or the individual flower petals of larger, shapelier flowers.

Coupling Home Decorations with Good Cleaning Strategies

When people venture into the world of interior decorating, it is usually with just one goal in life: to make their home look more attractive. Of course, finding time to do all we need to do is a big issue. When we talk about beautifying our houses, we often think about changing our dcor. However, finding ways to keep our house cleaner is just as critical to having an improved home. A couple of pointers: First, make a list of all the cleaning jobs around the house that need happen a few times a year, and make a schedule so you to a couple a month rather than getting stuck doing them all week long several times a year. Another way to keep your house clean with less time and effort is to use job charts, motivational rewards, or other methods to get the whole family involved in cleaning. Having everyone do a little bit is much easier than trying to do everything yourself. One more tip is to use labels wherever it is convenient. Knowing where everything is, or goes, not only keeps things organized longer, it also keeps you from wasting time looking for things.