It’s true, wall hangings are back in vogue and the great thing about this art form, that dates way back to medieval times, is that you can be as eclectic and varied as you like!

This is mainly because of the mass of materials that are now being used to create some truly stunning designs and concepts.  No longer do you have to settle for a bland one dimensional print as centre piece for your wall, instead your wall hangings can be made from metal, textiles, mirrors, glass, candles, lanterns – in fact if you can think of it, you can either buy or create your own wall hangings from it.

Check out these beautiful offerings from around the web and see if you can’t be inspired to create something, or for that matter invest in one.  Trust me, a wall hanging in the right design and material can bring light, warmth and interest to any space.

Check out www.Artisanti.com for some of the best contemporary wall hangings you can buy right now.

If you’re like I was yesterday and don’t know what Houzz is, then it’s what one well known newspaper across the pond has called “the flickr of design sites…”

Houzz has a stack of design ideas and pictures for you to call on – estimated at over a million!  Whatever room you’re interested in improving in your home or your space, you’d struggle not to find something of interest in style, taste and budget on this wonderful interactive website.

Yep, that’s right!  You can upload your own pictures, create a kind of mood board or as they call it, an ideas book.  Simply a collection of your hopes and desires for your space as you look for inspiration to transform it and you can keep track and appreciate other collectors and designers on the site.  The amount of social updating tools available to you once you join is really wide and it’s all very user friendly.  I mean if I can do it and link it to other sites…well…

These guys have thought of everything to help you find and put together the right collection of ideas and pictures for whatever room you’re working on – they even offer you the chance to find a local professional to help you fulfil your dream home.  And don’t worry that this is only for those lucky Americans, the Houzz database stretches all the way over here so we too can find a professional trades person to help us realise whatever dreams our pockets and imaginations can stretch to.

So don’t hang about, get over to this wonderful site and stretch your imagination.  Be warned though, you might get lost in the mirade of content, so make sure you have some time on your hands.

Home designers dream!

With that in mind, I started to think which furniture design shows would I hit up if I were let loose in the New York spring?

• Without a doubt my first stop would be the ICFF or International Contemporary Furniture Fair which is running from May 18 – 21 at the Jacob K. Javits’ Convention Centre.  Without a doubt this is an established and traditional showcase for global design and after 25 years doing what it does best: showcase of “what’s best and what’s next” makes this my number 1 stop.  General public can grab themselves tickets from the 21st!

• Wanted Design is my second choice and this show runs from 17 May – 20 May.  You can check out such exciting designers as Alexander Purcell Rodrigues, well known for some pretty laid back chairs and tables to match.  I personally love the geometric angles and shapes that you just want to look at and almost stroke.  Worth a ticket by itself.

• Finally Steven Learner’s Collective which you can catch from May 8 – 11.  The Collective brief is to highlight galleries that in the grand scheme of things wouldn’t get a look in.  And not just furniture designers.  This collective spotlights jewelry makers and furniture designs et al.  So whatever your love affair with design you’ll find something to enjoy at this spot.

New York in the Spring, take a shot and see what you can admire and or pick up!

Well a clever lady named Sondra Phillips has come up with what she calls InteriorDesignSchemes.  Set up to help would be do it yourselfers to have that finished designer look, you simply buy yourself a pre-designed interior design scheme and off you go.  You get colours, fabrics and all on a budget.  Not only that Phillips is pleased to add that the packages she’s put together are all locally sourced, if you live ‘locally’ (USA) and if they’re not then they can be quickly shipped from named suppliers.

So, forget about hanging around waiting for busy and expensive interior designers to turn up at your home, office or hotel.  Instead at an affordable price you choose your design scheme and your choices arrive with you!

Time we got something like this this time of the pond I hear you mutter?

Agreed!

Norwegian Design @ Stockholm Furniture Fair 2013 Part 2 :: LIFESTYLE TV from LIFESTYLE TV on Vimeo.

I too had a Billy!  And for those of you who don’t know what a Billy is, check out the video.  That simple and clean lined bookcase that I just could never get to stand firm without swaying – obviously my shoddy construction from the flat pack boxes I bought the Billy bookcase home in!  Don’t get me wrong, I lived my bookcase and it worked superbly for the space we lived in before.  But now that we’ve moved into a 3 bed bungalow, it’s time for a change and the Billy went into the clear out skip a few months ago.

So, yes I love Ikea!  I think they have NO DOUBT moulded the British psyche over the last 25 years and for the better!  Ikea introduced clean lines, simplicity, neutral tones and affordability and we Brits lapped it up and continue to lap it up.

If you’re considering embarrassing minimalism, then ask yourself seriously if this style of design and living is for you?

Here is some information that will help you decide just that.

Can Your Really De-clutter?

The basic concept of minimalist décor will require a home that is free of clutter. If you are a pack-rat that still likes to keep that odd looking chair that you found in a car boot sale you visited ten years ago, despite not having sat in it for the last 5 years, then think again about minimalist interior designing as it just won’t suit you.

To start with minimalist décor, you simply have to make up your mind to remove stuff, only keeping essentials that you need. This goes for everything; furniture, curio items, kitchen ware etc.

Are you a Colour Freak?

Minimalist decor will often call for the use of a single colour throughout your home. Sometimes, it will allow you to use a certain set of colours although those colours will again have to be consistently used throughout the home. Such colour patterns are perceived differently by different people. Some find it depressing to see the same colours over and over again while some love the way it makes their home flow smoothly, from room to room. Depending on which category you fall into will tell you how far you should consider this change for you and your home.

Do Open Living Spaces Appeal to You?

Minimalist décor and open space living are like white on rice. They are just perfectly suited for one another. Open space living will require you to break down walls between all the common areas of your home, giving you plenty of open spaces. This is a very clever design technique to employ if you live in small quarters and want to feel like you live in a much bigger place. Obviously, broken down walls will create plenty of open space while a minimalist décor will complement that open space, without cluttering up the extra space that you have created.

Becareful though, there are draw backs to open plan living and you should only go down this route if you’ve really researched and thought about this kind of living space.

Do you like less housework?

A minimalist décor can potentially, dramatically at that, cut down your cleaning work like dusting, vacuuming etc. Since minimalism will require you to store away or get rid of stuff that you don’t need, you will find yourself cleaning a lot less. Depending on how much clutter one had before, switching to a minimalist design can usually help them save a ton of time on cleaning.

However, is designer furniture for children really worth paying the higher price for? This kind of question is always going to be subjective, but still it’s well worth exploring.

Uniqueness – When shopping at designer furniture stores, you will often see furniture sets that will seem just perfect for you. While furniture is generally produced to look neat, stylish and trendy, designer furniture goes one step further in creating a style statement that will appeal to your unique personality. This is why some designer furniture sets will look laughable to you, even though they might appeal to someone else.  It’s how things work!

Designer furniture for an upscale house – If the rest of your house is of a high standard, then it doesn’t make sense to choose mass produced cheaper pieces for the kids rooms.  Don’t dilute the look and feel of what you’re trying to do by buying a different type of furniture for your child.  You’re looking to maintain a consistent style statement throughout the house.

Higher comfort level – Designer furniture, though at times more expensive, is often several times more comfortable than mass produced furniture that the public generally buy. This is because designer furniture is often hand built with carefully selected building materials that can provide a world of difference in comfort levels. Choose designer furniture only if you want the best in comfort for your children.

Encourage kids to keep tidier rooms – Believe it or not, kids, even at very young ages, will have a higher sense of responsibility or even a feeling of compulsion to keep a clean room when they value their belongings, belongings that also include furniture. As an example, your little daughter might love to make her red, polka-dot designed bed every morning, much more enthusiastically than when she has a dull brown bed that was bought from a discount furniture store. Give kids the best and they will take extra care of their belongings.

Lastly, since furniture for children is often a one-time purchase, it makes sense to buy designer as the higher price will be easily offset by the several advantages mentioned above.

When you live in a house or flat that embraces open space living, only the bedrooms and the bathrooms retain their walls.

Whether or not open plan living is for you is something that you will have to decide after weighing up both pros and cons, as discussed below.

Pros of open space living

• Obviously, open space living creates space that might give you a breath of fresh air, quite literally, especially if you live in small quarters

• Suits the new-age mentality or way of thinking

• Better ventilation

• Can potentially increase the value of property as open space living is “in”

• Brings families closer together as people find themselves interacting with one another, more often

• Increases safety and allows family members to watch over little ones or older folks, more easily than when walls are present

• Great concept to accommodate socializing or entertaining

• Can be easier to maintain as less surface area of building materials means less cleaning

• Can potentially help you save on energy costs as well, as light fixtures throw more light, without walls in the way

All that being said, some of the main reasons to embrace open plan living can also be a reason not to.  What sells it for one person, couple or family will work the opposite way for another!

So be very aware!

Cons of open plan living

• Open plan living can make your room look a mess and unsightly if you are not the type that keeps all areas very tidy. This is particularly a problem when unexpected guests arrive

• Noise and light might distract some members of the family. As an example, kids watching cartoons on the TV might result in the volume being heard all over the house, much to the annoyance of people in another open space area, say the study room

• There’s the noise from noisy kitchen appliances such as the dishwasher, washing machine, a boiling kettle, refrigerator or even a running tap.

• Cooking smells are notorious in open plan living spaces and if this is not something you can live with throughout your home, then think again.

• You must have adequate and resourceful heating to pull off this look with comfort and ease or else you end up with a cold large space that no one finds inviting.

• Some people just don’t embrace the concept of open space living well, when it comes to actually living in one. They might have signed up because it was interesting concept but the lack of doors and walls will result in anxiety and even a sense of insecurity in some cases

• It’s fashionable now, but how long for?  Will you still feel great about it in 5 or 10 years time when fashions and tastes may have changed?

If you do plan to use open space living, try to use different colors in various areas of the open space. Not doing that will result in a very cold and uninviting looking home that will easily wear you out. Another very important thing to remember before knocking down walls to create open plan living is to make sure that you’ve done your research and you’re prepared for the pros as well as the cons.

Here are some nice tips for decorating with red. Please note that most rooms will look good only if you use one red styling element. Hence, you should ideally choose only one out of the tips suggested below, if you want to keep the red flavour palatable. You can probably push things with two red decorations although anything more than that will certainly be too much.

Warm the room with a red rug –

One of the best ways to use red is to use a deep red area rug in a room. One can also try variations of red, by using a deep burgundy colour that will also lend a very warm touch. Besides making the room feel warmer, red can also give your room a lot of style that it mightn’t have had before. Red, oriental area rugs work best for this design idea.

Red sofa –

A red sofa might sound preposterous at first thought. However, it can look pretty stunning, making your room look like a designer store’s lobby. When choosing red sofas, it is preferred that you choose a luxury sofa which unfortunately will set you back quite a lot of money. Economy sofas, with plain looks, can’t pull off the red colour. Furniture needs to have some pizzazz if it has to be red. Additionally, red sofas generally work well when a room has abundant natural lighting. If you don’t want to go overboard with a red sofa, red throw pillows can also provide a similar effect, with a less aggressive tone.

Red lampshades –

A red lampshade can provide quite a stunning effect to a room. If not for a lampshade, one can also choose a hanging pendant to add a red accent to any room. This design idea works particularly well when the other colours in the room are predominantly white or very light coloured.

Red paint –

Believe it or not, red paint is not as atrocious as it sounds. One will however have to choose red that is slightly hued or toned down as the bright red colours don’t work well as wall paints. Once again, red paint works best in a room that is flooded with natural sunlight. To tone down the red colour, one can also choose one wall in their room and paint it read, while keeping a more sober white or ivory colour on all the other walls.