Posts Tagged ‘furnishings’

Choosing Home Decorating Materials

Thursday, April 12th, 2012

If you want to redecorate, you should be thinking about the textiles that you will use in your redecorating scheme. There are quite a few fabrics that can play a role in a redecoration project, such as carpets, some wall papers, such as flock, furnishings, cushions, lamp shades and wall hangings like tapestries and embroideries.

You can use the fabrics in these items to create a decoration theme more than any other set of items. You can buy old furniture, but it is costly, you can purchase old paintings, but they are expensive, but fabrics can be new yet still express different atmospheres for little cost. Think about the fabrics and colours that you would need to convey primitive, Eastern, Hispanic, Victorian or contemporary themes.

Let’s say that you would like to decorate your home in a Victorian style. It is the case that it would be right to have some old furniture, but what will really make the style scream ‘Victorian’ is the textiles. You have to think about Victorian houses: they were fairly large (unless you would like to live in a hovel), and they were drafty.

This meant that the textiles were heavy to hold back drafts. You could hang flock wallpaper, have heavy, lined curtains, lamp shades with tassels and weighty bedding with a real eiderdown or patchwork quilt.

The funny thing is that although Victorian textiles were very weighty, they tried to make them look very feminine, or perhaps that was why they tried to make them look more feminine. However, men provided the earnings and women ran the home in those days, so that may be why as well.

Therefore, there were lace edgings, lace trims, tassels, beading, velvet and brocade. Embroidery exam pieces can occasionally be picked up quite cheaply , but they are often handed down through families as well.

A contemporary style or theme would have lots of bright and frequently contrasting colours. An extreme variation of contemporary style is minimalist with plenty of black and white but with perhaps one splash of yellow in a corner somewhere. This style can be hard to achieve, can be unnerving, but can be dazzling too. It is reminiscent of the Sixties.

Individuals strive to recreate an Eastern or Oriental style, but you have to be wary because otherwise you will end up with something that no Easterner would recognize. A bit like Charlie Chan and western style curries. You will be told to use pictures and figurines of elephants, tigers, dragons, carp and geese or ducks. This is all very well if you would like to persuade your Western friends that you have an Oriental theme of decoration, but few Orientals would recognize it.

It is very problematic to get this theme looking authentic unless you are from the Far East or you get an Easterner in to assist you. Jades and silks could form a part of this styles along with some figurines. Be very cautious of trying to imitate a style you know nothing about.

If you are looking for stylish ideas on Stylish Home Decor, then you really must go along to our website for more free ideas on Interior Design Ideas and more.

The Basics Of Making Quilts

Sunday, March 11th, 2012

If you have never done any quilting before, you may be forgiven for thinking that it looks fairly simple. The fact is that it necessitates a lot of patience, skill and diligence to create a quilt. It certainly is not as easy as it looks. It takes practice and attention to detail. Given that, you must use decent quality textiles if you are considering making a quilt.

Cotton is fine for the job, but it ought to be the lowest you will go. No polyester or other man-made fabrics. If you do use these cheap fabrics and spend weeks making your first quilt, you will only regret it. If you make mistakes, but the fabric is good at least there will be that one saving grace.

Once you have selected your fabric, you can select the style or design that you want. This might seem backwards, and that is OK. If you want, you can select the style first and then a fabric to match, but I would recommend that you just stick with cotton for your first quilt.

Next, you have to get hold of a pattern. This is very straightforward. You can either become a member of a local quilting group, where people will give you traditional patterns or sell you modern ones; or you can go on line and search Google or Yahoo for ‘free quilt patterns’ or you can visit to your neighbourhood craft shop and buy one that fits your requirements.

You will also need a decent set of tools to make your quilt. It is a pretty good idea not to scrimp on these tools as they are not expensive; will make your job a lot easier and will last a very long time. You will require at least one rotary cutter. ‘At least one’ because the wide blade cutters are very good for straight cuts whereas a small blade cutter is better for corners or shapes. By the way, these rotary cutters look like pizza cutters.

Because these cutters are sharp, you will also require a cutting board. This can be as simple as a sheet of plywood, trimmed to suit your table top or you can merely lay it on the floor. Without a board, you will damage your table or carpet. You will also need dress-maker’s scissors and large shears. Further requirements are pins, needles, cotton, straight edges and markers.

Your pattern will explain batting and a back cloth and you should pay a great deal of attention to the suggestions in your pattern.

This article cannot be a ‘teach yourself quilting’ manual, but I hope that it has shown you that you do not need a great amount of apparatus to make very passable bedding quilts. However, with only a little adaptation of the pattern, you could make some beautiful duvet covers. Not many people make duvet covers, so you could either make them exclusively for yourself or sell them.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on a variety of topics, but is now concerned with king size duvets. If you would like to know more, please visit our website at Modern Throw Pillows For Sale.